Querkle~ From the Beginning

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

subcool

Dank Creator
Joined
May 27, 2008
Messages
459
Reaction score
2,374
I have to recycle parts of this story but when we get to the documentation part it will be all live. This is a really cool article I wrote with some great reference material.
Instead of starting at germinating some seeds we will go all the way back to me finding the mother strain.


The Color Purple
By Subcool

Purple Cannabis is all the rage in the Nocal clubs and it is highly sought after by both consumers and producers, lets explore this phenomenon and learn some things about Cannabis and Color. Do we see any great demand for purple today? Not in normal things because they’re readily available but when it comes to Purple Pot it’s another story.
Cannabis floral clusters are basically green, but changes may take place later in the season, which alter the color to include various shades. The intense green of chlorophyll usually hides the color of accessory pigments, Chlorophyll starts to loose it’s vibrant green color late in the season and anthocyanin pigments also contained in the tissues are uncovered and the amazing colors are produced at this time. Purple, resulting from anthocyanin accumulation, is extremely common in Cannabis, this color modification is usually triggered by seasonal change, and also can be influenced indoor by a temperature drop of between 20-30 degrees


This does not mean, however, that Purple is controlled by environment alone and it can be passed on genetically. For purple color to develop upon maturation, a strain must have the genetically controlled metabolic potential to make anthocyanin pigments and be responsiveness to environmental change such as cold nighttime temps. This means a strain can have the genetic potential to change color but if conditions never exist you may never know it. I have grown Jacks Cleaner for a long time and when I moved west and it found some dramatically cooler temps I got a nice maroon/ purple coloring at maturity.
There are other pigments that effect the color of mature cannabis for example Carotenoid is largely responsible for the yellow, orange, red, and brown colors in buds. I find this effect is much easier to accomplish in Organics and soil but in order to really call a strain Purple it needs to have more than colored outer leaves and the inner buds need to actually be Purple.


One aspect that I also find interesting is the purple potency debate, for those that have collected a few plants that produce Purple buds under any conditions like certain Black Russian phenotypes we have noticed something that seems to be consistent. When growing out females of a hybrid that have both color females and non colored females the colored one seems to always be less potent.

This doesn’t mean I haven’t smoked great Purple weed,I just find it a rarity.

My friends grows a local Purple Urkle Clone that taste out of this world. It is a clone only strain that originated in Northern California It may be one of the better tasting Purple strains around and it’s purple to the center of the cola, every single part of the plant is purple. I would give the high intensity an 8 very enjoyable, something I might keep around and so far the one I like the most. After an afternoon session I determined it’s main attraction is the lip smacking Grape/Lavender taste of the smoke.

The Purps and Mendo Purps are both rumored to be good but I wasn’t impressed with the first Mendo I sampled, it didn’t taste at all grapey or berry like I may have been a poor sample though. We also sampled many strains in Amsterdam with color but none stood out. There are so many Purple cuts in California its hard to really know what any one really is but I recently smoked a Sputnik 2 female with nice outer purple that kicked my *** in about 3 hits. Recently Badboy gained a cut of a strain called Purple Helmet he says its very good and is currently growing her out. Double Purple Doja a creation of TGA knocks me on my *** but I still would not place it in a league with an Apollo –13 or something like OG Kush.
Other Northern California Strains:

Granddaddy purple, Godfather purple, Super Purple Kush, Gods Gift, Urkle, Purple Midnight, Purple Rainbow, Purple Princess, Purple Fire, Purple Cream, Purple Rainbow, Lavender, Purple Friday, Purple Magic, Ray's Purple. Most of these can be found in the clubs but they could all be a few strains grown by different people with jazzed up names.
I can’t confirm it but many people think Urkle and Lavender are the same cutting.
We continue to explore this paradox of color and potency. I recently sampled some very Berry Surprise and while it looked amazing I didn’t even finish sample it just had no real taste other than burning. For now we are growing the Lavender and crossing her with certain males to establish what traits she will pass on.

Lets look at ways to maximize coloring in your garden.

The first trick to inducing some good color change is what I like to call the “fade” this is when using an organic soil mix you achieve the perfect balance of N-P-K allowing the plant to use up all the available nitrogen and start loosing it’s Chlorophyll and the colored pigments are allowed to bleed through as the green fades. This can be achieved I am sure in Hydro as well but plants react so fast and absorb so well in water that its more normal for a hydro plant to be green and vibrant that multi colored like in soil organics.

The second thing that can really make a huge difference is a large temperature swing between day time and night time temps. The nice thing is with a simple A/c unit and a well built bud room it’s pretty easy to chill a 12x12 room to 60 degrees year round. That same room running 3000 watts will have a day time temperature of between 80-85 degrees making a 25 degree temperature swing. This will easily unlock that fall color hidden inside a strain provided the genetic coding is also there. I have to say from experience it’s a trait of a large percentage of Cannabis that I have grown. Bringing in outside air in colder climates can also be helpful in adding some color as well as keeping bugs in check and a bud room can stand bitter cold if your not worried about reservoir temps.

Last proper application of nutrients is very important if you jack up the N far into bud your not going to see this fading and you may even effect the taste I have found plants that faded to early actually tasted sweeter but then you hurt your yields. Using a good catalyst can also help a lot as the citric acid and sugars seem to speed up the maturation process I currently use sweet leaf at week 4 and week 6. There are many good products and many old timers even make up there own using cane sugar and citric acid but I think the big companies have better research to support there recipes.



Ok so if you read all that you should have learned something.
This is the bud that came to me as Lavender which I later confirmed is actually Urkle A Cutting was acquired lets find out about that in the next segment.

Lavender.jpg


Lavender3.jpg


Lavender4.jpg


Lavender5.jpg


Lavender6.jpg


Lavender7.jpg


Lavender8.jpg
 
I find it hard to believe a collector like me missed Urkle so many years. I really love smoking her and the flavor is one of my new favorites along side Space Queen. I have reported difficulty in finding a purple strain I feel is potent enough along with having the flavor to go along with the looks. Well we found it in this Northern California cross called Urkle. Like they say..."Up on a Hill above Garberville"... eludes to its origin and I have verified the cutting by growth pattern, smell and talking with others that have grown her for years and also feel she is special. She is easy to spot not only for her amazing flavor and looks but how show she grows. We joke a slow driver is an Urkle and I have actually called someone an “Urkle”. She is so slow she requires a good bit of additional vegetive time to compete with taller faster strains. She also has a plentiful amount of huge fan leaves that have to be removed some to allow any light at all to reach the lower buds.
I landed a cutting and we proceeded to bud her out :)
Lets watch Momma Go

LAV2 (Medium).jpg


LAV (Medium).jpg


LAV5 (Medium).jpg


LAV7 (Medium).jpg


Picture 007 (Medium).jpg


lavey.jpg


lavey2.jpg


lavey3.jpg


lavey4.jpg


lavey5.jpg
 
The harvested Buds were just amazing and the cat who passed me the clone kept asking me to cross it with Space Dude but we actually hesitated for a good year as I was reluctant to work with a Purple plant again just to try and create purple plant bearing seeds. In the end I gave in to pressure, that story is coming up :)

colorP.jpg


colorP2.jpg


colorP3.jpg


colorP4.jpg


colorP5.jpg
 
I used my staggering method and budded the Urkle mom for 8 days before budding the male and that gives us a breeding window of about 21-24 days.

Here is shots of Urkle and Space Dude at like day 20 of budding.

This male plant may have been found in just 10 started seeds but IMO its one of the most valuable breeding plants I have ever worked with, you could cross this hombre with a turnip and get dank!

lavgirl.jpg


lavgirl2.jpg


lavgirl3.jpg


lavgirl4.jpg


lavgirl5.jpg


coldboy.jpg


coldboy2.jpg


coldboy3.jpg


coldboy4.jpg


coldboy5.jpg


coldboy6.jpg


coldboy7.jpg
 
I may be in your face guys but I don't see anyone else going this deep exposing what and how they do what they do. I love this stuff and to me growing out the hybrids or polys or what ever you want to call them is my art form.
Just wait till you see what this simple act created.

Qurple.jpg


Qurple2.jpg


Qurple3.jpg


Qurple4.jpg


Qurple5.jpg


Qurple6.jpg


Qurple7.jpg


Qurple8.jpg
 
She is so slow she requires a good bit of additional vegetive time to compete with taller faster strains. She also has a plentiful amount of huge fan leaves that have to be removed some to allow any light at all to reach the lower buds.

It is my understanding and practice to never remove sun leaves because they are the "powerhouses' of the plant. By removing to allow light to "the buds" due you actually mean the sun leaf at the lower bud site and not the bud itself?
 
ozzydiodude said:
It is my understanding and practice to never remove sun leaves because they are the "powerhouses' of the plant. By removing to allow light to "the buds" due you actually mean the sun leaf at the lower bud site and not the bud itself?


Felt that way myself for many years bro but its wrong IMO. Certainly you can't remove to many fan/sun leaves but some plants can loose as many as 25% with not only no yield loss but a yield increase. Urkle fans shade all the lowers and if there shaded they wont swell. If a plant has really tight internodal I trim em up allowing light down.

I saw a med grower remove ALL the fan leaves from his JC2 and he got huge yields I want to do some experimenting when I have time on this very subject.
 
By Day 43 I was just overwelmed with excitement this stuff smelled incredible and there is no doubt the color was coming through but so was more resin and a bit more size and speed. When making a hybrid of an elite female if your finding a plant this good in just 5 seeds you are on track.

Querkpurp (Small).jpg


Querkpurp2.jpg


Querkpurp3 (Small).jpg


Querkpurp4 (Small).jpg


Querkpurp5.jpg


Querkpurp6.jpg


Querkpurp7.jpg
 
Very,very nice Bro.:hubba: Its great to see a brother who has turned his love for growing,,into an art.;)
 
I asked one of my good medical growers to run 20 querkles so that I could find a male to work with. Moving to fast for ya? You see there is no such thing as an Urkle male and since I do not believe in reversing sex this is how I create a line to breed with. Now I just have to wade through all this damn purple reefer.:holysheep:

Gasmansroom.jpg


Gasmansroom2.jpg


Purplesnoflakes.jpg


Purplesnoflakes2.jpg


Purplesnoflakes6.jpg


Purplesnoflakes9.jpg


Purplesnoflakes10.jpg


Querklegas.jpg


Querklegas3.jpg


Querklegas7.jpg


Querklegas6.jpg


Querklegas5.jpg
 
Want to meet the males?

It took about 6 months to pick the one we were looking for. Smell and structure have a huge bearing but there are so many factors I concider but in the end the one with the freaking pink pollen and the merlot smell just happened to be the one I had picked on the day I took these pics based on stem rub and my spidy since telling me he was the one.

Pollen Chucker or not this takes a good bit of work and loads of dedication.

Want to meet the male we choose?

Sub

Qzmale.jpg


Qzmale2.jpg


Qzmale3.jpg


Qzmale4.jpg


Qzmale5.jpg


Qzmale6.jpg


remoteQ.jpg


backdrop3.jpg


backdrop2.jpg


Threeboys.jpg


Threeboys3.jpg
 
Massive cool! She's gorgeous! What are the charachteristics you look fer in a male? You got a beautiful thumb brother!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top