STRAIN REPORT: DUTCH PASSION AUTO BLUEBERRY

This summer I experimented with autoflowering cannabis in a rugged outdoor grow site. The results were surprisingly spectacular. Let’s take a look…

STRAIN: Dutch Passion Auto Blueberry

Number of Plants: Ten

Growing Conditions: Outdoor remote grow site.

Light: At least 7 hours of direct spring or summer sunlight per day.

Nutrients: Fertile, amended soil.

Total Crop Time: 8-10 weeks from seed germination.

Total Number of Distinct Phenotypes: Three

Autoflowering Blueberry Analysis & Discussion

Blueberry is a famous Indica photoperiod cannabis strain that’s been around for at least 22 years. It’s known for blueberry taste, strong sedative and euphoric effects, and dark bluish foliage.

Photoperiod Blueberry was first seen via Holland’s seed breeders around 1996, along with Blue Velvet, Blue Moonshine, Blue Heaven and Flo.

These strains were bred by American seed breeder DJ Short and further refined by the legendary Dutch seed company Dutch Passion.

Dutch Passion’s founder is an original Dutch cannabis seed company hero, one of the first breeders to create and market reliable feminized marijuana seeds and autoflowering cannabis strains.

Auto Blueberry is primarily an Afghani Indica combined with minor inputs from Thailand Sativa and a Mexican Oaxacan strain, and bred with Ruderalis cannabis to install the autoflowering feature.

This past summer season, I had a safe site for a short outdoor garden. I procured Dutch Passion Auto Blueberry seeds after a fellow grower told me it’s better than photoperiod Blueberry.

He said it would survive outdoors in rugged conditions. I figured it would be worth experimenting with a top-ranked autoflowering strain that requires little if any attention.

I germinated the seeds indoors. All ten of them germinated. I carried the ten seedlings to the remote outdoor grow site and planted each in a 20-gallon cloth grow bag filled with professional supersoil I made myself. (Look here for a supersoil recipe).

I visited the plants every 7-10 days. They started pre-flowering 15-19 days after germination and were in early flowering 22-27 days after germination.

Resin gland development was robust on some plants starting 31 days after germination, as was delicious fruity scent from terpenoids.

Throughout the growing season, the plants experienced extremely harsh environmental conditions including drought, torrential rains, windstorms, and warmer-than-average temperatures.

They were attacked by several types of pests. Caterpillars, leaf miners, aphids, and mites damaged 25-50% of the leaves on some plants.

As a grower who mostly operates indoors, the damage to the outdoor plants made me very concerned, but the plants continued to grow robustly.

As harvest time neared, I spent a few minutes each visit picking budworms out of the buds and crushing them. This is a very fun thing to do when you’re high.

Auto Flowering Blueberry Marijuana Phenotypes

The Auto-Blueberry plants  grew out into three main phenotypes:

  • Phenotype #1 was a single-cola structure that would be great for sea of green, with two small side branches. The cola started just above the soil line and continued in a thick, fat cone to the top of the plant. The phenotype didn’t grow more than three feet high. The leaves were long and thin, like a pure Sativa, and very dark bluish-green. The buds smelled like pepper and pine, with just the faintest hint of anything resembling blueberry or other fruit, and were rock-hard. The main cola on one plant was nine inches long. This phenotype was ready for harvest 62 days after germination. Two plants out of ten were this phenotype.
  • Phenotype #2 had a Christmas tree structure with more side branching than Phenotype #1, longer and thicker leaves, dense, fat buds, and a scent of fruit, pepper, and pine. The plant looked like a classic Afghani, with dark leaves folded down on a stout, sturdy, branched plant. The tallest of these phenotypes grew to 40 inches tall. This phenotype was ready for harvest 66 days after germination. Four plants out of ten were this phenotype.
  • Phenotype #3 had wide structure like a plant that has been trained using low stress training to grow horizontally instead of just vertically. Along with lots of symmetrical side branching, it was much taller than the other two phenotypes, topping out at four feet, seven inches. It had ample bud development on 9-12 side branches and one main cola, but the buds were more like a Jack Herer bud, not as thick or hard as the other two phenotypes. They were like Sativa and Haze buds. The smell was more like blueberry, and the leaves were lighter green than the other phenotypes. This phenotype was the one that suffered the worst pest predation. It was ready for harvest 71 days after germination. Four plants out of ten were this phenotype.

YIELD: The lowest yield per plant came from Phenotype #1 plants, with the best one of those providing two ounces of high-quality dried, sticky bud. Phenotype #2 provided the highest yields per plant, with one plant producing five ounces of resinous dried bud. Phenotype #3 was close a close second to #2, with its best producer coming in at 135 grams (slightly more than four ounces).

The yields would have been at least 25% higher if I’d been growing indoors with controlled conditions, nutrients dosing, and 20 hours of light per day.

Effects Of Dutch Passion Bluberry Autoflowering Cannabis

I happily discovered that Dutch Passion Auto Blueberry creates a cannabinoids and terpenoids profile offering powerful body and head effects.

The effects were slightly different depending on the phenotype, with Phenotype #3 providing a more Sativa suite of effects and Phenotype #1 hitting hard like a pure Indica or Kush.

There was much more mental, visual, and emotional uplift compared to most strains described as Indica, and compared to Blueberry photoperiod strains I’ve used before. The effects came on rapidly, and were long-lasting. And at 416°F in my precision vaporizer, the flavor really did taste like blueberries!

Overall Evaluation: These hardy, impressive cannabis plants weren’t given conditions ideal for autoflowering. They never received more than 7-9 hours of direct sunlight per day—autoflowering does best when it’s given 20 hours of direct light per day.

They endured vicious attacks from insects, weren’t given specialized hydroponics nutrients or additives, and temperatures were as high as 91°F.

It didn’t rain for three weeks, but I could only provide water once a week during that period. The resilience and tenacity of this strain is astounding.

Despite far less than ideal conditions, the Auto Blueberry plants gave me close to a kilo of dried, gooey bud with great taste and scent, and powerful medicinal and recreational effects.

Any grower looking for a very reliable, resilient high-yielding autoflowering strain will find Dutch Passion Auto Blueberry  a big winner.

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