The exact pedigree of Delahaze is kept secret by Paradise Seeds, while it is obvious of course that Haze genetics have a major share in this strain. Delahaze is a 70:30 sativa/incida hybrid, the nature of the indica component is unknown. Well-known is Delahaze’s THC content: At least 18%. Paradise Seeds says “It is extremely potent, giving high yields and finishing early in approximately 9 weeks.” A flowering time of nine weeks is pretty damn short for a mostly Haze strain, especially if the plants are exhibiting overall dominant Haze traits. When breeding a mostly Haze strain, it is all about preserving the coveted Haze characteristics as well as possible, the hybrid shall have a stable Haze dominant aroma and high. So it’s an essential breeder’s task to stabilise these characteristics as firmly as possible in the Haze hybrid. At the same time, however, he has to master the problem of restraining the unwanted pure Haze characteristics such as its terribly long flowering time of up to more than 20 weeks, its heavy stretching effect and its fairly low yields. It takes an indica strain with precisely contrary characteristics – a very short flowering time, stout growth and high yields –  to subdue these unwanted traits. However, the breeder has to avoid that the couchlock indica high gets through in the hybrid, retaining that exclusive superb Haze sativa flash as much as possible.

According to Luc, the owner and breeder of Paradise Seeds, all those Haze breeding goals were achieved with Delahaze. She even is a huge yielder, delivering indoor harvests of up to more than 500 grams per plant, outdoors it can even be more than one kilo of finest buds (harvest time under natural light/n.L. is early November). Luc recommends: “To appreciate her fully let her flower one week extra which results in fine sativaish/haze flowers filling up your growroom with a beautiful aroma containing hints of citrus & mango. Still the typical haze scent remains dominant. The chances that these plants become fat are plenty since they grow multiple branches filled with clusters of resin coated flowers. Therefore we suggest to induce flowering early before they get too big.” The high effected by Delahaze corresponds to its 70:30 Haze/indica genetics, providing a clear euphoric and uplifting effect (Haze/sativa), but after a while also a pleasant body effect (indica). According to Luc, “many growers & smokers have rated Delahaze to their top 3 haze list.”

It was Mister Power Planter once again who eagerly tested this strain. He germinated a pack of five feminised Delahaze seeds in jiffy pots. After four days, all the seeds had sprouted and were illuminated by a 115 Watts CFL light (4200 K). Only six days later, Mr. Power Planter induced flowering very early by reducing the light period from 18/6 (day/night) to 12/12. He replaced the CFL light with a 600 Watts high pressure sodium lamp (GIB Lighting). After the photoperiod had been cut down, because of the very short vegetative stage it naturally took longer than usual until the first pre-flowers appeared on the Delahaze plants. But after 16 days, all the five plants had revealed their gender – they all had female pre-flowers. The plants started to exhibit moderate side branching. Of course they kept on increasing in height and width for several weeks during flowering, but did not seem to exceed a height of one metre in the end. In the course of flowering, it turned out that there was a slight degree of variation in terms of flower shape and structure, but all the plants produced big tight top and side colas with quite a high calyx-to-leaf ratio. Their delicious both hazey and fruity scent was increasing in strength week by week, and so did the resin glands. All the five Delahaze plants were 100% female, so the feminisation quality of Paradise Seeds once again proved to be very reliable. Also in terms of flowering time, the five plants kept their promise, all of them could be harvested after precisely nine weeks of flowering. The predominantly hazey aroma of the plants, with some fruity undertones, was identical or very similar. One plant (65 cm) was considerably lower in the end than the other four (83-100 cm). Paradise Seeds has clearly succeeded in restraining the dreaded Haze stretching effect, Delahaze produces ideal indoor plant sizes if flowered early, being easy to grow.

After the buds had been dried, it turned out that each plant had yielded 40 grams on the average which was an excellent achievement for a mostly Haze strain with such a short vegetative growth time. Mr. Power Planter was impressed by the enormous potency of Delahaze, the superb high exactly matched the description of Paradise Seeds, providing a long-lasting, very strong cerebral sativa up-high, but after a while also a very moderate body effect which was relaxing, not couchlocking. The dried buds had retained that hazey and a little bit fruity aroma and produced a likewise delicious smoke that was a true enjoyment to Mr. Power Planter. He considers Delahaze as a great choice for any Haze lover and congratulated Luc on his fine piece of Haze breeding work. With a price of 40 Euros for five feminised seeds and 70 Euros for ten, Delahaze has a an excellent value for money.

Green Born Identity – G.B.I

Originally published in Weed World Magazine 85