Hi Picasso... I PMd my answer to Westmich because I didnt feel like it was appropriate to answer in SOGs thread. I will C&P it to you (not that it's all prophetic or anything...)
SOG, since you're in my area, you are probably privvy to the same strains as I am, so I'll give you a very brief rundown on the different strains that I've tried.
For starters.. I need to say that I dont smoke pot, and never have. Sounds stupid, but I grow it for my Mom and my beautiful girlfriend, both of which have a medical marijuana card. i am their caretaker. i work in an industry that drug tests often, plus... I dont like smoking. I've been really really tempted though with the 500 dollar vaporizer that my mom got though.
That said, the opinions on the strains are that of my mom and gf.
1) Mandala Satori: I grew this from seeds and I truely think that I never sucessfully grew this plant to it's full potential. that said, everyone who tried it said that it was decent. eeesh, I shouldnt have included this in my list because I dont think I ever let this mature to it's full potential under a true "grow" but here is what I know of it. The strains clones SUPER easy, and is a relatively short plant (the phenotype that my seeds produced anyway) I can honestly say that I've never had a plant that cloned as quick and easy as this strain. It seemed very hearty too. I doubt you'll find a clone of this at your local dispensary though.
2) SuperStar: a cross between sensi star and something else that I cant remember. I ended up with a sativa phenotype that grew wicked tall, most of my friends liked it, and I considered it my first true "success" in growing. I think it took about 10 weeks to mature, and the clones took much longer to root than the satori strain. (sorry I dont have the exact number of days, I just have the difficulty level)
3)
Diablo: since you're in my area, you may be able to get ahold of this, I got this clone somewhere in ventura. It clones pretty easy, and the ladies rave about how delightful and happy the high is. This plant is awesome to grow, the buds are super dense, and the leaves are THICK. it's a gorgeous dark green plant, and I cant help but squeeze the buds...they are so dense. Very awesome strain that will be a part of my grows from here on out.
4) Banana Kush: Oh man.. I didnt initially like this strain, because for me, it didnt clone very fast, it grows fast and tall, with purple stems, and I'll be god damned if it doesnt faintly smell like banana... so weird!
Anyhow, the ladies have rated this as their favorite for "an energetic, happy, and creative high" this strain finishes quickly too, right at 8 weeks with plenty of amber trichs. I was going to stop growing it because of how tall it gets, and the yeilds arent that great, but they f'n love the high, so it's gonna be another that I grow for them very often.
5) Strawberry cough: clones relatively easy, roots pop in a reasonable amount of time. I havent grown this plant to fruition yet. in the first two weeks of flower though, this strain (as well as ICE) took off and looked to have huge fat colas, the stems were thick and gorgeous.
Well, with the SC and the ICE, I had spider mite issues, my GF freaked out and plucked all of the fan leaves. lol.... she's so cute, but she messed up that bin. That said, I dont know of this strain other than it clones pretty decently, and most dispensaries will cary the clones.
6) Blackberry: pain in the ASS to clone, even when the clones have 6 inch roots, the growing tips dont seem to do anything? how weird is that? but ... I just leave the plant in veg for quite a while, and I end up with a plant worth flowering. This plant has trichs/frosting all over the place... it's a beautiful plant, and smells really fruity and nice. The high (as the girls attest) is very heavy, couch locky and good for pain.
I'm going to grow one more plant, then stop cloning it... too much of a pain in the A.
7) MasterKush: clones easy, everyone likes it and says how good it tastes. i didnt get this clone from a dispensary, I got it from a craigslist ad... which makes me question it. The buds dont grow dense, they grow pretty fluffy, which makes me question the genetics. I'm going to ditch the strain I have and get a good MK from a dispensary.
I'm also trying Purple Erkle (kind of a pain to clone, and delicate) and OG Kush (moderate on cloning, and awesome plant structure) I have a 517 Kush strain that looks great in flower, but looked like it struggled HARD while in veg.
If anything sounds interesting SOG, let me know, and I can go into more detail. (lol... I tend to ramble.. sorry man)
Yak, I didn't see if you answered Westmich or not, I apologize if I missed it, but I'm very curious too. These threads like SOG's, Stinkbuds, and Al's are a real treat. Jewels in a vast wasteland. Thanks.
Anyways, he asked:
I am curious to what the performance difference is between ebb and flow and aero/NFT. If you had the same number of plants in the same number of stations for the same length of time, how much more bud are you going to get with areo/NFT?
