Is Blue Dream indica or sativa? Its genetics and family tree

The two parents

Blueberry is DJ Short's indica, which he began developing in the late 1970s from Purple Thai and Thai genetics. It won Best Indica at the High Times Cannabis Cup in 2000.^2,9

Haze came out of Santa Cruz in the 1960s, bred by the Haze Brothers from Colombian landrace genetics. Original Haze needs an unusually long 20 to 24 weeks to flower.³

How sativa is it?

Every source calls Blue Dream sativa-dominant, but the split depends on the version: AllBud lists 60% sativa and 40% indica, Humboldt Seed Organization's seed version 70/30, and FastBuds' autoflower 75/25.^11,13,16 Leafly notes that plants can express indica- or sativa-leaning phenotypes.¹⁰

The Santa Cruz cut versus seed versions

The original Blue Dream is a clone-only cutting. According to Roots Cannabis Nursery, a licensed California nursery, no seed stock of the original exists, so authenticity rests on the cutting’s chain of custody.^14,15

Seeds sold as Blue Dream are new crosses. Humboldt Seed Organization's version is DJ Short Blueberry × Super Silver Haze, and FastBuds' autoflower crosses a Blue Dream cut with Blueberry Auto F4. Barney's Farm, Crop King and ILGM sell feminized versions.^{9,12,13,16,17}

Is the Blue Dream you buy the real one?

Mostly, but not always. A University of Northern Colorado study (Schwabe and McGlaughlin, 2018) found that 8 of 9 dispensary samples sold as Blue Dream matched one genotype by more than 80%, yet the samples varied more than a clone-only strain should.¹⁸ Growers interviewed by Westword describe some cuts with muddled genetics.¹⁹

Our lab dataset shows the same pattern from another angle: we excluded 780 test results sold under near-miss names, the largest group being "Santa Cruz Blue Dream" (84 tests).²⁰