India tropical NLDs

[musigny23]

It seems like except for Kerala, India's tropicals are largely overlooked by western growers. Yes they are "long flowering" but not really any more so than the Thai/Lao types westerners like to check out. It's a huge country with many local types and there are reliable online sources for seeds. I am growing several types outdoors this year and see some very encouraging signs as they get deeper into flowering.

This is Phoolwani. It's from either Odisha or Andra Pradesh. It's a red stem pheno that is fairly unique to India types as far as I can tell. I also have red stem examples of two others types. This one has gotten darker lately. The stems are now nearly black purple. Possibly due to colder nights. The flowers look they they will be purple too. I'd guess this has 3 to 4 weeks to go so I hope weather conditions hold up. A little rain shouldn't matter as long as there are also sunny days. Three or more days of wet cold weather could cause problems. I suppose that risk is a main reason to avoid them but Thai/Laos have the same issue. And these have unique terps and effects not found elsewhere.

 

[goingrey]

Maybe in addition to the long flowering there's also at least a perception that a lot of Indian cannabis is for charas and not ganja.

 

[musigny23]

Maybe in addition to the long flowering there's also at least a perception that a lot of Indian cannabis is for charas and not ganja.

Ok but westerners have been growing hash plants and not making hash but just smoking them for decades. That's certainly been true in the US.

I'm not posting to try and figure out why Indian NLDs are overlooked, I'm trying to show that they are something worth checking out.

 

[musigny23]

Here is Shilong from Meghalaya State in northeastern India. Meghalaya is known for being extreme rains but I think there is a drier season too. However my three Shilong plants are showing incredible disease resistance so far. Here at 37°N they didn't really commence flowering till late September. There have been several rain events and many cold wet misty nights. That caused some brutal disease outbreaks in other plants that are bred plants from reputable seedbanks. Those plants were faster flowering and nearly finished so the wet weather was badly timed for them. Still the India NLDs have had ZERO disease so far. I'm super impressed. It's as if there's no such thing as botrytis as far as they're concerned. I'm hoping they're also potent with nice effects.

This is the green pheno Shilong plant. There is another plant behind it on the left side of the photo. All green. Very branchy with numerous bud sites and colas. This plant has also been super tough in the wind. It's in a spot that can have strong gusts hit it and despite that no broken branches. No disease and no breakage. I just have not seen that before. Everything from breeders is susceptible to one or the other but usually both.

The larger plant on the left is a red stem Shilong. Also zero disease or breakage. Not quite as red as the red stem Phoolwani but still some weeks to go. The plant on the right is red stem Koraput Purple from Odisha near the Andra Pradesh border.

A close up. There is red under the leaves. I think it will show more as it matures.

 

[musigny23]

Here are a few pics of the Koraput Purple. This is to the right in the second photo in the previous post. It's actually very similar to the Phoolwani red stem in the first post. As India is the main place where NLDs evolved in the world, I bet there is a genetic link from these red stem plants and red and purple Columbians and other Central American types. Again zero disease after rains and conditions that triggered bred plants to break out with problems.

 

[Hempy McNoodle]

What an inspiring thread! I've been more and more interested lately in learning about Indian ganja. Would be awesome to travel there someday. Good luck with them. I look forward to the smoke report!

 

[achille]

Fascinating and beautiful

 

[musigny23]

This plant is Araku Mango from Andra Pradesh. This state is known for cannabis production. So this is what would best be described as a tribal domesticated type. This is a green plant, and I haven't seen any red stem phenos of it. This is another very disease resistant type. Rainy weather which would ruin an afghani or modern hybrid just don't affect this plant. Anybody looking for disease resistance should be seeking these types out. Yes they are equatorial and only start to flower when days return to 12/12 outdoors in temperate latitudes but they are an example of why preservation is essential.

(The plant in the lower left corner of the first photo is a Lao type, flowering at 12/12 also and handling rainy weather with no problems so far.)

 

[Roms]

Big up Musigny thank you for the show!

Have you ever heard about some Mumbai Mitai kind ? Chocolat Hindi

 

[musigny23]

Big up Musigny thank you for the show!

Have you ever heard about some Mumbai Mitai kind ? Chocolat Hindi

I have a type called Mitori, it's from Maharastra which is the State where Mumbai is so maybe it's the same but translated differently. I haven't grown that one yet. Next season.

India has many local types and of course there is wide variation. Very Intensive breeding isn't practiced there as it is in western countries in rural areas so where people grow things are domesticated rather than bred which means some plants will be very good and others not. These will not test at 20+% THC but there's more going on. The effects can be very nice all the same.

 

[Roms]

Good luck to you with your selections Musigny, the landrace game is wide but i think that according to farmers and areas the general quality and genetics can be improved and special. I mean in relation with historic good places, human culture and rituals associated. Maybe some fields and caste connection with brahmin and special ganja farmers i wonder! ?

 

[musigny23]

Good luck to you with your selections Musigny, the landrace game is wide but i think that according to farmers and areas the general quality and genetics can be improved and special. I mean in relation with historic good places, human culture and rituals associated. Maybe some fields and caste connection with brahmin and special ganja farmers i wonder! ?

Thanks, I suppose some improvement is possible with some selection but the best pheno plants can be very fine. Having been in CA the past 40+ years it was many years of all hybrids. I remember the Columbians and Thais of the 70s and I wanted to grow some non hybrids to experience them first hand.

 

[musigny23]

This one was a late addition, Sheelavathi from Andra Pradesh I think. Nice pine tree structure. Many buds strung along the branches. Needs a few weeks more for sure. I hope the weather allows it to finish. We're about to get some stormy rainy weather for two days. There's been several rains so far and temperatures gotten much cooler. It's turned a bit paler green and is dropping yellow leaves which is probably normal at this point.

Sheelavathi is said to be a tribal domesticate the was selectively bred in recent years. I can't say how defined and stabilized it actually is but it's certainly all NLD and long flowering.

 

[shiva82]

beautiful plants . thanks for sharing

 

[yesum]

Had not seen this thread till today. Very interesting. I have grown out the Manipur, Kullu, Chellakutti, Kerala so far. Have Sheelavathi seeds and some Lolab Valley seeds.

Curious on how these lines of yours get you high. The Chellakutti is the most trippy line I have now, and I have quite a few.

 

[musigny23]

Had not seen this thread till today. Very interesting. I have grown out the Manipur, Kullu, Chellakutti, Kerala so far. Have Sheelavathi seeds and some Lolab Valley seeds.

Curious on how these lines of yours get you high. The Chellakutti is the most trippy line I have now, and I have quite a few.

Hard to say exactly as I haven't done close direct comparisons. I grew Chellakutti in 2020 from a reproduction run by Khalifa Seeds. The female I had going was doing quite well until she hermed hard.

 

[musigny23]

Here are a few closeups of a red stem Shilong plant. We just had a hard rain storm and a few cloudy damp days. Today is the first sunny day and this is looking pretty good. Rain doesn't seem to bother these India plants much. Not like CA hybrids. Put those through a few similar days and afterward they will likely break in mold. These don't. Which is good because late finishers like are pretty certain to get wet a few times before finishing around here. It is very unlikely to pass through October and November without several mild rains and a storm or two.

I should add that these are not fat colas, more slim spears. This plant was not in the ground but in a cloth grow bag and it maxed it out. Give more soils and space this could have been a huge plant. Since my in ground spots are limited I grow new to me types in the bags to see what I think before giving them a prime in ground spot. Next year.

This is my idea of Fall colors.

 

[musigny23]

Here's a few shots of the red stem Phoolwani that's in the first post of this thread, now 10 days later and after a rain storm. Less new white stigmas and a bit bigger now. Getting there. Maybe two weeks more? Hard to say, especially because of weather changes and timing. I really hope the next few weeks are mostly sunny.

As a tribal domesticated type or "landrace" these won't be super high THC plants but I still expect very appealing terpenes and nice effects.

 

[grayeyes]

Pretty impressive and sparkly!!! Hang in there I know it is a pain to wait but I did 22 weeks on malawi I am sure with what you are seeing you will hang in there.

 

[musigny23]

Pretty impressive and sparkly!!! Hang in there I know it is a pain to wait but I did 22 weeks on malawi I am sure with what you are seeing you will hang in there.

Thanks! Oh yeah I have been doing some long flowering late finishers for about 5 - 6 seasons so I'm used to this now. It's most of the Thai/Lao and India NLDs (and Columbians) that do this. It was seeing them survive a very strong storm last October when I realized they can handle such events, as long as they are a few weeks away from being finished and get some nice weather that allows them to finish nicely.