The Time Machine Part I - Oaxaca, 1976

[indifferent]

Hi Folks

Cut a long story short, I moved to Holland for a while, got busted, came home, and am carrying on where I left off with my experimental work.

I love sativas, pure ones that take you on psychedelic journeys and enhance your conception and perception of the world.

These types of plants are very difficult to grow indoors, under just HPS they are mostly a waste of time.

For a while I have been growing in a cabinet roughly 95cm wide and 45cm deep using a 400W HPS in a cooltube. This works great for commercial hybrids, but for pure sativas, something more sophisticated is needed.

First of all, I replaced the Osram SON-T HPS with a 400W Metal Halide (Venture Lighting 4200K). Around the sides of the box, mounted directly on the walls are 20 x 14W T5HE 3400k Osram tubes, 2 x 18W 2700K Sylvania PL tubes, 16 x 9W UV PL tubes and 8 x Phillips CLEO 15W UV tanning tubes.

This is a lot of lighting and a lot of it in the UV spectrum. This is because through experimentation I have discovered that UV is very important to tropical sativas.

One of my favourite sativas is a Highland Oaxacan Gold cutting that dates from 1976 seeds. Therefore, the first place I shall attempt to recreate in the Time Machine will be the Central Highland Valley of Oaxaca, roughly 17 degrees north, in the tropics, from whence this plant originated:

Valley of Oaxaca
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Valley of Oaxaca is a geographic region located within the modern day State of Oaxaca in southern Mexico. The valley, which is located within the Sierra Madre Mountains, is shaped like a distorted and almost upside-down “Y,” with each of its arms bearing specific names: the northwestern Etla arm, the central southern Valle Grande, and the Tlacolula arm to the east. The Valley of Oaxaca was home to the Zapotec civilization, one of the earliest complex societies in Mesoamerica, and the later Mixtec culture. A number of important and well-known archaeological sites are found in the Valley of Oaxaca, including Monte Alban, Mitla, San José Mogote and Yagul. Today, the capital of the state, Oaxaca City, is located in the central portion of the valley.

 

[englishrick]

looks like a good thread Indi....

how many area`s are you trying to collect?,,,,,,,,ive got some paki land in Toms X18,,,im gona make a load of incrossd X18 so we got some paki land to pass about

im sorry to hear about your probs bro....holland has lost out!!,,,,i often think about trying to live out there again,,,ive got friends over who grow in there parents houses,,,but all of them are on a 4year waiting list to get a gov assigned house,,,,,,,,it seems Housing is a general problem over there,,,

if i thought i could get a good rental agreement, id go over tomoro for 6month`s,,i keep looking into renting evertime i visit,,,,but storys like yours put me off the whole idea,,,,would you advise me to forget about it???

your wickid bro!!
thanks

 

[indifferent]

The bloom is off the rose for growing in Holland Rick, they have had a massive influx of organised crime gangs from Morocco, Turkey, Bulgaria, Poland etc, coming to grow weed, and this has made it very hard for the small-time guy, farms are under scrutiny, any barn is suspicious, 1st Jan they tightened up the sentencing on commercial cultivation, I was lucky to get out at all!

This is the first journey in the Time Machine, so just going to be growing genes from Oaxaca, which consists of pure Highland Oaxacan Gold seeds, a couple of Oaxacan hybrids such as Oaxacan x Yucateca, Acapulco Gold seeds from Dr Greenthumb and my long treasured Yucateca cutting which is from Quintana Roo, not Oaxaca.

The second journey will be to the northwest of Colombia to explore that genepool, I have several Golds, Reds and Blacks waiting for that, but part II will probably not begin until next year, this Oaxacan journey is gonna take at least 6 months.

 

[JohnnyATL]

i lived in mexico, and it seems even there that oaxacan is the legendary stuff. i loved the good sativas down there tho. just makes your eyes tingle haha

 

[Phedrosbenny]

Well im here for the duration.This sounds very interesting.Thank You.

 

[indifferent]

Here is some info on how the UV Index works, it is important info to consider as all of the published data on the UV levels in Oaxaca and elsewhere on Earth use this index:

Ultraviolet index
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The UV index is an international standard measurement of how strong the ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun is at a particular place on a particular day. It is a scale primarily used in daily forecasts aimed at the general public.

Its purpose is to help people to effectively protect themselves from UV light, of which excessive exposure causes sunburns, eye damage such as cataracts, skin aging, and skin cancer (see the section health effects of ultraviolet light). Public-health organizations recommend that people protect themselves (for example, by applying sunscreen to the skin and wearing a hat) when the UV index is 3 or higher; see the table below for complete recommendations.

Description

The UV index is an open-ended linear scale, with higher values representing the risk level of skin damage due to UV exposure. An index of 0 corresponds to zero UV irradiation, as is essentially the case at night time. While an index of 10 corresponds roughly to midday sun and a clear sky, indices greater than 11 are quite common in the southern hemisphere where the Ozone layer is depleted. Values as high as 17 have been recorded in Carnarvon, Western Australia and in Mareeba, Queensland. The numbers are related to the amount of UV radiation reaching the surface of the earth, measured in W/m2, but the relationship is not simple (see below for definition) because UV power is spread unevenly over a spectrum of wavelengths; the shorter wavelengths are much more damaging. By weighting their effect the index aims to create a number that cannot be expressed in physical units, but is a good indication of likely skin damage.

While the UV index can be calculated from a direct measurement of the UV spectral power at a given place, the value given in weather forecasts is usually a prediction based on a computer model. While this may be in error, as with all predictions, it is essentially the same index as we would expect to measure.

The UV index announced in weather forecasts is a prediction of how strong the actual UV intensity will be at the sun's highest point in the day, which typically occurs during the four-hour period surrounding solar noon. The prediction is made by a computer model that accounts for the effects of sun altitude, air mass, and inclement weather (clouds), which increase or decrease, the amount of UV radiation that will reach the surface. The calculations are weighted in favor of the UV wavelengths to which human skin is most sensitive according to the McKinlay-Diffey Erythema action spectrum. Providing the public with an easy-to-understand daily forecast of UV intensity is the main purpose of the UV index.

Some inexpensive portable devices also measure actual UV index.

Definition

The UV index is a number linearly related to the intensity of UV radiation reaching the surface of the earth at a given point. It cannot be simply related to the irradiance (measured in W/m2) because the UV of concern occupies a spectrum of wavelength from 295 to 325 nm and shorter wavelengths have already been absorbed a great deal when they arrive at the Earth's surface. Skin damage, however, is related to wavelength, the shorter wavelengths being much more significant. The UV power spectrum (strictly expressed in watts per square metre per nanometre of wavelength) is therefore weighted according to a weighting curve known as the McKinlay-Diffey Erythema action spectrum, and the result integrated over the whole spectrum. This typically gives a figure of around 250 in mid-day sun and so is arbitrarily divided by 25 to generate a convenient index value, which becomes essentially a scale of 0 to 10 (though ozone depletion is now resulting in values above ten as commented above).[3] Because the scale is linear and not logarithmic, as is often the case when measuring things such as sound level or brightness, it is reasonable to assume that one hour of exposure at index ten is approximately equivalent to two hours at index 5, although other factors like the body's ability to repair damage over a given time period could detract from the validity of this assumption.

To illustrate the weighting principle, the incident power density in mid-day sun is typically 0.6 mW/(nm m2) at 295 nm, 74 mW/(nm m2) at 305 nm and 478 mW/(nm m2) at 325 nm. (Note the huge absorption that has already taken place in the atmosphere at short wavelengths.) The weighting factors applied to these figures are 1.0, 0.22, and 0.03 respectively. (Also note the huge increase in damage caused by the shorter wavelength, i.e., 305 nm is 22% as damaging as 295 nm, and 325 nm is 3% as damaging as 295 nm.) Integration of these values using all the intermediate weighting values over the spectral range of 305 nm to 325 nm produces a figure of 264, which is then divided by 25 to give an index of 10.6.[3]

Cautionary notes

Be aware when interpreting the UV index and recommendations that:

1. The intensity of UV radiation reaching the surface of the earth varies greatly depending on how high the angle of the sun is in the sky. The sun reaches its highest angle at solar noon, which rarely corresponds to 12:00 on clocks. This is because of the differences between solar time and local time in a given time zone.
2. The recommendations given are for adults with pale to lightly tan skin. Children and particularly fair-skinned people or those who have sun sensitivity for medical reasons need to take extra precautions.
3. Damage from sun exposure is cumulative over one's lifetime. Cumulative exposure to the sun imparts damage to the epidermis (the outer layer) and the dermis, (the deeper layer where the skin's framework exists). Damage to the dermal layer changes the structural components, causing Elastin fibers to thicken and become more numerous. Collagen is damaged and degraded and 'reticulin' fibers appear throughout the dermis rather than outlining the specific dermal-epidermal junction.


I found the weather info including UV levels for Oaxaca:

 

[indifferent]

i lived in mexico, and it seems even there that oaxacan is the legendary stuff. i loved the good sativas down there tho. just makes your eyes tingle haha

I've travelled in Mexico a few tiems and experienced all kinds of Mexican weed, a lot of it is crappy in terms of the appearance - dry, brown/green dusty shit, but all of it has a strong uplifting heady effect, even the worst of it when smoked in 1g pure joints would get you to a good level of high pretty quick, add a couple of Coronas with Tequila chasers, the heat and exotic women and it's a heady conbination!

Well im here for the duration.This sounds very interesting.Thank You.

Glad to have you along mate. Hope I can hold your interest for a while longer.

Sadly my camera was lost in Holland so for the time being, pics are gonna be sparse, but I should be able to borrow a cam shortly and will be buying a new one as soon as funds permit.

 

[indifferent]

So let's take a look at the weather information for Oaxaca, this is today's forecast, 25th April, 2010:

As you can see, it's very hot, with the high in the low 30s and even nighttime is 15C. More shocking is the UV levels, at 1pm, the UV Index is a colossal 16! Anything above 11 is considered extreme and the highest recorded is 17! Even by 4pm, the UV index is still 9.

This info tells me that the UV must be applied to the plants between 10am and 4pm of the lights on 'day, with the peak intensity being around 1pm.

I think the best way for me to roughly replicate this UV intensity is to have half of my UV tubes on for the middle 6 hours of the lights-on period (corresponding to 10am-4pm) and all of my UV tubes on for the middle 3 hours (corresponding to 11.30am - 2.30pm).

 

[VerdantGreen]

scorchio!!!

im in, this will be very interesting indi - glad you made it back from holland...

VG.

 

[indifferent]

The temperatures to replicate Oaxaca are pretty high - low 30s during lights on and 15C during lights out. However, with a few hundred watts of fluoro tubes and a 400W lamp in there with only a 250 ruck fan venting and passive intakes, I expect I will be easily able to maintain those kind of temps.

I don't have any upto date pics of the Time Machine with all of the new lighting fitted, but here are some old pics from a few months ago that show some of the installed tubes and ballasts:

 

[indifferent]

scorchio!!!

im in, this will be very interesting indi - glad you made it back from holland...

VG.

Glad to see ya here mate, I tried everywhere to find a 400W CMH but no dice, so I went for the regular MH and am getting my red spectrum from the T5 tubes, hope this combo works good.

Glad to be back, it's boring here but very safe.

Here are some external shots of my Time Machine cabinet, it's nice and stealth, has a big lock on it as well, and the smaller cabinet on top houses the fan and filter, all lined with acoustic foam and using acoustic ducting so it runs whisper-quiet.
The cupboard is a piece of office furniture that is 1.25m tall, 850mm wide and 470mm deep internal dimensions, made of really thick MDF with 13mm back so it's really solid, should be cos it cost 175 quid and came flat-packed, but it's much better quality than the sort of flat-pack stuff you run into in large stores.

I lined it with some sunbathing roll mats the local supermarket were selling this summer, they are made of bamboo slivers and one side is covered in mylar, I attached it to the cupboard with 12mm staples. At the top I made the corners curves to better reflect the light.

There are two passive 100mm inlets at the bottom, I fitted lightproof baffles I got from Screwfix, the fresh cool air flows in around the pots to keep the roots nice and cool.

There is a 150mm cooltube mounted in the top, I kept this from my old 250W wardrobe grow. It is connected to 100mm acoustic ducting via a plastic reducing collar I also got from Screwfix. I robbed a roll of silver foil tape from work and used this on all the ducting connectors, it's really reflective, just like mylar.

The ducting exits out the back at the top left, I chose to use acoustic ducting to keep the noise down.

The ducting connects to a small cupboard sat on top which contains the fan and filter, it's a Ruck 100mm inline fan.

The smaller cupboard fits the fan and filter inside with about 2 inches of room to spare on each side, I stuffed loads of soundproofing material onto all 6 sides of the fan to keep noise down further, just like an acoustic box fan but much cheaper, the cupboard was only 25quid and the soundproofing material is just offcuts of the outer part of the acoustic ducting, it works a treat to keep the noise down. I cut a whole in the back of the cupboard for the filter to vent through, the front has a door with a lock, all in all, it's pretty stealthy.

The cupboard came with three shelves, and I cut two strips of one of these and fastened them in place at the top and bottom to lightproof things, the mylar matting covers the gaps where the doors and hinged either side, so it's pretty lightproof.

 

[smokesalot420]

Tagged, I love your methods and will be watching!

 

[indifferent]

Tagged, I love your methods and will be watching!

Cool man, this is an experimental grow so the more folks who follow and can perhaps offer guidance along the way, the better!

Here's some info Mr Alkaline compiled from the writings of Dj Short on the legendary Highland Oaxacan Gold:

The Oaxaca Highland Gold, somewhat similar to the Colombian Gold, lacked bright gold color but sported purple and red calyx tips on its blondish-brownish-green buds. It had larger buds surrounded by long, skinny leaves. It was a nearly pure Sativa which grew tall at 45°N, outdoors. It was also one of the most symmetrical Sativas I have encountered. The plants grew long side branches toward the bottom, and the even growth made these productive beauties look like Christmas trees when mature.

The Finished Product: A very sweet and spicy herb of the highest quality, with a hint of fruity pine aroma. ) A certain, unmistakable flavor comes to mind: that of incense cedar/frankincense/burgundy/floral with spicy/savory undertones. Coffee, chocolate and fine tobacco were also present, but the sweet incense cedar is what I most recall from the Highland Oaxaca. It produced the most desirable finished product, in my opinion, and has yet to be replicated to my complete satisfaction. The seeds for this variety were small, dark and round, and the plants exhibited slight signs of hermaphroditism and required surveillance to maintain seedlessness.

The High: A long lasting, creeper high that kept coming on in waves over the hours, this stuff had no ceiling. One phenomenon consistently reported from the Highland Oaxaca experience was that of peripheral visual distortions of primarily cartoon color images. This tended to increase the visual distortions caused by other psychedelics such as mushrooms or LSD.

Smoke Report:
I smoked this variety during brief periods in the early 70's and again in the late 70's, paying anywhere between $40 and $120 per ounce. It was some of my all-time favorite because the aroma and flavor were of a super-spicy cedar incense with a slight fermented berry taste, in a very comfortable yet powerfully psychedelic pot. This herb contributed to many great parties, concerts and events of the era because it produced a very socially-conscious experience and mixed well with other psychedelics.

Highland Oaxaca Gold vs. Chocolate Thai:
The Highland Oaxaca was structurally a different strain (tall, with a definite main-stem, symmetric with less hermaphroditism and better formed buds). The two were crossed and the resulting seeds produced the famed Purple Thai that I was able to use for quite awhile. The Purple Thai exhibited the symmetry and desirability of the Oaxaca with the potency and dark coloration of the Chocolate Thai–the best of both worlds, and its hermaphroditism was much more manageable. It also cloned well. The plants from these seeds also passed the test of equal or improved quality progeny in terms of finished product. Personally I preferred the finished product of the Purple Thai to the Chocolate, not just due to its growth patterns but in terms of the overall effect.

An old pic from Capt. Crip of an indoor grown Oaxacan from old Gypsy seed stock:

The Oaxacan that I did indoors had a light floaty effect to the high..It was slightly spicy and had fairly large bracts on some plants...Shorter trichomes with pretty large heads...Potency could have been better and I'm sure the pure sativas are still grown in Oaxaca ....Wish I had a stronger line to try myself...They would certainly do better in the greenhouse or outdoors as opposed to where I grew mine...I was using 6000 watts when the Oaxacans were grown so indoor lighting was about as good as it could be...

Zamalito posted: I have a huge love for oaxacan cannabis. I've never been able to get an authentic oaxacan high indoors. Anyways here's some Oaxacan Pelo Rojo

 

[I-Shence]

respect bro!Good luck on your awsome project

 

[arvid b]

Good grief, i will be watching your experiment in a state of rapture.

 

[indifferent]

respect bro!Good luck on your awsome project

Cheers man, this is the culmination of over a decade of trying to flower sats properly indoors, I finally feel I'm getting close to getting a full expression of the outdoor sativa high indoors, we shall see!

The actual HOG cutting I have is one grown from 1976 seeds by Elevator Man, it's a beauty, biggest yielding plant I've ever encountered but takes 14-16 weeks.

This is how she turned out under a 250W HPS in coco for me a couple of years ago:

 

[indifferent]

Good grief, i will be watching your experiment in a state of rapture.

Hey arvid, good to have you here, I like your work too, and you have some interesting info. I wish I could take some pics of the Time Machine as it is now, just the back wall is a sight to behold, every square inch almost covered in lighting - tubes, ballasts, wiring, it's like something out of a dodgy sci-fi movie!

As soon as the seed colelction returns from it's safe-keeping place with friends I will get some more Mexican seeds germing, I want to pack em in pretty tight and grow em as single colas 12/12 from seed, revegging any keepers and expecting a merciless culling rate due to hermaphrodism. I have dabbled in the Mexican genepool a few times before and there are hermies galore, true females with no traces of male flowers are rare, the two beautiful Mexican ladies I keep as cuts both grow the odd nanner, but discarding them would be like turning down Sofia Vergara or Salma Hayek down for a date because they had a piece of food stuck in their teeth!

For anyone who doesn't know the two latino ladies I refer too, feast your eyes:

 

[indifferent]

Here are some pics of how my last run of the Oaxacan cutting turned out, done in soil under a 400w HPS but supplemented with a 23W Reptile UVB CFL.

 

[THC4SIM]

Your crazy!! lol

i thought you might start a short term project first to fill up your jars!

Good luck with the time machine!, ill be along for the ride.....

 

[indifferent]

Your crazy!! lol

i thought you might start a short term project first to fill up your jars!

Good luck with the time machine!, ill be along for the ride.....

Certifiable mate, can't get a doctor's appointment till 5.10PM Friday and I accidentally left my medication beg behind in Holland so I got a week to go with no weed and no meds, should be somewhere between 'difficult' and 'near-impossible'.

The only reason I haven't stuff the box full of cuts so I can quickly fill my jars up is that I don't have any cuts nor access to em as I don't even have the petrol money to drive to get some.

So after a quick search of the house here I discovered the only seeds I had were 4 HOG ones so they got popped, and besides I only have enough coco for 4 pots, damn times are hard.

Anyone getting deja vu from this time last year yet?