Hi Lurk,
Sour Diesel, much like with OG Kush, has become more of a name to push good cannabis, as opposed to a single variety or name used to define a specific set of genetics. There isnt just one sour diesel, nor is there just one OG Kush. And indeed OG Kush is a renamed Dutch strain, as are most of the strains on the market which are truly good. As Ive mentioned in the past, the first time I ever heard the term Diesel was in relation to Soma's NYCD, which would not surprise me in the least bit to be yet again another renamed Dutch variety.
Some highly incorrect info here that I feel needs to be corrected.
There is only one Sour Diesel cutting, it is also called East Coast Sour Diesel after Rez added the East Coast tag. It is a tall, stretchy sativa dominant plant that takes 12 weeks to be really good. People complain it lacks duration to it's high but that is because they take it too early at 9-10 weeks. I've run the ECSD cut several times as it is a fave of mine, I have a cutting just beginning to flower now.
There is a similar but more indica Diesel cutting known as Headband or Daywrecker Diesel, it is more fuelly than the ECSD which is lemony with a fuel undertone. The Headband is 9-10 weeks and very nice, as nice as ECSD in the minds of many. I haven't grown this one personally but good friends hold it and grow it, I will be running it sometime next year I think, it's definitely well worth a place in my garden.
OG Kush a renamed Dutch strain? That is total speculation. OG Kush originated in the early 90s in Cali, it is probably the result of an accidental cross pollination when the Chemdawg 91 cut hermied.
Soma's NYCD is the result of crossing the Afghan/Hawaiian male Shanti gave to Soma to a Diesel seed that Soma was given by a Rasta from New York called Roger (In his book Soma doesn't name him he just tells the tale of getting the seed from a guy with dreads that had grown down to the ground).
The initial NYCD release was a straight F1, Soma then did a BX and released that instead. I don't know if it has been further worked since but I suspect it has. Soma's keeper mother of NYCD he has won cups with is a very orangey smelling and tasting plant with a nice Diesel undertone, I call it Orange Diesel and like it a lot. My good friend THC4Sim grew the initial F1 NYCD release way back in 2005 and kept a very nice cutting that is Grapefruit with a diesel undertone, that cutting has been passed far and wide in the UK, it is a bit more indica leaning than Soma's Orange Diesel cut and not as potent, but it is one of the finest tasting weeds around, I've run it a few times.
As for other seed versions of Diesel, the two i know well are the Rez Sour Diesel IBL and the Zen Seeds Dansk Sour Diesel. Rez's IBL is not an IBL, it has too much variation although it does have a pheno that is very close to the ECSD, it also has a pheno that is very close to a typical NYCD pheno, short, squat, looks like an Afghan and turns purple in late flower, it is very similar to the THC4Sim NYCD cutting. The Dansk Sour Diesel is excellent, very cheap and I would recommend it to everyone who wanted some Sour Diesel, you will get plants every bit as good as the original ECSD cutting, my good friend Karma Genetics brought a batch of Dansk Sour Diesel to Amsterdam in April that impressed everyone very much. I think from what the Zen Seeds guys told me when I was staying on their houseboat in April that their version is a Rez Sour Diesel IBL male crossed to the ECSD cut but we smoked a hell of a lot of bud that weekend so my memory is a bit hazy. I had just got out of prison and those Danish guys treated me to a hell of a warm welcome and great time which made me feel so much better after spending some time in a jail cell, I will always love them for that.
I will dig out the disk with the pics of my Diesel grows and post some pics, I have done my fair share of swimming in the Diesel genepool so have a good handle on what it contains.
Here is the definitive article on the lineage of the Chemdawg and Diesel cuttings, written by another friend of mine, HighnLonesome who is a very kind and honest gent, he exhaustively researched this info and it has been verified as being correct by people who were there when the Diesels were first grown from seed such as JJ-NYC who is also a friend of mine and another kind and honest gent. I have highlighted the sentences that cover the lineage of the two Diesel cuttings, you can take this info as fact because it has been verified as such:
Chemdawg 101
***Special thanks go to orgogliodiprovi and chemdog who helped me straighten out the story and exact details. ***
Brief background:
At a Grateful Dead show at Deer Creek Amphitheatre, 'joebrand' (aka 'wonkanobe') and 'pbud' met 'chemdog' and sold him an ounce of very high quality pot for $500. joe and chemdog exchanged numbers and they later arranged for two ounces to be shipped to chemdog on the east coast. According to chemdog, one ounce was seedless and the other had 13 seeds.
In ’91, chemdog popped the first 4 seeds. From these seeds, one male was found and disposed of (chemdog was young, you can’t blame him). The 3 females were labeled ‘chemdawg’ (now ’91 chemdawg), ‘chemdawg a’ (now chemdawg’s sister), and ‘chemdawg b’. In '01, chemdog and his girlfriend attempted to germ 3 more seeds, labeled ‘c’, ‘d’, and ‘e’. the ‘e’ seed never germinated, ‘c’ turned out to be junk (according to chemdog), and chemdawg ‘d’ was the keeper. In '06, 'chemdog' and 'joebrand' reunited and joe was given 4 of the last 6 beans: Chemdawg phenos 1-4, '4' being the chosen keeper. Joe thought the '4' was the best representation of the original and thus dubbed it the 'reunion pheno'. Chemdog still has two seeds left in his stash.
Chemdawg Crosses:
• 'OG Kush' (the original cut) came from an s1 from in a bag of '91 Chemdawg in the Lake Tahoe area in 1996.
• 'Sour Diesel' aka ECSD came from an accidental cross of ('91 Chemdawg x Mass Super Skunk/NL)x DNL after the DNL hermed and seeded the room. The DNL's lineage is NL/Shiva x Hawaiian.
• Original Diesel' (also known as Diesel #1, Headband, Daywrecker Diesel, Underdawg) came from a cross of '91 Chemdawg x (Mass Super Skunk x Sensi's Northern Lights) done by a guy known as ‘weasel’.
• 'chemdog' and friends made several crosses that are held closely by a small group of friends and acquaintances. Among them are:
1. Super Snowdawg (’91 Chemdawg x [Super skunk x Oregon Sno])
2. Giesel (Chem D x Mass Super Skunk)
3. Bubble Chem (Chemdawg’s Sister x Sag's Bubbleberry)
4. Dawg Daze aka ChemHaze (Chem D x ’93 Sensi's NL#5/Haze)
5. Chemdawg D x Pbud (another old-school Colorado strain)
JJ-NYC has been working on a Chemdawg D-based seed line for several years now. He started by crossing Chemdawg D to Sensi's Afghani after thoroughly testing both Sensi's Afghani and Sensi's Hindu Kush to determine which was more stable and would be better for the initial cross. JJ then did a backcross, known as "Double Dawg." Several phenos of this circulate and several people still have beans. JJ's latest work to the line is a second backcross known as "Tres Dawg" which is just starting to get tested.
Rezdog of Reservoir Seeds recently released several Chemdawg crosses as part of his 'Trinity' charity auctions. The crosses included Chemdawg D x Sensi's Hindu Kush and Snowdawg x Sensi's Hindu Kush, Chemdawg D x Sour Diesel IBL, Snowdawg x Sour Diesel IBL, ChemHaze x Sour Diesel IBL and Giesel x Sour Diesel IBL.
I hope that helps to clarify things vis-a-vis Diesel.