100% Sativas (Have you ever tried one?)

[The Hatter]

Yes I have, and to be honest I can see why they are hybridized so often. They take so long and yield so little. More often than not they aren't anything special. I always gave credit to "la mano negra" who has grown more exotic strains than practically anyone I've ever talked to and he often used to say "if only the smoke were as exotic as its origins".

It makes me laugh because that is exactly how I thought about sativas when I first started growing them. Like if it came from the jungles of the Congo it had to be as wild and mystical as the Congo itself. More often than not the weed is mediocre. Sometimes even garbage. Very rarely is exotic herb good herb if the truth is told.

But my god yes, I get so aggravated with "sativa" lovers. Like you said they will call "blue dream" a pure sativa. More aggravating are people that don't even know what the weed is and they call it pure sativa. A pure sativa with buds that are dense, round, and shaped like an egg? No.

It also aggravates me because it's like if you grow a plant that takes 5 months to finish you get to call it pure sativa. If your plant takes 75 days you can't complain about "how long these pure sativas take to finish".

I agree. I can honestly say that there are some landrace strains out there with truly different and nice effects, but at the same time there are also many that really aren't anything special and if you look around in the commercial hybrid market long enough you can often find a hybrid plant with a somewhat similar effect to the landrace one you liked that will also produce, grow and flower better than the original. There will be some breeder somewhere who decided they liked that effect and fixed it into the strain as they worked it.

Some examples I can think of include the original Diesel Strains which are quite reminiscent of Mexican Highland sativas. Or strains like the various durban poison lines, Cindy, Jack Herer etc. These strains all still hold onto some of their unique charm despite being heavily worked and hybrid and they have far more favorable growing traits than the original land races.

One of the issues with the land race strains is that although they can have some unique and nice effects they are often not very potent and have terrible growth characteristics since nobody has done any real work with the strain. They really are a labor of love since there is no way that many of the land race strains could be called remotely commercially viable.To be honest if you can find a worked version of the strain done by a good breeder you should definitely jump on it rather than going for the original unworked version. If the breeder knows what they were doing the effects will be pretty close to the original's and the nightmare of growing it is greatly reduced.

That looks like some beautiful smoke you have there, and it definitely looks more Thia than Mexican to me especially with the foxtailing and the extremely long flowering period.

 

[motaco]

What I meant is that in this day in age of cannabis advertising, hyping, breeding, etc. Everything has to have a name. And people stick an exotic name on anything.

A phrase you never hear any more is "more rope than dope". Which is funny because my dad says it was said all the time back in his day. A lot of sativas are literally hemp. They are just hemp from an era when all the thc wasn't bred out of it. Today it is bred out for legal reasons, but in the old days it wasn't. Much of the Mexican grass smoked back then was literally ditch weed with a thc content between 1%-3%. Absolute garbage. Burns hot, tastes terrible, and barely gives a terrible stone. "Stress" its sometimes called. Makes you groggy, and anxious.

That is what is good about indica. It was all bred for drug use. Only a few cultures around the world bred cannabis for thc content. That was not the purpose of many sativas. Many are literally a hemp species with some small thc content.

My point was in this day in age with the internet for better or worse everyone is in contact. But because of that a guy who has a friend go on a trip to Africa and mail back seeds from an ounce of weed he scored with a note that reads "smoked a fat blunt of this before it started to creep up on me" then gets put on the internet as "Cameroon Creeper" or some such thing.

When grown out it may literally be a type of ditch weed. More rope than dope. Many remote places don't have genes that have been highly worked into a drug cultivar. They have whatever type of weed ended up in their area. That very well may have been species of hemp for many countries.

I was just making the joke that in the seed hyping business everything is "Sudanese Smasher" or whatever and it leads people to believe that strains from these remote places are gems waiting to be plucked, when if it was actually the sativa hey day of the 70s people would have grown it and called it "African bush weed" a bit less exotic and a bit more realisitic. That is true for many rare or un-named sativa strains from distant locales. They certainly have some neat and interesting stones, and you hear a lot about them. But you don't often hear about all the exotic strains that people grow and it turns out to be absolute garbage.

 

[The Hatter]

What I meant is that in this day in age of cannabis advertising, hyping, breeding, etc. Everything has to have a name. And people stick an exotic name on anything.

A phrase you never hear any more is "more rope than dope". Which is funny because my dad says it was said all the time back in his day. A lot of sativas are literally hemp. They are just hemp from an era when all the thc wasn't bred out of it. Today it is bred out for legal reasons, but in the old days it wasn't. Much of the Mexican grass smoked back then was literally ditch weed with a thc content between 1%-3%. Absolute garbage. Burns hot, tastes terrible, and barely gives a terrible stone. "Stress" its sometimes called. Makes you groggy, and anxious.

That is what is good about indica. It was all bred for drug use. Only a few cultures around the world bred cannabis for thc content. That was not the purpose of many sativas. Many are literally a hemp species with some small thc content.

My point was in this day in age with the internet for better or worse everyone is in contact. But because of that a guy who has a friend go on a trip to Africa and mail back seeds from an ounce of weed he scored with a note that reads "smoked a fat blunt of this before it started to creep up on me" then gets put on the internet as "Cameroon Creeper" or some such thing.

When grown out it may literally be a type of ditch weed. More rope than dope. Many remote places don't have genes that have been highly worked into a drug cultivar. They have whatever type of weed ended up in their area. That very well may have been species of hemp for many countries.

I was just making the joke that in the seed hyping business everything is "Sudanese Smasher" or whatever and it leads people to believe that strains from these remote places are gems waiting to be plucked, when if it was actually the sativa hey day of the 70s people would have grown it and called it "African bush weed" a bit less exotic and a bit more realisitic. That is true for many rare or un-named sativa strains from distant locales. They certainly have some neat and interesting stones, and you hear a lot about them. But you don't often hear about all the exotic strains that people grow and it turns out to be absolute garbage.

Yeah too much hype and too little fact is often a problem in the cannabis world. Another thing you will often see these days is now that there is some interest in the exotic land race strains again you often see people crossing something like a Thia sativa strain with multiple indicas and then naming the strain "Thia Dynamite" or some other play on it being Thia in origin when in fact its basically a Kush/Northern lights hybrid now which stretches a little more. Btw I just made up that strain so not be an ass and point fingers at any breeders.

Having said this there are also breeders who legitimately have taken landrace drug cultivars of old and refined them using modern breading methods which have produced some really neat and quite worthwhile lines. You just have to really do your research to separate the wheat from the chaff. As you said the natural ditch weed that grows in many areas is of little value in its original form yet if you look at all the auto strains that are now quite popular in some circles they are all basically a product of taking modern drug cultivars and crossing them with some very low grade, hemp like land race sativas that naturally auto-flowered. So even ditch weed can have genes in it that are beneficial if they are worked. I personally don't like autos much but to each their own. They certainly have their own niche.

If you look around and find the right sources and breeders there are some really neat landrace strains out there but as with everything in this world there are some shady and dishonest people to be wary of.

 

[shivamouse]

I had a wonderful experience with some thai once. It sent me into a deep in a trance like state and I could hear this most amazing celestial music, unearthly haunting music which went on for quite a while. When I was drifting back into reality I realized the music had been coming from the fan on my heater, I couldn't believe it, it was so beautiful, but coming down it assumed its normal droning, humming sound.

I had lots of headaches, sore throats and poor highs from sativas too. But get a great one and they are pure magic.

I love a great sativa.

 

[porn]

I love original haze, panama, thai's, mexican, african, colombian, brasilian, Indian, etc. But is dificult to get good landraces at this time's (low potency, herming ones, poor flavor and smells and the hibridization the world is in). This makes the work of la mano negra, ace seeds, cannabiogen and many others so nice, in finding, then working to give us this great sativas with that kind of high and bouquet every sativa lover or connosieur will apreciate.

keep growing 100% sativas...

 

[The Hatter]

I love original haze, panama, thai's, mexican, african, colombian, brasilian, Indian, etc. But is dificult to get good landraces at this time's (low potency, herming ones, poor flavor and smells and the hibridization the world is in). This makes the work of la mano negra, ace seeds, cannabiogen and many others so nice, in finding, then working to give us this great sativas with that kind of high and bouquet every sativa lover or connosieur will apreciate.

keep growing 100% sativas...

I have grown out both Ace and Cannabiogen strains and I agree that they are doing some truly amazing work. They are my two favorite breeders in fact.

 

[huligun]

What is the problem is that some short sighted breeder's create strains that do one or two of the favourable traits in growing the plant. Many make a plant that finishes fast, another may breed for height and another for resin. And just lots of resin doesn't always make a good high. It is a complicated task and probably too hard for just one man to master. Sometimes you need a few people in a project to look at it from different angles.

I went to Kenya in the 80s. I found weed that was about the same quality as Mexican brick weed, and had hash that was some of the best I have ever seen. I couldn't imagine that hash being created from the same weed I was smoking.

And when describing sativa vs indica one has to consider the way man and nature produced them. Between the equator and the north pole there are many climates and many more micro climates. Surely evolution via location will select what is best for what ever given situation. Not just sunlight length, but temperature, humidity, rainy seasons, dry seasons, soil conditions, indigenous nutrients, wind, and the list goes on. The only places you should see sativa and indica strains expressing polar opposites are in locations in nature where the plants had to survive their environments. And this has nothing to do with thc content. Usually it is the responsibility of man to breed that into the strain. I will reserve my final assumption until there is empirical proof that certain environment conditions impact thc.

Motaco, for a young person you seem to be very knowledgeable on the subject. Who knows what the future holds for you in this world.

 

[TheFlyinHaWyn!]

now that i have my license, i want to do more sativas outdoors, or at least set up some friends who have a better spot to do them. this will be the first year that i can truely do them how i want to. first the HI strains, then i will do some african or thai or vietnamese or indian or whatever sativa i want. that is the plan anyway. just for smoke for me and my friends. life is good. aloha

 

[audioaddict]

Smoked plenty of imported Thai back in the day, though it is much harder to come by nowadays... had a guy two years ago who went through a phase of selling Thaistick but it was way too short lived (although it did provide me with the vial full of seeds I recovered from the few oz I bought during that time)

Also used to know a really great rasta guy who was a great source of musical encouragement and African sativa )

These days I have no more sources to buy it, mainly as I don't buy much anymore due to getting into growing, when I do buy a bit it is usually the standard cheese/kush etc that my friends buy... which is good enough as I love all weed, but it would be nice to have more real variety available.

Am currently flowering out two Sinai plants from the Real Seed Co.
This plant, from the Sinai peninsula of Egypt, is purportedly a blend of North African Sativa and middle eastern hybrids cultivated by the Bedouin people who live there.

One of the phenos does seem to have a little indica in it, but is still very sativa dominant, and the other is as close to pure sativa as I've had in my grow... I haven't done her justice as she is now very yellow at 6 weeks 12/12, not sure if I underfed or overfed or what.

I thought I had underfed her at first, as I vegged her into a small amount of compost and when she started yellowing early on in flower I assumed she was N deficient due to the restricted root space... now am thinking the compost was too hot for her and I have overcompensated.

Nevermind, she is still growing and healthy enough, and I have clones to try and get her right next time.
Every day is a school day in the world of growing!!

 

[The Hatter]

What is the problem is that some short sighted breeder's create strains that do one or two of the favourable traits in growing the plant. Many make a plant that finishes fast, another may breed for height and another for resin. And just lots of resin doesn't always make a good high. It is a complicated task and probably too hard for just one man to master. Sometimes you need a few people in a project to look at it from different angles.

I went to Kenya in the 80s. I found weed that was about the same quality as Mexican brick weed, and had hash that was some of the best I have ever seen. I couldn't imagine that hash being created from the same weed I was smoking.

And when describing sativa vs indica one has to consider the way man and nature produced them. Between the equator and the north pole there are many climates and many more micro climates. Surely evolution via location will select what is best for what ever given situation. Not just sunlight length, but temperature, humidity, rainy seasons, dry seasons, soil conditions, indigenous nutrients, wind, and the list goes on. The only places you should see sativa and indica strains expressing polar opposites are in locations in nature where the plants had to survive their environments. And this has nothing to do with thc content. Usually it is the responsibility of man to breed that into the strain. I will reserve my final assumption until there is empirical proof that certain environment conditions impact thc.

Motaco, for a young person you seem to be very knowledgeable on the subject. Who knows what the future holds for you in this world.

Cannabis has evolved cannabiniods in its resins for a reason. It takes the plant a tremendous amount of energy to create those compounds. They provide protection from both UV light and pests, although there has not been much in the way of proper scientific work done on the subject.

It seems that strains that have adapted to areas exposed to a lot of intense sunlight have higher concentrations of THC and THCV then those which live in climates with less intense sun. If you look at the natural strains which have that "sativa" effect that many of us look for they tend to be equatorial tropical strains or strains that are found at very high altitudes. Both regions receive very intense sunlight. I'm sure there are countless other variables effecting how the plants adapt their resin profiles that we just aren't aware of yet.

Of course the ultimate survival advantage potent THC content provides the plant with is that humans like it and will cultivate plants that have it. In the end us humans have had the greatest impact on the strains we see in various regions since most were brought there by us in the distant past.

 

[herbwarrior420]

i was blessed growin up in the 60's and early 70's my favorite strain is real panama red we also enjoyed columbian gold bud pre coke era mexican acapoka (sorry spelling) gold Kona gold puna butter Maui wowie Jamacian gonja also from asia during nam war we had black viet jungle weed cambodian so yeah bring back the pure strains i know there is someone holdin out

 

[sprinkl]

I wonder how these pure strains would flower under the current plasma and cmh lights available.
If we could get these plants to grow big tasty buds like they do in sunlight but indoors we might see a real revival!

 

[The Hatter]

I wonder how these pure strains would flower under the current plasma and cmh lights available.
If we could get these plants to grow big tasty buds like they do in sunlight but indoors we might see a real revival!

If you are looking to grow those old school sativas indoors its best to find a credible breeder that specializes in working with them since they will cull many of those more undesirable traits from the gene pool. Most sativas really do thrive best outdoors or in a greenhouse but there are plenty that can be grown indoors with great success. They seem to like rather intense lighting compared to indicas and they often don't like high nitrogen soil much. I used to think that it's best to grow them only in soil but I've seen quite a few IBL hydro grows on here that really put my old beliefs to rest.

My last grow was indoors and my best plant was a pure sativa. It was a Nepalese/Jamaican backcross called Nepalese Jam. It was a very solid producer with a great effect. Easy to grow too.

 

[tomat0]

Pure sativas are real treasures. If you haven't, you should soon!

 

[Terroir]

Pure sativas are real treasures. The neighbors kids can spot them months before harvest as there generally 12 feet tall.

Fixed it

 

[Elmer Bud]

Originally Posted by tomat0
Pure sativas are real treasures. The neighbors kids can spot them months before harvest as there generally 12 feet tall.

Fixed it

Where I come from . We learnt to tie them down and get large harvests . There is more than one way to skin a cat ...

EB .

 

[tomat0]

Pure sativas are real treasures. The neighbors kids can spot them months before harvest as there generally 12 feet tall.

Fixed it

Where I come from . We learnt to tie them down and get large harvests . There is more than one way to skin a cat ...

EB .

Haha.. they can grow as wide as they can high.

 

[shokdee]

This is a fantastic thread - GOOD QUESTION. I've got popcorn in my bong and I'll follow along. If you have a spare moment, please see my first grow of some bagseed from Swaziland. Thanks, shokdee

 

[The Hatter]

That Swazi you have growing looks like some nice stuff. It reminds me of some of the old school Mexican strains I have seen grown out from bag seed decades ago. (I really miss that stuff. Some of the best smoke I ever had came from plants grown out of top shelf mexican brick.) I bet the effects of that Swazi will be something special. That's where the Sativas really shine.

 

[shokdee]

Thank's for taking a peek at the ladies, Hatter. The scent of the fat-leaf pheno plant (swazi12 in the gallery, #2 in the grow report) is intoxicating me. It's bringing back memories from either the left or right helix, maybe both? I'll be updating the Swazi gallery soon - what do you guys want to see? Let me know by PM or in my Swazi grow report. EDIT: The fat-leaf pheno plant is very hairy, feels like hairy sandpaper

Sorry for the interruption, we now return back to the action.