THE HUNT FOR GRANDPA’S STASH R2
Grandpa’s Stash has continued to be a favorite among Ethos growers for some time, and many have asked for the R2 (a second filial generation produced with a reversal). Plus, we wanted to do a small pheno hunt to demonstrate the process and figured it was the perfect time to start hunting for the parents that would produce Grandpa’s Stash R2.
As you may have noticed, there’s some nostalgia to this particular genetic’s branding. Grandpa’s Stash was named through a contest, and its name comes from a largely “old school” genetic line featuring buds that you might’ve found in your grandpa’s stash. The mother was 1994 Super Skunk, and the father was Ethos Kush IBL (a hybrid of OG and Afghan Kush).
This piece will feature some advice for pheno hunting, guidelines around transplanting and topping your phenos, as well as the timeline from seed to harvest that these Grandpa’s Stash R1 seeds underwent during the hunt for the R2.
Grandpa’s Stash
Grandpa’s Stash is a genetic mix of 1970s Afghan, 1992 OG Kush, and Dutch Super Skunk, heavy on the Afghan Kush with some OG that shines through.
Specifically, Grandpa’s Stash is 1994 Sensi Seed Bank Super Skunk x Ethos Kush BX6 (Reversed).
Ethos Kush is an IBL (inbred lineage). Ethos Kush is an Afghan OG created by crossing several different OGs and Afghan Kush into each other. Afghan OG is a mixture of WiFi, The Black, Face off OG, Triangle Kush, and Afghan Kush (Sensi Seed Bank), and, then, multiple backcrosses of those. Finally, those offspring were taken to a Bx6 where it essentially became an IBL.
A couple may stretch a bit more, but these are not what I would call a typically “fast” plant; If I was in a hurry to grow a big plant from seed, I’m not going to go with an Afghan-heavy indica, I’d go with something like a Lilac Diesel. Depending on a plant’s genetics, offspring can sometimes be slow from seed, but after about week four, they catch up and vigor is equal to the other plants.
Remember, the first few weeks of vigor as a seed don’t always translate to the same vigor later in life.
Pheno Hunting: The Search for Keepers
When you’re doing a pheno hunt, I don’t make any determinations in veg unless it is showing susceptibility to root pathogens or is genuinely unhealthy, or is just a mutation from the start.
Initial growth doesn’t necessarily reflect how that plant will perform throughout its cycle.
Sometimes early growth can be slow because a plant can come out of its seed shell wrong or a root can come out sideways and make it appear that there is less vigorous growth than another plant, but that same plant will sometimes take off after a few weeks of establishing itself.
One of my markers in my pheno hunts is “out the gate”; how well are the seeds performing out of the gate as a seedling? How vigorous are they?
Between Week 4 and Week 6, I start to look for differences in expression. This is typically when distinctive characteristics start to develop.
When looking for qualities that indicate good expressions, it is important to consider your end game (what are you looking for?).
Sometimes vigor is a highly desired trait; something that starts strong from seed quickly. I typically find that there’s a correlation between vigor and how quickly a seed takes into its substrate. In the case of a sativa-leaning variety, it is going to be a faster seed; It will be root bound more quickly, produces new growth more quickly, and reaches its physical maturity earlier.
Pheno Hunt: Transplanting vs. Final Pots
For this pheno hunt, we used 7-gallon fabric pots.
Why the larger pot? When hunting, if you have the space, use it; the larger a plant’s rhizosphere can get early on, the more quickly it will get to full maturity, making it easier to observe its distinct characteristics. If you don’t have the space, there’s no issue starting smaller and transplanting later, it’s all about the space you have on hand; you can definitely do a pheno hunt in 1-gallon pots if space dictates.
Observing Morphology During a Pheno Hunt
There are different techniques in a pheno hunt than when growing for yield.
In a pheno hunt from seed, I try to avoid over-training the plants to see their natural growth tendencies.
There are two steps in my hunt: initial flower fairly early, say 5-6 week veg, for the initial elimination; then, I grow from clone before picking my final keepers. There’s more distinction in its characteristics with age; growing from clone will show you nuances in the flower that the initial run from seed won’t display.
If growing seed commercially, the space will dictate the methodology. The most efficient way is root and fruit (growing with the minimum veg time, typically 5 weeks).
If not quickly flowering, I’d recommend topping these plants around the end of the first month from seed. There’s enough branches where I can see every top, about nine colas that I can easily identify, and that’s plenty for this size plant. By topping it, the plant will focus on rooting, and maturing the nine tops that will be the final plant.
Because we are pheno hunting, we want to let more natural morphogenesis occur.
This allows us to observe natural characteristics like internode length, vigor, and lateral branching, particularly how quickly bottom branches shoot out and whether they can catch up to the apex growth. Some plants can, some don’t have a chance. When pheno hunting, I recommend waiting an extra 7-10 days (day 38-40) before topping, especially if growing under an LED as these plants will have a more compact growth period that is reflected in internode length and flower density.
Pheno Hunt Data Points:
When I am pheno hunting, I break my observations down into three phases:
Initial Growth (Early Vegetative)
- Flowering Phase
- Post-Harvest Analytical (everything from trying it to trichome evaluation to testing, etc.)
During the initial growth phase, these are the data points that I’m paying attention to: Out the gate (how vigorous a plant is from the beginning), Morphogenesis (how the plant grows structurally), Internode Spacing (how far apart growth nodes are), and Lateral Branching (vigor & frequency).
During the flowering phase (Phase 2):
- Speed of flower onset (how quickly bud sites develop)
- “Stacking” (the distance between bud sites and flower development)
- “Qualities” (resin production, terpene production, bag appeal, trichome quality)
If you’re on a “heady” hunt, you’re going to be paying more attention to the quality and effects of the final product, whether that is flower or extraction. When you’re hunting for effects and flavor, you’re looking at the experience. In those cases, yields from the plant are not factored in.
In Phase 3, in addition to the effects, consider other qualities like:
- Hash Production
- Trichome Quality
- Bag Appeal
- Cannabinoid Content
As a breeder, when I’m hunting, I’m looking to run enough plants to get the best of everything, to see all of the expressions.
Right now, with GPS, I’m looking for bare bones tools, something that I can’t resist using as a breeder. In this hunt, I’ve found multiple plants with different expressions that I can’t get rid of yet, and the next round will be rebreeding them into each other. This will be the basis of the R2, R3, and future filial lines, including some RBX work with the Super Skunk.
Reflections on Keeper from Seed:
When selecting a keeper as a breeder, identifying all of the attributes of the plant are important; you want the selections to breed well and also to have offspring that carry on the most desirable qualities in flower.
I’ve found that it is easier to identify, and therefore, stabilize expressions by using two females. There are more data points to observe on a female compared to a male. Aligning these data points with two females is easier because they present all of their expressions.
In this case, we kept nine different offspring after culling several after the first round, from seed.
Of the offspring, I found 3-4 cuts that had subtle differences but were almost identical, like #4 and #7. These two had differences, but they were hard to notice. GPS is already a strain that is fairly homogenous (the original parents were both 50% Afghan Kush), which allows for the R2 to be more homogenized than most varieties at this stage.
Both parents have bred sexually stable offspring in the past, so breeding a sexually stable line from these filial will be easy.
Grandpa’s Stash: Clone Keeper
As we have previously discussed, the age of a plant will affect its expressions; a plant that is allowed to reach a greater age and maturity will demonstrate slightly different, and in some cases improved, characteristics, which is why a true hunt evaluates varieties from both their initial seed and their successive clone forms.
In this hunt, we were able to grow the keepers out again from clone and observe more distinction than we had from seed. This lent itself to choosing GPS #2 (Kush/OG Pheno), #6 (Chem Pheno), and #12 (Kush/OG) as standout keepers in the Ethos Kush-dominant pheno. From clone, they were more vigorous and taller than the average plant, the quality of the flower was better, and the quality of the trichomes as it relates to hash-making were superior.
Phenos #3, #4, #5 and #8 are Super Skunk-leaning hybrids. From clone, they were faster flowering, more compact, and larger flowers.
We will continue to breed with these cuts as we gather more information and narrow our field of scope.
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This article is featured in Vol. 2 of The ETHOS Magazine.
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