Tricky question - Firstly- Im referring ONLY to Swami Organic Seed co’s genuine article, real McCoy Nl5 X Neville’s Haze. I believe its currently F5 from their 91’ line.
So... its important to understand that Gas & co, use a breeding practice called “open field pollination”, instead of the usual “Best looking male X best looking female” style of breeding. While the latter can be a good to produce homogeny & uniformity, the open field pollination style is better for keeping ALL of a strain’s characteristics in tact in future generations. EXACTLY what the serious grower & aspiring breeder wants
Now while this keeps the next level, legendary effects in tact in the line, it’s important to realize that it can take some pheno hunting to get what youre after. Just be sure that u take one or 2 clones off of EVERYTHING u send into flower. When your harvest is in, dried & cured, u can decide on which are keepers that u want & toss the clones from phenos that didnt make it to “keeper” status.
This is a looong way of saying that there is a very wide range of flowering times in the Swami Nl Haze line. I see this as a great thing. You want a shorter flowering, more indica leaning girl? Its in there, just select for it. You prefer the powerfully intense, sativa dominant, classic NL5 X Haze rushy, racing high? Its in there
So far, of the girls we’ve run, we have had 100% germination, one mutant & a ~2/3 female to male ratio. ~10% of females were obvious indica dominant phenos, both of them ripened in under 9weeks. But tbh, while good, the small bushy, quick flowering pheno is my least fav pheno so far. ~1/4females are looking like straight sativas. Most of the rest are sativa dominant, but with various obvious Indica influences. All the straight sativas are going 12 weeks+ & are still growing. Harvested 2 more of the “hybrid” pheno ladies this morning... Speaking of which, I want to recommend a certain pheno that we were lucky enough to find... its a sativa dominant pheno, thin sativa leaves, but without the height that her more sativa sisters have. Smell is very unique, & Im excited about the effect... she’s special. Now, the only sample Ive smoked of it so far, is a quick dried bud I clipped at the beginning of her harvest window over a week ago. The smell/taste is an extremely strong, bitter skunk, very difficult to describe... Reminds me of bitter Mediterranean herbs w/oil & vinegar... an acrid, pungent, skunk scent is layered beneath the initial nose scrunching bitterness, with definite spicey, sweet incense & woody notes blended in. But the awesomely unique and strong smell/taste is just the gravy on top
Our excitement comes from how F’ing strong this gal is... I love when you take that first hit & instantly KNOW you have something special. Well, that’s definitely the case here
Had 4 other ppl try it, and got 2 ppl saying it was among the strongest theyd smoked. I cant wait to sample the fully ripened, properly cured version! To those not used to growing the oldies, be careful... even plants that dont LOOK or SMELL like they are anything but “meh” quality, can be deceptively intense, effect-wise. So dont freak out if you arent running double rails of frost down every sugar leaf... her magic is in her effect. Definitely have some frosty phenos in there. But just be patient... Ive noticed these ladies like to frost up late, and seemingly all at once. This is connoisseur grade smoke... not for the grower trying for quick finishing “show bud”, that has great bag appeal, tons of resin, but average effect. Seems like the markets flooded with “show bud” pot :/ No, Swami’s NL Haze is for the grower who wants the best, who doesnt mind putting in a little work to tease out some next level, hippy head stash gear