OG Kush: Reigning supreme on the cannabis throne

Especially in the USA, the Kush-mania fever keeps on raging. For a long time already, OG Kush has been the most popular strain there and achieved highest prices on the black market and in buyers clubs and cannabis dispensaries alike. Another evidence of its predominance, High Times estimates that almost one out of every three new crosses released to the market has an OG Kush genetic backbone. And as matter of course, OG Kush hybrids have won countless awards at diverse cannabis cups worldwide.

Thanks to their excellent contacts, the guys of high-quality seed company Dinafem managed to secure a range of classic "blockbuster" strains from America in their original version, including the much sought-after OG Kush. With that precious catch and their respective strain release, the Dinafem crew has contributed to OG Kush being strongly on the rise in Europe also, it's one of their most popular varieties.

Origins and characteristics of the OG Kush

But where did it stem from originally? Well, just like with so many other extremely popular, legendary strains, OG Kush's history of origins, and the answer to the question what "OG" stands for, is covered in fog, or rather smoke… many people believe that "OG" stands for "Ocean Grown" because this strain was bred at the Pacific coast, while others think it's an abbreviation for "Original Gangster", due to a respective reference in a song from rap artists Cypress Hill. Another explanation is that "OG" means "Original Genetics", back then indicating the originality of those extraordinary rare Kush genetics.

 But whatever "OG" stood for in the beginning, from the second half of the 1990s, OG Kush became an iconic epitome of super strong and super aromatic marijuana in the USA. Regarding its pedigree, it's widely agreed that it traces back to the likewise famous Chemdawg strain. There only is some debate about the question whether OG Kush is a special descendant of ChemDawg or a cross between the latter and Lemon Thai Kush x Paki Kush. Dinafem believes in the Chemdawg x (Lemon Thai x Paki Kush) pedigree, stating that OG Kush consists of 75% sativa and 25% indica. According to laboratory tests conducted in California, Dinafem's OG Kush contains up to 24% THC and 0.23% CBD, which makes it a true THC heavyweight champion.

At first, the buzz is cerebral and energizing but changes into a heavy mental and physical indica stone.

Although it mainly consists of indica, the growth and bloom behaviour of OG Kush often reminds of sativa rather, with the plants shaping wide internodes, exhibiting a strong main stem and side branch elongation. The buds tend to become very voluminous and dense, richly covered with resin glands. In addition to its famed terrific potency, its highly intense and special aroma is another charismatic hallmark of this strain, deliciously blending a spicy fuel flavour with fresh citrus and berry notes. The smell given off by the plants is insanely intense and Dinafem strongly advises to use carbon filters to strictly keep inside what shall not be shared with your curious neighbours.

OG Kush's extremely powerful buzz is a quick hitter, often perceived as cerebral and energizing on the onset, then changing into a heavy mental and physical indica stone that provides deep relaxation and sedation which by many is described as a state of euphoric trance. With such an effect, OG Kush is a perfect medicine for all those people suffering from stress-induced disorders, depression and anxiety, headaches and insomnia, amongst others. The flowering time of 55 days makes this iconic variety a fairly quick bloomer also, and growers even get rewarded with plentiful yields of up to 550 grams. Since it finishes around mid October under natural light, OG Kush can be grown outdoors very successfully, too, yielding bumper harvests up to 1100 grams per plant. Heights of up to three metres are possible here.

The culture process of the OG Kush, Bubba Kush and Dinachem

Mr. Power-Planter put Dinafem's OG Kush to the test, together with two of their other kushy strains, Bubba Kush and Dinachem. Three feminised seeds went into jiffy pots and the seedlings came out of the ground like greased lightning, in less than three days. They kept on growing vigorously and when Mr. Power-Planter switched to flowering four weeks after germination, two of the plants were 61 and 64 cm tall, while the third one with 44 cm had substantially fallen behind, obviously representing another phenotype.

All the three plants exhibited fairly wide internodes and proved to be very keen to flower as within merely eight days, they had started to pre-flower. In the course of flowering, it became apparent that the smaller plant generated another blooming pattern than the taller ones, producing bigger and more roundish calyxes which densely packed together formed some kind of spikes protruding from the bud. Heavily frosted with resin glands, these gorgeous buds looked highly elegant, almost virtuosic.

Incredible flavor and aroma, plus an abundant production.

Mr. Power-Planter was also stunned by their most intoxicating scent that featured a seductive blend of penetrant gasoline infused with a bit of citrus. The buds of the taller plants exhibited smaller calyxes, massed together into thick dense buds. Which were likewise copiously dotted with resin, their countless trichomes sparkled like stars in the firmament, shaping a true resin universe. Said Mr. Power-Planter with a grin, „already now I am seeing stars… haha, I'll surely say the same after having smoked these phenomenal OG Kush nuggets." This second type of OG bud also intensely smelled like gasoline mixed with citrus, however, that citrus note was more pronounced here. Remarkable for a 75% indica strain was the very high calyx-to-leaf ratio of both phenotypes, such buds with few leaves normally are only produced by 50/50 indica/sativa or sativa-dominant plants.

The two taller plants continued to stretch a lot during the first weeks of flowering so that Mr. Power-Planter had to bend the main shoots horizontally down, otherwise they would have grown too close to the lamps. All the three plants timely reached the homestretch, requiring 54, 56 and 58 flowering days to ripen (1-3 days beyond the official ripening time are totally acceptable of course). Straightened up, the two plants bent down would have measured 110 and 119cm in height (so they had almost doubled in height during flowering), whereas the smaller plants had arrived at 73cm in the end.

After the drying process, Mr. Power-Planter found himself in possession of 211 grams of wonderful OG Kush bud – certainly a very good yield which would have been even bigger if that smaller plant had been able to keep pace with the superior flowering performance of the two taller plants -. Mr. Power-Planter was enthusiastic over the dry OG Kush aroma: "These fantastic nuggets are smelling that much like gasoline that one could almost believe that filled into a car's tank, OG Kush extraction oil would act as a kind of rocket fuel. However, that citrus subnote is still present as well, making this odour a spectacular overpowering aroma blend that brings tears to my eyes."

Time to smoke!

The smoke test in the evening was accompanied by high expectations of course. Mr. Power-Planter thought it was absolutely possible that those stupendous OG Kush buds had a THC content of up to 24 percent. He began his test with the "spike pheno" buds of the smaller plant. Right after the first toke he sensed an uplifting funky sativa mind buzz that gave him a rush of euphoria, or, in his words, "effected a kind of inner sunrise."

After a puff, you start to see you inner sunrise.

But a few huge blasts of smoke later, he noticed that his eye lids became heavy and soon he was locked in tunnel vision. At the same time the muscle tone of his whole body was decreasing so that it was most evident that the OG Kush cannabinoids in his blood had switched to their famous deep relaxation modus. Which made Mr. Power-Planter feel tremendously stoned, with his head wrapped into thick wads of mental cotton wool. Thus he escaped from the burdens of daily life and after a while he drifted into the realm of sleep – resistance was futile.

After a few hours we woke up again, felt recovered and rolled his second OG Kush joint, this time filled with the second bud pheno. And bang! Mighty was the blow of the OG indica hammer that instantly rushed into his head, effecting a heavily narcotic sensation that felt like a kind of trance, indeed. Mr. Power-Planter was ridiculously stoned again, but nevertheless tried to watch a movie on TV, "Mission Impossible". But nomen est omen... he wasn't able at all to follow the story line and put his headphone on instead, delving in the spherical soundscapes of dub reggae. Which developed into an almost spiritual inner journey that lasted for hours and made him feel kind of disembodied, as if he was beamed away.

"Jeez, this was an absolutely incredible trip, so far I've encountered only a very few strains that can compete with the smashing potency of OG Kush. I am fully sure that the THC content of these buds clearly exceeds 20 percent", enthused Mr. Power-Planter. And he was also enthralled by the heavy, oily aroma body of OG Kush that gave him a long-lasting flavour experience with a strong aftertaste, "after having smoked the OG, it felt as if tons of aroma molecules had piled up in my mouth. But that oily heaviness was refreshed by a delicate dash of lemon which made OG Kush a true gourmet ganja", he said and arrived at the conclusion, "now I know why half the USA is crazy about that amazing stuff, that OG Kush hype has darned good reasons. Certainly also in the future, this almighty strain has very good chances in the cannabis game of thrones."

 Cultivation data

•  Genetic: OG Kush (ChemDawg x = 75% sativa, 25% indica)
• Vegetative period: in this case, four weeks
• Blooming period: in this case, 54, 56 and 58 days, 55 days in general
• Medi: Plagron Growmix, 11L pot
• pH: 6.5-6.8
• EC: max. 1.6 mS
• Light: ca. 500 W HPS/m²
• Temperature: day: 26-28°C / night: 18-20°C
• Humidity: 60% (vegetative period), 40% (blooming period)
• Watering: manual
• Fertilization: HeSi TNT-Complex, HeSi Blüte-Complex, HeSi Phosphor Plus from the 4^th week of flowering
• Additives/stimulants: HeSi SuperVit, HeSi Wurzel-Complex
• Height: 73, 110 and 119 cm
• Yield: 211 g