Dear Icmag,
It’s been a long time since my last post,
But today I’m really happy to share this experience with you all.
Today I’m sowing my last seeds of what I called “Grapefruit grail project”.
This is only a part in a strange journey I’ve took in search of the perfect grapefruit smelling plant in the last 5 years.
Everything begun in 2006 when I first smoked a joint of NYCD from Soma seeds while in Amsterdam.
Saying I felt in love with that weed is reductive, I got something more than an obsession for it.
It was great: real red ripe grapefruit taste that was the same as smell, it filled your mouth completely and for minutes after joint that wonderful taste lingered in your mouth like you kept on licking your fingers after you’ve peeled lots of agrumes… And potency! Wow! Always noticeable after any weed out there, NYCD stood out for having a joyful and up high which is still nowadays one of my favourite in Ams. For years it’s been the herb that I usually smoke before leaving Holland, to feel the last time the freedom of medicate with such good stuff in plain sight and have a good taste in my mouth on the plane coming back home…I thought I WANT more!
It was great when I first bought my pack of Soma seeds.They were bought in Dampkrieg growshop in front of central station, together with Soma’s book. While I was paying for it at the counter Soma himself walked in the shop. I was able to meet and talk to the breeder of the seeds I was actually buying in this moment. He signed my book and gave me his benediction.
It’s been nearly 5 years of growing/living aside of NYCD, and unfortunately I’m not satisfied with the phenos I found with these seeds.
So far I’ve planted a total of 35 seeds of original NYCD from Soma. All those beans came directly from Soma’s hands, no fake, all regular seeds.
My first batch was with 5 seeds. 3 males and 2 females. I grew this batch 6 cycles, indoor on hydro, soil and Soma’s soilbeds, outdoor 2 seasons, trying to replicate that flavour I met in A’dam, but my plants looked and smelled different (later I realized they were some Afghan-hawaian pheno).
Incredible plants: tall sativa, 12 weeks flowering time, incredible hybrid vigor, hardness to pest and bad conditions, fresh fruity floral taste and smell, but far from being grapefruit!
One male was used for breeding.
Also a couple of F2 were planted, but no grapefruit!
I had 5 seeds left, maybe that pheno could be among those, but I got 4 males and only one female more. Super sativa one, super floral (rose, and violets) smell and taste, very vigorous but not grapefruit again.
I talked to Soma about this, he said it was easy to find a grapefruit sport and I decided to get some more 10 seeds of NYCD and 10 seeds of NYCD x G13Haze.
From NYCD I got 4 more females ( I admit I got a poor m/f ratio with those ones…), all being incredible, robust, vigorous plants BUT no grapefruit!!!
Better results in terms of smell were found in G13haze line. My NYG #2 was the closest of all to that wonderful smell, but still it is slightly different: begins as pungent hazy, greasy smell as you approach first your nose, then grapefruit appears behind leaving a good ligt aftertaste of bitter oranges that lingers for minutes. I was happy!!
NYg#1 followed being a bit more indica as plant, less grapefruit smelling, but more pronounced in taste. Good m/f ratio with those being 6/4.
A couple of those were haze leaning phenos, long flowering, dry woody smell tinted of fruit, more potent and cerebral in high, BUT not grapefruit! To mention a good male NYG#7 which was the best smelling plant of all, very vigorous.
But when in Amsterdam again, I realized from the first smell out of that NYCD box in the coffeeshop that mine wasn’t even close to that! Dutch weed looked better: big fat calyxes that revealed a sort of indica parentage, very compact and tight buds, very resinous on every part, masterfully grown, but looked a different plant to the best I could achieve at home in best condition.
I blamed on myself and promised to do better with my plants and give a try to new 5 seeds regular.
To sum up, almost 2 ½ years spent to hunt for that grapefruit pheno and no success!
I revisited all my growing technique and skills and gave a try to the last 5 original seeds regular, deciding to look for a more indica style plant and hoping for some grapefruit.
As earlier I got 3 males and 2 females. The latter looked very similar to the ones I had previously, and one of them smelled like a sort of strawberry, but no grapefruit. The males looked a bit more promising: fatter indica leaves than the previous males, a tint of fruitness and grape in there. Almost close? But what to do? I decided to mate my NYG2, the best smelling and tasting plant to an array of males I encountered. I had 5 different males coupled: a NYG#7 and three males with indica leaves from last batch and the first male met 3 years before from which I could see the offsprings already.
Meanwhile I tested NYG7 with sour diesel, chocolope and ak47 to try potency and I was quite satisfied with results.
So I sowed 50 more F2 seeds, a mix of NYCD x NYCDG13haze#2 and NYGH2 x NYGH7.
I grew them, sexed them and flowered the clones for 3-4 weeks to see the first resin.
Then I chose the very best 3 females, using a criteria of selection based on grapefruit smell alone.
Only 3 out of 30 females smelled grapefruit, with different tones and bitterness.
The best smelling plants came out of NYG13H F2 (#8 and #9).
Are we dealing so with a recessive trait? Soma told me it is quite frequent to meet a good grapefruit smelling plant, but indeed I had a lot of work to be done before achieving this result. He was lucky as he met this pheno on the 6th seed planted. This pheno is still circulating in Amsterdam.
Now these 3 selected plants are flowering beautifully. 8th week. Still 2-3 weeks to go.
3 different phenos: one (NYG2 x NYC3) is really close to her mother in appearance and smell.
NYGH F2 #8 is a super sativa looking plant, growing as a beast and super foxtailed. Fast flowering although, not more than 3 weeks to go. The smell of this one is the best achieved so far: bitter and sweet grapefruit peel is all there, mixed with a strong kick of fresh flowery sativa. Just move some leaves indirectly and you smell the grapefruit, gently squeeze one calyx and there’ll be no soap to cover it, almost embarrassing…
I’m closer this time but what a pain! Anyway it’s similar, not the same as amsterdam’s…
Need to test potency.
#9 is smaller and is more indica, good grapefruit taste but begins with a strong musky smell, it’s fruity as a backsmell, after the musk is gone.
Growing so many NY plants I noticed anyway that a good cure is a must to refine the grapefruit, only after 2 months after harvest that hazy-musky smell leaves place to fruitness to its best.
Just as a note, last year I flowered 5 female chisel. Lots of resin, beautifully smelling plants, but NO HIGH! My tolerance is well in shape, but I smoked this variety just for taste: grape/grapefruit well dipped with cheese aroma. Very nice, but no High. Discarded.
At the end I wasn’t satisfied yet. Soma himself offered me a clone of this pheno this year.
Unfortunately I cannot afford to carry it home, my hunt for grapefruit is not over yet…
So one month ago I begun to approach the problem under a new sight: I planted 40 seeds and called It “grapefruit grail project”.
I decided to try more variety that were labelled to be grapefruit and test’em.
I got 5 grapefruitdiesel and 5 dynamite 5 agent orange (together with 5 querkle and 5 vortex) and 3 NYCD (soma pheno) x bubblegum from a grower friend met in Amsterdam and least but not the last 2 spice from mrnice seeds.
About this one I have always liked the afghan-hawaian touch in a lot of Soma genetics, liked it in NYCD, even if it was too dominant for me in this cross, liked it Amnesia haze, in Spice from Mrnice is missing the afghan part, still conserving some agrume background. I’m very curious about this one.
Today it’s the turn of 5 NYCD female from Soma, (he handed me those beans, being sure it’s the right time, as e said that those were the best NYCD seeds ever made, very very close to that grapefruit pheno I’m looking for), sided with 4 Female seeds grapefruit to compare.
New seedling after a month have already among the best grapefruit smell I met till now, but a lot of small variations are already noticeable. More in the future about this as I see some resin.
Thank you for getting through all this long post, now you can understand why it can be called an obsession.
More than 100 seeds and a few years to find a smell. Hope to end this with a new variety, something like “100% True Grapefruit”, or “Grapefruit madness/obsession”.
I want to share all this with you, any question, clarification or comment is welcomed, sorry if something is a bit confusing.
It’s been a long time since my last post,
But today I’m really happy to share this experience with you all.
Today I’m sowing my last seeds of what I called “Grapefruit grail project”.
This is only a part in a strange journey I’ve took in search of the perfect grapefruit smelling plant in the last 5 years.
Everything begun in 2006 when I first smoked a joint of NYCD from Soma seeds while in Amsterdam.
Saying I felt in love with that weed is reductive, I got something more than an obsession for it.
It was great: real red ripe grapefruit taste that was the same as smell, it filled your mouth completely and for minutes after joint that wonderful taste lingered in your mouth like you kept on licking your fingers after you’ve peeled lots of agrumes… And potency! Wow! Always noticeable after any weed out there, NYCD stood out for having a joyful and up high which is still nowadays one of my favourite in Ams. For years it’s been the herb that I usually smoke before leaving Holland, to feel the last time the freedom of medicate with such good stuff in plain sight and have a good taste in my mouth on the plane coming back home…I thought I WANT more!
It was great when I first bought my pack of Soma seeds.They were bought in Dampkrieg growshop in front of central station, together with Soma’s book. While I was paying for it at the counter Soma himself walked in the shop. I was able to meet and talk to the breeder of the seeds I was actually buying in this moment. He signed my book and gave me his benediction.
It’s been nearly 5 years of growing/living aside of NYCD, and unfortunately I’m not satisfied with the phenos I found with these seeds.
So far I’ve planted a total of 35 seeds of original NYCD from Soma. All those beans came directly from Soma’s hands, no fake, all regular seeds.
My first batch was with 5 seeds. 3 males and 2 females. I grew this batch 6 cycles, indoor on hydro, soil and Soma’s soilbeds, outdoor 2 seasons, trying to replicate that flavour I met in A’dam, but my plants looked and smelled different (later I realized they were some Afghan-hawaian pheno).
Incredible plants: tall sativa, 12 weeks flowering time, incredible hybrid vigor, hardness to pest and bad conditions, fresh fruity floral taste and smell, but far from being grapefruit!
One male was used for breeding.
Also a couple of F2 were planted, but no grapefruit!
I had 5 seeds left, maybe that pheno could be among those, but I got 4 males and only one female more. Super sativa one, super floral (rose, and violets) smell and taste, very vigorous but not grapefruit again.
I talked to Soma about this, he said it was easy to find a grapefruit sport and I decided to get some more 10 seeds of NYCD and 10 seeds of NYCD x G13Haze.
From NYCD I got 4 more females ( I admit I got a poor m/f ratio with those ones…), all being incredible, robust, vigorous plants BUT no grapefruit!!!
Better results in terms of smell were found in G13haze line. My NYG #2 was the closest of all to that wonderful smell, but still it is slightly different: begins as pungent hazy, greasy smell as you approach first your nose, then grapefruit appears behind leaving a good ligt aftertaste of bitter oranges that lingers for minutes. I was happy!!
NYg#1 followed being a bit more indica as plant, less grapefruit smelling, but more pronounced in taste. Good m/f ratio with those being 6/4.
A couple of those were haze leaning phenos, long flowering, dry woody smell tinted of fruit, more potent and cerebral in high, BUT not grapefruit! To mention a good male NYG#7 which was the best smelling plant of all, very vigorous.
But when in Amsterdam again, I realized from the first smell out of that NYCD box in the coffeeshop that mine wasn’t even close to that! Dutch weed looked better: big fat calyxes that revealed a sort of indica parentage, very compact and tight buds, very resinous on every part, masterfully grown, but looked a different plant to the best I could achieve at home in best condition.
I blamed on myself and promised to do better with my plants and give a try to new 5 seeds regular.
To sum up, almost 2 ½ years spent to hunt for that grapefruit pheno and no success!
I revisited all my growing technique and skills and gave a try to the last 5 original seeds regular, deciding to look for a more indica style plant and hoping for some grapefruit.
As earlier I got 3 males and 2 females. The latter looked very similar to the ones I had previously, and one of them smelled like a sort of strawberry, but no grapefruit. The males looked a bit more promising: fatter indica leaves than the previous males, a tint of fruitness and grape in there. Almost close? But what to do? I decided to mate my NYG2, the best smelling and tasting plant to an array of males I encountered. I had 5 different males coupled: a NYG#7 and three males with indica leaves from last batch and the first male met 3 years before from which I could see the offsprings already.
Meanwhile I tested NYG7 with sour diesel, chocolope and ak47 to try potency and I was quite satisfied with results.
So I sowed 50 more F2 seeds, a mix of NYCD x NYCDG13haze#2 and NYGH2 x NYGH7.
I grew them, sexed them and flowered the clones for 3-4 weeks to see the first resin.
Then I chose the very best 3 females, using a criteria of selection based on grapefruit smell alone.
Only 3 out of 30 females smelled grapefruit, with different tones and bitterness.
The best smelling plants came out of NYG13H F2 (#8 and #9).
Are we dealing so with a recessive trait? Soma told me it is quite frequent to meet a good grapefruit smelling plant, but indeed I had a lot of work to be done before achieving this result. He was lucky as he met this pheno on the 6th seed planted. This pheno is still circulating in Amsterdam.
Now these 3 selected plants are flowering beautifully. 8th week. Still 2-3 weeks to go.
3 different phenos: one (NYG2 x NYC3) is really close to her mother in appearance and smell.
NYGH F2 #8 is a super sativa looking plant, growing as a beast and super foxtailed. Fast flowering although, not more than 3 weeks to go. The smell of this one is the best achieved so far: bitter and sweet grapefruit peel is all there, mixed with a strong kick of fresh flowery sativa. Just move some leaves indirectly and you smell the grapefruit, gently squeeze one calyx and there’ll be no soap to cover it, almost embarrassing…
I’m closer this time but what a pain! Anyway it’s similar, not the same as amsterdam’s…
Need to test potency.
#9 is smaller and is more indica, good grapefruit taste but begins with a strong musky smell, it’s fruity as a backsmell, after the musk is gone.
Growing so many NY plants I noticed anyway that a good cure is a must to refine the grapefruit, only after 2 months after harvest that hazy-musky smell leaves place to fruitness to its best.
Just as a note, last year I flowered 5 female chisel. Lots of resin, beautifully smelling plants, but NO HIGH! My tolerance is well in shape, but I smoked this variety just for taste: grape/grapefruit well dipped with cheese aroma. Very nice, but no High. Discarded.
At the end I wasn’t satisfied yet. Soma himself offered me a clone of this pheno this year.
Unfortunately I cannot afford to carry it home, my hunt for grapefruit is not over yet…
So one month ago I begun to approach the problem under a new sight: I planted 40 seeds and called It “grapefruit grail project”.
I decided to try more variety that were labelled to be grapefruit and test’em.
I got 5 grapefruitdiesel and 5 dynamite 5 agent orange (together with 5 querkle and 5 vortex) and 3 NYCD (soma pheno) x bubblegum from a grower friend met in Amsterdam and least but not the last 2 spice from mrnice seeds.
About this one I have always liked the afghan-hawaian touch in a lot of Soma genetics, liked it in NYCD, even if it was too dominant for me in this cross, liked it Amnesia haze, in Spice from Mrnice is missing the afghan part, still conserving some agrume background. I’m very curious about this one.
Today it’s the turn of 5 NYCD female from Soma, (he handed me those beans, being sure it’s the right time, as e said that those were the best NYCD seeds ever made, very very close to that grapefruit pheno I’m looking for), sided with 4 Female seeds grapefruit to compare.
New seedling after a month have already among the best grapefruit smell I met till now, but a lot of small variations are already noticeable. More in the future about this as I see some resin.
Thank you for getting through all this long post, now you can understand why it can be called an obsession.
More than 100 seeds and a few years to find a smell. Hope to end this with a new variety, something like “100% True Grapefruit”, or “Grapefruit madness/obsession”.
I want to share all this with you, any question, clarification or comment is welcomed, sorry if something is a bit confusing.
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