Strain Report - Congo Haze

The Doc, an ardent lover and grower of haze genetics, a while ago happened to receive a pack of ten regular Congo Haze seeds brought along by one of his friends.

The word “Congo” let his heart instantly beat faster, as it triggered an association of exciting old school landrace genetics with him. And when he found out about the pedigree and characteristics of Congo Haze, his enthusiasm became even bigger: It’s a mostly sativa cross between the sativa dominant Red Congolese strain from Reeferman and the legendary Neville’s Haze. Red Congolese was bred from Congolese Sativa x (Mexican x Afghani).

Wow! That did sound like a huge promise of superior exotic haze sativa power. Kiwiseeds confirms: “This hybrid is a fantastic blend, merging of the finest cannabis has on offer. The aroma and sweetness of the Sativa dominant Red Congolese, united together with a far stronger growing, rich ‘n spicy Neville’s Haze.” Another outstanding characteristic of Congo Haze is that she only takes 70-80 days of flowering to ripen which is pretty amazing for a Neville’s Haze cross – Neville’s Haze plants need 16-18, sometimes even over 20 weeks to reach maturity. The average height of Congo Haze plants is 100-120 cm - which is fairly low for a mostly sativa strain - and they are expected to yield a lot, 400-500 grams of buds per square metre, quite a big achievement for a mostly sativa strain.

All of the ten Congo Haze Seeds sprouted without any problem and delay. The first week of vegetative growth (after seeds had sprouted and established themselves above the soil) they spent under two 125 Watts CFLs (6400K) which did result in a very compact growth at first. After two weeks, The Doc noticed a strong early onset of side branching, raising the expectation of widely branched Congo Haze plants at the end of the cultivation cycle. At the beginning of the third week, he moved the ten Congo Haze plants, together with the other plants he was growing, into the actual grow room that was equipped with one 600 Watts and one 400 Watts HPS lamp. After the third week, The Doc induced flowering by cutting the light period down from 18/6 to 12/12 (also, he added another 600 HPS lamp to the grow room on that occasion). He reports: “To my surprise, leaves are more on the indica side so far, quite broad. And also their still quite low height of 15-20 cm, with 8-9 internodes, corresponds to indica traits rather. But I do expect that growth behaviour to change dramatically in the course of flowering, plants will certainly clearly pronounce their sativa dominant genes then, and a first indication for this is the fact the side branches have begun to spread out rapidly now. I am very impressed by the fact these ten Congo Haze plants are that homogeneous, almost growing like clones!”

After the first week of flowering, The Doc was left with seven female plants, seven out of ten – a highly satisfying rate of females. Already after three days in the flowering stage, the plants had revealed their gender which was pretty damn fast. The Doc has an explanation for this: “According to my experience, preflowering has an earlier onset if they lights are changed from CFL to HPS simultaneously with reducing the light cycle.” He repotted the seven female plants into 11 litre pots filled with Plagron Standard Mix soil, giving them enough space for a huge development. The Doc: “The plants are still extremely uniform, having arrived at a height of 40-50 cm now, with 10-12 internodes.” Within one week, after the second week of flowering, the plants, still very homogeneous, had almost doubled in height, measuring about 80 cm, so The Doc’s forecast that the sativa influence would quickly take over proved to be totally right. The flowers had started to produce a delicious odour that reminded of Haze, but did also reflect the sweet influence of the Red Congolese strain. Kiwiseeds says about that aroma: “The smell is the same from the second week right to the end, just only gets better…”

(This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended for illegal activities)