Hi everyone, I'd like to chime in here and share my limited experience as there seems to be a paucity of information out there on ACDC/Cannatonic/Charlotte's Web. Keep in mind I am new at cannabis cultivation. Here's what I have learned so far:
1. I have grown ACDC outdoors one season (2015) and will harvest my first indoors in 3 weeks. My clone materiel came from Peace in Medicine, a reputable dispensary in Sonoma county California. I have not tested the dried flowers but the oil I make has tested at 16.3% CBD,
after processing losses and less than dispensary-acceptable trim levels, so one can assume the CBD content to be in the 19% range, I.E. the clone I am growing is actually ACDC, not an impostor.
2.A lot of people are looking for ACDC seeds, as far as I can tell this is a clone-only variety.
3. I do not get a high-success percentage of cuttings to root, only in the 50% range. It has been suggested that there is something wrong with my process, however I get near 100% take on the Girl Scout Cookies I grow alongside the ACDC. After 3 sets of cuttings, my ratios are staying the same: near 100% take for the GSC, just north of 50% for the ACDC. I am however beginning to suspect that the ACDC just takes
longer to root, rather than not rooting. I say this as on my most recent group of clones I pulled apart the rockwool to see what was happening inside. Many of the cuttings I had given up on were in fact starting to root, just behind the GSC. Perhaps GSC is just ridiculously easy to propagate and there is in fact something wrong with my process. So FYI, perhaps cut more than you need until you know better. Just my experience.
4. This variety is
very weak-stemmed, the plants I grew outdoors would not have supported the weight of their own flowers, I had to use round wire structures to support the many side branches they produced. The plants were about as wide as they were tall, without topping. Rain would have surely broken any unsupported branches. Yield was low, less than half of what my GSC produced. Please forgive me for using GSC as a baseline, but it is my only reference point as I am new at this.
5. People have questioned their nutrient regime with ACDC on this and other boards. It is my belief that experienced growers have a certain set of expectations, visual cues, that tell them they are appropriately feeding their plants, and ACDC does not respond in a fashion they are familiar with. These plants just don't green up (again, like GSC). They appear to remain low-yielding, relatively light-green colored specimens throughout the growing process, irrespective of nutrient increase.
6. My first round of indoor ACDC (first indoor grow) got
devastated by spider mites, while the GSC (again with the GSC!) was just happy as a clam side-by-side with the ACDC. The GSC had mites after microscope inspection, the plants just were not so easily diseased by them as was the ACDC. I believe I have the problem under control with
Spinosad then
Azamax, but again, just FYI, ACDC appears to be highly sensitive to spider mite infestation, at least indoors. FWIW, my outdoor ACDC never showed any distress symptoms from spider mite infestation.
7. A proprietor of a well-known Marin county collective that produces and distributes ACDC-based medicine told me the sweet spot for peak CBD is around 5% amber trichomes. I do not know if that was lab-tested, but as the collective in question produces and distributes a lot of medicine and has regular labwork done I will, in lieu of better information, make the assumption that the 5% amber trichome recommendation
is based on lab results.
8. Some people are questioning if they are really growing ACDC or some impostor clone. If it has the most gorgeous, heady, terpene-based pine-tree aromas then it's the real thing, or at least mine fits that description.
9. Lastly a success story of sorts: I'm growing CBD-based medicine because my wife of 28 years got brain cancer, Glioblastoma Multiforme. Basically a death sentence. Almost 2 years after diagnosis and conventional treatment, now 4 months past the average survival time for her disease, her tumor is still quiescent. She is doing really well. Can't say for sure yet it's the 5:1 CBD-THC medicine yet, but if she survives 5 years (no one does) then we will certainly evangelize this stuff from the Mountain High!
I hope some of this helps, best of luck to all of you.
Ciderhouse59
