Sickmeds William's Wonder: grow journal. review and all things Wiliams Wonder

Wow. . .just read this on another forum, and I see we may have some more interesting old school genetics coming from Sickmeds in the future. Apparently the breeder has been gifted quite a number of old-stock seeds from one of the original SSSC shippers, and he's had some success in growing out some of these (to be released in the future):

http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?p=801233

Hoped the board might permit a personal announcement about some old rare genetics potentially being reborn.

In the late 1980's I was a US shipper for an Amsterdam seed company named The Super Sativa Seed Club (SSSC). When the SSSC went dark at the end of the 80's I kept a portion of the remaining stock and stored all these years. To me they were souvenirs with great memories; but to a pro breeder they were a potential for old genetics. Recently I decided to part with the reserve and began looking for professional breeders who had the experience and interest in old strains to try and perform a resurrection - IF possible.

Happy to now say that SickMeds Seeds of Spain has taken on the first phase of trying to breathe life into old seed. Their owner (commonly known online as RedDog) was excited to receive the first shipment of old genetics and will soon begin working great Spanish cannabis mojo. SickMeds Seeds is responsible for strains such as Bizarre, Chupacabra, Green Crack, Psycho Crack, and one of the few breeders in the world working with the original Williams Wonder strain.

Together we hope to beat the lottery-like odds and see some old genes become available again. The first phase of seed being experimented on by SickMeds include:

M-10 Afghani #1
M-12 Skunk #1-Creeper Hybrid
M-14 Oakland Indica
M-27 Beatrix Choice
M-31 Williams Wonder
M-31 Williams Wonder P2 *
M-35 Nigerian Kandahar Hybrid
M-40 Heavily High
M-43 Hoosier Hoot-n-Hollar

* = I did not create the strain Williams Wonder, however in 1987-88 I bred original Williams Wonder seed for the SSSC. The male and female parents were outstanding examples of the strain and the resulting plants were selectively inbred and contributed to the SSSC for distribution. All breeding was done indoors in a controlled environment, with great pleasure. Each parent finished at less than 5-foot tall and to this day I have never seen a male cannabis plant as aggressive and robust as that particular male, not after hundreds of inbreeds of that same resulting strain. I also used that same Williams Wonder male to pollinate a series of M-29 Afgani-Malawi and M-19 Durban-Chitral females. Those 2 strains did not stabilize enough to be offered for resale through the SSSC before they closed, but gaggles of those original seeds remain from the progression. At the time I was inexperienced but anal-obsessive about breeding.

There were no feminized seeds offered by the SSSC so any the old stock that might grow will be pure and unadulterated. Everything from a gentle experienced hand to tissue culture might be tried in the hope of a successful result.

Other strains in the on deck for further testing include M-3 Durban, M-8 Durban-Thai Highflyer, M-11 Skunk #1-Afghani #1 Hybrid, M-19 Durban-Chitral Hybrid, M-20 Gouda's Glory, M-29 Afghani-Malawi Hybrid, M-33 Friesland Indica, M-35 Nigerian-Kandahar Hybrid, and some others.

Please join me in crossing our fingers that some rare strains might stand a chance to return!

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Hmm..I wonder if the Nigerian strain is the long lost African strain I was always reading about. The real dark, almost black plant that was the bees knees back in the day.

As for the smell comments in the previous post, thanks. I actually have a desktop air filter that sucks air in and exposes it to UV as well as a spongy carbon filter thing and a while air filter as well. I just don't like to leave it on all the time. Paranoid that it might light the carpet on fire or something i can close the room and have the tent vent into the room, but I wasn't sure if it would affect the plants. I won't put it into the tent, just the room where the tent is in. Either that or I can place it just outside the room. That would be where I breath though, so no good. I want to avoid bringing the tent in my bedroom which is deeper into my apt and I can vent outside...I guess I could do it for a 3 month period and grow enough for the rest of the year. Just means 3 months of bringing nobody home .

I'm new to this whole breeding thing. Could you explain the "m" or even give me a link to wrap my head around all the letter.

WOW! Now that's interesting!

steveat said:

Hmm..I wonder if the Nigerian strain is the long lost African strain I was always reading about. The real dark, almost black plant that was the bees knees back in the day.

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Definitely. . .NOT.

As its name suggests this is a cross of an African strain from Nigeria with an Afghani (indica) from Kandahar.

As for the smell comments in the previous post, thanks. I actually have a desktop air filter that sucks air in and exposes it to UV as well as a spongy carbon filter thing and a while air filter as well. I just don't like to leave it on all the time. Paranoid that it might light the carpet on fire or something i can close the room and have the tent vent into the room, but I wasn't sure if it would affect the plants. I won't put it into the tent, just the room where the tent is in. Either that or I can place it just outside the room. That would be where I breath though, so no good. I want to avoid bringing the tent in my bedroom which is deeper into my apt and I can vent outside...I guess I could do it for a 3 month period and grow enough for the rest of the year. Just means 3 months of bringing nobody home .

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All I can say is the following. Your plants need fresh air to breathe, and humidity levels have to be controlled, or you'll get rot. You also don't want smell leaking through walls, floors, etc. Typically this means exchanging the air in the grow area with fresh air every so often. There may be more than one way to ventilate and control odors, but its up to you to figure out the best way that works for your particular setup.

I'm new to this whole breeding thing. Could you explain the "m" or even give me a link to wrap my head around all the letter.

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Its a lot less complicated than you think.

The "M" just refers to the old SSSC (Super Sativa Seed Club) catalog number for the strain. It has nothing to do with the actual genetics or strain characteristics.

Its probably just the order the company received and listed the strains in (ie William's Wonder was the 31st strain they listed or considered for sale), and having the catalog numbers just simplifies marketing and distribution, sort of like the numbers on a restaurant menu would.

HARVEST: Day 67

OK, these look done and I decided to chop. I could probably have gone another 3-4 days for more amber, and maybe next time I'll stretch this a bit more, but the timing of this chop was good for me, and colas here are so dense I didn't want to push my luck with bud rot or other issues coming into the final stretch.

Colas are not only large, but also heavy/dense too. To me the structure also looks like the Sickmeds ad images, which is nice:




Note a bit of purpling on the fan leaves here. For scale, the largest cola in the second image below is nearly the size of my forearm, with closeup below:




Two more closeups. I think these also look like the Sickmeds bud shots (though later along), so that's consistent, at least.




As expected, final yield was high; remember this was only grown under 1/2 of a 250W HPS. The manicure also gummed up the scissors pretty well. Here is the final harvest trimmed, with a picture of the scissor hash and a "tic-tac" mint for scale:

Grow summary and final impressions:


-Se-eds sprouted immediately, and grew vigorously in vegetative phase with dark green leaves and "skunky" smell.

-Visible flower production started quickly, within a week of switching to 12-12.

-Overall plant stretch after switch to 12-12 was minimal. There was no crazy "stretch" phase after going to 12-12 the way you get with some sativa-influenced strains. Plant effectively only doubled in height during flowering, staying compact and bushy in classic "indica" form.

-Plant responded well to minimal training and pruning. Basically, all I did was top the plant once, prune off the lower branches (which would never get light anyway), and spread the branches outward to create a wider canopy and let more light in. If I hadn't have done that, I'd definitely have had the classic "Christmas tree" indica shape.

-Cut clones (made from pruned lower branches) rooted in about 10 days in just water.

-No issues of mold, bugs, nute deficiencies, etc during grow.

-Odor was strong, especially at the end.

-Overall cola and individual bud density was high, possibly the highest I've ever seen. I suspect this strain would be highly susceptible to rot, but I was extra-careful to keep humidity low and air circulating.

-A few early male flowers ("bananas") popped up near the end of flowering. I did carefully inspect every single bud thoroughly at harvest, and didn't see many here, just a few clusters. None of these had opened or made pollen yet. There was no se-ed formation anywhere either. Don't know if this was genetics, or grower-induced stress (or both), but I don't really consider this to be an issue. I've seen a lot of other strains do a lot worse, bluntly, and IMO no harm no foul. I also think a lot of growers would probably not even have seen these. . .again, I was being super-diligent looking for bud rot and checking trichromes and was going over the buds with a hand lens the last few weeks.

-Chose to chop at 67 days and plant was definitely done. I probably could have gone +/- a few days there.

I'd say that at least on the grow side of things, this matched the Sickmeds ad copy pretty well, and its also met the pretty high bar that the reputation of the strain has set in terms of growth characteristics, smell and yield. So I'm definitely not disappointed. Overall grow was very easy. . .in fact its been so long since I've grown a pure indica like this, I've forgotten exactly how easy these can be.

Now we just have to do the most important test. . .is this the "wrecker" in terms of potency that I remember from the 1990s?

Stay tuned for smoke report. . .coming soon.

Last thing.

I took a lot of pictures this grow, and learned two tricks about bud photography I'd like to share.

-Good lighting is key. It not only makes the colors stand out, but also makes the resin glands sparkle for that "bud porn" look that High Times magazine made famous. Those "white" pictures are very impressive; we've all seen them, but they're partly an artefact of camera FLASH.

-See those super closeups. . .do I have a fancy $500 macro lens? Hell no. Instead I have a $5 loupe like the one depicted below that I use to inspect buds and trichromes. To get the closeups, what I did was put my cheapie $100 camera in "macro" mode, then took the shots with the loupe pressed right up to the lens! Stupid-simple, and you'd think this "shouldn't" work, but the camera auto-focuses and it does.

Remarkable grow report. This is a highly impressive strain. There's no wonder that more than one autoflowering strain claims genetics from this beauty. If you're looking to increase an auto's production, this would be a good strain to cross with.

Meanwhile, thank you for the close up pic recommendation.

Hitch said:

Remarkable grow report. This is a highly impressive strain. There's no wonder that more than one autoflowering strain claims genetics from this beauty. If you're looking to increase an auto's production, this would be a good strain to cross with.

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In fact almost all of the current crop of autos are hybridized with/from the original Lowryder, which has Williams Wonder as one of its parents.

So most of the commercial autos already have some Williams' Wonder genetics in there (ie other than the DNA Genetics misnamed "60-day wonder").

There are higher yielding strains out there (eg Critical mass/Big bud), though I don't think they have the potency that this one is known for.

Meanwhile, thank you for the close up pic recommendation.

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You're welcome.

Sickmeds William Wonder: Smoke report.

How did I get the stuff ready so fast? I "cheated". Actual harvest was several weeks ago, and grow report was "time delayed". Buds have been dried and curing for nearly a month now.

Final yield was about 2 ounces bone dry and heavily manicured. That may not sound like much, but its actually a respectable yield given that the plant was only 27" tall at harvest and grown under just half of a 250W HPS in a relatively inefficient setup without SCROG or SOG.

Onto the report. . .

Weight: Buds themselves are dense, and heavy for their size.




Scent: STRONG. . .this is one of those strains that really smells when dry, and when you open the jar, you know it. There is a strong and distinct herbal/weed scent, plus a hint of grapefruit and tangerine. The citrus component to the smell came out much more during the grind.

Taste: Smoke tastes like smell. Citrusy weed with hints of tangerine and grapefruit. Enough said. Like many/most taste of this one would probably be improved by a vaporizer.

Effect: Having been accidentally "couchlocked" by overly strong weed multiple times in the past (including more than once in Amsterdam, and the last time I tried William's Wonder), I've learned my lesson. The lesson is, if you don't know how strong the weed is, start SMALL.

So I took one small/medium bud, weighing 0.51 grams (see pic), then ground it up. Then I took 1/3 of the grind and rolled that into a thin "pinner" joint using an extra long "crutch" to take up space. So the test was done on a sample weighing a measured 170 milligrams; basically the smallest functional joint I thought I could roll. The rest of the stuff I rolled into a second smallish joint, "for later".

On smoking, I felt that distinct "pressure" in the head a few seconds after first puff. That's always the first clue that the stuff is strong, and I wasn't disappointed.

Typical 5-10 minute "creeper" delay then the full effect, of a nice warm indica body "stone" with relaxation. It actually wasn't as "wrecking" as I remembered from the '90s, but I'm sure that was due to the limited dose. Anyway, this small dose was enough for a pleasant "stone" for 3-4 hours of medium intensity. Next time I'd smoke a bit more, maybe 225mg, which I'd consider a full dose. More than that and I probably wouldn't be functional anymore (ie "couchlock") This is definitely not for operating heavy machinery, that's for sure!

The first time I ever heard of William's Wonder, it was billed as "Williams One Hit Wonder". Is this "one hit" stuff? Well, if by "one hit" you mean one ordinary puff from an ordinary joint, no, this wasn't for me. It also wasn't the first time I tried it, as I wrote in the "one hit" thread six months ago:

Williams wonder. . .

When I tried it (which was in the mid 90s), one normal sized joint completely wrecked three people before it was done.

Myself and another hardcore stoner were totally couchlocked, and a third novice literally fell down! Each of us only had a few normal puffs.

If you did one bong hit of this, that would definitely be "enough"!

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That said, with those criteria I don't think ANY flowers are truly "one hit from a joint is enough" for an experienced smoker. I've never experienced ordinary weed that strong, and even decent grade water hash isn't "one hit" for me out of an ordinary pipe. But this was definitely up there in terms of potency, stronger than most, and probably as strong as anything I've smoked in terms of flowers.

If you figure that an average joint is probably about 0.75 g, and that by my estimation about 1/3 of that is probably enough to "couchlock" someone, then this seemed to be as potent as the stuff from the 1990s that couchlocked me and two of my friends from one "normal" joint. I can definitely get behind the SSSC description of two people not being able to finish a joint. Is it the strongest indica out there? Not having tried many of the super-potent indicas I can't really say, but purely by the numbers, my guess is "no". I'd imagine the strongest of the "OG"s are probably a little bit more potent than this, though this will still hold its own with many of them If you figure that unlike most of the "OGs" this strain offers high yield, is true breeding (ie all plants grown from ceed will be similar), and now readily available in ceed form, I think it still has a lot to offer compared to some of these "clone only" OGs.

So in sum, the Sickmeds Williams Wonder has lived up to the hype of high yield, citrus taste, and notably high potency. It was also super-easy to grow and I'll definitely be growing it again.

u sly fox!

We all would love for you to hit us back again after you have tried that regular sized joint of Williams wonder.

wontazute said:

We all would love for you to hit us back again after you have tried that regular sized joint of Williams wonder.

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OK. Will do.

But before I do, a serious question.

What do you consider a "regular" joint for one session for one person in terms of amount of weed? 0.5 grams? 0.7 grams?

The "other" joint I rolled weighs about 0.33 of a gram. . .IMO that's still a pretty small joint. Maybe I'll shoot a pic of it before "testing".

Very nice jogro. I've been curious about this strain.

a point 5 sounds regular

greenghost420 said:

a point 5 sounds regular

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Sorry. . .you're saying a regular joint is 0.5 grams or 1.5 grams?

If you mean 0.5g, I agree, that's about what I consider a "normal" joint too. I'll try to get one that size rolled up and do a second smoke report when I get a chance.

If you mean 1.5 grams. . .forget it. I don't think I even could finish a joint that size since I'd probably be "couchlocked" before getting to the end. That's a fun joint to roll (you can get a nice "cone" going), but I'd consider it more of a "party" joint to be passed around several people.

Respect Jogro, great journal, I'm looking forward to trying it myself

Jogro said:

OK. Will do.

But before I do, a serious question.

What do you consider a "regular" joint for one session for one person in terms of amount of weed? 0.5 grams? 0.7 grams?

The "other" joint I rolled weighs about 0.33 of a gram. . .IMO that's still a pretty small joint. Maybe I'll shoot a pic of it before "testing".

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I get a King Size Zig Zag, and fill it up nicely... yeah, even for just me. I usually put about 1.6-2.5 grams in them. thats regular for me...

i usually do what he said^^ got the 12 inch raws i tear to size needed. but i would say normal people would go with .5 and nub it out when they are nice.

Update:

Just heard back from my old friend, the one I smoked the Williams Wonder with back in the mid 1990s.

"Somehow", he managed to acquire a sample of these buds for nostalgia/testing purposes, and I wanted to post his review.

In a nutshell, he was VERY excited to see these buds. He told me he is 99% certain that the buds he got are the exact same thing we smoked together 15 years ago: Same scent, same flavor, same bud appearance, same potency, and same effect. He said he can't be 100% sure just because it was so long ago, but he said the smell in particular was so distinctive, he remembered it, and that's what really persuaded him that this was the same thing.

He specifically noted that the strain was quite potent, AND it made him really sleepy (which is a pretty typical indica effect).

So I think that's reasonably good confirmation that this is the "real deal" M31 William's Wonder from SSSC.

Meanwhile, I haven't yet had the chance to try a full 0.5g sample, but I will do so and post back. (Have tried lesser amount, and its still good!). Without doing it, I doubt the results will be surprising; I'll probably be "heavily" medicated for a few hours!