News Joint Grow Journal 4: Seeds
As someone who has reviewed several Illinois strains and read nearly as many lab test results for strains, I knew exactly which specific genetics I wanted to grow and why. However, as mentioned in News Joint Grow Journal 2, Illinois has forced patients into a gray area of the law because Illinois requires patients to purchase seeds from dispensaries. However, Illinois dispensaries do not sell seeds. And why would they? Creating seeds takes up extra space, and dispensaries in general want patients to buy flower from their cultivators, not grow medicine for themselves.

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The patients I know or have communicated with desperately want to follow the law but are confused by where and how to purchase legal seeds. When the law is confusing or offering one option that does not exist, what is a patient to do? This is part of the law Illinois needs to adjust immediately. Also mentioned in Grow Journal 2, we follow the law with no exceptions. So obtaining the specific genetics for my medical needs became more difficult and took longer than expected.
As Homegrown Cannabis Co.’s resident grow expert Kyle Kushman advised, “Take time to research which cultivars work for you. By research I mean smoke.” So I completed several hours of research on seed banks and breeders. I communicated with several seed banks and breeders about sponsoring News Joint Grow Journal. Many breeders were willing to sponsor seeds but not strains I wanted for my specific medical needs. Some breeders offered sponsorship but would not work out a way for me to obtain the seeds without mailing them to me.
Patience paid off when Homegrown Cannabis Co. and Mass Medical Strains agreed not only to sponsor the exact strains I wanted for my first grow but I also worked out a way for me to obtain the seeds in the most legal way possible that ultimately ended with a hand delivery. Another reason we partnered with Homegrown Cannabis Co. and Mass Medical Strains was because I truly felt as if they understood and cared about my medical needs and choices for strains. Not many other breeders seem to.
For my legal five-plant limit, I will be running five different strains catered for my specific medical needs, including 1) three high-energy sativa with a strong but focused and motivated cerebral buzz that helps reduce my ADD and allows me to work uninterrupted for hours 2) one heavy-hitting indica with couchlock and thoughtlock and a muscle-relaxing body buzz and sedative effects that knock me out before bed, and 3) a strain with the highest levels of THC and CBD possible. I am grateful to have found the exact medical strains I’d been searching for.
For my first grow, I will be running three strains from Homegrown Cannabis Co. that include two high-energy sativa and the muscle-relaxing and sedative indica. The sativa include Amnesia Lemon and Steve DeAngelo’s Dream Queen (aka Green Crack, Green Cush, Cush). As I mentioned in our Work Sativa Review series, several years ago Green Crack was the first real high-energy sativa strain with a strong but focused cerebral buzz I had smoked. It instantly became one of my favorite sativa and changed the way I looked at writing while high (and eventually led to our Work Sativa Review series).

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The problem was that I was not able to find the strain again in central Illinois, until legalization. I bought three eights of Green Crack by Verano. Then Verano promptly quit cultivating the strain. Now, I am going to grow my own Steve’s Dream Queen, which tops out at 25% THC and includes 3-7% CBD, and then smoke it as if I don’t care if the Illinois cultivators stops growing it, because I won’t.
Lately, I have been enjoying the energetic and creative effects of lemon strains, so another strong high-energy sativa strain I chose to run includes Amnesia Lemon. Amnesia Lemon is a cross between two of my sativa strains Amnesia Haze and Lemon Skunk. I can’t wait to see how these two powerhouses strains combine. This strain has around 21% THC and 1.2% CBD.
The final Homegrown Cannabis Co. strain I am going to run is Blood Diamond OG, which contains around 24% THC 0.7 CBD. Blood Diamond OG is a modernized version of the world-renowned OG Kush. I chose this pure indica strain for its narcotic and sedative affect for the head and body to help me fall asleep. I am interested in making concentrates, oils, and edibles out of this strain as well.
The reason I was so excited to collaborate with Mass Medical Strains was because I had heard very few breeders speak about motivational and creative cerebral sativa strains in the way Mass Medical Strains did. Still don’t. Mass Medical offered so many sativa strains I wanted to grow, but the one that most fit my medical needs most was Prayer Pupil.

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Prayer Pupil is a super-potent and flavorful (up to 33% THC and 3% terpenes) cross between Mass Medical’s famous Star Pupil and Bodhi Seeds’ Prayer Tower Sativa (lemon Thai pheno). The high-yielding Prayer Pupil is supposed to have soapy, hashy, creamy, and lavender flavors with energetic and extremely strong cerebral effects. I can’t wait.
The fifth strain I am running is Mass Medical’s Swabi Pakistani 3. Swabi Pakistani is a unique and rare unhybridized pure landrace/heirloom strain from the Swabi region of Pakistan. Since I found out I receive maximum relief with a 1:2 ratio of CBD/THC, I had been searching for a medical strain that had about 13% CBD and 20% THC.

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The closest strain I had been able to find on Illinois dispensaries was Orange Herijuana by Rythm, which last batch I tried tested at about 11% CBD and 14% THC. I didn’t think a true 1:2 strain existed until I read information on Swabi Pakistani 3. The Swabi Pakistani 3 listed exactly what I was looking for my medical needs, a strain with up to 13% CBD and 20% THC.

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I truly feel honored to be running these strains and only want to do justice to the breeder. I can’t wait to share the process of growing these plants with you. For News Joint Grow Journal 5, I will soak and plant these five seeds. I’ve already told the seeds how pretty they were, so we’re off to a good start.

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