It is my belief that a high percent of the strains and crosses we grow today started with an Indica strain brought back from Afghanistan in about 1970, and that strain is now called Original Afghani #1. I would like to hear from anyone who has grown it. What do you think of it? Did you make any crosses with it? Do you still grow it?
It's pretty common knowledge that when strains like NL, Haze, Skunk were taken abroad to Dutch breeders the first thing they did was cross it with what they were growing at the time.....Afghan. They did this for a couple of reasons. they knew afghani, and were comfy with it's stability indoors. And the US strains were mainly bred for the West Coast outdoors. So it was a stabilization method. Today though..it's funny. You can breed a thin leafed indica and call it a sativa, and High Times trained "cannalectuals" will eat it up.
Up until the early '80s Mexican was nearly always pure Sativa. Then Indica found its way into the pot trade. It made for and earlier harvest, a bigger crop, better bag appeal and very few people minded the new taste. So pretty soon virtually all of the weed that came out of Mexico was a cross. In my opinion that is a great loss. It's hard as hell to find a pure strain of good Mexican Sativa now. And that was some very fine smoke!
Afghan is definitely a main player in a lot of stuff nowadays. Theres definitely more than one afghan landrace, even a few years ago what was being called alien technology was actually just an afghan landrace.Theres definitely plenty of good original afghani you can track down, but like any landrace the flavor and such is less palatable on the mainsteam majority market. As for the mexican, i know someone who does real landrace heirloom stuff, his acapulco gold is my all time favorite herb i think, i had no idea it was so fruity. I obtained some f2 beans from him that he made from some heirloom 1967 oaxacan highland that he obtained from a retired farmer in mexico. He got over 200 beans and 4 germed with 1 male. Since its the highland its actually more of a thin leaf indica dominant, or rather a non stretch sativa so to speak. I have one going jow and its noded nicely on its own, thin eggagerated saw tooth leaves. I got to smoke some of the flowers from the female that was not pollinated and its all head high, completely sativa buzz, mildy psychadelic for sure.
That sounds like the old time Mexican I was talking about. I would love to get my hands on some of that strain, or one like it. I'm hoping Nervana's Eldorado is close enough. Then I want to do some crossing with it and some of the Original Afghani #1 and see what I get. And then back cross to both parent strain, etc. This is just something to occupy my time and give me something to think about over my retirement years .
Oh yeah. That old time seeded 4 finger lid we used to get for $10-15. Those were the days. You didn't get locked down to the couch, but your head sure went through the ceiling. Warped your sense of time, played with your perceptions of color. Your body was three steps ahead of your head. That's what the kids today call shit. If only they knew. I would love to get my hands on some of that spacey weed today.
I've been watching this plant for a few days now and wonder if it is a male. I want one to pollenate my female clones from the other plant I started from seed and is within a month of harvest now. And here is the other one from seed on Feb. 11. Now about a month from harvest.
Perfect..... Funny I found this thread. I was just asking around the city a few days ago about the landraces and how I can get one back here to the US. I went to Colombia a few years ago, in Pereira (where I was staying with friends) we found real landrace fields, literally up in the mountains where we were staying. I just couldn't figure out how to get those seeds home. They even had a new strain yet call "krippy". Tell me more about the old days. I love hearing about how strong landraces were before all the crossing. I've also had lambs bread because my uncle (thru marriage) is from Ocho Rios, Jamaica. He got us some nice nice 2 years ago. It isn't Rocket Science, just Quantum Physics...
There are a couple of reliable seed companies in Europe that have extensive varieties of seeds from all over the world, both crosses and pure land races. They are the Attitude and Original Sensible Seed Co. Check them out, just for kicks. If nothing else it will get you dreaming about the "old days", and the future! If you can't figure out any other way to get those old time land races they are the next best thing. For many years before N.M. licensed me to produce my own medical cannabis I bought Mexican street weed, otherwise known as brick weed or schwag. Sometimes I got some that was way better than average. Some was even pretty damn good! And when I got some of that if it had good seeds I saved them. Over the years I saved a collection of 14 different examples. The first two of them to be grown here turned out to be pretty good. I look forward to growing out the rest of them to see what I have. There might even be one in there that is pure Mexican Sativa, or at least nearly pure. Some of that shit really reminded me of the old time Mexican from the late '60s and early '70s. Even though the introduction of Indica into the Mexican Sativa virtually wiped out the Sativa, at least no more of it came here thereafter, it also did some really nice things. It made bigger and earlier harvests of bigger and more attractive colas. It had better bag appeal! I'm a breeder by nature. I've bred chickens, dogs and cats for specific traits and gotten them. Now I want to breed Marijuana. And to start with the base is going to be Original Afghani #1.
Here is the 1st. Original Afghani #1 at about a month. And here is the 2nd one, the one I think is a male.
Beautiful man. I'm totally subbed in. Do you have a grow journal? So you happened to save a afghan 1 seed from the old days? Or is that recently bought? It isn't Rocket Science, just Quantum Physics...
Oh how I wish it was one I saved from the old days! But unfortunately it isn't. I bought 10 regular seeds from Attitude. I messed up a few of the first ones I planted and only have two phenotypes going but I still have a few seeds left. My immediate objective is to get a bunch of seeds from the two I have going now if the 2nd is a male as I think it is. I can't figure out how to get a thumbnail of it into here so you can click on it and see it blown up, or I would. If you go the the photo gallery and do an advanced search for photos by OldPothead you'll find one of the plant in question. Is it a male? It is in preflower now and I'm not real good at determining sex at this stage. Maybe you can help. I'll get another pic of it in there later today.
Here is a new pic of the 2nd. Original Afghani #1. Is it a male or female? You can see it in the photo gallery under photos by OldPothead. There you can blow it up and get a good close look. I'd put in a thumbnail here if I could figure out how to do it.
I was based in pakistan,place called Peshawar in what was then known as the NWFP,been back to that general area a few times since Hindu-kush afghanistan etc,brought seeds back to europe once or twice,grown them outside in the UK,pretty variable,better when crossed with dutch genetics is what I found
I envy you! I'd love to be able to sample it in its homeland! I have never as far as I know experienced any pure Indica. Only pure Sativa and crosses of the two. Can you compare it to the commercial strain known as Original Afghani #1?
I can't tell yet but give it a few more days and post a new pic. Females are easy to spot, hairs grow from the nodes and males have small hanging hairs they call pistols. It isn't Rocket Science, just Quantum Physics...
Incorrect. (Typo?) Female - caylx(green part aka seed husk) and pistils(the white hairs) Male-sepal(green part) and stamens(yellow with pollen)