Hey growmies,
Was wondering recently if anyone has noticed clear trends between “sativa” / “indica”-like structures being a reliable indicator of “sativa” / “indica”-like effects.
As a non-commercial grower with big dreams of breeding dope new varieties, I’m hoping to get all the help I can to do this as I can’t easily do 100+ plant pheno hunts.
Figured since there is such an abundance of keeper-finding experience here on OG, we collectively might be able to recognize trends in what we’re seeing for new seeds/breeds.
That said, thanks to everyone here who has taught me so much more than I could have ever imagined. Appreciate your generosity and would love to get your thoughts!
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In general if it’s short it’s an indica, if it’s medium it’s a hybrid and if it’s tall it’s a sativa. Flowering time is also a good indicator. In general.
These are reasonable indicators as to effect.
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sort of, but not really
I just grew an ICC#5 s1. It was the tallest plant i have ever grown. it just wouldn’t stop stretching. it also took about 80 days to flower. it’s pure indica in the feels. I ran it again and chopped a week earlier…and it was more or less the same. most of my heavy indica or strongest indica have come from tall, slow and stretchy plants.
I think the bud shape is a better indicator. i haven’t grown any wispy indicas, but every sativa and sativa dom has been a little fluffier than the median. Leaf shape is also a solid indicator, but it’s not perfect (to id) when dealing with indica hybrids.
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I think structure is a good rule of thumb for classifying landraces at a glance. Once a stocky indica and a lanky sativa make babies, I think all that goes out the window, but linked genes are a real thing and without a lot of breeding experience I can’t say for sure 
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Appreciate you all weighing in. So far the outstanding factors seem to be flowering time and bud shape, which makes sense based on all I’ve been exposed to.
Has anyone else had any experience like @splinter7, where a stereotypical “sativa”-looking plant was actually an indica in effect? Vice versa would also be interesting…
to be fair, i don’t think any of my stretchers had super narrow leaves. when i do have them, the sativa high is pretty forward.
besides the ICC. So far, the grassfire og x dominion diesel i got from riekoX was one of these super indica feeling strains that is stretchy. PBB S1 was the same, so was purple punch (it was a NASC white label). 1 of the Banana OG x Sapphire OG I ran long ago too. All 4 strains took over 11 weeks to finish and all were very indica in the feels with little to no sativa buzz.
GMO is pretty much an indica by use, but I think is known to have a longer flower and be a stretcher. I grew some mean mug x godfather og that stretched all over the place. OG’s stretch sometimes and some can take a while to flower.
I suspect it is just the hybrid nature of the plant. Btw, on most of the longer flowering indicia doms, the yields are great. longer flower time may have something to do with it.
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I see it all the time! Especially in F2 populations. Ive had commercial clones that grew squat like an “indica” but the buds looked and smoked like a “sativa”. Ive also flowered 16+ week sativas that just felt like a mild “indica” effect. But those larfy lanky sativa buds. Ive even ran f2 populations with the with every combo of structure and effect.
But I feel like I should also mention most peoples definition of sativa is cerebral effects. Which is really misleading imo. Like mentioned, ive grown long flowering sativas with all relaxing body effects, and also indicas/afghanis that were super cerebral. Ganja is an amazing plant with so much range! It really just depends where people want to take it while breeding. IMO full body effects are best. But I know lots of people that love body or head only highs. Not right or wrong, just preference.
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Thanks @Foreigner, @splinter7, @ChongoBongo, and @BackyardBoogie420, really appreciate your input.
So what I’m getting so far from this thread is we can barely tell anything about the cannabinoid/terpene profiles just from the structure.
And that seems to mean that to find a keeper, it’s unavoidable having to just test buds from each plant in order to be sure of the effects…?
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100%! The real test is the smoke test. Everything else is secondary IMO. Too many people pick for structure in veg, but thats a losing formula. Just takes time and space to back stuff up as clones or reveg the winners. Worth it tho!
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Dude thank you for the insights! Very appreciated 
In my case, since I don’t have much space, I guess I’ll have to ditch the seeds from the non-keepers? I unfortunately only have a single tent…
Thanks again for your thoughtful responses, you’re definitely a true OG
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Glad I can help give some insight!
Really depends on how fast you wanna move, and how many plants you wanna run! Im only rocking a very small setup these days, I cant grow out 150 big plants for a hunt like I could in my cooler days.
Nowadays I do a real skeezy trick to test a lotta plants fast. Pop 10-20 seeds from each female plant. Only veg em like 2 weeks in a 3-4 inch pot. Then drop em into flower and pot up into a 1 gallon as soon as they show sex. I end up with 4 plants per sq ft, and the whole process usually takes under 3 months. Unless of course theyre longer flowering stuff. Then I can easily reveg anything thats real special. Luckily you dont need much to reveg. I just did it with about 20 watts of LED in fact.
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Thanks for sharing that method, good look!
Now I’ll have to get my reveg game up
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You bet! I def didnt make it up, but it’s worked great for me the last couple years. Especially if you have an auto watering setup. Runs mostly auto pilot.
I gotta give Matt Riot credit for my reveg success. Theres a couple weird things that really make the difference Ive found. First is 24/0 light. Doesnt need to be much, but no dark period. Second is keep a good 30% of the plant. As well as potting them up. Ive for sure pulled it off without potting up, but it does seem to really help. And if youre running organic soil, its super simple. Just pot up from a 1 to a 2 gallon with freshly amended soil. Keep it watered, and it should be golden.
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Did this revegg or is this genetics
I got a lot of 1-3 point finger leafs just trying to figure it out some say light leak but I don’t have any some say to much heat which it does get up in the 90s not gonna lie
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Looks more like heat stress to me! Especially if youre getting up into the 90s. I ran in the heat in the summer, and i get those same wonky curly leaves. And 3 finger leaves are nothing to worry about! Thats usually just genetics. Some of the best plants Ive ever grown were goofy lookin 3 leaf plants.
I dont really trip on light leaks personally. As long as its a pinhole or whatever, it wont mess with them. I pop a shameful amount of beans, and Ive never seen a pinhole reveg anything.
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Thank u for the info an I took a bunch of leaves off yesterday to really open it up
ANYWHO HOW DO THEY LOOK TO U
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My lower branches are looking like top cola’s lol
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It looks great to me! Personally it doesnt bug me in the least if the leaves arent perfect. As long as the buds are forming up nice. Only thing is they might foxtail a bit. But thats just another thing that doesnt bother me at all. Only people who care about foxtails are dudes trying to sell 8ths lol
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What’s a fox tail I’m new to this stuff lol it’s my 1st grow an ya if the bud is filling it stacking up who cares about how the leafs look
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Fox tailing is when the buds have goofy whispy tops instead of a clean nug. They can kinda look like fingers, its pretty funny. Doesnt effect the smoke or anything though. Ive actually known growers who charged more for fox tail buds to brokers in the midwest because they looked “exotic” haha
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