Although most of the dagga in South Africa is grown in large fields outdoors, in the countryside, indoor growing has become ever more popular in the past ten years (yes, there were people growing pre-legalization). This popularity is due to two reasons.
Firstly an indoor grow op, when executed properly, is easy to conceal. When people were worried about neighbours ratting them out, or police knocking their door down in a raid, indoor grows had huge appeal. Since you can grow in a room, a cupboard or a tent, this makes for great stealthy growing, safely stashed away from your conservative friends or judgemental estate agent.
Second, however, is the crux of indoor growing: the fact that you can control the climate and environment from day-to-day, allowing for much better control of the plant’s growth and development. Using these methods, growers have created some incredibly easy methods to reap extremely potent weed from a small grow, with minimal effort.
This element of control is the biggest factor drawing people to towards indoor grow operations. In addition to this, one can obviously grow year-round indoors, as the cold of the winter won’t affect your harvest.
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Which South African Weed Strains should you grow indoors?
Unlike growing outdoors, South Africa’s ideal weed-growing climate doesn’t really come into play when looking at growing indoors. There’s a lot of work that goes into growing indoors, such as controlling lighting, temperatures, ventilation, and water – nevermind worrying about electricity bills or power cuts.
When it comes to native South African or landrace strains, not all of them are suited to growing indoors. Many South African landrace strains grow incredibly tall and thin, making them less ideal for indoor growing. However, if you can find Swazi, Malawi, Durban Poison or similar strains from international seed companies, you should have a plant with strong enough genetics to easily crop and trim to shape into the space of your indoor grow-op.
It’s important to consider also what kind of yield over time you’re looking at – some plants can give you a huge yield in a very short time, and others will only give you small previous yield after a longer growing period – so it’s important to weigh up if you’re looking for quantity, or quality (and sometimes rare) smaller yields.
Most indoor growers will import their seeds online from reputable seed banks that have been in operation for 10-20+ years, that are known and trusted with quality seeds which are actually the strains they claim to be and not just labeled as such.
Different Indoor Cannabis Seeds South Africa Loves, Reviewed
Here are some of the most popular strains grown indoors around South Africa. A lot of these strains are award-winning overseas in places like Amsterdam, Colorado and California, and we’re sure will be fast overtaken by South Africa’s own creations that will surely rise out of the blooming cannabis industry here.
Sativa Strains Grown Indoors in South Africa
These are the most popular sativas or sativa-dominant hybrid strains grown in and around South Africa. You’ve most likely encountered these around the country if you’re a sativa smoker.
Purple Haze Weed Strain Review
Species: Sativa
Flowering Time: 7-9 Weeks
Height: Around 1m
Difficulty: Easy
Flavour and Aroma: A fruity, berry-flavoured flowery snap with earthy undertones
Medicinal Properties: Great for eliminating stress, depression and fatigue
Purple Haze, made world-famous by the Jimi Hendrix song of the same name, is a cross between Haze and Purple Thai. It’s a lovely strain to grow for beginners, producing a high yield in a moderate amount of time.
A sativa staple amongst cannabis connoisseurs, it produces a high-energy, giddy and happy mental high without being overly impairing. It enhances sound, lights and colours and will leave you feeling psychedelically dazed, creative and energetic – perfect for smoking when you don’t want to be glued to the couch.
A bonus is the soft purple hues often found in the buds making for beautiful photo opportunities. However, this strain also produces incredible dry mouth (which can be tactically avoided by brushing your teeth after smoking).
Amnesia Strain Review
Species: Sativa
Flowering Time: 7-9 Weeks
Height: 1-2m
Difficulty: Medium
Flavour and Aroma: A pungent earthy citrus flavour with rich smell and flavour.
Medicinal Properties: Helpful with insomnia, stress and pain
Amnesia, known for its famous child-strain Amnesia Haze, is a cross between Skunk, Cinderella 99, and Jack Herer. It’s a great strain to grow if you have the vertical space, available in a number of cross and hybrid variations from different breeders.
It produces a strong, overpowering and psychedelic high thanks to its high THC / low CBD content. This makes it more ideal for experienced smokers, as those new to cannabis may not be prepared for its intense effects – its name should indeed be taken as a warning. The high is energizing, body tingling and is great for treating nausea, appetite loss, pain and depression.
The buds it produces are long and dense, and generally, have a pleasant smattering over orange hairs littered around the calyxes.
Durban Poison Strain Review
Species: Landrace Sativa
Flowering Time: 7-9 Weeks
Height: Over 2m
Difficulty: Easy
Flavour and Aroma: Earthy flavours with spicy hints of resin and freshness
Medicinal Properties: Helps with stress and depression, as well as appetite stimulation
Durban Poison, the world’s last pure sativa, and the pride and joy when it comes to weed South Africa has to offer. It’s a great strain to choose if you’re looking to grow a sativa indoors.
It’s got an energizing and creative high, great for making art, cycling or hiking outdoors. The resinous buds make it a great strain to go for if you’re looking to make extracts yourself, and it’s an easy strain for beginners to grow as it will pretty much do its own thing. The high is great for relieving stress and anxiety and has a nice soft buzz that won’t put you to sleep as soon as you smoke.
Just be careful of the intense dry mouth and eyes it can cause, you’ll definitely want to keep a glass of water on hand when smoking a Durban Poison.
Indica Strains Grown Indoors in South Africa
Here are some of the most popular indica or indica-dominant strains found and grown in South Africa.
Cheese Strain Review
Species: Indica Dominant Hybrid
Flowering Time: 7-9 Weeks
Height: Upwards of 1.5m
Difficulty: Easy
Flavour and Aroma: Strong, pungent cheesy-skunky smell with a sharp nose and sickly sweet flavour
Medicinal Properties: Ideal for pain and stress relief, as well as headaches.
Cheese, or if you’re in the Western Cape, Kaas, has been a staple of the Cape Town weed scene since its arrival upon our shores in the ’90s. While you may pick up on whiffs of this strain walking around the CBD – or have “Kaas!” yelled at you while walking around the taxi rank – it is, in fact, a quality strain with strong genetics, and is this popular for a reason.
The high it produces is a strong, sedating indica high with just enough hints of sativa to stop you from hitting the floor then and there. It’s ideal for relaxing, watching movies, listening to music, or long plane rides; and produces a soft, giggly high in which you might find yourself laughing at nothing, or zoning in on things in a strange, focused manner.
Producing beautifully pale white buds, this is definitely a strain to grow to impress – however beware of the how red it can make your eyes, and careful around newer smokers as they may experience more paranoid effects from this strain.
White Rhino Strain Review
Species: Indica Dominant Hybrid
Flowering Time: 7-9 Weeks
Height: 1-2m, short and bushy
Difficulty: Medium
Flavour and Aroma: Woody, earthy and strong-smelling aromas with a pine cough.
Medicinal Properties: Fantastic for pain, insomnia, headaches and stress, with strong appetite stimulation.
White Rhino is an increasingly popular indoor strain found around South Africa, with one parent of the famous White Widow variety. It’s comparable to more indica-dominant outdoor strains you’ll find around the nation in its effects and is great for intermediate growers as it will produce incredible yields when grown correctly.
The high it produces is an intense indica high, sedating the smoker while lifting the mood, and often instantly producing feelings of fatigue and sleepiness. When high, you’ll also experience a lot of pressure around the eyes which is typical of indicas, but while tiring and great for sleep, it can also have uplifting counter-effects.
It’s a great strain for those using medically, for treating symptoms such as insomnia, headaches, pain, appetite loss etc. This is one of the strains highly recommended to cancer patients to combat the effects of chemo, but is just as useful when looking for something to keep you going through intense flu or muscle injury.
Girls Scout Cookies Weed Strain Review
Species: Indica Dominant Hybrid
Flowering Time: 7-9 Weeks
Height: Less than 1m
Difficulty: Medium
Flavour and Aroma: Flowery, sweet and earthy flavours with hints of berries or cake
Medicinal Properties: Stress, depression and pain will lift away as your appetite is stimulated.
Girl Scout Cookies or GSC is one of the most popular strains around the world in the current cannabis climate. It’s a cross of OG Kush, possibly America’s all-time favourite weed strain, and Durban Poison. With a small yield and somewhat difficult to grow, this is one of those strains that’s a nice passion project for an experienced grower.
It produces a euphoric, relaxed and uplifting indica high as opposed to a couch-locking one, and will have your stomach growling in minutes. Most find that it makes them very chatty, talkative and increases novelty enhancement, and as such is a great all-round smoke for both up and downtime. With a few different phenotypes, it’s got some variation to it. It’s great fun to enjoy with experienced smokers and growers, who will sit and talk for ages about “which pheno it is” and each one’s subtle side effects.
This is a great plant to throw in as an extra with the rest of your crop to try and get a little treat on the side when harvest time comes. It’s perfect for impressing guests, beginner and experienced alike.
Indoor Weed in South Africa in a Nutshell
Overall, you’re really spoilt for choice here in South Africa with seeds available just the click of a button away. While your strain of choice is important, it’s more about what you’d prefer to smoke – the real make-or-break comes in when setting up your grow room or tent, and choosing the right lighting, humidifiers, fans etc.
It’s quite hard to go wrong with any of these strains, and if you find a number of them that you enjoy, you may even start trying to breed your own! Although, that can become quite the task and lead to a lot of issues, so is usually best left to the professionals.
So, fire up those LED panels, get your seeds germinating and get ready to break the surface of your next passion project.
3 comments
Howsit Guys .. In Jhb looking for decent pure cannabis strains , help
All of these are great, depends what you looking for 🙂 Check out seeds post, we have great strains in there 🙂
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