Kumaoni is a multipurpose cultigen "landrace" (which can often mean that it is a wild form from a place. Where when we use it, "heirloom" would often be more appropriate) from Uttarakhand, India. Anything on the India side is going to have some good mold resilience due to the monsoon season. It becomes a question of other idiosyncrasies of their native climate, like The Parvati Valley definitely seems to lean more towards the subtropical than mine. Where as the state vegetable of Uttarakhand is stinging nettles. My kind of place... The Nanda Devi is also from the same region. Where the former is a multipurpose plant, the Nanda Devi is just for charas, not seed and fiber also. The seeds are smaller and the strangest thing... They actually need some cold stratification; like a dog breed that is domesticated, but still has the traits of a wolf in some striking ways. I got them via The Real Seed co. Their Nanda Devi 2 is in the middle... as it is a cross pollination of the two.
Angus (the proprietor) described good quality charas from the Kumaoni to be rustic, but to possess one of the most positive effects in Cannabis. Note though, that we are talking about growing a lot of plant mass to make a concentrate. I think that it is also important to think about the so called "entourage effect." I don't like the term. Because I don't think that it gives sufficient weight to the full complexity of the subject. I think that something like "synergistic pharmacology" would be better. Its like this: if you had a bunch of people, sitting around playing random notes on a bunch of instruments, would that be the same thing as playing "Also Sprach Zarathustra" on the same instruments?
In medical chemistry, there is a concept called, "the pharmacophore." Basically, when you are looking at the molecular structure, of a bioactive molecule, how does changing certain parts influence it's overall behavior, and by extension, what role do those parts play int it's overall pharmacology? With plants, I feel that the pharmacophore is generally, more or less, everything in it, with sometimes surprising importance in seemingly mundane details. The idea of an "active compound." Comes from the investigation of P.somniferum (cue Poe) and the discovery of morphine as being the chief agonist of the opioid system. Here is the thing though: EVERY other alkaloid, naturally occurring in it, also has demonstrable biological activity. So... how is this not a flawed concept? Repeating something a bunch is not enough to make it true. Another way of thinking about it is comparing it to a colony forming insect species. Where biologists consider the whole colony "the organism" in some ways, rather than a singular individual. Being that it could not serve the entire function needed for it's existence on it's own.
At any rate, with hash/garda/charas, whatever you want to call it, and however you make it, you have a field or at least a plot full of plants, all with different phytochemistry. Then the hash itself is the sum total of everything there; not just one plant. It is a different cultivation philosophy and the plants themselves have not been selectively bred to be "bud." But.... it is a hell of a lot more domesticated than crossing in some Michigan ditch weed, that I will pretend came from Russia (referencing DJ Short's book's opinion on the likely origins of early examples of C.ruderalis)
So for an example, I saw one guy, calling himself something like "The Cutting Guy" on one forum bitching about RSC's Sinai. Because he couldn't get it to behave like any other plant, he was familiar with. I concur that even the crosses of it can be a bitch to root. Then if rooted, if it is an autoflowering pheno, it WILL go full intersex at some point in flower. I mean two tops; one male, one female. But... it is a hash making cultigen, grown by the Bedouin, using minimalist agricultural technique... Not OG x Cookies x Whatever. Not indoor. Not as stand alone, giant plants, trying to crop pounds off of each. Its like on some gardening forums, seeing someone complain that their winter radishes didn't do so well in Central Texas heat. Its like, "Ya think...?" You have to understand where they are from and what they are for to get the most out of them.
It works.... but... Early Queen requires less guesswork, has a great flavor profile, and... we already know that it does well in your general region. Fucking win-win-win.
If you use your imagination, you don't need as much as you seem to think to do work, at least suitable for your own needs. The 1st step, learn to look for the little things. Memorize your plants. Eventually, you can sprout 300 seeds and find the 10 that you want, without having to grow them past the solo cup stage. You can SOG the fuck out of it, and every single plant is a different genetic roll of the dice, to find that (I wanted to go with male examples but seems counterintuitive) so that Marie Curie and Patsy Cline of a plant.
Think Matt Damon in The Martian. Figure out what you want to accomplish then just figure out how to connect the dots. I'm not special, except in having an autistic person's obsession with ethnobotany/o chem, and having enough grit to make it happen. During the housing collapse, I was so hard up for a good phosphorus source that I literally figured out how to vermicompost my own shit and used that to flower with. That's how I got turned onto those liquid chromatography soil test kits, actually.
“Do not think that what is hard for you to master is humanly impossible; and if it is humanly possible, consider it to be within your reach.”
― Marcus Aurelius
As per the DE, what gave me the idea is bonsai growers. If you think that we are uptight... wow... The thing is: there are two forms. One, the powdery kind, that you are probably familiar with, and another, that has been sintered (heated til molten) and is more like growing in shards of glass. There is also some concern that this form is more hazardous for the workers, packaging the stuff. So I will take a pass for the moment on that one. Also, it's physical properties aren't exactly the same. Both forms though, have been used, on their own, as a sort of hydroponic media. So you can't really overdo it.
At the rate, that you are talking about, I have found pH balancing benefit. But we are talking about mixing it in completely. Not just using it as a top dress. What I was talking about is using it at 30-about 40% of the total media. Get everything that isn't it good and wet or your earthworms will hate you. Then rather than watering thoroughly, water gently with something sugary (molasses, malted barley syrup, date syrup, honey, etc) but like I said gently. You need that mycelial explosion to help bind everything together or else, it will just run out the holes of the pot. Over time, like I said, you can't even tell that it was ever there by looking at it. An old timer told me that worms need grit in their diets, like chickens. It seems like it turns your whole media into worm castings. They like it so much. It causes a lot of worm snot build up in the soil though. So be careful doing transfers. Because sometimes the soil almost seems like it wants to stick to the pot. If it seems like it is doing this (more of a problem with overvegged plants) I just squeeze the sides. Then take a thin bamboo stake and run it around the circumference, to loosen it up.
I like Azomite. I don't always use it, but I think that the arguments against it don't understand that an aluminosilicate mineral is a hell of a lot more complex than aluminum + silicon. That aluminosilicates are so ubiquitous in nature. That if they were really a problem. We'd already be fucked.
I've got airpots too. I love them for perennials, I plan to transplant (like a fruit tree) that might also hate having it's roots disturbed. I got another style, as a freebie tester. That is like a fabric pot stretched over a hard plastic frame. The thing is over 10 years old and still doing fine, but apparently no one else liked them...? Fucking Beta Max of air pruning pots I guess...
I was scanning you message again going "did I answer everything....?" Yeah, that Vietnamese Black cross... You know how when someone sees something that kind of blows their mind, it sound so exciting (or she's just that fucking hot) and just sort of makes a sort of whistling sound...? Yeah... that was my reaction to reading that. Post some pictures.
