El Chapo

For the sake of clarity, we’d like to say up front that this strain review is for El Chapo (Sour Diesel IBL x Headbanger) rather than the (somewhat better known) El Chapo OG (Face Off OG X SFV OG X OG Kush).

With Sour Diesel on both sides of the parentage (Headbanger is a cross between Biker Kush v2.0 and Sour Diesel), you’d expect El Chapo to be high in THC and you’d be right.  It has an average of about 25%.  CBD is moderate, in the range of about 0.3% to 0.4%.  This means that El Chapo is great for use in the day.  Its most popular uses seem to be as a “wake and bake” strain and as a treatment for migraines, but it can be used for a much wider range of conditions.  Just remember that this strain is a quarter Indica so the initial cerebral high will be followed by a relaxing body buzz, albeit a very light one.

One of the quirks of the original Sour Diesel was that even though it is about 70% Sativa, it doesn’t tend to grow very tall and El Chapo stays close in its parent’s footsteps here.  You’re looking at an average height range of 1M (indoor minimum) to about 1.3M (outdoor maximum).  This is particularly good news for people towards the northern end of Europe because the mid-October harvest means that people in cooler climates will really need to treat El Chapo as an “indoor-only” strain, with a fairly brisk (for a Sativa dominant) flowering time of 9 to 10 weeks, but if you are lucky enough to live somewhere warm, dry and sunny, it will be fine outside.  Indoor yields are around 550g/m2 and outdoor yields can easily reach up to 600g per plant.

The main reason we’ve classed El Chapo as being moderately difficult to grow is because it’s a photoperiod strain and it’s harvest time means that most growers will need to treat it as an indoor strain, which means managing light cycles.  You will also need to be competent in the basics of marijuana-growing as this strain isn’t exceptionally forgiving, although it certainly isn’t a diva either.

Given that there are so many similarities between El Chapo and Sour Diesel, you probably won’t be too surprised to learn that this strain has base notes of diesel and earth, topped with herbs and a touch of citrus.  The aroma reflects the flavour although it can also have touches of wood and skunk.

Strain Characteristics:
Indoor/Outdoors: Indoors and outdoors	Height: Medium
THC Level: High	Flowering Time: 9 to 10 weeks
Plant Type: 75% Sativa / 25% Indica	Harvest: Mid-October
Genetics: Sour Diesel IBL x Headbanger (Biker Kush v2.0 and Sour Diesel)	Yield: High
Grow Difficulty: Medium