Durban Poison Auto

Durban Poison announces itself in a fixed order, and limonene is always first out of the jar — a citrus lift that arrives before the lid is fully off, lemon rind and tangerine with a sweetness trailing it. pinene follows mid-palate, adding resinous clarity. The lab figure on this 50/90 sativa is 17% THC, though potency is the least interesting thing about it — plenty of cultivars test the same and taste of very little.

The choices that bring out the Limonene/Pinene/Terpinolene profile in Durban Poison are not the choices that maximise yield, and at some point you have to pick one. The aromatic version starts in living soil — microbial activity in an established no-till bed produces secondary metabolites a synthetic feed schedule never will, and South Africa has enough good local compost and worm-casting suppliers to make that affordable rather than aspirational.

Through 9-10 weeks seed to harvest, stop foliar spraying after week two: anything that lands on a developing trichome is still there at harvest. The closing three weeks decide which terpenes end up in front — nights held at 16-18°C push limonene forward, a warmer finish protects the lighter terpinolene top notes, and you cannot have both. Decide which version of the strain you want before you get there.

Most of the loss happens after the cut. Hang for 10-14 days at 15-18°C and 55-60% humidity, which through a South African summer realistically means a climate-controlled room or a wine fridge set to 16°C. Then jar it and burp twice daily for the first fortnight. The pinene layer that makes this cultivar worth the trouble does not surface until somewhere between day 21 and day 28 in glass.

Difficulty: medium. In flower for 9-10 weeks seed to harvest. Stands 60-90 cm. Indoors it returns 450-550 g/m2. Outdoors, 600-700 g/plant a plant.

The first thing Durban Poison does at 17% THC is lift it with a bright, nearly effervescent citrus. The energetic, happy, uplifted effects follow within minutes, as a sharpening rather than a lift: colour reads more saturated, music holds more detail, conversation wanders further than it would have. It runs two to three hours on a plateau instead of a peak, so nothing drops out from under you at the end. Pinene sits underneath all of it, adding an alertness that keeps thinking crisp.

Leading with Limonene, then Pinene, and Terpinolene underneath. How this combination survives the move from flower to vapour or smoke is not a given. Held low, at 180-188°C, the pinene and terpinolene notes stay legible with limonene underneath them. Run it hotter, or burn it, and the three collapse into one — still pleasant, but without the separation that makes this cultivar worth paying attention to.

Who does well with Durban Poison? People growing on flat balconies from Cape Town to Johannesburg. Smallholders after a fast outdoor crop. Indoor growers short on headroom. Autoflowering genetics run to their own clock, so there is no light schedule to hold, no worrying about light leaks, and harvest lands 10-12 weeks from germination whatever the season is doing. It is rated medium, which in practice means a moderate learning curve that rewards attention without needing laboratory conditions. Sent nationwide in plain, unbranded packaging, with sourced grow data on every strain page.