Lots of bad information about GDP, Grape Ape and Purple Urkle out there. Sadly. Even on Leafly. Grape Ape is a GDP clone, cut, F1 or S1. In most cases they are synonymous. GDP is a cross of Big Bud (now commonly called Super Bud) and Purple Urkle. You can look online and find all three strains (GDP, GA and PU) all as being parents of each other, siblings of each other, or crosses of each other, or whatever. Galaxy and some other genetic sites have many cuts of many strains as being completely different. And hence they are pretty useless. Many also list GDP as being a cut of Mendo Purps. But I think it is the other way around. Ken Estes made the original GDP cross in Santa Cruz and it is well documented.
In the end, if your strain did not have any purple in it, it was not Grape Ape. Grape Ape is called that for the color and flavor. Its purple. I know a lot about this strains, and the strains involved in this cross. Having grown Big Bud, Purple Urkle, Granddaddy Purple and Grape Ape from reliable medical grower cuts here in the west, I am quite convinced that GDP is a cross between Big Bud and Purple Urkle. And I am now quite convinced that Grape Ape is a self or cut of GDP. As for skunk and what is skunk, that is highly debatable, and there was no single skunk strain as certain persons in Amsterdam would have you believe. There was tons of skunk weed going around in NorCal in the late 1970s, and I had several different sources from completely different locations (Hollister, Santa Cruz Mountains, and Big Sur). It was not just one early Haze crossed with Afghani. It was a bunch of local Mexican and Colombian strains crossed with Afghani when Afghan seeds hit the local grow scene in the late 1970s in NorCal and other places in the US. Purple Urkle grows like a true Afghani, and tends to be dwarfy and a low producer with strong couch lock high. Which is what made it a perfect candidate to cross with Big Bud. Big Bud is a big heavy producer, but with a mediocre light high to it. Purple was all the rage in NorCal like skunk was for a while, and Purple genetics got into a lot of weed. As did skunk.
Sadly these days what is called Grape Ape, Durban Poison, OG Kush, White Widow and Bubba whatever can pretty much be anything. Before rec weed was legal in the western US, and the medical grow scene dominated, there was a strong tendency to stay true to name and genetic form. The trade about 12 years ago hit its peak here in Oregon and California, and trade was rampant. People here have had strains going back for 20 or more years, and they are true to form. At least the ones that I have grown. This year several medical growers here have been forced to dump strains, because the laws in Oregon have changed from being able to grow unlimited numbers of clones and 6 mature plants, to 12 clones and 6 mature plants, on top of 4 rec plants of any size. So they are paring down. And I am stocking up.
Anyway, my read on this.
