Strain Report – Burmese Kush – aka Buku – GBI

In recent years and until now, Kush genetics have been the big thing in the cannabis scene worldwide, particularly in the USA, Holland and the UK. Kush strains are also highly popular amongst many hip hop artists, the habit of smoking Kush spliffs seems to be a firm part of an unofficial “How to be cool” code of practice in this field. Even whole cannabis trade shows (KushCon) have been named after Kush meanwhile.

The famous Dutch quality seed company T.H. Seeds took up the cause of Kush already many years ago, after having received legendary O.G. Kush (also known as L.A. Kush) genetics from friends in Los Angeles which are only available as a female clone. It`s a polyhybrid variety with large, classic Kush calyxes. Using those rare O.G. Kush genetics, T.H. Seeds set out to develop a range of lovely Kush strains that quickly gained heavy worldwide popularity and many awards, shaping the Kush competence profile of T.H. Seeds: Kushage, MK-Ultra, Burmese Kush and their latest big hit – Cold Creek Kush, which won 2nd place at the 23th High Times Cannabis Cup 2010 in the Indica Cup.

Let’s take a closer look at T.H. Seeds’ famous BuKu (Burmese Kush) strain. To create it, T.H. Seeds crossed an authentic Burmese Kush with that O.G. Kush, resulting in a very fast flowering (50-55 days) indica/sativa hybrid with a high calyx-to-leaf ratio and dark green leaves. It’s a short fat plant with fat yields (400+ grams per m2) – perfect for small, highly productive growrooms, and therefore also sea-of-green cultivation.

BuKu develops from top to bottom, with slight lower branching appearing late in maturation. Plants grow to a final height of about 100 cm, producing tight, extremely resinous buds with very small dense trichomes and that great Kush flavor & high which all growers and smokers wish for: Her smell and taste are sweet, with delicious pine and citrus undertones, her buzz is a real mighty creeper, bringing a calming, deeply relaxing feeling through a centered indica sensation. According to T.H. Seeds, BuKu’s genetic makeup also suggests medical applications for pain relief and appetite.

Mr. Power Planter, an experienced grower, for a long time had been interested in growing BuKu, and a while ago he ultimately decided to put it to the test. Five BuKu seeds were germinated, half of the package only as he was growing some other strains also simultaneously. After four days, all of the seeds had sprouted and healthily reached the soil’s surface. Right from the start, the young BuKu seedlings, together with 21 other plants, were grown under three 600 W ‘Green Bud’ metal halide lamps equipped with adjust-a-wings reflectors (without spreaders). One week after germination, the plants were transplanted into 11 litre containers filled with Plagron Standard soil mix. In the beginning, vegetative growth was quite slow, but two weeks after germination, the BuKus got into full gear, showing stout, compact growth with dark green leaves, giving off a spicy Kush smell already.

They exhibited very homogeneous growth also, developing a strong main stem and only very little side branching. Three and a half weeks after germination, at a height of 30-38 cm, Mr. Power Planter induced flowering by reducing the light cycle from 18/6 to 12/12 hours of light, at the same time replacing the metal halide lamps with three 600 W Osram HPS lamps. Within nine days, all of the plants revealed their gender, with three of the five BuKu plants turning out to be female. After about 2.5 weeks of flowering, bud production noticeably got going, the plants were about developing dense flower clusters along their main stem and short side branches.

Soon the three BuKu plants were forming thick main colas and spreading an intense spicy sweet Kush flower odour, coming from lots of resin emerging from the calyxes and flower leaves. In the course of flowering, thanks to the sativa influence there was a certain stretching effect, with also the side branches noticeably increasing in length and forming lovely dense buds. The flower structure of the three BuKus was very similar, exhibiting a high calyx-to-leaf ratio, but not fully identical in terms of shape, one of the plants produced buds with a stronger sativa touch than the other two. The trichomes of all the three plants were very small, indeed, but around in rich abundance, forming sticky dense resin layers over real hard flower nuggets.

They had arrived at heights between 97 and 110 cm in the end. Thanks to the high calyx-to-leaf ratio, harvesting was quick work for Mr. Power Planter who was heavily looking forward to finding out about the smoking qualities of his marvellous BuKu buds. But these silver nuggets had to be dried first, and Mr. Power Planter cautiously took care of this, applying his usual slow two and a half weeks drying process including slight bud fermentation. After the drying process had been finished, Mr. Power Planter was taken with the delicious strong Kush odour of the buds, just as described, he found them to be spicy sweet with piney and citric undertones. He put the BuKu buds on the scales, and the great outcome of the three plants was 42, 48 and 53 grams of finest Kush nuggets.

Then it was smoking time for Mr. Power Planter at last. He smokes a lot of weed and is on a high dosage, so if a strain is unusually strong, he instantly notices it. Smoked in a bong, the BuKu buds did provide an intense grounded feeling and deeply relaxing soothing body high to him, with the sedative effect lasting very long, more than one and a half our. This definitely was double Kush power of the highest order. Thanks to the sativa influence of BuKu, Mr. Power Planter also noticed a slight cerebral effect that was rather calming than activating though, so not only his body got relaxed, but also his head and thoughts. The flavour was exquisite, piney sweet, with no cough factor at all.

Mr. Power Planter was very well pleased with the overall performance of the BuKu strain and found its strong medical qualities to be impressively confirmed. He liked that special BuKu high a lot, but of course also underlined other than for medical application, it’s a kind of smoke for the evening rather then day time, when you want to mellow out and not do any physical activities. After another outstanding experience with T.H. Seeds’ Kushage strain in the past, Mr. Power Planter now feels T.H. Seeds are the Kings of Kush.

For the same prices, BuKu is available as both regular and feminised seeds, with 42 Euros for five seeds and 75 Euros for ten seeds being an excellent deal.

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By GBI

Originally Published in Weed World Magazine Issue 94