Cherry Thai Seeds from Reeferman Seeds

I acquired a pack of Reeferman’s Cherry Thai (RM-26) seeds from HeavensStairway, apparently one of the last. When they arrived, strangely, they were all peeling like sunburn. Pappy at HS encouraged me to germinate and report if I had problems. I tried 4 beans. Three germed, one of which was stunted and died within a couple of days. The other two were divided – one in soil, one direct to mediumless hydroponic. (uncertain first hydro venture, so soil was ‘backup’ in a sense) Soil seedling germinated October 9, and is referred to as CT1, hydro seedling germed Oct11 and is CT2. Here on I counted days as if both were Oct10. Went under 18/6. CT1 kept pace one node bigger than CT2 for about three weeks, (I started weak FloroNovaBloom during week 2 for CT2) but almost stalled by the fourth week, when I transitioned (over 5 days) to 12/12 lightcycle.

CT1: (1-gallon soil) Week 3 started LST, and stopped four days later when branching was obvious at every node. (next time I mightn’t bother with LST – Cherry Thai seems likely to branch thoroughly without that incentive – just prune to control screen overgrowth) Between 25 and 30 days from sprouting I transitioned from 18/6 to 12/12, and started suspecting CT1 was male. By 1 week into 12/12 it was clear. I watched him carefully thereafter until he bloomed, relocating him part-way through the wait. I harvested pollen from 3 flowers, and (successfully) pollinated one branch of the female CT2 before destroying CT1. With Cherry Thai being an F1 of Indica Cherry Bomb X Oregon Purple Thai, the possibilities represented in those ~35 seeds are enticing.

The male stood 7 inches tall, probably 10 inches accounting for the ‘s’-bend from LST, and was quite sturdy – I was able to pick up the plant and 1-gallon pot of soil by the lower stem without damage during its final week. Some pollen was retained in a sealed bag with a grain of rice, packed with triple-sealed seed storage in the fridge. When I have another strain accessible, I’ll see how much of it remains viable… 🙂

The remainder of this report refers to the female, CT2. (Pics of CT1 in my gallery, along with others of CT2)

CT2: (2.5-gallon hydro) Week 3 started LST, stopped after 4 days as with CT1. At day 30, beginning of 12/12 (to become 11/13 by week 5), I installed a 10″x10″ screen 5″ above mediumless foam collar, and started tying under screen aiming toward the farthest corner. At this point she was about 8″ tall, ‘s’-bent to about 6″ height, with about 8 significant branches reaching out. Picture with both plants and CT2 under screen is day4 of flower. By day 10 she was overgrowing screen, by day 20 she had stretched such that the apical meristem had reached the screen corner, been bent along the screen edge, and made it to the next corner 10 inches away! Overall plant ‘height’ probably reached about 30″, restrained to 10″ vertical space with the screen and several twisty ties.

Lighting: 1 20-watt compact flourescent during early veg, two such for weeks 2-4. Bloom lighting was a 10″x15″ white melamine panel with 156 watts of CFLs remote-ballast mounted to reduce space waste. However, week 2 of flower I had to cut one 20-watter out of the circuit to control heat build-up without making fans obtrusive. So Basically I flowered under 136 watts of 2600kelvin compact flourescents, kept roughly 2 inches from nearest budsites. Despite overgrowth of screen, I was able to get entire canopy within 5 inches of light sources.

Nutes: During second week I fed her a gallon of 135ppm General Hydroponics FloraNovaBloom, and proceeded to follow a NIMBY-style feeding schedule – nutrient additions on sundays, and pure water topups the rest of the week. Each week until 4 weeks into flower I increased strength of the sunday additions, up to 1800ppm (4 teaspoons/gallon – in retrospect she was happy at first but it was too high). From there until week 7 I decreased strength each week, back down to 900ppm, and from week7 to harvest simply topped-up with plain RO water. Circulation/aeration/perturbation, a la NIMBY, was provided by an aquarium powerhead without air line connected, (near silent) on a separate timer to run 30 minutes out of every 120. No meters except the plant, which surely showed her displeasure around week 8.

Week5 she started to plump up and frost nicely, but problems cropped up. Week5 started on December 17, and family was visiting for christmas, staying in-home. For the next two weeks she was starved for attention. Heat build-up was worse than before in part because I never opened the cabinet during the day as I previously had, and I had to run fans slower. Worse, the powerhead clogged at some point and I failed to notice until week7. I kept up with water and nutrient additions, and canopy examination/adjustments when possible, but she was pretty much neglected during the holidays.

Reeferman states 8-9 weeks maturation. I hit day 56, 8 weeks, on Jan5. Examination with radio shack ‘microscope’ showed me trichs about 60% cloudy 40% clear. Unfortunately, by this point (due to my neglect, heat build-up, and overfertilization) she was not happy nor healthy. I waited until day 58 and harvested all above-screen buds, cleaned up unhealthy leaves and such under canopy, and continued. Today is day 65, and I’m going to harvest the remaining under-screen budlets after filing this report.

Odor. Strangely, the strongest aromas (undisturbed, that is) were weeks 3-4 in veg, when the whole room containing the growcab smelt slightly of spicy celery and very faint skunk. At that point I introduced a 4″ diameter 2″ thick carbon filter into the exhaust duct. Aromas within the cabinet were really not strong at all during flower, unless the plant was physically touched. (fan movement didn’t seem to affect it) When touched, the spicy celery/skunk aroma became noticeable, along with a vaguely fruity smell I couldn’t identify. That last component finally became dominant, still unidentified. Then I encountered something else that smelled just like it – cherry chapstick. 🙂 Now that buds are curing (well, some pre-harvest tests already cured a week and were consumed) the ‘green’ aroma is working its way out, and a cherry/skunky aroma is settling in. If I handle a bud, the smell becomes distinct. If I suck the sticky trichs off my thumb after handling, it almost smells/tastes like froot loops cereal.

Taste. Yum. Even uncured there’s no coughs hiding here. Flavor isn’t strong when smoked, but noticeable. Fairly lung-filling but not expansive, and during exhalation an earthy/fruity aroma invades your sinuses.

Appearance. To me, lovely. 😉 Structure is fairly loose, and I manicured only lightly, as trichs were prominent on most leaves, and I certainly didn’t harvest enough where the trimmings would be useful for hash or oil production. Buds are not dense, so I can see where it would not appeal to some on that basis. (presuming that’s not just my grow)

High. Early samples were very much head-effects, with no headache at any consumption level. Main harvest (58 days), after drying but not curing, is still mostly head, but I find that the head-effects extend significantly to physical perception – IE, my back pain is there, but I don’t pay it any attention because it’s not interesting. No physical dragging couchlock effect, but again I find the head-effects extend here – I could watch my aquarium screensaver for an hour, motionless, without feeling physically locked-down… 😉 I don’t find it makes me drowsy, although weed rarely has that effect on me without excessive consumption, alcohol, or already being tired. Since I work from home via computer, with permanent pain related to back surgery, light tokes can help through the day. However, I find that much more and I zone out. I’ve not yet hit a ceiling, either – 6-8 hits gets me pretty spaced for a while, no headache or threshold I’ve encountered, just an eternal hour contemplating the universe, followed by a few more buzzed. No heart-racing, minimal if any paranoia, cheekbones numb. 1-hit to retain focus, 2-3-hits social, 4-5-hits wasted. Fits my use very nicely.

During week1 flower, I took two cuttings from CT2 and placed them in a bubblerooter. They both developed an amazing number of rootnubs (just white bumps) but never roots – they finally died after about 50 days, having slowly consumed all their leaves and with white mold suddenly appearing on their lower stems above the waterline the last week. (this same has appeared on CT2 stem above waterline during last few weeks of flower) I did NOT use any rooting hormones, and had them in pure water for much of that time, but weak nute solution last 10 days or so. (100% success with 6 bagseed clones previously with same setup, within 2 weeks) I plan to snip a few low/young branches from the remainder of CT2 and apply rooting hormone and see what can be achieved, but expect that my next harvest will be from seed. The originals though – not my unpredictable F2’s.

RM describes it as “medium-yielding connoiseur bud”, and I’d have to agree. Granted that I abused and mistreated the poor girl every which way and gave her so little space and light, she still provided me with about 1 1/4 ounces of delightful strong smoke, not far off my anticipated/hoped-for 2 ounce yield. (first full grow) If left unrestricted space-wise, I suspect in the same time (30 days veg, 60 days flower) she’d have grown to about 4 feet tall, 1.5-2 feet wide, and fairly dense. With longer veg, and proper veg ferts, I’m confident this strain would fill out quite nicely, though not dramatically. Bud density, size, and appearance in my harvest are totally acceptable to me, and if (as I assume) I can increase yield through better handling within my environmental constraints, and if I can successfully propogate cuttings, I anticipate that I’ll be running two MWC tubs of Cherry Thai staggered to monthly harvests for some time.

cogi
 
 

Report added by: cogitus