Hashplants

[therevverend]

My god, how longs that been growing there. How is it flowering this time of year.

Ha ha I wish my Looies were flowering right now. The pictures are from a few years back, posted them to show off the colors and to see what the (Louie x Early Girl) hybrid looks like. Haven't grown that particular one in a while. Should have made it more clear. We'll see in late Sept/early Oct what this year's are like. I've also grown quite a bit of (Grape Ape x Early Girl) and I really like it. The Early Girl is a Mendocino heirloom strain from an old time California grower. I might have a few seeds left of another of his strains, 'Early Spear'. May have to plant them next year.

umm i thought it had pink pistils. Looks like it does well for your climate.

Some phenotypes of the Lui have pink pistils, others don't. Sometimes they'll show pink pistils early and change color later. The strain carries the colorful gene over when hybridized. As colorful as it is, it's smells are just as exotic. Wish I could take 'smellies'.

Tnanks for the tip about the Chitosan, Dog Star. I'll check it out. It's made from the exoskeletons of crustaceans so it should be organic and safe to use. Even so it's always a good idea to look into potential toxicity, side effects, allergies and the like. Wouldn't want someone who's allergic to get shellfish allergies from smoking shrimp hashish! (kidding)

I posted some pictures of my Kashimiri plants in the Kashmiri landrace thread. I'll post one here because I'm so excited about how it's growing. You know I can't wait to sample some fine Kashmiri hashish this winter.

I ended up with only one female Royal Kush this year. It's really a hybrid, only half Royal Kush but the mother plant was the real deal from Fort Bragg. Great strain for the area, last year I had zero mold because it finished in the first couple days of October. I could time my harvest to take it down on the last morning before the rains came. Let it go an extra couple of days.

When I was sticking plants in the ground before they showed sex I had to choose between two Royal Kushes. I got it right, choose the female. It's a funny plant, always looked a bit wilted and unhappy. Compared to the hashplants it had wispy looking leaves and a thin growth pattern. Lagged behind in growth too, when it's neighbor girls were pushing 6 feet it was half wilted and looking scraggy around 3 feet.

I knew better, watching it's branches develop 360 degrees around it. I really like the structure it fills in on all sides instead of just the one facing the sun. Now she's popped up over 6 feet, 2 meters, and is reaching for the sky.

Love the branching, those'll turn into nice fat cola arms. She's a 'complete' plant. Wish I knew for sure what the male was, the breeder doesn't remember. A hardy vigorous Mendocino male, it comes through in one or two of the phenotypes. I can tell this is the phenotype I like, flavors are spicy citrus. It shines in the crosses I've made, the early finish comes through along with a lot of terpenes.

Here's a Querkle x GDP, Hammerhead's breeding from 5 or 6 years ago. I've been wanting to try his strains for a while but never was able to pull the trigger at the right time. Then I found these seeds and realized I already had some. I like his taste, always has amazing stuff posted here. This is a real hashplant, squat and bushy. Wide leaves and branches but not getting tall, around 5 feet at this point. As stocky as it is height isn't that important it's going to have dense flowers. A stem rub already has a spicy hashy smell can't wait to see the purple colors develop.

One more picture for the day, we'll go with Bodhi's Superstitious. I've taken a lot of pictures of her, she's one of my favorites. Who am I kidding, they're all my favorites. She's shown pinkish-purple stalks the whole way. Great vigor and bushiness, isn't the fastest growing or biggest but keeps expanding every day. Close to 7 feet now. I pushed back the sticker bush behind her and tied her back to make her bushier. This photo is from right before that, it's hard to believe how much bushier and bigger she's gotten in the couple days since then.

I've got a male, shows the same purple stem color. I can't decide if he's a breeder or not. Nice smell when I rub the stem but nothing special. I love purple strains and I can tell this one is purple. It's a tough decision because I haven't tried the finished flowers, don't know if I like the final product. I've got a good idea, it's probably great but you never know. Choosing males can seem difficult but I've found if you grow excellent strains from good breeders it's not hard. Just choose the healthiest ones that smell nice. The problem is narrowing it down to 2-3 instead of 7 or 8. Too much pollen floating around is not a good idea although it's very tempting..

 

[D3pthCharg3]

Tnanks for the tip about the Chitosan, Dog Star. I'll check it out. It's made from the exoskeletons of crustaceans so it should be organic and safe to use. Even so it's always a good idea to look into potential toxicity, side effects, allergies and the like. Wouldn't want someone who's allergic to get shellfish allergies from smoking shrimp hashish! (kidding)

There was a product made by GH years ago called CHI...Its off the market now...It was Chitosan and came with a Shellfish Allergy Warning right on the container.

 

[D3pthCharg3]

Beautiful plants on this thread everyone! Thanks for sharing.

Personally I just got into some HP13 s1s made by Golden Coast Genetics. Exciting stuff.

 

[therevverend]

The hashplants are chunking up, lots of new growth since my last post. I'm really impressed by the Burkle 2.0 this year. It's got everything you look for in a hashplant. There's two, the smaller one is looking chunkier every day.

Boy oh boy that's the real deal. Wish I'd crossed it with the POG HP. Now here's the real real deal, the big sister.

They're both 5 feet tall, I think this one is as wide as it is tall. Here's another picture.

You really have to look at her from different angles to truly appreciate her. She's greedy for the light, I've never seen a plant compete with itself so hard. Here's a close up.

Looking at her I can see why people tried to pass Afghanis off as a different type of plant then the narrow leaf plants everyone was growing. Feed me Seymour!

Here's another picture of the Querkle x GDP I showed last time, a week or two back. Can't believe how much she's grown, looks like a different plant. Almost 6 feet she's next to the Burkle 2.0, they're almost too much to take in. They've done a good job of getting super wide without competing with each other too much.

 

[therevverend]

Did I say the QuerkleGDP was almost 6 feet, I meant over 6 feet. Now let's look at the big hashplants, well over 6 feet tall. We'll start with the smallest one. She got burnt to all hell back in early June, got a bad batch of potting soil. She showed female so I stuck her in the ground anyway. Didn't do much for a couple weeks but it's July and ganja loves to get big. Check out the before picture, when she was burnt.

And how she looks today.

I'd say she looks like a different plant but even when she was burnt she had the nice wide leaves. I love the Grape Ape line really superior outdoor plant. Doesn't do bad indoors either. She's a little over 6 feet at this point but super bushy. Let's look at big sis, she's also super bushy but closer to 9 feet.

She's concealed by the two plants in front, difficult to get a good picture in her entirety. Here's a picture of her top from a different angle. I wonder what she'll look like after the stretch!

She seems to be starting to tuck already. 'Tucking' is when plants start switching from Veg to Flowering, instead of the new growth shooting out it sticks to the branch and hairs start to form around the tips. Here's what it looks like on her:

I don't think she's really going into flowering though. It's a 'false tuck'. But wouldn't it be nice if she was, what a big cola that branch would turn into!

 

[therevverend]

The volunteers are on a whole other level this year. This is the first time I've had a seed sprout naturally and grow it's entire life without getting dug up and moved. There's something special about her choosing her spot. I never considered moving her but I did move or cull her siblings. She always was the biggest one, the slugs chewed at her a bit but she always had the best growth. There's taller plants but she's the biggest in overall size.

Here's a picture of her other side. I love that I have to take two pictures to show her size.

Notice the dark gap in the lower right. Part of it is the time of day but there's an area that doesn't have many branches. It's her 'blind spot', sun either blocked by her neighbor and by the trees on that side. I pay attention to this type of stuff, it's amazing how efficient a plant is at getting every bit of light. I'm always looking at ways to help at, maximize the plants yield. If I was to tie her back this is one of the two or 3 ways I'd consider leaning her. I haven't and I won't because she'd either block the plants behind her or block out her own light.

When I planned and spaced my plants I didn't take the volunteers into account. They've created large blind spots in my select plants, I would have made better spacing if I'd known she'd get so big. It's probably a weak point of mine, I want to use every bit of space and don't take into consideration how big the plants might get. I have done much better then last year when I had to cut lower limbs to make enough space. It's a waste but I'd rather have more tops then scraggy lower limbs. Right now watering is tough, maneuvering my body and the hose into the patch without breaking limbs.

Since I didn't move her I didn't dig a deep hole full of amendments. I dug a moat around her and filled it with manure and the other stuff. One the one hand it shows I may be wasting money on some of the stuff I add to the soil. On the other it shows how much I've built up the garden soil and how healthy the micro soil life is. There isn't a yellow leaf on her.

I transplanted her tiny little sister along with a bunch of potato starts, mostly to get them out of the way. She was a scraggy little thing in early June. Didn't dig a hole or do much of anything, just layered a bunch of manure and some soil amendments around her. Much to my surprise she sexed female and has taken off.

She still looks dinky next to her sister but she's really taken off. She's on the edge of the potato patch, not with the other ganja plants so I size up her growth every day. Over the last month I've watched her go from potato sized, to 3 feet, to 5 feet, then she was looking right into my eyes. Now she's over my head, well over 6 feet. All the volunteers have a wonderful spicy smell. She isn't in a great spot for light, she got too big to move too quickly. I'm going to have to get the ladder and do some pruning if she's going to get enough light in late September to finish.

I haven't moved the last volunteer, left it in the place it sprouted like the first one. I didn't pay much attention to it, sprouted in the middle of potatoes and blended in with them. I watered and fertilized it but didn't particularly favor it. When it started shooting up I realized it was a special plant and it was too late to move her. She's in another bad spot, right next to my big Soulmate so I tied her over so she wouldn't shade it out.

The top is in the upper right, if you look closely you can see a bit of the main stalk. There's something special about how these volunteers grow, like they own the place. After I tied her over she had four main tops. The one closest to the Soulmate did everything it could to steal it's light. Her branches stuck out right in front of the Soulmate's main branches. I had to do something so I made clones out of the branch. But then it sent out new shoots that shot out towards the Soulmate and block every leaf it can. I don't know how it does it without eyes, guessing where the Soulmate's branches are and anticipating where it's going to grow.

If I hadn't tied her over she'd be huge, as it is she's about 6 feet tall. Ridiculously bushy. I can see how seeded ganja can flourish as a wild plant it seems to know what it's doing. Now I wish I had a volunteer male it's not my own landrace but it's in the right direction.

I won't know for sure what strains these are until they flower. I'm sure the two that sprouted together came from the same flower. I threw down a few rotten Mextiza branches in the area last fall so that's one possibility. The 3rd one and possibly all 3 could be Pot of Gold Hashplant. That would be nice because I didn't grow any this year. The 3rd most likely possibility is Purple Louie x Bubblegum. A great strain, even though it's less likely the leaf structure looks similar.

This year I got out my old Original Lui seeds, the un-hybridized mother strain to the crosses I've been growing. I feel like the hybrids are improvements, I really like the Lui x Bubblegum. The Original of course has it's strong points, especially because the beautiful color and sweet smell tends to dominate in crosses. Definitely making hybrids this year and I'd like to make more pure seeds because the original supply is aging and dwindling.

No idea how many generations old this strain is or how long Louie was breeding on it. I know the pattern in Mendocino is to select the best plants to breed with the best plants every year. Everyone grows Sinsi so probably no open pollination. No idea what region the strain originally came from although it's very likely to certain have Afghani genes. I'm leaning towards Mexican, Thai is a good second guess. The plant shape and structure seem Mexi to me. Here's a picture of my big one.

I'll try to get some pictures of my other ones and close ups of the leaf structure. Maybe we can make some unscientific guesses as to origins. No idea if it's related to other Mendocino purple lineages, it doesn't look like the other ones. At least the ones that are grown now, the GDP, Urkle, Ape, the ones in the 90s were much more variable. It does remind me a bit of a couple of those. I'm so glad I've been able to preserve at least one of the heirloom Mendocino purples in it's original form, we've lost so many. I actually saw some resin sparkle on the stem yesterday, rubbed it and it smelled awesome. I'm going to have to think to place exactly what it smelled like..

 

[ramse]

beautiful plants... you have a truly enviable garden

I see you don't train your plants...

despite the size of some plants do not even use trellis etc?
All right that some strains that you have should be fairly self-supporting

 

[therevverend]

I've never used trellising, at least not to the extent other people do. I don't do a lot of training, I figure their natural structure is more stable. They tend to lean towards the sun, once they get around 2 meters I usually stake them. The ones in the back row I stake back, away from the sun. This stabilizes them and opens up gaps between all the branches, making more tops and increasing bushiness. Here's a picture of the Superstitious plant tied off at the stake.

The stake is 6 feet, almost 2 meters. You can see the plant is outgrowing it and pulling the stake forward towards the sun.. I'm either going to have to tie it up with more stakes and twine or pound the stake deeper in the ground with a mallet. Probably both. In the spring the ground is soft and the stakes are easy to push into the ground. Now the ground is dry and very hard, I can't get the stakes in the ground very deep. Especially the big ones. That's where the mallet comes in.

I have a few 8 foot stakes I use for larger plants but they're difficult to get into the ground unless I find a soft spot. Too tall to pound with the mallet. Here's a plant that's outgrown it's stake, I need to get a bigger stake in to tie it back more.

The other problem is that the backside is a blackberry patch, lots of thorns. I always end up bloodied when I work at it. I use the small hand clippers for working near the plants, the bigger loppers for the higher deeper ones. Then I get out the machete to wail away and push them back. Between the plants and blackberries both getting bigger my hard work gets undone quickly. A couple weeks ago I cleared quite a ways back, leaving between 2 feet and a meter between the ganja and the berry patch. Now the gap has closed and I need to do it again.

I hate to have to do it because I lose quite a few good bunches of blackberries. They're ripening up now, next week will be blackberry pie season. In the end I make the sacrifice, I can always find more berries to pick around the neighborhood. It's riskier, the city and homeowners spray herbicides and I'd rather not eat poison I know mine are safe to eat.

In the middle and front rows I don't tie the plants back as much, just enough to keep them stable and growing tall. I want to keep a gap between rows so the branches on the back side get light as well as the front. Here's a pic of my Royal Kush tie off. I'll probably need to tie it up more when the autumn storms blow in and the branches get weighted down by water and flowers.

It used to be flush with the pole, you see how much it's grown and leaned forward. If I cut the twine it could flop over on the plants in front of it. I also use a lot of smaller stakes, branches will snap from growing to fast, birds trying to perch, watering accidents, and stormy days. If it gets bad I can make a mini-trelis with more stakes and twine. I don't want to have to do that, they get in the way and get bumped around and can do more harm then good.

To my surprise I noticed the huge volunteer isn't staked at all it has a strong structure and stability. Probably a benefit of letting it grow without transplanting. I've only got so much space and the plants seem to overgrow it but one benefit is that they support each other and block out the wind and rain. Plants in a thick patch are much more stable, almost create their own trellis of branches. The downside is that a large plant can take out a smaller plant or snap another plant's branches.

Over time you get a feel for which plant shapes are more stable, which are less stable. Leaf shape also plays a part. Some plants will bend and move with the wind, others will create lift and get whipped around like an umbrella.

When I was cutting blackberries today I came across an abandoned bird nest. It was well camoflaged, I didn't see it until I was cutting the branches holding it up.

 

[therevverend]

Been a couple months since my last post, the dreams and optimism of summer have puddled into the cold wet realities of autumn. Not all is lost dear readers but it's been cold and wet and humid, the antithesis of happy hashplant weather.

The Burkle 2.0s have been hit the hardest. They also are obviously the truest bred Afghanis so that's not surprising. Here's a picture of the one that I've always thought looked like the perfect hashplant. Notice how far it's leaning towards the sun, it's lost the perfect symmetry it had before.

I was surprised to find I'd never staked it, no wonder it was leaning so far. I've since staked it up well. A couple branches have bent but none broken. The heartbreaking part is the boytritis, the big frosty tops are getting hit. They're still big white hairballs, probably two weeks away from harvest. Everything's been soaked to the bone for 4 days, finally started drying out of it yesterday.

The other Burkle 2.0 has been horribly girdled by stem rot. When I say horribly I mean horribly.

That picture is almost 2 weeks old, it's progressed since then. Lost the branch on the left side. The amazing thing is that the top of the plant is so far unaffected, besides a spot or two of boytritis it's progressing nicely. It looks kind of like an Afghan-leaning blueberry, has a hint of blueberry smell. I've managed to keep the stem rot 'in check', if you can call it that, pouring rubbing alcohol on the new mold growth and the wounds, then smearing Neosporin all over. I really can't believe the plant isn't girdled yet but I'm expecting it any day.

Not so lucky with the little Kashmiri, it is girdled. I went out one morning to find this grotesque display.

The dangers of growing hashplants in temperate climates. My plan A is to harvest early, before the rains come. This year it didn't work at all. I'm not the only one being hit, I've been looking at maps of the jet stream and it's all fucked up. Usually at this time of year it shoots up through BC or Alaska, only occasionally bending down into Washington to give us scattered rain. This year it looks like a kinked hose, dipping down through Oregon and California. We're actually north of the jet stream now, for 4 days it was blowing through my front door. The problem is on Sunday when it'll shift back hopefully north of us again. It'll have to pass through my area bringing more ganja-rotting rain.

I can't remember a grow year this bad. I remember some mushroom seasons when I was picking them the first week of October but that was a long time ago. And even then the rains and cool weather came in the last week of September, not the middle part. Very strange, especially after the streak we've had of 8 or more straight warm Septembers. It's weird seeing the rest of the country and the world cooking while we've been cool and wet all year.

I predicted this in June, I could tell the weather wasn't right. The only solace is that I'm not the only one getting rained out. Growers from northern Cali up through BC are all getting the same, hopefully we didn't all stake our fortunes on Afghani genes. You know I didn't, I've learned my lesson and have a Plan B,C, and D if Plan A doesn't work.

Back to the little Kashmiri. She's girdled, the plant above the rot is dying a slow death. Large leaves are turning color and the flowers are maturing quickly. No real boytritis to speak of on the flowers and they smell amazing. Really really amazing, that old fashioned medicine cabinet smell. I never know how to describe it, the old Superskunk used to have the smell. Wonderfully frosty, I'd love to see what it'd be like if it wasn't girdled.

My big Kashmiri is mold-free so far but has absolutely no smell. Very very strange, the flowers are proceeding nicely, big upright plant covered in frost but no odor, none. It's annoying because of course my breeding plans didn't include the smaller, less vigorous plant but I'll probably throw some last minute pollen on the little one. Below the girdle line of course. 50/50 if the seeds will finish in time. I told myself I'd do all my breeding in the first part of September, get it over with early so the seeds mature, but I'm going to break that rule again.

The 88G13HP was also attacked by stem rot.

You can see it's nowhere near as bad as the Burkle and Kashmiri. I actually managed to kill the infection, rubbing alcohol and Neosporin did the trick. I also tried something new this year, a beneficial fungus called Gliocladium Roseum(=Clonostachys rosea). The product I bought containing it is called Prestop. It's a parasite of boytritis, devours the stuff and colonizes dead plant tissue. The stem rot had developed before I used it, it's going to be impossible to tell if it's working but I feel like it is. As bad as the weather has been it seems like it could be worse. The stem rot has stopped spreading and the boytritis in the flowers hasn't been quite as bad as I'd expected. It's still there, I don't expect a miracle cure, but even if it only helps 25% it'll be a life saver.

Haven't included any flower pictures this time, we'll save them for next time. I've gotta admit I'm praying for a miracle, you've never seen so many frosty, wonderful smelling wet flowers covered in white hairs. The old dilemma, take it early or wait until it matures and rots, is back. My thinking is to wait it out, take the biggest buds early if I have to. Some of this stuff is days away from harvest. It's tough growing in temperate climates..

 

[JustSumTomatoes]

Sorry to hear of your struggles man. This has not been an easy season. We will have better days ahead

 

[igrowone]

wonderfully detailed report
heart breaking details, will add my hopes for a weather respite

 

[therevverend]

It's time I updated this thread, put 2019's grow season to rest and plan for the new year. I've mentioned it before but anyone is welcome to talk about or post pictures of anything hashplant related. Well, any ganja really since all you need is your hands and your favorite plant can transform into a hashplant. Rub some of that resin and you're in business.

I've been slowly trimming my ganja, it's been hanging or stacked loosely in cardboard boxes since harvest. It's stored in a dark room at temperatures between 40 and 55 degrees F. Right now it's perfect, the chlorophyll has broken down, moisture level is right, burns perfectly in a joint. If I leave the flowers in my heated room around 65-70 degrees F it quickly becomes brittle and crumbly. I'm careful to avoid this, as soon as the flowers leave the cure room they must be trimmed and/or placed in sealed glass or plastic containers. I don't store my ganja in plastic bags because of the smush factor.

To me there's not enough discussion of curing, storage, trimming, all the stuff that happens after harvest and I neglect the subject along with everyone else. Robert C Clarke says in Marijuana Botany that more high quality cannabis is ruined by post-harvest mis-handling then any other way. I've taken this to heart. I've known too many growers that grow decent to excellent ganja who ruin it after harvest, neglecting their stuff in all sorts of foolish ways. I understand most people don't have the time or facilities to cure their ganja for two or three months but there's lots of things you can do to protect your crop from post-harvest degradation.

At harvest I remove all the fan leaves. When I started growing I did a lot of wet trimming, immediately after harvest. Now I never wet trim, I let the flowers get completely dried before I start. A lot of people talk about 'burping' their stash in containers. Letting their plants hang for a week until the outer flower part is dry but the inner stem is still wet. Then they stick it in a container, wait for osmosis to happen, the moisture spreading evenly through the flower. Then open the jar for a while, then stick the lid back on and repeat the process..

You can guess what I think about this method. When I'd first started growing, indoors, I'd do it too. In a hurry to get the ganja broken down into jars as quick as possible, mainly to contain the smell. I wouldn't go to the extreme a lot of people do, it'd be mostly dry and only need one or two burpings. Another reason I'd use this method was that my dry space would be too warm, the flowers would get brittle while the stems and inner part would still be wet. These are two reasons to burp, but it should be done out of necessity and avoided when possible. If you can dry your plants in a cool dry space let them hang until they're completely dry. Under 60 degrees F/15.5 degrees C. If the buds are harsh and brittle your area is too warm or you need to let them hang another week or two, until the chlorophyll breaks down more. If your space is warm, above 60 degrees F, you need to watch closely.

Once the flower is dry all the way through, stem and all, you have a small window to break it down into containers or lay it out in cardboard boxes. It'll get too dry and harsh if you let it hang too long in warm conditions. I love cardboard boxes, they're perfect for storing untrimmed ganja. Fill up the box, place clean newspaper or plastic loosely over the top, and store in a dark dry place. Of course cooler is better, at least try to get it below 70 degrees F/21 degrees C. If you're worried about dampness, mildew or mold, once a week you can re-stack the branches so the bottom ones are on top. Usually this isn't necessary.

There's a noticeable difference when smoking flowers cured this way, so smooth and tasty. The color changes a bit, the chlorophyll green will fade into lighter greens, reds, purples, greys and silvers. There's chemical reactions that occur, the THC, the terpenes and other minor components seem more active and ready for uptake into the receptors in your brain. There's threads around here about 'cob curing', different ways to ferment ganja the way they do it in the tropics. If you grow it, it's your ganja to enjoy however you like it, but I'd never do it and it seems unnecessary to me. I have smoked excellent African ganja, it really was an awesome experience I can see why people are interested. However ganja is a fine herb, it should be treated and cured as such and never exposed to bacteria. If you're making sage bundles, preserving mint leaves, oregano, or whatever, it's the same process there's a way to dry and preserve herbs for storage properly.

I didn't do a good job of wrapping up 2019's grow but curing and trimming are what's on my mind, it's that time of year. The stuff I'm bundling away or sifting into hashish will still be potent excellent smoke in September when next year's plants are ripening. As a grower that's what you can hope for. I've found ganja has an expiration date of almost exactly one year before it starts to degrade although the process starts as soon as you cut through a stem at harvest time. If you plan ahead and dry and cure it properly you should be plenty baked on your carefully stored stash until you're sampling the next year's harvest.

 

[therevverend]

The last post about my garden was a cliff hanger, grey mold appearing on several stalks and branches, with rain in the forecast. Would the weather warm up and dry out? Could my hashplants recover and yield like they should? The answer is no, the weather got much worse and I had to spend the next 3 weeks watching the flowers completely rot. I've never lost entire plants, this year was a first. The Burkle 2.0s were a total loss, I salvaged a few buds but that was it.

Then a wind storm blew in. It's ironic I talked about not using trelising because I could have used it. Maybe, or maybe it wouldn't have mattered. Plants were broken, twisted, and flipped upside down. The big volunteer, my biggest plant, snapped in two about 6 feet off the ground. It was hanging on by some skin. I almost cut it out and tossed it, thank God I didn't, it actually finished flowering over the next two weeks. The resilience of ganja is amazing. She went from looking like this:

To this:

The purple parts are above the broken stem, the green parts are below. It worked like girdling, accelerated the flowering process. Drastic change in color. If I remember I'll talk more about this later. It might be something people trying to recreate the old Columbian strains want to try.

My early stuff, finishing in late September to the first week of October was devastated. Usually these plants are my insurance, finishing before the rains. It worked against me this time. It was still summer, still around 70 degrees F, 20 degrees C, but soaking wet rain every day. Right in the sweet spot for grey mold. At one point I thought I might lose most of my crop.

I didn't. The first week of October it got cold, below the sweet spot for boytritis. Which is 64 degrees F to 74 degrees F. Dried out a bit. I sprayed with Prestop, a biofungicide, that's actually a fungus called Gliocladium catenulatum. It devours Boytritis. I can't say for certain it was the Prestop because the weather changed but it was a miracle and I suspect the Prestop was a factor. My three big volunteers finished late but they produced a lot of excellent ganja. Volunteer 3 finished later then anything else. Here's a picture:

That's early October, not even close to finished. She was an after thought, sprouted out of the same spot as her big sister. I stuck her in the ground in the potato patch because I didn't want to cull her. From a sad little scrag she grew like crazy, I still can't believe it. Wish I had proper pictures of her flowers.

She barely finished in time, I was taking down her big colas just as the mold was starting in them. Next time I'll talk about which strains succeeded and failed, what I learned, and put up some more pictures.

 

[therevverend]

After weeks of careful analysis spent smoking many bowls and joints and scissor scrapings and finger hash there's a couple clear winners in the 'best hashplant' category. Points are awarded for amount of resin, size of resin glands, ease with which resin is collected, and how blasted I get from smoking the flowers and resin. The Azad Kashmir and Ancient OG are head and shoulders above the rest of the crop. They are different types of plants with different types of resin but both kick ass in their own ways.

I was excited to grow the Ancient OG because of the pictures I'd seen. A monstrous mega-plant with big frosty colas that looked easy to trim. Mine didn't get exactly huge and I started them a bit later then my other stuff. It's deceptive, after April, May, June, it didn't seem like it would get very big. In early July it took off, caught up to the other plants and kept growing. It wasn't the biggest plant in my garden but the yield was great. Very high leaf to calyx ratio, it's got a great structure. Here's some pictures.

You can see it's beat up and twisted by the wind and rain storms but if you look closely you'll see the long cola form that I love. It finished in the 3rd week of October, which was perfect because it was after the main push of boytritis. I had one plant in a damper spot that got blocked out from the sun by mid October. It molded bad because the water didn't evaporate off it. The one in a drier spot with more sun showed great boytritis resistance. A few moldy buds on the north side of the plant, most of the south side was clean. It was very similar to the White Lotus I'd grown the previous two years, which was also an amazing excellent hashplant.

What made it amazing wasn't the good yield or mold resistance, it's the sheer amount of resin on the flowers.

That's ten days before harvest, hard to believe but it got frostier. The weather worked out perfectly for my late harvest, I had a rain-free week for the plants to finish. There was still lots of dew and it was cold but enough sun breaks to dry out a lot of the flowers. The losses were bad but not a disaster like my earlier plants. When the humidity was high and the temperatures were warm it wasn't far enough along in flowering to mold.

So the Ancient OG was nice, but what made it number 1? Every time I trim a few buds my scissors become unusable within minutes. Caked with resin. Then my thumb, index, and middle finger become coated and unbelievably sticky. I handle my flowers very carefully and gently. Doesn't matter, it still happens. The resin stuck to my hand easily peels off and I form it into little balls of the tastiest, most potent finger hash I've ever smoked. It's crazy how quickly it happens and how much I collect. It's very much like the White Lotus, same thing happened when I was trimming it. It's a pain in the ass to constantly clean scissors and fingers but it's my kind of pain in the ass.

On top of all that the Ancient OG is potent, has a wonderful strong high. You immediately feel your nerves relax through your body, very medical. Your brain feels a wonderful energy. It's narcotic but not a sleepy type, very aware type high. It would be great to play sports, wonderful to go hiking in the mountains, any sort of outdoor activity. Or sitting indoors watching a movie. It's as good as anything I've smoked and I've smoked a lot of stuff over the years. A little stronger then the White Lotus but not quite as relaxing, definitely stronger then Superstitious or Love Triangle. Can't wait to sift it for hashish. Those big resin glands are begging to be knocked off the flowers. It'll be so tasty and smooth.

The Azad Kashmir is a different sort of plant. It's clearly a landrace, the 3 plants I grew were quite different from each other. There was a small scraggy 'Himalayan ditch weed' type pheno, a small fragrant bushy pheno, and a robust chunky pheno with almost no smell. I'm going to talk about the robust plant because it's the best hashplant of the 3.

It's very strange because it looks good, nice n' frosty, but no smell. Maybe a mild pleasant plant odor, similar to coconut milk, but that's it. Doesn't smell bad just doesn't have the characteristic smell we're used to, especially for wide leaf hashplant types that usually have strong odors. Reminds me of some of the Northern Lights types. They were indoor grower favorites because you could have an entire room filled with frosty flowers but no odor to alert the neighbors. Terpenes are so emphasized now, everyone is obsessed with the idea that they are a big part of what creates a good high. I find it interesting that this plant has a strong wonderful high but none of the trademark terpenes. Better then a lot of other strains that have all sorts of amazing fruity berry candy flavors.

As soon as I got the seeds it was my goal to roll up and smoke a big joint with 'Kashmir' by Led Zeppelin cranked on the stereo. Mission accomplished. It was perfect, the psychedelic dreamy hashy high matched perfectly with the dreamy hashy psychedelic music and lyrics describing shining distant lands of mystery and delights. Even though the flowers have very little smell the smoke is fragrant and smooth. It took me back to the 90s, reminded me of some old Mendocino strains I used to grow.

This is nice and all, but it doesn't explain why it ranked as the best hashplant. Well, second best I'd grudgingly have to rate the Ancient OG number 1. Maybe. My trimming experience is different with the Kashmir. The scissors and fingers get gooey but nothing like the Ancient OG. Not even close. The noteworthy aspect doesn't show until I've trimmed several flowers and have a pile of trimmings on the screen in my trim box. Among the leaves there's quite a bit of beautiful bright silver resin. The resin glands are huge, the biggest I've seen in a long time. The flowers and leaves are an algae-bluish green so the silver color really stands out. I love silver resin. A few times I got White Russian that produced a similar type of resin but the Russian was closer to white. This is shiny almost metallic silver. I've noticed outdoor plants produce smaller resin glands then indoor plants, usually no bigger then 100 microns. I'd wager these are in the 120-140 range, bigger then any strain I've grown the last ten years.

The other thing that stands out, as a hash-maker, is that there IS resin mixed in with the trim. Doesn't happen with my other strains, even Ancient OG. The flowers are crumbly, I have to trim them with care or else they break apart and the resin falls off. I don't think this is a coincidence, I think the hashmakers selected for this trait. To break down and slide easily through screens. The resin doesn't stick readily to the scissors or fingers either. Maybe there'd be more resin mixed in with the Ancient OG trim if it didn't stick to my fingers and the scissors. The resin is DRY and the flowers are crumbly, exactly what I look for in a hashplant. No worries about clogged screens. I'd love to have a pound of Kashmir flowers to sift, I'd love to see the color of the hashish. I've been collecting the trim separate from the rest, unfortunately there isn't much of it.

Which is the disappointing part. The Kashmir wasn't a big yielder, it was right behind my biggest plant. The unplanned Volunteer. It didn't get to really bush out, plus it got hit by the damn boytritis. For a landrace hashplant type it fought well, managed to harvest quite a bit off it. Still, most of the big buds are riddled with mold. The crumbly structure did work in my favor. The boytritis tended to 'compartmentalize', I guess that's a word. Destroy it's local area but not spread beyond the segment to the rest of the bud. It's easily removed, I've salvaged quite a bit at least for hashmaking this way.

Here's pictures of the plant. You can see how white the resin is, how it stands out from the purple and green leaves.

In the future both these strains will be important medicinal plants for me. I can't wait to look for more Kashmiri phenos. The small bushy Kashmir is amazing but more as ganja then as a hashplant. It's strange because it's packed with terpene incense flavor. Wonderful rolled in a joint. When I hear the jackass who runs Phylos blabbing about how he's going to blow all the current strains out of the water I can't help but laugh. Despite all the breeding that's happened in the West, the gap between the 'modern hybrid' Ancient OG and the 'primitive landrace' Azad Kashmir, doesn't amount to a lot. I enjoy the Azad Kashmir high so much, it's hard for me to imagine the high getting improved. Realistically, the Kashmir could be improved in one critical area, and that's boytritis resistance. But then would you lose other parts of the genetics, the silver resin or crumbly structure?

 

[CannaZen]

Indoor stacking strands high energy transfer rates, outdoors they stretch a lot sometimes mismanage co-efficient vegetation density transfer load to flower outdoor. you can grow plenty of resin plants save the seeds the Kashmiri sounds bewildering. Really well.

Interesting you measure resin heads, seeing many obscure geographic varieties rise to the surface. been giving thought to resin heads compacting trichome density threshold, thought about inverting transfer of trichome population from the inside out - what makes them dense

I wonder what i saw on the leaf of my hashplant because it had what i remember were ingrown trichomes, rough visible trichome patches on the leaf during early veg-flower, rough sandpaper texture could of been thcv.


(Wos Pakistan Kush) what i procured from home. Not the most resinous specimen but very hardy, seeds could survive a winter, purple dark seed@!.
The rumor; that hashplants ergo tropical hybrid vavilov 1920 resin like rough sandpaper. Auto kush that mexican/afghan kush Nl#2 x pakistani ancestry. Some trichomes are soft, in fact the untested hemp specimen out of the pakik stock were velvety leafset whereas the afghanica/indica hybrid tropicana hashplant ganja cultivar specimen i had were a gem in the rough. large, sparse Rough trichomes.

Thank you for pointing that out only now I've had assembled that information. The reason i describe Tropicana purple stem/plant as the tropical sativa is that rainforest color/. I've seen grown here at ic. Seems i got almost every trait in one round.

 

[therevverend]

As a maker of sifted hashish I can't help but be interested in resin gland size. I do a bulk sieve then a select sieve using lab testing screens. It's helped me develop an eye for micron size. I've been using the lab testing screens the late 90s. They make the difference between good hash and great hash. I'll add crumbled dry ice to my loose resin in a 220-150 micron lab screen, then work it with a fine paint brush for about 20 minutes. Most of the glands slide through the screen to a 49 micron screen below. Then I add the dry ice to the 49 micron screen and work it around with the paint brush, try to get all the dust and mold spores to fall out the bottom. It's surprising how much falls through and how deceptively blonde it looks. But it's all plant matter.

I have a friend who's convinced that hashish with a blonde color is a sign of quality. It's not, it's a sign that your hashish has lots of plant matter. If you're using heat and pressure hashish will always come out dark. If blonde hashish is high quality it's because it was pressed with less heat and pressure. Of course blonde resin is a sign of quality but friction will always turn it darker.

I recently picked up a rectangular steel rosin press, works perfectly for pressing my hashish. I've been needing something like it for a long time. There's a lot of 'pollen presses' online, usually holds 7-14 grams. They're fine but they're not big enough and don't hold enough resin and aren't designed to be heated. My rectangle holds a max of around 80 grams but I've figured out how to press any amount by packing it into a corner. I wrap my resin powder carefully in food grade cellophane and heat the press up in the oven to 180 degrees F. (That's 82 degrees C!)

Then I pack the resin into the press and stand on it for a couple minutes. Covered in hot pads to retain heat. Then I set a heavy object on top, leave it for 20 minutes. Comes out looking almost professional, I've come a long way since my early hand pressing days. I was a little worried about heating up the cellophane but it didn't effect the hashish at all. Cooks are using cellophane in 320 degree F ovens, I've heated food in the microwave wrapped in cellophane. The highest I'd go with it is the boiling point of water, no sense in risking higher temperatures and I don't need to get my hashish that hot anyway.

When I started out I was hesitant to subject my hashish to heat. Over time I've gradually gotten it hotter and hotter. After making rosin and watching the pros in Afghanistan using a propane burner to heat their hashish for pressing I realized that heat is a critical factor. Converts the cannibinoids into a form more readily available. I'm theorizing that it makes the hashish more narcotic and stupifying but I need more tests to reach a conclusion. It's superior to raw resin powder, I understand why traditionally hashish is always pressed. Burns much better and easier to handle. I don't think all the pressure and heating is necessary, simple hand pressed or boot pressed hashish is fine for small amounts. The larger the amount the easier it is to press using heat.

I was going to talk more about my ganja, last time I talked about my best hashplants. This time I'll talk about my best 'ganja plants', stuff that is probably more enjoyable smoked as flower. More 'oily' then 'resiny'. I'll get to post in a little while.

Thank you for pointing that out only now I've had assembled that information. The reason i describe Tropicana purple stem/plant as the tropical sativa is that rainforest color/. I've seen grown here at ic. Seems i got almost every trait in one round.

I know what you mean, I do that too sometimes. Especially when it has the tropical purple flavor as opposed to the fuel/rubber/hash flavor.

The difference between 'naturally purple' plants versus 'environmentally purple' is interesting. When my big volunteer broke in two the part above the girdle turned bright purple. The part below stayed green. Check it out.

Same plant, the green flowers are from the healthy limbs below the break. It turned purple maybe to absorb more light, to compensate for the injury? I've seen lots of plants that turn purple as a reaction to cold and rain, some only turn purple on the parts that are hit by the sun. Here's one of my other volunteers, 'number 2', notice how the limbs in the direct sun light are purple. The ones that get less light are lighter colored and the ones mostly in the shade are green.

Late in the season, a week or two after I'd harvest most of my stuff, I was checking out a big flower I'd left to mature longer. The half facing the sun was purple, the half away was green. Two face flower. I think I've got pictures on my phone, I'll post them up here soon. I find it amusing when people say 'purple strains suck'. They don't realize if they grew their favorite strains outdoors there's a good chance they'd turn purple late in the season when temperatures drop.

 

[CannaZen]

its a survival mechanism heightened metabolism. sweet flavor. areas where heightened oxygen in the plant are advantageous. resisting disease, sun and soil attenuating healthy root transfer so as flourishing soil culture not subsuming the plant, something to do with nutrient torque throughput input the oxygen allowing the plant to persist for longer at threshold. areas of sun, heat, temperature and nutrient uptake.

 

[therevverend]

My friend who's been growing in Mendocino for 40 years is dismissive of most of the plants in my garden. He's a stem rub freak, always vigorously rubbing and sniffing his fingers. I've decided I'm going to rub my ass up and down the stalk of one of my plants on a summer day when he's on his way over for a patch walk. No doubt he'll proclaim it as the greatest strain of all time. Anyhow, last summer I sort of casually directed him towards my 5G Blue plant. After having a deep sniff he actually raved quite a bit about it which he doesn't often do in my garden. (in his garden he's blabbing on forever about each one of his plants) I'd noticed it too, it had a beautiful effervescent blueberry smell. I was a bit excited to see what his reaction would be.

I'd stuck it in a back corner, when I'd planned my garden I didn't account for the Volunteers. It wasn't totally blocked off from the sun, it got good light, but it was crowded in by tall plants. I wish I'd been able to get more space. It ended up having hardly any lower limbs, making it difficult to pollinate or check for mold or ripeness since I could barely reach the first big branch. Let alone inspect her. Here's a picture from late July.

She had that Afghan blueberry look, the glossy flowers. 5G is a 5 way cross, ([SFV OG x Chemdog] x Cinderella) X Diesel Berry (Sour Diesel x F13 Blueberry). Got to give the breeder, Ganja Rebel, credit. He did a hell of a job selecting his Blue line out of a multi-hybrid. I enjoyed the other 5G lines I tried as well, really nice stuff and great outdoors. 5Gs Blue has some of those interesting recessive Blue line traits. Check out the leaf-inside-a-leaf.

On harvest day in late October I could see the big colas up on top but I had no idea what they'd smell like or if they'd be moldy. I chopped the top and it was heavy! And mold free!

Gnarly stuff. The blueberry smell had changed into a purple fuel reek, the diesel part of the cross coming on strong. Out of all the flowers I harvested there was only a couple spots of mold. The flower structure is strange, there's an open spot along the stem behind each bud. No doubt this aided in air circulation. I'd known from the beginning, when I'd planted it out as a seedling, that it was special. The spot I planted it had some of the best shelter from the wind and rain, this certainly helped it fight the boytritis.

I was delighted that after the cure the fuel reek smoothed out into a wonderful complicated aroma. Incense, blueberry, sweet fruitiness, along with a subtle Afghan oiliness. There's a decent amount of resin but it's the oily greasy quality that makes it better enjoyed as ganja. I've smoked quite a bit of it with my Mendo friend, he says it smokes like the old Humboldt sinsemilla. It's very potent but not really knockout, has a great body high and no anxiety. It's most enjoyable rolled into joints, lets the sweet flavor linger on your tongue. Doesn't get much better..

 

[Happy Times]

Looks great Rev, nice one there!!

And I like how you happen to be wearing a top that’s the same color as those purple-black leaves

 

[RoyalFlush]

Well since this is a thread about Hashplants I believe asking for some info on the PNW Hashplant would be appropriate.

Anybody has info and/or pictures of the PNWHP?