Cannatonic: A cornerstone for CBD-rich plants bred in the USA

Over the last few years a large quantity of hybrids and elite cuttings with various CBD ratios emerged in the USA; Cannatonic is the genetic base from which most of these plants originate. In 2014 Soft Secrets Spain reported how the CBD wave in Girona had spread its influence to seed banks all over Europe. It is also the type of genetics of which Tikkun Olam has claimed paternity, whereas in actual fact they were just prototype selections developed by CBD Crew - check the full article in Soft Secrets Spain, issue 3 of 2014. In that article, we announced that we would make a further report on how this wave crossed the Atlantic, particularly through the Cannatonic strain. After years of study, here are the results of our survey.

Cannatonic

When we talk about Cannatonic, we should make clear that this strain has many phenotypes, although all with a Diesel influence. This is how it was created and this is also how Resin Seeds wants to keep it, so that each person can choose the phenotype most befitting their needs and personal tastes, as plants with very different ratios can be found. This is why there are so many different Cannatonic selections in the United States. In addition, for the reasons already explained in previous articles, the parents of Cannatonic have changed. As regards the regular group of plants, in the beginning there was a mixed batch of two strains (Dancehall and Dub), then various products with different parents appeared, although they retained consistency with the Diesel essence of this strain. As for the feminised group, it has always kept the same composition – although in 2010 there was an exception, i.e. a special batch of 1,000 seeds, with a much higher-than-usual CBD ratio, reached the US market, and various CBD-dominant plants were created from these seeds, with CBD:THC ratios of around 20:1.

ACDC, Oracle and Valentine X

The quantity of phenotypes offered by Cannatonic allows a variety of selections to be made. Some breeders who make these selections are honest enough to name them Cannatonic with a further identifier, e.g. Cannatonic X or Cannatonic #4. Others create confusion and name their selections with totally different names and ‘invent’ the name of the parents. This seems to be the case for the ACDC saga. ACDC is an elite clone with a CBD:THC ratio of around 20:1. Apparently, it was selected by Doctor William Courtney who named it with the acronym of Alternative Cannabinoid Dietary Cannabis. William Courtney has opted for the use of raw cannabis – basically fresh plants are used to produce juices to be directly consumed by patients. In this way, the acid forms of cannabinoids, THCA and CBDA, are said to be retained. To date, no clinical trials have been made to substantiate Dr Courtney’s method, which, incidentally, has many downsides, i.e. large quantities of fresh plants are needed and the patient’s throat may easily be irritated. Martin Lee of CBD Project argues that many of Dr. Courtney’s statements on the advantages of cannabis juices are “deceitful” and “groundless”. In 2012 the magazine O'Shaugnessy's published a few declarations of Lawrence Ringo, where he explains that he received ACDC from William Courtney, who assured him that it was a Sativa plant used in France as industrial hemp, which was being grown in Luxemburg on a surface of 13 hectares for the use of its leaves and flowers in juices in the context of clinical trials. Various experts in industrial hemp denied this claim of Dr. Courtney, as there was no proof that ACDC was produced in France as industrial hemp. Moreover, in France growing industrial hemp without certification is illegal and makes you liable to a custodial sentence. There is evidence that Jaime of Resin Seeds sent Dr Courtney a few Cannatonic seeds for free – before the doctor could ‘discover’ ACDC. I read a few e-mails where Courtney thanks him for the plant he had received with a fanfare of compliments. He even says that thanks to the phenotype 20:1 found in Cannatonic he could use much less quantity of vegetable matter to produce his juices. He should have better thanked him publicly rather than giving the plant a new name without explaining its true genetic origin. We repeatedly wrote – month after month – to Dr Courtney and enquired about his version of this messy story, but so far our enquiries have remained unanswered. In actual fact, the whole cannabis community considers ACDC a phenotype of Cannatonic; as a proof of this, Seedfinder, the major database on genetics, lists it as such. What further compounds this mess is another cutting with a similar ratio and structure, Oracle. Is this the same plant? As reported by Project CBD, the lab The Werc Shop tested both of these elite clones. The results show that ACDC and Oracle have an identical terpene profile, with a predominance of myrcene and significant levels of pinene, beta-caryophyllene and bisabolol. There is a perfect match between the two even in terpenes in reduced concentration such as eudesmol, guaiol, humulene, limonene, valencene or terpineol. Apparently, another plant bearing a close resemblance with ACDC is Valentine X, which was named after St. Valentine, the patron saint of the epileptics, and is said to have a CBD:THC ratio of around 25:1.

Other selections from Cannatonic

Huel Perkins or Perkins Cut. It is a clone selected by Huel Perkins, the namesake of a participant in the forum of International Cannagraphic, and consequently named after him. The participant Paladin420 commented that this genetics was circulated for free throughout the cannabis community in Michigan and won a lot of cups. It is a Sativa-dominant plant that can be slightly difficult to grow, but is totally worth the time spent to do so. As Huel Perkins says: “Various persons describe different smells in my selection, personally I can smell tones of lemon, lime and mango, while others describe smells of cherry or orange, in any case the aroma is complex”. Huel Perkins had an oil made from his selection tested for terpenes, and, by order of concentration, the following were found: beta-myrcene, limonene, alpha-pinene and p-cymene, with smaller quantities of caryophyllene, linalool and humulene. The Huel Perkins strain has a very low quantity of THC, and can therefore be considered a CBD-dominant strain, which goes under the name of chemotype III. Nine Fold Genetics produced Atonic from it, i.e. Huel Perkins crossed with a male of Bodhi’s Good Medicine.

Cannatonic #4.

With regard to this plant, Paladin420 assures this is an easy-to-grow elite clone mainly with an Indica profile and good crystallised buds. It is an attractive type of marijuana, with an excellent smell and appearance, which draws everyone’s attention in dispensaries. Its effect is clear, without making you dizzy. Other reputed elite clones include Cannatonic X and Cannatonic B, both with a high CBD content and very low in THC, especially Cannatonic X, which usually has a CBD in excess of 20% and around 1% of THC.

Resin Seeds and CBD Crew in America

As Resin has increasingly become popular throughout the USA, it has included American tastes in its catalogue such as Kushtonic, a hybrid of Sour Diesel with Dieseltonic. Sour Diesel has a taste that captivates, due to its classical earthy, fuel, metallic and citric/lemony tones, mostly due to the abundant limonene content; in a few phenotypes, this taste is described as creamy lemon or lemon ice cream. Trichomes are generous in size, which result in a satisfactory smoking experience. The problem is that its effect is excessively potent in many users, who are literally knocked out and need a more bearable Kush. Choosing something lighter would suit them better – in actual fact Resin Seeds chose this strain to make a version whose offspring would have different CBD:THC ratios, for each grower to select their favourite effect. It is also possible to select various phenotypes with different ratios in order to fit various occasions. Jaime also provided advisory service in the first project of CBD Crew in the USA, where it offered three strains, CBD OG Kush, CBD Scout Cookies and CBD Lily. These strains are crosses of Remedy, previously named Dulce Canna, respectively made with the two US elite clones of the Kush wave and a selection of Lily, a plant of Original Delicatessen, which is part of the Iberian underground breeding legend. It results from the crossing of Congo and a flagship of Original Delicatessen, Reina Madre, a plant that also contributed its traits to Juanita la Lagrimosa. Lily is a pure Sativa, which stands out for its speed, as well as for the beauty of its well-shaped buds with only a few leaves. It has a decidedly fruity taste, with a few specimens tasting like sweet pineapple, for which it gained the alias of “piña colada”. The three strains have descendants with CBD:THC ratios of around 1:1. The cross with Lily was designed to bring a fruity and fresh taste to the US cannabis scene, whereas with CBD OG Kush and CBD Scout Cookies, classical local tastes are combined with a different, more balanced effect. The first batch was sold out and CBD OG Kush even won a few awards. An important gift of CBD Crew to the CBD community is Therapythe, the first regular line that offers CBD in all of its specimens. So far CBD Crew has offered various regular lines, where Remedy was crossed with various selected males sourced from the MrNice seed bank to create CBD rich varieties. When Remedy was crossed with a Haze pure male of MrNice, the result was a real surprise, as this cross has consistently CBD-dominant offspring; theoretically, a cross of a CBD-dominant plant with a pure THC male should produce a CBD rich variety, but in this case descendants were CBD dominant. Although the most usual CBD-dominant plant of CBD Crew is Remedy, it also offers Medihaze, a CBD dominant selection [(Neville's Haze x Amnesia Haze) x Remedy], to be used in crosses with a Sativa profile.

Sohum Seeds

This bank was founded by Lawrence Ringo (R.I.P.). Ringo was a pioneer CBD breeder in the USA, with its famous Tsour Tsunami, where CBD occasionally appeared in the offspring. This genetics originates from the same New York City Diesel strain of 2004 that introduced CBD into the European wave. The bank has been using this strain because it was attracted by its balanced effect, which does not make users too ‘blind’, in addition to its excellent taste. In 2012, Lawrence Ringo presented new strains, among which the excellent Canna-Tsu, a cross of Sour Tsunami with Cannatonic with a 2:1 ratio. Lawrence considered Cannatonic a very interesting plant. He also made a cross of Sour Tsunami with ACDC, although Ringo was not aware that ACDC was in actual fact a phenotype of Cannatonic, owing to the confusion caused by Dr William Courtney, who assured him that it was a Sativa grown as industrial hemp in France. Lawrence also met Jaime of Resin Seeds, a historic meeting between the two most experienced breeders of the US CBD wave.

The House of the Great Gardener

This seed bank reached Europe with a Cannatonic hybrid and was the first bank of the American continent to win an award for maximum CBD concentration in the High Times Cannabis Cup of Amsterdam in 2014 with CBD René, a cross of a Cannatonic selection with a René male. It has just presented CBD Haoma, where this Cannatonic plant was crossed with Haoma (Purps x Afghani). Although The House of the Great Gardener is a Canadian bank, it participates in European exhibitions and festivals, and it has even been seen in the booths of Serious Seeds and CBD Crew, two banks with whom it has excellent relationships.

SuperCBDx

This is one of the early all-round projects developed from the Cannatonic strain in the States. The first development of this strain was made by PJ. When he contracted a severe disease, he turned his attention to CBD-rich plants, which ultimately saved his life. In 2010 he started to collect information on breeding methods and purchased regular seeds of Cannatonic. In 2011 he produced a strain that was very high in CBD and very low in THC. He continued working on this strain for 4 years, with open pollinations. This genetics followed a two-way course, because it was later developed in Spain by the bank Genofarm, who made two open pollinations and a feminised version of this plant. Genofarm selected the fastest plants, and also considered other factors such as resin quantity, aroma and structure. After years of breeding work, it managed to stabilise SuperCBDx around a CBD:THC ratio of 26:1, with a large quantity of terpenes. By order of importance, those in higher concentration were myrcene, borneol, pinene and guaiol. This genetics has a solid structure, although it stretches high enough, with a limited development of side branches, which concentrates production on the tip of the plant. If temperature lowers at the end of the blooming period the plant turns purple. Buds are elongated and resinous, with a sweet Diesel taste. In addition to producing the feminised version of SuperCBDX, Genofarm used it in its bank to create version 2.0 of its Medicritical as well as more than 30 different experimental crosses with the most outstanding varieties of its genetic library.

Medical Marijuana Genetics

This bank dedicated to medical cannabis will soon be presented to the cannabis community. Its owners are British but its breeding work has been developed by expert Spanish growers. The base of this seed bank is a cross of ACDC with Harlequin named Candida, from whose offspring various phenotypes were selected. The product of this selection is a plant with 21% of CBD and 0.9% of THC. It used this elite clone to produce 18 experimental crosses with such strains as Tijuana, Juanita la Lagrimosa, Oldberry (Juanita la Lagrimosa x Shishkaberry Burgos), Erdpurt, Somango Cheese, Diesel SKD, Critical Mass, Peyote Purple, Girl Scout Cookies Forum Cut, Skunk#1 and others. It also made an S1 from Candida, which was named CD1. Next, it selected five of these strains with different ratios that are now on offer in its first catalogue.

Other American banks

Through the information I found on various websites, among which those worthy of note are Seedfinder and a compilation made by Primal Haze in a post of ICMag, I identified additional American banks where Cannatonic or its descendants are used, especially ACDC, a plant to be ideally used to create CBD-rich plants for its CBD-dominance.

Sin City Seeds

Various strains, with different ratios, are marketed by this bank. Thunderstruck (S1 of ACDC x ACDC), Treasure Island (Swiss Gold x ACDC), HarleSin (ACDC x Harlequin), IncrediblePower [(OmRita x BluePower) x ACDC] and Cancer's Nightmare (Cannatonic x WhiteNightmare). % CBD, 1:1 THC/CBD.

Med Tree Seeds

TOCI. A creation of the forum discussant EcTraveler made from ACDC with a male of Xena, next, from a group of three, the specimen that handed down most Xena traits to its offspring was chosen. It is a quite resinous plant with tastes of berries, pineapple, grapes and citrus fruit. Héroes (a cross of TOCI 20:1 with Tangie). EMT (ACDC x Canna-Tsu).

Bodhi Seeds

CBD Rich Blessings. A hybrid between ACDC and a male rich in CBD of Good Medicine (Harlequin x Appalachia).

Love Genetics

A bank that developed a host of strains based on Cannatonic and its offspring. It first offered The Love, i.e. an S1 from the self-pollination of ACDC, this plant was then used to create Sol Love, (The Love x Lemon Créme), next Forbidden Love (Sol Love x Jack Phoenix #2), and further on Burnin Love (Forbidden Love x Jack Phoenix #2). It also made a set of crosses of CBD Rich Blessing with other strains, i.e. OM (F1 of CBD Rich Blessings), Pineapple Sage (a cross of two different phenotypes of CBD Rich Blessings), Smoke (Dragonhead x CBD Rich Blessings), Archangel (Locomotive x CBD Rich Blessings) and Metronome (Thunderhead x CBD Rich Blessings). From Valhalla (ACDC x Sky Dragon), it developed a number of crosses, such as Elysian Fields (Cali Lavender x Valhalla), Gangsta's Paradise (O.G. Love x Valhalla), Heavenly Love (Sol love x Valhalla), The Alchemist (CBD Rich Blessings x Valhalla), Holy Ghost (Ghost OG x Valhalla), Titanium Fire (Dragonhead x Valhalla) and Valkyrie (Valhalla x Jack Phoenix #2).

303 Seeds

From Z7 (an experimental cross made by CBD Crew between Cannatonic and Afghan/Skunk) various crosses were made, namely Ambulance (BioDiesel x Z7), Meltdown [(Bubblegum x Blueberry) x Z7], Night Star (Sensi Star x Z7), and Snowpack (Snowcap x Z7).

Boneyard Seeds Norcal

Cancer Battling Dank aka C.B.D. (ACDC x Ángel).

MTG Seeds

CbcanD, a cross of Cannatonic with C.B.Diesel (Harlequin x Turbo Diesel). This strain is not on sale yet, but has already won six CBD awards.

Apothecary Genetics

CannaBerry (Cannatonic crossed with a Blackberry male).

RedEyed Genetics

Hawkeye (Cannatonic x Mt.Rainer).

Poppa Pain Strains

Hazy Med CBD (Super Silver Haze x Skunk#1 x Cannatonic)

Oregon Microgrowers Guild

Lucy's Lion S1, (a self-pollinated version of ACDC). It selected Franks Gift from CBD Skunk Haze of CBD Crew, and used it to develop a self-pollinated strain named Franks Gift S1.

Pua Mana Pakolo

HI CBD (Charlotte's Web x Cannatonic)

Critical Mass Collective

Psychotropic Mass (Monster Mass x Cannatonic)

La Plata Labs

Quin-N-Tonic (a double backcross of Harlequin x Cannatonic) and CBDGOG (Durango OG x Quin-N-Tonic).

Green Man Organics

ShishKaTonic (Cannatonic x Shish99)

Moxie710

VCDC (Viper City OG x ACDC)

Southern Star Seeds

Public Image, a cross between a fourth generation backcross of Harlequin with Sweet N Sour Widow (which is in turn a cross between Remedy and Black Widow, made by CBD Crew).

Cannabis Cups

In the previous articles we already mentioned Cannatonic as one of the most famous Spanish strains having won prestigious awards. Its skyrocketing success has also continued in the United States and it can already be considered the best award-winning Iberian plant. As High Times reports in its article “The Best CBD Strains of 2015”, Cannatonic had a smashing victory in US competitions in 2015, with both its direct offspring and its renowned selections and crosses. The article also makes reference to competitions in which first, second and third place were awarded to strains related with Cannatonic. For instance in the Michigan Medical Cannabis Cup, the Cannatonic family won all cups in the CBD categories for flowers and extracts. A similar result was obtained in the NorCal Medical Cannabis Cup, where five out of six awards were won by these strains. Another example is SoCal Medical Cannabis, where the Cannatonic family ranked first and second in the categories of flowers and resin, i.e. four out of six cups. It can now be considered the Skunk of CBD-rich strains in the USA, as it appears in 90% of all award-winning hybrids.

Conclusions

Although our illustration was rich, US elite clones and strains descending from Cannatonic are undoubtedly more than those described, although breeders are not willing to acknowledge this for a number of reasons, e.g. some pass it off as industrial hemp in order to place a veneer of legality on it; others claim the paternity of this genetics; still others keep the origin of this selection secret; or it is just a matter of personal taste, lack of knowledge and other reasons. It is very odd that, since 2009, when Jaime of Resin Seeds started to ship seeds of Cannatonic to America, ‘new’ CBD-rich cannabis strains have emerged everywhere, with no detailed disclosure made by breeders as to their breeding work. All of these ‘creations’ and ‘discoveries’ should really be questioned, because a unique claim that a new CBD-rich plant “has been created” requires unique evidence, which nobody is currently giving. In the next article we will discuss some of these genetics with an unclear history more closely. In any case, it is a demonstrated fact that Cannatonic is the cornerstone of CBD plants bred in the USA, in terms of number of selected elite cuttings, hybrids developed from it, and awards gained in cannabis cups. At this point, it can undoubtedly be said that Cannatonic is the strain that most influenced the US CBD scene. By: H. Madera