Can anyone help me pick a strain to suit my needs?

I'm trying to pick a strain to grow, but the number of choices is a bit overwhelming for me. It would be awesome if somebody could make some recommendations based on what I'm looking for. Ideally I would prefer something that is energetic, social, relaxing, happy, creative, focused, and clear headed. I'd like to stay away from couchlock and definitely don't want to be so high that I forget what I'm saying mid sentence. I don't want to feel lethargic or antisocial. If possible it would be nice to have something that would still allow me to think straight, concentrate and do work (mathematics, physics, and computer programming) without feeling mentally inebriated. Tied in with that would be a minimal effect on memory. Does that sound doable?

In addition, I've been really intrigued reading about autoflowers. A big part of the reason that I'm starting growing is because I'm interested in getting into breeding (and some growing experiments). It seems like having such a quick turnover of generations could help speed along the selective breeding process. I'm not sure how compatible this will be with the kind of high I'm looking for as there's less selection in autoflowers, particularly when it comes to sativas. I'm very open to the idea of trying to introduce an autoflower genome into a plant with a high that's more style though.

Anyway, I'm starting to ramble. Anyone have any input?

There are several crosses which can offer something close to that clear-headed cerebral/social, Sativa-typical stone. I would also do a search for "clear headed sativas" in this forum and you'll find ample answers to this question.

C99, Jack Herer, Satori, Flo, F-13, or any Haze (SSH, Mango Haze, Thai Haze, Hazey McHazeStein) will all have phenos which get close to what you're requesting. These will all be sativa dominant in high, but will also have a hint of Indica. That being said, they will likely be the long-flowering pheno representation (~10 weeks of flower) that will be what you want.

There seems to be a strong correlation between long-flowering sativas and a more up/energetic high experience. Many growers maintain that without a long-flowering sativa, you simply aren't getting the pure, clear-headed, long-lasting, zero couch-lock or drowsiness-free effect that landrace sativas have. They say that once you go 16-week sativa, nothing compares, even the best crosses. Do a forum search on those Sam's Skunk #1 x Original Haze freebies - 16-week wild sativa with an outstanding stone, though a pain in the ass indoors.

I would stay away from autoflowering plants if you're looking for this kind of stone. Autoflowering plants are often crossed with other fast flowering indicas. Check out MDanzig's autoflowering offerings - all Indica crosses, every one. This will deliver a big, heavy stone at best, a mild stone at worst. I've grown out autoflowering plants with success and amusement, but little more. Its hardly worth your time if you're after the connoisseur level of smoke.

At the moment I'm growing out C99 BX looking for the pineapple pheno, renowned for the same qualities you (and I) desire. I would check out the C99 first and read some smoke reports, then move on down the list from there. SSH is another fantastic Haze cross, though a bit too skunky for my tastes.

But, if you're after that once-in-a-lifetime super energetic 6-hour no-ceiling moonboy high, look for a long-flowering landrace sativa.

Thanks for the input! I've done some reading on C99 and it looks really interesting, but in some high reports that I read I'm made a little bit hesitant by things like: "C-99 is more psychedelic be sure to smoke a little wait a few minutes, then think about whether or not you need any more...it's easy to over-indulge and become paranoid." I know it probably sounds lame to not want super potent weed, but in general I think I would prefer something where I could smoke a joint casually and not have any worry about getting too high. Do you know anything about apollo 11? I've liked most of what I've read about that so far (although I did still hear some mention of paranoia).

Perhaps try Flo? It's much milder and has a very unique creative/inspiring effect, though has kind of a stoney side to it as well (60% indica). Flo has recently entered my short list for the grow underneath Dutchgrown/Rez' project, Mr Nice SSH and SSSDH.

Flo is a good option, but it is expensive and tends to be a poor yielder; although it is not very potent, the high is good and well vibed. My only problem with it is that it is the kind of high in which you think-feel that you are not high.
I would go for Kali Mist. No way to miss with that one. Not a single female I have grown is average. All the phenos are excellent, specially the indica pheno which flowers for about 60-65 days instead of the usual 90 you will spend on most phenos. Try it. You won´t be dissapointed, except if you smoke too much.

ewsie said:

**snip** Do you know anything about apollo 11? I've liked most of what I've read about that so far (although I did still hear some mention of paranoia).

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I am growing the A11 now. It is by far the most unique stone I have ever experienced. A friend asked me to describe it to him and I told him "It's like somebody shoved a big pot doughnut in your face, but you can see perfectly clear through the hole." I stand by that description! it seems to effect my eyes and face less and allows me to maintain focus or break focus to move onto something else. I believe this to be the genius pheno but who really knows! I love it and hope to keep it in my garden permanantly.

I'm 40+ years old and have smoked a lot of good grass over the past 20+ years. My tolerance is fair but I am no rockstar. To me, -0- parinoia or racy feeling, and only a touch of couchlock if I hit it hard. I smoke mostly at night and it doesn't keep me awake like racy sativa's do, or make me tired during the day like a heavy indica does. it seems to come on rather slowly but not like a big hammer in the head when it does hit you. More like "ahhh... I guess I am stoned!" Not the strongest I have ever smoked but the stone is the most unique and most functional I have personally ever experienced. I have yet to produce enough to get a good jar cure going so that may improve the potency.

The odor during growing is minimal, even toward the end of flowing. It is a distinct lemon candy smell all the way until the end of flowering where it takes on a smell of black pepper. After drying it goes back to the lemon candy though. Once I get enough going to actually do a good cure on it I may find the taste changes again... Taste of dried uncured buds are smoth and not overly flavorful but not bad in any way. It smells like hay until it is totally dried out though.

I found some of the plants to be finiky and some to be difficult to clone. My keeper mom is neither but doesn't veg real fast and stretches minimally in flower. A few of the males showed sex in veg which is nice, and my keeper throws pistals after a week or two in flower. My keeper starts to show amber trics in 6 weeks. It is hard for me to comment on production because I am still tweaking my soil mix, but from my original testers it has been fairly good and getting better now that I have gotten my organics down and my ariation up. Buds are fat and dense even in a cfl micro grow. Trics extend to even the fan leaves. Going from a rooted cutting directly to 12/12 isn't really ideal for this one unless you want your plants to stay under 8 inches or so. I found good aerated soil helps them stretch some and really dense soil stunts them to where they almost don't stretch at all, and all you get is a single nug for all your efforts!

Probably not the worlds easiest newbie strain, but if you can get a good "set it and forget it" organic mix going it is easy enough. They all seem to need a fair bit of MG.

Hope that helps! I am really stumped as to why this isn't the most common mj in the land... Probably not a comercial strain in terms of yeild, but the high is wonderful. I can't recommend Apollo 11 enough.
Jed

That certainly makes me want to try out the A11! The C99 and the Flo both sound great as well, but I'm very attracted to A11 being such a functional high. I unfortunately have a time constraint when I have to travel in June so I don't think I'll be able to get a full flower in for those plants before I go (I still need to order seeds, buy a light, get a card, etc...). I think that I might grow a faster flowering indica from a clone from someone I know just to get a little practice growing in before I move on to something that's more my style. Maybe in the meantime I can try to get my hands on these strains to try them out (I wonder if any clubs in norcal have them?).

Anyway, this thread was my first post on icmag and your responses have made me feel very welcome. I used to frequent overgrow back in high school and when I recently started having a renewed interest in growing I went online and was disappointed to learn about what happened. I've checked out all of the major forums and felt like icmag was the best fit for me and my interests. So far I feel like I made the right choice . I look forward to becoming part of the community.

I had a powerplant from dutch passion that seems to be quite similar to what you're looking for... Very clear and up high and when you don't over-do it you're guaranteed a high without feeling mentally inebriated. Excellent calyx-to-leaf ratio as well!





peace,
T

A11 sounds really nice ! but as far as i know it is can't be found in seeds form any more... I tried a A11 x Kali Crosss, Appollo Mist,a must for euphoric high, very particular plants.

if i remember well, problem with autoflowering genes is that they are quite hard to include into sativas, at least more than for indicas/hybrids.
some do perform well, but there is yet not much that have a soaring/uplifting high.
If you want to breed, than i ld reckon cross a autoflowering hybrid to a sativa, and start breeding. you have to gather some information on the autoflowering gene, they are a lot on the net, it is recessive, so few generations are needed to bring it out for the majority of plants.

i would suggest you have a look at ACE jamaican x nepalese, i m growing f2 at the moment, and they could be what you re looking for.
It is said to have this kind of enlightning high, which is really social and up. they have a nice yield, are quite atypical plants, and they come from pure landraces genetics.

Haze imo are too strong for most people, you can get certainly some very mild phenos, but as soon as the psychedelic haze side start to kick in, so on most phenos, people won t handle much of it, and it can get very antisocial.

also have a look over Mandala stuff, especially the satori, a lot of people are saying a lot of good from his stuff, especially around that kind of up/enlighting/social buzz he seems to have given to his strains. you can t beat his prices, and it is good stuff (i ve grown is mandala 1 and hashberry).

C99 suggested is one of the best plant i ve smoked, but i would not recommand it for your use, it is too strong.

keep in mind that what you re looking for is not a strong high, or at least it is very up so a lot less to be felt than indicas couchlock.
I like that totally, but my problem with that kind of buds is that i can smoke them all day long, so they don t last much

you ll have some hard time finding a particular plant that will help you improve your math or physics skills, i've found one neville haze hybrid from female seeds that would help me study, but that 's all and i ve grown a big bunch of strains and clones. sadly i did not kept her.

hope it helps.. have fun growing and breeding !

f-13, dj shrts fav-c99,cali orange cuz great 4 anxiety and depresiion-so mind gets to focus-try a good haze hybrid-i was very productive during day on a-tratin from thcseeds

ewsie said:

I'm trying to pick a strain to grow, but the number of choices is a bit overwhelming for me. It would be awesome if somebody could make some recommendations based on what I'm looking for. Ideally I would prefer something that is energetic, social, relaxing, happy, creative, focused, and clear headed. I'd like to stay away from couchlock and definitely don't want to be so high that I forget what I'm saying mid sentence. I don't want to feel lethargic or antisocial. If possible it would be nice to have something that would still allow me to think straight, concentrate and do work (mathematics, physics, and computer programming) without feeling mentally inebriated. Tied in with that would be a minimal effect on memory. Does that sound doable?

In addition, I've been really intrigued reading about autoflowers. A big part of the reason that I'm starting growing is because I'm interested in getting into breeding (and some growing experiments). It seems like having such a quick turnover of generations could help speed along the selective breeding process. I'm not sure how compatible this will be with the kind of high I'm looking for as there's less selection in autoflowers, particularly when it comes to sativas. I'm very open to the idea of trying to introduce an autoflower genome into a plant with a high that's more style though.

Anyway, I'm starting to ramble. Anyone have any input?

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I'd go w Satori. Your description of the high fits well w what this strain provides...It practically grows itself, very vigorous, and requires minimal feeding as well...Some around here have labeled it the new sex weed too. Takes a bit longer than c99(70 days as opposed to about 55), but you wouldn't have to worry about paranoia...Oh and Mandala offers it for about $30USD .

Only drawback I see is that it's always sold out soon after they're in... Good luck!

titoon29 said:

A11 sounds really nice ! but as far as i know it is can't be found in seeds form any more... **snip**

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Joey Weed has been working on f2's of some of the brother's grim stuff (A11, C99 & Sugar Blossoms) for a few years now and his gear is A+. I wish his gear was on the bay or the boo but unfortunately it will take a google to find it. He is a solid seed maker though, and I have never heard a bad thing from anyone. There is only one place to get his stuff as far as I know, but that has a good rep too.

I think Res was working on some A11 f2's but I haven't seen them around yet. you might go to his forum here at icmag and see.

Other than that I have heard a lot of good things about Satori from Mandela and I hope to run that one day. Flo, A11, and Satori often come up in the same threads like they have here, as they all have their followings and are known to be good gear.

Good Luck!

Jed

ewsie said:

That certainly makes me want to try out the A11! The C99 and the Flo both sound great as well, but I'm very attracted to A11 being such a functional high. I unfortunately have a time constraint when I have to travel in June so I don't think I'll be able to get a full flower in for those plants before I go (I still need to order seeds, buy a light, get a card, etc...). I think that I might grow a faster flowering indica from a clone from someone I know just to get a little practice growing in before I move on to something that's more my style. Maybe in the meantime I can try to get my hands on these strains to try them out (I wonder if any clubs in norcal have them?).

Anyway, this thread was my first post on icmag and your responses have made me feel very welcome. I used to frequent overgrow back in high school and when I recently started having a renewed interest in growing I went online and was disappointed to learn about what happened. I've checked out all of the major forums and felt like icmag was the best fit for me and my interests. So far I feel like I made the right choice . I look forward to becoming part of the community.

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I agree with you about icmag, it is definately the most chill place to talk about this stuff. Not a lot of BS here, great information, lots of quality breeders are active here, and the news here is top notch!

As for getting something going by June... take my advice and get your grow area set up and running before you order seeds or clones... It is too tempting to start things before you are dialed in. Try some bag seed first and run your space with that before you spend money on gear that you will most likely waste! No sense in pushing it time wise. Lots of very creative people here who will help you get things going with your space, your medium and your processes in general.

If you are planning on keeping mother plants then it takes awhile before you get that going too, but that is probably the best way to get consistent results. It really doesn't take much space to do that either... My A11 mom is in a 4x4x2 pot (actually a 12Oz coffee bag used like a grow bag) and is only ever allowed to get about 6" over the dirt. I can easily pull 3 or 4 clones per week off of her even at that size. I started these beans in November and it took a good 2 months before I had things running with my mother cab and my cloning process. I just cut down the cuts I took to determine sex a week or so ago.

So take that part for what it is worth, one newbie to another.

Good luck!

jed

Satori.

Exactly what you're looking for. Will grow it again this spring. Great, uplifting, spiritual, up high with no paranoia. Great for musicians and active smokers. Not a couch weed. Great stuff.

10jed said:

Joey Weed has been working on f2's of some of the brother's grim stuff (A11, C99 & Sugar Blossoms) for a few years now and his gear is A+. I wish his gear was on the bay or the boo but unfortunately it will take a google to find it. He is a solid seed maker though, and I have never heard a bad thing from anyone. There is only one place to get his stuff as far as I know, but that has a good rep too.

Good Luck!

Jed

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I agree, Joey Weed Apollo 11. You may want to try his C99 x A11, many keep it over the so called "elites".

4 Dragons said:

I agree, Joey Weed Apollo 11. You may want to try his C99 x A11, many keep it over the so called "elites".

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yeah... I called him a seed maker, but his breeding projects are getting good reviews too. Seems he has a keen eye for selection, and good taste in the crosses he makes. Not to much is known about JW himself, but his gear is getting famous quickly!

Jed