[chappie]

Have to say I am totally bummed out by this strain. Maybe its just me, but my other Mandala plants come out pretty well.

My first five seeds were all male except for one - and that one threw out so many male flowers during flowering (outdoors - it was 12 feet tall) that I had to cull it.

So I was pretty excited to get the other 5 going inside and then very excited to find two females.

Well, they have both had tons of trouble in a garden where the other plants (hasberry, sadhu, and pineapple chunk) are all quite happy. I have not been able to confirm that they were overfed but that is my theory. I've not gone above 0.9 EC with them, but they still seem like that was too much. PH has been good.

The plants are almost ripe, but fairly unappealing. The buds are very, very leafy but also packed with a million flowers. Many of the sugar leaves are turning yellow and brittle, although larger fan leaves are somewhat healthy. One of them in particular has no smell at all, despite a healthy population of visible resin glands.

The other smells very nicely of hash/incence but the flowers are sparse - I am doubtful I will even get an ounce of this plant.

I'll post some pics upon harvest in the next week or two, but in the meantime, has anyone else run this plant? Its the one I was most excited about from the Mandala catalog, and after these two experiences, I have to say its not worth the time. Maybe I got a terrible 10-pack, or maybe I somehow bunged it, but given how well my other plants are doing, I have to suspect this is just a very finicky strain or it is not quite "there" yet and its difficult to find a good female pheno.

[LeeROI]

Maybe that's why it is a limited edition.
But seriously, thanks for the report. I have a couple packs of these but they were already pretty far down on the priority list.

[freeganja]

That is a bummer Chappie. I had high hopes for this strain as well, but now I am reluctant to plant it, as I got a ton of seeds that would probably turn out better.

[chappie]

I'm certainly not trying to turn anyone off of Krystalica - I don't think its fair to judge a strain based on a 10-pack. This is why I would really like to hear some other reports.

I'd LOVE Mike to get back on here and address these issues. Otherwise though, its in the best interest of all of us here on this forum to post experiences, good and bad.

[freeganja]

There are not many, at least around here. I think Im going to still plant them regardless, but Im definitely growing something else first.

[Ronni]

Your experience with the leafy structure of Krystalica is confirmed by a report i saw on another messageboard. Anyhow i myself bought a pack of Krystalica and plan to plant them soon. Let's see if i can find some less leafy pheno like seen on the mandalapage

[chappie]

My plants are looking ok in the end, still have a couple weeks to go. One of them has enormous buds - but they are kindof light, airy and not very resinous at all. The other plant is very, very different and looks a lot like the sadhus that grew next to it. I'll post some pics and smoke reports as they ripen. My tentative judgement is that this strain is not ready for prime-time but there are probably some interesting plants to find if one can run a few packs. It wouldn't surprise me if some of the final product is amazing, but hasn't been a lot of fun to get there.

[chappie]

An update of sorts - eventually I will post pics.

2 very distinct Krystalica phenos, but both grew unhappily. I believe they were underfed. Using normal Mandala technique, the hashberry and Sadhus alongside them came out nicely, but the Krystalicas both had a lot of trouble. One of them is still going - starting to foxtail a bit (around day 80) but still not ambering and is still putting out fresh white pistils. It has almost no smell at all, but the buds are large, airy and spongy. A test nuglet from this plant shows a nice active effect - but still almost no flavor. Weird. The other pheno is much more frosty and is hard to distinguish from sadhu. Its not fully dry yet but a quick smoke test showed it is indeed quite active.

Neither are anything to write home about effect-wise, but both pack that typical Mandala power. Nice and sativa-heavy. Possibly a bit racy, I need to work with it more to see.

Have to say this one falls far below the usual Mandala bar for quality. I feel like it was released too hastily. Its possible it has very different growing criteria, but I pored over the writeup multiple times and cannot find any special needs listed.

Sadhu, on the other hand, might be my new favorite Mandala strain and warrants further investigation. Sadly, I will not be the one to do it as I am onto other things.

I'd still love to hear from anyone else growing Krystalica. I was more excited about this strain than any other and am very glad I didn't waste a whole crop cycle on it alone. Out of a 10 pack, I only netted 2 good females, and neither are impressing me. I suppose the price is right, but this is compared to 5 females from a pack of sadhu, every one of which seems to be a winner.

[chappie]

Here's one of the Krystalica buds. Note this thing is still alive, on the plant. All the leaves have fallen off, but lower leaves on the plant are still pale green and look moslty healthy. The plants isnt really ripening or growing, its just in stasis. It would seem it was overfed but it has hardly been fed at all and has been getting only plain water for several weeks now. Again other plants in the same soil have been thriving - including Sadhu and Hashberry. The buds have almost no smell, and a medium level of visible trich coverage. None are amber and there is still a great number of clear heads as well. Mandala claims their strains don't amber like others, and that is true in my experience. This plant is well past 80 days old... how long should I let it go?

[LeeROI]

Well, I don't think you're going to win photo of the month.

Since Mandala says 65-72 days and to follow their directions instead of using a loupe/scope, I'd say chop now.