Seven Hazes

[Stunger]

Final Smoke Report:

Excellent smoke report Emeraldo, lots of useful details!

With Malawi, my mind wanders off into its thoughts, leaving the present time and place and forgetting what I was/am doing.

When I first had some bud grown from a seed of a Mulanje female sired by a Malawi/Ethiopian male (and Mulanje is a mountain area of Malawi), in other words the bud was potentially 75% Malawi. I went for a bike ride, dropped into the hardware shop and when I returned to my bike I realised I had carefully locked the chain up to the fence but of no practical use as it was nowhere near the frigging bike. So I'll now put that one down to the Malawi memory effect!

Cheers and thanks for stopping by. In my next post, I'll put down some thoughts on how I can grow another SLH indica dominant plant

Looking forward to that. Interesting that you found it a bit weak I wonder why that was, just to do with the phenotype or did it want more than the lower strength of the 'haze' soil?

the final 2 original GHS SLH feminized seeds still left from the 2020 5-pack. So far, 3 seeds from that pack have produced wonderful plants, so am hoping to find yet more phenos.

That's certainly a really good pack of seeds, one that gives so good that you want to keep growing it again!

 

[Emeraldo]

Excellent smoke report Emeraldo, lots of useful details!

When I first had some bud grown from a seed of a Mulanje female sired by a Malawi/Ethiopian male (and Mulanje is a mountain area of Malawi), in other words the bud was potentially 75% Malawi. I went for a bike ride, dropped into the hardware shop and when I returned to my bike I realised I had carefully locked the chain up to the fence but of no practical use as it was nowhere near the frigging bike. So I'll now put that one down to the Malawi memory effect!

Looking forward to that. Interesting that you found it a bit weak I wonder why that was, just to do with the phenotype or did it want more than the lower strength of the 'haze' soil?

That's certainly a really good pack of seeds, one that gives so good that you want to keep growing it again!

That's a good story about Malawi memory, ha ha. Good thing you remembered the bike was waiting for you.

I made the comment that the SLH indica dominant pheno had weak branching. I've had so many plants that had strong side branches, so it was unusual to see shorter, thinner, weaker branches. The whole plant was smaller and a bit less robust than a vigorous cannabis plant. And she grew very slowly. I gave her top dressing several times in flowering, but maybe you're right that my haze light soil was lacking in something.

In any event, the branches were thinner than usual, and did not get very long, or at least in my limited experience. While I was pollinating her, I had to move her under a low slung eve on the terrace and I guess I got a bit rough with her, bending her mainstem thinking it was flexible. But the mainstem actually broke and I had to repair it with tape. A few weeks later, right before harvest on Oct 14, most of the branches above the mainstem break were starting to fade and die. But I harvested all them anyway. It's really amazing how good her weed is, given all the handicaps she had.

Here's what the weak branching comment was in reference to. You can see the branches are fairly short and thin. The indica dom pheno on 4. September:

SLH#2 04.09.22

• Emeraldo
• Jan 23, 2023

SLH #2 lemon skunk pheno branching

 

[Stunger]

Here's what the weak branching comment was in reference to. You can see the branches are fairly short and thin. The indica dom pheno on 4. September:

I see what you mean, she is a light framed plant, but yet she is looking a picture of health with her leaf colour so I think I'd take back my query on whether the Haze light soil was enough for her as she looked good in it then.

 

[Emeraldo]

To continue my rambling story of the Super Lemon Haze indica-dominant phenotype, here are a few more grow- and harvest-facts (no more smoke reports!) that may be of interest to SLH growers. As noted, I was lucky to win one indica-dom seedling in the 2022 germination seed lottery. Among the 30-odd seeds I germinated for this haze grow, two SLH seeds from my 2020 GHS 5-pack popped. There are ample early photos of these two seedlings here from May and June, so you can scroll back and see what I mean when I say the indica-dom's appearance was quite unusual.

Apart from appearance, both SLH phenos were so slow to take off into vigorous veg, and in mid-May I was worried they might just up and die on me. But I remembered from California in 2020, my SLH seedling was the fastest in that grow, and I had seen how SLH loved the warm weather at 38N. And so it was in 2022, when the daytime temperatures at 46N (where the plants were germinated) warmed to above 75F/25C, the SLH plants started pushing up more vigorously.

Here are June 15 photos of, first, the indica-dom, and then the haze-dom. Both had started to take off into veg, but clearly the haze dominant pheno was the more vigorous.

SLH#2 15.06.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Jan 24, 2023

indica (Lemon Skunk) dominant pheno

SLH#1 15.06.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Jan 24, 2023

haze (Super Silver Haze) dominant pheno

The indica-dominant pheno had, as a seedling and later in veg, a skunky aroma, leaves that were shorter and light green, and there were also yellowish stripes between the leaf vein lines that gave her a yellow-green look. Someone even commented that those leaves looked like a zinc deficiency.

SLH:lh02.06.22.jpeg

• Emeraldo
• Jun 2, 2022

LH/C pheno

Note: the caption below should read SLH#2, not #1.

SLH#1.31.05.22.jpeg

• Emeraldo
• May 31, 2022

In comparison, the haze-dom seedling had a smoother, less wrinkled look and even green colouring.

SLH:ssh02.06.22.jpeg

• Emeraldo
• Jun 2, 2022

SSH pheno

The indica-dom's yellow stripes did turn greener after several 3-9-4 top dressings during flowering in August/September (see post #162 above), but the stripes did not fade away completely (see post #158, taken the day before harvest). I still don't know what caused the striped leaf appearance, since the haze-dom pheno had the same haze light soil, water, and nutrient feedings and never displayed this strange colouring.

On July 21, the indica-dominant was around 2.5 feet tall. After stretch, she would attain a final height of 3.5 feet.

SLH#2-21.07.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Jul 21, 2022

In my next post, I'll describe how she was pollinated and how she reacted to that. It's interesting, because I pollinated selected buds and branches twice with pollen from a male Michka and got numerous seeds which will of course be regular, not feminized. But there was also that unfortunate accident that occurred in my absence sometime in mid-September that changed my view on the window for successful pollination. More on that later.

 

[Emeraldo]

SLH #2 over the summer...

SLH#2:21.07.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Jul 21, 2022

SLH#2-20.08.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Aug 21, 2022

After pollination on Sept 5, tips of pistils shrivelled and shrank.

SLH#2 23.09.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Oct 14, 2022

2 days after pollination.

By early October, the pistils were few and far between. They shrank to nothing, then eventually just broke off in the wind. Not your curved and curling rusty things here. All I had to go on was the trichomes.

4B3E7F82-06A6-48C0-BBB9-CA16C51A9C36.jpeg

• Emeraldo
• Oct 12, 2022

SLH #2

By mid-October, the trichomes were mostly cloudy. She was ripe a good 10 days before the haze phenotype.

SLH#2:13.10.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Oct 14, 2022
• 1

SLH#2-13.10.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Oct 14, 2022

SLH#2 13.10.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Oct 14, 2022

 

[Emeraldo]

I was going to post about pollinating the Super Lemon Haze indica dominant pheno, how that happened, and how the plant reacted. I will get to that soon, and please pardon the digression/foray into what may seem trivial. But I realised one thing here that I had not noticed before, me being fairly inexperienced in growing the indica-dominant "Lemon Skunk" pheno of SLH, as I am just learning now to recognize it as such when I see it.

Here are some photos of the SLH plant in my 2020 California balcony grow:

IMG_2468.jpeg

• Emeraldo
• Jan 9, 2021

Super Lemon Haze, October 13

IMG_2451.jpeg

• Emeraldo
• Jan 9, 2021

Super Lemon Haze, October 6

IMG_2486.jpeg

• Emeraldo
• Jan 9, 2021

IMG_2243.jpeg

• Emeraldo
• Sep 6, 2020

Super Lemon Haze, Sept 6: in week 5, probably will go the full 12 weeks flowering as suggested...

I have to say that in 2020 I was not looking for any pheno of SLH. I just picked out one seed from the famous 5-pack and germinated it. It popped almost immediately and grew vigorously, faster than any other plant in the 7-plant grow. At the end of the 2020 season, I had many plants to harvest before the SLH and put my hopes on those other strains. I was not really impressed by the looks of the SLH. Yes, she was big -- no, she was huge, over 8 feet tall, up over the rain gutter. But I was not enamoured of the looks of her buds, leaves and trichomes: often pale green or yellowish leaves that felt thick and fibrous, some of them dying; the sickly look of some buds; trichomes that looked sparse and scattered compared to other stains, the absence of much resin (SLH did not have not layers of resin and stunning trichome population as seen on other strains at harvest). I was not favourably impressed and harvested her without expecting anything really as good as she turned out.

I harvested the 2020 SLH October 23. The other plants were mostly already hanging to dry or curing, and I had time constraints and harvested and processed her just to give SLH a chance, having taken the time to grow this huge plant. Well, the surprise came after harvest. I was just gobsmacked with how good her effect was, and I've written about that so much that I don't want to burden you with reading more of my praise of SLH's euphoric effect. I made an infusion in coconut oil and froze most of it. That became the stash of stashes for two years and made me want to grow SLH again. Later I read about the indica-dom pheno and hoped to get one of those. And, as you know, I got one of those in 2022.

What I didn't discover until now was that the plant above, grown in 2020, was also the indica-dominant phenotype. Just look at her leaves, colouring, trichomes, and pistils. In the 2020 photos, the leaves are lighter green and sometimes yellowish, her pistils are fairly few and far between, and her trichomes have the look of a coarse sandpaper, not of a lush forest of capitate stalks. The warm climate in California at 38N allowed the 2020 plant to grow taller, but these differences are unmistakeable. The 2020 plant looks much more like my 2022 indica-dom than like my 2022 haze-dominant SLH, imo.

The haze-dominant phenotype has unmistakably traits. I've posted photos of both 2022 (haze- and indica-) phenos above. Compared to the two samples of indica-dominant I've grown, the 2022 haze pheno has a very different plant-, leaf-, and flower-structure: a tall, assymetric plant with strong branches, narrower, longer and darker green leaves, and buds with long whitish-silvery pistils clustered around the bud. I can see the Super Silver Haze father genes in my haze pheno this past year. I did not have that shape or color of flower in 2020 or in the indica-dom 2022.

I conclude that two of the three SLH plants I have grown (one in 2020 and two in 2022) were the indica-dominant. I have already noted in my smoke reports that the haze pheno does not have quite the same euphoric intensity of the indica-dominant. That's why it is a worthwhile goal for SLH growers to seek out the indica-dominant pheno.

In my next post I'd like to get to the pollination issue.

 

[Emeraldo]

Other questions the indica-dominant phenotype raised for me are in the areas of pollination, harvest time for weed and seed, and what indications showed she was ripe. Much as I'd like to go straight into those points now, I regrettably must make one more plunge into the wormhole of phenotype identification as there is one more thing that needs to be said. After all the talk and photos of the veg and flowering of the indica-dom pheno above, I have yet to do the same for the haze-dominant pheno.

And you, dear Reader, ask why bother? Well, I remember watching the GHS video on the Super Silver Haze, in which Franco, the late GHS breeder who brought this strain to the cannabis community, says that indica-dominant pheno was very special. He said it in a way that aroused my curiosity immensely. So how does a SLH grower identify the indica-dom? Franco didn't say. However, I would suggest trying to identify the more distinctive and more easily-identified haze-dom by its flower. If it doesn't have a haze-dom flower, it is probably a indica-dom plant.

The haze-dominant "Super Silver Haze" pheno, her flowers and buds looked like this in flowering and just before harvest:

SLH22.10.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Oct 22, 2022

After an initial cut on Oct 23, the top of the plant continued to ripen until Nov 5, when I cut off the top at the mainstem and hung this top part to dry for a few weeks before jarring.

SLH#1 03.11.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Nov 5, 2022

SLH-05.10.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Oct 5, 2022

SLH:22.10.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Oct 22, 2022

SLH#1 : 03.11.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Nov 3, 2022

SLH#1--03.11.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Nov 3, 2022

SLH--22.10.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Oct 22, 2022

Haze-dom plant growth traits are telling and help identify the haze-dom SLH plant. Overall, the haze-dom was taller (I LST'd the apical growing tip once in early September, but only when she reached 7 feet and touched the ceiling of the greenhouse). She had fairly strong symmetrical lower branching, and in response to the one mainstem LST, the lower branches bushed markedly outward. She also had longer, somewhat darker green leaves than the indica-dom, but her leaves were not narrower and were in fact broader. Further, the haze-dom flowers were often located at nodes along the branches as well as at the branch tip.

It's comparatively easy to identify the haze-dom flower. The haze-dom flower has a distinct pistil shape, pistil arrangement, pistil length and color. The haze-dom flowers had the look of fluffy daisies or carnations. The long silvery pistils surrounding the bud gradually turned darker but kept a lighter whitish translucent look almost to the end: The last three photos in the series above were taken Oct 22 and Nov 3, just before those buds respective harvest. Trichome growth on sugar leaves was substantial.

In contrast, the indica-dom flower was often located at the tip of a branch, like a dandylion (Lion's Tooth). Its pistils were thinner (especially on my 2022 indica-dom plant), looking like hairs, delicate and not as long, not as voluminous, and not as opaque as the whitish-silvery haze-dom pistils.

So how can I go about looking for an indica-dominant SLH phenotype? It is of course possible that the growth traits of the plant during veg and pre-flower will preliminarily ID her as indica-dom. To confirm that preliminary finding, my approach would be to first to look to exclude possible haze-dom phenos in later flowering, because the haze-dom flower is more distinctive. And here is the key: If the plant I am looking at is not the haze-dom, it is probably going to be some sort of indica-dom. I do not know now how many SLH indica-dominant phenotypes there are. There could be many others I'll never see. But looking at my 2020 and 2022 indica-dom plants' flowers, the look of their pistils and trichomes does not match the silvery pistils which are a trait of the Super Silver Haze father.

Just compare the photos that follow -- all of the indica-dom flower -- with the haze-dom flowers above. The first 5 photos are of the 2022 indica-dom, the last two are of the 2020 plant. Unfortunately for present purposes, I was not as keen on photographing the 2020 plant's traits while growing her as I now would be.

SLH#2:04.09.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Sep 5, 2022

SLH#2 22.09.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Sep 22, 2022

SLH#2:13.10.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Oct 14, 2022
• 1

675941B8-3E96-4C01-9377-044131919156.jpeg

• Emeraldo
• Oct 12, 2022

SLH #2

4B3E7F82-06A6-48C0-BBB9-CA16C51A9C36.jpeg

• Emeraldo
• Oct 12, 2022

SLH #2

And here's the 2020 plant.

IMG_2430.jpeg

• Emeraldo
• Sep 30, 2020

Lower bud on Super Lemon Haze, Sept 30

IMG_2392.jpeg

• Emeraldo
• Sep 24, 2020

Super Lemon Haze, Sept 24

Note the number and growth location of pistils and trichomes. On my 2022 indica-dom, pistils had a hair-like shape, in later flowering were shrivelled and broken off length, not your inward-curving rust-coloured fading pistils we see so often. See how the trichomes are scattered and seem to be sparse. At first I wasn't really impressed with the trichome production visually, neither in 2020 nor in 2022, until after harvest when I got a taste of the effect.

My two indica-dom SLH plants were grown in very different climates, but there could be other reasons why one of these plants looked scrawny and sickly some of the time, while the other was an extremely vigorous healthy giant. And I must point out that some of the pistils on the plant grown in California in 2020 do, at least in part, look thickish and silvery-opaque in a way similar to the haze-dom flowers' pistils. Obviously, there can be many phenotypes. I guess there is a spectrum in SLH genetics, and each plant gets a mix of some traits and not others, such that in the moment of pollination these traits can be combined in different unique ways in each seed. Mitosis is what makes each individual different.

In conclusion, recognising the haze-dominant "Super Silver Haze" pheno's traits can be the key to finding an indica-dominant "Lemon Skunk" pheno.

In my next post I'll move on to some of those other points I'd like to share. Unless, of course, I need to go down another wormhole.

Cheers!

Emeraldo

 

[Stunger]

A very interesting post on your observations on the SLH phenotypes and the features you use to categorise them.

 

[Emeraldo]

Correction: I wrote: "Mitosis is what makes each individual different." I meant to write meiosis (not mitosis). It's the reproductive process by which each egg cell received half of its genetic material from the female parent, and by which the male pollen cell received half of the male parent's.

Thus, each seed that is produced by a pollinated/fertilised egg contains a complete recombined genetic mix from both parents, which is unique and individual to that seed. This process of recombining the genes from both parents results in phenotypes, some of which are similar but not identical to others, some leaning more to the female parent's genes and some leaning more to the male parent's.

In hybrid strains like SLH that have not been bred into IBLs (inbred lines), the potential for varying phenotypes is large.

 

[Emeraldo]

Over the summer of 2022 I figured I might be able to get seeds from my GHS indica-dominant SLH phenotype to grow in 2023. She was from feminized seed and if pollinated would produce regular seeds, giving me females and males. But there was a big if involved because seeds need time to fully mature.

Pollination 6 weeks before harvest allows ample seed maturation time (minimum 4 weeks), so when would harvest be? I just ass-u-me'd the SLH#2 would be ready for harvest around the "end of October". That's what GHS says, and that seemed realistic because my 2020 SLH was harvested on October 23, 2020. And as it turned out in 2022, the haze-dominant pheno was harvested on October 23, 2022, with a second cut on November 5.

Counting backwards 6 weeks from "end of October", I arrived at early September, which would allow for seed maturation if I harvested them in late October. So I pollinated SLH#2 on September 5. (I used pollen from a male Michka because I had one. Michka is said to have a lemony aroma as well, and has 80% sativa genetics with a cerebral effect. If in 2023 I grow out a male SLH x Michka from the seeds received, I can also grow out one of my remaining two GHS SLH seeds and do a back-cross to a 100% SLH female, giving a 75% SLH / 25% Michka cross. I know that sounds complicated, but ordering new seeds by mail is not a risk-free option for me.).

Little did I know, I would not harvest SLH#2 on October 23, but mostly on October 14. The manually pollinated seeds, however, were left to mature and ripen until October 28, so in the end the manually pollinated branches matured for 7 weeks, 4 days, and so I might get a viable one. I'll post photos of the seeds below.

On September 6, I went away for two weeks, leaving the SLH indica-dom on a balcony with other plants, including one Super Malawi Haze (SMH) thought to be female. He was, however, male, as I could later see in photos I took before I left. Those photos show male flowers forming, if you look closely or enlarge the image (alas I did not see that coming):

SMH-03.09.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Sep 19, 2022

SMH#2-04.09.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Sep 5, 2022

Here's how the SLH#2 (indica-dom pheno) looked at the same time.

SLH#2-03.09.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Sep 3, 2022

Sometime between September 5 and 20, that SMH went into full flowering and started releasing pollen. Not only that, but during that time there was a windstorm with rain; the male SMH was blown over, landing hard on the granite floor of the balcony. I can only imagine the cloud of pollen that went up. Almost every plant on the balcony received some SMH pollen, but in varying degrees. Right next to the male SMH was a NL#5 x Haze and a Shiva Skunk, and these two were well seeded. The SLH #2 and a DTHF stood at the opposite end of the balcony. The female DTHF was just starting to flower but did not produce any seeds (perhaps wind and rain prevented pollination, or she wasn't ready).

So when I returned on September 20, I saw the SMH lying flat on the floor where the wind had knocked him over. I figured the SLH indica-dom had been wind-pollinated -- in addition to the manual pollination I had done on selected and marked branches on Sept 5. On September 23, the hand-pollinated bud looked like this, with the pistils withering from the tips down, the calyxes swelling and also showing trichomes.

SLH#2 23.09.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Jan 28, 2023

seeds on the way!

I don't have photos but in fact, the pollen of the male SMH must have reached hundreds of SLH pistils. At final harvest I found hundreds of immature outer shells of seeds that never fully formed. The plant I wanted to grow out for weed was massively seeded but these seeds did not mature. Possible reasons for this failure are the wind and rain in mid-September (dispersing or killing the pollen), the SMH pollen itself might not have been quite mature yet, and also each plant's own window for successful pollination, i.e., the pollination occurred too late in flowering. The seeds from September 5 (photo above) matured nicely, but the SMH pollen in mid-September may have been outside the window for good pollination. It is likely the SLH plant did not grow any SMH seeds to maturity. The plant was in late flowering by that point and had already produced what looks like good seed from Michka pollen. But whether any of the seeds shown below are 50% Super Malawi Haze will of course be a question going forward.

By early October, it was clear that the SLH indica-dom completely stopped putting out pistils. Was the end of pistil growth the effect of the plant receiving a good dose of pollen? You can see above how the pollination of pistils made them shrink and wither. I've read that pollination will stop cannabis from flowering further as the plant diverts its energy to seed production. Did she stop flowering early? Or was she simply at the end of her flowering life and therefore stopped pushing out pistils? Was she ready to harvest already? I thought she was. I checked my info and saw that GHS Lemon Skunk finishes "early October", so I figured my "Lemon Skunk" pheno might be ripe well before the SLH haze-dom. Seeing her trichomes were cloudy, I took the decision not to wait, that the SLH indica-dom was ripe, and on October 14 I harvested all branches except those I had pollinated by hand. I left the selected branches I'd marked and pollinated until October 28, when I harvested the good seed and remaining bud. I doubted it would be excellent weed, but little did I know.

As it turned out, this small indica-dom SLH made for a small harvest, but she made the best infused coconut oil I've ever had, despite all her handicaps: extremely slow seedling start, less than vigorous growth in veg, sickly appearance, and despite all the pollination she received. It feels counter-intuitive, but I want to grow another one just like that.

The SLH indica-dominant produced some darker seeds, and many lighter ones, but some of these may be viable.

SLH indica-dom seeds harvested 28.10.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Jan 28, 2023

Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy your grows!

Emeraldo

 

[Stunger]

As it turned out, this small indica-dom SLH made for a small harvest, but she made the best infused coconut oil I've ever had, despite all her handicaps: extremely slow seedling start, less than vigorous growth in veg, sickly appearance, and despite all the pollination she received. It feels counter-intuitive, but I want to grow another one just like that.

Way to go Emeraldo! Sounds like you've uncovered a beauty.

 

[Emeraldo]

Ah well, you know, those seeds. Many of them are greenies, prolly will be duds. But at least five of them are really dark and have that tortoise shell look.

In case you were wondering, those seeds weren't all I got. Just looking at the air-pollinated seeds I got from that accident with the male SMH:

Shiva Skunk x SMH air-pollinated seeds.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Jan 29, 2023

NL#5xHaze x SMH air-pollinated seeds.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Jan 29, 2023

And then there are the seeds from the manual pollinations I performed on selected branches of SMH x SMH, NL#5xHaze x SMH, SLH#1 (haze pheno) x Michka, and SLH#1 x SMH. below. In all the crosses with Super Malawi Haze, the seeds got quite large and dark, hard, mature and hopefully viable.

SMH x SMH select pollinated seeds.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Jan 29, 2023

NL#5xHaze x SMH select pollinated seeds .jpg

• Emeraldo
• Jan 29, 2023

In the case of the haze pheno of SLH, I pollinated with mostly with Michka, but a few flowers on one branch got some SMH pollen. I got several greenies (which actually look good and firm and mature) and also several very dark seeds, which may well be the SMH papa genes showing.

SLH#1 select-pollinated seeds.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Jan 29, 2023

 

[Stunger]

That's great Emeraldo, you've got some excellent looking seeds that contain some wonderful genetic potential!

 

[Emeraldo]

Thanks @Stunger. The grow, the harvest, the cure, and now the seeds are done! I can finally get to my book!

Extended Phenotype.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Jan 17, 2023

 

[Stunger]

Well done Emeraldo!

You grew a really appealing selection of plants and delved into some very interesting areas of genetics that prompts us to ask questions and learn something more for next time.

I kinda hope that there is a future post on how you are finding the cured buds in another few months. I know with my last grow, I was very pleased with the bud quality of all the strains, but immediately I was taken with Malawi cross which was the most powerful, but after a few months I changed to preferring the Hon/Pan which was very euphoric, and now I am finding myself leaning once more for the Malawi cross again. But anyway, I really enjoyed your grow, the strains you chose, and their not uneventful journey to harvest. All the best!

 

[Emeraldo]

Thank you @Stunger for that. It's been apparent for some time that we like the same kind of strains, ha ha.

Like you, I like to go back and forth between strains often. The Malawi trip is not something for every day! In strength of effect, from the strongest on down, I would rate them like this:

Malawi
Super Malawi Haze
Super Lemon Haze
Durban-Thai Highflyer
NL5 x Haze
Shiva Skunk

I'll post smoke report again after the full three months of cure, after which the smoke will be smoother. I'm not sure the effect will be any stronger, but we'll see.

Until then, I'll enjoy watching your rain forest grow.

 

[Hombre del Monte]

I've really enjoyed reading your comprehensive reports.

Thank you for taking the time to share your observations/thoughts.

On the 3 occasions that I've grown Malawi from ace, it's been devastatingly powerful, more confusing than the Super Malawi Haze; but for sheer power it's pretty unbeatable.
Have you tried the Golden Tiger? The one I did this year it's devastatingly potent and a huge yielder; other years I overfed and didn't produce as they should. Similar in power to the Malawi but not as confusing.

Many years ago when Greenhouse first released SLH I was lucky enough to obtain a cut that was absolutely stunning; I kept that going for many years. I look forward to hearing what you think of her in 3months or so.

 

[Emeraldo]

I've really enjoyed reading your comprehensive reports.

Thank you for taking the time to share your observations/thoughts.

On the 3 occasions that I've grown Malawi from ace, it's been devastatingly powerful, more confusing than the Super Malawi Haze; but for sheer power it's pretty unbeatable.
Have you tried the Golden Tiger? The one I did this year it's devastatingly potent and a huge yielder; other years I overfed and didn't produce as they should. Similar in power to the Malawi but not as confusing.

Many years ago when Greenhouse first released SLH I was lucky enough to obtain a cut that was absolutely stunning; I kept that going for many years. I look forward to hearing what you think of her in 3months or so.

@Hombre del Monte

Thanks, I've also enjoyed your comments and postings over on the other site. Your SMH postings in particular.

Golden Tiger is a Malawi x Thai (an interesting combination of 2 Thai and 2 Malawi strains). The Malawi I grew is strong and really devastating, but there's a reason why Malawi is often crossed with these more cerebral Thai or haze strains. I think it's because the Malawi itself, notwithstanding its killer strength, doesn't have the same kind of cerebral effect. That's what the Nevil's Haze brings to SMH, and I assume the same is true for Golden Tiger, only with Thai strains. How does the GT compare with SMH?

Cheers

 

[Emeraldo]

Well done Emeraldo!

You grew a really appealing selection of plants and delved into some very interesting areas of genetics that prompts us to ask questions and learn something more for next time.

I kinda hope that there is a future post on how you are finding the cured buds in another few months. I know with my last grow, I was very pleased with the bud quality of all the strains, but immediately I was taken with Malawi cross which was the most powerful, but after a few months I changed to preferring the Hon/Pan which was very euphoric, and now I am finding myself leaning once more for the Malawi cross again. But anyway, I really enjoyed your grow, the strains you chose, and their not uneventful journey to harvest. All the best!

After 3+ months of cure, the effect of the strongest strains has mellowed.

Malawi (harvested Nov 7 and 14): Right after harvest, Malawi's psychoactive effect was so strong it was almost incapacitating. I could not even finish smoking a joint. "Devastating", as the ACE description says. Now, post-cure, the effect has smoothed and the "rough edges" have gone. The effect is not as powerful. This is a welcome change. The effect is now clearer and purer, a strong sativa effect, but smoother and with a more focussed body + head high. Long lasting, great in the evenings, sleep is welcome afterwards.

Super Malawi Haze (harvested Nov 17 and 24): After 3 months, SMH still has the more cerebral effect as compared to Malawi, which in comparison lacks cerebral. Still has about 50% of the strength of Malawi's body/face buzz, plus a strong cerebral buzz from the Nevil's side of the cross. SMH was my "all-time favourite" for a month or so after harvest, but the Malawi has slowly become my preferred ACE strain from 2022 because it is such a sweet and smooth feeling. Am going to test the SMH again after more cure.

Super Lemon Haze (feminized from GHS, SLH#2 harvested Oct 14): Here there are 3 cuts. The Oct 14 cut of SLH#2 is still the best of the best, uplifting and energising, with that "euphoric" good feeling. Not as strong as Malawi or SMH. While I did not think she was truly "ready" on Oct 14, the trichomes (turning cloudy) and stigmas (shrivelled) said otherwise and I'm glad I listened and took their advice. I remember I thought maybe harvest would be too early at that point because GHS indicates "late October", but mid-October was just right for that particular plant.

The two cuts of the much larger plant SLH #1 (harvested Oct 23 and Nov 5): The Oct 23 cut of SLH#1 is closer to the Oct 14 cut of SLH #2, but the effect is, though similar, not as strong or long lasting as #2. The Nov 5 cut from the top of #1 was very ripe -- possibly overripe -- at harvest and has a stronger and much more relaxing and somewhat sedative effect. Nice for evenings. Both of these #1 cuts have that wonderful lemon terpene and aroma when I open the jar.

If I can grow SLH again I will search for the genetics I found in SLH#2. I got a few promising looking seeds off the SLH#2 (if @Stunger's "pale" seeds can pop, well that gives hope that my greenies may well do so as well). These seeds will be SLH#2 x Michka. They will also be regular. I may try to pop 5 seeds from these in the hope of getting another female just like their mom. If a male emerges, well so much the better for pollen. I still have 2 seeds left from the original 5-pack from GHS, so possibly there will be 2 more feminized SLH plants to cross with. In any event, I would harvest SLH earlier rather than later, not going into November with SLH. It seems mid-October is about right.

Cheers all! Enjoy your grows!

This journal may now be moved to COMPLETED JOURNALS. Thanks to 420magazine for hosting!

 

[stinker]

If I can grow SLH again I will search for the genetics I found in SLH#2. I got a few promising looking seeds off the SLH#2 (if @Stunger's "pale" seeds can pop, well that gives hope that my greenies may well do so as well).

Nice report. I have found green, pale and even immature looking seeds to be viable the first year. They don't age as well.

Malawi (harvested Nov 7 and 14): Right after harvest, Malawi's psychoactive effect was so strong it was almost incapacitating. I could not even finish smoking a joint. "Devastating", as the ACE description says. Now, post-cure, the effect has smoothed and the "rough edges" have gone.

The lemon Tree I grew made my heart pound and my thoughts race. It was uncomfortably strong. A few months later it was smooth with a long great high. A favorite! Crazy how time mellows the buzz. I have a little saved.