Master Kush is another one of those beautiful indica crosses with Kush heritage, this time coming from two landrace strains from different areas of the vibrant Hindu Kush region.
This indica is famed for its incense-like smell, as well as its uniquely distinctive flavor and its relaxing effects.
Though its origins lie in the pure genetics of the Hindu Kush landraces, many smokers overseas actively pursue this souche; despite its popularity in recent years, it can feel like you can’t actually find it anywhere.
To help alleviate this apparent shortage, why not grow your own?
Here are eight tips on how to best grow your own Master Kush Marijuana.
What is Master Kush Strain
Master Kush is a strain that belongs to a rich heritage of ancient Marijuana strains – before mankind began meddling and crossbreeding, seeking the ultimate THC and CBD blend in their strains, nature was doing its own work in natural cultivation.
Deep in the mountains and jungles of the Hindu Kush mountain range, Indica landrace strains were quietly developing on their own, mixing local plant genetics to create the ultimate intensity of Marijuana.
Of course, now that we’ve got our hands on it, we need to keep improving it.
Developed by the Dutch White Label Seed Company in Amsterdam, Master Kush is one such offshoot of this tradition of crossbreeding landrace strains to try and create a unique blend of different flavors and effects.
Master Kush is a pure Indica, meaning that it has almost no sativa properties whatsoever, allowing it to completely and entirely submerge you in its relaxation. A fantastic benefit of this is the complete lack of mind deletion that many Indicas that have some Sativa in their heritage usually cause.Alongside the intense relaxation, you will suddenly realize a potent sensory awareness and mental clarity, something not commonly felt with many Indica strains.
The effects are somewhat secondary to the taste, however; rich, pungent earthiness competes with an intensely herbaceous and spicy undertone, tasting and smelling eerily similar to a stick of scented incense. Some users describe Master Kush as like walking into a Hindu temple, both in its relaxation and intense, almost overpowering flavor.
Master Kush is easily one of the most popular strains available in the west, yet it is somehow strangely tricky to find in most retail establishments. Maybe it’s due to its sheer desirability, or perhaps due to supply issues, but it seems like every year there is less and less Master Kush to go around.
Let’s take a more in-depth look at this unique and enticing strain and uncover its secrets, so we can know everything possible to ensure we can grow our own.
Difficulty Growing Master Kush
Master Kush comes from a long line of plants that developed entirely on their own with no human oversight. Its ancestors evolved tenacity and a healthy plant structure, as well as an ability to fight off pests.
This storied history means that Master Kush is a pretty decent strain to grow yourself – there are a few tricks here and there that you need to understand to be able to make the best strain possible, but overall it is a robust, hardy strain that doesn’t require too much meddling or secret know-how.
With only a moderate difficulty level, you are likely feeling raring to go and grow your own, so let’s learn about some of the growing techniques for Master Kush.
Cultivation Techniques
Master Kush descends from plants that, only up until recently, resided entirely in hot, humid conditions in the Afghanistan and Pakistan jungles. This makes Master Kush not a great strain to try and regularly grow in the west; to combat this, use hydroponics and the SOG (sea of green) setup, to be able to carefully control the conditions around the plant and make sure you get a perfect result every time.Master Kush will typically grow quite short and dense, so it will only require a small grow space. You can even use regular garden trellises to make sure it grows in the shape you want. This natural inclination to a lower height than other strains makes it extremely easy to perform selective pruning to ensure the very best bud development.
Make sure to clear out the lower bud sites using some simple gardening shears; this ensures the plant diverts as much energy into the colas as possible.
As long as you follow this general advice, you won’t have too much trouble growing Master Kush. Like any plant, it will require at least a little bit of oversight and tenderness, but for the most part, it is resistant to disease and infection, holding up well to whatever the world can throw at it.
Let’s take a look at how much wonderful Master Kush bud you can expect to get.
Master Kush Yield
Like many landrace strains out of Asia, as well as other strains in the Kush family, Master Kush has a typically high yield, offering upwards of 6ozs of bud per square foot.
This is assuming that you have grown it in hydroponics indoors, as well as followed the above tips. If you prefer to leave it to nature and tried to grow it outside, you will find the yield is about half of that, roughly 3ozs in the same amount of bush space.
One way to ensure you get the absolute highest amount of bud possible is to ensure you feed it correctly, so let’s investigate Master Kush’s feeding requirements.
Feeding for Master Kush
In keeping with its jungle-like ancestry, Master Kush needs lots of feeding. This is primarily due to the fact that Master Kush grows dense and stalky. This level of deep plant structure requires a considerable amount of nutrients and pure energy to maintain, so make sure you are feeding your Master Kush regularly with high-grade, high-nutrient fertilizer.
Due to your hydroponics setup, it is effortless to add nutrients to your Master Kush regularly. Instead of having to go grubbing in the dirt with a trowel and a bag of fertilizer, you can instead utilize liquid fertilizers and mix it in with the base hydroponics.
Just make sure that you don’t accidentally bruise the plants when you are doing so! Despite its excessive bushiness, Master Kush has a tendency to fall over in its hydroponics bay if you jostled too much.
What do you do if you are absolutely against growing it in hydroponics and indoors, though? Is it possible to grow it outdoors?
Outdoors/Indoors Cultivation
As mentioned, Master Kush developed in the Hindu Kush mountain range, meaning that it is used to growing in small spaces and with intense heat and moisture.
Assuming you are growing this in the USA or other western countries, you likely won’t be able to achieve this same level of temperature or humidity in your back garden or farmstead.
This makes Master Kush a great indoor strain by necessity alone, as it just doesn’t do super well outside. What’s more, it doesn’t handle colder night temperatures very well, once again due to its ancestor’s proclivities for hot jungles.
If you know you live somewhere that gets especially wet and hot in the right amount of time for Master Kush to flower, then go right ahead and grow outdoors.
How long does Master Kush take to flower, though?
Master Kush Flowering Time
Master Kush is quite surprising in its flowering time – you can expect it only to take 7 or 8 weeks to begin flowering. This speed is entirely unexpected for a Kush strain, as they typically take a little bit longer to get going.
This low flowering time does make it a bit easier to predict weather patterns and figure out if you can grow your Master Kush outdoors.
So, what kind of climate should you be looking for if you do want to try and grow it outdoors?
Cultivation Climate for Master Kush Strain
Due to Master Kush’s preference for jungle-like weather conditions, you would think that you would need to keep the temperature quite warm.
However, just because Master Kush developed in a warmer place doesn’t mean that it always needs to be in a warm temperature. Master Kush can handle temperature between 65-80 degrees Fahrenheit. If you are growing indoors in hydroponics, you can keep the humidity levels surprisingly low – if you grow using a high nutrient liquid fertilizer and a correct setup, it actually doesn’t mind low humidity.
If it is outdoors, however, it’s a different story. Master Kush can tend to look quite sad and drooping if left outdoors without sufficient temperature and humidity, so if you are insistent on outdoors growing, make sure you can expect a consistent temperature of approaching 80 degrees for the entirety of its flowering time.
Final Thoughts
Master Kush is a wonderful strain to try and grow yourself – not only are its effects and flavor extremely pleasant, growing Master Kush allows you to take part in the cherished history of Marijuana cultivation.
This strain is one of the best possible ways to grow something as close to the natural form of Cannabis that exists in the wild. By participating in the Hindu Kush family, you are keeping their genetics and their evolutionary struggle alive.
Whether it is in a hydroponics bay or your backyard, Master Kush will likely do well as long as you give it some basic level of love and care, as well as a great deal of feeding.
With a short flowering time and a low height, this is the perfect strain to grow yourself, sit back and relax with smell and taste of incense and Indian spices.