# Skunk #1 Story



## Outkast Seeds (Feb 7, 2008)

Skunk#1 was the result of a communal breeding effort by a small clique of breeders who worked the coastal hills surounding the Bay Area. The first "skunk" plant (C.Gold x AFG unstable) was not discovered by this group but, Jingles who cut the unstable line, but kept this one special plant for his personal garden. This was around '69 or so. anyway, the clone made its way round the club and soon this Bay Area group decided to adopt it as a project.
With the C.Gold mom used by Jingles as well as the Haze Bros they set about trying to create a stable version of Jingles "skunk". The result would be known as Skunk#1. Columbian Gold x Acapulco Gold/Afgani There are better people around here to tell you the exact details, not the least whom is Sam_Skunkman over @ TFD. Yes it's him.

My understanding of the SK#1 breeding group is that it started very small and grew as time went by. SkMan starting out as a Jr grower in the late 60's and rising to the level of chief breeder and seedmaker for the seed co. 
in the late 70's/early 80's. It was supposed to have been very difficult to join this group and a prospect would first have to be sponsered by a member of the inner circle then be required to breed out a certain number of versions of Sk#1 from both clones provided by the club as well as genetics they provided themselves. This way they assured quality control and widened the gene pool at the same time. The original unstable "model skunk"plant was a direct cross of C.Gold x Afg. But the Bay Area people soon found out how difficult it was going to be to cross a C.Gold to anything. So it was found that it was easier to cross these difficult plants to a plant that was already hybribized. Hence the Introduction of A.Gold into the mix. This also apparently added two other favorable traits. In addition to making crosses easier, high GCA has been stated by Clark as one of the goals of the breeders, the A.Gold also marginaly reduced flower time but most importent was its addition to calyx/leaf ratio. If you turn to P 248 of Mels Dlx you will find a pic of four mexican colas. Notice the two shots on the bottom are taken against the backround of Sandy W's barn. I'm almost 100% sure the plant on the lower right is A.Gold and about 90% that it's the primary A.Gold mom in Sk#1. Notice the foxtail style buds and hi C/L. Now imagine this crossed to an afgani, starting to get the picture? By the way most but not all of the Afganis were from MLW.

As i said earlier most of the Sacred Seeds breeding groups suffered disasters of one sort or another in the early days and in the case of Sk#1 it was the dreaded botritis cinerea, grey mold. Introduced by some of the early afgani crosses it kicked of a massive afgan genetics hunt/torture test. And while the late great Maple Leaf Wilson provided most of the genes they scowered every nook and cranny for an Afgani ;0. Many non Skunk#1 members of the Sacred Seeds who were also working on their own projects got involved.

I already spoke about Sandy W's involment and there were apparently others though the only one I am reasonably sure of was an East Bay biker/Vietnam Vet who went by the handle "Mendacino Joe", who as you can probably guess by his name he was supposed to have been one of the founders of the Trinity grow scene. Joe was working on a grape/pepper flavored mostly afgani hybrid not related to Sk#1, but he had a large collection of genetics and was a good grower and so he was included in the torture tests. The ultimate result of these tests was a special line called Skunk#18.2 (Sk#1 x Afg bx-1). It is a line that inparts incredible hardiness and pest/disease resistance on its offspring.

The Skunkman brought several kilos of these seeds with him along with his other stuff when he moved to holland in '82 in the wake of his release from prison.As far as I know he has only given these seeds to Nevil, Shanti, and Wernhard from Positronics. (ever wonder why Shiva Skunk {NL#5 x SK#1) is so resistant to spider mites?)

In the wake of the Sacred Seeds bust in '82, "Mendacino Joe" moved to the Vancouver islands and changing his handle to "Romulan" Joe bringing with him some early Sk#1s or deriviteves, a line of Central Ithsmus lowland Thai that may have been purchased from the Haze Bros and of course his grape/pepper flovored indica strain, Romulan. Soon to be a BC classic. It was these lines that Pr. Ziggy @ Federation seeds in BC was supposed to have purchased from old Joe shorly before his death, and are offered as Island Sweet Skunk, Golden Triangle Thai, and Romulan. Torture tests and "inoculations" were mostly done outdoors with special patches of extra clones in an isolated area, which were then diliberatly infected. Deseased and pest riddled local plants would be transplanted into these special gardens and then the plants were tested to destruction while the growers watched and made note of the strongest individauls. Sacred Seeds was all about division of labor.It's one of the ways they accomplished so much in so little time and they used natural selection to work in their favor. Skunk#1 first went on sale in '78 or '79. As far as I know it was the only strain that Sacred Seeds didn't give a discount on orders over 1k seeds. Seeds were 2$ a peice and people bitched about prices even back then. Especialy that no discount thing But like the Hazes (which could sellout a year ahead) SK#1 sold out every year. The seeds were sold as F1's made if I recall with a F ? fillial plant backcrossed to one of the original parents. Due to the communal nature of the project,there were many parents as each breeder included his own varietion, Skunk#1s bred from the same P1 stock but often getting to the goal a different way, for instance some variations used C.Gold on the male side. With tight control over the P1s the breeders could assure their stated goal of making true breeding stock but with the widest possible gene pool they could also be sure to achieve both high SCA and GCA. also stated goals of the project.

Now I can tell you from personal experience that exactly what constituted a "skunk" was a matter of just a little debate but they basically came down into camps which actually carried forward into the Dutch world. The "Sweet Skunk" camp, which including the SkMan, and the "Stinky Skunk" camp. In terms of modern Sk#1 the CC/TFD Skunkman bred "the Pure" is bred for more consistant plants and towards the SkMans ideal Sk#1. While the stinky side of the house would be best represented by the SeedBank/Mr Nice skunks which also have more variation in types like the earlier California skunks. I must state here that there is no right answer, its a matter of taste and a debate thats been going for on about 30 years. In '82 I came home one night and turned on the TV. Just as they went to commercial the news bimbo teased the story, "comin right up after this" police official say they got the source of the skunk. Yeah right I thought, we'd heard these claims before, always to be followed by shot of some deputies pulling three scragly plants from some poor sucker's patch. This time it was different, this time they were standing in front of a warehouse.

Sacred Seeds was busted in '82. The Skunkman was arrested and the cops were in possetion of the groups main seedmaking op. But this bunch was savey and had pre-paid bailbonds/lawyers on retainer and so SkMan was out in a matter of hours. And so began one of the greatest capers in Sacred Seeds history.

An event I will call "the great rootball rescue". Skunkman, out on bail and eager to find out the condition of his grow rooms stakes out the grow to make sure the cops aren't waiting there for him. After sitting for hours he finally gets over his paranoia and makes a cursery recon and can't believe what he finds, the cops in either there arrogance or ignorance have left the place secured with only police tape. checking the grow as well as the dumpster out back the found many plants cut well above the the first node and some that had been simply pulled from their containers and tossed whole. the dumpster was also full of seeds and it was obvious that the cops had broken many seed containers but because there were so many eventually just started throwing jars out whole. the cops had left all the stuff there until morning when they could properly catolog it, including all the grow equip. Skunkman sprang into action, called a number of the un-busted members of the club and the "great rootball rescue" was under way. His friends showed up and they litteraly stripped the place of every thing usefull. Lights were sold to pay legal fees, the rootballs, including the Haze mom SkMan has to this day were nursed back to health by the people who escaped prosicution and the police were left with a distinct lack of evidence. Causing some of the cases to collapse entirly and some, like SkMan to serve greatly reduced sentances. If they'de gotten him on everything they wanted him for he'd still be there. Instead, He served less than a year and on his release he collected up his strains from his friends, including Sk#18.2 rescued from the dumpster and made his way to amsterdam were he founded Cultivators Choice seed co, named after the top award at the annual Sacred Seeds harvest fests held in Nor Cal from 67-83. A year later Skunkmans new friend aqquire a second batch of Sacred Seeds Sk#1 seeds. When Cultivators Choice went out of biz a few year later Nevil bought most of their stock. While both worked from the same set of Sk#1 females each has there own males (breeders never give up a male) selected from the only two importations of authentic Sk#1 into Holland.

The Cultivators Choice variation is the one offered by TFD as "the Pure" The SeedBank version is @ Mr Nice, Shanti's Shit is his Sk#1/Afg variation with "Pure Shit" aka pure Sk#1 upcoming.


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## KoolCat (Jun 7, 2009)

Cool post dude


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## tea tree (Jul 28, 2009)

bump this and see if anyone else has anything or anyone else to talk about, or strains. I started reading about reserva privada and got excited for strains. I boguht their OG Kush and #18. Now I wanna read all about breeding and so on. I have stumbled trying to figure out what a bx is. lol.


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## The Warlord (Jul 28, 2009)

cool history. i especially like the "reverse raid" to recover the evidence back from the cops.


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## SiriusGrower (Jul 28, 2009)

I never knew it was possible for weed strains to have so much history!

I have Skunk #1 in my closet.

Thanks for all the hard work  (poster and breeders )


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## JollyGreen420 (Jul 28, 2009)

outcast which skunk #1 would you recommend getting? would shiva skunk be better (more stable) Thanks again for the cool write up. +rep


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## chitownsmoking (Jul 28, 2009)

seems like everything u get from dutch breeders is crossed with skunk#1 at some point. kinda sucks


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## The Warlord (Jul 28, 2009)

chitownsmoking said:


> seems like everything u get from dutch breeders is crossed with skunk#1 at some point. kinda sucks


Actually it seems to me like all their genetics just came from over here in the 80's etc. and there's only so many kinds of pot in the world so it's all just crosses of basically the same basic genetics. Kinda, sorta, maybe.


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## chitownsmoking (Jul 28, 2009)

they get shit thats potent landraces or bred out lines and bring them back to the netherlands and almost always cross the shit to skunk number1 to increase yields wich takes away alot of individualality that that strain previously possesed


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## SiriusGrower (Jul 29, 2009)

Over in NL it's a legit business, yield = more cash at the end of the day.

Personally, even though I'm only on my first grow, I think cross polinating should be a personal thing, otherwise it means nothing. Do it yourself and you can genuinly learn about the mj genetics.

Shiva Skunk will be my next grow, I like the name haha


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## JollyGreen420 (Jul 29, 2009)

that and NL#5 and Skunk #1 is fuking amazing. Also if Skunk #1 is sativa/indica 75%-25% and Northern Lights is %100 indica. Would that make Shiva Skunk 62.5% Indica 37.5% Sativa +10% awesome!!!


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## SiriusGrower (Jul 29, 2009)

Sounds like an experement! just gunna take about 6 months hahaha


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## JollyGreen420 (Jul 29, 2009)

Sensi has a limited edition Shiva Skunk out on the marker now. Should be good.


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## SiriusGrower (Jul 29, 2009)

UmmHmmm I found her yesterday, she sounds beautiful!
I didn't know it was Limited Edition? How long is she avaliable for do you know?


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## secretforestgarden (Jan 20, 2010)

I love reading about genetics. There's this old-timer smoker friend of mine that gets so confused and flustered about genetics--he'll always start off something like "Man, when I was a kid, we had like two types of weed--Acapulco Gold and Columbian Red--and you'd get so high that you'd puke!" I try to explain to him now that there were a bunch of different pure landrace sativa and indica strains and between the 60s and 80s people started to hybridize and hence we have thousands of strains and varieties. Once I get into how pot is probably better now due to hybrid vigor he is completely lost. I tell him there's a reason we all grow hybrids now and hardly anyone grows landrace strains. 

He's already packing another joint by then.


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## tokinc (Aug 28, 2010)

The. show up up with encompassed all aspects of urban planning, both in the convene of Paris and in the surrounding districts: streets and boulevards, regulations imposed on facades of buildings, complete parks, sewers and spa first works, crown urban partition facilities and special-interest design monuments. The planning was influenced before assorted factors, not the least of which was the mammoth apple's fair of roadway revolutions.


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## WoodyHaze (Mar 21, 2011)

worthy reading for folks that have no appreciation for what breeders go thru, and complain about prices


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## TheLastWood (Mar 22, 2011)

Awesome post. I love learning history like this.


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## WoodyHaze (Mar 22, 2011)

yes everyone should read this as skunk was the base for many of todays strains as was nl#5


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## Angry Pollock (Mar 22, 2011)

bump, because some people just don't understand what good breeders did for them


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## Timmahh (Mar 24, 2011)

great read and very interesting thread. 
ty for the bump


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## WoodyHaze (Mar 24, 2011)

ok ..bump.......


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## Dizzle Frost (Mar 24, 2011)

Awesome read man..i never knew Romulan Joe was Mendicino Joe.


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## Ursus (Mar 24, 2011)

NO. This story is NOT true. Sam the Skunkman has said this before. DONT GET THIS STORY WRONG. go to ICMAG, the whole bottom paragraph is written falsely, but for the most part it has good bits of truth in it.


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## lbezphil2005 (Sep 30, 2011)

I am so glad the bullcrap isn't true. alot of lies floating around the net about samtheskunkman. At least this should put to rest the crap about him snitching to get off, it was lack of evidence!! If only i would have been so lucky, how frigging funny - because they needed to get to the donuts they couldn't prosecute one of their biggest busts ever, HAHAHa


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## Rufuss (Sep 30, 2011)

Rely nice post  I love skunk#1 as it was the first high grade weed I ever smoked and I always thought there would be an awesome story behind how it came to be and it truly is


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## Milovan (Dec 5, 2011)

In the gene pool, I wonder what made the difference between the original Skunk and Skunk #1?
Of coarse it was named Skunk for a reason as it honestly did have a undeniable strong
pungent true Skunk odor that was adored by many in Los Angeles starting around '79 and disappeared 
into complete and total oblivion about '85. As a matter of fact during this period all around L.A. and the S.F.V. the strain was not once 
referred to as Skunk #1 by smokers. Instead we just simply called it Skunk! Never referred to as Skunk #1 until about Mid-'86 into '87
and to this day. 
I have sampled quite a few varieties of straight Skunk #1 from Mid '86 to now and not 1 of those varieties held true to the name
and did not have that no mistaken distinct true Skunk smell. Nevertheless the Skunk #1 nowadays is in a class by itself and all the other strains 
that contain Skunk #1 are undeniably stellar no doubt.


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## ataxia (Dec 6, 2011)

had a chance to sample some TFD-Skunk Classic.. grown by a novice grower with poor plant skills yet the flowers were maybe some of the best i've ever tasted.


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## nikk2051 (Jan 15, 2013)

I'm got some wonder skunk from reserva prevada


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## WoodyHaze (Feb 1, 2014)

bump for more reading


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## NorthofEngland (Feb 1, 2014)

if some journalist put together lots of interviews and stories from the early days of seed breeding and strain hunting
into a book....
IT WOULD BE FANTASTIC!

Rebels who led the way towards a fairer world


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## Ace Yonder (Feb 2, 2014)

NorthofEngland said:


> if some journalist put together lots of interviews and stories from the early days of seed breeding and strain hunting
> into a book....
> IT WOULD BE FANTASTIC!
> 
> Rebels who led the way towards a fairer world


That's pretty much what the Cannabible by Jason King is. Best bathroom reading ever


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## John Dieselman (Dec 30, 2015)

This is merely my humble opinion but when it comes right down to it,... It's all skunk2 me. Even the pure quote end quote landraces that are available online now orange really pure landraces they are heirloom at best. Which is still really great. I've grown many strains different types of skunk OG Kush, cheapass seeds, the most expensive seed you can get, and I would bet $5 that if you got a 15 pack Mr Nice Dreamtime... You could probably with enough time and enough plans you can probably breed all the skunks, although geez, and even a lot of the new Colorado / of California style Poli Poli Poli hybrids. 15 pack of Dreamtime costs $45. Growing and breeding is just like anything else you get out of it what you put into it periods and if you have your space, you're gross space that is if you have it dial in, and you have genetics like I spoke of above, or anything similar Afghan, Northern Lights, skunk number one, and haze, you could pull just about any variety that you want. I do love hearing the stories that. For me it's a medical thing it has been for many years now, and there are people out there that are going to try and capitalize and make as much money as they can then I guess that's fine it's a free country but we need to be taken care of each other. Because I can see the future on this prohibition of marijuana being lifted it sounds great yeah, but don't be surprised if the government lets us do all the work finding these 20 + THC variety chemotypes or even be on that and then swooping down with a big scoop lol I couldn't think of any other word a big genetic magnet basically and take it all away from us. Hopefully that doesn't happen my favorite cross that I've done recently was strawberry coffee with og camp Ross to a king Louis email my wife and I call it marshmallow Kush or creamy Kush or the cream but I just finished backcrossing that to the King Louie mom to try. Bump up the OG in it it's a great indica ah, smells just like a fresh opened can of Kona coffee. Also I don't recommend smoking it before you get online to reply to a post on this website as I have demonstrated I'm sure even when I go back to read it I will become bored of it and not even finish it but for those who do, good luck god bless keep growing. And for anybody wanting to criticize my post about getting off track I already know. Haters gonna hate somewhere else.


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## kindnug (Dec 30, 2015)

Nice wall of text...
You're a hater of paragraphs.


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## hyroot (Dec 30, 2015)

Skunk man Sam, breeder steve , Mel Frank, etc.. are on hash church all the time. Episode 52 skunk man Sam told the story of skunk 1 himself.


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## yesum (Dec 30, 2015)

Some of this story is fiction. Sam never went to jail, his own words over at IcMag. Some truth in there too I suppose.


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## hyroot (Dec 30, 2015)




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## Igotthe6 (Dec 30, 2015)

Milovan said:


> In the gene pool, I wonder what made the difference between the original Skunk and Skunk #1?
> Of coarse it was named Skunk for a reason as it honestly did have a undeniable strong
> pungent true Skunk odor that was adored by many in Los Angeles starting around '79 and disappeared
> into complete and total oblivion about '85. As a matter of fact during this period all around L.A. and the S.F.V. the strain was not once
> ...


I Like the story. I always wondered what strain it was I brought back to NY from Alameda after getting out of the Navy. I knew the one Was California orange bud,never was sure what the skunk was. It fits the story though got out in 86


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## Oregon Gardener (Dec 30, 2015)

Well, I'm glad you set the story straight, because I remember the 70s, very foggy, but I remember growing up in the East San Francisco Bay area where the San Joaquin Met the Sacramento river and fed into the bay. It was about 1976, maybe 77, We had got a hold of some seeds and planted them at the abandon house across the street. There was a faucet right in the backyard. They grew tall and lanky and pretty. We chopped em' down, dried em' and smoked em'....worst f'n headache! The shit smelled like hay and we wanted _*Skunk-weed*_. We had smoked it once and were told that unless we had an ass-load of money, like $50, we had better grow it ourselves. Well, There was no Jorge or Ed or anything else available to us. Even if somebody had a High Times ( they were rare) There was nothing in them but B.S. So we headed down the street to Joe's house. He was almost 17. He had a car, a girlfriend, and and was the bastion of all knowledge; especially weed stuff. Joe sat us down and set us straight. "If you want skunk weed you gotta plant it way out by the river where skunks could spray it" Well, we started our next crop that spring in front of the power plant in cosmetic shrubs the size of 7-8 foot-ball fields where we played army. There were automatic sprinklers and those bushes were full of skunks. We planted about 300 seeds .My mom was pissed for a month when she couldn't find that large box of Miracle Grow. I'll betcha know what happened next..... Actually dicked the whole thing off... forgot about em, we were idiots. When we did finally slide through the fence, it was a feeling like no other. We could smell the skunk. Joe was right! This shit was skunky. This didn't look anything like the weed we had been smoking,Some of it was full of seeds and but bright green, but some of it had no seeds. Joe explained that that type of weed was called "*Sesameian*" We used that spot for several more seasons and finally figured out the boy girl thing. However, I think I'm gonna call O'l Joe and give him a ration of shit for B.S'n me! True Story. (mostly true anyway)


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## Igotthe6 (Dec 30, 2015)

I musta been high class. I at least had the hightimes encyclopedia of drugs with the growers guide in it.lol.Me and a friend started the Ca. orange in late feb,he had a sun room all glass. was 6 foot before we put it out in end of may. grew it in a 50 gallon plastic barrell. we got 9 pounds off that thing. had to be at least 15 foot tall and just as wide....memories!


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## Oregon Gardener (Dec 30, 2015)

Igotthe6 said:


> I musta been high class. I at least had the hightimes encyclopedia of drugs with the growers guide in it.lol.Me and a friend started the Ca. orange in late feb,he had a sun room all glass. was 6 foot before we put it out in end of may. grew it in a 50 gallon plastic barrell. we got 9 pounds off that thing. had to be at least 15 foot tall and just as wide....memories!


When I was growing up, a Hustler under you bed would get your Mom flipping out and your Dad breathing a sigh of relief, but a High Times could wind you up drug rehab, or worse! That was bad taboo. But I still got a High Times from 78 and I didn't see that in there.


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## Igotthe6 (Dec 30, 2015)

Ahh,husler,playboy,hell,my mom found a girls panties blood stains n all when I was 13,yea,imagine what that was like. Didn't feel like I got so lucky.


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## Angry Pollock (Jan 1, 2016)

Igotthe6 said:


> I musta been high class. I at least had the hightimes encyclopedia of drugs with the growers guide in it.lol.Me and a friend started the Ca. orange in late feb,he had a sun room all glass. was 6 foot before we put it out in end of may. grew it in a 50 gallon plastic barrell. we got 9 pounds off that thing. had to be at least 15 foot tall and just as wide....memories!


High Times Encyclopedia? Dang, I thought I was the only one that had one of those. Bought one in better condition recently on eBay, but I bought the original in 1978.


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## Igotthe6 (Jan 1, 2016)

Angry Pollock said:


> High Times Encyclopedia? Dang, I thought I was the only one that had one of those. Bought one in better condition recently on eBay, but I bought the original in 1978.


I'm sure it ended up with the stack of play boys,moldy ond covered in.....well we can leave that part out. Use your imagination


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## greendiamond9 (Jan 1, 2016)

Igotthe6 said:


> I musta been high class. I at least had the hightimes encyclopedia of drugs with the growers guide in it.lol.Me and a friend started the Ca. orange in late feb,he had a sun room all glass. was 6 foot before we put it out in end of may. grew it in a 50 gallon plastic barrell. we got 9 pounds off that thing. had to be at least 15 foot tall and just as wide....memories!


I remember seeing this advertised in

High Times in the 70s and wanting this book so much
I finally got a used copy about nine years ago.


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## Igotthe6 (Jan 1, 2016)

yup,that's the one.not sure what happened to it. Probably ended up with the playboys and old tissues.


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## Mcoocoo (Nov 24, 2019)

JollyGreen420 said:


> outcast which skunk #1 would you recommend getting? would shiva skunk be better (more stable) Thanks again for the cool write up. +rep


I know this is an old thread, but I just wated to mention that Seedsman's Original Skunk #1 is worth a try.


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## Fibromyoucha (Dec 20, 2020)

greendiamond9 said:


> I remember seeing this advertised in
> 
> High Times in the 70s and wanting this book so much
> I finally got a used copy about nine years ago.
> View attachment 3575820


I swear i just grew that bud on the top rite in that pick lol, skunk. Darker green with golden color. Im kicking my own ass not cloning it..


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## boybelue (Dec 20, 2020)

Fibromyoucha said:


> I swear i just grew that bud on the top rite in that pick lol, skunk. Darker green with golden color. Im kicking my own ass not cloning it..


From which breeder?


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