Big Band Auto

Days 1 to 14, seed to fourth node: Expect Big Band to crack in roughly 48 hours on damp paper towel and to break soil by day three. Growth is even and unhurried — four solid nodes by day 14, spaced somewhere between the two parent types. Damping off is rare if you hold near 70% humidity through this stage.

Weeks 3 to 6, building the frame: One top at node four and a light tie-down is all it asks for. Six leaders and an even canopy across roughly 70 x 70 cm, then it is ready to flip.

Bloom, weeks 1 to 103: The 37/63 character becomes obvious here. Myrcene usually shows in week three and strengthens from there, with trichome cover visible without a loupe from about week five. Indoor yield: 65 g/plant. Height: 80–120 cm. Tested at 18% THC. Difficulty: easy.

Weeks 4 to 6. This is where the plant stops looking like a frame and starts looking like a crop. Development stays even across the bud sites, and the canopy work done in veg pays off now — eight comparable colas rather than one dominant top over a set of also-rans. Trichomes should be visible without magnification from about week four.

Weeks 101 to 103, ripening. Drop to plain water for the final ten days. The myrcene carry gets strong enough that carbon filtration stops being optional in a residential street. Trichomes run clear to milky across the last fortnight, amber showing on sugar leaves before it reaches the calyxes; around 15% amber on the calyxes themselves is a common place to cut.

Drying and curing. Whole-plant hang in the dark at 17°C and 58% humidity for roughly 12 days — when stems snap instead of bending, it is ready for glass. Burp twice daily for the first fortnight, then once daily through weeks three and four. Finished weight should land near the 65 g/plant estimate. The limonene note comes through markedly stronger after curing than it did at harvest, which is the clearest evidence that a cure builds flavour rather than merely preserving it.

Difficulty: easy. In flower for 9-10 weeks indoor (approx. 3 months from seed outdoor). Stands 80–120 cm. Indoors it returns 65 g/plant. Outdoors, up to 80 g/plant a plant. Regular seeds with autoflowering genetics.

The effects most commonly reported for this cultivar are euphoric, creative, calm. At 18% THC it sits in a bracket where flexibility is the point. Lower doses read clear and functional in the morning, higher doses read relaxed in the evening. Because the 37/63 split is even, direction is set by how much you take rather than fixed by the genetics. The Myrcene/Limonene pairing leaves an earthy sweetness with a fruit finish on the palate.

Where it fits: most occasions, with the dose adjusted to whatever the situation asks for.

Leading with Myrcene, then Limonene, and Pinene underneath. How this combination survives the move from flower to vapour or smoke is not a given. Held low, at 180-188°C, the limonene and pinene notes stay legible with myrcene underneath them. Run it hotter, or burn it, and the three collapse into one — still pleasant, but without the separation that makes this cultivar worth paying attention to.

Big Band is a reasonable fit for growers with the basics already in place. Understand pH, know roughly what nutrient ratios do, and be able to hold a light cycle — it will not carry you, but it does not punish the occasional slip either. Because it autoflowers there is no light cycle to manage at all, which is what makes it work on a balcony, in an out-of-the-way outdoor spot, or anywhere a timer would be one more thing to go wrong. A September-to-May outdoor season comfortably covers a 9-10 weeks indoor (approx. 3 months from seed outdoor) bloom in the frost-free provinces. Posted discreetly anywhere in South Africa, with sourced grow figures shown on every strain page.