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Punto rojo selection and repro

Alpenglow

Well-known member
@Senior Grower
Read #7 please before you get in trouble at one point here
 

RingtailCanyon

Well-known member
Colombian Punto Rojo

Colombia is a green, lush, beautiful country located in northwestern South America. Colombia borders Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru and has a coastline on the Pacific Ocean and one on the Caribbean Sea. It is a land of extreme landscapes and high mountains, and has lots of different micro climates. There are over 45 million people living in the country, mostly natives. The Spanish arrived in 1499 and initiated a period of colonization, taking as slaves or killing most of the local population. After centuries of colonization, independence from Spain came in 1819, and after a period of transition the country took the shape it has still today, when Venezuela became an independent country as well. The independent Republic of Colombia was declared in 1886. Since the 1960s, government forces, left-wing insurgents and right-wing paramilitary forces have been involved in one of the continent's longest-running conflicts. Fuelled by cocaine and cannabis trade, the violence escalated in the 1970s and 1980s but in more recent times the fighting has steadily decreased. Many paramilitary groups have disappeared or surrendered to the government, and the guerrillas have lost control of many rural areas. Economical progress has helped a lot in this sense. Colombia is now a very powerful economy in Latin America, trading coffee and minerals and boosting a very diversified economy.

Colombia is ethnically diverse, with many cultures integrating together: original native inhabitants, Spanish colonists, Africans brought as slaves and twentieth-century immigrants from Europe and the Middle East, all call themselves Colombians. The majority of the cities are in the highlands of the Andes mountains, but Colombian territory also includes the Amazon rainforest, tropical grassland and the long Caribbean and Pacific coastlines

The history of Punto Rojo goes back thousands of years, and it is almost impossible to trace the origins of the landrace.

Colombian cannabis became famous for the first time during the 1970s, when large crops were planted to satisfy the growing demand from the United States and Canada. At the time the cocaine trade was already booming, and the same cartels that controlled the cocaine production started getting involved with the production of cannabis on a large scale. The local population used cannabis since before the arrival of the Spanish in the fifteenth century. Seeds arrived on the American continent from Asia through migrations and animal propagation, and the favorable climate produced many landraces all over the continent. In Colombia there are several different landraces but they all can be grouped in two separate categories: highland and lowland cannabis. Highland landraces grow at altitude, in cooler and less humid areas, and are more potent and psychedelic; the most famous are Punto Rojo and Colombian Gold. Lowlands landraces are less powerful and more commercial (for example, Colombian Red), and they are cultivated in the grassland or near the coastlines.

Punto Rojo is considered the highest grade cannabis in the country, a slim sativa that grows above 800 meters on the sea level, and up to 2000 meters. The plants are tall, slender, with long branches growing almost horizontally, parallel to the ground. The internode is long and stretchy, but stalks are thick and capable of supporting heavy weights. The leaves are lime-green, with long non-overlapping leaflets and very sharp edges. The flowering time is quite long, but the tropical location allows multiple crops per year. Buds start forming as the plants reach the meter of size, and continue to develop and ripe for 10-12 weeks. The resin is produced in large amounts and has a typical thickness, forming a uniform coating all over the buds. The Punto Rojo smells fruity, like lime and mango, and has a very distinct woody background like most highland sativas from the south American continent. Smoking the Punto Rojo is a unique experience, even for the experienced stoner. Already at the second or third puff the creeping effect starts, delivering a powerful psychedelic high, fast hitting and long-lasting. It is a rush-high that has a very social side to it, stimulating and very funny. It is considered unrivalled in quality by many artists and by more mature smokers.

Many people tried to grow the Punto Rojo indoors after collecting seeds and bringing them abroad, but the potency can never be replicated. There is something in the sun that activates a whole different range of terpenes and cannabinoids in the resin, and in combination with the rich Colombian soil it is a very powerful cocktail. It is a combination of natural factors that ensures the top potency.

The fields of Punto Rojo are often hidden deep into the forest, in remote rural areas, directly under the control of the cartels or the guerrilla troops. Seeds are planted during the wet season by the farmers. Each square meter of field is planted with hundreds of seedlings, so nature selects the strongest ones. At the end of the crop there will be only 4-6 plants per square meter, sometimes less. They grow very dense, branching into each other and forming thick bushes, sometimes reaching 3 meters of height or more. The total production of Punto Rojo represents a small part of the cannabis coming out of Colombia, and it is considered the top of the line when it comes to quality. The price per kilogram on the market is higher than any other local strain, and fluctuates according to the production and the availability.

Of all the names of landraces that became popular in the 1970s, Punto Rojo is surely one of the few that survived untouched, unspoiled, and still thriving on the international markets. The quality has been preserved, the flavor is still the same, as many old-school smoker can tell. Perhaps the fact that the genetics are in the hands of real guerrilla growers helped.

Franco Green House Seed Co.
 

RingtailCanyon

Well-known member
Colombian ‘Red Bud’

“Californians are very picky about their weed,” he said. “They always want top quality. . . . We decided to import Punta Roja, or ‘Red Bud,’ a highly potent plant grown in the interior of Colombia. . . .

“To get the Red Bud to the coast, we would fly it over three mountain ranges in old planes--DC-3s, DC-4s and DC-6s--and air drop it on a beach. We’d hire an entire fishing village to gather up the bales and store them until we got there.”

Perlowin said his men got there in heavy-duty, long-range fishing boats ranging up to 80 feet in length--craft designed for shrimp, crab, tuna, cod and the like, but equally capable of hauling 15 tons of marijuana apiece. Larger boats--a 124-foot tug and an 85-foot minesweeper--were kept ready in case a breakdown necessitated a tow or offloading at sea.

The ocean trips from Colombia, for the most part, were uneventful--three-week voyages during which the boats were rigged out as though fishing for whatever catch was appropriate for season.

The real trick was to avoid the various federal agencies patrolling the coast near San Francisco by air and sea, and Perlowin said he set up two surveillance sites to keep track of them--one in a mobile home parked off Skyline Boulevard, on the south side of the Golden Gate, the other on a hilltop in San Rafael, north of the Golden Gate.

 

RingtailCanyon

Well-known member
  1. Gig Initiates out of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Mid-September, 1972
  2. By the beginning of October, 6,000 pounds of beautiful, tight red bud, known to Skip and the Crew as Punta Roja was loaded on board the Everglades Lady, a converted 72 foot trawler in Santa Marta, Colombia
  3. Load is safely off-loaded off the west coast of Florida sometime near the end of October 1972

BOATS USED:​

“Everglades Lady” – A 72 foot Desco Converted Wood trawler. Aft deck of trawler had a converted wood room where all 6,000 pounds of Pot were stored on the long journey north. Powered by a single engine Caterpillar Diesel.

LOAD SIGNIFICANCE​

This was Skip’s first self financed gig. The load was Financed from profits of small time gigs after his return from Europe, Skip and his partner used this beautiful load of 6,000 pounds of Punta Roja to expand their operations in the world of Pot Smuggling.

TIMELINE:​

After much research, this load seems to be one of the first large-scale loads of sweet Colombian Bud shipped out of Santa Marta in the early days of pot smuggling.

 

Lugo

Well-known member
Veteran
  1. Gig Initiates out of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Mid-September, 1972
  2. By the beginning of October, 6,000 pounds of beautiful, tight red bud, known to Skip and the Crew as Punta Roja was loaded on board the Everglades Lady, a converted 72 foot trawler in Santa Marta, Colombia
  3. Load is safely off-loaded off the west coast of Florida sometime near the end of October 1972

BOATS USED:​

“Everglades Lady” – A 72 foot Desco Converted Wood trawler. Aft deck of trawler had a converted wood room where all 6,000 pounds of Pot were stored on the long journey north. Powered by a single engine Caterpillar Diesel.

LOAD SIGNIFICANCE​

This was Skip’s first self financed gig. The load was Financed from profits of small time gigs after his return from Europe, Skip and his partner used this beautiful load of 6,000 pounds of Punta Roja to expand their operations in the world of Pot Smuggling.

TIMELINE:​

After much research, this load seems to be one of the first large-scale loads of sweet Colombian Bud shipped out of Santa Marta in the early days of pot smuggling.

Great info, thanks for sharing!
 

OldCoolSativa

Well-known member
Time for an update. Back in May I started popping seeds for this year's grow. Half the plants are hazes that I'll describe in this other thread starting at post #125.

I'll describe here the Colombians I'm growing this round, including the seeds I made, or tried to make, from the best and most feral-looking female and male from last summer's hunt, PR13 x PR19. Unfortunately, the pollen from PR19 was a little lumpy and hardly any of it took. I only had six seeds from that branch on PR13 that I hit with lumpy PR19 pollen, so I popped all of them, and managed to kill two at the seedling stage. Of the four that remain, I believe only one of those is the actual scion of PR19; the others look great but are probably from stray pollen from the other males I used. But this F2 is a crazy looking MOFO that is taking its time to show sex. It interests me.

The feral-looking punto rojo F2 from PR13 x PR19
063024 PR F2.jpg


The other Colombians I'm growing this round are puntodorado BX. Puntodorado = punto rojo x Colombian gold. These come from a pairing I made a few years ago of a select TLT punto rojo (see below) to pollen from a Colombian gold male. That male came from seed that was frozen in California in 1978 and grown out in Oregon in 2019. I saved a little bit of that precious pollen and used it on a the two best puntodorado F1s to make the back cross to the 1978 male. So the genetic makeup of this puntodorado BX is 75% landrace Colombian from 1978.

Selected punto rojo mother of puntodorado
PR5 cola2 F140.jpg


PD1, one of the puntodorado F1s that was backcrossed to its 1978 Colombian sire
PD1 cola1F99.jpg
 

OldCoolSativa

Well-known member
Here's an update after ~ 2.5 weeks of 12/12. They're stretching and coming along nicely. I suspect there's another three weeks left of stretch. Some very nice Colombian sativa aromas developing. Leaves are a little dark which tells me the soil is still a little hot, but that'll change as the plants take up the nutrients.

Punto Rojo F2s (from PR13)
070924 PR13 F2s.jpg



The Feral Pheno
070924 feral F2.jpg



Puntodorado BX females
070924 PD BXs.jpg



Puntodorado BX males
070924 PD BX males.jpg
 

OldCoolSativa

Well-known member
~5 weeks

These Colombians are doing nicely after nearly 5 weeks flowering. The feral F2 of punto rojo #13 is a monster and still stretching. It is the tallest and slowest-to-flower of the four punto rojo F2s. Definitely a vigorous, late-flowering, throwback plant of the kind I seek. I have a clone of this plant that I've been trying to root for almost three weeks now.

PR13 F2 feral pheno
072324 PR13 F2 feral.jpg




PR13 F2
072324 PR13 F2 a.jpg




PR13 F2
072324 PR13 F2 b.jpg




PR13 F2
072324 PR13 F2 c.jpg
 

OldCoolSativa

Well-known member
The puntodorado plants are much slower to flower.

Puntodorado #1 BX
072324 PD1BX.jpg




Puntodorado #1 BX
072324 PD1BX-b.jpg




Puntodorado #2 BX
072324 PD2BX.jpg





This last picture is a male that I'm going to use to pollinate all plants in this grow, Colombians and hazes. It is, by far, the slowest-to-flower male I've ever come across. After 5 weeks of 12/12 it's still at least two weeks out from producing any pollen.

Puntodorado #2 BX male
072324 PD2BX male.jpg
 

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OldCoolSativa

Well-known member
6 weeks

These Colombian sativas are doing well after six weeks of 12/12. Let's start with the puntodorados.

PD2 BX male
This is the slowest flowering male I've ever run across. He didn't show any hint of sex until after three weeks of 12/12 light cycle. After six weeks he's just beginning to develop staminate flowers, with no danger yet of any pollen release - that'll happen in about a week so I need to figure out what to do with him. With 75% Colombian gold genetics from 1978 via a freezer in Oregon, I'll use his pollen on at least one branch of every plant in this grow.
080124 PD2BX male.jpg

View attachment 080124 PD2BX male buds.jpg


PD2 BX female
Here's a sister to the above male that showed sex about two weeks earlier. Still very slow to develop flowers.
080124 PD2 BX.jpg

080124 PD2 BX buds.jpg



PD1 BX females
Here are some cousins of the above male. All of the puntodorados are very slow to develop flowers. I think they'll go about 20 weeks. This one was also very late to show sex, and still hasn't really started to flower yet.
080124 PD1BX-a.jpg

080124 PD1BX-a buds.jpg


And here's a puntodorado female that showed sex about two weeks earlier but is still long flowering compared to all the other sativas and hazes in the grow.
080124 PD1BX-b.jpg



080124 PD1BX-b buds.jpg
 

OldCoolSativa

Well-known member
Punto Rojo F2s at 6 Weeks

The punto rojo F2s are faster to develop flowers than the puntodorados. I think they'll go 16-18 weeks, maybe a bit longer for the feral pheno. Speaking of which...

PR13 feral pheno
This plant is still stretching. I've had to bend it over twice now. It's an 8-foot-tall plant in a 3.5 gallon pot in a 6-foot-tall tent. The clones I took four weeks ago still haven't shown roots.

080124 PR13 F2 feral.jpg

080124 PR13 F2 feral buds.jpg




PR13 F2-a
This one is just finished stretching and is nearly as tall as the feral pheno, but with completely different leaf morphology. It's also further along in flower development.
080124 PR13 F2 a.jpg

080124 PR13 F2 a buds.jpg



PR13 F2-b
080124 PR13 b.jpg

080124 PR13 b buds.jpg



PR13 F2-c
This one has been a little harder to dial in...I think she got droopy leaves from wet feet. She's already lost a lot of her lower fan leaves.
080124 PR13 F2 c.jpg

080124 PR13 F2 c buds.jpg
 

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OldCoolSativa

Well-known member
Great documentation, outstanding phenos
Thanks. Isn't it cool that after a modest-sized selection run (~40 plants) and then testing the progeny from the best of 8 females from that run gives me the kind of phenos I'm searching for? Plant breeding is some cool shit, and it's great to see the results. I know I'll find the kind of plants I seek if I breed sativas in the direction of the feral plants that are a throwback to the days before skunk came along and ruined everything.
 

BC LONE WOLF

Well-known member
D
Thanks. Isn't it cool that after a modest-sized selection run (~40 plants) and then testing the progeny from the best of 8 females from that run gives me the kind of phenos I'm searching for? Plant breeding is some cool shit, and it's great to see the results. I know I'll find the kind of plants I seek if I breed sativas in the direction of the feral plants that are a throwback to the days before skunk came along and ruined everything.

I share same thought as you, taking a genotype and trying to bring it back to its ancestral glory is some of the best work there is out there.
 

OldCoolSativa

Well-known member
At 6.5 weeks the puntodorado PD2 BX male was finally getting ready to let the pollen fly, so I moved him into his own tent. As the 8x4 tent was still crowded, I also selected one of the puntodorado BX females to keep him company. Of the three female PD1 BX plants I selected the one on the left, with skinniest leaves that showed sex after four weeks. They will spend the rest of their lives together and produce lots of seed to work with.

080424 puntodorado PD1 BX plants.jpg



080424 puntodorado PD1 BX seed plant.jpg


080424 puntodorado seed plants.jpg
 

OldCoolSativa

Well-known member
10 Weeks

Mid flower at 10 weeks and the punto rojo F2s are half way there, while the 3 puntodorado plants have barely started to put out pistils. They're starting to drop their lower leaves, while it's still too early to assess aromas that are developing.

PR13 F2 feral pheno
This thing is so huge, spindly and trained that I can't get it out of the tent for a photo, so this one will have to do. Small buds...low yield. No aromas yet but beautiful stacked calyxes reaching for the lights. The fourth plant (PR13 F2-a) is in the background, and is also too unwieldy to move.
082924 PR13 F2 feral.jpg



PR13 F2-b
This is the smallest and fastest of the punto rojo F2s, but a really beautiful plant.
082924 PR13 F2-b.jpg

082924 PR13 F2-b cola.jpg



PR13 F2-c
A beast. You can see where this beast grew above the light and how skimpy the cola is there.
082924 PR13 F2-c.jpg

082924 PR13 F2-c cola.jpg



Puntodorado BX
This is one of the three puntodorado BX plants. They're all slow as hell, just starting to shoot pistils at 10 weeks. Also really finicky plants to keep happy...they're claw footing on me a lot. They'll go 20 weeks. But this stuff is 75% Colombian gold from 1978 so it's worth it.
082924 PD BX.jpg
 

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