tZ's spice quest: Thai Chi

[dubi]

Thanks for the update The Zientist a joy to read you are so excited with the aromas coming from your Thai Chis!
For me the winners in Thai Chi are found within the Kali China shaped plants, the more Thai shaped ones are interesting since quite straight Thai expressions can be found, but the Kali China phenos are much more interesting in quality and complexity of terpenes and effects, faster flowering and more resinous too.

 

[The Zientist]

Thanks for the update The Zientist a joy to read you are so excited with the aromas coming from your Thai Chis!
For me the winners in Thai Chi are found within the Kali China shaped plants, the more Thai shaped ones are interesting since quite straight Thai expressions can be found, but the Kali China phenos are much more interesting in quality and complexity of terpenes and effects, faster flowering and more resinous too.

I think besides Thai Chi 6, the remaining ones I have might be a balanced mix of both parents, as far as I can tell.

Not a single Kali China dominant pheno unfortunately... I might have to do a cycle with bigger numbers and allow them to express more phenotypes. I'll know better after I sample them.

 

[The Zientist]

• Thai Chi 1, forgot to post this pic. It's somewhat of a Thai hashplant.
  
  
  
  There are trichomes developing throughout many fan leaves, despite being pretty early in flower (Day 32, perhaps of around 90?).

 

[dubi]

sorry, i think i didn't explain myself properly, i meant my favorite Thai Chis for finished product are the ones that have Kali China shaped flowers like in your last pic, i think only your # 6 is not like that.

 

[The Zientist]

Hey IC,

Will be updating soon, but not yet. Hard to find time to picture them these days.

It's day 45 of flowering, and since day 40 they are on 11/13. A lot of floral clusters are already evident and pronounced, all very similar and with a particular structure. Only Thai Chi 6 (the Thai pheno) strays away, an almost pure Thai looking plant that currently is still mostly pre-flowers only.

Just a small macro before I can upload a decent update:

I'll do my best to picture them properly very soon, though with how entangled the canopy is it proves to be quite the difficult task. I tend to get lost in there, not even knowing where each individual plant stops and were another starts, needing to track them down from the main stem and follow it closely only to get lost once again...

Stay close!

 

[The Zientist]

A couple of half decent pictures.

• Thai Chi 2, spicy and acidic. The leafiest and currently the one with the least pronounced aroma. Starting to purple up at day 47, without relevant night temperature drop.

 

[revegeta666]

A couple of half decent pictures.

• Thai Chi 2, spicy and acidic. The leafiest and currently the one with the least pronounced aroma. Starting to purple up at day 47, without relevant night temperature drop.

View attachment 18723353


View attachment 18723354

I hope you don't mind me saying this, if I were you I would lower the EC and frequency of my feedings, just to be safe.

 

[The Zientist]

I hope you don't mind me saying this, if I were you I would lower the EC and frequency of my feedings, just to be safe.

Not at all, thanks for chiming in.
Already did my friend, since a week ago. They are taking 0.5mL/L BAC flowering, around 0.4mS (previously 1 mL).

The biggest stress factor is mostly due to high temperatures lately, and to an extent some photodamage, from growing too close to the LEDs. I realy didn't set up for success in regards to these , by overlooking their 6x stretch.

Hope to be able to picture the others soon and more properly.

 

[revegeta666]

Not at all, thanks for chiming in.
Already did my friend, since a week ago. They are taking 0.5mL/L BAC flowering, around 0.4mS (previously 1 mL).

The biggest stress factor is mostly due to high temperatures lately, and to an extent some photodamage, from growing too close to the LEDs. I realy didn't set up for success in regards to these , by overlooking their 6x stretch.

Hope to be able to picture the others soon and more properly.

I didn't mean it like they look stressed, just the leaves look quite dark and shiny for mid flower. Just letting you know because I grew mine quite poorly and learned my lesson. The weed still turned out great though

 

[The Zientist]

I didn't mean it like they look stressed, just the leaves look quite dark and shiny for mid flower. Just letting you know because I grew mine quite poorly and learned my lesson. The weed still turned out great though

Some of the tops look slightly chlorotic due to exposure to high temperature and such. It's nothing to be too worried about, though far from being grown to their full potential. This is further enhanced in the pictures by the flash.

I'll have another and more proper attempt with the same cuts soon enough, and with the added experience from this run. We'll see how these turn out.

Feel free to share your experience with them.

For now, their aromas aren't exactly what I was looking for when I went for these, which was more of a pepper/ginger sichuan with a blissful and functional high. That #4 though, is even more complex now and lichi/pineapple, spices and woods are keeping me glued. Can't wait to sample that one specially!

 

[The Zientist]

• Another Thai Chi 2 cut, funny structure. The tops are square with sickle like leaves and bracts just cluster and stack much like hops.
  
  Had to scope through the canopy to reach that one.
  
  
  
  

 

[dubi]

Hi The Zientist the magic with Thai Chi happens from 40th day of flowering onwards, those phenos with big fat bracts are usually of my taste.
Looking forward to learn how each heads the end of flowering Thanks for your updates.

 

[The Zientist]

Hey guys,

@dubi, visually they are very appealing. Somehow they remind me of Sour Diesel structure wise, as I've said before.

These pictures haven't been doing justice to these beauties, though it's the best I can do considering the jungle state of the tent.

Thai Chi 5

Quite the productive structure. The aroma is still not quite on pair with the others, and it appears to be a bit more longer flowering than most of the siblings (minus #6). It's citrus/acidic, spicy and floral but without much projection at this stage.

 

[The Zientist]

It's day 65 and harvest time for Thai Chi#2. (30days 12/12 + 35 days 11/13)

It had already stopped showing new growth for around a week, with near 100% of the stigmas going brown. The aroma was already fixed since that time as well and didn't improve ever since. Trichomes were mostly milky, with a few clear and red.

Far from being grown to full potential... Like all others in this cycle, they've grown too close to the LED fixture and there's visible photodamage (They are tanned, basically! Some top fan leaves and leaflets got partially cooked as well).

By harvest, the #2 ended up having the pungency and character of the allium family (garlic, onion, shallots, chives, etc) with some fruity guava sweetness. It's low projection and not particularly of my interest. It has a nice floral structure albeit too leafy and seems like a low to medium yielder for everyone concerned.

There was a failed attempt to make viable S1/F2 seeds. The pollination of her lower buds with a reverse pollen mix of all cuts from 1 to 6 was successful, though it was taken too early for the seeds to be fully mature.
All females reversed pretty late and they weren't in sync with the right timing for this cycle.

All other females still require a week or so to reach their perceived peak of ripeness. Perhaps a bit more for a few (#4,5), and the very late flowering Thai leaning pheno (#6) won't have the chance this time but I roughly predict her to go for around 14 to 16 weeks.

The most important part is yet to come... sampling! I'll let you know soon.

tZ

 

[dubi]

Congrats on the harvest of your first Thai Chi @The Zientist To coordinate well the feminized pollination you will need to apply the reversor liquid and switch to flower the reversed plants 2-3 weeks in advance that you would do it using regular males of same strain.

Then once female flowers are pollinated let the seeds ripe for at least 5 weeks for proper ripening and seed formation (this last thing works the same for regular pollination and feminized pollinations).

 

[The Zientist]

Congrats on the harvest of your first Thai Chi @The Zientist To coordinate well the feminized pollination you will need to apply the reversor liquid and switch to flower the reversed plants 2-3 weeks in advance that you would do it using regular males of same strain.

Then once female flowers are pollinated let the seeds ripe for at least 5 weeks for proper ripening and seed formation (this last thing works the same for regular pollination and feminized pollinations).

Thanks for the tips dubi.

Although I am aware of that, I wanted to try it with these Thai Chi nonetheless, as normally I can get away with at least more than a few viable seeds from longer flowering varieties. We'll see if I can find at least one or another viable seed, they were pollinated around the 6th week.
The extra flowering time of 10+week varieties normally allows for the seeds to mature at least 5-6 weeks, for best results as you say, even when pollen is shed on by the reversed females as late as 4-5 week of the cycle.

All others should yield some viable seeds nonetheless, though this one was really early maturing and didn't allow enough time for the seeds to develop properly. I didn't want to comprise the quality of the flower in order for them to mature further, as that is in the end the purpose of this cycle.

 

[The Zientist]

The end of this cycle has arrived. It brought both good news and some unfortunate surprises... check them out.

Has a summer cycle, not the best growing parameters were possible. Given the chance, both TC4 and TC6 would require a bit more to reach their peak point of maturation. They were harvested on day 68.

TC1 could be harvested by day 66, although ended up giving her a couple more days as I planned to harvest the whole tent by day 68, due to heat.
She's all garlic and chives, pungent but not too reeking. Not quite the profile I fancy the most, but she could be a delight to some. Curious to test her on the mighty, never had such a defined onion/garlic type of aroma around.

It has a nice structure with stacked bracts of decent size, though overall in comparison with her sibs it's nothing to rave too much about.

Thai Chi 4... that was sad. It was the one I was looking forward to the most (the sour pineapple incense one, fuck!) but it went south during the last 4 days... throwing male flowers ubiquitously. This was after I switched down the the LED panel from 100% to 60% during the last few days, to allow them to mature a bit further without producing too much heat, as it was being detrimental. I sense there's a connection here, but future cycles will be required to clear that out.
Since her profile really had me mesmerized I will give her future chances. with better growing conditions, but the susceptibility is there. (No other sibling responded the same)
She has a nice structure and could have gone a week or maybe even two longer. I think she would have swell up, in a similar way to that of #5. She switched her tones starting on day 40+ and turned out pretty dark. I predict that she would have become fully dark purple if allowed to mature properly as clearly she wasn't done. We'll see if I can finish her decently next time without both the presence of too much heat and the intersex trait expressing.

Thai Chi 5. She’s has the looks. And she feels superior to her sibs on most traits: aroma, structure and yield.
Has a similar profile to #2 in terms of quality, that chieves/onion scent but now with more fruity and sweet juicy notes and a stronger woody base. In quantitative terms, her aroma is the most intense, and second to none in this cycle, so is her yield. The structural traits can be readily seen, though you’ll have to believe me when I tell you the aroma either matches or surpasses her looks.
Though she could have gone a couple days longer, I feel she’s pretty much ready by day 67.
Fat bracted girls, enough said.

TC6 is the narrow leaf queen of the show. Lanky, super thin leaves, irregular and profuse branching with alternating internodes and lack of self support. She was starting to transition from that astringent sour and green smell to a more fruity, deep and also dark aroma (it reminded me a bit of TC4, hopefully). Not much to say, only that this wasn't her time. She'll have her show, soon...

As with them all, effect comes first and that's what I'm most curious after all, despite knowing their full potential wasn't nearly achieved this time and future growing cycles will be needed to sample them properly.

• Giving a general overview of what I learned about them with them until now (still haven't sampled them yet):

1. Their harvest window started on day 60 for the earliest pheno (TC2) and the latest I assume it can go until the week 13-15 give or take (TC6). My favorite phenotypes (4,5) were around 10-11weeks, which is exactly what dubi wrote on ACE's description.
2. Their aroma profiles are quite unique and special. I've experienced mostly an heavy incidence of garlic/onion/chives, with both sweet and sour notes present on them all, supported by a dark woody and slightly earthy base. It's fresh with hints of lime/lemon too. I'm unsure if they will vibe with everyone, though the fruity types (pineapple/lichi with incense base) I've encountered would surely be neck breakers due to how addicting and complex they are. Again, it's pretty on par with dubi's description of them, so another point in favor of their work and knowledge of their stock.
3. Even under summer conditions I've experience anthocyanin development on all of them. I expect that both #4,5 and perhaps #6 would turn completely purple under a cycle that allows for cooler temperatures and a longer flowering to take place. They are hardy and strong plants, handling heat pretty well as well as high humidity, with only a few dried leaves and leaf tips. All of them had the need to be supported after mid flowering despite adequate lightning and movement of air.
4. I've noticed that during the 4th week of flowering, the lower and shaded branches developed intersex flowers that were removed. After removal and proper cleaning they no longer appeared, besides the unfortunate situation with TC4.
5. From the different traits I've seen present in this line, I'm sure plants with great floral architecture can be found, that are vigorous and that express traits that are both captivating to the eye and they are pleasing to the senses. There are expressions that enable the development of meaty buds that still have proper aeration, traits that are important for conferring altogether resistance to fungi and that facilitate a proper curing. The size of some of the bracts is immense.

Having saved clones from them all, upon sampling I'll decide broadly which ones will be kept for future evaluation. Early to say but I feel TC2 is lacking and all others are worthy of a second run at least.

That is all I can comment for now, it's has been a ride. Thanks for sharing this along with me and I'll let you know soon how they smoke, or better said vape.

tZ