Knock out weed deep from the hollow of total stonedness
Tora Bora, known locally as Spīn Ghar, is a cave complex situated in the White Mountains (Safed Koh) of eastern Afghanistan. During the US-led coalition invasion of Afghanistan it was one of the supposed strongholds of the Taliban. Naming a cannabis strain after such a location may be considered sort of playing with the dark side of power a little bit, but DNA Genetics winkingly underlines that “Tora Bora is a peaceful meeting of a pure Pakistani and a pure Afghani…”
The Tora Bora strain was released to the market as a member of DNA’s “Reserva Privada Feminised Cannabis Seeds” range, being available only in the form of feminised seeds, six per unit. According to DNA Genetics, “this cross is a mix of two legendary strains; the LA known for a slow veg, modest yield, and Great Powerful flavor; and, the X-18 known for stretching in the first month only to slow down and finish pungent and blueish with her buds dense and rock hard. The mix of the two provides a quick vegging, early finishing strain having dark green buds with blueish rock hard nugs incrusted in crystals. Average yields for the Tora Bora make her a great plant for small as well as large gardens. LA & X18 are strong medical herbs and both have a history of relieving pain and helping patients with insomnia. Altogether, the Tora Bora is the knock out!! A must for any one who considers themselves a “heavy” or “high tolerant” smoker!” Tora Bora reaches maturity in 8-9 weeks of flowering, delivering yields of 400-500 g/m2.
The Doc, a medical marijuana grower, was heavily attracted by that highly alluring description, so he decided to give Tora Bora a try. Due to limited space (he also had some other strains growing in his room) he only sowed three feminised Tora Bora seeds. But The Doc’s ladies are always blessed with quite a long vegetative growth period and plenty of light, so some big plants were to be expected. The three seeds germinated well and were cultivated in the beginning under two 125 W CFL lights (6400 Kelvin).
After two weeks, The Doc replaced the CFL lights with two 600 W Planta Star HPS bulbs, so the plants were coddled with plenty of light. They were thriving very well, developing very broad and big indica typical leafs and thick stems. The leafs had a dark green colour that also exhibited some blue hues. After four weeks of vegetative growth, the plants were already spreading a sweet and spicy odour. All the three plants were very compact, bushy and homogeneous in height, measuring 55-60 cm.
The side branching development of two of the plants was quite hesitant in the first weeks – as it often is the case with many indica strains – while the third plant had already produced several longer side branches. Now The Doc induced flowering by reducing the daily light cycle from 18 to 12 hours. The two Planta Star bulbs were replaced by two 600 W Osram Son-T bulbs especially suitable for the flowering period. Two weeks after the light cycle had been cut down, all the Tora Bora plants had confirmed their female gender through female preflowers. In the course of flowering, also the side branching of the two more slender plants was getting into full gear. The side branches of one plant were growing very vertical though, almost parallel to the main stem – quite an unusal growth pattern rarely noticed so far by The Doc. The other two plants had a more open growth structure and canopy, here the side branches were growing normally, more sidewards. Plants kept on stretching in the first weeks of flowering but then their height levelled off at about 100-110 cm, and in the remaining weeks increased by only a few inches.
After four weeks of flowering, the plants had already produced amazing amounts of resin, spreading a sweet pungent scent that was becoming more and more intense, filling the whole grow room. Tons of resin glands busily kept on emerging like mushrooms springing up, and the Tora Bora strain was about proving itself as one of the most resinous Indica strains there are, at the end of the sixth week already looking majestically white. With regard to the indica nature of the strain, the calyx-to-leaf ratio of the buds was very high on two of the plants. Only the third plant with unusal side branch growth had more leafy buds. It also took ten days longer to ripen, while the top colas of the other two plants could be harvested after eight weeks already. The remaining buds were harvested one week later by The Doc. But the general flowering time of 8-9 weeks as stated by DNA Genetics was confirmed, with one plant showing a slight deviance of three days longer. One plant was the most resinous one, it almost looked like a real White Widow plant in the end. But the other two were highly resinous, too. The intense sweet and spicy smell of all the three plants was identical, so the typical aroma of Tora Bora seems to be genetically stable. Also the three plants proved to be 100% female, there were no male flowers at all. The most resinous plants also turned out to be the best yielder, delivering about 100 grams of finest sinsemilla. The other two plants yielded respectable 65 and 85 grams respectively.
After having finished one Tora Bora joint, The Doc was totally blasted away by the incredibly strong indica stone provided by Tora Bora. This was real knock out weed deep from the hollow of total stonedness! Blessed with a deliciously spicy indica taste. Very quickly he would notice that Tora Bora, indeed, is an excellent soporific, deeply relaxing his body and closing his eyes. After he had woken up, The Doc arrived at the conclusion that Tora Bora undoubtfully is one of the strongest indica strains available on the seed market.
Another grower called Greenhouse Joe tested a single Tora Bora plant in his 20 sqm. greenhouse. The seed was germinated at the end of April. After four weeks, the plant already had extremely huge fan leafs. In that greenhouse environment, Tora Bora grew very well and fast, with a quick onset of side branch development so that it had grown into a beautiful 1.2 metres tall indica bush with a big fat main stem after two months, at the beginning of July. It was grown in a huge pot in the first 2.5 months, but then Greenhouse Joe removed the bottom, planting his Tora Bora plant right into the open ground. By mid August, he discovered the first female preflowers – flowering followed the natural course of the season, there was no artificial darkening to effect early flowering. Eight and a half weeks later, the Tora Bora plant had arrived at a height of 2.30 metres and a width of two metres, with numerous mighty side branches protruding in all directions – a really impressive specimen of cannabis indica. Buds were harvested on 25 October. Unfortunately the weather had been quite bad in the last five weeks of flowering, mostly cloudy and rainy, also rather cold. So the Tora Bora buds didn’t receive much sunlight and couldn’t tap their full potential, producing big buds only at the top of the branches and yielding a total of 210 grams. These buds also had a significantly lower calyx-to-leaf ratio and less resin than those of the indoor Tora Bora plants grown by The Doc. No wonder the high also wasn’t as strong and the spicy aroma not that delicious and intense. But nevertheless it provided a very appealing indica smoke that didn’t put Greenouse Joe to sleep, but made him both physically and mentally very relaxed and decently stoned.
With a price of about 60 Euros for six feminised seeds, the Tora Bora strain is a very attractive deal. It easily ranks amongst the most potent and rewarding indica strains in the world.
Cultivation data / indoors:
| Strain | Tora Bora (feminised) |
| Vegetative stage | here: 4 weeks |
| Flowering | here: 56-66 days, 56-63 days in general |
| Medium | Plagron Standard Mix, 6.5 litre pots |
| pH | 6-6.5 |
| EC | Wachstum: 1,2-1,5 mS
Blüte: 1,6-1,8 mS |
| Lights | Vegetative (first two weeks): 2 x 125 W CFL (6400 Kelvin)
Vegetative (second two weeks): 2 x 600 W Planta Star HPS Flowering (week 1-5): 2 x 600 W Osram Son-T Flowering (week 6-9): 2 x 600 W Osram Son-T and 1 x 400 W Osram Son-T |
| Temperature | Flowering: 22-24°C
Flowering: 24-28°C |
| Air humidity | Flowering: 40-60%
Flowering: 40% |
| Watering | by hand |
| Fertiliser | HeSi Blühkomplex, from the 4th week also HeSi Phosphor Plus |
| Additives | Nitrozyme and HeSi Boost Complex |
| Height | 110-125 cm |
| Yield | 65/85/100 grams |
