Here is the Iraqi Babylon that I have been experimenting with recently... It has a great back-story and a great name... but more interesting is it's flowering trait - it flowers after just 6 hours of darkness (or more) each night - which basically means that once you put it outdoors (from your indoor veg room) it starts flowering almost immediately..
It's a great smoke in it's own right and not related to modern Autoflowering cannabis at all - it is not a ruderal strain of cannabis, it's a photoperiod strain, just like normal, it's just that it only needs 6 hours of night to initiate flowering instead of 12... This means that you can maintain mother plants in your grow room (light on at 20 hours a day, minimum), take cuttings and veg for as long as you like - but once you put those plants outdoors (or in the greenhouse) they start to flower immediately. And it's not just that the flowering process starts immediately - they actually come into flower scarily quickly, too - it's just a few days after putting them out that you start to see them changing (at least the quickest - and less branchy - ones, anyway) The males below (see photos) have been outdoors for less than a week and were vegging fine when I put them out.. The females aren't quite as quick but I can already see that they are changing from veg to flower.. yes, it is September but actually plants start to flower much later up here - mid September before I see any flowers, usually... nothing else is flowering right now but I do admit that I need to put out a pure Babylon or two in mid June to see how early it really will start here - theoretically it should be sometime in early to mid July... which would be amazing as it would be over 2 months earlier than usual..
The plants do lack a bit of vigour (as a lot of hash plants from that part of the World can do..) but I have one female which was better and more vigorous than all the others so I'll use her with 4 or 5 males to maintain a genetic diversity whilst still making sure that every seed has the potential to be vigorous..or at least has a vigorous mother...
The question for me (other than keeping the line pure) is... how well does it outcross? What will happen if I cross it with another photoperiod plant but with the normal 12/12 day/night thing? Will it pass the 6 hours thing on? Will he offspring be an average of 6 and 12 hours darkness in order to start to flower? Like maybe 9 hours, instead of 12? Or will half the plants be more like 6 and the other closer to 12?
If I can reduce the night hours needed to initiate flowering then the obvious result is that the hybrids made using the Babylon will start to flower much much earlier in the year - which will bring plants like hybrids with longer flowering sativas into play for outdoor/Greenhouse growers or for indoors it will mean that you can have the lights on for 3 or 4 hours longer each day -and that means larger yields (or it should..)
The advantages are obviously similar to Autos but without using any Ruderal genetics. Yes, Autos are getting better but ... don't kid yourselves that they're as good as non-ruderal plants... but let's not have that conversation here - this is about the Babylon and anyway - you can't maintain a Motherplant with Autos and therefore grow out clones of your favourite selection and you can't veg them to be whatever size you like before putting them out to flower -all of which you can do with the Babylon..
So, pure, the Babylon is the answer for growers who want a hash plant that they can get 3 crops a year from and as a hybrid it has the potential to allow growers anywhere to grow out hybrids of plants that they never thought they would be able, like Thai or Jamaican, etc...and get them finished much much earlier without having to manipulate the dark period each time or use Autos. If you live in an area where the bad weather starts early or you have seasonal fires or need to grow within a certain time period for whatever reason - then the Iraqi Babylon is perfect. I really want to cross it with my favourite Pakistani hash plant (the Paki'75) just so that I can call the hybrid the 'IraqiPaki'...or to the African Black Magic, so that I can make the 'Babylon Black Magic'
Anyway, I'll keep you informed of what I find..
[apologies for knocking Autos - I actually love them, although they can be fucking fussy..]
First photo - the main mother to be
Second photo - less vigorous female
Next two - the males (close up on the tops) less than a week after putting them outdoors
It's a great smoke in it's own right and not related to modern Autoflowering cannabis at all - it is not a ruderal strain of cannabis, it's a photoperiod strain, just like normal, it's just that it only needs 6 hours of night to initiate flowering instead of 12... This means that you can maintain mother plants in your grow room (light on at 20 hours a day, minimum), take cuttings and veg for as long as you like - but once you put those plants outdoors (or in the greenhouse) they start to flower immediately. And it's not just that the flowering process starts immediately - they actually come into flower scarily quickly, too - it's just a few days after putting them out that you start to see them changing (at least the quickest - and less branchy - ones, anyway) The males below (see photos) have been outdoors for less than a week and were vegging fine when I put them out.. The females aren't quite as quick but I can already see that they are changing from veg to flower.. yes, it is September but actually plants start to flower much later up here - mid September before I see any flowers, usually... nothing else is flowering right now but I do admit that I need to put out a pure Babylon or two in mid June to see how early it really will start here - theoretically it should be sometime in early to mid July... which would be amazing as it would be over 2 months earlier than usual..
The plants do lack a bit of vigour (as a lot of hash plants from that part of the World can do..) but I have one female which was better and more vigorous than all the others so I'll use her with 4 or 5 males to maintain a genetic diversity whilst still making sure that every seed has the potential to be vigorous..or at least has a vigorous mother...
The question for me (other than keeping the line pure) is... how well does it outcross? What will happen if I cross it with another photoperiod plant but with the normal 12/12 day/night thing? Will it pass the 6 hours thing on? Will he offspring be an average of 6 and 12 hours darkness in order to start to flower? Like maybe 9 hours, instead of 12? Or will half the plants be more like 6 and the other closer to 12?
If I can reduce the night hours needed to initiate flowering then the obvious result is that the hybrids made using the Babylon will start to flower much much earlier in the year - which will bring plants like hybrids with longer flowering sativas into play for outdoor/Greenhouse growers or for indoors it will mean that you can have the lights on for 3 or 4 hours longer each day -and that means larger yields (or it should..)
The advantages are obviously similar to Autos but without using any Ruderal genetics. Yes, Autos are getting better but ... don't kid yourselves that they're as good as non-ruderal plants... but let's not have that conversation here - this is about the Babylon and anyway - you can't maintain a Motherplant with Autos and therefore grow out clones of your favourite selection and you can't veg them to be whatever size you like before putting them out to flower -all of which you can do with the Babylon..
So, pure, the Babylon is the answer for growers who want a hash plant that they can get 3 crops a year from and as a hybrid it has the potential to allow growers anywhere to grow out hybrids of plants that they never thought they would be able, like Thai or Jamaican, etc...and get them finished much much earlier without having to manipulate the dark period each time or use Autos. If you live in an area where the bad weather starts early or you have seasonal fires or need to grow within a certain time period for whatever reason - then the Iraqi Babylon is perfect. I really want to cross it with my favourite Pakistani hash plant (the Paki'75) just so that I can call the hybrid the 'IraqiPaki'...or to the African Black Magic, so that I can make the 'Babylon Black Magic'
Anyway, I'll keep you informed of what I find..
[apologies for knocking Autos - I actually love them, although they can be fucking fussy..]
First photo - the main mother to be
Second photo - less vigorous female
Next two - the males (close up on the tops) less than a week after putting them outdoors
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