The hunt for great cannabis genetics can be daunting for beginners looking to grow. After all, a 10-pack of seeds can cost hundreds of dollars and there\u2019s no real way to know if you\u2019re investment has paid off until you\u2019ve grown out the plant, trimmed and cured the buds and puffed the final result. Because the genetic diversity of the cannabis plant is monumentally vast and there are so many mouth-watering new cultivars, it\u2019s very easy to feel like a kid in a candy store. Even the strain names themselves reflect this metaphorical allusion. At the Emerald Cup this past weekend, Cannarado sold upwards of 20 different Sundae Driver crosses with names like Root Beer Float and Grape Sundae.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, when it comes to making a choice about which cultivars to invest in, purchasing seeds \u2014 like many aspects of enjoying cannabis \u2014 is all about personal preference and discovery.<\/p>\n
Award-winning\u00a0cannabis breeder Mean Gene<\/a>\u00a0said it has taken him years to know \u201cwhat is what\u201d when it comes to cannabis genetics. Gene\u2019s advice was to find someone with an unbiased opinion on a cultivar that they\u2019ve already grown out. At a massive seed purchasing event like the\u00a0Emerald Cup<\/a>, Gene recommended standing in line and getting other people\u2019s feedback.<\/p>\n Doing research on the genetics is also key, he said. \u201cYou don\u2019t want to go to somebody who is going to be a \u2018yes\u2019 man. You want to find what fits your needs the best.\u201d<\/p>\n At the cup,\u00a0Hepburns<\/a>\u00a0founder Allie Butler waited in the line at Gene\u2019s\u00a0Freeborn Selections<\/a>\u00a0booth for the Lime Pop Kush F3 seeds on a hunt for a strain that provided the right amount of \u201cresin production and terpene<\/a>\u00a0profile.\u201d \u201cI\u2019m looking for sh*t that keeps you coming back,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Cannabis strains will combine the best aspects of its parental lineage, but like two sisters in the same family, the seeds will create unique results every time. Breeders work to find the optimal version, or special phenotype, of a strain they create and then\u00a0stabilize the genetics<\/a>\u00a0through subsequent generations. An F1 hybrid is the first generation of a parental cross and the generations that follow are known as F2, F3, etc. Looking for later generations, such as Gene\u2019s Lime Pop Kush F3, means growers are more likely to get consistent results from the plants they grow from seed.<\/p>\n Gene<\/a>\u00a0described himself as a \u201cplant enthusiast\u201d and said, for him, choosing which strains to grow is as much about how the plant resonates with him aesthetically as it is if it has interesting flavors or terpene profiles. Comparing cannabis to other plants, Gene said if you don\u2019t like the look of artichokes, you might want to grow pepper plants instead. New growers should also be asking questions about a plant\u2019s yield and resistance to mold.<\/p>\n For\u00a0Nikki Lastreto<\/a>, one of the cultivators behind\u00a0Swami Select<\/a>, choosing genetics means finding the seeds bred in her area. That\u2019s easy for her to say. In this case, Lastreto\u2019s area of Mendocino County\u00a0is one of the most award-winning cannabis cultivation regions on the planet. However, no matter your location, choosing seeds bred in the region of the world where you\u2019d like to grow them makes good sense anywhere, as those cultivars will be best adapted to the environmental conditions and best able to express the plant\u2019s truest expression of its identity \u2014 through embracing the terroir, a set of environmental factors such as climate, soils and terrain unique to a specific place.<\/p>\n \u201cWe like to get seed bred in our area because we know they\u2019re going to go well with our terroir,\u201d Lastreto said.<\/p>\n Growing cannabis from a\u00a0seed<\/a>\u00a0is harder than growing from a\u00a0clone<\/a>, a cutting from a female plant, because cannabis is a plant that has both male and female genders. While some companies do create feminized seeds, or seeds that have been created through a process of using colloidal silver to make a female plant produce pollen sacks instead of flowers and then pollinating a female plant with the feminine pollen, Lastreto said she prefers using un-feminized seeds and accepting the surprise gender results.<\/p>\n The longtime Emerald Cup judge compared the process to having a child, saying you can\u2019t look to choose the sex of your cannabis plant any more than you can choose the sex of your baby.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to accept that when you\u2019re growing from seed,\u201d she said. \u201cYou don\u2019t know what you\u2019re going to get.\u201d<\/p>\n TELL US,\u00a0<\/b>have you ever grown your own cannabis?<\/p>\n The post 5 Basic Tips for Finding the Best Cannabis Genetics<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The hunt for great cannabis genetics can be daunting for beginners looking to grow. After all, a 10-pack of seeds can cost hundreds of dollars and there\u2019s no real way to know if you\u2019re investment has paid off until you\u2019ve grown out the plant, trimmed and cured the buds andContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,3878,569,5,478,6787,6788,3750,6789,1545,105,6790,4839,3422,796],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31473"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31473"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31474,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31473\/revisions\/31474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Pay Attention to the Generation<\/h4>\n
Discover What You Want<\/h4>\n
Grow for Your Area<\/h4>\n
Accept the Results<\/h4>\n
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\nRead More: 5 Basic Tips for Finding the Best Cannabis Genetics<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"