Stem rub: Fool's gold?

[Psychobilly]

A “clone only” would be a specific phenotype of a strain. It still came from seed, but the clone only was a special, outstanding phenotype that was found within that seed stock.

Leafly is not a reliable source of info imo.

So like UK Cheese ? Skunk #1 Phenotype and personally I don't think I've ever smoked Skunk #1 mainly because I've never really had a chance. I imagine I'd love it though, it's one of the great grandparents to quite a few strains. And point taken on Leafly.

This year I started my Blue Cheese from Seeds, and took clones off the first one that was big enough to cut limbs from, and then the other one, growing in the SAME area, same conditions, somehow has a different smell to it, which is odd; The Mother was a legit SOUR Cheese Smell with a sweet Berry tone too, as you'd expect, but the second seedling has a very...... My Fiance says Lavender like fragrance, and she's not wrong, it's smells a lot different. Still pungent but not the "Sour Cheese" sort of smell the other one has. They're still curing and being burped but a few jars are already starting to show different smells even from the same plant, but that I suspect is simply the level of curing.

 

[MtRainDog]

So like UK Cheese ? Skunk #1 Phenotype and personally I don't think I've ever smoked Skunk #1 mainly because I've never really had a chance. I imagine I'd love it though, it's one of the great grandparents to quite a few strains. And point taken on Leafly.

This year I started my Blue Cheese from Seeds, and took clones off the first one that was big enough to cut limbs from, and then the other one, growing in the SAME area, same conditions, somehow has a different smell to it, which is odd; The Mother was a legit SOUR Cheese Smell with a sweet Berry tone too, as you'd expect, but the second seedling has a very...... My Fiance says Lavender like fragrance, and she's not wrong, it's smells a lot different. Still pungent but not the "Sour Cheese" sort of smell the other one has. They're still curing and being burped but a few jars are already starting to show different smells even from the same plant, but that I suspect is simply the level of curing.

Yes, UK Cheese/Exodus cheese is a special phenotype found in the Skunk #1 seed stock. Not sure if Skunk #1 is/was a clone only at one point. I’ve always thought of Skunk #1 as a worked line when it was originally released by neville or sensi.

 

[NarlyGardens]

I definitely haven’t personally seen a correlation between stem rub smells, and the final flavor/smell of dried and cured flowers. What you can use it for is identifying certain markers in your gene pool. I never cull/ make selections based on stem rub, as some of my favorite cuts I’ve found throughout the years would have never made it based purely on stem rubs. Truckstop (SourMasterChem xBWiz) x meatbreath that I’ve been running for a minute has almost no smell to the stem rub, but throws down the stinkiest/funkiest, forehead sweat inducing flowers I have smoked in a while.

 

[Psychobilly]

See this adds a whole complexity level to weed LOL; You take a strain like Skunk #1 and one day someone popped a seed of it, and the smell wasn't so much skunky as it was "Cheesy" and became one of my favorites....Does that mean there can be different Terpenes that display themselves? For Weed I generally follow my nose; It's easier and pretty reliable in terms of what I am looking for. I don't breed or do crosses (yet) but I have ideas I'd like to try at some point, when someone wins the lotto and asks me what I want LOL, then I can have a building with grow rooms to start crossing different strains and enjoy myself, but until that time, if it smells good, or stinks good, I'm all over it! LOL GMO was a lot like MSG in terms of how I discovered it; At a Dispensary, smelled the GMO and saw the parental lineage of it, and HAD to have it, and then for MSG it was like "Oh that smells weird!" so we got some. I love both of those, and in terms of "gassy" for taste I think MSG might be the most gassy strain I've ever tasted, and that's after smoking Motor Breath, which SMELLS really gassy, but then ends up with an odd citrus or fruit like flavor in there. MSG doesn't, LOL it's like gas.

Starting my Blue Cheese from Seed this year was a learning experience for me, as it's my third year growing, so I'm still pretty new, but I also read a lot and experiment, and the Seedlings of Blue Cheese this year...... I REALLY should have cloned the other Seedling and not just the one I used for my clones this year that are now done and in jars, because the first seedling that was big enough to take clones from, has a VERY distinct smell! There's the usual Blueberry / Berry aroma, with the Cheese smell as you'd expect, but that Mother plant was legit SOUR smelling.... I guess to describe that smell it'd be a mix of Sour Skunky Cheese, and a sweet tone as well. The other Seedling though has a WAY different smell, and it's I'm guessing extra Linalool ? Because Lavender would be accurate for the aroma.

 

[thenotsoesoteric]

Some great discussions, I love it.

The stem rub is a great identifier for phenohunting if you have a base to judge from as mentioned by several members.

Say you have a cut that is awesome and you know it has a weird soap smell on stem rub and you cross it with something. When you hunt through the offspring it could be beneficial to look for plants with that soap smell. Could help you find that trait in offspring.

Especially when working with males.

 

[Buckeyetoker]

Some great discussions, I love it.

The stem rub is a great identifier for phenohunting if you have a base to judge from as mentioned by several members.

Say you have a cut that is awesome and you know it has a weird soap smell on stem rub and you cross it with something. When you hunt through the offspring it could be beneficial to look for plants with that soap smell. Could help you find that trait in offspring.

Especially when working with males.

The soap analogy sold me...

 

[TreeFarmerCharlie]

I remember reading an article years ago about how some breeders can pick out males based on nothing but stem rub. Is that BS just like the whole "sex a seed by the shape of the divot on it"?

 

[Rhacodactylus]

After checking I have two pheno’s that have the exact same kind of smell in veg and after drying, the Black Cherry Pie and the Z3, which are both really really tasty cuts.

It’s not really only the stems that smell but basically the whole plants; if you break a petiole you will get the exact same odor, same with the leaves (a little bit less tho). Just shaking them a little bit allows you to say who is who, same with the clones; when I remove the dome I can easily smell the BCP and/or Z3 ones.

So I don’t particularly focus on the stem rub smells (and almost don’t do that at all), but I clearly pay attention to the pheno’s that carry an untypical smell in veg.

 

[thenotsoesoteric]

I remember reading an article years ago about how some breeders can pick out males based on nothing but stem rub. Is that BS just like the whole "sex a seed by the shape of the divot on it"?

I always thought it was bs. Only way to know whats for sure is to flower out offspring of said male. But the smells at least give you some kind of identity marker.

You could have 5 males that all smell same on stem rub but produce vastly different offspring.