Durban Poison Feminized Seeds

Durban Poison is a feminized sativa from South Africa, listed by Leafly as a pure sativa, with a sweet smell and a distinctly anise-laced flavour. Leafly notes its worldwide popularity, and its strain data puts THC at about 19%. It is an easy grow that flowers in about 8 to 9 weeks.

History & lineage

Durban Poison takes its name from Durban, the port city on South Africa’s east coast, and traces to cannabis from that area. As GreenState tells it, Ed Rosenthal found the seeds in the 1970s at the Transvaal, an Amsterdam coffee shop run by South Africans; he and Mel Frank began stabilizing them in California, and Frank passed seeds to Sam the Skunkman, who bred out the original plants’ intersex tendency. In a 2007 forum post quoted by Cannigma, Sam the Skunkman said he grew about 100 South African seeds in California in the late 1970s and bred out their faults, and that the line was ready for launch in Amsterdam by the early 1980s. GreenState says it reached Nevil Schoenmakers’ Seed Bank there.

Like any seed line sold today, it is a breeder’s selection rather than the original South African population. Dutch Passion lists its long-running line as Durban x an unknown indica, and notes that line stood at the base of the GSC (Girl Scout Cookies) family. Grower entries have done well at High Times’ US Cups: a Durban Poison entered by Choice Organics placed 2nd for Medical Sativa at the 2013 US Cannabis Cup in Denver, and one entered by Denver Relief took the same placing there in 2014. Purple Lotus Patient Center’s entry also placed 3rd for Sativa at the 2010 San Francisco Medical Cannabis Cup, and TJ’s Organic Gardens’ placed 3rd for US Sativa at the 2014 Seattle Cup.

Aroma & flavour

Expect a spicy, hazy profile with aniseed and liquorice over an earthy, piney base, with hints of lemon and clove. For Durban Poison as a strain, Leafly users most often report earthy, pine and sweet flavours, followed by citrus and woody. Leafly’s lab data lists terpinolene as its most abundant terpene, well ahead of myrcene and ocimene; our guide to cannabis terpenes explains what terpinolene brings to a smell. The buds are very dense and round for a sativa, with oversized resin glands, and Leafly calls it a quality choice for concentrate extraction.

Effects, as users report them

These are Leafly users’ reports for Durban Poison as a strain, most common first, with creative next; Leafly’s write-up describes it as a strain for staying productive through a busy day. Dry mouth and dry eyes are the downsides reported most, and smaller numbers of users report anxiety, paranoia or dizziness. At larger amounts the first burst of energy can be followed by a more sedative feel. Effects vary with the person and the dose, so if you are new to cannabis, start with a small amount.

Growing Durban Poison

Durban Poison is a feminized photoperiod plant: it keeps growing leaves until the light drops to 12 hours a day indoors, or until the days shorten outdoors. It is ready after about 8 to 9 weeks of 12/12 flowering, which is fairly quick for a sativa, and outdoors in the Northern Hemisphere the harvest comes around early to mid autumn. Our seed-to-harvest timeline shows how that fits into a full grow.

It is rated easy to grow and described as suitable for all conditions. The catch is height. It tends to stretch a great deal, often doubling or tripling in size once in bloom, so read up on the flowering stretch before you flip, and outdoor plants can reach 300–400 cm (9.8–13.1 ft). Indoors, topping or fimming speeds up its side growth, and LST, bending and supercropping all suit it; with only a few plants per square metre, a screen of green (SCROG) is the recommended setup. Expect indoor yields of around 300–400 g/m² (about 1.0–1.3 oz/ft²) and up to about 450 g (16 oz) per plant outdoors. Near the end, use the trichomes to judge when to harvest.

Is Durban Poison right for you?

Questions buyers ask