Kandy Kush Forbidden sweetness: Too potent for the confectionery shop!
Another famous Kush cross from DNA Genetics that has been available for a longer time already is Kandy Kush, a mostly indica strain (60/40 indica/sativa) consisting of OG Kush x Train Wreck (T4).
In 2010, Kandy Kush won a remarkable prize when out of 140 strains she was chosen as the best medical marijuana at the 1st Colorado Cannabis Crown contest. Another award followed at the Spannabis Outdoor Cup 2012, where she took third place. DNA Genetics says about its growth and bloom behavior: “Classic stretch of the OG Kush that bulks up and fills out like the TW to give you OG flavor and TW nugs.” The Train Wreck strain was used for this cross because of its commercial productiveness, very high resin content and lemony aroma. Just like the OG Kush, it has become a highly popular American flagship strain in recent years, so Kandy Kush is another exciting meeting of two giants in the world of cannabis strains. Marrying Train Wreck to the OG Kush led to an insane sweetness reminding of candy, “a true California flavor” according to DNA Genetics. They praise Kandy Kush as “one of the most resinous plants in their catalogue” (which certainly means a lot), announcing the onset of heavy trichome production after the 5th week that won’t stop increasing until the very end. With 9-10 weeks of flowering, Kandy Kush takes a bit longer than most of the other DNA Kush varieties, but with regard to its big yield potential of 450-550 g/m2, nobody will get impatient I guess.
She is available both in the form of feminized and regular seeds. Growulff sowed half a package of six feminized seeds only as he shared the other half with a friend. Together with Kandy Kush, he also started Stacked Kush and a few other varieties. Placed into Jiffy pots, the three Kandy Kush seeds popped up within three days and were raised under two 75 Watt high-efficiency CFL lamps in a Secret Jardin one sqm. grow box at first. The leaves soon produced by the plants were quite broad in the beginning, but then became a bit thinner with every new set, until they were more on the sativa side.
After two weeks, Growulff had transplanted the plants into 22.5 litre Air Pots filled with coco ground and watered by hand. Then they were moved into the actual grow room that was equipped with 6x 600 Watts lamps (3x HPS, 3x MH, adding up to +600 Watts/m2), where the vegetative stage was continued for another two weeks. The Kandy Kush plants exhibited a very early onset of strong side branch growth, but at the same time vividly stretched to height, growing very vigorously and also homogeneously. After four weeks, at the end of the vegetative stage under a daily light cycle of 18/6, they measured 86, 91 and 98 cm in height already, lined with a lot of long side branches, adopting a rhombus or diamond shaped growth model. An already intense Kushy sweet scent gave a good hint of what was to come, a true “aroma bomb” Growulff expected. Highly satisfied with their vegetative performance, he sparked the three Kandy Kush plants into flowering mode by cutting down the daily light cycle to 12/12. Three more 600 watts HPS bulbs were installed in the grow room, replacing the MH ones to give the plants a perfect light spectrum for the flowering stage.
Within 7-9 days, the first female pre-flowers became visible at the tops of the plants. And the Kandy Kush plants would waste no time, fully switching to the flowering mode without hesitation. While lots of dense clusters of female flowers were developing all over the plants, they kept on stretching to height for about another four weeks. It became obvious that long drawn-out mighty main top colas would steeply arise from a wide carpet of side branch top buds located in the middle of the plants, similar to the Stacked Kush plants. The budding pattern was clearly dominated by Kandy Kush’s indica genes, with fairly big calyxes shaping chubby succulent buds that exhibited quite a high calyx-to-leaf ratio. One could not have said there was little resin on the buds before week six of flowering, in fact, there already was quite a lot of it. But as predicted, resin gland production was noticeably changing into the highest gear from that point on and in the following weeks it was also packing the edges of larger leaves in the buds into crusty thick layers of resin. At the same time, those intense sweet Kush aroma clouds spread by the plants were accordingly becoming even more overwhelming, it was almost as if one could have cut the air into pieces.
After nine weeks of flowering, Growulff scheduled harvesting the plants in about half a week or one week, so it was all obviously going according to plan. In the end, those frosty plants were 118, 122 and 132 cm tall, laden with tons of juicy, tight indica-like nuggets. The tallest plant had produced a tremendous main stem top cola that was longer and thicker than a strong, tall man’s underarm! This majestic Kandy Kush plant needed 69 days to ripen, the other two 66 and 71 days. So once again a DNA strain had proven to perform very evenly (the more so, as also that incredible smell given off by the plants was all the same). Also, not a single male flower showed up.
When the buds had been dried and slightly fermented, Growulff weighed those silvery-white, super sticky and dense Kandy Kush buds, reading harvest weights of 115, 123 and 135 grams on the scales. Needless to say he was extremely delighted about that fantastically fat yield which even surpassed his expectations! And the buds’ odor was simply awesome and highly alluring, spreading an incredible spicy sweetness, smelling like peppered candy. Their yummy flavor then kept this promise of a particularly savory smoke experience, delivering a full-mouth piquant sweetness that lingered on the palate extraordinarily long. Last but not least, the long-lasting turn effected by Kandy Kush was another real smasher, shifting Growulff into a state of deep physical and mental relaxation in no time, but at the same time he remained active and mentally clear enough to properly think and move, so he wasn’t totally devastated and instead also sensed a certain grade of bright euphoria in his mind. He appreciated that state of mind and body very much and considers Kandy Kush’s kind of high as ideal for respective medical treatments.
After that great Kandy Kush cultivation experience, DNA Genetics strains keep on impressing Growulff and he looks forward to testing more of their new Kush crosses such as Lemon OG Kush, Chocolope Kush and Holy Grail Kush…
Green Born Identity – G.B.I.
Originally published in Weed World Magazine 111
Cultivation data:
Genetics | Kandy Kush (OG Kush x Train Wreck (T4) = 60% sativa, 40% indica) |
Vegetative stage | here: 4 weeks |
Flowering stage | 66, 69 and 71 days, 63-70 days in general |
Medium | Coco CoGr (in 22.5 liter Air Pots) |
pH | 5.6-6.4 |
EC | 1.2–2.1 mS |
Light | First two weeks: 2x 75 W Secret Jardin CFL, then +600 W/m2 |
Temperature | 20-27°C |
Air humidity | 40-60% |
Watering | by hand |
Fertilisation | Canna Vega A+B, Flores A+B (Air Pots) |
Additives/stimulants | Rhizotonic, Cannazym, PK 13/14, Agrom Medical Boost |
Height | 118, 122 and 132 cm |
Yield | 115, 123 and 135 g (about 124 g per plant on the average) |