Anyone Running Any Tropical Seed Company Strains?

Montuno

Well-Known Member
Orión (Apollo11 X Smooth Smoke), (borned 2017-June-16), in October-16; lowest (near to floor) branches:














 
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Montuno

Well-Known Member
Orion (Apollo11 x Smooth Smoke, being Smooth Smooke: Nepal's Highlands Sativa X Paxistan Citral Kush). The lowest branches, close to floor (October-17):





 

Montuno

Well-Known Member
The taste of my Orion is mainly earthy hash, with a tropical fruity finish.
Psychoactively, it is less electrical and nervous than Apollo11 or Cindirella, but more euphoric and corporally relaxing (but without impeding or discouraging physical activity: the Sativa side clearly predominates).
His psychoactive reminds me a lot of the Purple Mexican (Oaxaca'79 x Pakistan Citral Kush).
 

Montuno

Well-Known Member
Here, an interwiew made by Garru n Cáñamo magacine to Tropical Seeds Co about their strains in 2013:

Part 1:

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INTERVIEW Tropical Seeds Co.by Albert a.k.a Garru.
Hi everyone, we continue with the third interview, this time to know a little more than Tropical Seeds Company, which usually work with pure genetic lines from the African continent and also used the famous Pakistan Chitral Kush, delicatessen where they exist. They’ve been in the market a few years old, but the big banks and advertising budget have made not knows. Interviewed Aeritos visible head of this great little seedbank.
Garru : Hi ! Happy to have the chance to make this interview.
It’s a pleasure to talk with the creators of Smooth Smoke. You’ve always done different maintaining and preserving works with genetics such as Chitral ( Pakistan ), Ciskei ( South African ) or Congo.


High Garru, our pleasure. Big thanks for giving us this chance to talk a bit. It’s true we’ve maintained very interesting and not common genetics from all around the Globe. It was after some big efforts and years that we started creating and giving form to new strains. We can’t deny Smooth Smoke is one of Tropical’s well known offer, we also love this sweet girl.

Garru : We’d like to hear about your starting, your first steps in the canna growing scene. How did you started to collect and preserve landraces ?

Truth being told, I did start a bit too soon. I had my first experience growing when I was 15. It was curiosity first but then I knew I had found something I felt passionate for, a new hobby and activity I’d never stop enjoying. I do remember having grown weed before starting to even smoking the flowers, just by the pleasure of admiring them while they grew trough their entire cycle. Sodium lights weren’t that popular then and fluorescent bulbs were used at first. Outdoor growing was also very fun.

Talking about landraces and base stock, HdB started collecting them around the year ’98. It was a huge inspiration for me, those were some exciting and incredibly new and exotic genetics. I hardly knew they existed but then.. it was love at first sight ! I also understood they were perfect tools as to create new hybrids and different results in contrast to the wide spread strains offered through the main and numerous Dutch seed banks.

So, I joined HdB’s Project in ’06, didn’t thought about it twice. Wanted to be of good use and was amazed and very thankful with the first jewels I got to try, test, and continue working. That’s how all this adventure began.

Garru: How was your starting as a seed bank ? Do you breed and offer F1, different hybrids, reproductions from other Seed Banks…?

Work and facilities were based in the Canary Islands…giving an excellent use to big greenhouses incredibly filled in with exuberant plants showing their full potential.
The hardest task was to breed every line separately, trying to get to know them better, eliminating non desired traits ( hermafroditism, extremely high and lanky females which potency didn’t reached the demand, etc ). These first lines were brought from different areas from the world, containing interesting psychoactive properties and rare-different terpen profiles in their flowers.

Locals had done, in many cases, a long attempt during time in the search and reproduction of the more potent and more resistant plants to be grown in their zone. We were lucky to swap seeds with them and some other batches came from collaborators and friends of us. We can’t forget to mention some genetics we’ve also worked that came from some reputable seed Banks such as Pakistan Chitral Kush from CannaBioGen or Zambia from the extint African Seeds.

After some first inbreeding steps on a good number of lines we decided to shorten the number of genetics to be worked in depth in the future. We focused on the ones that could be grown both indoors and outdoors in many regions and climates, giving some excellent results and brining new blood and expressions to the scene.

One after another, each strain offered in our catalogue acquires its sense and form due to the work done with it until it is shown. We know them so well because we’ve treated the plants in detail, being always close, observing and taking notes of what we found. Therefor, there are several ways in which our strains have being worked and finally presented to the growers :

Cognition, King Congo, Bisho Purple…are part of the F1 offers here at Tropical Seeds. Excellent form to explore, understand and get amazed by the hybrid vigour you’ll encounter.

We’ve maintained by inbreeding some pure strains which are not easy to find in these days. We’re proud then to include some of these in our catalogue. Some stable and unique plants will be found when growing Ciskei or Zambia ( this last African is less known but it’s and incredible electric and spicy potent sativa ).

Finally, there are some strains offered in the backcross step. This way we succeeded in making more easily repeated, found and visible some traits we thought are the ones smokers will enjoy the most. By backcrossing to our selection of PCK we’ve created very resistant, compact, quick and good yielding strains getting the best of the Pakistan side and adding some potency and new scents in the final result.

Garru : What type of growing you prefer to use ? Aeroponic maybe ? Also, do you have any tip for your strains ? readers would love some.

We prefer doing organic grows for our own personal use and when producing seeds. We’ve tried several ways and techniques during the past years but we like best the results coming from organic. Quality is first for us rather than quantity, not saying our yields are lower, we’re happy and quite proud of the final results we get from our flowers and seeds. We do recommend everyone to try to grow this way and get your own conclusions when smoking.

We take special care when preparing a good mix for our plants ; an airy and moist, equilibrated one, providing a good drainage. Having as exception Ciskei and the hybrids created with this line, the rest of our offers are not very demanding in the fertilizing to pic, so, we recommend giving a light scheme when growing the tropicals. Some in between watering with no ferts are needed, draining well, always with correct PH & EC levels.

When going into techniques as to grow the big and long sativas such as Durban Punch, Swacky, Zambia or Old Congo, we love going to the direct 12/12 photoperiod from seed to maturity. Using small pots until they have sexed and they are prepared to enter the flower time is a good way to control their final size. The last repotting has to be done with special care for the plant not to be stressed. Then, we can go progressively reducing the photoperiod in the last 3-5 weeks for sativas to finally mature best. This really helps to lower the sometimes seeming never stop foxtailing blooming. We can make one big and large cola plants this way, getting to try different strains in the same grow.. and lowering the final flowering times of this lovely effect plants. A good way to fall in love again with the good looking sativas !
 

Montuno

Well-Known Member
Interwiew made by Cáñamo magacine to Tropical Seeds Co.

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Part 2:

Garru : It’s easily visible that you use PCK ( Chitral ) in different hybrids from your catalogue. Is it a good option to hybridize ? Is it stable ? What can you tell us about Zambian ?

Yes, we use PCK as it is an excellent option to improve several aspects from some of our other base lines. It is a very stable strain with lots of work put on it through CBG’s hands. The selected ’06 clone we use is extremely compact and resistant to different mold and pests. It produces some very tight flowers, covered in a great resin layer. The colour on it is also amazing, so.. deep purple, close to even black when dried. It is perfect as to shorten flowering times and plant final size, increasing yield in the F1’s and adding resistance and strong colours in the offspring.

Talking about Zambian, we are so happy and proud to revive this line with such a huge potential. It’s a classic African strain with big leafs and a great looker, fine appearance. We focused our efforts on working the ones slightly quicker and more compact together with the excellent and clean potency plants. It’s the goal also for the next generations. It does form some big and large flower colas, with spicy and exotic scents on it, many told it resembled pepper, always very enjoyable when smoked. Yield can be very good and the quickest can be cut around day 80 of flower time. Effect is, to sum up, what makes this strain such a good choice for sativa lovers : really potent, clear, cerebral inspiring buzz. The best from the sativa side, perfect to regain energy and go ahead with the day. We know there are still some growers loving this kind of plants, classic, strong, high quality African sativas.

Garru: It seems like you’ve had to give automatic strains a try. You’ve trusted Chitral again for this work. It is said that some other “ Red “ automatic lines from several seed banks are based on this work also. How do you feel about it ?

Well, as we see it, we had to give a try to make this our work and trying to make the accounting end up in positive numbers. It’s been hard during the last years.

We have some different works done with automatic strains. We started trying them from the first LowRyders and continue to work them, more like a hobby and trying to understand their breeding and potential. These first works were kept here and been given to many friends and some customers as freebees. A bit late then, we realized they seemed to be a best seller and it could help us to improve the red numbers we carried for a long time. Market is demanding them, they are the most consumed ones around here, together with photo dependant feminized strains.

We still managed to give them our touch : Kushmatic and some more strains we are still working are some well bred strains, taking up to 3 years to be developed, following quite a long step after step work in order to present an automatic line with a good flavour and potency, resistant and good yielder. This strain is being presented in Regular format, being and excellent choice as there are just a few quality offers of this type in the market.

If been asked, they are far to be our favourites but we do understand they can be very handy and add an extra yield to the seasonal crops outdoors, as an example.

About Red auto lines around, truth is we don’t have much info about them. We like to be focused only on our work and project, improving as much as we can. What we can say is Kushmatic, our purple automatic and regular strain, is on the top of quality on it’s range and it is a perfect choice for those seeking that striking coloration together with a good smoke. There’s lots of time and work put into it and growers will notice that and be happy when being able to see the nice size, yield and quality of the flowers.

Garru: What’s your favourite strain from the catalogue and which is your best bet for cannabis breeding ?
( no matter if there’s a commercial use to it or not )

Ouff, that’s a difficult question, quite personal but will go with something. If talking on feminized, surely, my fav would be Bisho Purple, being very close to Smooth Smoke too. Both are very enjoyable smokes and yield is also a good point on them. Bisho brings the acid and fresh new scents in mouth, something many haven’t tried so far, like green apple with some fruity background. Effect varies from the point of activity and uncontrolled laughter to the relaxed and peaceful state of mind and body. Really leaves you great.

The pinky phenotype on Smooke Smooth shows some vanilla and very sweety, like candy and creamy linked to it plants. Incredibly appealing, heard many telling they would bite the buds on this one. It does fills the mouth with these flavours and brings joy to the smoker. Very quick strain to relax and search also for some upper potency plants with good medical value.

Maybe our very most loved plant to use when breeding is Ciskei. It’s a line we love to work with because it is a unique sativa with an endless potential full of virtues : great vigour, compact, quick, forming big and heavy buds. Many agree with us and tell how, when they smoke this lady with friends, they all end up having some loud laughter. This is something we look for and tend to also be forming part when hybridising with Ciskei. We feel it is a perfect tool to also reduce size and flowering times of bigger African lines, for example… tending to also increase the final yield. We will, no doubt, continue to work hard with Ciskei for a long time.

Garru : What are your thoughts on the enormous quantity of seedbanks operating these days ? And what about the bulk side, bought by shops or seed banks that do not create their strains and just repack them ?

Once again, I’m afraid I don’t know much about these topics neither the quality of these stocks, works or seedbanks.

I think every offer can have it’s sense and public, but basics should be a minimum true and loyal information of what’s being offered. The client deserve that ( …and much more ). Then, it is the grower choosing what is what he wants to plant and where will he be getting it. An effort also should be done when buying every little thing as, nowadays, there’s usually lots of information but you always have to dig a bit more and select the info that’s worth knowing and the one you really need to finally choose one thing or the other.

Maybe this market is a bit flooded and a bit “lost” for it’s extremely wide quantity of offers. This is another good reason to look carefully what you’re buying and what’s behind what you’re buying.

At Tropical Seeds we like to be somehow unique and different to other brands and seed banks. We know very well our work and genetics. We feel like a very close contact with the plants shows us the way to go and how to go for it. We understand this is very positive and hope the customers also feel this way, it is always good to know a project is done in detail and with different offers from the rest.

It could be also a good thing to mention that we are always opened, trough numerous vias ( direct chat on our website, email, social networks, etc ). We can solve, this way, all your doubts and try to advise as best as possible in everything we can. We’ve found this is an excellent way to improve the Tropical experience and have some great results coming from it !

Garru: How do you see cannabis future ? Long or short term legalization ? Only medical or recreational also ? Will regular seeds come back with strength some day ?

We are truly seeing and hoping legality in this topic continues to improve. News as Colorado or Washington are going to give the step to include recreational cannabis to be legal brings new air. This is something society has loudly and constantly during years been asking for.

The debate is also been going on in many different parts of the Globe now and in the last years. South America is now taking the lead also. Examples like the Uruguayan model ( in which the State would produce the quality cannabis and deliver it to drug stores – and giving the chance to grow up to 6 plants per person ) should be taken into account and be the way to go now and in the future. From Tropical Seeds we are expecting and hoping more similar proposals succeed and this movement doesn’t stop simply here ( we need something like this in Spain, we’ve been fighting for it for so long now but laws continue to be grey and getting darker every day ).

Talking on regular seeds : yes, I think they will regain their place. It is true to say feminized stocks have been the vast majority of the market sales for years now, finding regular stocks in a very marginal place. We’ve also noticed a little up in our own regular stocks …but only in sales coming from out of Spain in which they seem to have a higher recognition and they bet a lot more for them ( the feminized total sales in our country can be higher than 95% of the total ). Many tell us they prefer them when doing wide selections as to find their special, vigorous, healthy and perfect mother plant…not to mention they give the chance to be reproduced or to create new hybrids !

Garru: To sum up, I’d like to say it has been a big pleasure. You can now say bye to the readers and add whatever you’d like, feel free to do it now.

My pleasure Garru ! We wanted to thank you so much and the Cannabis Magazine team too, for giving us the chance to share this words around here.

We wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to recommend you our Facebook profile and website. You will find lots of info and the most amazing pictures of our strains. Not only this : we want to have you all around entertained and this is why we are always planning some draws, contests, special promos and limited stock strains that you won’t find anywhere else ! See you all around there.
 

Montuno

Well-Known Member
I see this isn't on Tropical's site. Did you get it through direct contact with Aeritos? By the way, it is amazing how many of these landrace/landrace crosses you have grown.
Hola!
The Kalinga from Filipinas was growed n pictured by Aeritos, not by me.
Salud.
 

Montuno

Well-Known Member
Like I only have another Durban Poison'70 seed, I will reserve it to make a tree next year (cos now is too late to have big plants).
Between July-30 n Agust-1 I germined a Full Energy (Old Narrow Afghan X Oldtimers Haze):









Returnin to me...:
On last 26-August the Full Energy (borned in 30-July) was happy in its new ground's hole...:



 

Montuno

Well-Known Member
Extreme Haze (NL5/Haze X OldTimers Haze; borned on 16-August-2018) on 2-September-2018 :

... well, if it appears every morning well accompanied ... I suppose it would mean that my nephews left tied to the doberman or the caucaso to their tricycles so they can not been stooled to them during at night ...



 

Montuno

Well-Known Member
Sadly, the same 2-September I discovered that mine Full Energy was a male:




 
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Montuno

Well-Known Member
On 5-September, the Extreme Haze (NL5/Haze X OldTimers Haze; borned on 6-Agust) was in the same ground's hole where the Full Energy male was before:



 

Montuno

Well-Known Member
Sadly, the same 2-September I discovered that mine Full Energy was a male:




Like the Full Energy were a male, on 8-September-2018 I have germinated another; I know it is so late in my latitude (38°-39°North and 800-900 metres altitude) n it will not grow so much...:







 
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