Never select this kind of pheno in the Big Bud. Specially the 2023.
This photo come from the official “Sensi grow log” published. I’ve included their stats because they play a role on what I’ve to say globally on this strain. Now, the plant shown by Sensi represent a subgroup of phenotypes to dodge since the genesis of this strain … 
I will not write an exhaustive background on the line itself, it’s the chaos. And, spoiler, she have changed along the time I’ve known her from 2003, from 2015 and from 2023. Making it even more shitty to talk about this line on the long run.
This is the theory i have in front of these plants and its cousins since the start : the Big Bud have a more wide spectrum of variation than it’s cousins and competitors in the range of afghani/skunk lines built for yield.
It can look like picky but i consider more the Big Bud as an NL/skunk line in term of global expression, but also in term of dynamic of segregation occurring while you’re hybridize it or inbred it.
So i partially (30% ^^) trust the pitch of Sensi exposing the initial Big Bud as a kind of BX program on what is supposed to be a PNW Big Bud cut.
It’s an intellectual comfort to explain how this line is segregating, but the Critical Mass come in the equation and shuffle the cards. This very specific taste of sugar cane is supposed to be the signature of the PNW Big Bud, and the critical mass produce it bastardized by a strong “sugared clove” body (that don’t exist at all in the Big Bud).
The only real “elite” cut coming from the Big Bud is the SCBB. It’s rare to met someone that even know the name of this one. I tried to find over the net a representative photo of how look like this cut, no luck. It’s like searching growlogs of Sensi Big Bud ^^ But the expression still here and push the segregations of this line on the most sativa-ish extrems since the begin, with more fancy flavors and highs generally attached.
The phenotype shown by Sensi is the strict opposite of the SCBB pheno of the Big Bud, and both are the perfect representation of the range you have in selection with a load of in-between variations. The SCBB pheno/profile is also the kind of exotic pheno you can’t find in most of afghani-skunk competitors (for yield).
So there is the fucked starting point :
- the label promoting/selling the least interesting variation in the worse way (explanation coming)
- the only one direct reference from this line being a stretchy sativa cut that look like, as far as i can understand, as a reminiscence of the PNW Big Bud inside the Sensi Big Bud.
THE CONCLUSIONS
- Selecting directly a motherplant
The batches being similar, even distant, i can evaluate the cost around an half K for a single decent motherplant to smoke, at the Sensi price. In this configuration, you have to be a big fan of the Big Bud with a nostalgia eating your soul each day that you don’t smoke it.
My opinion : Not worth the ride. The rate of herms is very high, and the weed i’m smoking actually is 100% coming from herms that i managed. 1:21 “pure” female ratio is quite tight, but it’s the same with the male too and it’s more problematic for the herm rate.
- Competition
The weed is not directly competitive as it, even with the new interesting variations.
- Breeding : general
The potential is alive, but it need an intensive maintenance : reduction of herms, the best phenos being in the hybrid forms (need further stabilisation), globally variegated (inbreeding and hybridization being rodeo until the DNA is peacefully settled).
It need three generations of work to reach a decent state to select, and it’s not really a “beginner friendly” task on this line.
Directly outcrossing it is also problematic : the chance to inject a strong herm dynamic is very high as it.
My opinion : It’s more a project for those knowing already the line and its phenos, and/or used to deal with fucked commercial releases. Then, it can eventually become worth the ride with enough patience.
- Breeding : hunting the 2003 Big Bud
Possible, they look to resist at a rate of one per pack for the ful combo (yield/specific taste/good shape). The problematic being that these phenos are the more prone to be badly herms, the cleaner specimens being in the hybrid forms and in new expression. The cost will be the same imho that with a direct selection of a motherplant.
My opinion : Worth it if you’re a big fan of these phenos, but very expensive to operate. Not worth it for me, considering that i prefer the new variations over the historic form : way more potent, more funky flavors … if you’re ready to kiss plainly the SCBB lead in term of phenos.
- Breeding : hunting the 2023 variations
Legit if you’re enough in ease with inbreeding, even if you don’t know the Big Bud. It’s interesting and challenging, and the yield still here overall.
This, only if you like the full expression. If you only need yield, just get a more stable afghani/skunk beast … they are plenty.
My opinion : I try my luck this far with it mostly because i know very well the line. And that i like a lot the GDP and the Pineapple Express. The price to pay in work is bigger that it is supposed to be, but there is an operational margin to extract something quite singular with a new freedom on the potency department. But if you never reduced herm rates in a line, just pass.
- Is the Big Bud dead ?
Surprisingly, not. The old phenos and the weed still around. But the price in bucks and in work is very high, and i pass personally for this kind of duty. I prefer to spend this energy on a landrace, because it’s this kind of job we’re talking about with the old BB expression.
The new skunky variations being better without really breaking the heritage, it can be considered as a step in the history of this line so i can say that “it’s the begin of her death”.
It’s sad and blasphematory to say it, but better to get 5 fem seeds first for those that don’t know this line.
It will mask the herms problematic more and permit to know if you’re liking enough the weed for the challenge in reg.
Don’t forget that with the Big Bud it’s all about the yield and its balance, launching these seeds for something else don’t have much sense.
Initially, this line is prone to herm when the plants enter in senescence. It was always the case but nothing catastrophic and nothing that a selective screening wasn’t able to dodge easily.
Back in 2003, the eventuality to get an additional pack to extract a good motherplant was more a question of variations you got.
Back in 2015, the situation was already pretty hot with a significative presence of latent herms ready to be triggered.
In 2023, i’m not even salty in saying it but it’s like growing an asian landrace under watch for herms. It costed me a full bland round by the way, and i’ve finished this repro with a ratio of herm of 75%. The luck was around for me in only two packs, but let’s say that statistically a 30-50 seeds is a more decent bet whatever the goal is.
The customer service on this one was reactive and proper, but it’s annoying for a line sold this price (~90 bucks) to be so raw. It’s three generations in the face at least to secure clean subgroups and when you inbred everything like me, it’s a fucking pain in the ass to clean an expressive genotype from the release. And risky.
So be warned, the line is wounded and need someone to heal it at the moment it hit your mailbox. It’s like a fucking paid adoption lol
I’m lazzy to search entries, but i remember that she won a cup just before the Jack Herer (my forever love). When the Jack became a thing, i was a kid discovering dutch strains ^^
Hey, that’s something … lol
Hell no, and it was never the case no matter the “pre-bullshit” you can eventually find. The Big Bud was, and still, far away from a pure afghani #1 or a pure northern light. And it’s how she perform well, by the way.
Early 2000, the dense indica shape was sometimes giving a very sugared pheno. Like the Big Bud of Front One. Pure sugar. In 2023, they are just the more bland specimens to smoke. Better to grow directly a good NL that hunting the NL phenos in the Big Bud.
Consider more the Big Bud like a Skunk grow, in less fast.
The whole bad reputation of the Big Bud come from here, and for a stupid reason : marketing. There is my grid to determine what is “fast” or “long”.
Afghani : 40-50 days
Skunk : the balanced reference for me, always around 60 days
“Dutched Haze” and similar : 70-80 days
Sat of all types (hybrids/pure) : 90/90+ days
From this grid, “fast” is below a skunk. But the Big Bud is not mature at all at this step, and since the genesis. If you harvest at ~50 days a strain reaching its peak at 70-80 days … there is no much to expect in term of torque.
So, never cut a Big Bud at 50days / 8 weeks like promoted. You don’t even get the energetic high at this stage, it’s just hay.
Count an average of 3+ feets indoor, with a standard veg of 3 weeks/ 1 month.
I got one of 5.5 feets without any veg, and the average stretch on everything not NLish is close to X3. A particularity that you see well expressed in the GDP line by the way.
The Big Bud is for me on the stretchy skunks side of the force, no longer in the “average”.
That’s real, even if the concept itself should be contextualized also.
It’s partially coming from the powerfull stretch, the late rush of flo, and also from the flower’s profile themselves: density, calyx-to-leaf-ratio. Fantastic performances as motherplant also and at cloning … very much a perpetual grow line type. Like the AK47 actually vegging in fact, but in another style.
Even wounded like the ones i got, the Big bud still a joy on this side. It’s the main purpose of the line actually.
But it don’t make it a line to grow monstrous buds on a tree, understand more “productivity” than “yield”.
The SCBB performed very well outdoor and was quite resistant, but it was an exception. Replace the terms of Sensi by : desertic, arid and at 1K miles from any organic activity ^^
She’s very sensible to mold, and specially to mildiew. Like a magnet. Indoor it can be handled with good hygiena, but don’t grow it outdoor as it. Not a good bet.
So you can see, the subject is a bit shitty to expose even for this simple classic.
My approach
It’s a weed of my teenage age that I wasn’t really able to find in the streets at this time, the closer was the B52. On the afghani-skunk side, the Super Skunk was killing the game and the Chronic was ruling the “cannaculture” with hip hop lyrics etc … i’m even asking myself if this line of Serious Seeds wasn’t historically the most marketed of all time: sings, movies … even more present everywhere in mouths than the GSC today.
The Big Bud is for me a generous plant producing one of the most sugared weed, without being a boring daily smoke. Also a good companion for the stash, you can choose to build strong plants or to SOG it like the wind in having motherplants that produce vigorous big clones.
So the priority for me is to preserve equally this main specificity : taste and yield. I don’t know why i remember this strain but for me the Big Bud is the historic answer to “opposites” lines like the Martian Mean Green, another popular “pounder” of early 2000s. The construction of the MMG is totally different, more a skunk-haze, but producing a shit ton of weed that just don’t really taste nice. What’s the point ?
The principle for now is to heal the Big Bud : breaking the herm dynamic and revert it, to aerate a bit the line by good pairings to reduce drastically the variegation rate etc … everything supposed to be done actually and i hate it. So it’s a bit early to talk about selection, i will just dodge bullets during a time. The printfoot is already active by the first pairing made : the NLish phenos of the BB are not an expression i find sexy.
Let's talk weed and phenos now
1 - A not-so-quick timeline to clear the waters
- ~2003*
Lazzy seedlings, sometimes problematic in vigor. Excellent cloning. Excellent answer to pruning while (veg) mature. Most of specimens were growing short and on the model of the BB#13 that i’m calling the “NLish phenos” today with less obvious sign of the injection both in shapes and in the smoke. She was not stable (she never was), but the range of expression was quite tight. Pushing the maturation far (like i do for all repros in general) was outputting a 50% late herms ratio in general.
The typical flowers, that is used by Sensi to illustrate the seed’s cards and the catalog was a dominant expression : big calyx, high density, rock hard dried buds, decent trichome coverage (but it was never its shiny side).
The smoke was sweet, a bit too much, with the tendance to have a delayed kick (mid-cone, end-cone). The high/stone was specific : great muscular relaxation without being fucked, producing calm, focus and big physical laziness, abuses/binge smoking were leading to a messy stone, not incapacitating either.
The sugar cane taste was simple, strong and dominant. Almost all specimens were producing the typical sugared taste hunted in the BB.
- ~2015
No real changes on the shape of the specimens and their behavior but the introduction of latent herms waiting the first opportunity to produce nanners. Generally one third of active herms when screened, and another third of late latent herms.
The original flower’s profile completely disapeared in favor of a more skunky profile : plushy, thigh caliber, a lot less trichomes. But the density wasn’t wounded. I spent a bunch a buck on her at this time (a dozen of packs) until i finally decided to work with the Critical Mass and its Bilbo’s cut instead.
The smoke don’t changed much surprisingly, but was a bit watered down globally. The high/stone vanished in favor of a messy and a bit blurry stone, the “sugar cane” phenos were a recessive minority hunted in 25% of the specimens.
- ~2023
Strong presence of variegations in almost all specimens at moderate intensity, pushing me to think about a lefty [S1 x BX1] strategy or something close. True latent herms fiesta but with a specific expression : the plants don’t produce (dangerous) external nanners, the males parts are growing from the core of the buds just aside the ovaries.
The spectrum of expression of the phenos are just wide and wild, but stay stable in ratios from a pack to another. In the second replacement pack, i just got photocopy of the specimens of the first batch but just with different variation in term of intensity. Stretchy-skunky shape are taking the hand on the line, and actually it’s a good thing … because the weed is better overall in staying in the initial range. But it’s no longer a hunt in a pattern, but truly a ON/OFF selection.
The original flower’s profile look like gone for good, the buds are totally on the skunk side except for the good density. I’m curious to see if along the inbreeding i will see again the fat calyxes stacking vertically around the trunk, not a specific constraint for me either. The specific taste and the density are the prior traits for me on this line.
The smoke stay in the vein of the Big Bud, but with a panel of variations very much more “individualized”. At the point to produce new shape’s profiles, new flavor’s drift and new potency’s potential considering the previous releases. Don’t get me wrong, it stay a variation. But the range offer an opportunity of evolution that wasn’t there before. Unfortunately, it’s hard to hesitate in selection : the valuable specimens are now rares and without spending 1K in seeds … the starting point of your repro will be a bit decided by what Jah gave you.
The smoke keep the same “lazzy body serenity” spirit, but some specimens and variations in-between offer a more sharp experience with clear stones. Also levels of potency not usual for this strain. I put aside the unique female i found by luck in a double ovary seed, it’s really splitted in three clans :
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the historical form : short and compact NLish shape, ridiculously lanky as an inverted umbrella on the bottom, 1:3 are developping the specific taste on different intensity but the hunt for it is expensive.
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the new genetic drift : on the first batch i got an almost perfect 50(drift)/50(short NLish) repartition, on the second batch i got more a 60(drift)/30(NLish) repartition.
The good point of this instability is to offer a possible evolution, more options to stop the herm’s domination and for the first time … an uncapped potency. It’s a bit early to talk about the F2s, i’ve maybe one year in front of me to deal with them and to understand how bad is the situation to fix ^^.
The bad point is the ON/OFF value of specimens. It produce a disturbing experience for the range of this line (high price) : most of specimen’s variations aren’t genetically competitive, in producing interesting singularities that open the doors at the same time.
1 - The convenient “heavy weights” of the round : the BB#13 and the BB#14
The tasty yield being the main purpose of the strain, it stay for me the lead for the further generations. These two specimens represent well for me the actual genetic battle and all the in-between variations. Both in term of chemotype and shape.
This double lead was quite clear among two packs, between a 50/50 ratio with the first batch and 75(skunky)/25(NLish) with the second batch.
This photo of the first batch is quite talkative :
The BB#13
Stats of the BB13
RAW WET WEIGHT : 167gr
TRIM WET WEIGHT : 137gr
NET DRY WEIGHT : 39gr
Let’s say that on the mass, 28% was the final product.
Totally in the historical range, at the difference that some water passed under the bridge. The sugar cane aromas are here at each draw but it’s not specifically intense and remanent. The tongue still coated by this sensation to have drinked sugared flower’s sap, without any floral touch in the flavor.
The main sidenote is that you find variations of this dominant pheno that are less generous but more sugared.
Now there is some singularities that imho represent the modern release on this expression, no matter how they produce it now.
The new strong “hashy” body in the smoke that is covering a bit this range of pheno. It’s not unpleasant but the persistance is unbalanced, after three cones in chain you have the impression to chew a little bit of common morocco hash. The same produced by the California Indica. The biter-sweet work well for the CI and it give some gross punch with the citrus/orange body. But the Big Bud is pure sugar, not fruity at all, and it create a kind of conflict in the palate quickly.
The potency is clearly upgraded on these phenos, the kick is stronger as the “plateau” is too. But, it make the stone more messy than it was and lasting less.
In finishing a cone right now of the #13, it’s clearly the new deal to smoke some variation of the Northern Light while you’re hunting these phenos. In launching the first seeds it was the plan, it turned to a lucky selection that ended in the opposite tribe finally.
The other specificity is a lowered trichome spread and density on these shorter phenos. That can look counter-intuitive with these strong hashy tones lol The big bud was never a hashplant, but without being pushed she stay quite “dry” naturally now. With this insane rate of active herms it’s not surprising either.
The BB#14
Stats of the BB14
RAW WET WEIGHT : 171gr
TRIM WET WEIGHT : 139gr
NET DRY WEIGHT : 52gr
Let’s say that on the mass, 37% was the final product.
The stretch of the Big Bud was already something but with this new bold segregation, it become exotic. The #14 is the kind of purest expression i got directly among 4 true similar specimens on 21. Look low but on the side of the #13 it’s the same. The other half of specimens being variations of this two cardinal points, et the subgroup where I paired for the F2.
The smoke of the #14 is suprisingly uncapped and quite direct. She lack of horsepower but you feel that in the next gens, something great can happend in putting some distances with the limiting factors. A morning blunt last long and is acting like a good dope for working if not too physical.
The weed keep in same time this initial muscular well-being, and the stone stay neat and proper in stacking the cones and blunts. Pleasant crystal-clear head with little blood pressure sensations in temples and in the back of the eyes.
On the flavors it’s a bit crazy to describe. The good new being that in the hybrids variations of this dominance, new flavors are generated on this base pretty much randomly.
The sugar cane base stay sturdy, but is mutated with various tones that are barely fruity. I fucking like how it’s expressing on the phenos not dominated by #13 dynamic. It’s like smoking random precursors of a panel of fruity flavors, perfect for a daily smoke. The Critical Mass bored me specially for this lack of complexity in the smoke.
On the #14 specifically, this is the weed that change the most from one toke to another. You’re at the point to name a sensation on the tongue while the next draw is producing another one. The sugar cane flavor and a little hashy hint help to be playfull. But the tastes are like unfinished, like a combo of strong phenols and too volatile terps. Intermediary phenos leading to the #14 have a better smoke in general, and it’s where i hunted.
The BB#18
The #18 is just for me the best expression of the 2023 release, as a type of balance. These hybrid forms produce the more stimulating weed from my point of view, in grouping all the nice reforms of the genotype : a new depth in aroma, medium-high but uncapped potency (effective binge-rolling) and entertaining highs.
The BB#18 just taste like a Big Bud of dutch coffee shop, very 90’s, with a strong balance between sugar cane and musk, that become fast playfull in palate. The best jar scents in the pool but unfortunately not much torque, the plateau is reached at mid cone everything else is more about glutony. Even in a fat heavy blunt, she’s not dangerous at all for a wake & bake, not enough to last a 7am-lunch range.
This specimen is the closer to the #14 reference as hybrid, sharing almost totally the nutrients uptake profile, flushing timing and senescence expression. I share a true compass here ^^, all others variations i got eat more like the #13 tribe. They also produce stronger highs and lasting stones, in very various ways : direct hit, creeper to the end of the cone, cerebral stimuli / body wellness, overall lazzyness and even triggering brain hyperactivity for one at the level of a Jack Herer.
On flavors, only the most auxins powered hybrid forms (like the #18) produce fancy terp variations : not fruity, not floral but something neutral in-between. With the sugar cane as body.
On potency types and rates, there is no real pattern. Making me feel that it’s an inherent generation of the release … and that the choices made at this point for the P1 are more critical and more narrowing than with a traditionnal F1.
The BB#09-02
The mother of the F2, paired with a NLish male abnormally strong. Don’t be fooled by its density, it’s a double ovary specimen not joined. Her seed-peer was a giant male very sativa-ish that turned herm, so its development was freezed all the first round until i transplant her with the second batch. Over 100 days of flo, and not fully matured lol It was tight but it helped to couple it with a male of the second batch in real time and fresh.
Not much comment on this one, it was more to be transparent and to show the variation of the hybrids forms i’m advising to use in this release.