Exodus Cheese

Growers describe how Exodus Cheese grows in very different ways: in documented indoor grows with the feminized seeds from Green House Seeds, the picture ranges from bushy and vigorous to fir-tree-shaped with long side branches, and accounts also differ on fertilizer demand and susceptibility to mold. The reports agree on the hard, compact buds and on the cheese smell that gave the strain its name. Originally it is an English clone from Skunk #1, which is also simply called Cheese or UK Cheese.

Cultivation:

In 5 indoor grows, flowering took between 60 and 70 days, and another grower recommends at least 10 weeks. Where heights were recorded, the plants gained 100 to 157 % after the start of flowering and reached final heights of 70 to 180 cm. Several reports say the plants tolerated topping the main stem and supercropping well; 2 growers had to provide support during flowering, and one considered the compact plants suitable for Sea of Green. The reports rate the ratio of flowers to leaves as above average, while yield is rated from average to very high.

Accounts of care and hardiness contradict each other. 2 growers got by with little fertilizer but observed that the plants reacted sensitively to over- and underfeeding; one of them additionally noted an increased nitrogen demand. 2 others describe a high nutrient demand. 4 reports call the plants not susceptible to mold, while one calls them susceptible to fungal diseases and high temperatures. One grower criticized that cuttings developed unevenly and partly stayed in the vegetative stage too long, and another considers a deliberate phenotype selection necessary.

Genetics and Origin:

According to the common account, the plant was noticed in 1988/89 as a single female phenotype from a pack of Skunk #1 by Sensi Seeds, grown in the Chiltern Hills in southern England. Large buds and the striking cheese smell led to it being cloned and named Cheese. Around 1995 Exodus, an alternative community at Haz Hall on the edge of Luton that organized free parties and campaigned for the legalization of cannabis, received a cutting. Through the many visitors there, cuttings reached the British grower scene. Other descriptions date the origin more loosely to the late 1980s or early 1990s and the adoption by Exodus to the early 1990s.

For a long time Cheese remained a pure clone. Several breeders used it as a parent: Big Buddha Seeds crossed it with an Afghani landrace to make Big Buddha Cheese, Subcool's The Dank used the Exodus clone for Cheese Quake with Querkle and for Lemon Stilton with a Jack the Ripper father, and Dairy Queen is also said to trace back to this clone. Green House Seeds used a converted male specimen of the original as pollen donor for Exodus Cheese x Durban Panama. Seedism Seeds collected various Exodus Cheese variants in circulation and developed the strain Exodus from them.

Versions from Different Breeders:

Green House Seeds describes its feminized version as the original clone selected in the United Kingdom. The breeder gives 8 weeks of flowering and up to 800 g/m² indoors; outdoors it is said to be ready for harvest in late September in the northern hemisphere and to yield up to 800 g per plant. On the strain type the breeder contradicts itself: its own website lists 60 % sativa and 40 % indica, while a brand site of the company lists the reverse ratio. With this version Green House Seeds won 1st place at ExpoGrow in Irún in 2012 and 2nd place in the Bio category at the Spannabis Champions Cup in 2013.

As an autoflower variant, Green House Seeds crossed Exodus Cheese with ruderalis; according to the breeder, Exodus Cheese Automatic needs 9 weeks from seed to harvest, grows 80 to 90 cm tall and yields up to 500 g/m² indoors and 70 to 80 g per plant outdoors. NorStar Genetics offers a feminized Exodus (UK) Cheese with 7 to 8 weeks of flowering. Garden of Green rates its feminized version as 80 % indica-dominant and states 8 weeks of flowering, a height of 80 to 100 cm, up to 650 g/m² indoors and up to 800 g per plant outdoors.

Aroma and Flavor:

Cheese dominates in all descriptions, often specified as blue cheese or as the smell of aged cheese from a cellar, along with a pungent, musty-earthy undertone and sourness. Green House Seeds describes skunk, moss, wood, sour, sweet and gassy notes for its version. In flavor, other strain descriptions mention butter, cream, nuts and sweetness. User entries also include blueberry, rose, lemon and lime, and grape in flavor.

Analyzed terpene values with percentages are not publicly available. A strain description based on tested products lists pinene ahead of caryophyllene and limonene, while Green House Seeds names myrcene, β-caryophyllene and D-limonene for its version.

Effects:

Several user accounts describe a slow-onset head effect followed by physical relaxation without clouding the thoughts. Euphoric, cheerful, talkative and creative states are mentioned; some consumers found the strain activating, others found it sleep-inducing. Green House Seeds describes the effect of its version as strong, long-lasting and delayed in onset. As side effects, consumers report dry mouth, dry eyes and dizziness, occasionally also nervousness. One consumer found the strain unremarkable compared with newer crosses.

THC and CBD Content:

Strain descriptions give 17 to 18 % THC, one of them 0 % CBD. For the Green House Seeds version, differing breeder figures circulate: the breeder's own website lists 22.45 % THC, 0.28 % CBD and 0.15 % CBN, while a brand site of the company lists 16.43 % THC, 0.6 % CBD and 0.35 % CBN. Another strain description gives 18.43 % THC, 0.28 % CBD and 0.15 % CBG for the same version.