Let me tell you about my keeper...

Every grower settles on something with time for personal reasons. Some like to see their plants yield big time, some like to have a one hit wonder on their hand or whatever comes close, while others prefer short flowering time, great terpene profile, perfect structure or even pest resistance. This plant is usually dubbed "a keeper".

Every grower also has a history of how they got their keeper, and it's usually a good one. I got my own from my buddy Mel, a SoCal or Santa Clarita Valley resident, who created it on a whim when he got some seeds from his friend Soma (a well-known breeder) in 2014.

The cross was Chemdawg '91/NYCD, but the only plant he got from the bag was a male, which he saw as an exemplary stud ("He looked like a female", he told me later). He grew him, harvested the pollen, and dusted some of his favourite clones among which there was a strain he called Aurora Ultra.

This was a hybrid he came up with for his own needs around 2002 by crossing 90's OG Kush with MK Ultra and then adding Aurora Indica (Afghani plant) to the mix, which let him get some purple genotypes as it was purple craze in Cali back then, and everybody was adding Purple Urkle or Mendo Purps to the mix.

Well, F1 seeds were dropped by the mailman few months later at my doorstep, and cause there were only 12 of them I germinated them all, and planted outdoor in my favourite spot. After careful consideration I chopped two OG looking males in early flowering and left only one, which had great sativa structure resembling female much more than a male and powerful piney scent.

He also brixed up with no problems as I got a reading of 19, which is a pretty good one, and this convinced me it was a good idea to use him to inbreed the strain. Then I chopped most of the branches and left only two or three to release the pollen (some of it was used to create two other strains, and the rest was frozen), so chosen females got pollinated.

Buds were ready by the end of September and although heavily pollinated they smoked great! High was rather strong, zippy, often confusing and long-lasting, leaning more on the sativa or indica side depending on the genotype. However, there was no stability as I got 5 different female phenos (Boom, Chem, Dog, OG and Freaky pheno), which I've been hoping to fix with time by farther inbreeding.

As was expected there was no quality slide in F2, where the same genotypes popped up again with the same terpenes in different configurations together with new ones that showed traits I haven't seen in F1. Although still unstable most of the plants have had uniform flowering time, finishing by the first week of October.

As far as terpenes are concerned four main groups were established: lemon/chemical carried, pine/hashy/chemical, fruity/chemical and bubblegum/fruity/blueberry. They were dubbed eventually: OG, Boom, Chem and Bubblegum pheno for the simplicity.

The strain, which was named Ultra Dog, became a staple in my grows for very high pest and mould resistance, lack of high nutrient demands, stocky structure, reasonable flowering time and powerful, euphoric, but still quite balanced high. It has actually become a keeper since for a few friends of mine too, cause the strain proved to be perfect indoor choice as well.

And cause you got through my babbling, I'm gonna treat you to some pics of Ultra Dog grown organically in NorItal!

Boom pheno (F1)

Dog or Bubblegum pheno (F1)

OG Pheno (F1)

Chem pheno (F1)

Chem pheno (F2)

OG Pheno (F2)

Ultra Dog F2 bud

That's it folks! Toke it easy :)