help me pick a sativa please

[cravin morehead]

i have never grown a mostly or pure sativa before. i am dying to do it though. i love and miss a real sativa high... i have been growing for 20 years, so i'm no newb. indoors i run a 1k bio-bucket system in a 4'x4' tent. i've got a/c and a chiller and my enviornment is pretty good and controllable. the issue with my tent is headroom. i have about 39" from top of buckets to glass on the hood. i can scrog in here, no problem. this bio-bucket system makes plants haul ass!
outdoors, i'm at 33*n in so cal about 15 miles from the ocean.

please help me pick an ACE sativa to try indoor or outdoor. one each would be great. so far i'm thinking dbl thai, golden tiger, or green haze x thai.

any info you guys could give me would be great! i appreciate your time with this...

thanks,

cm

 

[The Hatter]

All of those strains you mentioned receive nothing but good reviews from what I have seen although I have not grown them myself yet. Of those three strains, I don't think I would attempt any of them indoors except maybe for the Golden Tiger with some serious SCROG or similarly intense training methods.

Of the limited number of sativas I have tried indoors from Ace, Nep Jam is my fave. It produces a solid amount of very nice smoke and grows like a weed. It's definitely sativa in character but a bit dreamy and floaty rather than crisp and clear. By no means sedating like an indica, but it doesn't have the edge some sativas do. The finish is far from dirty but it does leave you a little bit fuzzy compared to something like Destroyer or real old school pure haze. One of its best traits is just how fast it finishes. Amazing for a sativa. If you put one of the long flowering strains like Haze x Thia outside you could probably harvest Nep Jam indoors almost twice before they are done in the late fall/early winter.

 

[cravin morehead]

thanks hatter. so scrog'ing the varities i mentioned would be damn near impossible in my tent? maybe the GT could make it. do you think i could make it to full mature outdoors in so cal? i always grow 2 or 3 outdoors every year, but mostly indica doms.

cm

 

[cravin morehead]

thanks for the nep jam review. i may put it on my list too

 

[The Hatter]

If your used to indicas for your outside grows I think you will be very pleasantly surprised by any of those sativas. They will end up like trees.

I have actually seen quite a few grow reports by people who have grown some of those really long flowering tropical sativas indoors, but 3 feet of vertical space is really tight. I grew out Destroyer which is just half Meao Thia and I didn't do any real training with it. With just one month of veg it ended up close to 8 feet tall and that's indoors under a single 600watt and I intentionally pot bound it not to mention the unintentional nute burn I caused her which stunted her a bit. Those pure Thia/Haze crosses will likely stretch quite a bit more than Destroyer.

If you are a master of scrog you might be able to pull it off in such a tight space. Just be ready for crazy stretch that lasts for weeks and weeks if you decide to go that route.

I am weighing the pros and cons of attempting to do this myself with zamaldelica this spring. I have about 7 ft of vertical space to work with. Sadly I cannot simply plant outdoors or I would definitely go that route.

I have only visited S Cali but from I remember the weather is incredibly mild there even in the middle of winter. I think the Thia/Hazes will finish around Christmas time, so if you think you can go that long without a freeze they should be ok. From what I recall it almost never dips below freezing near the ocean in S Cali. The tropical sativas tend to resist damp conditions well, but not cold so much. GT is a fast finisher compared to the Thia/Hazes so I imagine you would have no trouble with that one finishing.

 

[cravin morehead]

thanks again hatter. ya, my 3' (39") is not alot of head room. i got a plan to gain about 8" more. get me closer to 4'.
8' tall with a month of veg!! haha!!
thanks for the heads up.
ya so cal winter isnt harsh. it does and has gotten down to the mid 30's*f in the middle of the night lately. still think i got a chance? by christmas time would be great!!
i think i may give a scrog in my tent a try. maybe 12/12 from sprout. if i start it in the corner, maybe i can scrog my way across the 4'x4' space. do these sativa types respond ok to a decent amount of pruning?? if i can keep the branching down to 10 or so branches, this may be possible for me...
i think i may build up a couple grows worth of buds, then give a long flowering sativa, scrog, 12/12 from seed, a try.

thanks hatter,

cm

 

[Ur Humbl Nr8tor]

Hey Cravin...

Nice to see you here in the Ace forum. I've seen your work in Rez's forum and know you are an accomplished grower. You can pull off some of the stretchier sativas indoors if you set your mind to it.

Here is Purple Haze x Thai which I finished (mostly) indoors.

This one had a very interesting life. But, she finally got to completion.

Here's the next gen of P. Haxe x Thai I'm currently growing.

The pictures are from a few weeks ago and I recently took their training bras (screens) off. Now they can be girls gone wild. One thing you will note, I'm in organic soil mix. You need to be very careful trying to grow these sativas with hydro. They really would prefer a well made aged soil and the occasional foliar spray or botanical tea.

 

[cravin morehead]

hey UHN- im a different Cravin. he and i laughed about the similarities of our handles'.
anyhow, i appreciate your info. your pics are beautiful! making me really want me to give this a try. why not hydro? i've always heard that, but never heard why. in my bio-bucket set-up, the beneficial bacterium make the plants take in nutes very easily. i can keep ec down real low without showing nute def's in my indica leaning varieties. usually .8ec/800 ppm or so. i can foliar feed too, if need be. please share with me some of the insight needed to grow these sativas well.

thanks,
cravin morehead

ps-i'm going to go sub to your grow. so i can learn

 

[Ur Humbl Nr8tor]

I always pegged you for an East Coast guy, Cravin...given your proppin floppy sour diesel infatuation. Make no mistake, these sativas will do just fine where your at. I might suggest a makeshift greenhouse and some gallon milk jugs filled with hot water for those extra chilly nights of recent.

Pure Old Timer's Haze. Cloned and vegged indoors, started flowering late in the fall and finished in early spring.

Don't forget to cure these real sativas for a good long while. The effects are well worth the wait.

 

[cravin morehead]

after looking at your posts, UHN, gotta link to a good informative thread for me?...
i like the quick GH idea.

cm

 

[Ur Humbl Nr8tor]

One strain not mentioned that I found to be a slam dunk indoors was Bangi Haze.

Started as a scrog

I like to get the training bras off once the majority of stretch has concluded. They are easier to work with then.

These are around 12 weeks to finish. Please remember that for Ace descriptions, flowering times are from first pistil set, not from start of 12/12 cycle...so 12 weeks is really more like 14 from the flip.

Feel free to pm me with any questions and GOOD LUCK!

 

[cravin morehead]

making my mouth water!! i can't wait to do this!! thanks for the invite to pm my questions to you. even though i'm not the Cravin you thought i was?? still ok for me, cravin morehead?? i'm not a newb, been growing in and out for over 20 years. so, i have grown sativa leaning before, but all was outdoor with bagseed in the late 80's and 90's

thanks again,

cm

 

[Ur Humbl Nr8tor]

hey UHN- im a different Cravin. he and i laughed about the similarities of our handles'.
anyhow, i appreciate your info. your pics are beautiful! making me really want me to give this a try. why not hydro? i've always heard that, but never heard why. in my bio-bucket set-up, the beneficial bacterium make the plants take in nutes very easily. i can keep ec down real low without showing nute def's in my indica leaning varieties. usually .8ec/800 ppm or so. i can foliar feed too, if need be. please share with me some of the insight needed to grow these sativas well.

thanks,
cravin morehead

ps-i'm going to go sub to your grow. so i can learn

Ha, I'm typing away thinking you are some one else. Anyway, nice to meet another head lover! You can check out my threads on the Ace site to see all of these grows from start to finish. I'm learning along the way. Give the low ec hydro a shot. I'd love to see how they do. For foliar sprays, think botanicals...horsetail, yarrow, comfrey, nettles. I throw a small amount of these dried herbs in my VitaMix and blend well. Then I add a small splash of EM-1 and black strap molasses. aerate well for 12-24 hours. Just prior to spraying the plants, I will add a small amount of pureed aloe pulp (work quickly as the pH drops quickly) and some Agri-Sil or some type of silica (plenty in the aloe if you don't have any). Strain that concoction and spray your plants to drip off. Let me know if any of them are praying the morning after you try this...

 

[cravin morehead]

thanks for all of the info!! you've really lit a fire under my ass now!!
i grow nettles, yarrow, and comfrey in my veggie garden in the off seasons. i just till them under. i got aloe growing too. i will try your foliar recipe too.
it will be a couple runs from now, but i will try this in my bio-bucket hydro. i will give you a heads up when it goes down.
once again thanks,

cm

 

[Ur Humbl Nr8tor]

You've got the makings for some great foliar sprays (IMO). I like to spray the aloe vera every couple of weeks regardless. I recommend it for your outdoor plants as well. Our soils are so silica depleted and aloe is a great source as previously mentioned. A little of these botanicals go a long way in the teas and they are dynamite for adding just what the plants need.

Cheers,

 

[k-s-p]

best wishes bro

 

[Tiami]

order directly from their site, you will get three strains for the price of two, plus some freebies. if ordered now you can still take clones for your outdoor grow. based on reports I'd also consider panama and zamaldelica. middle long flowering sativas seem perfect for your climate.

 

[The Hatter]

The more I think about it, the more it seems like a good idea to pick one of the shorter flowering, less picky sativas for your indoor grow since it will be Hydro and your first attempt at land race genetics inside. Strains like Nep Jam, Bangi Haze and Panama all seem to work really well indoors. I can't vouch for Panama or Bangi personally, but everything I have read about them has been very good. The other good thing about those strains is they will be done in total of about 3 or 4 months and will give you some killer smoke to keep you going through the long haul with the long flowering outdoor strains.

Outdoors those long flowering tropicals like the Haze/Thia should kick ass where you are, but to be honest I don't think I have ever seen somebody grow an 18 week tropical IBL sativa in hydro successfully. Then again it doesn't mean you can't be the first.

 

[cravin morehead]

thanks hatter, tiami, ksp, and uhn. you guys all are helping me decide. you guys are awesome!!
hatter- i'm liking your thinking about running shorter running varieties indoor. that may end up what happens here.

from all the responses, sounds like i should order some of each variety Ace offers!! something i definately wish i could afford to do. maybe not all at once, but i will own all of them eventually!

i still want to try running a long flowerer in my bio-buckets. i don't want to do it just to say 'I' did it. i want to try it because i like a challenge where the rewards are extremely worth it. if i manage to pull it off, great. maybe that will help others grow long flowerers indoors.
what are some of the reasons people say sativas grow best in soil?? is it because they are light feeders? do they like intense lighting or less intense? i can accomodate both in my tent. low ec levels are not a problem in bio-buckets. i've got a dimmable 1k ballast for adjustments to light intensity. i can even make my tent run anywehere from 3*f over ambient temps up to no heat being exhausted. i could even up the humidity, if need be

let me know some of the likes and dislikes of these long running sativas please,

cm

 

[mayan]

I would like to put forth Congo for your consideration. Relatively quick, controllable indoors, and very sativa in effect. Trippy but -at least with me and others I know- not anxiety.

As well, I have grown and love both NepJam (like a warm CA daydream) and Bangi Haze (a bit more electric). Panama is a tremendous strain as well...easy to grow, sturdy, prolific with an unbeatable high. Will take you longer than the Congo, Nepjam or BH but truly fit for royalty.