Jamaican Landraces

keat · Nov 4, 2010

Hello all, some thoughts came to my mind.
Are the jamaican landraces really jamaican?

I dont know when the brittish brought the african slaves to jamaica, but they ended the slavery 1845. And then came the indian immigrants to work on the sugarfields.
The word ganja came into the jamaican vocabulary from the first hindu contractworkers.
And the brittish landowners grew cannabis for the workers, beliving it would make them work harder, and ofcourse the hemp was good for ropemaking and such.

Maybe jamaica had landraces before but isnt it possible that either the african slaves or the indian immigrants brought seeds from their homeland?

And if my theory is correct, then the landraces aint landraces arent they?
But what do i know

Just being a bit curious.

Have a nice day ya'll and im sorry for any incorrect grammer and/or spelling. :tiphat:

Keat

Thule · Nov 4, 2010

Well since all African herb originates in Asia, there wouldn't be any African landraces if your logic was right.

Indian 'hemp' was grown on the island and Indian workers also brought other strains with them.

Roms · Nov 7, 2010

+1 Thule

hello Keat

...after, plants adapt to the environment they encounter and that is where the magic takes place or not I think, and we determined it as "land race". Cannabis can be compared with the vine, once humans are well looked after.
For Jamaica, I know two "vintages" varieties, Jamaican Blue Mountain and Jamaican Lambsbread, others perhaps?
:smoke:

wadada'

Versailles · Nov 7, 2010

They have a lot of local strains, but all the genetics comes from foreign countries since Columbus. :ying:

I've tried a strain called "High mountain" which was the (one of the ) oldest sativa grown in westmoreland, near Accompong (historical maroon village).
Buds were quite airy and 12 inch long! Far from the compact buds from Orange hill grown in 8 weeks, "High mountain" require 4 months to mature but can resist to most everything!
.More than a Hardy plant, the "High moutain" delivers a High wich is very long lasting and much cerebral/spiritual than the commercial"high grade" sold everywhere.
In fact some rastas don't want to cross these original strains with "Chronic" or dutch strains for many reasons : It's was the first place where I've heard about genetic preservation ...and Landrace!(2004) :smoke:

joe fresh · Nov 7, 2010

lambsbread is not a jamaican landrace, it was brought there by the dutch in the late 70's and 80's, from what i understand its a skunk #1 cross....i was just talking bout that the other day with someone, i was actually talking with him about DNA sharks breath which is GWS x lambsbread

he is a respected breeder from the early 80's and this is what he said:

Ok, I'm confused now. WTF is up with these damn seed companies. Ok, from what I understand about GWS is that it is Brazilian sativa/South Indian X Skunk #1. Being as Skunk #1 is a 75/25 Sat/Indi hybrid(the true Skunk #1 is anyway), and Lambs Breath; AKA: Lambs Bread(after the Marley song), is also a Jamaican hybrid containing Skunk #1 and a Jamaican Sativa, making it Sativa dominant. If these are the true strains in this DNA strain, there is no way it is 80% Indica. Maybe 80% Sativa, but not Indica.

Some have the misconception that Jamaican Lambs Breath/Bread is a Jamaican land race. This is not so. Skunk 1 varieties were introduced to Jamaican growers in the 80's. Many land race Jamaican strains possess Skunk 1 in their lineages since the mid 80's.

DocLeaf · Nov 7, 2010

Ganja was first taken to Jamaica by the Spanish.

Lambsbread is a generic term for ganja used in sacrament.

Hope this helps

joe fresh · Nov 7, 2010

its funny, my friend is jamaican and goes there 3-4 times a year for the past 15-20 years, and he has never heard of blue mountain or lambsbread.....he said one of the most famous strains down there is kiki, and another i cant remember the name of the other ....just goes to show ya....diff strains in diff goegraphical regions of the country, or just different names on same strains.....

Versailles · Nov 7, 2010

+1 Docleaf

The term Lambsbread was used in my books from at least 1978 (Sylford walker-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OwB9zpOpf0&feature=related)

Skunk#1 is a sativa cross with a little indica sold in the begining of 80's..(also relative to columbian/jamaican).
Hard to believe that in those times, jamaicans farmers needed genetics from U.S or Dutchland to make a very potent herb? ( everything good is not always from Sam, Neville or Shantibaba! :chin:

).

Some have the misconception that Jamaican Lambs Breath/Bread is a Jamaican land race. This is not so. Skunk 1 varieties were introduced to Jamaican growers in the 80's. Many land race Jamaican strains possess Skunk 1 in their lineages since the mid 80's.

That is maybe true today , but once they are crossed with Skunk#1, you can't call them landrace anymore.
DNA are just selling the name...just another exotic marketing.

Roms · Nov 7, 2010

Maybe despite the wave "skunk", good guys have also preserved their possible value. But like everywhere is increasingly rare. I know that the "lambs" wich i speak has become a strong tendency to hermi and infinite flowering, like the most wild ones...

Jam' Lambsbread #16, (By Volcanik, Fr grower)

#6

...purples individus too

22 weeks... :ying:

bless'

keat · Nov 8, 2010

Great guys, some valueble information!
Thanks for all the responses.

ngakpa · Nov 10, 2010

I don't believe drug varieties of cannabis were brought to the Caribbean by the Spanish --- it was the British, and the Indian slaves/indentured labourers they brought to work on the plantations, who came from East India and the Bay of Bengal coast areas

so "ganja" came to Jamaica and the Caribbean region with Indian indentured labourers, as did the name "ganja" (a Bengali word) --- and also the practice of growing dreadlocks, which originates in India (not Africa!!!)

other words also have an Indian origin e.g. the name "kali" weed - "kali" is an Indian name for "flower tops"

as DocLeaf says - Lambsbread is a name coming from the Christian influence on Rasta --- the Lamb = Christ; bread = the sacrament... as in the Holy Communion in Christianity... ganja is being used sacramentally --- it would be a generic name, which somebody may have chosen to apply to a specific variety at some point

there was not significant local production of ganja in the Caribbean until after the 1930s --- up to the 1930s many thousands of tons were exported from Bengal to places such as Trinidad, Jamaica etc. by British traders whose government in Imperial India profitted from the tax on the trade and the selling of ganja to the Indian plantation workers ... when this trade was stopped by the pressure of international law, the biggest production area became British Guyana, on the Caribbean coast of South America

more than 150 years is more than enough time for specific regional cultivars to develop in the Caribbean --- unfortunately many of them will have been screwed up by ignorant or careless introduction of unsuitable, underperforming Dutch/American genetics

titoon29 · Nov 10, 2010

Very interesting subject here

Roms, great picts, props to Volcanik !

I remember talking to an old timer about ganja in jamaica. It definetly seems that skunk arrived in jamaica in the 80's, even before. And most of the original genepool is polluted at best, replaced by skunk hybrids, that what he said.

But growing skunk in the carribean is definetly not that worthy, because of its fast flowering. Dutch strains in the carribean goes straight into flowering. So it could be that naturally people started to pick up the longest flowering ones, exploring one side of the skunk genepool.

Now there must still be some original sativas from the past, but I can bet they are quite private stock and are not share with random tourists. But i bet if you're smart and friendly

I haven't been there myself to check but I would love to verify this at this point.

about the lambsbread, i think ngakpa has a good point, it's just a generic name...

++

Budmentor · Nov 16, 2010

Lambsbread is the name given to the buds from second harvest of a plant, after the tops have been harvested. This was told to me by several Jamaicans (old Rastas) when I first moved there in 1995. Because these lower buds grow for several extra weeks they are more resiny with a deeper stone. The weed was rare because most farmers harvest whole plants. It is usually done with long season sativas because indicas are done too quickly with the local light cycle. There are more hermies because these later plants mature seeds from nanners that aren't mature in the tops. I've seen great landrace sativas that looked stringy but knocked you down (up) for hours. Orange Hill, near Negril has a long season sativa that came from Thai seeds brought there around 1985. The best weed I ever saw in Jamaica was called "Alaska". It was a sativa with some skunk influence that was DARK brown, extremely sticky. Breaking it up was comparable to pulling apart chewing gum. I've seen Ice, Haze/skunk, Cambodian and live plants that looked identical to the Colombian I grew back in the day (1970's). the quick varieties seem impotent compared to the long season varieties.

Gooey · Nov 16, 2010

Great talk here...just grew out the dna sharksbreath...gotta say its a nice smoke but not what i was expecting...wish it was more sativa...anyways its just marketing, got me lol...anyways think the point above about bottoms is a interesting one, makes sense to me...it would explain the generic use if you can say that about anyplant you harvest from twice...love the exchange of information...thanks...peace n puffs

bigAl25 · Nov 16, 2010

Love the discussion, but i prefer to vacation there, seek out rastas, and sample the wares they smoke. Makes the vacation a real hoot. Love the red stripe, hummingbirds,and Bob Marley songs from Moma Marleys restaurant in Ochie. We can hear them all day at the beach at Sunset Jamaica Grande. Picked up some all natural smoke on the way up to nine mile from a farmer, loved it. Next trip to Negril we will visit Orange Hill again and stop for some red stripe and good herb. One Love Jamaica, we will return.

Gooey · Nov 16, 2010

nice trip info...cant wait to go myself...farmers tough to locate?

Budmentor · Nov 18, 2010

Gooey, Farmers are easy to locate. In the west try Roaring River area, Mayfield Falls and in Lucea. But careful of the theives. their economy has really gotten bad during the last few years and some are opportunistic with tourists. Hit me up for some real details

Booyah! · Nov 18, 2010

Roms said:
Maybe despite the wave "skunk", good guys have also preserved their possible value. But like everywhere is increasingly rare. I know that the "lambs" wich i speak has become a strong tendency to hermi and infinite flowering, like the most wild ones...

Jam' Lambsbread #16, (By Volcanik, Fr grower)

#6

...purples individus too
22 weeks... bless'

The infinate flowering trait is one I would actually be interested in believe it or not

Booyah! · Nov 18, 2010

Oh and by the way...that looks amazing!!! Kind of like South Am Fan's lambsbread but purple. Would be nice to see some of the different lambsbread holders breed their genepools together and select for the best traits which should be easy since the gene pools are so simular, just probably drifted apart from eachother after many generations. The diversification could add some vigor.

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=177581&page=16

Classic Seeds · Nov 18, 2010

i was in jamaica in the early seventys and it was all sativas they reminded me of the best african and indian sativas light fluffy buds and there was some columbian being grown that was almost as good ,but it was all grown in the hills and brought down to the resorts i stayed at on the trip to dive the reefs and try to get some new surf .i am sure some of the old strains must remain but most commercial growers grow mixed strains of all the same crap that has destroyed the landraces world wide these big companys who strain search and gift the growers with thier strains have pointedly tryed to destroy these gene pools once they have their greedy hands on them and you notice they never offer it pure to other breeders i am glad for the natives who have wised up to the game and shine them on much as the west coast started to do in the 80's when everyone finally woke up to what the program was they were running on the pot world.i am glad a few companys offer real landrace even if the seeds are not always good or stable at least they are trying to preserve the less screwed up gene pools

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