Original source seeds from the 70's: Yes I have some

[Big Sur]

Well, I just fell into it. Smoking weed required buying bag weed with lots of seeds in them in the 1970s. The growers seeded them for more weight, as weed was sold by the pound/ounce. Also that was how weed was grown then; males and females together like hemp in fields. Sinsemillia did not come until the later 1970s. I planted seeds and whallah! Plants grew form them. Like tomatoes, only with more kick. From 1973 to 1979 I would drive up to Berkeley and hang out on Telegraph Ave with a group of long haired hippie friends from up state New York that owed a leather shop. One day while I was roaming around the book stores there shopping for underground comix, I found a book on Marijuana. The book was called Marijuana Potency by Michael Starks (And/Or Press, Berkeley, CA. 1977). It was more involved and detailed than the other thin Marijuana booklets that I had by Mary Jane Super Weed (which are good and I still have them). In that book Michael talks about freezing seeds and them likely lasting virtually for centuries being frozen. I took that to heart, and I froze my existing seed stash and added to them over the years.

He was right, at least in my case, where some of the earliest frozen seeds from 1977 have lasted for over 40 years now, and I (and others) have gotten between 60%-100% germination rates with these seeds. If sinsemilia had become common a decade earlier, say by the later 1960s, I would not have had many (if any) seeds to freeze. I was also at the right place at the right time in central coastal California, roaming between places like Big Sur, Carmel Valley, Arroyo Seco, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Salinas, Prunedale, Hollister, San Juan Batista, Capitola, Santa Cruz, Gilroy, San Jose, San Francisco, Berkeley, Walnut Creek, Marin Co, Tomales Bay, Eugene and Portland, and several long motorcycle treks all over the US west from BC to BC and out to Colorado. I partied non-stop from 1971 through about 1986 when I went back to university to get my engineering degrees in Sandy Eggo. I did not stop partying there, I just did less. And the seeds went with me wherever I lived stashed in freezers.

 

[Big Sur]

I never dreamed that weed would some day become legal in the US west. Nor that out of all those Cannabis seeds, I would (seemingly) be only one of few that saved them in any viable form. I mean, THERE WERE SO MANY FUCKING VIABLE SEEDS IN WEED! Millions, no make that billions of land race and heirloom Cannabis seeds traveled around North America. They were prolific little buggers. I also realized early on that growing weed could lead to riches, and I dreamed of growing fields of marijuana in places like Gilroy and Salinas as early as high school. It seems that dream is now coming true for some people, if not me. I also liked a variety of weed strains from early on. I got bored with the same high after a few weeks. It was obvious that no two bags of weed were quite the same. We are only now cracking the molecular code as to why that is. Anyway, I usually had 3 or 4 strains of hashish or weed to smoke at any given time, and I saved the better seeds. I had far more seeds than I froze in my collection, BTW. Much of it was sub par, especially bricked Mexican and lowland Colombian. It had to be above average weed for me to freeze.

 

[Hash Hound]

These are seeds from the late 70's early 80's. I had given them to a friend when I had to quit smoking for work.
He kept them in an attic for about 35 years and gave them back to me when I started growing a few years back.

All I got so far is a few oozers, but no sprouts.

this was a gallon and quart size bag of Oaxacan 78ish I dug into the middle of the big bag and kept a small sandwich bag size of them. I figured they might have been protected a little more than the outer ones, no luck.

Colombians Red? Brown? 78-80?

Col Gold 78

Kono Gold 78?

Thai Stick 80?

Maui Wowi 80?

 

[Skullman420]

Cool journal. Love reading from your packs of seed.

 

[Skullman420]

I certainly agree that every grower should do what they can to preserve landrace genetics, but also many hybrids are discontinued and bred out of existance.
Though I suppose landrace cannabis(or any plant) strains are somewhat hybrids of their own having inter-bred for millions of years, and seeds being naturally spred over the globe again and again.

We need a cannabis department in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault

The svalbard vault indeed store cannabis seeds.

 

[Skullman420]

Pity there are no indica from the 70's. Wonder if anyone have that?

 

[Big Sur]

Pity there are no indica from the 70's. Wonder if anyone have that?

Just was not much indica around then. Mexican and Colombian was all sativa. Early skinny stick Thai was sativa. Cambodian Red was a sativa. The Indian Ganja (that I had) was a sativa. Angola was a sativa. Panama Red was a sativa. Maui was a sativa (2nd gen Thai was what I had from there). Jamaican was a sativa. Most indica was made into hashish, and hashish did not come with seeds (that I ever saw anyway). And the Lebanese that I am growing now from seed is half sativa pheno, and half indica pheno. So it is really a hybrid (and here I thought that Lebanese was an indica?). The early sinsemilia in NorCal in the later 1970s was mostly from sativa bag weed seed grows. Big Sur Holy weed was a sativa. The several early crosses of Haze were all sativas. The early Afghan and African crosses changed that though (with strains like skunkweed), but that was mostly sinsemilia in the very late 1970s, with only a few seeds in a lid at most. I kept a some of them, but I only have a few at most of those left. Its easy to get land race clones and Ahghani indica seeds now though, and they are likely unchanged from the 1970s.

 

[Big Sur]

These are seeds from the late 70's early 80's. I had given them to a friend when I had to quit smoking for work.
He kept them in an attic for about 35 years and gave them back to me when I started growing a few years back.

All I got so far is a few oozers, but no sprouts.

Man, pity he did not keep them in the freezer or refer. Or even just a cellar instead of an attic. That is enough Oaxacan to start your own Oaxaca Original Seed Company. OOSC.

 

[Skullman420]

I guess we europeans like indica because we're used to the hash. Because of the war against drugs cannabis was always hard to get in europe (Except spain and holland)

 

[Big Sur]

So an update on my land race Lebanese plants: they are getting taller and bigger in this heat and sunny weather we have had here. The GH has been in the 90s all week, and they dearly LOVE the heat. I have mine in 15 gallon tubs to keep them somewhat smaller. My brother has these strains in the ground and they are twice as big as mine. Same strains.

The super early Swiss (Blue Hemp) sativa pheno Lebby babe is still blooming along nicely. Lots of blonde blooms on her. The leaf stems are developing a deep maroon color. Rubbing a few fan leaves I get a strong lime smell from it. I am going to clone 4 lower branches that are not in bloom yet. Smoke test to be posted later this week; snipped blooms are drying now.

The fatter broader and shorter RSC indica pheno is in pre-flower, with a few blooms along the main stem branches. She is also putting out higher count fan leaves now in the 5s, 7s and a few 9s. Some of the leaf stems have a faint red color to them, but some are green. I rubbed a fat fan leaf and I get more of a vanilla smell to that, with a hint of lime. I am also gong to clone the largest of these.

The RSC sativa pheno male is chugging along on the other side of my property here, and I have pruned it back hard and I am leaving it in a 2 gallon pot to keep it small. A few male flowers have popped, but none recently. I intend on using him to have sex with the Lebby gals.

 

[Big Sur]

The land race Durbans were/are really odd. They bloomed in early June and we cut them the other day with mature buds at all of 18 inches tall. They have a very strong smell to them and the high is a classic Durban Poison speedy high. We got all of an oz out of 2 of them, maybe. So not all is lost, but these are beyond super early bloomers for sure. Dunno why they popped blooms so early, maybe auto genes in them. I kept one Durban male to run with some other local non-landrace cuts of Durban that I got to re-introduce more South African original genetics into them. I have some other Durban seeds to run next year, and I only got males from the ones that I planted this year.

 

[PurpleGunRack]

I guess we europeans like indica because we're used to the hash. Because of the war against drugs cannabis was always hard to get in europe (Except spain and holland)

I never had any problems getting weed or hash in europe, cetainly not in Denmark
These days it only takes 3 minutes on facebook and you can have whatever substance you want delivered to your door in less than half an hour

Here most acclimatised outdoor strains are sativa dominant because the fluffier buds and open structure make them more resistant to mould.

 

[Big Sur]

I never had any problems getting weed or hash in europe, cetainly not in Denmark
These days it only takes 3 minutes on facebook and you can have whatever substance you want delivered to your door in less than half an hour

Here most acclimatised outdoor strains are sativa dominant because the fluffier buds and open structure make them more resistant to mould.

We have home delivery here now as well, and it is legal. Well, state, county and city legal, but still federally illegal.

Hashish was more common here during the cold war and US troops stationed in Europe sending hash readily available there home. I was spoiled on hashish from Europe and local sativa weed grown in Mexico, Thailand and Colombia.

As for growing outdoors here, there is a contradiction between growing late blooming and less dense open bud sativas vs early flowering and more compact indicas. So most grow hybrids that bloom earlier like indicas and have less compact buds like sativas. Blue Dream is an example. Though I found that Blue Dream was more prone to botrytis rot than my indicas were. The indicas are more prone to PM and dampening off, but they finish earlier and avoid the rot.

 

[Big Sur]

Morelos landrace colas from my brother's grow last year. These are from bag weed seeds that I have had frozen for over 40 years. Yes, seeds can be frozen, regardless of what some people say here and elsewhere. Nothing special about freezing them, no slow defrost, no special handling, not always in a non-frost free freezer (but they are now). For those in doubt, this strain from these seeds is also being grown in Europe this year (60% germination rate, I got 80% here last year).

This smoke is good, a nice classic Mexican sativa mellow high. My ex said that it, "Tastes like Mexican," trying to trash talk it. I took that as a compliment! Yes, it ~IS~ Mexican, and I will not bother giving her any more of my excess weed!

 

[bpwilly]

Big Sur,
I really like how they are twisted up in a finger/cob shape. Is that something you did to it while it was curing? If so, did it help with slowing the cure down or anything?

 

[Big Sur]

Big Sur,
I really like how they are twisted up in a finger/cob shape. Is that something you did to it while it was curing? If so, did it help with slowing the cure down or anything?

These did that naturally. These are land race sativas, which have rather long and fine sugar leaves that curl around the colas. I do not hang the fresh cut plants upside down like so many people do. I cut the fan leaves and stems off the fresh tops and cut them to a manageable length. Then I dry my tops with the sugar leaves on in open cardboard trays (Coke can bottoms from the grocery store) in a cool 60F room for about two weeks until the leaves feel dry to the touch. Then I put them in open paper bags and leave them to cure in a back room of the house for at least a month for the stems to dry slowly. When they feel dry I crimp the tops of the paper bags. I check them every few days, and if they feel damp I open the bags again. When cured, I pull off any larger sugar leaves and/or trim the sugar leaves down and put them in small zip-lock plastic bags for long term storage. I prefer plastic as it breathes and the tops will not rot near term. After 6 months or so they are dry enough to put into glass jars like this one on the photo. Then they age and mellow, and the THC is converted to CBN. I like having well aged weed around, as well as fresher stuff.

 

[bpwilly]

Thanks for the description.
I'll have to try curing in a cooler controller environment someday. Right now, it is what ever the temp in my garage is when I harvest. My outdoor grow normally drys pretty quick unless it has been foggy or rainy for a while. I normally have to put them in the paper bags within 7 days or they dry to fast. But then I can put them in jars nrmally within 5-10 days after that and start te cure. Just never seen any end up looking like that naturally. Like little Thai sticks without the string, Thai or stick! Pretty cool! I know on the few pure Sativa plants I have grown, by the time they get harvested, there are not many sugar leaves left on the buds. Sure makes manicuring them easy. (if at all)

 

[Big Sur]

Garages tend to be too hot for curing in. I flipped to cool dry and curing temps about 15 years ago. Once cured, they last a long long time that way. I generally harvest earlier than later, as I like an uplifting high. I like the trichomes milky white and just starting to turn amber. Generally I have a lot of loaded sugar leaves when I harvest. Otherwise it seems a waste of good harvestable material. I also prefer two or three hit weed so I can regulate my high better. The look of the colas varies with the strains though. The Mexican sativa land races tend to have more sugar leaves than say, the Lebanese sativa pheno land races which are a lot fewer. They also have more open and airy buds, rather than the dense indica type buds. Which is better to avoid botrytis rot.

 

[Big Sur]

As the Lebanese sativa pheno is ripening, it is losing its fan leaves and looking like the weed in the YouToob videos about Lebanese hashish making. Some people think that people are actually removing all the fan leaves in the acres and acres of ripening Lebanese Cannabis in those videos, but it is just a natural thing. This one likely has auto genetics as it started blooming in early July. But it is coming along nicely. Here is a photo of a cola. The stems are bright red, and 'they' say that if this were the cooler fall, the sugar leaves would turn red as well. Its been in the 90s and 100s here for the entire month.

 

[Big Sur]

My pollen collection and application kit. I use a folded piece of paper with a V in it, and put the V under the just opened male flowers, and snip them off one at a time with a pair of trim scissors. Then I set them aside for a few hours for the pollen to dry and the less mature flowers to ripen. Then I take the paper and fold it like a taco, and tap on the bottom to loosen all the pollen from the male stamens. Then I open the paper V and tease the flowers aside, and whallah! There is the pollen in the trough, as seen here on the photo. At this point I can use the tap method to simply dump the pollen onto the female flowers from the V in the paper, or I can tap the pollen into a glass vial for freezing, or I can use a brush to apply the pollen to the girls. The pollen application brush here is home made: it is a bamboo stem with some cat fur obtained from my cat's brush (he is shedding like mad in this heat) and some tape to attach the fur to the bamboo. Small and simple, and effective. This is sativa pollen, which is typically finer and dries fast. Indica pollen tends to be larger and more damp and clumpy, and dries slower and is harder to work with.