Snow High collection for preservation

[Ratbastrd]

Morning, OG’ers!

First off, having had a chance to mingle, I want to thank everyone who create and support the community, this is an extraordinary collection of talent and good intentions.

As few have probably seen, my path here is/was an effort to preserve some very old strains of Mexican landrace (Michoacan & Oaxacan) for a friend who had the foresight to put 60’s era strains from (a very reputable source) down, unfortunately life and health got in the way of realizing that journey. So I inherited them.

A few years ago, I was introduced to John Fowler, and bought a fairly sizeable lot of Snow High seeds, intending to x breed with similar genetics as a preservation run for my friends lines. Which indirectly led me to OG. Upon landing in OGland, I think I’ve morphed into Veruca Salt “I want a blueberry daddy”. Apologies to anyone that has tried to DM me for trades.

OK, nuff BS.

I’ve realized I’m less interested in trading them, as creating good will and hopefully the opportunity to access some of these lines down the road, and/or new strains that look interesting. Growing is a hobby for me and I only grow 1-2 plants a year in my garden, quantity is not a thing for me.

So I’d like to pass these seeds on to breeders who:

1. Possess the skills, facilities and interest in preserving these lines. You must be fully capable of repro’ing a line with high probability of success. I’m serious about this!

2. Fully committed to the intention of this! If you can’t commit please don’t step up.

3. I need to know what line you are interested in, when you plan to run them, what the plan is etc. If your interest is x’ing or something other then preserving the line first, please don’t DM me. I want to preserve the lines.

Sensing this could turn into a shit show, I’m getting old so please take it easy on me.

Ok, lets get em into the hands of breeders who can do something with them.

Thanks OG’ers

[DGCloud]

Super cool of you you’re gonna see a lot of dms. Well please let me know if I can get acouple. Already dm’d! Stay blessed

[MissinBissin]

Congrats on Opening the Doors.

Best Wishes on finding the People to Produce your preservation efforts.
Man, you’ve gonna get people bouncing I’m sure @Ratbastrd. Have a great Week bro

[Ratbastrd]

Thanks @DGCloud, back to you shortly.

FYI, I am getting a lot of DM’s which is good. Please be patient with me.

Couple more requests: I know a lot of people are likely to be interested, but I’d ask you to ask yourself if you are A) Fully committed to the intention of this and B) Fully capable of repro’ing a line with high probability of success. I’m serious about this!

Also, I need to know what line you are interested in, when you want to run em etc. Sensing this could turn into a real shit show, which I’m too old to deal with LOL

[Fortman420]

I don’t have the skills to even come close to your requirements just saying it’s good of you to put this out to the OG elites to help preserve some close to disappearing lines from hard working cannabis supporter. Hope they all fall into the right hands

[Ratbastrd]

@Fortman420 Cheers brother! I don’t either, which is why I’m doing this.

[misterbee]

Bro, you have a l-o-n-g List of fellow OGers who possess OUTSTANDING Repro Skills!! You shouldn’t have ANY difficulties in finding them. Good Luck and, what you propose is as OG as it gets…CONGRATS!! SS/BW…mister

[Elpolloloco]

Good on you bud @Ratbastrd

I will tag a few I can recall off the top of my head (sorry for those I missed) that have been passionate about preserving some of the central and South American genetics - not to say they have room but may be of interest.

@Upstate @GREANDAL @YoBigdaddy @Tejas @MissinBissin @deeez99 @Pigeonman @MissinBissin @PineTarBastard @Weednerd.Anthony @Greenfingers @Panamajock @Cbizzle

[Tejas]

Nice selection of Snowhigh gear @Ratbastrd.

[Pigeonman]

Whoa! This is uber rad @Ratbastrd !

“Regrettably” I’ve got a full repro calendar already slated for 2024 but thanks so much for the tag @Elpolloloco !

[Emeraldgreen]

Awesome collection! Very cool of you to look for reproduction of it.

[yardgrazer]

No offense to anyone named prior but @Upstate was the first person I thought of. Lots of good people though, just need someone without a full dance card.

[Emeraldgreen]

That’s who I thought of immediately also

[Scallywag]

Snows the Man!

Funny enough I just started consuming my keeper from an old pack of Snows Blueberry Blast!

Of all his gear and lines this one continues to be my absolute favourite!

However, I’m biased because I love ALL THINGS BLUEBERRY!

This cut is quickly becoming one of my favourites!

(Don’t mind the hippy trim! I don’t think she’ll even be around long enough to trim! Lolo)

Much love OGs!

Great thread!

Cheers!!

Good luck on the preservation!

One of the most important gigs in the community

Respects

[Ratbastrd]

Yea, that’s kinda my speed on the trimming front. Figure I’ll get to it when I smoke it. If you have any repro seeds on that strain, I’d be interested in trying them. Heard so many good things about that strain.

I’ll ask again, anyone heard from John recently? His email is down now.

[YoBigdaddy]

@Ratbastrd

preserve some very old strains of Mexican landrace (Michoacan & Oaxacan) for a friend who had the foresight to put 60’s era strains from (a very reputable source) down,

I want to hear more about these 2, I would make room and time for any 1960 gear.

[HealingHerb]

Very cool of you @Ratbastrd im sure you will get some fine upstanding OG’ers to get some repros going on

[Mr.Christmas]

@Ratbastrd

. You must be fully capable of repro’ing a line with high probability of success. I’m serious about this!

You must be aware by now on some of Jon’s cultivars and how notoriously bad they are at germing.

Take a look at @Elpolloloco and his Quicksilver repro:

(complete) Snowhigh Quicksilver Seed Run

Hi gang, it’s finally here, the thing we’ve all been waiting for… the Snowhigh quicksilver seed run! Im a sativa lover at heart and after many hours of research I found out about snowhigh and some of his rare and unique lines that he preserves as well as used to make some amazing hybrids. Quicksilver fits into the mix as a sativa dominant hybrid with an interesting pedigree. This line was sold as old stock with low germination rates advertised, and they are no longer for sale. Since I saw hi…

On his first round, out of 30 seeds, only 3 successfully germinated.

I also failed with 5 oaxacan seeds, and it was devastating knowing their price.

I wouldn’t be surprised if you get low germ rates with a lot of these packs.

[Ratbastrd]

Extended version:

I lived in Marin Co for about 20+ years. Over the years, I became friends with an older guy who’s family were old Hessian farmers from Pennsylvania. He had moved to SF in the mid 60’s to be in the Haight and participate in the movement. He later became good friends with Jerry Kamstra (Frisco Kid & OG dope smuggler from Mexico)

Back then the best weed was apparently from Michoacan and Oaxaca. Doug, grew in the city and saved seeds along the way from stuff he liked. He later moved up to the Mendocino area with his girlfriend and started growing (gorilla) as he called it. They would hike in, find areas near water that weren’t too exposed, plant, then then come back in the fall to harvest what they planted. He must have done pretty well as he bought a house with proceeds and moved back to Marin in the 70’s.

I used to travel for work all over the world. I had this pipe dream of exploring areas to find old landraces to bring back for preservation (long before the modern grow movement). I guess Doug appreciated my passion as he passed his box of seeds he had kept all these years.

He had intended to do a preservation run at some point, but his health failed and he never got around to it.

The seeds are and labled, SS + SI + something called old stock. All of it is original Michoacan or Oaxacan lines from those early seeds, that I’m guessing he worked for probably a decade. Additionally there is something he labeled old stock which I suspect might be 60’s era seeds. Oh and later field blend from a cross pollination sometime later. He said he felt the field blend was likely similar to what became skunk week from that area. Small squat plants, big leaves, smelled like roadkill

He’s didn’t really remember what the SS/SI etc. stand for but suggested that the SS was probably (Sativa + Sativa from Michoacan). It was his best weed, would have been a fairly pure strain as he wasn’t doing a lot of breeding work, rather replanting year over year seeds from prior years grows. Everything was probably pollinated by the time he harvested. The SS stuff was his best selling.

He also grew a Oaxacan strain for a while so possible there are some seeds in the old stock jar.

Unfortunately, his health is failing (has dementia now), so this is about all I know. He did mention that an old friend has a bunch of his seeds stored in a freezer somewhere up in Mendocino. She’s still close with the family, thought about meeting her at some point to pick them up.

I’ve tried to germinate these seeds a few times. Thanks to @JohnnyPotseed method for germinating in worm castings I did get a couple to crack last week, but they have since stalled, not sure they will get any further.

So that’s the story. My intention with the Snowhigh kit was to try and bolster these genetics at some point to try and preserve really old school genetics. Unfortunately I think this is way over my head so I’m passing the Snowhigh stuff on.

If anyone has any thoughts or ideas how to get these old seeds germinating and growing to see what they are, I’d love some help.

[Ratbastrd]

I am. I’ve struggled to get some of these to germinate, which is why I stopped. Similar problems with really old school seeds, see story above.

One thing I will say. These old Central American strains are really vigorous once they take root. I grew one of the 2x Panama strain from this kit a couple of years ago. It was one of the finest plants I’ve ever taken from cradle to grave. Should have mothered her out as she was a monster.