- Thread starter
- #101
Escape Velocities: Syenite's Stealth Miniatures
I’m slowly curing.. 
Actually, I’m working out-of-town again - and glad that l don’t have anything running currently. But I’m watching other growers with interest - like your upcoming trellis. Grow on!
Actually, I’m working out-of-town again - and glad that l don’t have anything running currently. But I’m watching other growers with interest - like your upcoming trellis. Grow on!
You should post that in otter's thread in case he's not aware of it!
- Thread starter
- #104
syenite
Well-Known Member
I’m slowly curing..
That's a nice way to describe getting older
although I know that's not what you meant!I've enjoyed slowly curing, myself!
Actually, I’m working out-of-town again - and glad that l don’t have anything running currently. But I’m watching other growers with interest - like your upcoming trellis. Grow on!
- Thread starter
- #106
syenite
Well-Known Member
Loom, HSC Bigfoot Glue (GG#4 x Humboldt Headband), day 35 above ground
Alriiiight, I think y'all know the drill! More scaffolding.
This girl is doing fantastic, and feels/looks very robust so far.
I think her base will be ready in no time. This will be a much faster flip than the previous two (Desert and Grub). She really has been quietly exploding. I told you... neglected middle child. Even my GF couldn't quite remember the context for this plant, as I've really only focused on Grub and the little auto with the ridiculous headgear.
Hope you all are well! Life is feeling a bit more spacious now, on this side of November. Touch wood. Oh yeah, and I'll be visiting Sir @DonkeyDick in the summer which I am super stoked about!
One thing I will complain about is the goddamn RH in this town. And, as much as I don't approve of irrational projection and/or personification, the weather this spring has been an absolute #### ####### ######... ############# ####### ####. ####. ######.
Alriiiight, I think y'all know the drill! More scaffolding.
This girl is doing fantastic, and feels/looks very robust so far.
I think her base will be ready in no time. This will be a much faster flip than the previous two (Desert and Grub). She really has been quietly exploding. I told you... neglected middle child. Even my GF couldn't quite remember the context for this plant, as I've really only focused on Grub and the little auto with the ridiculous headgear.
Hope you all are well! Life is feeling a bit more spacious now, on this side of November. Touch wood. Oh yeah, and I'll be visiting Sir @DonkeyDick in the summer which I am super stoked about!
One thing I will complain about is the goddamn RH in this town. And, as much as I don't approve of irrational projection and/or personification, the weather this spring has been an absolute #### ####### ######... ############# ####### ####. ####. ######.
I am feeling much more centered with that scaffolding. Thank you.
FTFYOh yeah, and I'll be visiting Slur @DonkeyDick in the summer which I am super stoked about!
I’m looking forward to it too!
GZ should be done by then and our Bubba’s Sis will be coming on strong.
I shall put a hammock up for you in the flower room. I think I already have enough stakes and cable ties for you to feel right at home
- Thread starter
- #109
syenite
Well-Known Member
Grub, Pre-98 Bubba Kush, day 2 of 12-12
I don't normally bother with daily updates on the one plant, but it's still remarkable to me how dramatic the changes are (in morphology) just 2 days into 12-12 - the staggered branches, the uplifted leaves.
But also good to get off my arse this morning and get some good daytime shots. Colour is on point - @MrSauga would be proud of this forest green!
I don't normally bother with daily updates on the one plant, but it's still remarkable to me how dramatic the changes are (in morphology) just 2 days into 12-12 - the staggered branches, the uplifted leaves.
But also good to get off my arse this morning and get some good daytime shots. Colour is on point - @MrSauga would be proud of this forest green!
OMG I thought I was in my journal.
Very nice Sye. It's an obvious difference when they are loving their environment and feed. Nicely done! 
love the training. i also grow small plants with a penchant for handcuffs. 
They are more for cabinet cooling I believe, but your setup was small enough that it was worth a shot. As long as it didn't set you back a worth's worth.
Abstrakt
Well-Known Member
Syenite! Whats up bro. Plants look good...Incredible actually...
- Thread starter
- #114
syenite
Well-Known Member
OK, I am post-work and post-verbal so apologies in advance for the ensuing delirium.
I did it all for you, Shed.
Your name is inscribed dead centre on one of the horizontal bamboo stakes. I used a carbon nanotube scope to guarantee it. You'll be able to sleep tonight!
And you've got the wildlife, too
Thank you Mr S!
When I was a kid and still going to church, the pastor would always refer to his dream to own a "forest green Jeep Cherokee". I didn't and don't really give a shit about locomotives, but it was the utterance itself and his description of the colour that followed me for a long time, even though I would never actually know the colour he saw himself.
Hello bluter! Thank you for stopping by!
You know what they say.. bondage sets you free?
I'll have to come check out your garden!
TIL: AC Infinity isn't a company dedicated to cooling cannabis grow ops. I just assumed..
I actually just found their actual "blower"/exhaust model, although I'm not sure if I need it anymore after rectifying the intake issue.
Hey Abstrakt! Cheers my friend! It's been a hot minute. How you been? Enjoying your last harvest?
I did it all for you, Shed.
Your name is inscribed dead centre on one of the horizontal bamboo stakes. I used a carbon nanotube scope to guarantee it. You'll be able to sleep tonight!
FTFY
I’m looking forward to it too!
GZ should be done by then and our Bubba’s Sis will be coming on strong.
I shall put a hammock up for you in the flower room. I think I already have enough stakes and cable ties for you to feel right at home
And you've got the wildlife, too
OMG I thought I was in my journal.
Thank you Mr S!
When I was a kid and still going to church, the pastor would always refer to his dream to own a "forest green Jeep Cherokee". I didn't and don't really give a shit about locomotives, but it was the utterance itself and his description of the colour that followed me for a long time, even though I would never actually know the colour he saw himself.
love the training. i also grow small plants with a penchant for handcuffs.
Hello bluter! Thank you for stopping by!
You know what they say.. bondage sets you free?
I'll have to come check out your garden!
They are more for cabinet cooling I believe, but your setup was small enough that it was worth a shot. As long as it didn't set you back a worth's worth.
TIL: AC Infinity isn't a company dedicated to cooling cannabis grow ops. I just assumed..
I actually just found their actual "blower"/exhaust model, although I'm not sure if I need it anymore after rectifying the intake issue.
Hey Abstrakt! Cheers my friend! It's been a hot minute. How you been? Enjoying your last harvest?
Thanks for proving I'm not alone Trala! I do that. I also hardly ever know what day it is too.Sye it’s not the next morning tho, it’s the SAME DAY!
THE SAME FUCKING DAYYYYYYYYYY!
She looks great SyeLoom, HSC Bigfoot Glue (GG#4 x Humboldt Headband), day 35 above ground
Alriiiight, I think y'all know the drill! More scaffolding.
This girl is doing fantastic, and feels/looks very robust so far.
I think her base will be ready in no time. This will be a much faster flip than the previous two (Desert and Grub). She really has been quietly exploding. I told you... neglected middle child. Even my GF couldn't quite remember the context for this plant, as I've really only focused on Grub and the little auto with the ridiculous headgear.
Hope you all are well! Life is feeling a bit more spacious now, on this side of November. Touch wood. Oh yeah, and I'll be visiting Sir @DonkeyDick in the summer which I am super stoked about!
One thing I will complain about is the goddamn RH in this town. And, as much as I don't approve of irrational projection and/or personification, the weather this spring has been an absolute #### ####### ######... ############# ####### ####. ####. ######.
- Thread starter
- #117
syenite
Well-Known Member
Some thoughts on genetics and seeds
In the past few months, since beginning growing, I've been cutting paths through the giant, dark forest of cannabis genetics. Or trying to. It hasn't been easy. My favourite sources of information are the breeder pages themselves, of course, but also places like Seedfinder, Phylos, and, any panels or interviews with breeders on YT.
Mapping the forest
My first impulse was to go towards the heat, the hype. The centre or centres of the market. Here I found cultivars like Gelato, Wedding Cake, Do-si-dos and various other Cookie-related ones. Then I started looking for heritage. Unpacking the Cookies I was led to the OG Kush. And then with my eye on OG Kush I started seeing it everywhere. I also noticed in breeder conversations this very concern recurring. The dominance of what I'll call the Kush-Cookies dynasty seems undeniable in modern cannabis.
I learnt later that the OG Kush, Chemdog and Sour Diesel are very closely related indeed. You could consider those to be the holy trinity, the backbone, of modern, popular genetics in the United States.
This was later validated when I explored the Phylos "Galaxy", which is a visual map of the combined genomic possibility space, based on all the genomic data Phylos has.
OG Kush, Chemdog, Sour Diesel, Northern Lights, Girl Scout Cookies, Gelato dominate almost an entire half of that map. The Bubba Kush also gets a mention here, as the offspring of the OG Kush and Northern Lights #5.
Here is what the map looks like when I search for "OG Kush":
So, what else is out there? At the opposite end of the map I found Skunk and Haze. I believe cultivars like Grand Daddy Purple, Durban Poison, Tangie and Trainwreck are also counterpoint to the Kush-Cookies empire. Worth noting if, like me, you are wanting to explore the entirety of the map.
I also tried tracing more exotic lines like Ace Seeds' Panama and Malawi, which I was personally interested in, and, again, found them to be at another, different remove from the OG pole.
Having a vague grasp of this map has heavily influenced my decisions in terms of what to buy, what to run, and what order I might like to run them in.
How do I get these? How reliable are these names? Who has what?
Knowing these things in (genomic) abstraction is one thing. Trying to acquire high-fidelity instances of them is another. I realised quickly that it is very difficult to know whether the (for instance) "Sour Diesel" seeds one just bought are "the real thing".
This is when the stories come in. So-and-so was the first to distribute the X cut, or so-and-so was the first to breed and work this Y line, or so-and-so gave some of the herm seeds to another so-and-so. And so. On.
So my strategy is now to find the stories, and then, with that information, try to find a source as close to the original breeder/distributor as possible.
On top of that, I've also looked out for breeders who talk about their processes and make them transparent. I'd like to know whether a breeder has selected carefully over multiple generations, or, on the other end of things, if they are putting out first generation hybrids without any testing or selection. (The latter case isn't inherently bad, btw, it's contextual like everything else!)
Seeds and me
I can't remember who I was talking to about it. Maybe @DonkeyDick ? But window-shopping for seeds is a pretty ultimate kind of fantasy projection for me.
A seed is the potential (or promise) of a plant. A plant is the potential of a harvest. A harvest is the potential of pleasure, relief from pain, anxiety, etc. etc.
So window-shopping for seeds enacts a kind of cascade of promises or potentials. A string of dreams. A hallway of different doors, futures.
And before you know it, you've looked at dozens of different cultivars online and your mouth has watered, and when you take into account how long it would take to grow them all, you realise you have been dreaming on the scale of lifetimes.
Too many seeds?
And when you take into account my living in a prohibition country, even ordering seeds takes on some of this portent -- and risk! And the risk makes it scary but also exciting. And then I realised wow this is a dopamine trap, and could become basically analogous to gambling, for someone like me.
Which brings me back to the research. Which allows me to plot a reasonable survey of the territory, and quell the urges of what-ifs, and FOMO in general. In other words, the research helps both scaffold and constrain my search.
Stewardship in cannabis genetics
A random thought perhaps. Something that struck me in all the breeder conversations is the sense of responsibility to the state of the genetic pool as a whole. People say, grow hermie seeds if you want to, just don't breed with them. And what they are saying is, sure, grow yourself some flower from these sexually unstable plants if you like, but please don't pollute the waters for the rest of us by making seeds and distributing them.
And, regardless of my opinion about that sentiment, which I generally support, it gave me a sense of connectedness and accountability to a greater whole that is so rare in this day and age.
On another level, my own interest in breeding is philosophical at best and academic at worst at this point. I do not have the resources for such a project!
But I have learnt so much more about the plant in general, and its history.
What should I run next?
I'm still totally unsure of what to run next. I have the more hype cultivars in one corner (Do-si-dos x Gelato 33, Gorilla Zkittlez etc.), and some "hype heirloom crosses" in another: Katsu's Bubba Kush crosses with GG#4, Chem Sis, Sour Diesel, OG Kush Breath. And more remotely (because I don't dare yet), the exotics from Ace Seeds (Panama, Panama x Malawi, Panama x Golden Tiger). The left-field features various Amnesia-related cultivars, and also the Super Silver Haze OG, as holding up the Haze end of things. The Amnesia Haze seems to be a popular classic in Europe, but to not have much of a presence in North America. The SSH, I just learnt, is actually very, very close to the Amnesia.
I chose the GG#4 in my current lineup because it's the modern instantiation of Chem and Sour genetics. And the Bubba Kush for its twist on the OG Kush. The Blue Dream was an attempt at something more Haze-leaning.
So.. do I want to remain within the Chem-Kush-Diesel empire, or shoot out towards the other edges?
In the past few months, since beginning growing, I've been cutting paths through the giant, dark forest of cannabis genetics. Or trying to. It hasn't been easy. My favourite sources of information are the breeder pages themselves, of course, but also places like Seedfinder, Phylos, and, any panels or interviews with breeders on YT.
Mapping the forest
My first impulse was to go towards the heat, the hype. The centre or centres of the market. Here I found cultivars like Gelato, Wedding Cake, Do-si-dos and various other Cookie-related ones. Then I started looking for heritage. Unpacking the Cookies I was led to the OG Kush. And then with my eye on OG Kush I started seeing it everywhere. I also noticed in breeder conversations this very concern recurring. The dominance of what I'll call the Kush-Cookies dynasty seems undeniable in modern cannabis.
I learnt later that the OG Kush, Chemdog and Sour Diesel are very closely related indeed. You could consider those to be the holy trinity, the backbone, of modern, popular genetics in the United States.
This was later validated when I explored the Phylos "Galaxy", which is a visual map of the combined genomic possibility space, based on all the genomic data Phylos has.
OG Kush, Chemdog, Sour Diesel, Northern Lights, Girl Scout Cookies, Gelato dominate almost an entire half of that map. The Bubba Kush also gets a mention here, as the offspring of the OG Kush and Northern Lights #5.
Here is what the map looks like when I search for "OG Kush":
So, what else is out there? At the opposite end of the map I found Skunk and Haze. I believe cultivars like Grand Daddy Purple, Durban Poison, Tangie and Trainwreck are also counterpoint to the Kush-Cookies empire. Worth noting if, like me, you are wanting to explore the entirety of the map.
I also tried tracing more exotic lines like Ace Seeds' Panama and Malawi, which I was personally interested in, and, again, found them to be at another, different remove from the OG pole.
Having a vague grasp of this map has heavily influenced my decisions in terms of what to buy, what to run, and what order I might like to run them in.
How do I get these? How reliable are these names? Who has what?
Knowing these things in (genomic) abstraction is one thing. Trying to acquire high-fidelity instances of them is another. I realised quickly that it is very difficult to know whether the (for instance) "Sour Diesel" seeds one just bought are "the real thing".
This is when the stories come in. So-and-so was the first to distribute the X cut, or so-and-so was the first to breed and work this Y line, or so-and-so gave some of the herm seeds to another so-and-so. And so. On.
So my strategy is now to find the stories, and then, with that information, try to find a source as close to the original breeder/distributor as possible.
On top of that, I've also looked out for breeders who talk about their processes and make them transparent. I'd like to know whether a breeder has selected carefully over multiple generations, or, on the other end of things, if they are putting out first generation hybrids without any testing or selection. (The latter case isn't inherently bad, btw, it's contextual like everything else!)
Seeds and me
I can't remember who I was talking to about it. Maybe @DonkeyDick ? But window-shopping for seeds is a pretty ultimate kind of fantasy projection for me.
A seed is the potential (or promise) of a plant. A plant is the potential of a harvest. A harvest is the potential of pleasure, relief from pain, anxiety, etc. etc.
So window-shopping for seeds enacts a kind of cascade of promises or potentials. A string of dreams. A hallway of different doors, futures.
And before you know it, you've looked at dozens of different cultivars online and your mouth has watered, and when you take into account how long it would take to grow them all, you realise you have been dreaming on the scale of lifetimes.
Too many seeds?
And when you take into account my living in a prohibition country, even ordering seeds takes on some of this portent -- and risk! And the risk makes it scary but also exciting. And then I realised wow this is a dopamine trap, and could become basically analogous to gambling, for someone like me.
Which brings me back to the research. Which allows me to plot a reasonable survey of the territory, and quell the urges of what-ifs, and FOMO in general. In other words, the research helps both scaffold and constrain my search.
Stewardship in cannabis genetics
A random thought perhaps. Something that struck me in all the breeder conversations is the sense of responsibility to the state of the genetic pool as a whole. People say, grow hermie seeds if you want to, just don't breed with them. And what they are saying is, sure, grow yourself some flower from these sexually unstable plants if you like, but please don't pollute the waters for the rest of us by making seeds and distributing them.
And, regardless of my opinion about that sentiment, which I generally support, it gave me a sense of connectedness and accountability to a greater whole that is so rare in this day and age.
On another level, my own interest in breeding is philosophical at best and academic at worst at this point. I do not have the resources for such a project!
But I have learnt so much more about the plant in general, and its history.
What should I run next?
I'm still totally unsure of what to run next. I have the more hype cultivars in one corner (Do-si-dos x Gelato 33, Gorilla Zkittlez etc.), and some "hype heirloom crosses" in another: Katsu's Bubba Kush crosses with GG#4, Chem Sis, Sour Diesel, OG Kush Breath. And more remotely (because I don't dare yet), the exotics from Ace Seeds (Panama, Panama x Malawi, Panama x Golden Tiger). The left-field features various Amnesia-related cultivars, and also the Super Silver Haze OG, as holding up the Haze end of things. The Amnesia Haze seems to be a popular classic in Europe, but to not have much of a presence in North America. The SSH, I just learnt, is actually very, very close to the Amnesia.
I chose the GG#4 in my current lineup because it's the modern instantiation of Chem and Sour genetics. And the Bubba Kush for its twist on the OG Kush. The Blue Dream was an attempt at something more Haze-leaning.
So.. do I want to remain within the Chem-Kush-Diesel empire, or shoot out towards the other edges?
What a great collection of firing neurons up there sy! You obviously have taken your interest in cannabis genetics and turned it into a serious research project. 
It's really pretty but I don't understand it. Or need to really!
Pennywise is a frickin' encyclopedia of exactly this thing. He has so much genetic history stored in his head that it's amazing to read. Ping him when you run into questions like that.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Sy. I’ve been on a similar journey, and after playing around with different cultivars over the years, have decided to return to the great NorCal Skunk #1 (not the later skunky Amsterdam version, but the original sweet one). After all, it was bred to excel here.
Interesting post mate. Reminded me of a convo I had with the local hydro shop guy recently. He advised me to stick with the older strains if I wanted consistently good results. His words 'stay away from the ones with silly names to attract kids, the ones that look, smell & will get you about as high as a packet of sweets' Made me chuckle.
Made me chuckle.