White Widow Feminized Seeds

White Widow is a balanced feminized hybrid, 50% indica and 50% sativa, with an earthy, pine-fresh nose, a hint of citrus and the thick, frosty coat of trichomes that gives it its name. These seeds are Royal Queen Seeds’ version of the strain, which RQS says its breeders created from White Widow S1 genetics. It is an easy grow that flowers in about 8 to 9 weeks indoors.

History & lineage

White Widow came out of the Netherlands in the 1990s, first bred by Green House Seeds from a Brazilian sativa landrace and a resin-heavy South Indian indica. Royal Queen Seeds’ history of the strain names Scott Blakey (Shantibaba), Arjan Roskam and Ingemar De Sjamaan as the breeders and strain hunters who secured the parent genetics and made the cross; by the legend RQS repeats, the Brazilian plant was pollinated by an indica from Kerala, in southern India.

It made its name fast. At the 1995 High Times Cannabis Cup, Green House’s entry, from its Tolstraat coffeeshop, won both the main Cannabis Cup and the Bio Cup. Green House still calls it the pride of its “White Family”, and Leafly lists it among the most famous strains worldwide.

Many later strains carry it. Green House built White Rhino on its White Widow and an Afghan indica, and crossed it with Super Skunk for Great White Shark. Serious Seeds made White Russian from its AK-47 and a Cup-winning White Widow clone. White Widow Autoflower carries the strain in an autoflower.

Aroma & flavour

Expect an earthy, pine-fresh nose with spice and a little citrus. Royal Queen Seeds describes a clean, pine-fresh flavour with a hint of citrus on the exhale, over notes of spice, earthiness and pepper, and Green House calls the taste a mix of spicy, woody, sweet and earthy. For White Widow as a strain, Leafly users most often report earthy, woody and pungent flavours, followed by flowery and pine. RQS names myrcene, pinene and caryophyllene as its main terpenes, and Leafly’s lab data lists the same three, led by myrcene. Our guide to cannabis terpenes explains what each one adds.

Effects, as users report them

These are Leafly users’ reports for White Widow as a strain, most common first. Royal Queen Seeds describes its version’s high as a cerebral wave with an almost psychedelic edge, while Green House describes its own line as a relaxing indica feeling that turns into a bursting sativa high. Dry mouth and dry eyes are the downsides people report most, and smaller numbers report dizziness, paranoia or anxiety. Royal Queen Seeds lists THC at up to 19% for its version, and Leafly’s strain data puts White Widow at about 15%. Effects vary with the person and the dose, so if you are new to cannabis, start with a small amount.

Growing White Widow

White Widow is a feminized photoperiod plant, so it keeps growing leaves until the light drops to 12 hours a day indoors, or until the days shorten outdoors. Expect about 8 to 9 weeks of flowering indoors; outdoors in the Northern Hemisphere, Royal Queen Seeds puts the harvest in early October. Our seed-to-harvest timeline shows how those weeks fit a whole grow.

Leafly rates it an easy grow, and RQS calls it a good plant for first-time growers. Indoors, RQS gives a height of about 60–100 cm (2.0–3.3 ft) and yields around 450–500 g/m² (about 1.5–1.6 oz/ft²) under a 600 W light; outdoors, plants can reach about 200 cm (6.6 ft) and give around 550–600 g (about 19–21 oz) each. Left untrained it puts most of its weight into one large central cola, so RQS suggests topping it early in veg and opening the canopy with low-stress training; it also suits sea of green and SCROG setups. Green House rates it for mild, temperate areas, and RQS says it does best in warm climates. The buds are dense, so keep the air moving and the humidity down late in flower, and judge when to harvest by the trichomes.

Is White Widow right for you?

Questions buyers ask