Hokkaido Japan Hemp Regular – ACE Seeds

Hokkaido Japan Hemp Regular is one of the most curious and rare strains in the ACE Seeds catalog. It hails from the island of Hokkaido in northern Japan and is a pure landrace that evolved in isolation for decades. Technically, it’s a “hemp” due to its very low THC levels, but it possesses a unique genetic and morphological profile.

It’s a plant of great interest to collectors, botanists, and breeders who want to explore the ultra-early flowering traits and resistance to extreme cold of authentic Japanese genetics.

Very fast flowering and resistance to northern cold

Being native to northern latitudes, Hokkaido is programmed to flower and mature very quickly. Outdoors, it’s one of the first plants to complete its cycle, usually as early as August.

Its structure is robust, with serrated leaves and a vigor that allows it to compete with wild vegetation. It requires almost no human intervention to thrive.

Indoors, it flowers in just 6-8 weeks. It’s an extremely resistant strain to cold, wind, and disease, making it a valuable genetic resource for introducing precociousness into other sativa lines.

Unusual aromas: geranium, earth, and oriental spices

The organoleptic profile of Hokkaido is very different from the commercial strains we’re used to. It releases notes of geranium, dried flowers, earth, and a slight hint of oriental spices. It doesn’t have the classic cannabis smell, but rather a scent closer to that of medicinal plants.

On the palate, the flavor is light and woody. Resin production is moderate, but its trichomes are rich in CBD and other minor cannabinoids, making it interesting from a therapeutic and scientific research perspective.

Mild effect and potential for CBD breeding

Given its low THC content, Hokkaido’s effect is almost non-psychotropic, offering only a mild sense of relaxation and physical well-being. Its true value lies in its breeding potential: by crossing it with high-THC strains, CBD-rich hybrids can be obtained with record-breaking flowering times and unbeatable climate resistance.

It’s a “study” strain, a piece of Japanese history that deserves a place in every collection.

The rarity of the Land of the Rising Sun: an ancestral landrace from Japan

Japanese culture has a tradition of cannabis consumption dating back at least 10,000 years, with scientific certainty of its cultivation throughout its islands for more than 2,000 years, and particularly in the northern island of Hokkaido, the Japanese prefecture that traditionally cultivates more hemp since time immemorial.

In fact, cannabis grows wild in Hokkaido, with authorities having to uproot nearly a million plants every year.

This cannabis strain from Hokkaido grows to a strong, stocky habit with broad leaves and fat stems, growth characteristics traditionally associated with Indica strains.

The general appearance and leaf morphology of this Japanese strain is reminiscent of the indica phenotype of our China Yunnan, although the Hokkaido has darker leaves, more vigor, longer node spacing and more branching.

On the other hand, this strain from Hokkaido exhibits semi-autoflowering characteristics, meaning that outdoors she starts flowering not long after the summer solstice. It has a pointed floral development that reminds us of sativas, even if the flowering develops very quickly, maturing in just 6-8 weeks.

There is no scientific or cultural evidence of the psychoactive use of cannabis in Japan, although this does not mean it can be completely ruled out.

Because although cannabis was mainly grown for textile use in this country, it was only after WWII that Japan finally regulated cannabis for THC content, so traditional Hokkaido strains were probably never intentionally bred to completely eradicate their cannabinoid production.

Indeed, thanks to a recent study conducted by James Farmer of www.seedsofkismet.com on this second generation of Hokkaido (P2) that we propose to you in this version, 3 main phenotypes have been identified in this variety according to their different chemotypes on main cannabinoids:

• Group A → High CBD content (10 %), moderate THC content (5.5 %), high CBG content (3%) and CBD:THC ratio of 2:1. Notable increase in terpenes in this genotype across the board, with much stronger and more appealing aromas than the rest.
• Group B → High CBD content (9-12 %), very low THC content (0.4-0.5 %), low CBG content (0.6-0.8 %) and a CBD 22-25 :1: THC Ratio.
• Group C → Low-moderate CBD content (2%), extremely low THC content (0.1%), extremely low CBG content (0.05-0.1%) and CBD:THC ratio of 22-25 :1.

Thus, this genetics can lead to the development of 3 lines with different purposes, depending on the chemotypes used in their stabilization:

• Psychoactive variety rich in THC, CBD and CBG.
• Hemp variety rich in CBD.
• Strain of hemp without relevance in cannabinoid content.

Genetic analyzes performed on this variety indicate that it is a uniform variety, homozygous and with very little genetic variation, with a rare and unique genotype, unrelated to other European or Russian hemp varieties, therefore the origins of this variety suggest that it is more related to Chinese or Korean cannabis strains.

Its lack or very low hermaphroditism is a sign that there was human intervention at some point in its development.

Hokkaido Japan Hemp by Ace Seeds is a pure, stable and fast maturing landrace variety very interesting for the development of new hemp varieties (with high or low CBD content) for medium latitudes (40º-45º), and for cannabis scholars and conservationists, since the HIHA (Hokkaido Industrial Hemp Association ) recently signed an agreement with the French government to introduce new European hemp varieties with very low THC content (less than 0.2%) in Hokkaido, which means that the old traditional hemp varieties of the island could be replaced and extinct in the short term!