Are indica and sativa labels relevant in a hybrid universe? Are they actually different species or just varieties within the species?

[logangrowgan2020]

my take, candid but not trying to offend anyone, is that the old names work fine. indica is “in da couch” stone, speedy sativa gives a zippy buzz. the salesman (budtender, seedbank, whatever) should do a good job of identifying which way the hybrid leans and how far. it’s not an academic exercise for nerds, its a starting point for the layman.

it feels like a lot of “important” people are being purposefully obtuse when at the end of the day regular ass people just wanna know if the upside-down-flapjack-cakeberry is more of a kush or more of a haze.

[romanoweed]

i want a lineup of Pictures of what you think is sativa.indica, ruderalis everyone posting at one moment, and laugh at what others posted

[romanoweed]

to this day i dont know it myselve what is supposed to be what

[Boltcutter]

in order to find a photo of a real ruderalis, I have to ask my friends to find it, which is not at all easy

[SativaKid]

It’s become a meaning of “wake me up or sleep percentage” as people misuse the words over time. Instead of the Landrace plant. I have zero actual Sativa or Indica seeds.

[SativaKid]

Some people grow some Landrace Indicas, not myself. But Sativa makes you pay in flower time.

[SativaKid]

I’m spoiled with photo period weed.

[PilgrimProgress]

I also have my own definition of sativa growth characteristics. In the 60’s and 70’s I planted many seeds in the northeast that came out of seeded Mexican and Colombian brick weed. They grew fabulously well but they never even got close to flowering. We would harvest just the very tops and were always very disappointed. The plants would grow to 12-15 feet but be useless.

I never considered sativa or indica as the reason. I just figured those plants had acclimated to the climate where they came from. If you take a maple from the Deep South and try to grow it in the Northeast, it won’t go well. So I always thought it was a similar reason for cannabis. Try to grow most tropical weeds in the Northeast and it won’t go well.

When seeds from colder regions like Afghanistan, India, Nepal, etc. began their spread across the world, temperate regions could now expect to harvest before the season ended. The characteristics of all these non tropical seeds were very diverse. I’m not sure anyone has been able to identify which ones are sativa and which are indica.

Maybe in the future we’ll be able to determine actual genetic differences between different varieties from different localities. But it seems unlikely to me to be able to pinpoint effects by simply saying sativa or indica. There are so many different chemicals involved, including over a hundred or more cannabinoids, assorted terpenes and probably things we haven’t even considered yet that together create an amazing example of life’s adaptability.

I love the varieties that enable me to maintain energy throughout the day. Most would say they’re sativa but I had a few that were from India that grew resembling what people think is indica. Six feet tall, fat, chunky buds and leaves that were not long and thin but the high was powerful, long lasting and didn’t end in sleep. Perhaps it was a sativa or was it an indica, how would I know, or why should I care?

[SativaKid]

I breed for Chemotype, three bong is all you need to know, maybe 5 hits. Then I know how good it is. Size doesn’t mean anything if the weed doesn’t Pop!

[NIGHTMARE]

There will probably be a difference with the way science and botanists view the plant vs the the way most of the community has and does veiw the plant. Science looks at it as a plant were as the community use the ways of differentiating to predict the effect of the finished harvested product.

Also im not so sure “nld” just refers to the structure of the plant and not the efect. What happens when a plant is put infront of someone yet they know nothing about it and it turns out with broader leaves but is extremely stretchy with big internodes and takes 20 plus weeks to flower. What is it ? Is it a bld ? These terms bld and nld are not really about the structure of the plant but is just a generalisation based on leaf shape and nothing else. With the generalisation that narow leaf plants have more head highs and are more tropical looking plants. And bld are more body type high plants and look more squatter afghan types. Not visable so much now days but there was a time you could find in Afghanistan some very slim leafed plants in a field used to make hash with mostly broad leafed plants. But just beacause those plants had very slim leaves they wernt no 12ft, huge internode spaced, tropical plants but were still afghan plants used for hash aka indicas. The very words themselves “narrow leafed drug” is a description of something used as a drug, for effect with narrow leaves. So its just a atempt at making a classification for something that were are going to used, predicting effect bassed soley on leaf shape. Where as the very words indica and sativa are based on a the use of the plant bassed on its history and its genetics have been pushed for a certain type of use, its overall look and size including things like internode spacing, leaf shapes, hights and flower times, a rough indication of what part of the globe it came from and also effect that the finished product will roughly give.

[Foreigner]

It’s just convenient shorthand which is never perfect.

I use it too even given it’s limitations.

[shag]

I agree.
Take a look at the term strain, it is used for bacteria ect. not plants.
The proper term, I believe is cultivar.
But if that term gets used folks usually will say what the fuck you talkin’ bout shag?
So I will usually use strain, even if I know it is improper…LOL

[Foreigner]

I’ve decided recently that I prefer going back in strain lineages. Rather that poppa Smurf cookie wafles I’m more inclined to say that this a panama/ Malawi crossed with a heavy yielding indica and let people draw their own conclusions.

“Sick indica bro” is not in my
Vocabulary.

[PilgrimProgress]

Here in the US I don’t think adding tobacco was ever a popular idea, at least not in the Northeast US. I remember growing out some seeds from India (early 80’s) that we all ‘assumed’ were indica because it looked so much different from the Mexican, Colombian and Jamaican we were used to. Some of the plants were only 3-4 feet tall at harvest. There was no green at all on the buds or leaves, they were from purple to black. The weed was very powerful. When I looked in the mirror I noticed my eyes were totally bloodshot, I mean really noticeably red! I was always paranoid to drive because if I was pulled over by the man, he or she would easily assume I was intoxicated.

If you’ve ever been arrested for felony marijuana possession it can leave you with some paranoia for years. I still remember the pigs laughing at me saying I was going away for years. They were all smoking cigarettes and talking about going out drinking after their shift ended.

I’m rambling again, sorry. My point was that being paranoid can have other causes besides smoking too much. I actually enjoy the weed that makes my wife paranoid. As long as I’m in a secure location and not driving, the intense high is awesome even if it makes me occasionally peak out the windows for the man.

Even though cannabis is legal in my state, a certain amount of paranoia remains. Having spent over 50 years doing something that was illegal, it’s hard to readjust to the new normal. I still don’t trust the man or the government (not a political statement- just a fact).

[Ras]

Well, idk how much authentic you can go, but this is siberian ruderalis, chebarkul, from khalifa genetics partnering with the landrace bureau, grown in spring this year: