From Mendo w/ Love - 10 Strain Reviews. Lots of Pics!

Hey RIU whats up? I always read and enjoy Seed/Strain reviews on here and sometimes I feel guilty for never contributing anything other than the occasional bit of info on a strain or something. That guilt, combined with my high levels of boredom during this impossibly rainy NorCal weekend, prompted me to take some pics with my Nikon and review some of my favorite strains.

How, you may ask, am I going to review TEN strains at once, with "Lots of Pics" no less? Well I grew 9 strains this past Outdoor '10, and then I traded some ounces to pick up an "alternate" I stash about 3 pounds a year for myself and my wife, friends, family, etc. Ill be taking pictures from my own jar-cured stash, not from store or dealer-bought bud. I grew this weed I'll be posting a review of each strain, detailing various aspects of each including: Grow Characteristics, Taste, Smell, Potency, and Bag Appeal, among other things.

I welcome all feedback, comments, criticisms, whatever. Ill be making ten posts in this thread over the next 20 minutes or so...ENJOY!

Pineapple (Unknown Genetics)

The Pineapple is and has been some of my favorite smoke for years now. Since high school, this was always the kind of bud that comes to mind when I think top notch. Everything about it is exotic - from the oddly light green/yellow color to the brightly colored leaves and branches to its signature fruity tropical smell. This is the first year I chose yo grow my own, and I didn't regret it one bit.

Grow Charactertistics: I started this plant from clone in a 5 gallon bucket of FFOF about July 1, and finished it in the ground in my own soil mix. It grows very tall and lanky, definitely wanting to go up rather than out. For that reason, I topped it and tied the subsequently long side branches down. A cage/support is necessary. I used bamboo stakes and garden ties. It ended up finishing at around 4 feet tall/around with a yield of around 1/2 lb. Long, thin buds that got very dense but not very fat. Not a big yielder, compared to some of my other strains.

Taste: Like fucking pineapple. Sometimes people have a strain called Strawberry this or Blueberry that, and it really doesn't taste like that at all. This stuff carries the name for a reason. It couldn't be sweeter and fruitier if you tried to smoke a bowl of fresh sliced Hawaiian pineapple.

Smell: Just like it tastes. No kidding.

Potency/High: Oddly weak The bud looks good and crystally, but just doesn't pack a punch like it should. As far as getting stoned goes, im not sure that Pineapple can even do it for me...its kind of like a Jack Daniels guy trying to get drunk on wine coolers. After we smoke hash, my wife likes to call a joint of Pineapple "dessert". I like to call this breakfast weed because its a delicious morning treat that won't get me too blitzed to start my day.\

Bag Appeal: Off the charts. People love this weed. It looks light green and frosty in the bag, with a good cover of orange-pink hairs. Then I open the bag and its game over. Once, I opened a jar of this stuff in a vehicle and all three passengers had to ask me if that was even weed I was fucking with because it smelled so outrageous.

OVERALL: 7.5 Out Of 10. I wouldn't recommend this weed to everyone, but its great nonetheless. Its not a really high maintenance plant as long as you plan ahead for its lankiness. Even if the yield isn't great, the smoke is too amazingly tasty for me to not grow at least one every year

Fun Fact: I witnessed someone pull 30 pounds from 6 Pineapple plants in 2008, so it CAN yield a lot. There are pics somewhere on RIU of me standing in front of one of the plants - 13' x 13'. No bullshit.

Afwreck ([Afghan x Goo] x Trainwreck)

Afwreck is a good ole' standby of many growers around my parts. This is for good reason: this stuff is chronic. Its easy to grow, it yields great, and its tremendous smoke. Its another one of those "You-know-this-shit-when-you-smell-it" strains. Someone once told me that this weed smells like "Chicken and Garlic with Pine-Sol".

Grow Characteristics: This is the plant I think of when people talk about "hearty" plants. The stems, which are often multicolored pink, purple and green, are strong and stout. I've been growing this strain for years, and this year I had a big Afwreck with a main stalk like a fucking Douglas Fir. When it comes to shape, this beefy plant seems to top itself. It always grows into a candlabra-shape, with dozens of great tops. The buds are REALLY long, narrow, and perfectly dense. I've grown dozens of these before, with my biggest being a nearly 3 pounder that was about 7 feet tall/around.

Taste: The main flavor that I always get out of Afwreck is pepper. Its like a peppery Anejo tequila - not for everyone, but some people LOVE it. Other flavors that people have told me Afwreck tastes like: Chicken, Garlic, Pine Sol, Anise and Licorice. You'd think that some weed with such interesting descriptors would be harsh and wierd, but its actually oddly smooth and refreshing.

Smell: The smell of Afwreck is something entirely foreign to most weed smokers. It has the traditional "Trainwreck-y" smell, combined with a number of other exotic and unidentifiable smells. It smells like something that humans shouldn't like...but for some reason, I can't keep my nose outta this jar!

Potency/High: Killer. Very rarely do I bow-out of smoke sessions, but I have been known to sneak off to the kitchen and/or bed after a safety meeting with a few blunts of well-grown 'Wreck. When I want to get people at a party HIGH (not just high, but fucking HIGH), I pre-roll joints of this.

Bag Appeal: Average. In the bag, Afwreck nugs look good and frosty, but not GREAT, with a good coating of crystal and sparse covering of deep red hairs. People usually either love or hate the smell, so thats usually the deal breaker in this department.

OVERALL: 8 Out of 10. Afwreck is an easy to grow, big yielding, hearty plant with a unique smell and an awesome high. As far as I know, its clone only around California, so if you can get your hands on a good cut, or a decent 8th from the club, give it a try!

Fun Fact: My first time growing guerilla, my friends and I threw up 25 Afwrecks way the fuck out in the trees, expecting to pull a grip of weed. That summer, we learned that Afwreck REALLY needs sunlight - we only pulled 2 pounds!

Green Crack (Unknown)

There's something about the name Green Crack that offends me on some level, but entices me to go buy a sack of it on another. With its bomb mango flavor and smooth mellow high, I have a feeling that this strain has that same affect on potheads all over the world. Thats why almost every club in California carries this stuff - people love it!

Grow Characteristics: Another good "hearty" plant. Green crack grows like its on crack. In my experience, it doesn't have long, fat colas, but it does carry soem weight. The long, tough, deep green branches are packed tight with rock hard golf-ball sized nuggets. for that reason, it is some of the most difficult weed I have ever had the displeasure of having to Trimpro. I pulled almost a pound off of every GC plant. Note: This strain loves nutrients. FEED IT!

Taste: Like mangos, with a sort of hashy, kushy aftertaste. Really sweet and pleasant.

Smell: This is one of the best things about GC. When you have a bag of the Crack, its definitely something you want to show off to people. The sweet, skunkiness of it is unmistakable and delicious.

Potency/High: Another reason they call it Crack must be because this shit makes you wanna get up and move! Its one of the "highest" highs that I have ever experienced. The real beauty of it is that it lasts forever too! Be careful sparking a blunt of this stuff or you may end up cleaning your basement, building your kids a treehouse, and making Paella from scratch. Not necessarily bad things I guess

Bag Appeal: This stuff looks great in the bag. A whole turkey bag full of perfectly dense little golf ball nugs covered in sugary crystal and reddish hairs is a beautiful thing.

OVERALL: 8 Out Of 10. I would recommend this strain to anyone who wants to grow some great weed with little effort. Its good all around smoke that tastes delicious, plus everyone loves the smell and look of it. You cant go wrong with the Green Crack!

Fun Fact: Green Crack is reportedly the same exact strain as Mango.

Chemdog (Unknown)

This is another one where I had NO idea what to expect. I had always heard the story of the legendary Chemdog strain ("The 13 Seeds" and all that jazz), but never heard of anyone actually growing it. So when I bought the clone on a whim at the club, I went straight to RIU to research. Boy im glad I picked this one up! If this truly is the legendary Chemdog, then it lives up to its reputation in full!

Grow Characteristics: This plant is (almost) my ideal plant. It has many, many long, slender, strong, hard branches that are packed with bud. The colas are long, fat, and big around as my leg, but not as dense as some strains. Chemdog plants are so colorful toward the end of harvest that it looks like leaves in the fall. I planted 3 clones on July 1 and pulled a little over 2 pounds total, so the yield is decent considering the shorter veg time. The one thing I didn;t like about the Chemdog was that it seems pretty succeptable to mold. I lost quite a bit of bud weight to mold, not to mention that a whole branch on one plant rotted and snapped midway through flowering.

Taste: This stuff tastes FRESH. I always tell people to think of just pure freshness when it comes to the Chemdog, like clean laundry or a strong breeze or dryer sheets. Its really unique and hard to describe, but I love it.

Smell: Again, Fresh. A deep inhale and squeeze on a freshly trimmed Chemdog bud will clear your sinuses for real. Its lemony, crisp, and delicious.

Potency/High: Average: This bud is perfect when you break it down fresh and roll up a joint. Hits you immediately in the head. To me, a lot of strains dont have a noticable "Head High" vs. "Body High", but this Chemdog is definitely a dome-wrecker.

Bag Appeal: Very high. This shit looks like some FIRE in a turkey bag. Every single impossibly crystally nug is even frostier than the one next to it. Its a perfect light green, with some lucky buds having a light purple or even pinkish hue. Opening the bag will fill even the largest of living rooms with that Febreeze-fresh goodness. People love this reefer

OVERALL: 8.5 Out of 10. Good yield, chronic smoke, top bag appeal. Whats not to like? Chemdog's apparent affinity for the collection of mold spores is the only thing that keeps it from being a perfect or near-perfect strain.

Fun Fact: I bought a Chemdog plant from the local club as a "teen" (about 14" tall), and after I got home and went to transplant it, I found that there were THREE plants in one bucket. Stupid dispensary clone-tenders?

Cheese (Special Type of Skunk #1, I think)

Ahh the infamous Cheese. I picked up my Cheese clones from a local dispensary, not knowing much about it, other than having a few friends that grew/smoked it. Im still now sure what Cheese this is - as people have informed me, there are apparently more cuts of
Cheese than the Fromage section at Whole Foods. Whichever Cheese this is, I gotta tell you that its fucking CHEESY.

Grow Characteristics: This shit doesn't even grow like weed, it grows like A WEED! I never topped any of my Cheese plants, and none of them got taller than 4 feet, but every single one of them had like 50 "tops" growing out in all directions. I put "tops" in parentheses because, the way this stuff grows, all the "tops" were growing either out or down. Very thin branches prone to breakage. I had to cage these things and tie them all up to avoid snapping during light late-summer rains. Growing Cheese is kinda a hassle. On the upside, I think Cheese might be 100% mold PROOF. I have never seen a spot of mold nor mildew on any of my or my friends' Cheese plants.

Taste: How to explain it? Kinda sweet, kinda cheesy, very delicious. Its such a unique and smoothe taste that you almost forget that you're smoking marijuana. Its one of the most easily recognizable tastes of any strain of weed I have ever tried. I love it.

Smell: Stinky, strong, and cheesy...almost overpoweringly so. It almost smells like something gross. Its a funky mix of like Gruyere cheese, candy, and the inside of a baseball mitt. Obviously nothing to be messed with, Cheese's smell is a love it or hate it thing for sure.

Potency/High: This is some Strong shit. When looking through my stash, if getting REALLY stoned is my goal, I always pick a Cheese jar. One fat Cheese joint is usually enough to get me and Wifey stoned enough to go for dinner at the in-laws'. Trust me, thats really saying something

Bag Appeal: Average. Lets face it, Cheese isn't the best looking bud. Even if you grow it great and its COVERED in frost, it still looks a little dark in the bag. The redeeming factor is that that no one can look (nor smell) past the outrageous aroma. For that reason, people will always like this funky chronic.

OVERALL: 8.5 Out Of 10. Sometimes I love Cheese, sometimes I hate it. I love to smoke it. It smells and tastes so unique, that despite the fact it SUCKS to grow and to trim, I will always grow one or two of these and always recommend this to friends.

Fun Fact: When I bought my Cheese clone, the lady at the dispensary told me Cheese was a cross of OG Kush and Silver Haze : / Hmm.

Blue Dream (Haze x Blueberry)

Everyone knows the BD right?! This has been one of the #1 up-and-coming strains the last few years. Every club sells it, every grower grows it, and everybody loves smoking it. Someone on RIU (I don't remember who, I just always quote this to people lol) said that Blue Dream is a grower's dream because its a true triple-threat: it has the taste, potency AND the yield. I might have to agree, and seeing as how I personally worked with 4 different crops of BD this year and smoked tons of this stuff, I'd like to think that I would know

Grow Characteristics: I first grew Blue Dream back in Spring 2008, in a light-dep setup. At first, I hated it. The plant grew all thin and spindly with small, undeveloped buds. I was telling everyone how it was such a hype. Until week 7 or 8. Then this stuff seems to erupt into a mad-frenzied growth spurt, with the nugs doubling or tripling in size during the last two weeks. I've been growing it since. Support for the branches is definitely necessary. I also found that it didn't need much pruning of tiny buds on the inside, as every bud on every branch was good, dense, and bomb. Literally no popcorn/skeleton buds

Taste: A good dose of that familiar "blue/blueberry" smell that everyone just loves, combined with a deep, hashy flavor. Just like when its growing, Blue Dream buds need time to mature to full ripeness. I found that my BD didn't taste like blueberries at all until it had been jar-cured for a couple weeks.

Smell: BD smells amazing, especially when you're running 50+ pounds over a trimpro When dry and cured however, it has a subtle fruity blueberry aroma with a little bit of a hash undertone.

Potency/High: Strong. In my opinion, Blue dream has one of the best all-around highs of any strain. Its equally at home in a wake-and-bake bong bowl as it is in a night time blunt. It won't be on my list of top 5 strains or anything, but its still easy to see why this is one of the most popular strains in a lot of California dispensaries.

Bag Appeal: Average-Great. Well-grown Blue Dream is unmistakable in a turkey bag. It has that perfect ratio of green to orange when it comes to the awesome colored hairs, not to mention the fact that it can be SUPER frosty and sometimes have hints of light blue/periwinkle.

OVERALL: 8 Out Of 10. Good all-around strain with solid genetics and a solid "following". Everyone likes smoking Blue Dream!

Fun Fact: Blue Dream must be better suited for indoor growing, because even with all my outdoor BD experience, my friend's indoor BD blows my shit out of the water!

Tangerine Diesel (NYCD x Tangerine)

Here's yet another random local-club clone pickup that I DO NOT regret I knew that the New York Diesel is bomb, and I love the Orange/Tangerine tasting strains, so it seemed like a fair bet...I was right. This is a true diesel strain, with a tiny hint of that exotic citrus thrown in there for fun. While the fruitiness isn't overly apparent, its THERE and its awesome!

Grow Characteristics: Tangerine Diesel is the single most elegant plant I have ever grown. I know that may seem like a wierd way to describe a marijuana plant, but in this case, its true. Every branch wants to grow straight up to the sun. Even after it got big, it never lost its beautiful, elegant symmetry. It ended up having about 20 tops that were all exactly the same shape, size, color, everything. I pulled over a pound an a half from one plant. The buds were long, hard, and so frosty that nearby bugs seemed to get stuck on the buds like they were covered in sap. On a strange note, this weed is also the most smell-neutral plant I have ever grown. It had almost no smell while growing or drying. Finally after weeks of jar curing, the diesel and tangerine came out.

Taste: Basically a NYCD wannabe. If you didn't know that it had "Tangerine" in it, you'd think it tasted and smelled exactly like New York Diesel. Kind of lemony, kind of chemical-ly, kind of hashy, all the way scrumptious.

Smell: Again, its just like the NYCD after its been trimmed and cured.

Potency/High: Strong! I have never grown NYCD, but every time that I smoked it with friends or whatever, I always got tore up. This stuff is no different. Its so strong that its hard to finish a joint without either falling into the couch, losing yourself in some goofy project, or going on a tear through the kitchen. Either way, its gonna get you STONED!

Bag Appeal: High. The classic diesel look of this bud is well known everywhere people appreciate good pounds of weed. Its hard to find a fault in a turkey bag full of Tangerine Diesel.

OVERALL: 9 Out Of 10. This is one of my all-time favorites. Its fun and easy to grow, a pleasure to smoke, and its one of the best strains to show-and-tell to all your pothead/pot grower buddies.

Fun Fact: Or not so fun, in this case - I never kept a mom of this strain going, and I can't seem to find clones ANYWHERE in California I may never see it again!

Blackberry Kush (Unknown)

This particular cut of BB Kush may not actually be BBK at all. I was given the clone by a friend who claimed it was Blackberry Kush and it would blow my socks off. However, after showing the finished product to him, he said it wasn't any BBK that he ever gave me and he didn't know what it was lol. So I think its some mystery Kush strain. Im not a big Kush fan, but im a big fan of this bud, so who cares what it is!

Grow Characteristics: Usual Kush plant structure - short, stocky plant with lots and lots of wide leaves. This plant literally didn't stretch at all during flowering. The nugs, however, are so fat and dense that I ended up averaging about 7 or 8 oz from a few small ones in 10 gallon buckets.

Taste: This stuff has that trademark "kushy" taste that people seem to love so much, combined with a mouthwateringly juicyfruityness. More than one person has said it tastes a lot like my Pineapple, and I would agree, except I have never heard of Pineapple Kush

Smell: The smell of this bud is definitely dominated by whatever fruity strain got crossed with some Kush to make this strain. The smell is STRONG too. Opening a jar up in a room of potheads is a good way to get your whole stash smoked up.

Potency/High: Average. This stuff has a really nice, pleasant high. It doesn't "hit" you at all, but rather creeps up nice and slow until you reach a nice level high...and then you stay there forever lol this high lasts a long time.

Bag Appeal: Average. The fact that this weed is so dark green turns some people off. It looks good and crystally, but I think that the "kush" leaf-structure, combined with the sage green (as opposed to a nice light lime green) makes it look funny in the bag. Once people smell it and smoke it, however, people ususally love it.

OVERALL: 7 Out Of 10. The fact that this is kind of an unknown, I couldn't rate it higher than any of my other strains, but I do enjoy smoking it. I probably wouldn't grow it again, but I would recommend it to someone who was a fan of Kush and maybe knew better how to grow this super short, stocky plant.

Fun Fact: This is the first Kush strain I have ever grown. Im more of a lanky Sativa fan

damn... nice reports m8.. you can go to bed tonight knowing that you've now giving back to the riu community as much as you've taken, lol..
i really liked the fun facts at the end.. different.. awesome reports..

Hill Maui (Unkown)

This is the same exact strain as the Maui that I grew, only it was grown by a friend of mine. Its the same cut from the same Mother plant. The only reason I included this strain is because my Maui is 100% organic and his is straight up jacked on some chemical juice. His buds are twice the size as mine and three times as heavy, but nowhere near as frosty, tasty, and appealing. ORGANICS FTW!

Maui (Unknown)

The fucking king. The cream of my marijuana crop. Maui is the staple crop for tons of larger farmers in Nor Cal, as well as many backyard growers. I have been smoking and trimming Maui for as long as I can remember. The first kind of weed I ever grew was Maui. I have seen 15 foot tall Maui plants yield 7+ pounds The first kind of weed I ever SMOKED was Maui. I fucking love Maui.

Grow characteristics: Maui has long, slender branches packed with huge, really huge buds. This plant grows like it came in contact with that green stuff from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I planted 3" tall clones in July that yielded over a pound with little effort. Clones planted in a decent sized hole in May are almost guaranteed to pull 3 pounds. I know someone who pulled 137 pounds from a legal 25 crop. A cage or some type of supports are absolutely imparitive, as the weight of the huge buds WILL break branches well before flowering is even close to finishing. The colors on this strain are downright beautiful. The leaves and even the buds have hues of purple, red, pink, and yellow that will blow your mind. Often, the colors fade during drying and curing, but its not uncommon to see some interesting shades in the finished product.

Taste: Deliciously tropical. Mostly lemony-citrus, with hints of berries and mangos and a sweet, skunky, hashy undertone.

Smell: So fresh and fruity that you wanna just shove it up your nose and have that smell all day.

Potency/High: Strong/High. The thick coating of greasy, shiny crystals is not just there for show. This stuff is chronic. I usually like to take out my good ole pipe and smoke two bowls to my dome, then float away in happy highness for hours. It has one of the trippyest/highest "highs" of any strain. Gotta love it.

Bag Appeal: Out of this world. People see the Maui, they take it. Warning: Don't hold a bag of Maui up to the sun light, or you may not ever look at another bag of lesser weed quite the same ever again.

OVERALL: 9.5 Out Of 10. The only reason that I hesitate in calling Maui the best all-around strain on the planet is that the huge, long, ridiculously fat colas are succeptable to mold, should they not recieve sunlight very first thing in the morning.

Fun Fact: The same dude that pulled 137 from 25 lost about 30+ pounds of Maui this past year to mold, showing Maui's Achilles Heel.

racerboy71 said:

damn... nice reports m8.. you can go to bed tonight knowing that you've now giving back to the riu community as much as you've taken, lol..
i really liked the fun facts at the end.. different.. awesome reports..

Click to expand...

Thanks for checkin it out man. Get high

Sweet report man. I can't imagine what it would be like to harvest a pound, yet alone multiple pounds. You're living the dream sir.

nice reports bro

Great stuff! Thanks for posting!!!!!!!

Hey thanks for the review! It's great by the way, i have very similar perceptions of each strain. Right on.

Dam it ended, i dont think i took a breath that whole read.....and my eyes hurt, i forgot to blink as well!

Lol awesome thanks for reading 'yall. I'm waken and baken with some of that Chemdog right now.

I loved the fun facts, and of course the detailed reports.

I am disapointed with what you said about pineapple. Been wanting to try that one this year . Is this a different strain from pineapple express?

Did I mention I love fun facts? It should be mandatory for every thread to have a fun fact.

Happy tokin

-TT-