Take Purple Hindu Kush, a fast, deeply coloured indica out of the Hindu Kush line, and put it over Cherry Pie, Granddaddy Purple crossed to Durban Poison, roughly sixty-forty indica. That is Purple Hindu Kush x Cherry Pie. Humboldt CSI work almost entirely from clones they hold themselves, so both sides of this are the real thing rather than a seed-line approximation of it.

Written this way, Purple Hindu Kush is the mother and Cherry Pie the pollen donor. Reversing a cross is not a formality; which plant carries the seed shapes what comes out of the pack.

Genetic Lineage

• Mother: Purple Hindu Kush. A fast, deeply coloured indica out of the Hindu Kush line. Given as Hindu Kush x Purple Afghani.
• Father: Cherry Pie. Granddaddy Purple crossed to Durban Poison, roughly sixty-forty indica. Given as Granddaddy Purple x Durban Poison. Considered easy to grow.
• What the cross is reaching for. One side brings the structure and the other brings the nose. The plants worth keeping out of a pack are the ones that hold both rather than picking a side.

Flavor and Aroma Profile

The two halves stack rather than blend, which is the whole reason to run it.

• The Aroma. Earthy, piney and spicy with strong grape and berry over a pungent base from the Purple Hindu Kush side, against dark stone fruit and berry over earth from the Cherry Pie side.
• The Taste. Earthy grape closing hashy up front, turning to cherry and berry with an earthy finish through the exhale.

Where the parents disagree

• They are not on the same clock. Purple Hindu Kush runs seven to eight weeks; Cherry Pie runs eight to nine weeks. Across a pack that gap shows up as plants finishing days or weeks apart.
• The smell is a negotiation. Earthy, piney and spicy with strong grape and berry over a pungent base on one side against dark stone fruit and berry over earth on the other. Neither wins outright in every seedling.
• Two frames in one pack. Purple Hindu Kush is dense resinous buds in deep purple with bright orange pistils under a thick trichome coat; colour develops as temperatures drop in flower. Cherry Pie is short and bushy at eighty to a hundred and twenty centimetres with wide lateral branching that suits low-stress training. Decide which suits your room before you flip, because you get both.
• Opposite ends. Purple Hindu Kush is reported as indica and settling; Cherry Pie as settling. The cross sits somewhere between and moves plant to plant.

Cultivation and Growth Traits

• Plant Structure. The two parents disagree here, so plan for range. Purple Hindu Kush is short and broad in the mountain-indica shape, colouring hard. Cherry Pie is short and bushy, eighty to a hundred and twenty centimetres, branching wide enough sideways to suit low-stress training.
• Before the flip. Decide the shape now. These lines do not tidy themselves up once they are running.
• Flowering Time. The parents are not on the same clock. Purple Hindu Kush runs seven to eight weeks, Cherry Pie eight to nine weeks. Judge each plant on trichomes rather than pulling the room together.

Effects and Experience

• The Mind. Growers describe Purple Hindu Kush as indica and settling.
• The Body. Cherry Pie is reported as settling, and that is the side supplying the weight here.

In the pack

Feminized seeds from Humboldt CSI. CSI work from clone stock they have kept for years and reverse it into seed, so what arrives in a pack is the real cut's genetics rather than a seed-line approximation of it. Original Humboldt CSI stock.