AARP

APE. The very name implies bestial strength, and its one of the most notoriously potent cube varieties. An acronym for Albino Penis Envy, its a cross of the original PE genetics and the classic PF Albino. Like the PE, APE is also known to be a bit more challenging to grow than regular cubes. My own Jack Frost variety is a cross of the APE and TAT, and was intended to strike a compromise between the APE's strength and the productivity of the albino Teachers.

APE

Challenging...how so? While it can be said that all cubes can be grown with the same methods and setup, they don't all necessarily perform the same. Faster growing, outdoor type cubes will flourish in a shorter window of opportunity, going from pins to mature fruits in just a couple days, while slower growing varieties like PE or APE may take a couple weeks for the fruits to develop, and have to contend with moisture loss and surface conditions changing over that time. Once you've learned to dial in your setups and environment, everything will flourish...but this takes some time and practice, and newer growers still finding their way will generally have better results with the faster growing varieties. There's also the issue of learning to avoid and recognize contamination, and this is another area where the faster growing varieties are often able to perform better than slower isolations.

Which brings us to our next subject: the revert. This term is used to describe an isolated genetic that fails to produce its expected results, and generally returns in part or whole to more of a standard cubensis type expression. It can be caused by stress, in the form of poor growing conditions or contamination, but it can also occur at random genetically. A revert isn't a backwards step to a previous iteration of the genetic, but rather a partial or whole restoration of the default cubensis type traits to facilitate rapid reproduction by ditching the isolated traits we favor. Albinism, slow PE type growth, these desirable traits also come with a decrease in spore production and ejection; we generally won't see these things growing in the wild because they aren't able to reproduce effectively without our assistance. The reversion generally functions as a phenotypic reset to quickly get spores in the air and find better growing conditions elsewhere.

APE Revert

The APEs pictured earlier in this post reverted, and produced the gold capped fruits shown here...but just because something reverted doesn't mean its a lost cause. The expression is different, and just as a revert is not a backwards step to a previous version of the genetic, it also isn't likely to backwards step back into the genetic that reverted...but the potential for aspects of its previous isolations are still in the genetics. Spores are semi randomized during meiosis, and bits and pieces of previous glory can still recombine into new and interesting forms. These APE reverts grew spore-printing golden caps for a couple generations before producing a mixed grow with new pigmented and albino phenotypes. Not knowing what they might do next, I labeled them AARP for Albino APE Revert Project...while they shared some aspects of the original APE (albinism, slower growth, etc) they did not resemble the original.

AARP

AARP first fruits

This new albino isolation has a different look, and grows just a bit faster than the original APE, but is still a slow grower. It may also be slightly lower in potency than the original APE, but is still definitely a heavy hitter. Where it shines is in its productivity. In its new form, it is phenomenally more cooperative than the original APE. It seems to pick and choose between filling the tub from wall to wall, or growing more sporadic but enormous fruits, and often produces mushrooms well over the 100g mark.

The AARP label is intentionally silly, and certainly not as marketable as a name like "Jack Frost", but after watching this genetic shine for multiple generations, it simply stuck. Its not what it was, but it is what it is, and that is indeed something wonderful.