Darkstar merges a range of oldschool classics into a three-way mostly indica hybrid with a lineage of Purple Kush (Hindu Kush x Purple Afghani) x Mazar-i-Sharif. Those Purple Kush genetics may lead to Darkstar plants exhibiting purple colored leaves, but not in the majority. One can expect 400-500 grams p.sqm. of dense fat nuggets from her, having a high calyx-to-leaf ratio and copious resin amounts. Taking 70 days of flowering to ripen, Darkstar arrives at heights of 120-140 cm by the end, so, despite her mostly indica nature, growers should not underestimate her height/growth behaviour. TH Seeds say that “her potency is out of this world” which is going along with a great deal of medicinal value; it is great for relieving pain and enhancing appetite.

Master grower The Doc, suffering from chronic arthralgia, is always in search of super strong, highly medicinally effective strains and thus was full of happy expectations when he conducted a Darkstar test grow with a package of five feminized seeds. After three days of germination, all of them had come off the Jiffy ground. He gently planted them into 11 litre pots filled with Plagron Standard Mix soil “pimped”, as usual, with 5% expanded clay and horn chippings. Together with plants of two other strains, they were grown under a 600 W MH bulbs at first and ten days after germination, the five seedlings looked strong and uniform. Another ten days later, the plants were about 20 cm tall, exhibiting eight internodes, as well as very solid stems and vivid side branching. The Doc had added another 600 W MH bulb in for good measure – this guy can certainly not be accused of being miserly with lights! The more so, as he even hung up a 400 W HPS bulb to top it all off.

Four weeks after germination, The Doc induced flowering by switching the lights from 18/6 to 12/12. To accomplish an optimum flowering light spectrum, he replaced those two 600 W MH bulbs with two 600 W HPS ones. At that point of time, the five Darkstars had already passed the 50 cm height mark, due to a noticeable stretching effect having set in. They still shaped into a bushy appearance with lots of long dense side branches that were about to level off at the exact same height, forming a plateau around the main stem that was emerging from the centre. After two weeks of flowering, The Doc reported: “I think that two different phenotypes are developing within this beautifully growing batch of mostly indica plants. Two of them are meanwhile showing a stronger stretching effect and producing darker leaves now with every new set, with dark purple streaks gradually conquering them; I guess that the upper leaves will be fully purple in the end. The other three are brighter and staying more compact during bloom than the other two plants.”

When five weeks of flowering had passed, he continued: “The two plants that are becoming more and more purple, are measuring 110 and 130 cm in height now, the other three between 90 and 95 cm. All of them are having abundant flower clusters that are getting very thick and dense, shaping a high calyx-to-leaf-ratio, indeed. A deliciously sweet-not-pungent smell is given off by the plants with almost no difference here between the two phenotypes. Their resin production is most promising, the young buds are already densely covered with countless silvery white trichomes.” Two weeks later, considering the officially stated flower time of ten weeks, The Doc was quite surprised to find that already about one third of the flower hairs had withered and become brown. “Seems as if my Darkstar plants will be finishing faster than usual”, he reported, “and also the fact that their buds are already so well-developed, so fat and dense and incredibly resinous, makes me feel that they are particularly quickly travelling cannabis stars.”

After 62-65 days of flowering, the five plants had reached the homestretch already, having fully matured one (or almost one) week earlier than predicted. “It’s some fantastic eye candy”, The Doc enthused, “those numerous buds are so copiously dipped in silvery-white resin that they are brightly glistening just like stars in the sky! They are ridiculously thick, fat and rock-hard like stones. The real deal, I love it. Although it had intensified during the last weeks, Darkstar’s smell doesn’t rank amongst the strongest, it’s very sweet though and a bit spicy, with a slight hint of pine.”

The fairly low leaf share of the buds made harvest work a breeze and quick indeed. After the Darkstar buds had been dried, The Doc weighed them and was flabbergasted by a whopping 589 grams from those five plants, about 118 grams per plant. “Hell yeah, Darkstar really gave me a wonderful harvest heaven”, he commented. And he’d stay right there in heaven when test-smoking his first Darkstar joint: Raw overwhelming indica power came over him in no time, and The Doc felt liked being drawn into a black hole in his own inner cannabis universe, shifting into a dreamy and most heavily stoned state of mind. At the same time, his arthralgia almost totally disappeared, leaving The Doc deeply relaxed. This strain proved impressively that it has a strong medicinal effect. The taste was expectedly sweet and mild, and also in the smoke, a slight hint of pine came through.

“Darkstar made me feel the dark side of cannabis force, but it turned out to be a good beneficial force, temporarily curing my pains”, The Doc said, “and that mighty effect lasted for more than two hours during which I wasn’t able to do anything but watch TV, but hey – that’s what I expect from a strong indica, full relaxation! Also for me, Darkstar is one of the strongest strains ever encountered, amazing stuff that will surely be loved by any indica afficinado.”

Green Born Identity – G.B.I.

Originally published in Weed World Magazine 110

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