New Caledonia and Zamaldelica x Kullu on the Chernozem

[yoss33]

Actually about half of the ZamKullu and half of the New Caledonia (inc. the top) were harvested just before the rains. It was a week of rains that caused no problem to any of the plants. New Caledonia passed the test. Now we are in the middle of a sunny week, that unfortunately will be followed by colder and cloudier weather, so I might harvest more after several days.

New Caledonia

 

[yoss33]

ZamKullu
It is a contender for the worst-looking plant, but the plant actually survived and the fluff has bulked a bit, with more visible resin.

 

[yoss33]

A couple of photos of the small ZamJarilla x hemp plant that is slow but in good condition and quite frosty for being 50% hemp.

 

[yoss33]

And the Purple Mexican clone that is quickly maturing and now smells more like an "usual" indica, like it did last year, adding more hash and coffee in the flavor.

 

[yoss33]

I harvested the plants yesterday No harvest photos because it was a little before dusk and my camera is not good.
New Caledonia and Purple Mexican gained good weight during the last sunny week and I call them a success, the ZamKullu - not. After harvest I made an "autopsy" of the plant, carefully digging the rootball out of the ground. My suspicions were correct, the plant didn't suffer from the cold wave, but from a wound on the rootball that was rotting with black-bluish fungus around the wound. The wound was from a dismembered root that has left a hole in the rootball. This has happened at the last storm in late September, when the plant slightly tilted to the west (blown by eastern winds). It didn't fall, just lightly tilted, so I thought it was fine, but under the surface the damage was bad. I lost a big Zamaldelica plant to exactly the same reason in 2013, and I've considered this a weak point of the strain - how the main stem is supported by the roots. Big Zamaldelica plants need a pole stick support to the stem, so that it doesn't bend in any direction. Looks like my ZamKullu plant inherited this weakness from the mother.

You can see the black/blue hole of the pulled root next to the fresh holes of roots that I pulled while removing the plant from the ground.

 

[yoss33]

Here are a few shots from the harvest of the ZamKullu plant that a friend grew next to his vineyard. All the leaves have been trimmed from the plant a few days earlier. The microwaved samples tell of a somewhat more heavy/dense effect compared to my plant.

 

[yoss33]

A week ago I harvested the small Kullu plant and the remaining 2 Zam x New Caledonia tiny plants. Only the Zam x ZamKullu seedlings are remaining, they will not manage to make any bud/trichomes as they are bringing their first pistils just now.
The Kullu was fairly potent on my first and only try so far. It's also nicely frosted. Looks like a good mother for the Kullu x ZamKullu seeds that I made with it.

Kullu

Zam x New Caledonia

 

[TexasTea]

Fun! I had a few tiny ones outdoors this year too. Pity we had so much rain as I lost most of my outdoor this time around...

 

[yoss33]

I've been waiting for the harvest to cure before sharing more impressions. After a month of cure:

The Purple Mexican is superb. It is cleaner and more pleasant than last year. In 2020, in a very sunny autumn it was more powerful and stony. Now in a cloudy and colder weather (but not wet, apart from a single week), it feels a tiny bit weaker, but VERY pleasant and seducing. Fun and motivation in the head, relaxation in the body. I would smoke it all day if it weren't for the tolerance buildup - after 3 days of smoking only Purple Mexican, I could no longer get any high from New Caledonia and only very weak high from the ZamKullu which was surprising. Then I smoked only ZamKullu and NewCaledonia for 3 days and was back to being regularly destroyed by 2 hits from the pipe with ZamKullu.
I've had similar experiences with other clones that have very pure and quality sativa high when grown indoors under LEDs, but have an overwhelming potent-but-not-so-quality high when grown outdoors under the strong sun. This outdoor harvest needs many months of curing to soften the effect, while the indoor one feels proper with only a month of cure. The buds on the sunny south side of big plants, like the mother Zamaldelica, always have been more potent than on the shady north side. More yellow, with slightly fatter leaves, chunckier buds that pack a punch, compared to the more green delicate flowers on the north side that feel more "clean" in effect.
So it seems, more sun is good only to a certain point, if you are more interested in "quality" than in the highest potency.

New Caledonia is nice, the taste was missing at first, but now after a month is fairly rich (a-la typical fruity Haze hybrid) and I guess will be really nice after several months. The high is functional, energetic and kind, without any burnout. A bit electric, but not edgy at all. Never intense, even in higher doses. Not psychotic/trippy, this is a high best appreciated in company with friends where it brings a lot of joy, and can be smoked a lot without anybody "tripping out". But I find it a bit too kind to smoke when I'm alone and want to make my day or evening more interesting.

ZamKullu is a beast. When I'm in good mood and in good physical condition (have slept enough), it's a superb wild electric rush. But when I'm even slightly anxious, and I feel that way from time to time in the last 2 years, I better not smoke from this, as it multiplies the anxiety many times. Most weed feels awful when you are anxious, but ZamKullu is special in that it's not so bad while under the effect (as one would expect) but it leaves you anxious for many hours after the effect has passed. The initial rush is not so bad as the anxiety buildup of smoking only ZamKullu regularly. The experience is also not good when you are tired - then it's more heavy and unpleasant, kind of delirious. So, I'd say the effect is quite like (low doses of) psychedelics, whether you call such effect trippy or not

 

[dubi]

Morning yoss33 Thanks for sharing more smoke notes from your this year outdoor harvest. Sounds like with the 3 types (the kind and energetic New Caledonian+psychedelic anxious ZamKullu+pleasant Purple Mexican sat/ind) you have well covered the upcomiong months with emblematic cannabis effects of your taste.
Zamaldelica x New Caledonia cross has lots of potential with the right blend of parental plants of each strain.

 

[yoss33]

Yup, I like the variety in my current stash, I'm well covered, thanks to Dubi and all the other breeders and growers that made all these strains and seeds possible
Zam x New Caledonia was very nice as far as the small tester plants went. And the effect was just what I expected - a more powerful version of New Caledonia, keeping the positive high, but more intense. I will most probably grow some big plants of these seeds in the following years. Not in 2022, as I need time to first smoke the New Caledonia jars and they will take me a year or 2
I still haven't settled on what to grow this coming season, I have a few months to decide. But so far I want to buy a pack of Pakistan Chitral Kush, find a late male and (back-)cross it to my Purple Mexican, for a more relaxed effect of the same quality and late flowering for an indica. I need a late-flowering indica that will avoid being pollinated by our feral hemp. I'll grow one of the females among the PCK seeds that I start looking for the late male. I hope the pure PCK doesn't start flowering too early.
I also want to grow a Zam x ZamKullu plant, to make sure this backcross has the potential to produce plants that can replace the Zam mother, at least in terms of effect. The small tester plants this year didn't make it, but the top of the biggest of them, not having started to flower, got me high in a pleasant and quality way, and considering ZamKullu's potency and effect, there's a lot of potential in the back-cross and I want a big plant this season.
I might also grow a 3rd plant, most probably Purple Mexican x ZamKullu.