I bought the seeds from Heavens Stairway Canada in 2001. I germed the seeds in 2003 and got 9/10. Damn good if you ask me. 5 of the plants died in an accident by my partner, I couldn’t believe it. Of the 4 remaining plants, I got 3 females and 1 male. Note: the male was originally a female (had the female pre-flower indicators with pistils) but it is now a full on male, with the male spade pre-flowers. The plants grew quite vigorously with the exception of #5, this one was a bit behind the rest. I cloned all the plants and had approximately 80% success, so it was fairly easy to clone. The male is #2 the females are #3, #4, and #5. The plants were all looking finished in less than 50 days so I cut em down, I pollinated #5 so it went an extra 10 days for good measure. They were all very nice plants, easy to maintain and handled the nutes well (I went 75% of the recommended dosages to ensure easy flush).
The plants may look a bit less than optimum because my pump was down for 3 days before I realized it, this occurred during the 5th-6th week of flower. I flowered them at approximately 10in., #3 and #4 stretched like crazy, these 2 ended up at a little over 2 ft. #3 and #4 also had long side branches that stretched all the way across my grow tray which is 4 ft wide. Some buds that I thought belonged to #5 were actually from #3 and #4. That was a very nice trait as they seemed to want to grow everywhere, kind of doing its thing for me by filling the open spaces with flower tops. #5 however didn’t stretch at all, this one ended up under 1.5 ft., and there were no sprawling branches like the other 2. The resin gland formation was very nice, overall a very nice feature of this strain, for some reason, the resin on these DTC99's was more attractive than the AK47's (F1; cherry pheno) I had growing next to them. They were nowhere close in the yield department though, the AK out yeilded these guys by almost triple.
Back to the DTC99,
The smoke from #5 was the best, this one had me tripping out a bit, kind of spacey feeling. Heavy duty in the fuck with your head dept, there is not much body though, I can feel the bottom of the high but it is not very heavy in that dept. As I smoke #5 right now, it is clearly my favorite. Tastes like licorice cotton candy, sweet and spicy, this one is my 100 % keeper. Also during flowering this one started to turn purple on me, buds and leaves. Note: During the middle of flowering the DTC99, I installed a new A/C unit, so there might be something to that.
The smoke from #3 was decent but nothing special, in fact im almost certain the high/stone is totally unacceptable as a keeper, I will run it 1 more time to be sure. The trait that stands out about this one was the yield, almost double the weight of the other 2. The buds on this plant had better density, they were heavy while the other 2 were a bit light in the weight department, not airy at all. The bud formation of all the specimens seemed to be mainly at the top of the plant, so the #3 was falling over but the canopy supported it nicely with no adverse affect on the surrounding plants. The stretch was also the most in this one, and the structure did not support much. #3 also had some purple but not as much as #5.
Now #4 wins the contest for best looks, this was one of the most unique bud formations I have ever seen. It was growing braided buds like a pure sativa but it was forming the little bud/flowers in a tight fashion, not loose whatsoever but the resin content was very much like an indica. Like bud dreadlocks or braids. This had great taste, a bit stronger in taste than the #5, but similar flavors. This one did not turn purple whatsoever. The #4 also had the most pronounced resin formation. The resin was all over the place on this one, even on the leaf stalks there were crazy standing trich's; defiantly the most resinated out of the 3 females. The smoke was also nothing too special similar to #3, but with a bit more sativa kick. The structure of the plant was similar to #3 with a decent amount of stretch but it stood straight up, unlike #3 which was very leggy.
Overall I’m very happy about the DTC99, this was not a waste of my time, space, and energy. Although the yield leaves something to be desired, the smoke I got was worth it, and the finishing time is great. I will run all 3 plants again for a final test, but I’m certain that the #5 will be kept, its now all about observing #3 and #4.
The pictures I have included are pics from harvest time. I also have pics of the plants in veg, but the pics in flower are much more interesting. Anyways please enjoy. peace and positive vibes. asiatica