Dr. Grinspoon by TOTEM

Welcome back everybody! Haha, you can’t believe how long I took to write this review. Firstly, I wanted to thank everybody for all the positive vibes you’ve always sent. It’s been all a lot more fun with your constant presence. Thank you!! When I started, I clearly had no idea of what it would be like to wait almost 6 straight months for just one plant! In the end it’s been even longer than expected, and Barney’s couldn’t help me much because this was possibly a new pheno. It’s not really been a relaxing grow, but we can say we’ve now discovered a lot of new things about her! And because the Doc has always been like a mystery, plus you can’t find many infos about her online, I decided to write a long and detailed review including EVERYTHING I learned about her. I really think that sharing is caring, so I hope you’ll enjoy!!! :-) I think the seeds I got came out from a 2018 production. Barney’s possibly changed something from the past, because neither me, neither @Magnetous_tryko, neither a friend I met on Instagram (@fromthreetrees), got the phenotype the Doc is famous for. I’ve heard many people saying that pheno doesn’t exist anymore, but who knows. Never mind, that’s not really a problem if then you get the same effect! I think it’s now time to get some pop corns, sit down on the sofa and enjoy this review! Let’s go!! ----- HOW SHE GROWS ----- Well, I can tell you she grows like any other cannabis plant and she’s not impossible to grow. If you follow some easy guidelines I’m going to report now, everything will always run smooth. She tolerates any kind of training, but she takes a little more than other strains to react and get back to her growth. Attention: this DOESN’T mean she likes to be trained! Like other landrace sativas, in fact, she doesn’t. Sativas will always prefer to grow wild and free! But in my case, since I wanted to maximize my production, I opted for a ScrOG setup and didn’t really bother about these “warnings”. Some of you could ask me why I decided to mainline my Doc. Well, it obviously wasn’t necessary, but it was something I still had to do for the first time. If you’re interested in growing single plants in ScrOG, I think it’s always better to opt for a 4-way LST (you can find the tutorial on growweedeasy.com). ----- NUTRIENTS ----- Does Dr. Grinspoon like nutrients? As you may already know, like many other pure sativas, hell NO, she hates them!! If you’re growing the Doc in soil like I did, and you’re using organic ferts, you could follow this schedule I developed for her by a constant trial and error. So... if for some strange reasons you decide to grow her (haha), this is the schedule: - First 14 days after the sprout: just water. - From day 14 to 28: 1/4 of recommended dosage of nutrients. - From day 28 of veg to 2 weeks before harvest: 1/3 of recommended dosage of nutrients. - Last two weeks: just water. More than 1/3 of the recommended dosage would be really too much and could create serious and dangerous salt buildups. ----- NOTES ON WATERINGS ----- I always alternated one time feeding and one time only water. I never poured any water if soil wasn’t really dry on the surface. Sometimes I preferred waiting for some leaves to curl down a little because I discovered she loves when you let her roots oxygenate a bit more than usual. In this cycle I always used my tap water, which is around 130PPMs, but I noticed it’s always better to fix your pH to 6.5 before giving anything to your Doc (even just water). I know we’re talking about soil, but you should never trust 100% its buffering capabilities (in a few words, those fungi and bacteria present in the soil that automatically stabilize the pH to 6.5). In fact, tap water usually contains some chlorine that kills many, if not all, of these organisms. It’s the same thing you should remember if you’re going to use mycorrhizae. So… this is what you can do if you’re using tap water like me: since chlorine will evaporate in about 24 hours, just arrange a tank with the proper amount of tap water, possibly one day before your waterings, then collect your “purified” water from there! ;-) ----- FLOWERING STRETCH ----- As you can see from the diary, I could’t be able to fill all the grid like I wanted. I tried following the same thing I did with my Silver Haze, but the Doc stretched definitely less. When I grow a single (sativa) plant in ScrOG, I usually switch to 12/12 when she filled about 60% of the grid/net. This time I was a little scared by what other people said about her "monster" stretch rate, so I decided to switch one week before the planned 8 weeks of veg. Bad move. Next time I’ll make sure to follow my instinct a little more :-) When I noticed she was about to stop stretching at around day 28, I was still tucking branches and many of them were still under the grid. So I just “untucked” them one square back very gently, allowing them growing more vertical and getting more light. Overall, she should stop the stretch after about 4 weeks from the switch, but will keep stretching a few centimeters every week until week 11 or 12. ----- SOME USEFUL INFORMATIONS ----- If the plant is healthy, her leaves color will always be light green. The pheno I got (there are at least 3 known different ones from the 2018 production) develops rather fast in veg, while flowering seems to stop and stuck by week 8 or 9. This is where you have to activate your patience mode! You can have great results by setting day temps between 23C and 29C (73F and 84F) and night temps around 21C (70F), especially on last weeks if you wanna get some colorful calyxes (this is the general rule if you want to get some good colors in your strains). Of course, this is not a strain you grow for colors. Her calyxes will often get reddish/brownish, so I don’t know if temperature played an important role in my case. This pheno doesn’t develop many trichomes, and the upper part of colas will be the last to ripen (trichomes too). So always use your lens/microscope in both upper and lower parts in order to understand when it’s time to harvest. On harvest day my upper trichomes were all milky, while the most of lower ones were almost all amber. Yes, it’s been quite hard to predict the right harvest day, and many of you will certainly remember! ----- TASTE AND AROMA ----- In general if you vape between 160C and 180C the taste will be more like peach and lime, but also like tropical fruits (especially passion fruit and mango) with some hints of mint and watermelon candy, while at 200C it’s totally different because sometimes it‘s like (get ready) speck with a touch of ginger and tangerine; sometimes it’s just like beer; sometimes lemon that gradually dissolves into some delicious sugared almonds. ----- GENERAL EFFECT ----- The general impression is that the high always starts very strong, except when you vape at 160C. When it starts strong, and it happens frequently, it’s not always so easy to manage because it can cause both paranoia and some trouble when talking to people. But after 30-45 minutes (I know, it's lot of time) your wonderful sativa experience will start. Please notice that vaping less (less hits) will be less painful if it gets too strong in the first part. It seems like the Doc is more powerful than other strains, and this is why she needs a lower vape temperature to get to the sweet spot. Duration of the high: 5-6 hours, where the first 3-4 are quite intense, and the last two are milder but still very enjoyable. And finally I can tell you munchies will never be so strong. Resisting to food is always a rewarding experience to me! 😄 ----- VAPE SESSIONS ----- The reason why I decided to write a review for each relevant temperature is because, as vape users know, different temperatures will produce different effects. Temps around 160C usually create a light effect; around 170C it gets better, a little stronger. It’s great to just feel good, do activities and not being so stoned; 180C is the most suggested temp from many vape users (at this temp you should get the most from your bud); and 200C, the temp that puts you to sleep if you’re vaping an indica, that gives amazing interesting and unpredictable effects if you’re vaping a sativa. In every test I did, I vaped a full aluminium capsule (there’s a photo in this page) in my Mighty vaporizer, and always used new weed. Every capsule contains between 0.25g and 0.3g, and for every smoke session I did like 50 medium-long hits, each one with a slow-paced breath, always trying to notice the change in taste as the material was being consumed. ----- VAPING @ 160C ----- I decided to test this temp because it’s usually the best one for day activities while keep being functional. I initially felt light to the head with some interesting thoughts, while my body was so relaxed it only wanted to lay on the sofa. Everything was good, except my eyes that were closed at 60%! The taste is a mixture of peach, lime, and possibly watermelon candy. Delicious! 😋 That body high is interesting because it increases when you’re immobile, but immediately stops if you stand up and walk. I could easily focus on a single point and start my flux of thoughts without getting distracted by anything happening around. I didn’t feel any paranoia or psychedelic high, so I did the litmus test by closing my eyes, which made it clear that vaping @ 160C doesn't turn into psychedelic experiences. But the impression is that if I just wanted to chill on the sofa, this would not the best strain out there: it’s like drinking 5 coffees in a row, which hyper stimulates your mind. And to be honest, this is exactly what I expected from a 100% landrace sativa! She’s very good if you need to focus on something you know you have to do, since you won’t easily get distracted. I think the Doc is perfect for activities like reading, studying, doing creative things, watching movies with a new point of view, or just listening to music (this one is my favorite). I would say it could be helpful if you’re interested in starting something new in your life, like listening to a new genre of music or learning something new that you’ve always classified as “boring” and that you’ve planned for a generic future. Let’s say she helps you find the will. If this is your plan, I give you a little advice: put your phone away! 😉 After just 10 minutes I felt like my upper body was pushing down with all the strength it had. A strength that literally came from nowhere: it’s not like a 100m races where you push yourself from the pedals in order to load your explosive power and start. Here my body was pushing down from the inside. It’s hard to explain, but I felt like my real me was 30cm above my body. I felt this sensation twice in a few days. It’s amazing, but unfortunately it doesn’t last so much. There’s a nice thing I can tell you about standing up and start walking after about 30 minutes: you feel totally relaxed and your body feels in peace with itself, with zero rigidities. That’s really a good sensation. In the first 45/60 minutes the potency of this strain is quite high, so it’s still better to lay on the sofa or you may feel your head spinning. You could also experience some difficulties with talking. Of course, this is not a strain for beginners since she could create a sense of paranoia in even low temperatures and dosages. And since it’s not psychedelic at all, it’s not really helpful in transforming your sadness into happiness. It's different: if you were sad or neutral before vaping, it will just help you feel a little more relaxed. But here’s the best thing: if you were happy before vaping, well, the high will be magical, and a lot happier! So... I highly suggest you to be in a happy state-of-mind already before vaping the Doc (and in general any other kind of weed)! Overall, I can say that vaping at this temperature is very good for creative activities, because increases your focus a lot. Paranoia alert YES, but don’t be scared. If you feel a bit of paranoia, try doing less hits! ;-) I don’t feel it’s very helpful in social contexts where you have to talk, because it’s not something always easy to do. The effect lasted 4 hours, with a bit of good mild sensations for about another hour. Not very strong munchies, but I didn’t resist to a small piece of delicious cake I had in the kitchen and then an apple to refresh my mouth. Haha! ----- VAPING @ 170C ----- The initial taste is limey and peachy as before, but this time there’s some passion fruit too in it. The high now hits faster: 80% on the head and 20% on the body. The first 25 minutes are so powerful you could even feel some confusion. By the way, at 30 minutes I started feeling so good I couldn’t find any will to get up and prepare my dinner. After 30 hits I could taste some incense too. It was really fresh to the nose: I loved that! After 45 minutes, with the vape off, I tried one last hit and I magically felt a strong MANGO aroma in both my mouth and nose. It’s the first time my weed smells 100% like a specific fruit. I need to say the Mighty here is so great in preserving flavors, and the Volcano would do even better. For the next 1:30h I think I had one of the best times of my life: 100% happiness, real and powerful connection with people, deep thoughts, introspective hyper power, lot of positivity, creativity and many ideas. This is really the moment where you know from the inside you’re able to get rid of many of your problems. I mean, WOW!! I was about to skip the review of this temp, but I would have missed the best one. What a wonderful experience. DEFINITELY my favorite one (I did the 180C and 200C tests before this, so I’m really certain now)! ----- VAPING @ 180C ----- The taste here is harder to define. It could be something like a vegetable, but I’m not that sure. Can’t find the peach anymore. After some hits the taste turns into incense, with a light watermelon candy aftertaste that I also found in vaping @ 160C. After 5 minutes you can start feeling a light mental effect, alternated with lot of sneezes. Lol, it has to contain some peppery terpenes inside. The initial effect is now clearly stronger than before because I felt definitely more focused. I’d say it’s a little psychedelic too, even if this could happen only within the first 10 minutes and just for a few seconds. My eyes were more closed too haha! After 10-15 hits I could smell a fruitier taste. Maybe tangerine or citrus (orange candy?) mixed with some vanilla and a herb that reminded me of mint. A taste that made me also think about that double-apple molasses you smoke with shishas. Not bad! After 30 minutes I really felt good, with lot of introspective thoughts, and didn’t wanna move around because it was easier to lay on the sofa. There's just one thing I didn't like: those continuous sneezes!! But now it comes the best part: on the 160C effect report I wrote you can easily get happier if you start vaping in an already happy state of mind. But there’s something else you should know about the Doc: if you start vaping when you’re sad or stressed, all you have to do is forcing your thoughts into something happier for even just a moment. Boom. You immediately start smiling and negativity disappears. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS! Not many munchies this time! It’s not always like this, so get ready to surround yourself with healthy snacks, or you could eat your entire kitchen! Overall I think that vaping @ 180C is better in the evening, and this because you would end in getting too much focused (the concept of “too much focus” is not really always a good thing). This means your brain could start thinking too much, which is everything but relaxing. A little advice: since your eyes could get very dry, some eye drops applied in the right moment will be your best smoke companion. ----- VAPING @ 200C ----- At 200C the taste is a bit unstable because it doesn’t last for long. It initially tastes like lemon and maybe yogurt, then changes to sugared almonds with a little touch of lemon which may still be there. When you’re about to stop your smoke session because you don’t see any other smoke, the smell is similar to the one of old dusty books. I mean... kind of, but it’s not bad! The sensation on the head here is heavier. It’s exactly what I reported before, but stronger. This time I didn’t get the usual 15-30 minutes of confusion, but just a happy high instead. Very nice. Every temperature has its own pros, so I highly suggest to try them all. By the way what you’re doing really affects your mood. If you’re chatting with a friend about something fun and happy, the Doc will be more than happy to help making feel you even happier. What an amazing strain! ----- PROS AND CONS ----- - PROS: Not strong munchies, happiness, creative and deep, introspective thinking, makes you funny if chatting with someone. Because it makes you think deeper, it could even help in getting rid of some communication problems with important people in your life because you don’t feel judged anymore and so can say whatever flows in your mind with no problems. And the best thing here is that you’ll later remember you can always be like this, even when you’re not high. This is why I love weed. Some strains are perfect to make people fight and win their inner problems, and this is one of them for sure. The high lasts 5-6h. - CONS: Some paranoia in the first 30 minutes. It’s hard to talk. Long flowering. Impossible to trim. Not dense bud structure. The high lasts 5-6h. Lol. It depends if you have time to be high for 5 straight hours (while the last hour is usually milder). ----- SOME INTERESTING FACTS ----- - If you’re interested in the “red blood” that came out from her in week 7 (of the diary), there is an interesting explanation of what that “blood” is in week 10! - On week 9 there is a photo of my solution for manually watering under a ScrOG net/grid. But later I opted for a “manual hand syphon” thanks to a good advice from my bro @TheBudWhisperer (that was a golden advice bro!), that I found extremely more helpful than my previous solution. - On week 15, in the final part of my comment, I explain how I water my plants (because a very dry soil needs to be first hydrated before pouring all the water!!). - If you’re interested in the trimming phase, I wrote all the infos you need on week 24, including all the photos and videos from the harvest day. By the way, this is the worst part of the entire grow, and I highly recommend everyone do a dry trimming after 10-14 days of total darkness, instead of the usual trimming did the same day of the harvest. ----- CONCLUSIONS ----- In the end I got 250 grams, and I’m very, very satisfied! 🎉 A very clear and focused effect is what I expected from a pure landrace sativa like this. She’s very very strong and the high lasts about 5-6 hours (understand?! 6 hours later you’ll still feel a mild positive and motivating high that still helps you getting things done). 6 hours is really a lot of time. And while it’s good for deep thinking or deep text conversations (because it’s quite hard to talk), I can’t tell the same for physical activities in general, which are not suggested. So, in general, it’s clearly a top-notch strain. But let me now compare it with the Silver Haze I’ve grown last year. Unfortunately, I sadly need to say the Doc can’t beat her. I really hoped to, but the high here is more raw, visceral, primitive, and a little hard to manage sometimes. Vaping the same quantity of Silver Haze never made me feel that sense of paranoia in the beginning, and with Silver Haze I could always get that little happy psychedelic experience that often gifted me with some amazing introspective sessions that helped me fix some problems and grow a lot like a person and a human. Nothing that vaping the Doc @ 170C or even 180C can’t do, but with Silver Haze it was all a little more peaceful and stable. So this, plus the very long and unknown flowering time, are the reasons why I’ll not grow this strain again. But my journey to find the best sativa on the planet will definitely not stop here. Thanks for following and I hope you liked this review. Stay safe =) TOTEM