Philippines Sagada

I would like to share with all the community a small preservation project with a very special line I received from a good friend, the infamous Philippines Sagada. This strain cames from Overgrow. A philippino grower shared the seeds from several lines, Sagada, Kalinga and others with the community many years ago and after all this time, a few ended in my hands.



Beautiful landscape of Sagada:



The hanging tombs... seen them so many times in documentaries!



I think this strain it’s specially interesting due to the harsh drug laws in Philippines, where you can even be condemned to death penalty for cannabis possession. So growing weed is a very high risk there! That's the reason I don't think many traditional farmers will preserve old pinoy strains and probably the smugglers growing pot are already running hybrids to improve crops and profits. There isn’t many info on Philippines strains either but it seems cannabis growing operations are still common there, besides the risk:

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/06/23/13/kalinga-emerging-marijuana-hotspot



http://www.manilatimes.net/vast-mar...scovered-in-kalinga-hinterland-village/11815/




The seeds were gifted by the great Rahan, a great inspiration who spread also lots of information on rare and native lines from all over the word and did a great landrace list in the past that could be found in Overgrow and the Ultimate Sativa Thread. He and other friends and great growers from the community also inspired me to contribute filling that list and keep gaining and sharing knowledge about landraces and cannabis diversity all over the globe.

Seeds were made around 2005, so they were quite old already. Unfortunately, from the 15 seeds I got only 5 sprouted properly and at the end, just 4 made it. This it’s been always a great issue for all of us, germinating very old seeds that have a very special value is such a challenge, but at the end there is not much we can do when they get old or weak to open and survive. It's a very big fucking pressure when you expect them to sprout and you don't have any more seeds plus you know they are super rare...

I tried desperately with different techniques with the beans, even home made surgery with them, helping them out as much as I could and always trying to make them moist and warm enough, while keeping everything sterilised with H2O2 and so on to avoid fungus and damage… but not much success so at the end I couldn’t get any other to come to life. It’s really disappointing and sad but it’s how it is. So guys, better sprout those special seeds you have been storing for years and keep them fresh each few years, otherwise they will get lost for ever!

I really hope to get at least one nice male and stable females to do a seed run and have fresh seeds to keep studying the line.

There isn’t many info on them. Rahan told me they were very much like the other SE Asian lines, but faster flowering than thais and maybe not so many hermies among them.


Quoting him:

The Sagada comes straight from Filipinos, I still may have the stamp of the package. I received them from a member of overgrow that was not very active. It was the same source than those of Dubi (ACE seeds) who received also both Sagada and Kalinga and preferred the Kalinga, more south asian electric sativa. We preferred the Sagada, more "quiet and zen" thai style. There were some hermies in the line but not as many as with classical thais and they were discarded from the reproduction. It was the time when people living in exotic countries were visiting forums like overgrow to exchange native lines with modern hybrid lines. Most probably, weed dealers who had strong interest (due to harsh law) to enhance productivity and lower flowering time so that to avoid risk exposure and enhance money.

Click to expand...

Let’s see how they behave. I will keep this thread updated with some pictures and information regularly so anyone can enjoy as I will.

Vibes.

P.S: There is some info on the Philippines Kalinga in this thread as well... but nothing about Sagadas I'm afraid:

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=49138

The show begins...

Nice long first pair of leaflets, this one looks weaker but I had to crack the seedpot by myself and plant the embryo straight into the soil as the taproot wasn't developing any more:



The bigger one, the only one who sprouted without any help and managed to come out from the soil by itself:



The Sagada Squad:


Field of weed in Philippines mountains:



Peace all.

Good luck Musta!!!
Nice preserving project, hope you'll find all what you want

There's some good cannabis in the P.I (or at least there was 30 years ago ..lol) I'm looking forward to this thread, I'm hoping those four little Pinoys grow into big fat trees for you.

I spent many long holidays during the 80's in the Philippines, some of the best laughing weed I've ever smoked was from there......I still remember it vividly with great fondness (as does everyone else who remembers buds that had a high that was special for them, so special that they can still recall the great nights and times you had with them decades later)

this 3D is really interesting

Good luck Musta

Good luck with them bro!! You are a shining light in the preservation path

hellz yeah!!! looking forward to this one

good luck bro!
blessss

Good luck man! Preservation of rare strains is always a great thing to do. I'm interested to see how it turns out!

Very interesting project I certainly wish you the best.

red rider

Suwerte! Cannabis is still grown all over the Philippines, and except for very few cases, it is pure sativas. There is no selection, people just plant their seeds from previous years. Of course the Phils government is hardcore on eradicating crops, but the ganja continues to survive due to the rife corruption that exists in the country.

The Kalinga are said to have used cannabis for a long time. While I personally think cannabis was brought into the Philippines by US servicemen from continental Southeast Asia, some disagree. I wasn't around back then so of course I don't know for sure!

There is a sativa hybrid grown on the island of Mindanao in an area known as Bukidnon that is pretty decent. I smoked a spliff with two local guys (one of whom my friends grew up with in another country) in a parking lot in Davao. Very up high that made it difficult for me to speak, but it came down quickly.

There is a legalization movement in the Phils, but the Catholic government and majority consider it a poison. Alcohol does enormous damage to the Philippines economy, but is considered completely acceptable compared to marijuana. Life for cannabis possession is a very real possibility unless you have the money to buy your way out of a jam!

I will be watchn this grow for sure nice landrace find sir

Wondern

Mm

I should also add that there is a small but growing contingent of indoor growers in the Philippines, and because a large portion of the country is involved in agriculture, they have access to some great grow products and even university-developed hydroponic setups. These growers are taking huge risks to produce their own smoke and the indoor growing thing is still in its infancy there, but slowly but surely things are definitely taking hold there. Peat and perlite aren't easy to source, but they have ready access to professionally blended coco media, which is plentiful and locally produced.

Sagada and the provinces around it grow some of the best weed in the Philippines for sure, and there is even some small scale hash production for visitors. It is, however, a dangerous place to be a stoner as there are dirty cops waiting to bust you for bribe money. I haven't had the chance to make it up there, but I should, and ASAP

Enormous busts are par for course in the Philippines...

http://www.philstar.com/nation/2013/07/10/963874/cousins-caught-p3.2m-marijuana-baguio

Gelado` said:

I should also add that there is a small but growing contingent of indoor growers in the Philippines, and because a large portion of the country is involved in agriculture, they have access to some great grow products and even university-developed hydroponic setups. These growers are taking huge risks to produce their own smoke and the indoor growing thing is still in its infancy there, but slowly but surely things are definitely taking hold there. Peat and perlite aren't easy to source, but they have ready access to professionally blended coco media, which is plentiful and locally produced.

Sagada and the provinces around it grow some of the best weed in the Philippines for sure, and there is even some small scale hash production for visitors. It is, however, a dangerous place to be a stoner as there are dirty cops waiting to bust you for bribe money. I haven't had the chance to make it up there, but I should, and ASAP

Enormous busts are par for course in the Philippines...

http://www.philstar.com/nation/2013/07/10/963874/cousins-caught-p3.2m-marijuana-baguio

Click to expand...

http://www.philstar.com/nation/2013/07/23/1003821/marijuana-plantation-benguet-town-raided

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/...-anti-marijuana-campaign-in-all-benguet-towns

Oops, I didn't mean to quote myself there. Looks like the Northern Philippine growers have learned some guerilla growing techniques online and aren't just growing huge fields now!

http://northphiltimes.blogspot.hk/2013/05/cops-uproot-marijuana-in-sagada.html

It looks like Sagada is a little more relaxed as far as growing goes if they let the guy grow for three years. I have a friend whose father is a policeman in the general area and he has let his neighbors go for growing and possession multiple times, but he uproots their plants and takes their pot when he sees or smells it.

The Philippines is definitely one of the last places I'd want to get caught with bud, they treat it like it's heroin or something.

Thanks to everyone for the vibes... I will keep the thread updated regularly with pictures and info. As soon as I can see some strong roots in the seedlings, I will put them into bigger pots. Not too big though as I don't want to let this beauties grow too much. My goal with them is just make a seed run this season and maybe take some clones to test how the seedless females smoke and how long does it take to be ripe. Then with the fresh progeny, we will be able to test them outdoors, indoors, select for potency or certain traits before reproducing again and whatever we feel, with more time and space and no pressure about preserving a few vaulable seeds!

Hey Gelado, great info! I'm sure there are still great ganja fields in Philippines, I would love to travel there and smoke some weed on the spot, although it seems to be risky but enjoying a local spliff in such amazing scenery is worth the pain! I still remember the documentaries about Sagada or that 92 years old Kalinga woman still doing traditional tattoos and featured in National Geographic... maybe she smokes ganja and that's the reason for her longevity! lol



Gotta love travelling around the world!

Peace.

If I ever make it up that way I would love to get one of those traditional tats from her! Not sure if she smokes the green, but they definitely smoke out of nice ebony pipes up that way (tobacco, at least most of the time, lol).

You're doing really important work and I'm really glad someone is helping preserve and improve the line. I'll definitely be watching!

High everyones , very nice and interesting thread Mustafunk you are soooo lucky , i have never see strains from philippines , if you make seed and want to sell some let me know what please . i'm a real sativa lover .

good vibes

Suerte con ellas mustafunk .

Ola Mustafunk,

Nice to see them reported here also

I see from the linked topic on Kalinga that Dubi did a great work and report with the Kalingas. I wish I would hav obtained as many pics to document the Sagada but unfortunately, it was not grown by myself, hence few documentation, sorry. Maybe you should ask him if he tried the Sagadas: as I wrote to you, my memory tells me that yes and he preferred the Kalingas but it has been a while since we talked about it jejeje, 2005....

Wish you all the best with them, if you find a good lady or two and no good male, I will try to find more seeds of it in the fridge jejeje

Hey guys... more pics will come this next days, I've transplanted the plants this past days from the seedling grids to individual pots.

Free Gardener, as for the Kalingas and Sagadas, I've been speaking to Dubi and he told me that when he grew the Kalingas, unfortunately none of the Sagada seeds he had sprouted so actually he didn't have the chance to grow and try them. I guess that was the reason why there aren't any pictures here either or experiences with them hahaha.

Rahan also offered some more seeds but I hope we will get at least a nice couple so this can have a happy end! I have so many upcoming projects and old seeds to run so I really hope that to be able to move into the next!

Anyway, tomorrow as soon as I have a break I will upload some pics from them for you guys to see how they are performing the little babies.

Peace.