Big Sur Holyweed x AE77 Cali Orange is Big Sur Holy Weed crossed to California Orange. Big Sur Holy Weed is a 1970s Big Sur coastal sativa with more legend attached to it than paperwork. California Orange is a 1980s heirloom off 1970s California stock, inbred ever since, and CSI run the AE77 cut of it. Between them they cover ground neither reaches alone. CSI breed off held clones rather than off seed stock, which is why the parents named on the pack are the actual plants and not their descendants.

Order matters in a cross name. In Big Sur Holyweed x AE77 Cali Orange the Big Sur Holy Weed side supplied the seed and California Orange the pollen, and the reciprocal - the same two plants the other way round - is a separate breeding decision with its own results.

Genetic Lineage

• Mother: Big Sur Holy Weed. A 1970s Big Sur coastal sativa with more legend attached to it than paperwork. Where it came from is genuinely disputed. One telling has a recluse called Perry the Monk crossing Zacatecas Purple to a Mazar-i-Sharif indica in the sixties or seventies; another puts Afghani Skunk in place of the Mexican sativa; several breeders independently report a Thai influence. Those accounts cannot all be right, and no source resolves them. What is not in dispute is the place and the decade.
• Father: California Orange. A 1980s heirloom off 1970s California stock, inbred ever since, and CSI run the AE77 cut of it. Parentage: a 50/50 hybrid crossed in the 1980s.
• The point of the pairing. Neither parent needed rescuing. Putting them together is about what sits between them, not about fixing either one.

Flavor and Aroma Profile

Two profiles that stay distinguishable rather than collapsing into one.

• The Aroma. Sweet and herbal rather than fruity or fuel-driven from the Big Sur Holy Weed side, against ripe orange and mandarin over an earthy base - sweet, penetrating citrus from the California Orange side.
• The Taste. Bright citrus zest with a sweet-earth finish.

How the two sides differ

• Timing. California Orange runs around nine weeks, and that is the half of this cross you can actually plan around.
• Two noses, one pack. Big Sur Holy Weed contributes sweet and herbal rather than fruity or fuel-driven. California Orange contributes ripe orange and mandarin over an earthy base - sweet, penetrating citrus. Which dominates is the main thing that varies.
• Two frames in one pack. Big Sur Holy Weed is sativa-leaning, in the region of 70 percent by the usual reckoning. California Orange is compact and very resinous with a good flower-to-leaf ratio; resilient to common pests and disease; easy to grow and among the easiest plants there is to clone. Decide which suits your room before you flip, because you get both.
• They pull differently. Growers put Big Sur Holy Weed at energising and creative - the reason it was grown in the first place, if the origin story is to be believed and California Orange at bright and even rather than heavy. Which end a plant lands on is the main variable.

Cultivation and Growth Traits

• Plant Structure. The two parents disagree here, so plan for range. Big Sur Holy Weed is sativa-leaning, in the region of 70 percent by the usual reckoning. California Orange is compact and very resinous with a good flower-to-leaf ratio; resilient to common pests and disease; easy to grow and among the easiest plants there is to clone.
• Vegetative Phase and Training. Open the middle out early. Light reaching the lower sites is worth more than any late correction.
• Flowering Time. California Orange runs around nine weeks. Start checking trichomes a week before you expect to be ready.

Effects and Experience

• The Mind. Growers describe Big Sur Holy Weed as energising and creative - the reason it was grown in the first place, if the origin story is to be believed.
• The Body. California Orange is reported as bright and even rather than heavy, and that is the side supplying the weight here.

In the pack

Feminized seeds from Humboldt CSI. Nearly everything CSI put out is built from cuts they hold themselves rather than from other people's seed lines, which is why their catalogue reads like a list of clones instead of a list of brands. Original Humboldt CSI stock.