Leafly Buzz: 12 top cannabis strains of October

Harvest season comes in hot and heavy this month, flooding the West Coast with tons more gorgeous ganja. We can’t add new flavors to our strain database fast enough.

With more than 70% of the year done, our most-watched strains, like Jokerz, keep on stunning in October. Meanwhile, new flavors like Fig Farms GMO-OG are a hit for fall. And we’re making room in the budget for crazy Christmas splurges, like the surprise release of the chromed-out Puffco Peak Pro Guardian.

Your award-winning Leafly Senior Editor visited grows, contests, and shows in LA, San Francisco, Oakland, Santa Rosa, and Seattle. Our team scoured strain search trends and menus across the western US to distill another must-read cheat sheet to the October heat—here’s Leafly Buzz.

Data Grinder

Jokerz

⬆6%

Candy, piney and gassy, breeder Compound Genetics’ cross of White Runtz x Jet Fuel Gelato keeps winning into harvest season. Leafly Buzz marked this potential strain of the year back in January. In June, Jokerz took runner-up for best indoor-grown ‘Purps and Desserts’ in the Oregon Leaf Bowl. This fall, award-winning Fig Farms in California might grow the best example of Jokerz on the planet. The indica hybrid amps up the visual drama with its icy, dense, dark, imposing bulk. Jokerz puts in work after hours when you’re trying to kick back and relax with something purple. Stay smiling.

Lemon Cherry Gelato

⬇ 25%

Did Lemon Cherry Gelato peak? This Gelato variant popularized by Backpackboyz and Cannatique has been so widely counterfeited, that quality’s been slipping and the haters are running wild. Don’t hate—innovate. Gelato (Sunset Sherbert x GSC) gives the world the taste and effect they demand: sweet, tart, creamy relaxing goodness. The Lemon Cherry Gelato wave hits the Midwest and East next.

Gush Mints

⬆ 17%

Purple City Genetics’ Kush Mints x F1 Durb x Gushers is up 17% thanks to the incoming fall harvest. Gush Mints has a lot of what’s in right now—the tingly, indica-hybrid effects, and a mix of minty, tropical and sweet. Leafly recommended growing it in 2021, and again 2022, and grow it they have.

RS11

⬆ 9.34%

Zkittlez x OG Kush crosses are so good you’ll always want an ounce. That includes Deo Farms’ Rainbow Sherbert crosses, most famously RS11. Bred in Deep East Oakland, the strain is Pink Guava x OZ Kush that the team describes as “like a Z x OG on steroids.” Highly regarded and limited in supply—Deo Farms only releases small-batch, high-quality, and even higher-hype flower. Authentic eighths of the variation RS #77 appear inbound for the fall. Deo Farms Scammers litter Instagram, so don’t get played. 

New in the Leafly strain database

Sherbanger

Fuel-drenched Sherbert, you say? Thank you, sir, may we have another. It’s been around for a minute, but we’re seeing Sherbanger pop off on the West Coast. It’s everyone’s favorite, Sherbert, crossed to Headbanger. What is Headbanger? Karma Genetics’ Sour D x Biker Kush. We’re into that. Headbanger’s breeder, Karma Genetics, also made one of our faves this year, Zowahh (Z x Sour D). Anyhoo, Sherbanger clones are going for $1,000 per cutting, like the Atlas Seeds-sold “Sherbanger22” cut from NorCal Gardens. The grower Str8Flame has been helping with the distribution. Meanwhile, Boston Roots Seed Co has Sherbanger F2s, and crosses to Triangle Kush. Smoke that Sherbanger after work and headbang to Mike Judge’s new episodes of Beavis & Butt-Head on Paramount+.

Gastro Pop

One of the top breeders in the world digs into the genes of its royal family ‘Grape Gas’ with Gastro Pop, and just watch for what pops out next. GastroPop #5 has an elite, dramatic look and spicy, sugary, grape, purple fizzy terps to match. Compound Genetics crossed Apples & Bananas x Grape Gasoline, making the perfect before or after-dinner indica hybrid. The sweet, grape, fuel smell is linked to the parent Grape Gas. You’ll find Grape Gas powering Pink Certz, Stay Puft, and Glitter Bomb all winter long. The world’s best growers are obsessed with Gastro Pop and the bubble’s still building.

GMO-OG

California champs Fig Farms brings a beastly GMO cross out for fall, adding Wifi OG x Triangle Mints. That’s flame on flame on flame—so don’t bring your baby lungs. Fig Farms popped the seeds from an older library of nameless Seed Junky Genetics crosses. GMO-OG has eye-popping size, and a stanky, sweet, fuel nose with max-THC indica hybrid effects that’ll stone to the bone.

Capital Haze

Where my terpinolene-lovers at? You Jack Herer and Dutch Treat heads? We see you. Top 10 US strain Apple Fritter breeder Lumpy introduced dispensary shoppers this summer to this classic from his Proposition 215 days. Capital Haze is a cross of Sour Apple Haze and OG Kush. It’s a more fresh alternative for those ‘90s terps fans. It’s candy-sweet, green apple tart, and old-school hoppy with haze. Lab scores say it hits 30% THC, with a soaring daytime sativa effect. Hit the pumpkin patch and try not to lose your gourd.

Fresh in stores

New on shelves

Skywalker OG 2.0

THC Design, CA

Top California indoor growers THC Design updated the classic Skywalker OG on September 22 with a full-on release party in LA. The first Skywalker OG combined Mazar x Blueberry and OG Kush. THC Design’s update bred Skywalker with Chemdawg 91 for a hoppy, lemon-lime flavor with subtle notes of lavender and basil. The indica-dominant hybrid invites you to curl up with some sci-fi, or brainstorm your own fanfic set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. 

Burning up the charts

Dante’s Inferno

Freddy’s Fuego, WA

Fun fact: the center of hell is supposed to be as frozen as it is dark. That’s oddly similar to the look of Dante’s Inferno, the extremely hot Oreoz x Devil Driver cross from breeders Clearwater Genetics plus Tiki Madman. Washington smokers have advanced Dante’s Inferno to the final round of voting this month in the Freddy’s Fuego The Hunt. The indoor growers conducted a year-long, far-reaching ‘hunt’ for new strains to move into their lineup. The Hunt concludes Fri., October 14 with a sold-out party and final voting session on eight strains. This indica hybrid has lots of GSC, and OG Kush genetics in it for a relaxing effect.

Ballin out

Tropical Infusion

High Noon, OR

Bred by Skunk House Genetics, selected by Hurt Feelings, and grown by High Noon in Oregon, the bright citrus scent of Tropical Infusion lingers long after the joint has been smoked. A cross of Tropicana Cookies and Modified Banana, this selection is dominated by Trop’s musty orange grove scents. This time it’s louder, stickier, with an added wallop of funk. Pops of dusty violet are barely visible under a thick blanket of trichomes. Any banana flavors present are lost in the abundance of sweet and tart candy notes, all of which carry over to the inhale. The scent of the herb leans into those big, candy tangerine aromas, with an added woody top note that evokes memories of just-melting popsicles, stick included. Fitting, since this flower’s resinous scent stains everything it touches with a sweet funk.

Ballin’ on a budget

Menage

Talking Trees, CA

Humboldt County, CA-based greenhouse growers Talking Trees always keep us elevated without busting our budgets. We in love with The Menage this fall, or just Menage. Four top strains jump in bed with each other in this cross of (Zkittlez x Triangle Kush Bx3) x (Gelato #41 x Kush Mints #11). That’s weed algebra, right there. It’s got a delightful hybrid indica effect that lessens stress and improves mood. The loud, minty, dessert, and OG terps give smokers more of what they want. Light dep-grown pot owns that sweet spot where quality meets price.

High Note

Puffco Peak Pro Guardian

We end on a high note for hash fans—the new, limited edition Peak Pro Guardian from L.A.’s Puffco. It’s a total splurge at $499, but the Art Deco-style fluted glass top, chrome aluminum alloy band, and metallic transparent silicone base is gonna rule the sesh this winter. Mankind’s leading hash vape bubbler rocks Puffco’s new, 3D chamber for bigger, higher-quality hits, plus a whole line of chromed-out accessories: Guardian Hot Knife, Guardian Peak Pro Travel Glass, and Guardian Peak Pro Power Dock wireless charger. ‘Tis the season: Gift your current Peak and upgrade to the chrome Guardian. The holidays are all about surprise and delight to counter the bleakness of winter.

We got so much more to cover. We’ll see you next week with the best strains of the 2022 harvest.

Oregon freelancer Ryan Herron contributed to this story.