Yeah, maybe something got crossed to these awhile back but they still looks mostly like a Landrace sativa, especially @rootfarmer ’s. The male was chopped when I was trying to collect pollen from remaining sacs before they were empty but I screwed it up and they molded the day before I was removing everything from the bag.
Thinking back to my convo on zoom with Mike, some of these seeds he collected were bag seed which would explain a lot in the case of these Shashamane seeds. I did some digging and found more interesting info
The second link is most interesting because they say “Ethiopian Highland” IS shashamane and it’s actually a Southern Tanzanian strain that they’ve been growing over there for years.
I was also reading some guys travel blog who visited Shashamane and he says they have 3 types of weed classifications: African Highland Weed(potent), Gras (midgrade), Rasta Kush(Very Potent)
I agree. I don’t think these are modern hybrid by any means. I think the possibility that two different Gene pools were mixed in the making of This one is pretty strong tho. At the very least it’s nearly three-quarters of a century old.
It seems this area of Africa is a Crossroads of different Gene pools coming in from different directions. Genetics flowing East out of the Congo, west from the island of Zanzibar and places like Mombasa , and genetics flowing up the Nile to the headwaters region. Toss in some Jamaican and there are lots of possibilities.
They list the flowering time of that Ethiopian Highland at 42 days and say buds will be ripe 5 weeks after you flip the lights with a 6 week veg. Can you imagine!?When I read something like that I usually don’t pay attention to anything else they say because they’re clearly making something up, were lied to, or they don’t know anything about sativas. Sounds like they got a hybrid version of something imported by the Rastas.
The shashamane that lady brought back to Cali sounds legit. I would imagine at this point saying weed is Shashamane is like saying weed is Humboldt. Probably have to know what you’re looking for to get the old heirloom.
I didn’t realize the Shashamane was bag seed. If that’s the case every batch could be different. One of us will get lucky and fine some more stable male/ female plants.
I mean, the change in structure and aromas each of these plants have over-gone since I flowered them is definitely evidence of that. I mean, look at the variation in the few plants I have left. You could assume they’re all different strains if you didn’t know any better:
Also, can anyone identify what the light brown spots I’m seeing are indicative of? I do have a small mite infestation (predator mites just came in so ) but I’ve seen this type of stress on plants that didn’t pests and had a hard time figuring out cause. Maybe from letting it dry out too quick the last few times? Usually I’m on top of it but these have become heavier drinkers as they near the end.
They look similar to South Sudan landrace. Pole phenos similar to Lebanese or Moroccan, and then bushier phenos like Sinai landrace can have. Seems potentially right to me for the area, but not necessarily a match for Lambsbread. Hard to judge flowering times seeded though, and given a longer veg time the pole phenos might grow differently.
Smells being all over the place sounds like a hybrid to me… is that what you are thinking? Also, the flowering time…Mike mentioned a 5 month start to finish time, similar to the shorter Thai varieties. Have to see how they run seedless to know how long they go.
It’s quite possible that as in Jamaica, contamination is becoming an issue in this Rastafarian Community located in Ethiopia. Bagseed could be a hybrid one time, a pure land race a different time.
Though all of us are enchanted by the possibility of finding an existing Lambread relative, if it turns out to be a new( to most) landrace unrelated to Lambread, I’ll still be excited. Have you reached out to Mike to ask his opinion?
Not the best answer, but it’s some kind of mold or fungus. I’ve had plants that like dry regions get that wierd brown color outdoors in NY. Cut the leaf off before the brown goes into the bud. It never caused any major issue for me, but if you don’t remove the dead material outdoors, and the brown goes into the bud, the next time it gets wet it will rot and be a hotspot for botrytis.
Come to think of it, I seem to recall it being associated with seed plants/ branches s as well. I didn’t have it on plants with no seed that i can recall… maybe it’s some sort of deficiency caused by the plants diverting all necessary energy to seed formation?
Speaking of seeds, looks like you’ve gotten excellent pollination😁 great job!
Yeah, I’m thinking these are hybrids. In the pic where I have them lined up together, from left to right I’ll state the aroma differences:
#1 (far left) pink peppercorn with very faint lemon backend
#2 Straight lemon (like ABC)
#3 faint indistinct citrus and floral smell
#4 flint stone vitamins and empty medicine bottle
#5 slightly sweet candied diesel aroma similar to one of the Tuna Kush phenos I ran
Initially they all seemed to smell like #2 but they’ve since changed. Yeah, as you said before saying a strain is Shashamane is like saying a strain is Humboldt. Plenty of varieties and we can’t be sure which farmers actually work strains as heirlooms and which just need the money (which is understandable). I could be wrong but I doubt what we got is something “pure” but again, i don’t think modern genetics were involved.
I have not reached out about it but he did just hit me up saying he has more strains in stock. I probably won’t make another purchase until I run the other strain I got from him. I’ll def ask him now that you mention it though
I did get a sprayer and have been using that for watering lately, if it’s a fungus then maybe I was misting my buds when it hits the surface of my soil full blast? Someone else just posted a thread earlier asking what the problem was with their plant and it looked similar to mine, everyone was saying fungus there too. May be right, these seeds are almost done though so I’m not too worried.
This was an unplanned grow really, but I will be excited to come back to these and flower them in bigger pots when I start hunting to weed out herms. Sure the results will be different
Well, sucks its most likely a hybrid. Let’s hope its an old, potent one. Could be 2 versions. New and Old.
I seem to have gotten a different batch of seeds…that look much more likely to be what we are looking for. Let’s hope so. @rootfarmer, how’s the little ones?
I think so. Similar to the dew i get every morning.
The terps fit with that profile given by the lady who grew it out in CA from that article I shared a few posts ago. I’m thinking the traditional Shashamane variety is Amharic crossed with stock they get from Southern Tanzania or elsewhere in Africa. I’m basing this solely off the amount of variety I have in such a small selection though, I’d think they’d be a bit more homogenous otherwise. I’d still say it’s something unique! I’m actually chopping these this week or next since whatever is going on with the leaves is spreading faster than I expected. Should end up with at least 800-1000 seeds I think, under the jewelers loop most of the trichs on these are starting to fog up and one already has amber heads.
My next run Freakers run this year will be either South Khorasan or Mazandaran Iranian, I also have about 6 Razavi left and since the last Freakers run for those didn’t go so well I may just knock out two birds with one stone. @Upstate Do you still have anymore Razavi to add to that? Real seed company ran out, Landrace team has them but I refuse to pay that price.
Edit: scratch that, maybe I’ll run the Razavi next to some Ukhrul lol I kept saying I would run it for years now and haven’t done so. They’re probably some of the oldest seeds in my collection at this point, so best get through those first.
The 3 seedlings are in 1 gal pots and growing nicely.
plan to take several cuttings of each in two weeks for
backup/options on the hope one is male…
would upload pics but my iphone camera is kaput…
Looking at your description comic lemon does seem to pop up nearly every plant. Lots of land races have some sort of Base smell to them, but tons of diversity on top of that smell.
Very possible.
I looked at my Shashamane seeds, and they are nearly an exact match placed next to 68 Lambsbread. The patterns and shape of the seeds are exact, with Lambs bread seeds being a bit darker. Interesting. I'm still thinking there's some Jamaican genetics mixed into these. People constantly going back and forth between Jamaica and Ethiopia. Somebody had to have brought some Jamaican seeds with them at some point.
Actually, I think it’s safe to say that the “Amharic” Landrace team has is actually Shashamane stock based on some more research. Considering Shashamane is sought after by most Ethiopians apparently and is also high in demand in bordering African countries, mostly Kenya because it’s allegedly the weakest border with corruptible border patrol you can pay off to smuggle product. So it wouldn’t be far fetched that there is no “Amharic” variety, same way the only variety out of Egypt is Sinai (only known at least). Also I’m remembering when I was potentially going to do a reproduction run of ABC for them (I decided not to), I told them I had Shashamane and a source but they didn’t even acknowledge that I brought it up. Not saying they’re lying about their stock but I’m surprised they weren’t interested.
I think it could have Lambs bread genetics and that’s why it’s abnormally potent compared to most weed in Africa. Sources seem to bring up the potency being unique very often. An article from Kenya was saying it’s turning their youth into zombies lmao
That would be just like tlt to change a name, wouldn’t it? Only one problem…tlt collection of Amhara was supposedly N Ethiopia at 12 degrees latitude. Shashamane is in South Ethiopia at 7 degrees latitude. Big difference there. Like driving from NY to Carolinas.
Its possible they picked up Shashamane up North and they don’t know it I guess. IF they knew, there would be talk about its potential ancestry, due to the increased sales that would no doubt come with talk of Lambsbread.
Are there Amhara grows with pictures for comparison?
Oh they were interested. Good poker face is all. You can bet they are watching this grow. No doubt they’ve contacted Mike. If i see it for sale by them for a crazy price I’ll do a massive repro and send the seed to mike for free.
“Wet” Indica is my term. The Northern slope of the Elbruz Mts( collection site) in Iran is very wet.
The second pic looks like two of my phenos. Also, in the first pic, see the language about how they’re buried to cure and called “dreadlocks”. Kinda screams shashamane to me lol idk. If they do pop up with it, I’ll help you reproduce them! It’s a crime how much they charge, the prices have been getting higher. I’d pay that much to the farmers who actually produce these strains like in the case with most of the Balochistan stock and Afghan from Irrazinig. I doubt the people they get their stock from make as much money as they do off hiked up prices.
These are done btw, just haven’t shucked them. Have we come to a consensus about what direction this run is taking? I mean, these are my seeds but considering the hermie rates, how many are interested in participating in a project to work these? I’m open to people just growing these out for themselves but at this point, I’m more interested in knocking down the herm rate and reproduction of any stable moms found.
yeah i agree it is hard to know, it sucks the strain herms so much. out of the whole pack, how many did herm and how many were keepers?
the new york diesel i knocked up with pollen from mine is growing and flowering up good and no signs of herms. ill pop a few more seeds of it this next run. so who knows on that.
back to the shashamane, have you tried puffing any yet or?
) but I’ve seen this type of stress on plants that didn’t pests and had a hard time figuring out cause. Maybe from letting it dry out too quick the last few times? Usually I’m on top of it but these have become heavier drinkers as they near the end.
