Permafrost Feminised

Permafrost announces itself in a fixed order, and limonene is always first out of the jar — a citrus lift that arrives before the lid is fully off, lemon rind and tangerine with a sweetness trailing it. pinene follows mid-palate, adding resinous clarity. The lab figure on this 30/70 sativa is 20% THC, though potency is the least interesting thing about it — plenty of cultivars test the same and taste of very little.

The choices that bring out the Limonene/Pinene/Terpinolene profile in Permafrost are not the choices that maximise yield, and at some point you have to pick one. The aromatic version starts in living soil — microbial activity in an established no-till bed produces secondary metabolites a synthetic feed schedule never will, and South Africa has enough good local compost and worm-casting suppliers to make that affordable rather than aspirational.

Through 70-80 days, stop foliar spraying after week two: anything that lands on a developing trichome is still there at harvest. The closing three weeks decide which terpenes end up in front — nights held at 16-18°C push limonene forward, a warmer finish protects the lighter terpinolene top notes, and you cannot have both. Decide which version of the strain you want before you get there.

Most of the loss happens after the cut. Hang for 10-14 days at 15-18°C and 55-60% humidity, which through a South African summer realistically means a climate-controlled room or a wine fridge set to 16°C. Then jar it and burp twice daily for the first fortnight. The pinene layer that makes this cultivar worth the trouble does not surface until somewhere between day 21 and day 28 in glass.

Difficulty: easy. In flower for 70-80 days. Stands Short. Indoors it returns 400 gr/m². Outdoors, up to 400 g/plant a plant.

The first thing Permafrost does at 20% THC is lift it with a bright, nearly effervescent citrus. The creative, energetic, euphoric effects follow within minutes, as a sharpening rather than a lift: colour reads more saturated, music holds more detail, conversation wanders further than it would have. It runs two to three hours on a plateau instead of a peak, so nothing drops out from under you at the end. Pinene sits underneath all of it, adding an alertness that keeps thinking crisp.

Leading with Limonene, then Pinene, and Terpinolene underneath. How this combination survives the move from flower to vapour or smoke is not a given. Held low, at 180-188°C, the pinene and terpinolene notes stay legible with limonene underneath them. Run it hotter, or burn it, and the three collapse into one — still pleasant, but without the separation that makes this cultivar worth paying attention to.

Who does well with Permafrost? Indoor growers who want the harvest date to be their decision. Outdoor growers who want to choose the moment flowering starts. Anyone with the room and the patience to veg it properly before flipping. It is rated easy, which in practice means a moderate learning curve that rewards attention without needing laboratory conditions. Sent nationwide in plain, unbranded packaging, with sourced grow data on every strain page.