Tangerine Dream, A Truly Dreamlike Fruit Strain - By Barney's Farm

Tangerine Dream is a big name in the world of music – this German band, that was at the peak of their craft in the 1970s, is world-famous and counted among the pioneers of electronic music.

So if a renowned cannabis seed bank like Barney’s Farm gives one of their strains this famous band’s name, the bar is set high of course, folks expect nothing else than a breeding masterstroke.

 

Looking at its genetic composition reveals that without a doubt, Barney’s Farm’s Tangerine Dream strain potentially has what it takes to fulfill these expectations as three legendary varieties are at its core: G13, Afghan and Neville’s A5 Haze. The use of such long-established genetic building blocks to create Tangerine Dream is a pretty nice match – 1970s oldschool genetics for a variety with a 1970s oldschool name.

 

The genetic amalgamation of those three classics led to a plant with a slight sativa tendency (60%) that grows medium tall and completes its flowering stage within 60-65 days. Due to an early outdoor finish in the first to second week of October, Tangerine Dream is a good candidate not only for inside but also outside. In any cultivation scenario, this Barney’s Farm strain promises a bountiful harvest, indoors, for instance, 600 grams per sqm. are not uncommon with good growers.

 

Buds so voluminous and heavy sprout from the branches that they may need support near the end of flowering. As a matter of course, a cannabis variety carrying the term “tangerine” in its name should live up to this and produce distinct citrus notes, and so it is with Tangerine Dream – it gives off an intense smell of citrus fruits and berries, taste-wise this may translate into a dominant orange/tangerine note, in any case the taste is a tropically sweet and citrusy one. Being smoked or vaped, the buds instantly deliver a double effect which is uplifting and buoyant in the head but relaxing and unwinding in the body. 


 

The veg stage: Express germination and vigorous ramification

 

Who else than all-oldschool grower The Doc should have dealt with this strain for testing purposes? Having witnessed the heyday of the Tangerine Dream band in the 70s, he instantly was on fire when this strain came into play. The two feminised

 

beans sown had come off the ground after about 2.5 days already, exhibiting that typical Barney’s express germination speed. Remarkably early and full of verve, the two plants started to branch out which resulted in a bushy, heavily branched shape by the end of the veg stage. After three weeks of vegetative growth, The Doc triggered flowering by switching from 18/6 to 12/12, with the plants standing 30 and 33 cm tall. Branches were clothed with thin shade leaves that looked more like sativa than the 60:40 sativa/indica ratio had suggested.

 

 The flowering stage: The two Tangerine Dreams plunge into a real silver rush

 

The stretching phase whilst flowering was unusually long, extending over five weeks and leaving the two plants with more than twice their previous height. Nevertheless they had kept their compactness – “that’s a pretty handy indoor plant size”, The Doc commented. Right from the start, they displayed enormous flowering vigour so that after six weeks of blooming they had piled lots of bulky buds on their numerous branches, endowed with an extraordinarily high calyx-to-leaf ratio.

 

Trichome formation turned out to be overly generous – already in the early and medium stage of resin production, the two Tangerine Dreams had created a plethora of crystals, but in the last three weeks they plunged into a real silver rush then! They sugared themselves to the max and became so incredibly sticky that The Doc said “this feels like some instant adhesive, once touched I can hardly unglue my fingers from these resin-soaked buds, awesome!” What impressed him likewise deeply was that fact that both plants produced practically no loose scrawny flowers, all the way down to the bottom buds were of amazing density and solidness, even the smallest ones. “And then they also have a notably low leaf count, I think I’ll be able to harvest them blindfolded...”, The Doc reported.

 

While bud consistency was in a class of its own, the flower scent even capped it all off as Tangerine Dream lived up to its name aroma-wise, with the buds of both plants really exuding a heavily citrusy fragrance that unmistakably reminded of tangerines or oranges. “It’s an intensity and distinctiveness in this regard that’ve never experienced before, and this certainly means something!”, said The Doc, full of astonishment.

 

One of the plants developed attractive purple hues on its sugar leaves in the second half of flowering which added to its bewitching beauty. Barney’s Farm’s official flowering schedule wasn’t exceeded, just in time after 64 days buds appeared well-cooked and The Doc lopped the plants off. Since there was very little leaf material to be trimmed and the final heights of 65 and 76 cm allowed for easy handling, he was expectedly able to make quick work of harvest.

 

Post-harvest results: Tangerine Dream becomes another member of The Doc’s 100 g club and strikingly smells of tangerines

 

Given those vast amounts of large-sized heavily swollen Buds, it was The Doc’s firm expectation that the two Tangerine Dreams would enter into 100 grams yield zone, and this was going to happen then, indeed, with a combined dry bud volume of 223 grams. “Sooo goood and sooo muuuch, that makes my old grower’s heart leap with joy”, The Doc cheered.

 

Fittingly, pistils looked orange after drying, so this was another nice match to the strain name. Much as nice  and most tantalising was the super-frosty resin encrustation covering the dried buds silvery-white. They fortunately hadn’t lost their tangerine-like scent over the drying process – instead, thanks to the absence of chlorophyll this tropical odour signature had arrived at the peak of prominence now.

 

Vaping it: Tangerine dreams come true... and pack a sativa wallop

 

With the usual 0.5 g load in his Crafty+ vaporizer, The Doc started his vaping test. Exquisite tropically fruity tangerine vapour billowed out of the device into The Doc’s mouth and made him exult “pretty amazing, this weed tastes just like it smells. Oh yes, this lovely delectation is a real tangerine dream!” In accordance with Barney’s description, the effect set in very rapidly, after three hits, The Doc had his head high up in the clouds, filled with felicity.

 

In a great typical sativa manner, Tangerine Dream put him in an upbeat mood and brought positivity into his world of thought, blowing away his mental fatigue after a long working day. He began to make post-corona holiday plans: “Maybe in a country where tasty tangerines are growing... Spain, watch out for me!” That breezy head buzz was soon joined by physical relaxation, Tangerine Dream proved to be not only an invigorating mental tonic but also a soothing muscle relaxant, melting his previous overall tension away so that he could move more fluently again.

 

With a more than two hours duration of effects, Tangerine Dream had proven to be highly potent. “It meanwhile has become routine, but once again after a cultivation test I’ve got to sing a great hymn about a Barney’s Farm strain, Tangerine Dream gets maximum points from me in all departments! This is as good as it gets. And Barney’s Farm again and again manages to surprise me with something special – this time it was that dazzling tangerine flavour. With such a rich harvest in my storage jars, I’ll enjoy a lot more heavenly tangerine dreams anytime soon...”


Published and Written by Green Born Identity - Barney's Farm in Weed World Magazine issue 153