Jogro
Well-Known Member
I don't believe this is true. TGA/subcool, DNA genetics/Reserva Privada, and smany other breeders are, in fact, making a decent living doing what they do including putting out new strains. They wouldn't stay in business for years if this were not true.
Again, many of the better/popular stains simply CANNOT be stabilized, at least not without destroying what it is that makes them unique/interesting. That's not a question of economics, its a question of genetics, and its not unique to cannabis, either. Farmers in many cases need to buy their seeds from Monsanto and other breeders year in/year out because they're growing proprietary hybrids which cannot be stabilized, nor the seed "homegrown".
With increasing decriminalization (eg medical cannabis) and more people growing than ever before, I'd say the customer base is probably more discriminating now than it every has been in the past.
Sure there are always going to be casual growers who don't know what they're doing, and don't care what they're buying, so long as it gets them high, but overall sophistication is increasing. Nowadays, there is no reason to send out $50 or $100 for a pack of seeds, and not have some idea what you're going to get, or some reasonable expectation that it will be good. To the extent that there is a problem with bad seeds, I'd say its causes mostly by the fact that cannabis is still illegal to grow in most of the world. That makes standardization tough, promotes disinformation, and also promotes "fly by night" enterprises. So far as I know, there is no objective third party "consumer reports" of cannabis (including lab testing of reviewed strains), though there is no reason there couldn't/shouldn't be one if growing were legal.
In the meantime, the internet (including sites like this one, and indeed THREADS like this one), is the "great equalizer". Now its possible for anyone with a computer and "Google" to search actual review of actual seeds, and get pictures, descriptions, etc, from third parties.
Good choice.
Another "dirty little secret" I've heard is that many of the companies are selling the exact same seeds, grown under contract by third parties, under their own brand names and labels. Northern lights, supposedly, is one of these strains. For example, some of the ridiculously overpriced "Doggie's Nuts" seeds "by coincidence" have EXACTLY the same ad copy as another English seed company selling what appears to be identical seeds at 1/4 the price.
