Hybrid60% Indica / 40% Sativa20-28% THC

Rainbow Sherbet

Also known as: RS, RS-line, Rainbow Sherbert, RS-11, Rainbow Sherbert #11

Breeder: DEO Farms

Rainbow Sherbet is the indica-dominant hybrid seed line bred by DEO Farms (Deep East Oakland) by crossing Pink Guava with Sunset Sherbet, distributed as an open pollination of roughly 120 seeds. Its most documented and commercialized expression is the RS-11 (#11) phenotype, co-selected by Wizard Trees and released with Doja Pak. The line is prized for a limonene-forward "candy gas" profile carried in a dense, resinous, OG-structured plant with strong color potential. Rainbow Sherbet / RS-11 is indica-dominant (commonly cited 60% indica / 40% sativa, some sources 70% indica), testing 22-28% THC (seed-bank versions claim 30%+), CBD under 1%. Terpene profile is limonene-dominant with myrcene and caryophyllene plus linalool in select phenos — a "candy gas" signature of tropical guava/citrus over an OG fuel backbone. Bred by DEO Farms (Rob, Oakland), #11 phenotype selected by Wizard Trees with Doja Pak bringing the clone-only cut to market around 2022. It became a foundational modern breeding parent (notably behind Zoap) and a benchmark Z-lineage exotic.

Lineage

Pink Guava x Sunset Sherbet

THC Range

20-28%

Flower Time

9-10 weeks

Difficulty

Moderate

Lineage & Genetics

Cross: Pink Guava x Sunset Sherbet

Pink Guava — an OZ Kush F2 selection (#41 pheno) tracing to Eddy OG x Zkittlez — is the primary terpene donor, contributing the limonene-dominant tropical guava/citrus-candy top note from the Zkittlez side plus heavy resin, structural density, and an OG-derived gas backbone. Sunset Sherbet (Girl Scout Cookies x Pink Panties, from Mario Sherbinski) contributes creamy sweetness and berry middle notes, myrcene depth, dense bud structure, and the anthocyanin-driven purple/blue color expression that develops in late flower. The net result is a tropical fruit/citrus candy top, OG fuel underneath, and creamy-berry in the middle within a dense, resinous, OG-structured plant.

Terpene Profile

DOMINANT

Limonene — The lead terpene (~8.27 mg/g per THC Design lab data) delivering a bright citrus-diesel top note and tropical fruit character — limonene leading an OG-heritage cross is the defining, unusual signature of the line.

DOMINANT

Caryophyllene — Reported around 4.89 mg/g, giving a peppery fuel/gas note and CB2-active body character.

DOMINANT

Linalool — Around 4.07 mg/g, contributing floral lavender notes and a calming body weight.

SECONDARY

Myrcene — Notably low (~0.62 mg/g) for an indica-dominant strain — cited as the reason RS-11 is not heavily sedating despite indica-leaning genetics.

SECONDARY

Humulene — Around 1.39 mg/g, adding an earthy, woody undertone.

Aroma: The hallmark is "candy gas" — tropical fruit, guava, and citrus candy on top with an OG fuel/diesel undercurrent, plus creamy-berry Sherbet notes in the middle. The sequence is part of the signature: fruit announces first with gas underneath. Prime Cuts describes "a sharp diesel funk hits first and fills the room, followed by a wave of tropical fruit candy — guava, citrus, and ripe berry," while Leafly reviewers note gas, mango, and tar/blacktop with apricot, peach, and citrus, and the Jan 2025 HighLight calls it a "loud, tree fruit juice, citrus, and fuel nose."

Flavor: Ripe berry candy and tropical fruit (mango, guava, citrus zest) on the inhale, a creamy "sherbet ice cream" mid-palate, then a fuel-forward, spicy/peppery finish with subtle pine and earthy Kush notes on the exhale. Growdiaries describes "a symphony of cherries and berries... with hints of bitter citrus," and a Leafly user calls it "reminiscent of sherbert ice cream with a kush note at the back." The smoke is consistently described as smooth.

Effects & Experience

Onset: Surprisingly bright and cerebral for an indica-leaning hybrid — euphoria, mental clarity, uplift, and sociability arrive within the first few minutes, attributed to the high-limonene/low-myrcene profile.

After about 20-30 minutes a warm, comfortable body relaxation develops (linalool plus caryophyllene) without full sedation — "calm and sedated but still mentally alert." It stays functional for creative work or social settings at moderate doses, while higher-THC batches (28%+) produce more pronounced body relaxation. Leafly user data skews relaxed, euphoric, and uplifted, with a 4.4/5 rating over 140 reviews.

Duration: Roughly 2-3 hours, with body effects often outlasting the cerebral lift.

Commonly Reported Uses

Stress reliefAnxiety reductionMild-to-moderate painMood elevationCreative focusAppetite stimulationMild insomnia relief

Grower's Notes

Flower

9-10 weeks

Indoor Yield

450-550 g/m²

Outdoor Yield

400-600 g/plant

Difficulty

Moderate

Height / Stretch

Medium to tall; ~75-120 cm indoors, up to

Environment

Warm, dry, well-ventilated; thrives

Rainbow Sherbet (RS-11) is a clone-only indica-leaning hybrid from DEO Farms that rewards attentive canopy management and environmental control with exceptionally resinous, candy-gas flowers. The following notes cover the key cultivation considerations for this variety.

Growth Structure and Training

Expect a medium-to-tall, indica-leaning frame that stretches ~1.5x at flip, finishing around 75-120 cm indoors and 150-190 cm outdoors. As an open-pollination seed line (the population the famous #11/RS-11 cut was hunted from), it throws real phenotype variation, so select keepers rather than expect uniformity. It builds many medium bud sites instead of one dominant cola, so it rewards an open, flattened canopy: top early, run LST, and SCROG indoors. Outdoors, give it a wide footprint and stake heavier arms.

Flowering Time and Harvest

Indoor flowering runs 9-10 weeks (some seed phenos push to 11; Kannabia/Zamnesia data clusters at 9). Outdoor harvest lands mid-to-late October in the Northern Hemisphere. Don't harvest by the calendar — pull on trichome maturity, looking for milky heads with roughly 10-20% amber and 60-80% darkened pistils. The limonene-forward terpene complexity keeps building through the final week, so cutting a week-10 pheno at week 9 flattens the candy-citrus top note that defines the cut.

Nutrient Management

Treat it as a moderate feeder. Run balanced nitrogen through veg, then deliberately taper N as the stretch begins — overfeeding N into the flip is the classic mistake here and shows fast as dark, clawed leaves with burnt tips. Push P and K through mid-flower for the dense bud build, and step up Cal-Mag in late flower as the heavy trichome load pulls calcium and magnesium. Hold pH near 6.0-6.5 in soil and 5.8-6.2 in coco/hydro, then flush the final 1-2 weeks.

Growing Media

It performs well in living/amended soil — the Kannabia 420DeepGrow report ran it on Xpert nutrients with a ~3-week veg — and soil rounds out the creamy-berry and guava sweetness. Coco gives faster growth and tighter control over the N taper and Cal-Mag dosing this plant needs. Hydro pushes the hardest growth and biggest yields but demands strict pH/EC discipline given the N sensitivity. Size pots to the canopy: 5-7 gallon fabric pots indoors, larger 15-30+ gallon containers or beds outdoors.

Environment and Climate

Climate control rewards precision. Keep veg at 70-80°F (21-27°C) and flower at 65-77°F (18-25°C) with nights 5-10°F cooler, targeting VPD near 0.8-1.0 kPa in veg and 1.2-1.5 kPa in flower. Run humidity at 60-70% in early veg, stepping down to 40-45% by late flower — critical given the dense buds and botrytis risk — with strong, constant airflow under the canopy. It favors a warm, dry, well-ventilated room or greenhouse; outdoors, Mediterranean/SoCal-type climates are best. Indoor PPFD can be driven to ~700-900 µmol/m²/s through peak flower.

Lighting

Both modern LED (Mars Hydro TS3000-class boards) and HPS perform well; LED tends to preserve terpene volatiles and color better, while HPS can push raw flower mass. Run a standard 18/6 veg and 12/12 flower photoperiod, and add CO2 (1000-1200 ppm) only if you're already running high PPFD and warm temps for maximum yield. Keep the dark period truly dark — light leaks are one of the few stressors that can push this otherwise-stable plant toward intersex traits.

Pest and Disease Resistance

The dense bud structure that gives it bag appeal also makes it moderately botrytis (bud rot) prone in humid late flower. Primary defenses are airflow, selective mid-canopy defoliation in the first two flower weeks to open the interior, and tight humidity control into the 40-45% range as buds fatten. Powdery-mildew resistance is only average, so stay on a standard IPM program with silicon and good spacing. It's otherwise reasonably stable, though severe stress or light leaks can trigger intersex traits.

Yield

Yield is high-quality rather than commercial-bulk: roughly 450-550 g/m² indoors and 400-600 g/plant outdoors with training. Seed-bank reproductions (Barneys/Zamnesia) advertise up to 600 g/m², but those reflect hybrid vigor in the seed crosses, not the original cut. The biggest levers are canopy management — SCROG and LST to spread the many bud sites into an even, light-saturated canopy — plus dialed mid-flower feeding and full finish time. Bulking it with heavy late nitrogen backfires.

Bud Structure and Trichomes

Finished flowers are dense, hard, and exceptionally frosty, with a heavy, almost-wet trichome coat that stands out even among modern exotics. The calyx-to-leaf ratio is good — low foliage in the buds once trimmed — and nugs cure down tight rather than fluffy. The heavy, large, resinous trichome heads are a standout trait and the direct reason for the line's solventless reputation.

Color Development

It carries strong anthocyanin color potential from the Sunset Sherbet side, showing as lime-green flower streaked with lavender, magenta, and purple against light-orange pistils. To trigger and deepen color, drop night temperatures to 17-18°C over the final 2-3 weeks. Key caveat: only phenos that carry the trait will color up — green-leaning phenos stay green no matter how cold the nights, so cold-finishing expresses existing color rather than manufacturing it.

Drying and Curing

Dry slow: 10-14 days hung in the dark at around 60°F and 55% RH, with gentle air movement and no fan on the buds — this protects the delicate limonene top note and the purple coloration that fast drying will mute. Once stems snap rather than bend, jar in airtight glass, burping daily the first week as moisture settles near 58-62% RH. Full tropical-berry and spicy-wood aroma matures after 3-4 weeks, and the best phenos keep deepening through 6-8+ weeks.

Wash and Extraction

It's a strong solventless candidate. Fresh-frozen ice-water hash to live rosin yields run roughly 2.5-4.5%, with exceptional phenos clearing 5% — solid for a candy/Z-lineage cut. Wash cold, ideally 0-4°C, with gentle agitation to keep resin heads intact, and process fast since the volatile limonene favors cold handling. Press rosin low, around 150-167°F (65-75°C), to preserve the guava-citrus top note; pressing hot trades that aroma for marginal yield.

History & Origin

DEO Farms founder Rob ("Guero"), from 105th Ave in Deep East Oakland, acquired OZ Kush (Eddy OG x Zkittlez, Dying Breed Seeds) — reportedly twelve packs at the Emerald Cup — hunted them, and selected the #41 phenotype for its distinct pink-guava-juice aroma, then F2'd that selection to create Pink Guava. He crossed Pink Guava with Sunset Sherbet, creating the Rainbow Sherbet ("RS") line via an open pollination yielding about 120 seeds. After a falling-out with a business partner, Wizard Trees (Scott, LA) received 100+ of the same seeds; both operations grew the identical stock and converged on the same standouts, #11 and #54, with the #11 cut becoming the consensus favorite and Doja Pak coming in as brand/distribution partner. RS-11 first circulated as a clone-only cut in the California underground around April 2022 (reportedly ~$1,000/cut) and by 2023 had spread onto 1,000+ legal dispensary menus.

Awards & Recognition

●1st Runner-up — 2023 — Leafly Strain of the Year
●Featured — Jan 2025 — Leafly HighLight
●3rd Place Indica Flower — 2024 — Missouri Cannabis Cup
●Weed of the Year — 2024 — Cannabis Industrie Awards (Netherlands)
●1st runner-up, Leafly Strain of the Year 2023 (RS-11). By 2023 RS-11 had expanded ~8x to over 1,000 legal US dispensary menus.

Notable Crosses

Strains bred using Rainbow Sherbet as a parent:

Zoap— Rainbow Sherbet x Pink Guava (DEO Farms)→

Magic Marker— RS-11 x Permanent Marker

11:11— RS-11 x RS-11 backcross (Wizard Trees)

RS-54— Sibling #54 selection (Sunset Sherbet x Pink #54)

Rainbow Bitez— Raw Genetics RS-11 cross

Frequently Asked Questions

7 common questions about Rainbow Sherbet

What is Rainbow Sherbet and what are its genetics?

Rainbow Sherbet is a hybrid cannabis strain (60% Indica / 40% Sativa) bred by DEO Farms. It is a cross of Pink Guava x Sunset Sherbet, testing at 20-28% THC. Rainbow Sherbet is the indica-dominant hybrid seed line bred by DEO Farms (Deep East Oakland) by crossing Pink Guava with Sunset Sherbet, distributed as an open pollination of roughly 120 seeds. Its most documented and commercialized expression is the RS-11 (#11) phenotype, co-selected by Wizard Trees and released with Doja Pak.

What does Rainbow Sherbet smell and taste like?

Rainbow Sherbet's dominant terpenes are Limonene, Caryophyllene, Linalool. The aroma is described as the hallmark is "candy gas" — tropical fruit, guava, and citrus candy on top with an og fuel/diesel undercurrent, plus creamy-berry sherbet notes in the middle. the sequence is part of the signature: fruit announces first with gas underneath. prime cuts describes "a sharp diesel funk hits first and fills the room, followed by a wave of tropical fruit candy — guava, citrus, and ripe berry," while leafly reviewers note gas, mango, and tar/blacktop with apricot, peach, and citrus, and the jan 2025 highlight calls it a "loud, tree fruit juice, citrus, and fuel nose.". The flavor profile features ripe berry candy and tropical fruit (mango, guava, citrus zest) on the inhale, a creamy "sherbet ice cream" mid-palate, then a fuel-forward, spicy/peppery finish with subtle pine and earthy kush notes on the exhale. growdiaries describes "a symphony of cherries and berries... with hints of bitter citrus," and a leafly user calls it "reminiscent of sherbert ice cream with a kush note at the back." the smoke is consistently described as smooth..

What are the effects of Rainbow Sherbet?

Surprisingly bright and cerebral for an indica-leaning hybrid — euphoria, mental clarity, uplift, and sociability arrive within the first few minutes, attributed to the high-limonene/low-myrcene profile. After about 20-30 minutes a warm, comfortable body relaxation develops (linalool plus caryophyllene) without full sedation — "calm and sedated but still mentally alert." It stays functional for creative work or social settings at moderate doses, while higher-THC batches (28%+) produce more pronounced body relaxation. Leafly user data skews relaxed, euphoric, and uplifted, with a 4.4/5 rating over 140 reviews.. Duration is typically roughly 2-3 hours, with body effects often outlasting the cerebral lift.. Commonly reported uses include Stress relief, Anxiety reduction, Mild-to-moderate pain, Mood elevation.

How hard is Rainbow Sherbet to grow?

Rainbow Sherbet is rated moderate difficulty. It flowers in 9-10 weeks, reaches medium to tall; ~75-120 cm indoors, up to 150-190 cm outdoors; ~1.5x stretch in height, and yields 450-550 g/m² indoors. Best suited for warm, dry, well-ventilated; thrives indoor/greenhouse; outdoors in mediterranean/socal-type climates; cool late-flower nights (17-18°c) for color environments.

Does Rainbow Sherbet turn purple?

Yes. Rainbow Sherbet is known to express purple coloration, with reported colors including green, purple. Cooler nighttime temperatures during late flowering typically intensify anthocyanin expression.

What strains were bred from Rainbow Sherbet?

Rainbow Sherbet has been used as a parent in several notable crosses, including Zoap, Magic Marker, 11:11, RS-54, Rainbow Bitez. Its genetics contribute to a wide range of modern cultivars.

Has Rainbow Sherbet won any cannabis awards?

Yes. Rainbow Sherbet has received recognition including 1st Runner-up — 2023 — Leafly Strain of the Year; Featured — Jan 2025 — Leafly HighLight; 3rd Place Indica Flower — 2024 — Missouri Cannabis Cup.

Sources & References (36)

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