Satori,Final verdict
I am in a way happy that I did not write this review a couple of weeks earlier.I was disappointed mainly by the buds look not being Bag appeal at all.Satori delivers one of the least bag appeal buds full of stem and more leaf than calyx. For this single reason its not a strain for business growers unless they just have some known customers that love quality smoke and are ready to sacrifice its lack of bag appeal.
I started with 9 Regular seeds with %100 germination rate and ended up with 4 female and 5 males, but if any body has had some serious issues with germination of this special plant I understand it fully . I had the some problems when I tried to germinate Mandala seeds through wet tissue.You have to follow religiously what has been said in Mandala seeds company website germination guide .
None of them showed their sex before the second week of flowering and all showed their sex by the end of the 4th week.One of the males was the STRONGEST and thickest plant I have ever had and removing it was a painful job.i wish I had space to take some pollen out of him but such as life.
I chopped 5 males and one female that was not growing properly.
I ended up with 3 females and harvested 10 ounces dry out of them under around 800 watts mix of metal Halide and HPS bulbs.
They were not the healthiest plant during the veg time but no major issue with them.vegged them for 28 days and switched to 12/12 when they were about 7th internodes (30 cm).Inflowering they bagan to turn some serious healthy plants.
I used Advanced nutrients Grow,Micro ,Bloom for vegging(no additive used) .starting from EC=0.3 and reaching to EC=0.8 max toward the end of week 4.
Need to mention that in seedling period they all showed some red/ blue hue on the back side of the leaves that disappeared by the end of week 2 of vegg and did not resurface until late flowering as a nice purple hue that covered 1/3 of lower part of2 out of 3 plants especially the one that was under more MH than HPS.
When I switched to 12/12 they stretched from one feet to more than 3 feet at the end of flowering (%350) but if you want to use HPS alone expect more than %400 stretching.(possibly %600 or even more).
Using pure reverse osmosis water(RO water) ,I noticed they dont perform good when EC is more than 1(PPM 500) even when they are in fool bloom period.!!!
When I switched the light to 12/12 I switched nuts to Advanced Nutrient connoisseur (Plus Bud blood for a week and Big bud for 3 more weeks).
Surprisingly ,I had some nutrient burn in one of my plants even with EC=0.9 during the flowering.I did not believe it so persisted that no nut burn can happen by this very low EC in hydroponics but I was wrong.Later Lowering the EC level solved most of the issue.
I believe If anyone uses connoisseur should be aware that it is extremely powerful and following Advanced nutrient Recommendation can lead to some degrees of Nut burns.
I had the best White widow of all time using Connoisseur with EC=0.9 max with no sign of nut deficiency and a vigorous robust grow.
In my 20+ cannabis plant strain experience I found satori the most Nut sensitive strain and for this single reason I generally dont recommend it for beginners until they are fully aware of nut burn signs and symptoms.
If you manage to keep the EC low then this is the plant for sativa hybrid lovers.I had no issue with any of my plants except for before mentioned Nut burn.
Phenotype was diverse from Spear shape sativa cola with no significant side branching in one phenotype and a bat shape less compact cola with plenty of side branches colas competing with the main cola in the other side of the phenotypes.
Satori does not reject any amount of light you throw on her and is a light eater.If you dont trim her then you need light mover or some other tricks to give the lower branches a good light otherwise you will end up with very leafy crop on lower branches.
For being a more sativa than an indica hybrid satori is too bushy and Impairs the light to reach the lower parts.I recommend trimming some of the fan leaves if it is too bushy in some parts of plant but not vigorous trimming necessary.
Yield was not impressive until the end of week 7 or even 8 then it began to pack on and stopped not sooner than end of week 10 .
Bat phenotype gave me 5 ounces of dry bud that 4 Oz of it was the side branches colas.
The spear sativa pheno grew a little lanky and Ended up 2 Oz Of buds.Quality wise it was the best or lets say the strongest.
The third one was in the middle if range both for yield and quality ( 3 ounces)
The Bat Pheno has a very strong sturdy structure more like a strong Indica plant and needs no support at all but the spear pheno may need some kind of support.
Odor and scent:For some reason satori has a subtle but complex scent in flowering and drying and curing period.
First, is should say, it is not a stealth strain to grow, you need some sort of carbon filter beginning about week 3rd to 4th week of bloom.
The closer you get to the plant you smell fruitier but when you are far from it the hash scent is more dominant.
Around week 4 all the plants began to release a sweet/sour scent that was very familiar for me but it took me a week to match that scent in my mind with my Scent natural library!!! And it was CANTELOUPE for sure and it ended about week 9 and there was no cantaloupe aroma in final cured Buds whatsoever.
The cured bud has a subtle hash and dried mix fruit aroma, reminds me when I used to open my grandmother spice storeroom. Mixture of hundred spice but not knowing what.
Smoke:The high of satori grows on you.Its a hybrid high. Both mental and physical but more mental than body of coarse .
I feel it in my temples more and not in my body , but if you have a body discomfort or spasm Satori is reaxing enough for mild to medium pain and discomfort.
I call it a dry high. You take a toke and then prefer to dig into your thoughts. First I could not connect to its high so I began to think that although its a strong high it does not have character, I was wrong again.
It took me about a week to feel and then understand satoris type of high.Its a mental cleaner. It works for me like a White Board Eraser or for new generations sake like the computers Refresh Button.
You take two toke or three and after a few seconds to couple of minutes You are ready for a mental mission ,as deep as it goes with no prejudice (you erased your prejudice before by Satori)
or you may find yourself brave enough attacking the old Unanswered questions you tried to answer and failed.I personally solved one of Very OLD COLD CASES of mine.
It is a creeper first but a relatively fast creeper. It comes in waves and not like a tsunami.
Dont let this wave like approach fools you, Sooner or later You have to stop smoking more satori since she has no sealing effect and If you smoke more You are on a higher and higher waves until its too much and you need to lie down.
Your mind can take more but your body normally quits first.
In high doses I had some Heart Race experience but in therapeutic dose it was a very safe smoke with no significant side effects.
It is not a soft smoke to inhale or keep inhaled but If you manage to keep a thick smoke in for a few seconds then you will find yourself in a tunnel of vision and suddenly you are HIGHLY High.
If you are a medium to heavy smoker then it is difficult for your friends to track you down when you are high on satori .You look almost normal to them with no red eye or stoned face.
In the Mandala Seeds company website they gave Satori Bubble hash a comparable quality with Famous Nepalese Temple Balls. I DID Doubt it but Boy OH Boy I was wrong. Its bubble hash blew my mind when 0.3 gram of it was enough to keep 4 medium smokers Satisfied for a full day with one casualty who had serious issue understanding the concept of time.
What satori Lacks for me is the lack of happiness in her high and for this single reason Satori will not be in my next couple of grow but I will definitely miss its empty container If I finish my satori stash in future.
In my final Verdict I consider satori a safe bet for a Sativa dominant Hybrid for average grower with some knowledge about Nutrient management.
Price wise it performs better than you paid for thanks to Jasmin and Mike of Mandala seeds.
Yours
Satica
some buds dry
