Hunting for an ACE to wash

[5alamander]

As a lover of both hash and sativa energy, I'm often left looking something better than the mainstream, heavy-washing varieties. I am growing 5 Ace varieties in the search a strain that grows moderately quickly and produces trichomes suitable for ice-water hash.
Based on recommendations from dubi and The English Cut, I chose the following strains:

Zamaldelica Reg - The classic. I'm hoping the Malawi influence helps it produce some big, easily-separating trichome heads! This will be my third time growing this strain and I'm hoping for the best results yet. I have 3 seedlings of unknown sex. I've started some medium stress training to attempt to control any stretch. One of the plants seems to be super branch-y, I'm excited.

Malawi x Panama Fem - Two recommended strains for hash, what's not to like? I have 5 seedlings, similar in structure and leaf shape, with some slight variation. One is my favorite so far, bigger and with more aroma. All 5 share a similar, black-cherry, berry smell that is quite nice. Early terpenes are always a good sign.

Panama x PCK Fem (front 3) - I grew a Panama or Panama-dominant plant from a mix pack that was overwhelming lemon. I made several ounces of BHO that was great at first, but became too much of a good thing. Exhilarating and anxiety-inducing. I'm hoping the PCK will bring down the flower time, reduce stretch and lend to the hash production. One plant stands out with a rotten citrus aroma. It reminds me of the orange tree at my grandpa's house or that tangie funk.

Malawi x PCK Fem (back 3 from left)- Uncharted territory for me. Hoping for similar results to the Panama cross, but with that Africa touch. Bring on the massive trichomes.

Nepal Jam Reg (back right) - I grew a single fem seed that had amazing structure and plentiful, resinous buds, but it autoflowered like crazy. Unfortunately, I was unable to reveg the plant and I only got a taste of the delicious hash this strain can produce. In another round of bad, but not really bad, luck, my single seedling of NJ is a male. He is vigorous and may prove to be a good stud for bringing down flower times.

 

[Creeperpark]

Those are kick-ass plants you have friend. You can't go wrong with a selection like that. I'm going to follow you on these plants so keep me posted. Thanks

 

[tobedetermined]

One of my favourite Wake & Bake bubbles is Ace's Zamaldelica. I do small washes with everything I grow and I grew 2 fem plants - 2 distinct phenos. The Thai is a sharper, very focused energy buzz while the Malawi leaning pheno is rounder with less edge. I really like both - I am hitting the Thai this morning as a matter of fact. Their Malawi fem produced a nice hash as well but more of a sunny day big smile high versus energetic. I will grow them all again.

 

[5alamander]

Those are kick-ass plants you have friend. You can't go wrong with a selection like that. I'm going to follow you on these plants so keep me posted. Thanks

There are ~26 hash-specific strains hot on their tails, about 250-300 sprouts. We'll see how they compare, some are from a pollen-chucker and some are more legit. The bigger plants are some Sherbadough, Sundae Driver and Pie Face, clones that I can compare to their properly grown counterparts.

 

[5alamander]

One of my favourite Wake & Bake bubbles is Ace's Zamaldelica. I do small washes with everything I grow and I grew 2 fem plants - 2 distinct phenos. The Thai is a sharper, very focused energy buzz while the Malawi leaning pheno is rounder with less edge. I really like both - I am hitting the Thai this morning as a matter of fact. Their Malawi fem produced a nice hash as well but more of a sunny day big smile high versus energetic. I will grow them all again.

I've had two phenos of Zamaldelica myself: a very leafy, musty-smelling one and a hashplant-esque, purple, sour fruit one. Can't say which represents what parent, but I'd guess Malawi and Zamal respectively.

How did it wash? Was it dry or fresh-frozen? Small runs are tricky, but I love variety.

Here's some of that lemony, Panama BHO goodness:

editing to add data:

two plants in 10gal pots, promix, hand-watered, in 2/3rds of a 4x8' tent with 2 MH 300w SP3000 lights

3369g wet of flower (~650g dry?), blasted 2300g wet, yielding 88.5g of BHO, for a return of about 20% of the dry weight.

For washing, 10-15% would be on the lower end, 15-30% would be great, 30-40% would be

 

[goingrey]

A jar full of Panama BHO, my oh my.

Something I sometimes wonder about for making hash is the Moroccan Beldia Kif.

Lower yields and lower return on the already lower yield... that's why even the Moroccans are moving away from it.

But the best hashes I've smoked, not just that but the best highs I've experienced, were traditional Moroccan...

Of course there's more to it than just the genetics. The terroir, the post harvest storage, the hitting with a stick extraction, the dry sieving, mixing up the resin from an entire field of plants, the skill and experience of everyone involved... Difficult to replicate at home.

But still, sometimes I wonder.

 

[tobedetermined]

How did it wash? Was it dry or fresh-frozen? Small runs are tricky, but I love variety.

I bubbled 11 month old jarred Zam bud. Frozen a day before a machine ice washing. I have given up worrying about return, I just shoot for high quality.

 

[Cactus Squatter]

If you haven’t smoked the Malawi x Panama previously… woooooooweeeeeeeehowdiedooodieSlapthecrapouttamymomma!!!!
That stuff’s a whole different animal, at least the pheno I grew of it. Straight up “speed weed”/motivational rocket fuel. Cuts through any high and gives me laser like focus on any task I want to take on.
A hash run of that would be really interesting to say the least. Mine had fairly large Malawi style trichomes and was fluffy enough that it should be super easy to get a majority of the prime trichs off in an ice run.

Definitely looking forward to seeing how things go with these.

 

[tobedetermined]

My Zam bubble. Collected at 45u. Pretty clean but some stalks a a few plant bits but I am slowly getting the hang of making it. Sorry for the crappy microscope . . .

Straight up “speed weed”/motivational rocket fuel. Cuts through any high and gives me laser like focus on any task I want to take on.

That's the kind of weed that has me reaching for an Indica chaser.

 

[5alamander]

A jar full of Panama BHO, my oh my.

Something I sometimes wonder about for making hash is the Moroccan Beldia Kif.

Lower yields and lower return on the already lower yield... that's why even the Moroccans are moving away from it.

But the best hashes I've smoked, not just that but the best highs I've experienced, were traditional Moroccan...

Of course there's more to it than just the genetics. The terroir, the post harvest storage, the hitting with a stick extraction, the dry sieving, mixing up the resin from an entire field of plants, the skill and experience of everyone involved... Difficult to replicate at home.

But still, sometimes I wonder.

I do believe that strains from regions with the strongest hash traditions will have the best strains for hash as far as flavor, not even the quality of the heads. But by the time you process them out the traditional way, drying and beating, many of the terpenes will have been lost. That's not to say the product won't be top quality, I think low terpine, high THC strains are some of the smoothest to smoke. Repressing rosin after the THC microcrystals have nucleated to produce solventless THC-A produces something that's a pleasure to smoke. But for such flavorful, aromatic strains, like Panama or PCK, I don't want to waste any of those wonderful flavors.

 

[5alamander]

My Zam bubble. Collected at 45u. Pretty clean but some stalks a a few plant bits but I am slowly getting the hang of making it. Sorry for the crappy microscope . . .

View attachment 18748659



That's the kind of weed that has me reaching for an Indica chaser.

Looks great to me, how did it melt?

Here's a microwash I did of a small Nepal Jam. Paddled by hand in a 220u bag for ~45min - 1hr. Sorry about the picture quality.

Plain hash on the left, rosin after kneading and fresh off the press on the right

 

[tobedetermined]

Looks great to me, how did it melt?

Here's a microwash I did of a small Nepal Jam. Paddled by hand in a 220u bag for ~45min - 1hr. Sorry about the picture quality.

That looks very very smokable. I have a press, but I keep my hash in crystals since I find it so much easier to use. Sticky goo and I don't get along well.

Mine melts well enough to clog fine pipe screens.

 

[5alamander]

This thread is overdue for an update. I lost a few plants do to pH issues and overwatering, culled a few males (except for NJ), and pulled some slower seedlings off the bench. I'll likely switch them to flower soon and try to keep them small.

But mostly I've been occupied with this strain hunt!

That's around 250 "hash-specific" strains selected primarily for promised fruity terps. Since this picture was taken, around 20-30 males have been culled and a similar number of females singled out from the rest. There are a handful with extreme vigor and promising traits.

One standout is this male (which is still alive):

The rest were barely even showing signs of sex, he might be a good stud.

 

[dubi]

Big up @5alamander for the courage to make such a big selection (in such small space!). delicious looking hashes, rosin and extractions makes me feel literally hungry ehhehehhehe
@The English Cut is the man to learn all about the finest extractions

Really appreciate you are including some ACE strains into your project. Zamaldelica fem version is imo better and much more consistent to find suitable females for extractions than the regular version (btw, thanks @tobedetermined for sharing your experience !) .

Malawi x Panama fem is probably the best, most consistent choice among all ACE sativa strains (in % of return). Malawi x PCK fem is an excellent choice as sativa/indica for extractions: really good return, and top noth quality of the resin, excellent potency, effects and terpenes as well ..... same goes for Panama x PCK, although i find more consistent Malawi x PCK for that goal. In the sativa/indica field Zamaldelica x Kali China is also a great choice and every plant is unique.

Nepal Jam was greatly improved in 2014, for resin production too, although the fem version is probably more consistent choice.

On the commercial side i like Bubba Kush a lot for extractions. I used to like to recommend Bubba Hash a lot for hash making and extractions, but unfortunately is no longer available. Bubba Kush x Malawi from R+D section offers lots of potential, Bubba Kush x ErdPurt too and Lavender x ErdPurt too.