Deep East, also known as Deep East Oakland Farms or DEO Farms, is the Oakland breeding program behind Pink Guava, the Rainbow Sherbert family, RS11 and Zoap. The name points home to Deep East Oakland, around 105th Avenue. The breeder goes by DEO, and his cuts have traveled from a hand-dug crawlspace to licensed shelves in California, Michigan, Mississippi and Vermont.
In August 2026, Vermont dispensaries stocked RS11 and Zoap grown from Deep East genetics by licensed Vermont cultivators.
A crawlspace grow off 105th Avenue
LA Weekly's Jimi Devine laid out the origin story in July 2021. DEO's first cut was a plant called Super Kush that his uncles picked up around 1998, later renamed Vintage 98 OG. When he bought a house, he pulled his stored grow equipment back out and went to work under the floor.
He and a cousin spent months digging out a three-foot crawlspace until it became a 10-by-10 room with eight-foot ceilings. Four lights ran Hindu Kush and the OG cut. Granddaddy Purple became his first notable success, and the operation grew to 16 lights after he enlarged the basement.
The same interview captured his view of the neighborhood. DEO said he would teach cultivation free of charge to people from the area.
OZ Kush packs and the road to Pink Guava
The pheno hunting started early. DEO hunted through GMO and popped 12 packs of Cookies and Cream from Exotic Genetix. The real foundation came from 12 packs of OZ Kush from Dying Breed Seeds, picked up at the Emerald Cup. Leafly traces that OZ Kush to Eddy OG crossed with Z.
DEO worked the OZ Kush into an F2 backcross built on the #41 pheno. That plant became Pink Guava, the parent that anchors everything Deep East is known for.
Rainbow Sherbert, RS11 and Zoap
Pink Guava crossed with Sunset Sherbert gave DEO the Rainbow Sherbert family, about 120 seeds in all. He kept four phenos: #16, #40, #7 and #18. Wizard Trees kept #54 and #11 from the same seed stock, and #11 became RS11.
Zoap came one generation later, the #21 pheno out of a Rainbow Sherbert #16 F2 line. LA Weekly named Wizard Trees and Doja Pak as DEO's collaborators, and by mid-2021 he was already working an F4 generation.
The family kept branching. Leafly's 2024 Budtenders' Choice coverage tied Studio 54, Pink Guava, Jelly Roll and RS11 to the same RS lineage. The Highest Critic reviewed Deep East cuts including Jelly Roll (RS19), Rainbow Poundcake, Rainbow Guava, Y3, Rainbow Z #25, Topsyde and Beso de la Muerte between 2023 and 2024, with DEO Farms credited as grower.
Zalympix hardware and a Canoga Park launch
Zoap made its name in blind competition. At the 2021 California Summer round of Zalympix, DEO Farms x Wizard Trees placed second in Best Overall and second in Best Tasting with Zoap. At the 2022 California Championship, the same entry won Best Overall and took second in Best Tasting and Best Terps.
The launch party came at The Marathon Collective in Canoga Park on September 30, 2023. Honeysuckle described the store as owned by Nipsey Hussle's estate and run by his brother Blacc Sam. Zoap, Lime Zoap and Tropical Zoap were on the menu, and the first 100 customers got goody bags and met the DEO team.
DEO told Honeysuckle that he and the Marathon camp shared similar origin stories. He also said 24 strains were in development, narrowed from 3,000 seeds popped since Thanksgiving 2021.
Michigan and Mississippi pick up the RS line
Deep East genetics travel through licensed growers in other states. In July 2023, East Lansing's Pro Gro Co released RS11, RS54 and Zoap as a Pro Gro x Deep East x Wizard Trees collaboration, with eighths at $30 at King of Budz in Ferndale. Viridis Laboratories tested all three batches.
Mississippi came next. Sea of Green South entered the state in March 2024 and won Best Indica at the Sippi Cup with Zoap about two months later. Mississippi budtenders then named Zoap the state's pick in Leafly's 2024 Budtenders' Choice Awards, which credited Deep East Oakland as breeder.
Black Zoap, Vermont and the RS line in 2026
Zoap keeps working as a parent. Herb.co's March 2026 roundup of the year's new strains featured Black Zoap, a cross of The Black and Zoap, and credited Zoap to DEO Farms out of Oakland.
Vermont requires all dispensary cannabis to be grown in-state by a licensed Vermont cultivator, so the RS line arrives there as genetics. In August 2026, Upstate Elevator Supply Co. in Burlington carried RS11 as a living-soil eighth, and Theory Wellness in Brattleboro carried Zoap, listed as RS21.
Deep East posts on Instagram as @deofarms.
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