Hey mayonnaise,
I'm up in mendo, out west of Boonville in the coastal range...on a north slope where less sun / more fog are 2 challenges to finishing outdoor crops. this climate probably similar enough to your friend's for this help.
Like you, I visited 'alternatives', and enjoyed it immensely. I bought only the Hemperor seeds because of landlord restrictions on what can be grown, primarily because getting the 15 free OG32 seeds gave me more seeds than I can grow out this year even if half turn out to be males.
I asked baba G in another thread if these 2 were good for my conditions or if another might be better, & he replied that both those hybrids are amongst the most mildew-resistant ones in this round of seeds, and probably could be considered 'the best' for my particular microclimate .
I would have purchased straaight sativa hybrids had baba G done any this time around, but I got what I could since I started weeks later than planned.
as extra info regarding other strains: in past seasons I've had very good results with Sour Diesel, Grape Ape, & a locally-maintained strain of a pineapple that goes by 'Pineapple Sativa'; the taller growing phenotype of 2 in this area. (rumor is there's a short-growing one, but I've not even seen one of them).
The one I've grown matures in early October to mid-October and seems very resistant to most fungi, although Botrytis can move in if I risk leaving it until full maturity under very humid or cool/foggy conditions. when well-grown it can be a heavy producer.
the largest rumored yield I've heard was 11 pounds from a single plant that grew to 15 feet in a 200gallon pot several years back.! (that one was NOT grown close to here; but over close to border between Mendo and Lake counties where season often extends weeks beyond mine due to delayed arrival of early-fall fog.)
Blue Dream also did very well last year and remained virtually disease-free despite a breakout of downy mildew on clone-grown plants planted on either side of it that a co-gardener got in Sebastopol from a well-known dispensary.
that was amazing since the Blue Dream was only 4 to 6 feet from either plant.
Even so, it matured as one of the prettiest plants I've grown, with only a few very tiny spots on a few leaves which were immdeiately removed and trashed vs composted. I spent an hour+ every day patrolling for fungi.
The patient I grew BD for was VERY happy with this medicine, which was great for her because her one Raspberry hybrid from seed got the mildew so badly we had to harvest it only 4 or 5 weeks into flowering. :-(
she also had a pineapple sativa which did fine with no problems despite mildew spores being released in a number of spots in the garden!
I think the questionable/infected clones were taken from 1 or more mothers that had become infected by a mildew which was then suppressed by use of one or mutliple fungicides, before the clones were taken.
I like to think there was no mal-intent, but that instead the clone-provider did not understand that some mildews (& other fungi) are systemic infections which can only be suppressed; but never 'cured'.
When suppressed the fungi linger in the interstital spaces of the plants, seemingly 'dormant'... until environmental pressures are good for such to resume growing (and damaging the plant). When systemic fungi resume growing they often break-out on multiple spots on the plants, simultaneously.
Of course clones from systemically infected plants that have fungi suppressed by treatment show no signs of fungus until environmental conditions trigger a 'new' breakout of fungal growth.
In September the no-disease interval ended when the mildew broke out after foggy nights returned, 3 or 4 weeks before our first rain.
I prefer to imagine the vendor who provided those clones was ignorant of the fact that many fungal infections can not BE 'cured' even when spraying has eliminated all visible symptoms, but instead the fungal organisms are forced into a type of dormancy, remaining IN the tissues, waiting to resume growth when favorable conditions come back late in the season.
I cloned 1 each of 2 varieties of the co-gardener's plants 'cause they sounded so appealing...then gave them ideal conditions including major thinning of all low and interior branches to provide excellent airflow throughout the plants; but despite that both developed the same mildew within a week of their mothers/sister clones.
I harvested both plants 3 or 4 weeks before anything else which was sad since I'd spent so much time 'babying' them, but 'asi`es la vida': all gardeners experience crop problems at one time or another.
This experience (atop an earlier one involving plants with hidden mite eggs) led me to buy seeds this year instead of depending on "proven" clones from whereverI could get them...and risking hidden diseases being brought in on any of them.
When I grew Grape Ape, it was the phenotype which smells sorta-like grape koolaid when you break it up to smoke, which I loved. It did very well for me with no fungal problems, despite high pressure for fungi to develop in the area it grew that year.
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I hope this is helpful to you/your friend, and that your friend's crop this year proves to be the best to date.
