How the Black Domina 98 clone was selected

Exitable
20 Jan 2017
The Black Domina 98 elite clone, otherwise known in the Spanish-speaking community as “La Barraquera”, originated in the Sweet Seeds environment, before the foundation of the seed bank. One of the founders, Manolo, tells us how its selection was made. Manolo ran a famous rock bar named Gabba Gabba in Valencia, where local rockers and a group of cannabis genotype collectors used to meet. A few hash smokers were among the bar customers and occasionally grew cannabis based on the quality of plants consumed by collectors. A punk rocker couple were fond of bands such as Ramones, The Misfits and The Cramps. One of them, named Miquel, told Manolo that he intended to start growing plants and requested his advice and guidance for his first indoor growing experience to be successful. Firstly, Manolo advised him to try a bank with a clear reputation by using seeds suitable for indoor growing. At that time, the only renowned seed banks were Dutch. He pulled out a Sensi Seeds catalogue with the plant types that he kept at his bar counter. As Miquel was a punk rocker, he was attracted by the ‘Black Domina’ name, as it called to mind a female black dominator with leather boots and a whip.

Selection

He then bought an original seed pack, which was really costly at that time. Another tip he received from Manolo was: “Seeds are very expensive, so make sure you continue to grow them, and you may also want to find an excellent individual. When plants are growing, take two cuttings from each of them. If you find a special one that you like during harvest, you will keep it forever”. After receiving these tips, Miquel started growing his own crop. Black-Domina-1 Then, Manolo said, something happened that he would remember for all of his life: “One day I was at my bar and I suddenly smelt a whiff of excellent-quality grass, I turned around to see where this terrific smell came from. Mine was a large bar and Miquel was sitting at about 33 feet from me, smoking at the counter. I asked him “What’s this hash with this great smell you’re smoking?”. He answered that it was Black Domina, which he had already harvested and dried. I asked him if he had kept some cuttings and he said yes. He brought me 4 clones that he had particularly liked. I reselected one out of these four that was clearly above the level of its siblings; this plant is today known as Black Domina ’98. “It was not easy, in those days, to come across such a good mother. Most of the time, when you are looking for something, you don’t find it. You don’t have to search! You simply ‘come across’ good plants, you never know when or where this will happen, but sooner or later you will cross paths with excellent genetics that you will never want to part with”. It was selected in 1998, which is why it is commonly known as Black Domina ’98. Manolo says: “This name could perhaps come from the old pictures of a few bonsai mothers I uploaded to a few cannabis forums, I wrote 98 on their labels, as I used to specify the year when I produced the mother to keep track of age. So I started distributing cuttings among the collectors with whom I exchanged genetics, and these plants soon reached the Valencia grow shops. We are genotype collectors and exchanging genetics is among our main interests. At that time, we did not care to reach as many people as possible; our purpose was rather to share plants among us for key genotypes not to become lost. This clone started to spread rapidly around Valencia and its surroundings, and cannabis growers liked it since the beginning. In 2003 it won the public jury award in a contest organised by the most important Valencian association named “La Barraca de María” – that is why the strain was nicknamed “La Barraquera”. Its reputation then continued to grow, first at national level and then, when many seed banks like ours started to use it to produce seeds of this type, it reached international acclaim”.

Look for your own elite clone

After explaining how Black Domina was discovered, Manolo added: “Although I am currently a seed vendor, in addition to being a genotype collector, I encourage everyone to look for or discover genotypes, and collect them in the form of clones. Please note that anyone could discover a great elite clone, it is not so difficult. Any grower with a little bit of curiosity to explore new genetics and enough discernment about what they like, could stumble upon elite clones, i.e. plants they would never want to lose. This is basically what I mean by ‘elite clone’. Black-Domina-2 It is not something out of reach at all. Most growers do not find elite clones because they make no attempts; as today there is a large quantity of previously selected clones on the cannabis market, and they are happy with these. If everyone searched for elite clones, the genetic pool, and cannabis in general, would improve. Many people find it difficult to encounter an elite clone, they tend to think this is something reserved for seed banks. Mind you, I found many of my favourite strains in the early years of my growing experience and, since then, I have always kept the plants I like”. As for the difference between selecting regular or feminised plants, Manolo assures us there is no such difference: “Saying that you can only make good selections from elite clones taken from regular plants amounts to pure cannabis Talibanism, as if any innovation was a bad thing. An elite clone is a plant you can no longer do away with, whether regular or feminised. A feminised female is genetically identical to a regular female. I know this not only from my knowledge of genetics, but also from my experience down the years. In order to create new strains, I have kept and used elite clones from both feminised or regular seeds and they behave identically, as there is no genetic difference between the two types of females. For example, the Blue Monster, from which the qualities of Cream Caramel derive, is a feminised plant resulting from the crossing of Black Domina ’98 with a 1999 Blueberry selection. We have kept this Blue Monster for several years now and used it both in Cream Caramel and in its auto version. It is just a great elite clone. That selections only have to be made with feminised plants is a whopper!”

Characteristics

No doubt Sensi Seeds used Afghani genetics to create this strain. The ’98 clone is easy to grow, stout, with a medium to high yield and a very strong and pleasant musky aroma. Its inter-knot distance is very short, with a prominent central bud, and short and solid side branches. Buds are indeed of good quality, dense and highly resinous. It is a typical Indica plant well suited to indoor growing. Outdoors too, however, it will turn out to be a resin filled beast. Although the quantity of resin is very abundant, the main quality for which clone ‘98 was selected was its intense and particularly outstanding smell. Black-Domina-3

Lineage

This elite clone is a plant with very personal characteristics that make it a perfect example of Indica. For this reason, Sweet Seeds wanted to make tests with it – more specifically an ‘S1’ or first-generation self-pollination was created, so as to avoid introducing alien genetics that would otherwise dilute such interesting qualities. The result was S.A.D.-S1, short for Sweet Afgani Delicious S1® (strain SWS02). The ‘selfing’ process normally works wonderfully with homogeneous strains, as there would otherwise be too much variability in the offspring. The homogeneity of S.A.D.-S1 shows that Black Domina ’98, from which the seed bank started, was a well-stabilised genotype. Sweet Seeds also used Black Jack® (SWS01), a selection of Jack Herer crossed with Black Domina ’98. This plant is an F1, as two very different strains were crossed, so that its hybrid vigour is much higher than that of SAD-S1. The very sweet aroma inherited from Domina enhances the deeply sweet aroma of this column-shaped inbreed with a dense bud and a short inter-knot distance, whereas Jack Herer contributed an incensed aroma with citric touches, larger side branches and a higher production of flowers. Another important variety with Black Domina genetics is Cream Caramel® (SWS04), one of the best award-winning plants in Spain, to which Black Domina contributed its qualities through its Blue Monster elite clone. Black Domina also forms part of the Moham Ram® (SWS09) genetics, where SAD-S1 was crossed with a White Widow so as to give floral tones, a quick bloom and easy growth to the final product. Black Domina was also used in several self-flowering strains of Sweet Seeds, such as Moham Ram Auto® (SWS32), Cream Caramel Auto® (SWS22), S.A.D. Auto® (SWS24), Black Jack Auto® (SWS21) and Blow Mind Auto® (SWS57), with backcrosses made to fix its characteristics. Black-Domina-4 In addition to Sweet Seeds (the first seed bank to sell lineage of this great selection of Black Domina) many other seed banks currently use it, as its incredible qualities make it one of the most popular clones in Iberian breeding. A few examples include Sugar Black Rose of Delicious Seeds, Black Dream of Eva Seeds, Anesthesia of Pyramid Seeds, La Moreneta of Pepita Seeds, Karibeña of Kannabia Seeds, Black Dance of Reggae Seeds and Royal Domina of Royal Queen Seeds. Text: H. Madera
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