Guerilla grow diary: 5 outdoor strains grown together
Dutch Passion outdoor cannabis seed review comparing Purple #1, Think Fast, Durban Poison, Frisian Dew and Passion #1. Dutch Passion’s outdoor cannabis seed collection features several proven winners. If you have found it difficult deciding which seeds to buy on your next outdoor grow then this grow review shows Purple #1, Think Fast, Durban Poison, Frisian Dew and Passion #1 all grown alongside each other in the 2017 outdoor season.
The cannabis seeds were grown by the Urban Growers Collective, pictures come from Antonio.
Different cannabis strains grown together outdoors
Grow Details
| Variety | Purple #1, Think Fast, Durban Poison, Frisian Dew and Passion #1 |
| Cannabis seed type | Feminised outdoor cannabis seeds |
| Number of seeds | 16 |
| Date of germination | April 2017 |
| Germination rate | 100% |
| Days required for germination | 4-5 days |
| Length of vegetative indoor pre-grow cycle (18/6 light schedule) | Around 5 weeks of indoor pre-growth at 18/6 and about 2,5 months of VEG outdoors before flowering kicked in |
| Length of flowering stage (12/12 light schedule) | around 2-2,5 months of flowering – harvest at the end of September and start/middle of October |
| Stretch during bloom | Between 50-125% stretch during flowering |
Basic grow information
| Grow room type | Outdoor Guerrilla Grow, sun-grown cannabis! |
| Grow room size | Around 25m2 (+- 6x4m) outdoor grow space |
| Plant numbers | 15-20 plants |
| Plant containers | Planted directly in the ground |
| Grow medium | Plant holes with a mixture of light-mix soil and coco fibre |
| Nutrients | Organic, Biotabs nutrient line |
| Grow system | Watered by nature and by hand – soil grow |
| Grow technique | Natural grow in combination with topping/supercropping |
| Grow light | Pre-grown with TCL lights of 2x55w indoors for about 5 weeks. Outdoors grown with the power of the Sun in a temperate Dutch climate |
Multi-strain Dutch Passion outdoor mash-up diary
Remarks during germination :
We took 16 photoperiod feminised outdoor cannabis seeds in total. We chose to grow some of the classic Dutch Outdoor strains like Purple #1, Durban Poison, Frisian Dew, Passion #1 and Think Fast. All 16 seeds germinated, and we had another 100% germination rate. Using the cotton-pad germination technique is really the easiest and most successful method we have used during all those years of growing. Just make sure you buy proper cotton pads, use uncontaminated water and place the dish in the dark at room temperature. Don’t forget to place some microwave cellophane foil (preferably with tiny holes in it) on top of the plate to retain the moisture.
Related:
Best way to germinate cannabis seeds, the moist cotton pad method
Remarks during vegetative phase – VEG (18/6) :
We wanted to test some of these well-known old school classics in our environment – a temperature climate in Western Europe. We had read good things about these 4 cannabis photoperiod seed varieties as well as Think Fast and ‘fast’ cannabis strains in general. ‘Fast’ strains are faster than traditional photoperiods due to the recessive autoflower genetics that are present. This doesn’t make them autoflowering, but it does make them fast! This outdoor grow was the perfect opportunity to test this out ourselves.
All the plants were pre-grown indoors under a small TCL-light of 2x55w = 110w in total. This light module was equipped with one blue sky bulb and one green veg bulb. This gave the plants a wider spectrum than just using one of the two. We placed them in small 0.25L and 0.5L containers.
They were pre-grown in these pots for about 3 – 3.5 weeks. The biggest and fastest growing plants were repotted to 1L containers while the smallest plants were transferred to a 0.5L container so they could grow further – we had to save a bit of space otherwise they would have all been transferred to a 1L container. However, for the first 4 (to 5) weeks under a small light module the 0.5L containers are usually sufficient too.
We started germination in the 2nd week of April and the plants were placed into their small containers around the 15th of April. This way, with a 4-5 week VEG period, we could transfer the plants outdoors after the last frost had passed (usually around the 15th of May). We kept the ladies in the small containers for about 5 weeks.
In the meanwhile, we could prepare the outdoor spot. Clean the bush, take away regrowth as well as old/decaying plant material and make new plant holes for the ladies to grow in. A tip is to at least plan 1-1.5 months ahead of time, allowing you to prepare everything at your outdoor guerrilla spot. Bringing soil and material can be challenging so make sure you have some spare time just in case things don’t go exactly according to plan.
During the first few weeks outdoors, the plants grew steadily and there was not much we had to do besides visiting the spot once a week to make sure everything was going the way it should. When you use organic nutrients like the Biotabs line you can prepare the soil before the plants arrive and you really don’t need to bring water enriched with nutrients to the spot. You can just let nature do her thing!
The only tip is to visit them a bit more often during the first 3 weeks after transplanting, because they are still potentially vulnerable with an unestablished root system. Once the first month had passed these ladies knew how to handle themselves. Even during warmer or colder periods, the roots had enough time to go deep into the soil.
Another month later (around the last week of July) and most of the plants had become pretty large in size. At that time, they all averaged around 1-2m in size. You could see some had reduced sunlight hours with increased shade being at the sides of the grow area. Others, especially the plants in the middle with the most sunlight, grew strong and into large outdoor cannabis plants. This spot had around 10 hours of direct sunlight on a sunny day and a few hours of semi-shaded conditions.
Dutch Passion outdoor strains in bloom
A few weeks later in the middle of August and the plants were already starting to work their way well into the bloom phase. We could easily see these ladies were starting to pre-flower, stretch a bit and work towards the production of the cannabis flowers. You often see leaves becoming thinner and smaller during pre-flower, compared to the vegetative period, and this can be one of the first signs of the plants going into the flowering mode. The production of the first pistils usually starts only days later.
The plants were average in size, we didn’t make the plant holes particularly big that year. I guess we gave them less space than we normally would have done. But this grow was about testing phenotypes, so we preferred to have more ‘smaller’ plants instead of a just a few big ones. We want to highlight a few strains in this blog, the ones that we liked the most. And this selection might surprise you! One of the favorites is most definitely Think Fast. This strain, besides being fast flowering, is very robust, reliable, potent and beautiful to look at.
She produces compact flowers with a good calyx-to-leaf ratio covered in a thick layer of trichomes! These plants stayed a bit smaller; we think mostly due to the spot in the field (with more shade) and smaller plant holes but they still produced a solid yield. These buds became very ripe as early as the middle of September and once dried they look almost as good as indoor weed, even when grown in a temperate climate!
Purple #1 is another strain that caught our attention. Visually speaking this might be the most interesting strain of them all. Those purple buds are just stunning! What a looker she is.. the buds become pretty well stacked and quite large! Which is good because they’re a bit less compact and dense.
Of the 5 Dutch Passion strains during this grow Purple #1 is definitely one of the fastest in terms of flowering speed. She has thin Sativa-style leaves and a more open bud structure. Quite good resistance against bad weather too. Her buds are aromatic but maybe a bit less potent than the others.
Both Purple #1 and Think Fast were harvested during the last week of September and some phenotypes might have been ready by the middle of September. Very solid breeding work from Dutch Passion here. These two outdoor strains flower very fast!
Frisian Dew and Passion #1 were also grown during this guerrilla grow but since both of these strains are so well known amongst the cannabis industry, we didn’t want to highlight them. Obviously, they did quite well too, what we noticed was that these took a bit longer to flower and got close to the same flowering time as Durban Poison, which was ready to harvest in October. Passion #1 yielded well, but the aroma/taste was less pungent and special compared to the other strains. The Frisian Dew, with her pinkish, light purple buds looked beautiful as well, they became quite dense and a bit more potent than Purple #1.
Durban Poison took a little longer to finish (ready in the middle of October), and even though the weather became worse she didn’t seem to care. There was almost zero mould/budrot to be found on these plants! A very resilient and resistant outdoor strain. And besides that, she had quite compact buds which look completely white filled with resin and trichomes. Definitely a powerful variety! One phenotype seemed a bit leafier but that was the only negative thing we could say about her. And her aroma, man oh man… that’s something special!
Harvest report for the Dutch Passion outdoor plantation
Final Height:
Most plants averaged around 2m in height. Overall, the plants ranged from 160 cm for the smallest ladies to around 250cm for the biggest plants. The smallest plants were the Think Fast and Purple #1. Durban Poison became quite big, same as Passion #1, Frisian Dew was somewhere in between. Almost every plant was topped and super cropped. This was done in order to get a more even (flatter) canopy and bigger sized side buds. They might have grown a little taller if we hadn’t topped and super cropped.
Calyx-leaf ratio (Easy trim/yes or no) :
Actually, all of the strains were pretty straightforward to trim. Think Fast probably had the best calyx-to-leaf ratio and she was very dense too. Making this a very fast and commercial variety to grow and process. We loved it. Purple #1 was ok, she had thin leaves and the green leaves have quite some contrast to the purple flowers, however it can be a bit more time consuming to trim. Durban Poison also had a favourable flower-to-leaf ratio, only one phenotype had a bit more leaves in the buds, but because of the density and the good amount of resin she wasn’t that difficult nor extremely time consuming either.
Quality (Resin/Smell/Compactness) :
Quality wise, the Think Fast was the best of them all. She had the most dense and crystal-covered buds, looking like proper indoor grown bud, almost too good to be sun-grown in a temperate climate! The smell was also quite nice, floral, fruity and a little sweet mixed with pine. The freshly trimmed buds look very good, light green with vivid pistils and a thick resin layer!
The Durban Poison is quite dense and hard, the buds became also very white with a lot of resin in the flower and sugar leaves. The aroma of this strain is really interesting, a mixture of gas, mint, aniseed and liquorish. Definitely worth trying! The Purple #1 was a bit less dense, fluffier bud structure but the aroma was very pungent. She smelled quite fruity like dark forest berries mixed with earthy hash tones and a little citrus on the side. Resin development is lower on Purple #1, she seems a bit less potent with a more subtle high. However, the purple buds look absolutely beautiful and give a nice bag appeal.
Post-harvest report for the Dutch Passion multi-strain outdoor grow
Yield :
There were so many plants and unfortunately, we didn’t weight them separately because there were many different moments of cutting the buds and plants since this was a guerrilla grow. In general, the yield averaged around 75g per plant. There were some plants that only had 50 grams per plant and others that easily went well over the 100g of dry buds per plant. We also lost some buds to bud rot and fungus but luckily this wasn’t a lot. Overall, very resilient outdoor strains that can handle rough outdoor weather like champs!
Remarks after curing :
All the buds smell very nice after a good cure. Especially the Durban Poison – there’s a strain that really knows how to catch your attention! She has a unique and complex terpene profile, something very distinct and recognisable. Think Fast is less pungent and more subtle. Mostly floral tones with a mixture of citrus and pine. The Purple #1 does smell quite pungent too, mostly earthy tones with forest fruit. Quite nice! With all the different phenotypes we had so many nice flavors to try, we couldn’t wait until the Christmas holiday so we could have a long sesh with all of our friends in the growers collective!
Dutch Passion multi-strain outdoor harvest ratings
Rating Think Fast (4+ stars overall)
| Aroma | ★★★★☆ (4 stars) | |
| Taste | ★★★½☆ (3.5 stars) | |
| Effect | ★★★★½ (4.5 stars) | |
| Bag appeal | ★★★★½ (4.5 stars) | |
| Overall rating | ★★★★☆ (4+ stars) |
Rating Purple #1 (3,5 stars overall)
| Aroma | ★★★★☆ (4 stars) |
| Taste | ★★★½☆ (3.5 stars) |
| Effect | ★★★½☆ (3.5 stars) |
| Bag appeal | ★★★½☆ (3.5 stars) |
| Overall rating | ★★★½☆ (3.5 stars) |
Rating Durban Poison (4+ stars overall)
| Aroma | ★★★★½ (4.5 stars) |
| Taste | ★★★★☆ (4 stars) |
| Effect | ★★★★☆ (4 stars) |
| Bag appeal | ★★★★☆ (4 stars) |
| Overall rating | ★★★★☆ (4+ stars) |
Overall rating (5 star rating) : 3.5 to 4+
Think Fast was the real surprise package during this outdoor sun-grown & natural guerrilla grow. These organically grown buds all had something special about them. Think Fast was the strongest bud, the most resinous and potent with the best bag appeal, but it lacked a little bit in flavour. Durban Poison was very consistent and a really good and tasty outdoor strain, very unique in both aroma and taste and quite potent too. Purple #1 had a strong perfume during flowering, the taste was a bit less strong after drying and curing and the buds lacked density and a thick resin layer. The purple flowers do look stunning however!
Special Remarks
This was an outdoor guerrilla grow with a lot of different Dutch Passion strains. The goal was to find out which ones we liked the most for our type of environment and which one had the best terps. Although Frisian Dew and Passion #1 were also grown during this cycle we didn’t highlight them in this grow review. These are both solid outdoor strains that according to us work quite well in a temperate climate, they yield well and produce big and strong plants that are quite resistant to the outdoor growing environment.
During this grow report we focused mainly on the Think Fast, Purple #1 and Durban Poison. All 3 nice strains with their own characteristics, pro’s and con’s. I guess the strain that really surprised us was Think Fast, she did a really good job outdoors. Besides being super-fast flowering and quite resilient, she also produced some of the best-looking outdoor buds coming from photoperiod cannabis plants we had seen ever! Purple #1 is a nice classic outdoor variety for people that love to have a stunningly beautiful purple plant in their garden. The strain has a medium high and nice aroma and taste. I think if we had to pick a winner it would be the Durban Poison, overall, just very good. A true all-rounder with a very unique and appealing terpene profile. And a good bag appeal too!
I don’t think we can give any other tips besides preparing your guerrilla grow well in advance. Grow your ladies indoors first, preferably for at least 4-6 weeks before placing them outside. Prepare the soil well, use organic amendments, if necessary, visit your plants every now and then and let nature do the rest of the work. In a few months’ time you will be able to test, evaluate and rate your own outdoor (sun)grown cannabis buds!