Drying/curing update.
Drying/curing update.

After hang-drying them whole for 5 days, I moved the unseeded branches to paper bags (keeping as much stem as I could but removing large fan leaves), then surrounded those in a paper grocery bag. After a day I started getting anxious about over-drying, so I dry-trimmed and moved them to jars. They've just started curing, but they are already smelling like they have been curing in the jars for a week or so. The paper bags were an experiment, which I gave up on about a day in, so I don't want to make any inferences or claims based on it. I suspect that approach may be better suited to a lot of flower filling a bag, rather than several small plants in separate bags, because that extra paper may absorb more moisture. Maybe the flower would have benefited from staying in bags longer, but it's too easy to over-dry here in the winter.

I don't think I'm going to get a great flower yield this time -- probably around about 10-15g from each plant, 2.5-3 oz total -- but that isn't counting several branches on each dedicated to making seeds, particularly on the WAs and BB#3. After I extract the seeds, all that trim will get dry sifted, as will a full quart jar of very frosty sugar leaf trim, mostly from the BB#3, MS, and WWs.

Updates:

- WA3 & WA4: These have had a sharp smell that cuts through all of the others since mid flower, and guess what, they still do. Bodhi's description of Cheech Wizard (the photoperiod parent of Wizard's Apprentice) calls it a "green curry OG". Strange, intriguing. Both jars smell pretty similar.
- BB#3: I couldn't pick up on a distinct smell from this one pre-harvest (generally earthy?) but now it's got a very strong, lingering gas smell, even louder than the WAs. I'm not familiar with the nuances of gassy strains, but the BB#3 reminds me of my CDLC, albeit without its acrid garlic/sulfur notes (which aren't my thing). So, dark/gassy/earthy. Also, it looks really striking in the jar.
- MS: This is my favorite smelling one of the bunch, even more than the WTR4. It's strong enough to stand up to the previous three plants, and is exactly what I'd hope for from "mango haze". Mango, haze. Yum.
- WW1 & WW2: These smell like low-key funky citrus. Distinct, but not as intense as the others.
- WTR4: This developed a mild chocolate smell late in flower, and curing has brought out a more dominant "fruity pebbles" smell. According to Breeders Syndicate episode s04e02 ("Crybaby Organics Talks Cannabis Scent Exploration"), that's a variant (stereoisomer, IIRC) of linalool. Whatever it is, it's one of my favorite cannabis smells.

I'll update again after I've extracted seeds, and once I've tried them all a couple times.
 
"Shaken not stirred": Final harvest numbers, including seeds and kief
The RH in the jars has settled, so I have a final weight. I've also extracted the seeds and a bunch of kief. I got about 80g of flower total (2 3/4 oz), with ~15g from the Mango Smile and Wild Thailand Ryder, ~10g from all the others. Not as much flower as my previous batches, but I also extracted about 630 seeds from the pollinated branches (of 15 different crosses), as well as ~12.4g of kief from those branches and 2.2g from general harvest trim, so 14.6g total. Just over a half oz of kief :biggrin:

The Bruce Banner #3 made the most seeds (~215 total: ~70 BB#3 x Anvil, ~65 BB#3 x Blue Microverse, ~80 BB#3 x Zamaldelica Express), the Wild Thailand Ryder the least (15: 4, 4, and 7 with Anvil, BM, and ZE respectively), and the others each had 50-100 between the three pollen sources. My Blue Microverse pollen from June 2020 is clearly still viable, but my older Anvil pollen from October 2020 produced 0 seeds across the board. The Zamaldelica Express and newer Anvil pollen was from late 2021 and early 2022, so I'd expect those to still be good.

kief-AFN.jpg


(kief from the Walter White's second round)

I got about 3.75g kief from extracting the seeds in a sifter box, but then putting the trim jars in the freezer overnight and a couple minutes in an aluminum pollen shaker for each sifted out another 5.5g in the first round, then 2.01g more in the second, and 1.08g more in a third round. I kept each strain's trim and kief separate, each will probably get pressed into its own puck later. Based on the trim weight they all had a 11-16% return in the shaker from the first two rounds. For the third round I mixed the trim together and put the result in its own jar, since it probably has a bit more broken up leaf bits mixed in.

kief-bb#3.jpg


The BB#3's kief has a pink/purple tint...

kief-WA-and-jar.jpg


...and the Wizard's Apprentice kief is a bit greenish.

I will post mini reviews of each strain once I've tried them all a couple times.
 
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They look fantastic, how does the Wild Thailand smoke compared to the Mango Smile?
I will post more detailed reviews once I've tried each a couple more times and feel like I can confidently, coherently compare them. The WTR and MS have very different energies, both are cerebral but the WTR is quite trippy, whereas the MS is clearheaded, thought-provoking, a bit wired.
 
I will post more detailed reviews once I've tried each a couple more times and feel like I can confidently, coherently compare them. The WTR and MS have very different energies, both are cerebral but the WTR is quite trippy, whereas the MS is clearheaded, thought-provoking, a bit wired.

Thanks, I look forward to it. I'm trying to decide on a couple of heavily sat-dom autos for next season. Clearheaded and functional is something I'm definitely looking for. Got both MS and WTR in the fridge waiting as well as Zamaldelica Auto; Dinafem Amnesia XXL; Sweet Seeds Jack 47 XL auto; and Neville's Haze Ryder; plus a few other strains that I doubt I'll bother with for some time. I only have room for two varieties so any information will help a lot with the selection process. A lot of other folks seem to say the same with regard to the clearheadedness of the MS - looks very promising.
 
Thanks, I look forward to it. I'm trying to decide on a couple of heavily sat-dom autos for next season. Clearheaded and functional is something I'm definitely looking for. Got both MS and WTR in the fridge waiting as well as Zamaldelica Auto; Dinafem Amnesia XXL; Sweet Seeds Jack 47 XL auto; and Neville's Haze Ryder; plus a few other strains that I doubt I'll bother with for some time. I only have room for two varieties so any information will help a lot with the selection process. A lot of other folks seem to say the same with regard to the clearheadedness of the MS - looks very promising.
I grew the Auto Zamaldelica and NHR in a previous batch. Lots of details in that grow journal, including some quick strain reviews at the end. The AZ is fantastic, more introspective and psychedelic rather than clearheaded and functional, but unless that rules it out I'd definitely put it as #1. Tough decision on the second, maybe leaning to the MS based on my early sampling?
 
I grew the Auto Zamaldelica and NHR in a previous batch. Lots of details in that grow journal, including some quick strain reviews at the end. The AZ is fantastic, more introspective and psychedelic rather than clearheaded and functional, but unless that rules it out I'd definitely put it as #1. Tough decision on the second, maybe leaning to the MS based on my early sampling?

Much appreciated, PT - a lot of really useful information there; some lovely looking specimens too! I must admit, the Ace Zamal is very tempting; I've read a fair few positive reviews of it. Definitely one of my top considerations. Pleased to see the Hubbabubbahaze lives up to the hype as well, although I think I'll stick with just one Mephisto sativa-leaning strain next season (likely the Mango Smile). One trippy strain and one clearheaded would suit me just fine I think. It's great to see there's increasing variety out there now with sat-dom autos. Thanks for sharing your work with us!
 
strain reviews
Here are some strain reviews, now that I've tried them all at least a couple times:

- Wild Thailand Ryder

Strong. Euphoric, psychedelic. Comes and goes in waves, feeling clearheaded in some mental wavebands but borderline tripping in others. I recognize the effects here from other strains I've tried with Thai prominent in the lineage. It took a couple tries to grow successfully, but I'm really happy with how this turned out, and it'll be interesting to see how much of the effects pass on in crosses. The taste is complex, and completely different from how it smells -- there's some anise and what I'm pretty sure is terpinolene, but the flavor on the exhale is dominated by something close to sage. Not unpleasant, though I prefer how it smells (chocolate, hint of fruity pebbles) to the taste, but this one is all about the effects for me.

- Walter White (1)

I definitely see The White in this, but it's even better. Very strong, noticeably stronger than the dispensary flower I've tried (which tested at ~20% THC), and quite stony in particular, but in a way that has me staring into space and wanting to think about really abstract math / computer science stuff. Easy to get lost in long trains of thought, coupled with a very nice relaxing body high. Red-eyed mad scientist vibes. The taste has citrus (mostly lemon), improving on The White's general blandness. Very thick, oily vapor. WW passes on a lot of nice traits in crosses, too, and Grapey Walter (crossed with Grape Crinkle, another big favorite of mine!) is easily one of my top strains overall.

- Walter White (2)

Pretty much the same as WW1, except where WW1 seems much stronger than that The White dispensary flower, WW2 came in around the same or a bit weaker. The high and taste are qualitatively similar to WW1, though.

- Mango Smile

Cerebral haze high. Clearheaded, a bit speedy/energetic, but not anxious (big positive mood boost, actually); along with Haze, its effects also remind me of Power Plant, which has the same upbeat clearheaded great mood vibes for me. Smells and tastes great too. Mango and haze. Very nice all around!

- Wizard's Apprentice (3)

Super interesting high. Strong. Cerebral, but mentally unstuck in time? Meditative, but also spacey, and seriously baked. This feels versatile, which is not something I've said about any particular cannabis strain before. It tastes really weird -- a bit gassy + OG, but with a distinctly vegetal green curry note that wasn't immediately appealing but will likely grow on me. The smoke (well, vapor) is a bit harsh, though. I can totally see this crossing great with Anvil.

- Wizard's Apprentice (4)

Pretty much the same as WA3. They differed a bit in growth structure, but the effects, smell, and taste are cut from the same cloth. It's really unique, I hope Night Owl keeps the line around long-term.

- Bruce Banner #3

This is my least favorite of the bunch. I'm not into the smell and taste, which is so throat-coatingly, aggressively gassy I expected it'd be incredibly potent, but it's just kind of average, and with a somewhat flat high. It's all physical: deeply relaxing, couchlock. It's photogenic as hell and really delivers on gas gas gas, but that's just not my thing.
 
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The Mango Smile has led me to spontaneously start cleaning on like five different occasions. I know it's kind of a sativa cliche, but I haven't had that reaction to anything else. Certainly not that consistently.
 
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