Kerala

Description

Genetics: Idukki Cannabis Landrace
Sourcing: The Real Seed Company, Idukki District, Kerala, 2015
Purpose: Ganja (seedless or lightly seeded buds)
Latitude: 9° N
Regional Harvest: Approx. 6 months from seed to harvest
Height: 2 – 4 metres
Characteristics: Mint, pepper, and mango-carrot aromas; bamboo-like leaflets; intense, energising high; Sativa-type architecture
Classification: C. sativa subsp. indica var. indica
Grow Type: Greenhouse or outdoors

Seeds from a 2022 maintenance grow of our accession of a classic South Indian cannabis landrace cultivated for ganja in Idukki District, Kerala.

Keralan landraces are renowned for their intensely positive and stimulating ‘Sativa’ high. They’ve played a crucial role in the creation of modern hybrids such as Haze and White Widow. The equatorial highland district of Idukki, where this accession was collected, is Kerala’s most renowned historic centre of ganja cultivation.

This Idukki strain is a true tropical Sativa-type domesticate, ranging between 2 and 4 metres tall, with characteristic bamboo-like leaflets. ‘Creeper’ and ‘Christmas-tree’ architecture can be exhibited. Buds are loose and resinous with minty, peppery, and fruity aromas, yielding a smooth, sweet smoke. Above all, it produces ganja characterized by the energising positivity of its high.

In Kerala, Cannabis is typically planted from June to July, and harvests are from December to early February. Traditionally, farmers have favoured a later harvest.

This 2015 accession has exhibited exceptionally early maturing variants that can be ready by early November. The morphology of the plants does not suggest hybrid contamination and neither does the aroma. The fast finish appears more likely to be the result of decades of pressure from eradication programs, which have caused farmers to keep seeds from early plants.

Standout individual plants from this accession exhibit high potency and will have the characteristic elevating Idukki effect. A recent test reported 17.63% THC (or 14.86% THC, depending on how the result is interpreted). Modest quantities of THCV were present. No CBD was present in this individual, which is plauisible for a true South Indian landrace. Mid- to high-teens THC is not unusual for this strain.

NOTE: This batch of seeds is the third generation from the original accession and has been reproduced ex-situ through open pollination.