DNA Genetics strain story: Silver Kush - Legendary oldschool trio encounters OG Kush
Once again, DNA Genetics’ omnipotent OG Kush #18 male was looking for a new wife, this time capturing and pollinating Silver Bubble (a mix of 1/4 Northern Lights, 1/4 Skunk and 1/2 Haze), in order to launch this legendary old-school trio strain into a new orbit – a Kush orbit! The vigorous result is called Silver Kush (feminised seeds only) which is a new cross released by DNA’s Californian partner breeder collective Reserva Privada. Silver Bubble has been very popular in Amsterdam for ten years already and the OG #18 quickly rose to prominence after having served as a crossing parent for a a couple of outstanding hybrids and its release by DNA/Reserva Privada as its own strain. Their offspring, Silver Kush, is described as a “strong sativa dominant hybrid” (70/30 sativa/indica) delivering an uplifting high and, thanks to the OG #18, blessed with a great deal of medicinal power. High yields of 450-550 g/m2 can be expected, to be achieved in only nine weeks of flowering.
Silver Kush immediately was a hot candidate for Mr. Power-Planter’s grow room and he sowed a complete package of six feminised seeds into jiffy pots which all germinated quickly and healthily. Together with other plants placed under a 600 watts metal halide lamp, the seedlings naturally stretched a bit at first but soon developed the first set of serrated leaves and shortly after that also the first set of three-fingered leaves. Then growth became noticeably more compact, with the leaves coloured dark green; despite the 70% sativa pedigree, the OG #18 came through here. Mr. Power-Planter let the plants remain in the vegetative stage for four weeks (after some days they had been transplanted into 6.5 litre pots filled with Plagron Standard Mix soil). Within this time the six plants produced a lot of side branches and arrived at heights of about 63-80 cm, all looking very similar in terms of growth pattern the shape of which was reminiscent of cottonwood.
Then Mr. Power-Planter triggered flowering by switching the daily light cycle from 18/6 to 12/12 hours (also replacing the MH bulb by a 600 watt HPS one) and the six Silver Kush plants did respond to that within 7-9 days, starting to develop the first white female pre-flowers. During the first four weeks of flowering, there was a considerable ongoing stretching effect that led to a bit more space between internodes and flower production had gotten into full gear, with great looking dense nuggets full of white hairs emerging from the main stems and side branches. What particularly stroked the eye was the fact that resin production had a very early and vivid onset, already occurring after one month of flowering the buds were trichome-laden with a silvery white appearance and sported medium to big calyxes. Mr. Power-Planter was very confident Silver Kush would prove to be a super resinous strain in the end.
In the following weeks of flowering it was confirmed that the Silver Kush buds were developing quite a high calyx-to-leaf ratio on most of the plants, so the influence of Silver Bubble on the budding pattern was obvious. The flower clusters were becoming very tight and extremely resin-covered indeed, a real pleasure to look at and gently touch for Mr. Power-Planter but his nose was also captivated by the six plants that gave off a wonderfully deep, rich, Kush-dominant aroma. After about 7.5 weeks of flowering, almost 50% of the flower hairs had turned orange and the plants were obviously getting on the home stretch in the remaining 1-1.5 weeks. The calyxes kept on swelling and became even more sticky, jewelled with dense white resin carpets (just like large parts of the flower leaves), and that kushy smell meanwhile was overwhelming. In the end, the six Silver Kush plants had reached heights of 95-116 cm, which was considered fairly homogeneous by Mr. Power-Planter, and with finishing times of 59-64 days they proved to be pretty uniform in this regard too. After Mr. Power-Planter had harvested and dried them, the Silver Kush buds had turned into rock-hard silver nuggets that were spreading an intense kushy sweet and spicy scent. With his big storage glasses full of heavy Silver Kush nuggs in his hands, Mr. Power-Planter felt like having plundered a silver mine. He scaled the dry harvest, finding out that four of the six main top colas had produced weights of 25-31 grams which he felt was marvellous. The other buds of the plants weren’t scaled separately, so Mr. Power-Planter could only state an average yield per plant which amounted to 76.7 grams – An excellent outcome as the total was 460 grams per sqm.
The smoke’s flavour was awesome, with a lot of Kush spicyness and sweetness rounded off by hints of haze, brought in by the Silver Bubble, and an aromatic aftertaste that remained on the palate for a longer time. Silver Kush’s very strong and intense high was affecting both body and soul, at first a mighty cerebral sativa buzz took possession of Mr. Power-Planter which after about an hour slided into a more calm feeling, leaning more towards the indica side of this strain and lasting for almost another hour. Altogether a deeply satisfying smoke experience for Mr. Power-Planter who needs extra potent strains for getting decently high. Silver Kush did fulfil all his expectations and to his mind this strain has successfully joined the great line of Kush strains developed by DNA Genetics.
Green Born Identity – G.B.I.
Originally published in Weed World Magazine 105
Cultivation data:
Genetics |
Silver Kush (Silver Bubble x OG Kush #18 = 70% sativa, 30% indica) |
Vegetative stage |
here: 4 weeks |
Flowering stage |
59-64 days, 63 days in general |
Medium |
Plagron Standard Mix, 6.5 litre pots |
pH |
6.0-7.0 |
EC |
1.2-1.8 mS |
Light |
Vegetative stage: 600 watts GIB MH Flowering stage: 600 watts GIB HPS |
Temperature |
Day: 21-29°C Night: 16-21°C |
Air humidity |
40-60% |
Watering |
by hand |
Fertilisation |
Hesi Blüh Complex, Hesi Phosphor+ from the 4th week of flowering |
Additives/stimulants |
Hesi SuperVit, Agrom Medical Boost |
Height |
95-116 cm |
Yield |
76.7 g per plant on the average |