Hello, Dali! (Bodhi's Yunnan)

I was browsing through the catalog of one of the US seed distributors and saw an offering called "China Yunnan Cangshan Mountain Sativa" bred by Bodhi seeds (as part of a side project called the "Nierika Seed Trust").

Seeing that instantly brought back memories of my two month long travels through China in 1989, during which my traveling companion and I visited a secluded town in western Yunnan province called Dali. We went there because of the presence of Mao tribespeople who donned traditional tribal outfits in their everyday lives, for the 'county fair' that was going on that week, and for the hippy-dippy atmosphere that made it the Santa Cruz of Asia at the time.

I was also reminded of going to the Coca-Cola Cafe (nope, they weren't exactly attendant to intellectual property protections then... only slightly more so these days) and, after having some brownies, buying an ounce of pot for about $5 (I later found weed growing wild in the fields by the lake outside of town).

I then proceeded to smoke my way across the country, smoking in broad daylight with impunity. There was absolutely no drug awareness of anybody in the country at that time. When we got looks from folks on the street about our consumption, it was more along the lines of confusion, as in, "Why are these rich foreigners smoking a hand-rolled, herbal cigarette, when they can afford a real, store-rolled, tobacco-based one?"

I also remember that I got a very upbeat high from that herb and was motivated to be an explorer and enjoyer of the world - no couch lock, which now that I understand about differences between sativas/indicas/hybrids, makes perfect sense from a landrace sativa.

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My previous plan had been to wait until my return from a 2 week April vacation to start my next run, but I decided to take a different tack - I would start the veg now and take a chance that, using an automated watering system, the crop would survive the 16 or so days until my return. To that end, I started to germinate six beans yesterday. I am a legal grower here, and I have a 4'x4'x8' tent as well as a private roof deck. I hope to get three females out of the six beans that I started, and, after my return, to transition them to my roof for this season's outdoor grow. I'd like to grow them big, so I'll have lots of stuff to share with my friends (I don't sell, and don't consume very much - my recently concluded first indoor grow generated about three years worth of personal consumption) as well as to create an entertaining exercise of seeing how big I can get 'em!

So now we get to the nitty gritty of this journal. I plan to make one entry a week, with photos, and as a willing-to-learn novice, I welcome comments and critiques - but I won't feed the trolls.

Day 1 (germination day 1): I took out six shot glasses, put a teeny tiny dot of liquid dish soap in each along with lukewarm H2O (tap), and dropped a bean in each as well.
The theory behind this approach is that soap is a binding agent that improves the adhesion of water to surfaces. It should assist in the process of water penetrating the seed case to start the germination process.
Three sank immediately. I then went to sleep.

Day 2 (germination day 2) (today, 2/24): When I awoke I saw that the rest of the beans had sunk to the bottom of their respective shot glasses. I then got six, 12-ounce plastic cups, slashed slits in their bottoms for drainage, filled them with Fox Farms Ocean Forest (FFOF) soil, and dropped one seed into a small indentation in the center of the top of each. After making sure that the bean was in place I gently covered it with a cm or so of soil.

Here's what they look like at this point (unlabeled cups - not recommended if you're growing more than one strain!)...
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Here are some details about my grow environment and plan...

Inside:
4'x4'x8' grow tent (Apollo Horticulture)
6x93W Area51 lights (model W90, Vero 29-based) - 558W total @ ~40% efficiency
FFOF soil from seed.
Solo cup -> 3 Gallon smartpot at first topping -> 15 Gallon smartpot at 2nd topping
4" fan and carbon filter
2 small circulating fans
one small dehumidifier;
inside tent: 59F-79F (15C-26C), 35%-65% humidity (may get 2nd dehumidifier)
approximate ambient conditions outside tent: 70F (21C), 40% humidity
Outside:
Hot and humid - 'It's like a sauna out here'
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Well that's all for now - tune in next week for an update!

Great story!

Best of luck with this grow, I'm pullin up a chair!

It's time for the first update!

Things have gotten off to a slow start...I screwed up a bit. I had company coming over last Thursday, and I needed to air out the house (I had just finished drying my last harvest, and it was particularly aromatic in here), so I opened up several doors and windows. Since it was also somewhat cold outside, and since I didn't want my heating system to be wasting energy on heating the outdoors, I lowered my thermostats whilst the place was airing out. Unfortunately I forgot to put it back up, and when I checked on Friday and saw that none of the beans had popped through the dirt, I figured out my mistake. It was 67F (19C), a bit cold for a successful germination. I then put the heat back up (to 77F=25C), and eventually things resumed as they should have been. Five of the six beans have emerged, three of which have shed their seed case and have already started growing their first true leaves.

While I realize that the conditions were slightly less than perfect, I suspect that the fact that this is not a breeder's created strain but a landrace strain is part of the issue... we take for granted easy germination and fast growth, but since these hadn't been artificially selected for by a breeder, the plants are just doing their thing somewhat slower than I've come to expect.

Anyway, they're now doing fine. If the two that are still in their seed cases don't emerge by tomorrow morning, I'll start helping them in that process by misting them with warm water a couple of times a day to soften the seed cases.

OK another week has gone by and the babies are starting to grow up.
All four of the remaining plants are doing well (one of the five that popped failed to thrive).
They are forming their second set of true leaves.
They are a little bit stretchy (not surprising given that they're a sativa), and to help them along in their early days I've given the stems a bit of support with pieces of plastic straw to surround them.
Some photos are attached. Note: I am starting their veg under two Cree LED 18W bulbs which are held inside reflectors. As they get older, I will add two more of these bulbs to the lighting, and eventually they will go in the grow tent after the currently flowering plants are finished, before they are eventually transferred to the roof in June.

Update Day (a little late - forgot to hit the post button yesterday) ...

We're now back to five plants. One of the 'non-viable' seeds decided to pop. It had come out of the soil but had stubbornly refused to make any move toward growing its leaves out of the seed case despite coaxing, but since I had nothing to lose - who cares if a dead seed is made moldy or waterlogged - I misted the hell out of the sucker, and cranked the temps up a couple of degrees to 75, and lo and behold it emerged. Just a little green in the cotyledon leaves, but the first true leaves are looking fine. I'll just let it come along for the ride despite being seriously behind the other plants.

Because I want these to really bush out, I am trying something a little different than my 'usual.' I haven't been growing very long but based on what I have read, I would wait until after the fifth set of true leaves emerged until topping just over the fourth node. This time, I'm topping just over the third node, thinking that I will top a total of four times. Three of the larger plants were topped yesterday and the fourth, this morning. They seem to be doing well although there may be some mild toxicity due to the 'hot' soil of Fox Farms Ocean Forest.

Next: let the roots fill out a bit, then transplant to 3 gallon smart pots next week, and then activate and start tuning the automatic drip watering system so that they make it through my vacation absence.

Wednesday - update day.

The plants are going along as expected.
I transplanted them into 3 gallon smart pots yesterday - well the four larger ones, at least - the runt of the litter is still in its party cup.
One of the four that I had topped I had apparently 'FIMmed' instead - it seems to be growing four tops instead of the two the others are.
The runt has started growing its third set of true leaves. After the fourth node is growing, I'll top it and transplant it probably in about a week.
The four larger plants are starting on their second set of leaves after the topping. When the fourth set starts to show, I'll top them again, probably in about a week.
I'm also going to set them up with their automatic drip watering in the next couple of days.
Photos follow. Next update, next Wednesday...

Lookin good! Might want to go easy on the watering though imo

Wednesday update...

Photos will need to wait until tomorrow at the earliest as I'm over at my gf's house for the evening.

The plants are doing well. I'm dragging my ass on getting the watering system set up, but will have a friend look in every four days or so, so it should all be fine.

The plants are almost ready for their second topping, which I'll do tomorrow or Friday. That will, in addition to helping to bush them out, slow down their growth rate for the time I'm away so they'll be less likely to grow into their lights. To further reduce that risk, I'm splitting the plants to into two groups... One will be put up on the roof level in a greenhouse-like landing, the other kept vegging inside under the Cree LED 18W bulbs.

Update time but nothing to report...

I'm out of the country and my friend will look in on the ladies tomorrow. I keep my fingers crossed that they've been getting an appropriate amount of water.

The security camera i have pointed at the Pineapple Fields in my grow tent shows that it may have been getting slightly more water per day than it has been using, so I've asked my friend to remove one of the drippers.

That is all... more next Wednesday.

Happy travels, hope your girls are happy...

Still on holiday in Sri Lanka, so little to report.

My friend has been checking in on the plants every four days, and she reports that they are doing well with the Claber automatic watering.

I'll return next week and will update with photos then.

Just grabbed a pack of these... Pulling up a chair, excited to see the results!!

Sorry for the delay, folks.
I got back on the 20th and have been busy catching up with life.

The plants were in pretty good shape on my return. They were about three feet tall. While they were doing okay in their 'greenhouse space,' because of an apartment HVAC maintenance appointment, I moved them up onto the roof the next morning... and promptly forgot to take them in after a few hours.

I also only put two of the four larger plants in tomato cages (I only had the two cages), and the other two are struggling a bit more than the caged ones with their new environment - heat/wind/rain is all new to them, and they weren't given enough time to slowly adjust to being outdoors all the time. All the plants got somewhat bleached by the sun but seem to be hanging in there so given how early in the season it is they'll probably recover well.

I'll post photos tomorrow if I can.

Any updates/pictures by chance?

really nice looking seedlings. I'm very interested in this strain and other broad terpenoid/cannabinoid profile landrace strains for medical applications.
bump for updates

Glad I just found this gem. Can't wait to see how these turn out. Pop in the Bodhi seeds thread and share with all the Bodhiheads at some point please.

Glad you started this thread jeroly! I was very curious about this strain (and landraces in general) so I'm glad to see someone journaling about it.

Throw up some updated pics when you have a chance!!