Durban Poison strain: every version compared

Which Durban Poison should you grow?

The right Durban Poison comes down to space and whether you want the pure landrace or the automatic convenience, and the table above has the figures.

Photoperiod or autoflower? Photoperiods give you the full landrace plant, run on a timer across 56–65 days, and list THC 16–22%. Autoflowers finish on their own clock from seed, from 49 days, and list higher here, up to 32%. Never timed a flip? An auto takes that worry off the table.

Feminized or regular? Feminized seed takes the sexing out of it: every plant flowers as a female. The one regular Durban here is for breeding or keeping the landrace going yourself.

Durban Poison photoperiod (feminized and regular)

The photoperiod versions are the full landrace Durban Poison: you cut the light to 12 hours to flower once the plant is the size you want. They are tall, upright plants, listed at 250–300 cm, that finish in 56–65 days with listed THC 16–22%. Give them real vertical space and a little training; this is a plant that rewards headroom.

Durban Poison autoflower

Turning a tall landrace sativa automatic is the convenient way to grow one: the Durban autos finish on age, so there is no light schedule to manage around her reach. There are 5 autos here. Seed-to-harvest times run 49–100 days, so read that figure carefully before you buy. Two of the autos list Ruderalis in the cross, and heights come down to 100–150 cm. Listed THC on the autos runs higher here, reaching 32% on the strongest cut. If you want Durban's clear, energetic character without a tall plant or a light schedule, the autos are the place to start.

How Durban Poison grows

Durban Poison is a landrace sativa, and she grows like one: tall, upright and vigorous, with the stretch built into her. The photoperiods reach the top of the range: the tallest, a regular line, is listed at 300 cm, and some of the autos keep a sativa's reach. World Wide Cultivars are blunt about theirs: around 150 cm even in automatic form, and that stretch is not negotiable, so plan for the height rather than hope it stays small. Across the family heights run 100–300 cm. If you are in a short tent, pick one of the two autos listed at 100 cm, the shortest figure here, or grow her where the ceiling is not the problem.

She is an easy plant in temperament, just a patient one. Dutch Passion describe theirs as fast and bushy, on strong medium branches well able to carry heavy clusters of resinous bud, which tend to form later than most autoflowers; patience at the end pays. Herbies make the same point about their auto: she takes her time but is worth the wait for the landrace heritage, and asks little beyond time. The slowest auto here, Humboldt Seed Company's, is listed at 100 days from seed, so check the figure if you are impatient.

Dutch Passion note that with more root space and a sunny, warm, less humid spot she can stretch taller and yield more. That is the landrace bargain in a sentence: she wants height, light and patience, and in return she holds the clear, energetic Durban character.

Where Durban Poison comes from

Durban Poison is the real thing: a South African sativa landrace named for the port city on the Indian Ocean. Most versions here name the landrace alone as the parent: no elaborate cross, just a storied original, sometimes listed simply as African or South African Sativa Landrace. Breeders quote her overwhelmingly sativa, from 80% up to pure sativa, which is reflected in the clear, upright, daytime character growers expect from the name. World Wide Cultivars and Seedkeepers list their autos at 80% sativa. Where a breeder words the origin differently, its own version page carries that wording.