Having grown countless strains over all those decades, it’s not too often that master grower The Doc gets assailed by such an ultimate craving for possession when spotting a new cannabis variety.
He was instantly taken with the strong exotic touch expressed through both the name and pedigree of the Barney’s Farm plant “Ayahuasca Purple”.
His assumption that “Ayahuasca” (a psychedelic herbal brew from South America) would point towards South American genes proved to be wrong though – surprisingly, it’s a plant from North Vietnamese Red River Delta lending Ayahuasca Purple its exoticism.
Years ago, Barney’s Farm received it as a gift, and when test growing it found out it was a most attractive eye-catcher, with a violet and ruby red play of colours. Crossing it with a classic Master Kush gave birth to a perfect nearly 100% indica hybrid with a THC level of more than 20% that has inherited Red River Delta’s lovely colours and thanks to its multitude of big dense buds is capable of producing exceptional yields of up to 650 g/m2 within 55-65 days of flowering.
Ripening in the third to fourth week of September under natural light, this strain is a very good outdoor performer, too. As befits an excellent indica, Ayahuasca Purple is endowed with a pretty strong sedative effect which is not from the “checkmate” department though, making users feel lightsome if not euphoric, thus potentially acting as an aid to ease socialising with other people.
This strain serves a varied palette of different flavours, taste-wise Barney’s mentions lavender, mango and hazelnut whereas a delectable papaya scent sticks out from the olfactoric menu that also features earthy and pungent notes.
A surprisingly open growth pattern
So, once he had received his Ayahuasca Purple beans, The Doc happily got to work. First he paid a compliment to Barney’s way of seed packaging: “These blisters are awesome, super tight and see-through – just the way it should be!” Within less than three days, the two seeds sown had popped and started to grow at fast pace. Two weeks into vegetative growth, The Doc noted “for a 100% indica, these two plants are exhibiting remarkably vigorous growth, early branching out, with an open structure due to fairly wide internodal spacing – which makes me happy! As this sort of growth pattern allows for more light to reach the side tops and branch axils, encouraging growth of big buds. Also surprising, shade leaves are thinner than I had expected with an indica.” When three veg weeks were over, he flipped the lights from 18/6 to 12/12 to put the plants into flower, standing 37 and 41 cm tall.
The flowering stage: Plants like fallen into a paint pot, with an immense dusting of crystals
Flowering lasted three weeks when The Doc reported: “I’m absolutely delighted about how great these two plants are performing. Their strong instinct to stretch has continued through early flowering, and one of them is already turning purple – yippee! Along those many long branches, plenty of little dense flower clusters have appeared that are increasing in size day by day.” Three weeks later, he continued “the plants have kept on stretching 4.5 weeks as if there were no tomorrow, almost tripling their height, very unusual for a 100% indica. Both have fallen into a paint-pot, displaying leaves and buds the colour spectrum of which is ranging from red to violet – there it is again, my beloved purple eye candy! Already by now, Ayahuasca Purple has lived up to the colour promise of its name.
The non-typical indica nature of these plants also manifests itself in their buds that, other than most of 100% indicas, have a high calyx to leaf ratio. Overall perfection is completed by the fact that as early as now, flowers and sugar leaves are covered in a star studded blanket full of resin glands. And with maturity not yet in sight, resin production is certainly going to escalate… However, this strain not only has a lot to offer to my eyes, but also to my nose – the buds are exuding an unusual, primarily fruity-tropical scent, underpinned by a spicy earthy note that also has a bit of gasoline to it.”
A very timely finish, buds resinous as hell and wonderfully colour-contrasting
In the remaining weeks, just as expected tons of icy looking crystals were snowing down on the buds until after 60 days of flowering, The Doc deemed them ripe: “Indeed, their thick hard buds have become resinous as hell! This insane resin richness is a sheer pleasure to the eyes, particularly in its gorgeous contrast to those dark red and dark violet hues that have even gained in intensity during the finish. Only some of the small sugar leaves have remained green. Their vivid stretching temper has made the plants ascend to final heights of 90 and 115 cm, much taller than I had expected in view of their indica heritage.”
After drying: AP joins the 100 grams club, now revealing its nutty nature
With both plants yielding a dry total of 203 grams, Ayahuasca Purple booked its admission ticket to the 100 grams club of strains. The Doc was astounded by the fact that after the drying process, there really was something hazelnut to the buds now – a kind of aroma he hadn’t experienced yet with a cannabis plant. That hazelnut note had obviously emerged through aromatic transformation from the buds’ previously earthy odour component, while they had retained their tropically sweet fruit element. “Frankly, I don’t know how papaya smells, would have to buy one first…. But I can well imagine that one may put that exotic fruit label on these fragrant buds”, speculated The Doc. When trimming the buds, he had left a few medium big flower leaves which were now wrapped around the spectacularly crystal-heavy frosty flower clusters like some violet claws – these nuggs definitely had that extra something!
Smoking it: Ayahuasca Purple lulls The Doc into happy sedation and acts as a massage rollerThe voluminous billow of smoke The Doc inhaled when test-smoking the weed caused a highly intense two-phase taste sensation, fruity sweet on the inhale, spicy-nutty on the exhale and in the prolonged after taste. “Very special! And also, especially tasty!”, praised The Doc Ayahuasca Purple’s flavour.
After three tokes, the effect started to build in the back of his mind, on the onset like a small bubble filled with blitheness that bursted after another deep hit, releasing a full wave of euphoria that flooded his whole brain. It wasn’t a sort of activating euphoria, but that blissfully lulling indica feeling warming one’s soul. The second wave of effect was also physical then, with the Ayahuasca Purple indica stone heaving over The Doc’s limbs and muscles like a massage roller, bringing deep relaxation that pleasantly made him slacken off. He didn’t feel totally blissed out though, but merely super relaxed and comfortable.
As sociable as he was in that state of mind, The Doc spontaneously joined a neighbour’s party which led to a very funny evening.”This probably is the most extravagant indica I’ve ever grown”, he concluded. “Due to her unusual stretching temper combined with a high calyx-to-leaf ratio, fantastic vibrant colours and an extraordinary fruity-nutty flavour. Plus high yields and a marvellous effect – what more could an indica heart desire?
