HeirloomWizard's landrace adventures: 20 years of search for the lost gems

[Heirloomwizard]

After a bunch of friends encouraged me to join the Overgrow 2.0 community, I wanted to start a thread where I can share some of my works and the plants I’m playing with.

As a short intro to my background, I’m coming from NW coastal Spain, a historical hotpot for smuggling tobacco, hashish and later introducing cocaine into continental Europe. This occurred as a result of the impoverishment of society, heavy migration and economical crisis after the civil war and the dictatorship that lasted until 1975.

I remember watching hashish and marijuana around me since a very young age and most of my friends at high school were selling some hash or weed in order to get spare money for the weekends. It was part of the culture in the area and wasn’t much frowned upon at the time. If anyone is curious about the history, there’s even a great TV show called Fariña, inspired in the Narcos series, that tells the whole story about how the local smuggling clans moved into hashish and finally cocaine and how the crime lords became regional heroes in the area, until the society and war on drugs started to put a stop on it.

My dad did the military service in North Africa and they were bringing amazing hashish from Morocco at the time across the border. Later as a hippie, he and his friends were growing different import weed to smoke in their backyards, the African and American imports were especially common in the coastal villages back then, Colombian, Congolese, Angolese or Guinean were often found all over the Spanish coasts, where the fishermen usually stopped after their fishing campaigns in front of the abundant African coasts. That was probably my first contact with the plant, despite I haven’t started smoking or getting really interested until my late teens. Later a surfer friend introduced me into indoor growing and I never stopped since then.

After realizing I wasn’t able to find the kind of smoke and the purity I wanted within the current market and commercial genepool, I’ve decided to start gathering and collecting all kinds of different seeds in order to have a better understanding of the plant’s genepool and a nice perspective of the Cannabis breeding history and its foundation. Being already a big lover of heirloom vegetables, fruit trees and exotic plants in general, it felt like a natural step to me and I was collecting all kinds of exotic landraces while most people was moving into Dutch or Cali weed and tossing the old boring seeds away.

I’ve been focusing on growing and exploring Cannabis heirlooms and landraces non-stop for the past two decades, always trying to find the real gold and authentic stuff among all the available seeds, mostly in order to learn what these ancestral plants were like and to train my eye and understanding in order to differentiate them from those that had been hybridized and had no interest to me from a preservation, historical and R&D point of view.

At the time I’ve realized many of the weed they were claiming to be pure Mexican or African was in fact mediocre hybridized weed with fancy stories behind them. But the thing was that at the time, little people had grown those plants themselves in order to know how to distinguish them, even though the seeds used to be quite widespread not long time before. And even renowned breeders who were posting pictures of African or American sativas, were always surrounded by a certain mystery and secrecy when it came to sharing details about lineages and origins. So I was determined to start researching myself and trying to reach the oldschool growers who had actual firsthand experience and often seeds too, in order to interview them.

My experience through these past years lead me to have the chance of getting a living from the industry as a freelance writer and also the honor of collaborating as a breeder with CannaBioGen, Green Hornet or Nevil in the past. I’ve been also an active member of The Vibes Collective, CannabisCafé, ICmag and several other forums before, where I was able to meet other passionate growers and breeders who inspired me a lot. I want to give a big shout outs to my past mentors who have been inspiring and supporting me a lot: Raco (former Tom Hill collaborator), Estai, Siete and Charlie Garcia from CBG, Rahan from the Vibes Co, 20’Thai, John from Green Hornet, Big Sur and Nevil Schoenmakers of course. Shout outs to JahGreenLabel, FlyingLion, IShence, Lynx, Kanza, elChischas, Budularo, PurpleClouds, Green Grocer, Melon, Wallyduck, ET, Green, ShadaX, Mriko, Grassman and many others who shared the path…

Enough of history… as for my experiences and adventures with the plants, my goal always been exploring the diversity that the plant had to offer and trying to preserve old heirlooms before they dissapeared. I’ve been collecting seeds from all over the world and the main Cannabis producers in the golden years like México, Colombia, Panama, Jamaica, the Hindu Kush range, South America, SE Asia and of course Africa, which became my main focus and expertise because at the time, no one was growing African sativas outside of Spain and they were the most prevalent import seeds in the coastal areas. My interest was acquiring the expertise to attempting to find the best possible representations of such legendary plants, understand what made those special back then, select the traits I like he most and try to be able to create hybrids that I actually enjoyed both growing and smoking. Especially after having tried my first Congolese buds a few years before that and finally being able to realize the meaning of a truly working time and daytime weed, especially coming from things like Super Skunk, Blueberry or Ak47.

Lately I haven’t been spending much time online or growing/breeding as much as in the past. Recently my wife has been diagnosed with a chronic heart disease and my priorities changed a bit. I’m trying to support my family more and focus a bit less on growing, because for the past years, all I did was growing in an obsessive way and packing every room of my house with pollinated plants, males and so on. Often, leaving friends and family a bit behind. But growing was prosecuted and frowned upon in my community, so it was something done always in a clandestine way and that definitely has a strong impact in your lifestyle.

But it’s been a fun journey and I feel it’s important to document my experience in different places. I’ve been working on a book as well, where I will put together some of my past articles along with my experiences with the plant. But that will be a long time project I hope to finish some time. I’m glad I can share some of my past adventures and current works with everyone here, I’ve noticed there’s a strong community of landrace lovers here, so it will be a pleasure to share the journey and provide some information for those who haven’t had the chance to grow many of these beautiful plants. Through these years I’ve collected hundreds of genetics, probably more than the ones I will be ever able to grow or reproduce. But we change over time and so do our interests and priorities, so the search never ends.

I will start introducing one of my favourite lines, the Red Malanje from Angola. An interesting imported Angolese landrace cultivar gathered by a friend who spent some time as a construction worker in Angola and used to meet local rastas to smoke a bit. He saved seeds from two of the best smokes, one from Malanje village and the other from Caxito, Luanda. These were reproduced for 3 generations outside Angola now, been cleaned and a bit selected so far.

Liamba, bula, boi verde, boi vermelho and boi preto (green, red and black ox respectively), were common names for imported Cannabis from all over the Portuguese colonies, most importantly from Angola. But also Mozambique, Cape Verde or Sao Tomé e Principe.

Around 1975, after the beggings of the Angolese Civil War and the Portuguese colonies in Africa were declared independent, more than half a million people returned to Lisbon. At first, this black and white returned Portuguese from overseas were able to move by their own and carry their belongings and money, but after the African liberation movements forbade this mass exodus, the authorities had to organize the return operations.

Many of this returned Portuguese were able to save their lives and little else after the war exploded. And in order to cope with the misery, a few started cultivating the plant they got to know while in Africa as an extra income to help with this new start. Others were also smuggling flowers packed in newspapers into the biggest ports.

It was during those years when the streets of Porto and Lisbon started smelling in a peculiar way that resembled to grilled fish to some, but it was actually from the burning oil from the seeded buds people were smoking and not the true aroma of this tropical grown ganja!

This special Malanje Angola was tested years ago in California and the labs reported contents that ranged from 12-15% THC for most females, which is impressive for an untamed import landrace line. Also very dense amounts of terpenes too, with a bit more fruity aroma than the usual African spicy piney punch, which makes her a very special breeding stock for future projects.

Here are some results from 3 Angola P2 phenos:

Angola #1: THC 14.78%
CBD .02%

Terpenes:
Pinene .351%
Myrcene .149%
Limonene .087%
Humulene .093%
B Caryophyllene .252%
B Pinene .146%
Ocimene .162%

Angola #2 THC 15.24%
CBD .03%

Terpenes:
Pinene 2.1%
Myrcene 3.65%
Limonene .81%
Humaline 1.26%
B Caryophyllene 3.55%
Caryophyllene Oxide .41%
B Pinene .9%
Ocimene 2.35%

Angola #3 THC 12.49%
CBD .02%

Terpenes:
Pinene 1.75%
Myrcene 4.22%
limonene .94%
Humulene .52%
B Caryophyllene 1.33%
B Pinene .71%
Ocimene 3.44%

Ocimene is one of the monoterpenes that give mango or neroli their smell. Besides the stoner legend about eating mangos says myrcene is the one, it’s not the main terpene on them actually.

Leaves:

Beautiful red stems:

Flowering:

Some grown in California:

Plants are 16 weekers on average (some 18 weekers can be found), there are some purple colors as well, some spicy plants while others are way more fruity and can remember a bit to guava or even unripe mangos. Effect is nice, active, a bit electric and pretty clean too. Classic african NLD in my humble opinion and the standard look of a true unadulterated African ganja sample.

[Willydread]

Welcome friend happy to see you also here!

[Heirloomwizard]

Yet another different Angolese line from my collection, this one from Luanda area, collected in the same years. It was also received as a gift many years ago. It was thought to be lost, but a friend was able to make a small reproduction after he received a bunch of my seeds left and my plants were lost.

This remarks the importance of sharing genetics or having backups in order to avoid their loss, with the right hands of course. Because because the opposite is also true, on more than one occasion I have shared seeds with all my good intentions only to find out that they ended up being sold or worked behind my back without even giving any credit or telling the real story. I feel the scene changed even more in the recent years and IG era, where you no longer have to prove yourself or build a reputation and credibility over the years in the local or online scene .

Anyway the structure and characteristics of the Luanda Angolese are reminiscent of other similar plants, with the spicy terpenes and string-like floral clusters providing a nice inspiring high:

Again, the classic African NLD structure shows again:

[Heirloomwizard]

Same man, I’ve definitely seen a few familiar faces around!

Best.

[Even]

Fantastic to read this history. Beautiful plants

[Cannabis]

Welcome! Your wealth of information and experience is impressive! I look forward to reading your work, and learning more! To me reading what you just wrote and things like it, is better than most great novels.
Landrace varieties are the best smoke you can get in my opinion. Or some of the direct crosses from them. The modern stuff just doesn’t do it for me personally. There might be a few good ones here and there, but my heart mind and body prefers the landraces. I find that the thc levels are only one part of the equation, and not everything. There are over 100 different cannabinoids, and other components that are not yet fully understood. The same goes for terpenes which I feel are overrated and over focused on in the Cannabis world, at least in the west.
We have many great threads here about landraces as you are aware. One of them trades landrace only seeds or their immediate crosses up to a four way as the maximum allowable cross. I started it, because finding these gems is not easy. Please feel free to participate as soon as you reach level two here on Overgrow! Here is the link.

Take seeds, leave seeds- Landrace Edition

This is the same as the one already on here, but with one caveat. This is for landraces and their crosses only. No modern strains…5 seed minimum. I will start it. I have TLT Jamaican Longtime 5 seeds. Yes, it is the real deal for lambsbread. Flavors will shock you, and you will get lamb and other wild meats taste, along with woody and fruity flavors. High is super electric and energetic, you get stuff done and smile while at it…wow some real good smoke can be found if searched… Remember, if y…

[Magu]

@Heirloomwizard . Welcome brother !

[Heirloomwizard]

@Cannabis

Welcome! Your wealth of information and experience is impressive! I look forward to reading your work, and learning more! To me reading what you just wrote and things like it, is better than most great novels.

Yeah to me part of the interest on growing this kind of heritage plants is the valuable cultural and ethnographic background they carry behind, a whole legacy of use and history that’s directly attached to a bunch of seeds, which is just as important to preserve as the genetics themselves in my honest opinion.

Most of my past articles on several magazines focused on the relation between the man and the plant, as well as historical clues of the introduction of cultivation and dispersal, like this little bits and pieces about the presence of African genetics in the Atlantic coastal regions of Spain and Portugal.

For me growing this type of plants, be it Cannabis or also peppers, corn, tomatos, herbs or anything else, was a way to travel to exotic destinations and force myself to learn and research more about the culture behind those seeds or vegetables.

I’m also a pepper lover and I’ve been testing lots of different varieties from the main centres of domestication, México and Peru, also in order to have a good perspetive on how these plants originated and changed, side to side with humans. The diversity is huge as well.

Some peppers from Bolivia, Peru, Hawaii, México, Nepal and so on…

Heirloom tomatos and others:

[Pakore]

Hola y bienvenido! Also a Spanish guy right here. What an adventure your journey must have been! Thanks for sharing it with us.

I totally agree with you, mostly everywhere but specially in Spain the current scene is so messed that feels all is a joke, from people stealing and renaming or rebranding others people work.
If anything is new school growers and youngsters (I exclude myself ) don’t appreciate Landraces and what is behind them.
And those who does might be greedy and twisting backgrounds or sources, so yeah I would be sceptical as well.

Luckily you are in a good community where your job is appreciated.

I have spent years looking for some sort of Angola landrace, who would have thought that was already in Spain jajajaja.

Thanks for sharing your experience with us I’ll keep an eye on here.

Cheers!

[funkyfunk]

With your taste for heirlooms, I’m sure you’ll find fellows around here.

Thought this thread might be one of interest to you:

Congo trip with kidete

Hello there OG. I’ve been helping @Kidete put together a crew of people to get him into the Congo in about a month. I’ve already gotten commitments from 8 or 9 people, and I’m looking for $200 from another 8 or 9 people. The money will go to kidete of East Africa Genes for trip expenses. He flies into the capital of Kinshasha Congo late January where he will meet a rasta guide that speaks Swahili. From there he plans to head to two separate growing regions, one South, and one North of the capit…

[George]

Hi man, I am also in NW coastal Spain and landrace lover, not good for outdoor growing , in one of my travels in Portugal I exchanged some hash for liamba and still remember those brown sticky buds and wonderful flavour . Hope you will enjoy your stay with us…

[Heirloomwizard]

Saludos Pakore, your name sounds familiar form the Spanish boards… I used to post at the CannabisCafe as GlennOrch back then, when Raco, Kaiki and others were still quite active there. It’s been a while for sure! I think the Endangered Species thread and other similar ones contributed to initiate the landrace movement in Spain for sure.

The funny thing thing is that before the Dutch or Swiss hybrids spread all over Europe, everyone was growing import bagseeds locally… Moroccan, Congo, Angola, Colombian, Mexican, Pakistan, Lebanese, even some Nepalese or Indian that travellers and climbers were often bringing back from their trips. There were hundreds of amazing strains in the Canary Islands as well, mostly African and American imports due do the tropical climate. Where are all those now? Lost in time unfortunately.

Also few people realize about the fact Spain had in fact one of the strongest Cannabis scenes in the 90s and early 2000s, that could rival any other worldwide. The great climate, passion for pot, plenty of hippie bastions all over the country and tolerance towards Cannabis definitely favored it. I’ve never seen so many African landraces growing like that outside their countries of origin. Also Colombians, Mexicans and everything due to the connection with other Spanish speaking countries and migration towards South America. It’s a shame all the information from the old forums was lost too. This was years before the feminized scene boomed thanks to seed companies like Sweet Seeds and Dinafem and the country became the main producer for Dutch seeds.

But before that, the scene was mostly made from former hippies and passionate smokers and growers who were simply collecting bagseeds and sharing them with other growers, travelling and growing out of curiosity. It wasn’t a bussiness driven scene like in Holland, more about sharing the passion for the plant. No one cared because there wasn’t greedyness in those people or any money to be made, aside from selling a bit of weed locally.

Take for example renowned oldschool breeders like Raco, Charlie Garcia, Mario Bellandi or La Mano Negra… I’ve came to realize there were actually dozens of oldschool growers like those everywhere, especially in the areas where hashish and smoking was prevalent or the areas where hippie communities still thrived. They continued growing unique import genetics for decades in their backyards, especially the coastal ones, where the smuggling was more abundant and so were the seeds. Many moved into Dutch and modern genetics, although most didn’t, because soon they realized that modern hybrids weren’t as functional as their old African or American sativas. These older people didn’t smoke after a long working day or at night like many do nowadays, they used to smoke in the mornings or before work to get some motivation and still remain functional, just like a coffee. Can’t use Dutch or US hybrids for that because they get you totally stoned and you’ll miss the day. But with quality ganja it won’t happen.

Unfortuntely, with globalization the scene changed so much… people looked up into Amsterdam or California as models, instead of realizing they had their very own unique scene and character already. And instead trying to preserve that legacy, they gradually became a watered down version of those places, adopting also the capitalistic vision of the Cannabis industry and seed market, instead of the traditional hippie pot scene there used to be before. It happened in Holland too (before, every coffe shop used to have lots of import weed and hash, it was a way more laid back and underground thing) and probably everywhere else. You smoke the same commercial shit all over California, Barcelona, Amsterdam or London, probably Bangkok too, now that all the Dutch, Spanish and US companies moved there like they did in Switzerland in the 90s in order to exploit the booming scene. But it’s a global phenomenon that’s also happening with othe trends, music, media and anything. Regional scenes and diversity are gradually dissapearing, and their culture with it, as popular trends prevail.

Best.

[Heirloomwizard]

@George

Hi man, I am also in NW coastal Spain and landrace lover, not good for outdoor growing , in one of my travels in Portugal I exchanged some hash for liamba and still remember those brown sticky buds and wonderful flavour .

I wish the good old Liamba or Boi Verde was still available in the dark alleys of Vigo, Porto and Lisbon!! You no longer find traditional import sativas anywhere! Even in Asia they offer you the same shitty commercial buds everyone seem to demand!

By the way, I’ve always had more luck growing pure sativas outdoors in NW Spain than dutch or afghan based hybrids which are mold magnets!! At least the tropical strains seem to cope well with the rain and low temps, even if you have to harvest them before Xmas! haha.

I love hashplants too, not so much the smoke but I really enjoy growing and working with them:

Uzbekistan:

Pakistan:

Tom Hill’s North Indian:

X18/PTK hybrid:

[Tuned]

Welcome!
Very interesting reading. Thanks for posting that.

[George]

Agree with climate, my problem is that I love indica landraces, sativas are not my cup of tea as I vape before going to , my favorite is Hindu Kush , I grow them indoors, here’s a cross I made between Hindu Kush and Tirah Valley …

[Cannabis]

Very nice! I too enjoy growing hot peppers and have collected seeds for years. I have probably more than 100+ varieties of peppers, including some rare landraces. In particular I enjoy the wild rare peppers. Some are quite hard to germinate, and can take months. Some of these can live for 15+ years too which I find impressive. Have you written any articles about peppers?

[globalhead]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience with us
Since I’m a landrace lover too this thread is not only informative but also entertaining.
Big warm OG welcome.
&

[Elchischas]

Bienvenido carnal!
This is the best site for us landrace lovers There really is a great vibe here and everyone always seems to be in a good mood. Your knowledge here will be very helpful.
You are one of the few left on the web who has seen it all
you know the true origin of many varieties and really who is who on the cannabis universe so your advice will be of great contribution.
Your addition to this forum will really help it a lot without a doubt feel confident Make yourself feel like home

@Upstate brother we got a true landraces connoseur right here

[Wuachuma]

Fuck yes
Welcome Brother ‍♂

~T

[Trae1170]

Welcome @Heirloomwizard, much appreciate your story and knowledge to the forum. I cannot wait to read more and hopefully try some of your seeds in the future. I have been on the hunt for super piney tasting / smelling strains and it sounds like some of these landraces may have what I am looking for.
Peace & Love