Cant take the conflicting reviews-please help

Hello all,
This is my first post. I'm not much of a forum person, that is i don't post in forums usually but will read them if i'm looking for something specific, understanding that i must take most of what i read with a grain of salt. That said i need some clarification. I have been growing for two years, studying Cannabis cultivation for three. Im constantly reading and experimenting. I generally become an expert at most things i become interested in. Ive been honing my skills on bagseed. Im now ready to start purchasing quality genetics. Heres the problem: for every good review theres a bad one. For every supposedly great strain or company theres somebody swearing its crap or a rip off or whatever. Weve all seen pictures of beautiful looking cannabis plants, so the genetics are out there. Weve read the reviews in various books or magazines, who make it seem like it ought to be as easy as just picking out what you like and ordering it. The more reviews i read however the more it seeme the trully great stuff is being hoarded by the elite few, while everyone else just gets what they get, or Nothing. Then theres the "clone only" stuff. It seems that nothing is ever reviewed as being as good. Its as if those strains are friggin unicorns, only to be seen by the lucky few. Even when somebody like Dr. Greenthumb says hes aquired original cuts and selfed em to create beans all i read is that, "there too expensive, they hermie too often, or i grew it out and it def ' wasnt as good as the original, blah blah blah" So how am i to trust any source? If i go by what i read on this site alone ide have to assume the real genetics are just too elusive to actually ever aquire. As i said, i dont participate in forums because of all the conflicting posts amongst other things but this is really driving me a little crazy and i thought if i asked some of these questions directly i might get some answers i can work with. Thanks to anyone who has something helpfull.

what is your question?

Can you frame your question a bit more succinctly ?
I'd like to help, but I really don't know what you're asking.

I think he is asking what seedbank to trust and what breeders.
What he is not taking into it is. Each to their own and everyone as their own tollerance. What gets a moderate user hammered wont even touch a regular.

Most seedbanks-Breeders and even modern day hackers have good and bad genetics.

Its like expecting every seed to have a Whisky like offering (Top shelf only) what about the beers and the wines?

In short where can the best genetics be found( or can they even, that is, are they really available to all of us?), and why in your opinion will someone, somewhere viciously disagree with you no matter what you say?

are you asking for % thc numbers, weight/time ratio, or what I personally like best?

The reason for your confusion is personal preference, everyone is going to prefer things slightly different. And you don't trust the numbers because well are they really the bottom line? (i don't think so personally)

frozenphoenix said:

In short where can the best genetics be found( or can they even, that is, are they really available to all of us?), and why in your opinion will someone, somewhere viciously disagree with you no matter what you say?

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In my humble opinion there is no such thing as "best genetics". There are way too many variables to make one strain or even a handful so much better than others.

I would suggest Sannie's Seed Shop. You cant go wrong. You will be more than happy with anything you decide to give a try, especially after coming off of bag seed.
High grade seeds have some really solid genetics as well. Their super strain advertisements are just that, advertisements. Its pretty good bud at pretty decent prices.

Both are smaller so you wont be overwhelmed with choices.

First thanks anyone whos responded so far. I understand your point about personal preferences, however i also know that certain strains are more or less universally loved. Also there are certain things that absolutely no one would preffer such as, beans that dont pop, a pack of "fems" that turn out all herms , or a company that just doesnt send you anything or spending $200 on a single bean thats supposed to be the real deal and then it comes out "not really like the original" So like canna 420 said i am asking which companies and breeders to trust, but more so (having a hard time w this i guess) Im asking if the representations made in the mags and breeders sites regarding all the factors that matter ( Looks,yeild, potentcy, aroma, taste, vigor, stability) are acurate and if so are they actually sending those beans, or is it all just pretty pictures and marketing. My point is i read alot of negative reviews.

The pretty pictures you see in reputable breeders adverts are representative of the "Best" pheno for a particular strain.
But - not all seeds from that strain will exhibit ALL the attributes given that strain.
That is one of the reasons many of us will run a batch of seeds, pick the best looking plant (s) of that group & create a mother.

It's really hit or miss, of course you don't want to miss, (maybe one day we can claim it as a business loss).
But what Greatwhitenorth says is true. You first need find that one special plant, then exploit it!
You may want to start using clones, I like the idea of growing something that I can take back to the vendor and say WTF? you said this was Grape Ape! At least you might get a replacement clone for your trouble.
Hopefully your search will be short. Sorry, not much help on finding a mother for you. best of luck.

DON"T SKIMP ON SEEDS! As I believe it to be, you get what you pay for, right?

I will advise two options:
1) Sannies seeds. Get a pack of whatever looks good to you and you will most likey be impressed. I have not used Sannies personally, but you will be hard pressed to find bad reviews on any of the breeders there, especially Sannie or E$cobar.

2) Go to The Attitude and select several beans of what looks good to you. You can buy single seeds of
many strains. This way you would be able to see for yourself what works best for your system and what breeders' seeds you prefer. There are tons to chose from, but Reserva Privada/DNA Genetics have an excellent reputation. I don't think I have read a bad review of G13 Labs Pineapple Express, except that they may do shady business dealings. I have one flowering and it is very robust and frosty.

Jump in and find out for yourself.

it really don't matter where you go I've gotten good weed from nirvana yet most people on forums say they suck. theirs good coming from rare dankness and tga yet their breeding methods aren't that good. greenhouse and barney's farm always have haters but others like them and get good weed from their seeds. most all companies have good weed otherwise they would not be around atleast the older companies. just look for a popular/classic strain and as long as you do good you'll have good weed it all depends what your looking for though. you can buy a good strain fuck up make it herm or just end up with shity weed cause you don't know what your doing.

there's A LOT of different things going on in your post. 1st, regarding selfing clones, yeah, the chance of getting hermies increases greatly with feminized strains. when you force a female to turn tranny, her daughters might pick up on that trait. i'd say the BETTER way to preserve a cutting strain is either cross it with another great strain's carefully selected male and create an hybrid, or create a hybrid and back cross to your original clone at least 2 times for an 87.5% original. that can't be avoided. cloning is a way to hoard strains, but it's also a way to preserve an original outstanding rare pheno like the connamon girl jack herer pheno. there are PLENTY of great strains out there by good breeders that are STABLE regs. then there's reporting. i hear you there. you have to bear in mind that SOME reports are total bullshit. there are breeders out there that suck who will attack their rivals which is why you'll see MOST people love TGA & sannie's strains, but every once in a while you see a hater. if enough people are consistent with their respect for a breeder, you can generally trust the GROUP opinion. TGA has at least ONE awesome strain as his jack's cleaner 2 is the best indoor i've ever smoked that i can name. it's every bit as good as columbian gold and what i SUSPECT was some gold i was smoked out with a few years ago but different. take greenhouse seeds. there's a lot of hate on their gear, yet you ALWAYS see people saying how good their super lemon haze is. i bought beans just to get an SLH freebie and was unimpressed when it took 3-4 leafsets just to stop mutating where other strains that smoked about the same were already budding. i think they proactively schill their own gear. i've also noticed that trolls crawl out of the woodwork every time you diss reeferman or barney's farm. they can't abide by honest criticism. then there's the individual grower. there's a lot of ways to screw plants up. temps, humidity, light leaks, pests, nutes, too much or too little light and soil moisture etc. some growers blame their own failings on the gear. i've seen at least a couple pics of plants with seriously yellow leaves from nute deficiencies or burning that they blamed on the strain. hydroponics in particular is a tech that can go bad almost overnight if you aren't diligent. reason number 85 why organics are better. i know from my own experience, a cold room in winter can SERIOUSLY affect seed viability. i always use a humidity dome and heating mat now and no longer have 50% or less viability across the board as i did a couple times in winter with gear that was 100% just a few months earlier. someone who hasn't tried to figure that issue out might have a grudge against gear that's just fine. i, and another grower, BOTH got 0% from our delta 9 mekong hazes. i think it was due to the cold as i had issues with EVERY breeder's gear at the time in my cold room. that the seeds were so small had to contribute to the problem as even in ideal conditions, smaller seeds take longer to pop. some day i'll give them a second chance. then there's WHERE you get your beans from. there are some banks that bait and switch. marc emory was famous for that, BC bud depot has almost universal hate, and i don't think kindseed is that trustworthy after wasting $70 on nothing but mutants burmese. that could be a possible cause of someone getting a strain that should be awesome and having it suck. it's easy to sell someone a $100 legit strain and just swap in some out of date schwag and keep all the money. the best thing to do, if you're interested in a strain is read up on what breeders are trusted or even tops and order their gear from a trusted seedbank, or simply find a strain of interest and ask for opinions on it. if enough people weigh in, trust the majority and ignore the random hater. another reason someone might hate a particular breeder is that they've ordered beans that got seized and hold a grudge. if you only read ONE review for anything, then take it with a grain of salt. if you see dozens of reviews in agreement, then usually you can trust them. if you see some kind of 50:50 split, err on the side of caution and find a less controversial breeder.

i've had nearly 100% viability from both nirvana and their sativa seeds brand regs. they REALLY suck for fems and autos though. i've seen nothing but rants against those. a few years back, nirvana's medicine man knockoff called white rhino was really popular and if you look their overgrow reports up, most faired as good as anyone else's gear with ratings of 6-8 being average. some day, when i can give it the full attention it needs, i really want to give their highland thai another try as it has the AUTHENTIC tutti fruity flavor most other thais don't, but it ALSO lives up to all of the fussy IBL traits that real thai is famous for like being hermie prone. regardless, it wasn't some watered down thai like the couple others i've tried.

A paragraph or two would make it a lot easier to read. Just sayin.

tharoomman said:

A paragraph or two would make it a lot easier to read. Just sayin.

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thats hazey grapes for you page long posts of mostly bad information and a whole lot of bullshit.

i think that pretty much any big name breeder can get his hands on any strain they want at pretty much any time and release seeds of it after a bit of work, so thankfully a lot of these clone only strains are soon to be a thing of the past imo..
of course people will argue that say swerves of the cali connection, version of tahoe og isn't the same thing as say the clone only strain, or that any seed form of a clone only isn't going to be as good as the clone version..

stick with some of the top breeders imo.. their gear has been grown time in time out and proven to be pretty stable.. of course new breeders pop up daily, but it seems for the most part the shit always settles to the bottom..

i don't always think that paying top dollar for seeds will equal getting the best plants for the money as many breeders out today are charging little for top end genetics...

breeders i like in no order are..

sannies and krew.. very cheap, yet top notch genetics coming from these people..
connoisuer genetics
og raskal
gage green genetics
dr greenthumbs
sensi seeds
the cali connection
dank house
cannaventure
tcvg
frost bro's
top shelf seeds
sickmeds..

the last few i put up are smaller breeders who are putting out some killer gear for cheap ime.. and definitely worth a grow or two..

If I understand that rambling mess of a question, I think what you're asking is, with so much hot air out there, how can you find genetics you know for sure are good?

Answer, if you stick to strains from a relatively small number of reputable established breeders, you'll get good genetics.

DNA Genetics/Reserva Privada, Mr. Nice Seeds, Sannie, Serious Seeds, and several others all have excellent genetics, and you'll have a tough time going wrong with anything they offer. And there are at least several others too.

I'd also add not to get bogged down by "clone only" strains. Some of these have renditions available in seed form; some don't, but in most cases, the "clone only" strains aren't better than the best of the stuff available in seed form. If you have access to "clone only" cuts by all means grow them, but if not, don't think that you can't find "keeper" phenos that are nearly as good, if not as good in packs of stuff from the above breeders.

hazey, fem's are no more likely to hermie then regular plants.. the only reason fem's produce male stamen is that the female, no hermie plant, gets sprayed with a chemical like collidial silver, which forces an otherwise non hermie plant to grow male stamens.. if the plant was never sprayed with a chem, it would never grow male stamens, there fore there is no hermie genetics present in that plant to pass on to the offspring so long as you don't go spraying them with cs as well..