8 Tips for Growing Purple Urkle [Grower’s Guide]

This much-loved strain is probably derived from Mendocino Purps. Breeders from Northern California conjured Purple Urkle in the 1980s. This potent, balanced hybrid contains up to 21% THC and is as powerful as you might expect. Users love the sweet berry taste and euphoric cerebral effect.

After a while, the body high causes serious relaxation and may also provide a strong case of the munchies. There is also a chance that this strain causes you to fall asleep.

Purple Urkle is generally considered a strain that novice growers should avoid. It requires lots of maintenance, and you must keep a close eye on its nutrient intake. In this grower’s guide, we outline eight tips to help you get the most out of cultivating this delicious marijuana strain.

1 – Should You Grow Purple Urkle Indoors or Outdoors?

Although Purple Urkle is capable of thriving outdoors, it is best to keep it indoors if possible. This enables you to benefit from a shorter flowering time of just 8-9 weeks. When you plant Purple Urkle outdoors, it isn’t ready for harvest until the middle of October.

Perhaps more pertinently, you enjoy a yield of 18 ounces per square meter planted. Outdoors, this strain provides around 9 ounces per plant. Therefore, there is no higher yield to offset the added risk and inconvenience of cultivating Purple Urkle outside.

2 – Consider a Hydroponics Setup

Like many strains, Purple Urkle provides a higher yield indoors when grown hydroponically. In general, growing cannabis plants in soil makes more sense outdoors as there are no height restrictions. Marijuana cultivated indoors won’t become as tall, which means you endure a lower yield.

A hydroponic system can help increase your yield significantly. Once you have some experience in growing marijuana plants, you will love the control provided by a hydroponic system. You can monitor the precise level of nutrients consumed by your plant.

Typically, you can expect hydroponic plants to grow up to 50% faster than plants cultivated in soil. This happens because the nutrients are much easier for the plant to find. Nutrients are suspended in water and directly enter the root system. There is no soil for your Purple Urkle plants to navigate, so it quickly devours its food.

3 – Nutrient Intake

This strain’s nutrient requirements vary depending on the humidity and temperature it is exposed to. Marijuana plants take in water from their roots and leaves. When cultivated in high humidity, the plants will absorb more water through their leaves and less via their roots. In a low humidity setting, your plants take in more water through roots and less via their leaves.

Ideally, you’ll have a moderate to low level of humidity in your grow room (more on that below). By doing so, you can provide fewer nutrients because your Purple Urkle plants are more efficient at consuming them.

This strain responds well to a relatively high level of nitrogen during the vegetative stage. Once you force it into flowering, cut nitrogen intake, and increase the potassium and phosphorus level. Don’t forget other nutrients like calcium, magnesium, copper, and iron. Purple Urkle can handle heavy feeding, but you should stop offering nutrients two weeks before harvest.

4 – Temperature & Humidity

Purple Urkle prefers a daytime temperature of between 72- and 80-degrees Fahrenheit. At night, you can reduce the temperature by 10-15 degrees.

As for humidity, you can bring it as high as 75-80% for seedlings or clones. However, drop it to below 60% as soon as Purple Urkle enters the vegetative stage. Gradually lower the humidity until it falls below 50% by the time your plants start blooming. You can keep reducing the humidity until it is less than 40% by the last couple of weeks.

5 – Controlling Grow Room Conditions

Please don’t make the mistake of assuming that your plants are safe when they require a high humidity level. Even at these points, your Purple Urkle crop is at risk from mold and mildew. These issues can arise if they don’t receive regular airflow from around the roots and beneath the leaves.

Carbon dioxide is essential for plant growth. Some growers focus so much on increasing a grow room’s CO2 level that they forget about airflow. No matter how much carbon dioxide you pump into a grow room, most of the gas will end up on the floor if the room has low airflow!

There is also a strong relationship between temperature and humidity. A common mistake is to install an incorrectly sized HVAC unit. Too large, and the device will switch on and off in short cycles. This results in humidity and temperature spikes. Your plants do not enjoy such regular fluctuations.

If the unit is too small, it is unable to prevent excessively high temperatures. Remember, your grow room lights already cause an increase in temperature. There are now Indirect-Direct Evaporative Cooling (IDEC) systems on the market that use up to 80% less energy than typical HVAC units. Consider investing in one of these.

6 – pH Considerations

The optimal pH for Purple Urkle cultivated in soil is between 6.0 and 6.8. However, the best range for hydroponically grown cannabis is between 5.5 and 6.3.

Soil pH has a significant bearing on how your plants absorb nutrients. If the pH level falls outside the outlined levels, your plants will struggle to benefit from the food you give them. The likely result is a nutrient deficiency.

Experienced growers can change pH levels depending on the nutrients they provide to their plants. For instance, calcium and magnesium are mainly absorbed at a pH level above 6.0. However, micronutrients such as iron and boron are absorbed at a slightly lower pH.

There are several ways to measure soil pH accurately. You can invest in a special testing solution, strips, or a digital pH meter. Take your measurements after adding amendments, fertilizer, or nutrients as these change the pH of the water. You should also test the pH of runoff after feeding your crop.

There are products such as pH UP and pH DOWN which quickly and easily adjust pH level when you need it.

7 – Maximize Space with SCROG or SOG

The Screen of Green (SCROG) and SOG (Sea of Green) training techniques can help you get the most out of your indoor space. The vast majority of growers are unable to dedicate a large area to their cannabis plants. Using SOG or SCROG helps you cultivate more plants per square meter.

SOG is typically performed using clones. You encourage Purple Urkle plants with a handful of lateral branches to grow a single large cola.

SCROG involves using a mesh screen with large enough holes to feed the plants. You can use commercial fencing wire or a trellis. Once the plants start growing through the screen, you tuck the branches beneath new growth into a flat sheet.

Believe it or not, some growers can develop up to 20 plants per square meter using SOG. With SCROG, they can fit around four large plants in a square meter.

8 – Curing Your Buds

After curing your Purple Urkle buds, it is tempting to start enjoying the fruits of your labor. However, by waiting a little longer and curing them, you benefit from more potent and tastier cannabis.

The process involves trimming your buds and hanging them to dry. After about a week, you place them in airtight jars. For the first couple of days, open the jars for a few minutes several times a day. Eventually, you’ll only need to open the containers once every few days.

The goal is to decrease humidity levels to the point where they fall in the 60-65% range. Then, keep your cannabis in this ‘cure zone’ for as long as you can bear it! It is worth investing in a hygrometer to test the humidity inside the jars. Most growers last about 3-4 weeks of curing before smoking their bud. However, it is worth noting that your buds’ quality can improve for up to six months!

Final Thoughts on Growing Purple Urkle

Cultivating Purple Urkle is a job for someone with a few successful harvests under their belt. It is a picky eater, and you need to carefully monitor your grow room to ensure it is at the optimal temperature and humidity levels.

Measure the pH of the growing medium regularly to ensure your plants continue to absorb nutrients efficiently. Finally, you will get the most substantial intoxicating effect by allowing your Purple Urkle to cure for at least a few weeks after harvesting and drying it.