As promised, the test results are in. Every year since I’ve been doing this, I await these results with restless anticipation. There’s always good news, bad news and surprising news. This year is no exception.
Overall, the tests show that this was the most powerful grow I’ve had to date in terms of the percentage of terpenes in plants. Anything over two percent is considered excellent and 3% is exceptional. Prior to this grow, I had grown only one plant over 3%, with a few others close. In 2021, I grew a West Marin Mystery that had 3.2784% terpenes.
This year, I grew three plants that exceeded my previous best terpene percentage. The top score this year was the S. Thai plant, with a terpene percentage of 3.9785%. That’s just a whisker short of 4%. I honestly don’t know what to think of that, or what my ceiling might be for terpenes. What makes this even more interesting is the fact that the true identity of the S. Thai plant is a mystery to us, and given these results, that’s rather frustrating. We call her S. Thai, because the seeds were given to us by our friend, Seren, and they come from Thailand. That’s all we know about the plant, other than that it is massively popular in Thailand. We can certainly understand why. When I look at the Phyto Facts for this plant, she’s got a high amount of beta caryophyllene, which will completely stabilize mood. Bee and I have both tried S. Thai, independent from one another and our reactions were virtually identical. The plant makes us happy. On the SC Labs Phyto Fact page, the top Entourage Effect for this plant by a wide margin, is comfort. We completely agree. The clown car was not invited to this cultivar. We have more seeds from this plant, and I can foresee a year where we grow multiple plants from this cultivar. She is a keeper, whatever she is.
In truth, I’m actually more interested in the terpene percentage than I am for either THC or CBD. We’ve got a long way to go in terpene research in cannabis, but the farther I go with my own research, the more I’m realizing that terpenes have more to do with how this plant makes us feel than anything else. The real serious medicine is in the terpenes.
S. Thai
The reason this is so important is my still very new, but ever growing knowledge about terpenes. With every test, I am gaining further understanding of how much terpenes influence the entourage effect. (If you don’t know what that means, the Entourage Effect is the combination of THC, Cannabinoids and Terpenes, which determines what we feel when we’re on cannabis.)
More and more, I’m seeing how it’s the terpenes, and not the THC or Cannabinoids, that makes each of us feel the way we do. I have been telling my students for years to start studying terpenes. Research them. Understand what they can do. If you are trying to find out how cannabis can help you or a loved one who is sick, knowledge of terpenes will help narrow your search.
Mind you, all of this science should be happening on a much larger scale than a mere home grower figuring it out on his own. Maybe once the U.S. FDA gets this plant off the ridiculous Schedule 1 classification, real research can begin.
But in the meantime, the good folks at SC Labs are producing test results and Phyto Fact pages that are science-based reckonings for what each individual plant will do. I have written about the SC Labs tests in my blog titled The Value in Testing Plants.
Here is a thumbnail of the test results for each plant in my 2024 grow.
- S. Thai: THC–22.26%, CBD–0.063%, Terpenes–3.9875%
- Royal Kush 18: THC–17.26%, CBD–0.053%, Terpenes–1.4355%
- ACDC Aviary: THC–0.614%, CBD–14.63%, Terpenes–1.7546%
- ACDC 16: THC–23.45%, CBD–0.097%, Terpenes–3.4556%
- Royal Kush 20: THC–24.37%, CBD–0.064%, Terpenes–3.7131%
- Purple Hindu Kush: THC–23.71%, CBD–0.16%, Terpenes–2.0099%
- Hindu Kush: THC–23.26%, CBD–0.074%, Terpenes–2.0485%
- Night Nurse: THC–18.06%, CBD–0.126%, Terpenes–1.4441%
- Rainbow Kush: THC–14.04%, CBD–0.06%, Terpenes–2.2959%
- WCBG Aviary: THC–0.077%, CBG–12.75%, Terpenes–0.6934%
- WCBG 19: THC–0.19%, CBG–17.69%, Terpenes–0.9724%
Within all these numbers are some interesting answers to questions I had all summer. I wondered if ACDC in bed 16 had any CBD. The results show it has just under 1%, so this is NOT a CBD plant.
I was initially disappointed about this, because I like to bank CBD medicine in our dispensary. And these flowers, as previously documented, had turned out really well.
ACDC 16
ACDC plants typically do not have THC totals over 23%, nor terpene percentages well over 3%. So this is obviously something masquerading as ACDC. When I look at the terpene profile on this, and especially the Phyto Fact page from SC Labs, it has all the makings of an intriguing daytime plant. This is another example of getting a “surprise” from one of my seeds. In this case, it’s a nice surprise.
The top terpene for this unknown sativa hybrid is limonene. At almost 1% in this plant, it will boost your energy and mood, but without the sometimes crippling anxiety of terpinolene, found in so many sativa plants. The second terpene is beta caryophyllene, and that is further mood stabilization. With those two as the top terpenes there should not be any anxiety with this plant. My first tokes confirmed this. The real test for me will be when it’s in pill form, but I can usually detect a lot about a plant when I try them just after harvest by smoking. This is a comfortable and energetic high.
So this morning, I grabbed the jars of ACDC 16, and made some “A” trim. I trimmed about 120 grams just for smoking. I wish I knew what this cultivar actually is, because we’re all enjoying it. I wish it was ACDC, but I’m not surprised that it’s not. I’ve extensively documented the lack of legitimate CBD seeds.
Earlier in the summer, I mentioned to Bee that ACDC 16 was looking more like a sativa hybrid to me. I was right, and I’m now grateful for the plant. I can already tell that this will be an excellent plant for me to do my writing. (I’m writing this on ACDC 16)
However, it’s not ACDC and should not be sold as ACDC. I will personally be taking this up with the company where I made the purchase. Once again, I urge caution to buyers of CBD seeds. Unless someone has test scores to prove what you’re buying, buyer beware. I would reveal the name of the company, but I don’t want to embarrass them without first discussing this issue with them.
You’re probably safer buying CBD clones. At least you’ll know you are getting something proven to have medicine. It’s a serious problem in my field, and I may have to switch back to clones when I need certain CBD cultivars again. I still have some seeds with my own proven test results, but over nine years of growing, the majority of CBD seeds that I’ve grown HAVE NOT BEEN CBD PLANTS.
Another surprise was Royal Kush in bed 21. This is another terpene monster with over 3.7%. Usually, Royal Kush is closer to a 50/50, but this phenotype is leaning toward a sleep plant. The most common terpene in cannabis is myrcene. Most plants have a decent amount, though the percentage of this particular terpene is usually under 1%. On Royal Kush 21, myrcene is at 1.86%, a very large amount. I have tried this cultivar, and I’ll have to try it again to be sure, but she’s leaning toward a pure sleep plant. That myrcene is a lot to overcome. She certainly grew like a typical sleep plant, with extremely tightly clustered flowers.
Royal Kush 21
A prime example of different phenotypes is Royal Kush 18. She was the feminized seed that I started late and planted directly into the growing medium. She grew well, but her grow was abbreviated and I think that is reflected in her potency scores. As a concentrate, she’s going to be a very nice 50/50 type of plant. Both energy and relaxation, but not the sleep bomb of Royal Kush 21. There are similar characteristics, but RK 18 is more typical of Royal Kush and RK 21 is a truly sleepy phenotype of Royal Kush. It’s another excellent example of how different phenotypes can give a completely different experience for a cultivar and underscores my point that you can never really understand what is in a plant until you test it.
Royal Kush 18
Another surprising score was the Rainbow Kush. She only had 14.04% THC and I’m used to this cultivar having something closer to 25%. However, she has a handsome amount of terpenes with 2.2959%, so when we turn this plant into FECO, the THC will be concentrated and will be plenty.
Rainbow Kush
We did not test the purple flowered Fruitcake. There simply weren’t enough flowers to justify paying for the test. So, we’ll test her next year, if we’re lucky enough to grow a full-sized female. But I must add this regarding Fruitcake: She is an incredible smoke. Too many puffs and you’re flattened. She’s mostly a body high. But if you only take 1 or 2 hits and wait, you’ll get quite a nice surprise. The front end of Fruitcake is super euphoric. It’s a classic floaty high, delicious in every way. We look forward to growing her again.
Fruitcake
From the two CBG plants, we got 17% and 12% CBG respectively, which is very good.
Our one successful CBD plant, ACDC Aviary, has a 23:1 ratio of CBD to THC, which is excellent. I had another ACDC years ago with a very similar ratio that completely handled my pain following both of my hip replacement surgeries.
Night Nurse might be the most disappointing plant of this year’s crop. She did not grow as much as advertised, nor did she produce an increased amount of CBG, as advertised. Her cannabinoids and her terpenes were less than average. She’ll still be an okay sleep plant once she is concentrated, but I don’t see growing her again.
Hindu Kush has one of the more interesting terpene profiles. Her top three are a mixture of limonene, beta caryophyllene and myrcene. She’s pretty high in CBN, so she looks like a sleep plant, but not immediate sleep. She looks like an evening plant, a watch-a-movie-and-then-crash plant. With that much limonene, she should also stop nausea in its tracks.
Hindu Kush
Purple Hindu Kush has the same three top terpenes as Hindu Kush, but they are weighted toward the myrcene. I tried this cultivar one evening, and within 30 minutes I was glued to my reclining chair with a slight grin on my face. I wanted this exact feeling.
Purple Hindu Kush
Overall, this was a very good grow, with some exceptional terpene percentages. I’m not 100% certain yet, but I’m fairly sure the rise in those percentages was significantly aided by using raw mycorrhizae in every tea I gave them once they were transplanted into their beds. I will be doing this again with future grows. I also used less water for this grow than any I’ve done to date. I think that is another large contributory factor for the increase in potency. Starving cannabis is my favorite way to increase potency.
Of course, in the weeks ahead I’ll be dipping into these tests further, so I’ll know more once I make the FECO and pills in my preferred dose.
Meanwhile, next week we strap on the farmer gear for a one-day encore of fertilization and solarization. I’ll be certain to stretch well first. That’s going to be a dawn to dusk day, reeking of fish.
After that, I’m going to document the full process of turning plants into FECO, and then, into pills. It’s the very essence of the home dispensary, to make your own medicine to your own exact, preferred dose. Up to this point, my wife, Karen, has made all of our medicine.
For this blog, I’m going to do every step of it myself. I’m looking forward to that.
In the meantime, here’s a belated Happy Halloween.
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