Zkittlez pheno hunt, found the one worth keeping

ran 12 zkittlez seeds this run specifically to find a loud terp expression. most were decent, couple were almost flavorless which is honestly embarrassing for a strain with this reputation. but pheno 7 stopped me cold when i popped the jar at day 21 of cure. this one is straight tropical fruit candy. not the fake candy smell you get from weak phenos, like actual overripe mango and passion fruit with a weird funky sourness underneath. almost like the fruit is fermenting a little. complex in a way that most zkittlez i've tried just isnt. sticky fingers after touching the buds, smell lingers on your hands for a while. tried two others that had a more generic grape/berry profile, nothing offensive but nothing special either. that type of expression bores me personally. if the terp profile isnt stopping you mid-task when you open the jar, i dont really want to grow it again. pheno 7 got cloned and she's staying in the stable. the rest got composted after harvest. thats the whole point of hunting, you run the numbers until something earns its spot.

16 comments

16 Comments

Seedling2d ago

Awesome :) Runtz is like that too imho.

Grower2d ago

runtz comparison feels like a stretch to me. runtz can hit nice but the fermented fruit thing OP is describing is a different animal, more complex than what i've pulled from most runtz phenos. two different profiles imo.

Seedling2d ago

I've never had a good Runtz or Zkittlez is why I mentioned it. In my area (original breeding ground) people love Runtz because it's "supposedly" a candy strain. I don't care for either cultivar, but I'm glad OP found a good pheno. Info says Royal King Genetics Backcross Line — BX3 clone-only restabilization - Cookies Profile - he Zkittlez line has been stabilized through successive inbred generations with phenotype-driven selection. The hybrid character — predictable balance, terpene complexity, manageable structure — has been our breeding objective from cycle one. The phenotype reported here is the top-performing selection from our most recent twelve-plant cohort; the variation envelope on the report shows the realistic spread you can expect from seeds in this line. The line traces to a Sunset Sherbet × Wedding Cake cross, with each generation selected to fix the traits that define Zkittlez.

Grower2d ago

fair enough, regional hype is real and runtz gets a lot of inflated rep depending on where you are. on that RKS info though, i'd pump the brakes a little. BX3 restabilization is solid work but Sunset Sherbet x Wedding Cake is Gelato territory, not traditional Zkittlez lineage. calling that a Zkittlez line feels like marketing doing some heavy lifting. what OP found sounds more like classic grape ape x grapefruit expression, which is the actual backbone of the original. different family tree entirely. not saying the pheno isnt good, clearly it is. just that the genetics writeup and the strain name dont fully line up in my head.

Seedling2d ago

Agreed 100% (me as well, don't fully line up in my head)

Grower2d ago

good to know it's not just me reading it that way. sometimes the naming just follows the market rather than the actual lineage and you have to dig into what's actually in the cross to make sense of it.

Seedling1d ago

I've emailed RKS about correcting lineage on a few cultivars, Josh D OG was the last one I informed them about, but it wasn't corrected. Josh D OG is a triple cross: SFV OG x Triangle Kush x Hells Angel OG RKS has it listed as Grape Ape x Bubba Kush

Grower1d ago

that's frustrating but not surprising. wrong lineage info on seed sites is way more common than it should be. Josh D OG misattributed that badly is kind of wild though, grape ape x bubba kush is nowhere near that family tree. at some point you have to wonder if it's sloppy sourcing or intentional rebranding to move units. either way it makes pheno hunting harder when you don't actually know what you're working with genetically.

Seedling1d ago

The old RKS website was light years ahead of this new design (and customer service). Old website had security holes. I "get it" a marketing strategy towards newer growers but go and check lineage on multiple cultivars, its a copy and paste of Grape Ape x Bubba Kush. I miss the old RKS website. My Rank was #111 and had $8.00 of points, now I'm a Seedling lol.

Grower1d ago

copy paste lineage across multiple listings is pretty damning, that's not a data entry mistake that's a workflow. someone just filled in the same parent names down the list and called it done. losing your rank and points in a site migration is also a classic way to quietly wipe out loyalty rewards without technically canceling them. probably not intentional but it sure is convenient for them.

Seedling1d ago

Agree 100

Grower1d ago

not much to add to a two word reply but yeah, it's a real problem. you can hunt good phenos without knowing the lineage, OP proved that, but accurate info matters if you're trying to predict traits or make crosses.

Seedling1d ago

RKS says "all old data, rank and points from the old website are saved and will be entered soon", I'm not confident this will happen. Like you said "copy and paste, workflow issue" = laziness

Grower1d ago

yeah that's a classic "we'll get to it" that never gets gotten to. seen it on plenty of seed sites. the data migration excuse buys them infinite time without actually committing to a deadline. at some point the pattern speaks for itself. wrong lineage on josh d og, zkittlez marketed with cookies genetics, now archived user data in limbo. not saying it's malicious but it adds up to a site thats not sweating accuracy very hard.

Seedling1d ago

On your last post, you are 100% correct, sadly. (I think they fired some of the old guard). I used to have long email conversations with the RKS staff, now I'm lucky to receive a reply. Bums me out. I hope RKS reads this and it lights a fire under their a**.

Grower1d ago

that tracks. when communication drops off like that it usually means turnover or the operation scaled past its quality control. both end the same way for the customer. hopefully someone there is still paying attention to the forums. public threads like this are harder to ignore than emails.