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It is the middle of September and the heat is intense, sweat is dripping down my forehead as I walk down rows of plants that seem to never end. Myself and my crew, which includes my bandmate Bleezy from our rap group\u00a0Mendo Dope<\/a>\u00a0and our business partner Mark Greyshock of\u00a0Greenshock Farms<\/a>, are just finishing up the biggest pheno hunt that any of us have ever done. Our noses are covered in resin after closely examining about 800 plants, searching for the next top strain among the phenos. We literally cannot smell anymore, our nostril hairs are sticky and the tips of our noses are raw.<\/p>\n As the sun sets, the colors in the sky are unreal, almost as if the clouds themselves were on fire glowing in a bright orange. We roll up a Backwood of Sour Apple bud, pack our gear and get ready to head out, reeking of fresh ganja. The road is winding, swerving through the rolling hills with such sharpness that it almost feels like we are on mushrooms as we drive into the night sky.<\/p>\n \u201cWe found some winners today,\u201d Bleezy says, still smelling the tips of his fingers that are completely covered in resin.<\/p>\n Pheno hunting and creating new strains is a lengthy process. Greyshock explains that creating the award-winning Tropical Sleigh Ride strain came after many years of hard work.<\/p>\n \u201cIt all started with the\u00a0Purple Candy Cane<\/a>, which has placed in the top three at the Emerald Cup two years in a row,\u201d he says of the strain\u2019s lineage. \u201cWe got a hold of a Pineapple plant from [noted California cannabis breeder]\u00a0Mean Gene<\/a>\u00a0and just out of intuition, I knew that there was going to be a winner by crossing these two plants.\u201d<\/p>\n The strain was created in 2016 and grown for the first time during the 2017 harvest. Greyshock says he had more confidence in this particular breeding project than others he has worked on in the past. This confidence was due, in part, to the strain\u2019s unique terpene profile. In fact, in 2017, Greenshock\u2019s Tropical Sleigh Ride won the\u00a0highest total terpene content award at the prestigious Emerald Cup<\/a>, with 4.8% terpenes.<\/p>\n The fruit-forward Tropical Sleigh Ride has an\u00a0ocimene-dominant terpene profile<\/a>, something that is also found in other plants such as basil, bergamot and lavender. In addition, it has a high level of\u00a0CBG<\/a>\u00a0(a cannabinoid that is a precursor to both THC and CBD), generally 2 to 2.5 %.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has an overall very high cannabinoid ratio with the THC itself in the neighborhood of 17% at its lowest and all the way up to 27-28%,\u201d Greyshock says. \u201cWith high levels of both terpenes and cannabinoids in one plant, it makes this strain a very dynamic combination. The smell and flavor of this flower is unlike any other.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s an uplifting strain with a woodsy, floral and tropical smell (think oranges, mangos, guava, pineapple,\u00a0papaya, lemons and hints of pine) that could be applicable to lift a depressive fog, he says.<\/p>\n \u201cTropical Sleigh Ride makes you feel happy to be alive. It crushes\u00a0negativity and brings out\u00a0positivity. I\u00a0would say its best medical trait would be treating depression,\u201d Greyshock says. \u201cThe flavor is truly\u00a0delicious and just\u00a0smelling it will make you feel good.\u00a0Smoking the Tropical Sleigh Ride is\u00a0like\u00a0snowboarding down a\u00a0mountain of fruit, carving through\u00a0oranges and\u00a0mangos jumping over pine trees.\u201d<\/p>\n And, in terms of its growth, Greyshock says the vigorous fast-growing Tropical Sleigh Ride is extremely adaptable.<\/p>\n \u201c<\/strong>It handles a variety of conditions very well, performing great in all environments,\u201d he says. \u201cHere in California, we have grown it in the Sierras at 4,200 feet [elevation] and it grew very nicely. This year, we are growing it in San Luis Obispo County in a very hot and dry climate that reaches temperatures of 110 degrees regularly and it is performing great.\u201d<\/p>\n Greyshock says the strain also possess a strong resistance to both bugs and mold, something that becomes very important when picking the winners from a new batch of plants. The buds themselves are generally very solid and chunky.<\/p>\n \u201cEven with the sativa influence, these buds are not loose at all \u2014 they are very tight sativa buds,\u201d Greyshock says. \u201cWe\u00a0have\u00a0had plants\u00a0started from seed that\u00a0have grown over 12 feet tall and 10 feet wide,\u00a0towering over our heads, so she can\u00a0definitely grow big.\u00a0One of this strain\u2019s best traits is its ability to fight off mold.\u201d<\/p>\n When it comes to the variations in phenotypes on this strain, Greyshock explains there are two basic types: the green pheno and the purple pheno.<\/p>\n \u201c<\/strong>The\u00a0purple\u00a0pheno shows a lot of\u00a0color on the leaves and stalk and a\u00a0decent amount on the bud,\u201d he says. \u201cAbout 40% of the phenos\u00a0exhibit\u00a0the green version of this strain. One pheno that we love is the Passion Orange Guava (POG) and\u00a0that is an\u00a0example of a green variation. Another pheno we have took sixth place [in the sungrown category] at the 2018 Emerald Cup and this one has more of a purple influence that we call the Hawaiian\u00a0Punch pheno.\u201d<\/p>\n And when it comes to picking which pheno is best, you might as well ask a mother which daughter she favors more.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is hard to say which variation is better, both purple and green phenos are\u00a0phenomenal,\u201d Greyshock says. \u201cIn\u00a0terms of the overall size of the buds, I\u2019d say about 10% of the phenos have\u00a0large big buds and those\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0generally the ones we keep. It seems to be the tighter, medium,\u00a0chunky phenos that we\u00a0are after a lot, which\u00a0fortunately\u00a0the\u00a0majority come out to be.\u201d<\/p>\n Even though the Tropical Sleigh Ride is a fabulous smoke, cannabis breeders are almost always interested in taking their strain further.<\/p>\n \u201c<\/strong>Once you\u00a0have\u00a0these\u00a0type of plants in your collection, it is always about\u00a0trying to make new and better\u00a0things if you can,\u201d Greyshock says. \u201cRight now, we are\u00a0playing\u00a0around\u00a0with the Tropical Sleigh Ride. This last\u00a0year,\u00a0we crossed it with another\u00a0phenomenal\u00a0California plant that was bred right here in Mendocino\u00a0County called\u00a0the Long Valley Royal Kush. Both of these plants have won awards at the\u00a0Emerald\u00a0Cup, so the combination of these two\u00a0plants is making for\u00a0some really exciting stuff this year.\u201d<\/p>\n Breeder: Greenshock Farms<\/strong><\/p>\n Genetics: Purple Candy Cane x Pineapple<\/strong><\/p>\n Yield: Medium to Heavy<\/strong><\/p>\n Height: Medium to Tall<\/strong><\/p>\n Harvest Time: 56 to 60 Days<\/strong><\/p>\n Profile: Sativa 70%\/Indica 30%<\/strong><\/p>\n TELL US,<\/strong>\u00a0would you be interested in trying a strain bursting with tropical terps?<\/p>\n Originally published in Issue 40 of Cannabis Now.\u00a0LEARN MORE<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n The post A Tropical Sleigh Ride of THC<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
It is the middle of September and the heat is intense, sweat is dripping down my forehead as I walk down rows of plants that seem to never end. Myself and my crew, which includes my bandmate Bleezy from our rap group\u00a0Mendo Dope\u00a0and our business partner Mark Greyshock of\u00a0Greenshock Farms,Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":384,"featured_media":40635,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,1297,478,6914,85,12916,7616,1545,6918,107,1598,420,13081],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40634"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/384"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40634"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40636,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40634\/revisions\/40636"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/tropicalsleighridepurple.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nThe Road Before Us<\/h4>\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nTwo Birds of a Feather<\/h4>\n
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\nRead More: A Tropical Sleigh Ride of THC<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"