The Cannabis Breeder's Bible (18 page)

Proven High-Yielding Hybrid Strains

The strains have fancy names like Cindy 99, Matanuska Thunderfuck and AK-47, and are usually used in ScrOG and SOG grows. You are looking at an average cost of about $80 per strain. Some are even as expensive as $140.

High-Yielding Resinous Indica Strains

These plants are usually very resinous and so popular with hash makers. Afghani#1 and Black Domina are good examples of this type of strain. You are looking at prices between $40 and $80 for these strain types.

New Hybrid Strains

Anything that is new on the market (less than six years old) costs between $15 and $45. These strains are Mostly Indica and Mostly Sativa strains. Since they are new you can expect some or a lot of variations.

Some seed banks have taken advantage of new growers, selling new hybrids for $60 or more. This is a bad business practice and you should keep away from these strains.

IBL Strains

This is surprising. Some of the best IBL strains on the market are the cheapest. Let’s list them here.

So we have 4 out of the 8 strains under $40, 3 around the $70 and 1 above the $100. That is not bad considering that these strains are IBL.

As a breeder this may tell you a few things about your strain and how you can expect to price it. If you are looking at an entry cost of $30 for 10 seeds, being new to the market, then you really want to be shipping around 1000 seeds to make $3,000. One thousand seeds can be manufactured from ten good plants or less depending on the species type and bud volumes. Ten plants generating 100 seeds per plant is very achievable. So with 10 plants you can officially start a small seed business and be able to supply the consumer on demand. You could make up 100 seed packets with 10 seeds in each one. This means you need 100 customers to make your money back. Most good seed banks ship between 3000 and 100,000 seeds per month.

The best way to get good feedback from the market is to give away seeds on the major Internet Websites that allow growers to show their produce in a picture gallery. (Check the Websites’ rules before you do this, since some do not encourage giveaways.) If you give away seeds then people will more than likely take you up on that offer. Make sure that you remind them to post some feedback on the Website about your strain.

BEST SELLERS

Most of the good seed banks release information on occasion about sales. There is no universal best-selling strain list but the seed banks do talk a little bit about their best sellers. I can give you an idea of what comes up every year in terms of best sellers.

1. Mysterious strains.

2. Easy strains for new growers.

3. The Cannabis-Cup-winning strain.

4. A high-yielding, potent indoor strain.

5. The latest ‘buzz on the block’ strain.

6. Presentation strains.

7. Historical strains.

8. A mix.

9. Cheaper knock-offs.

10. ‘Free with order’ strains.

Let’s look at each one closely.

Mysterious Strains

You are probably asking, What is a mysterious strain? A mysterious strain is a strain that is good for a number of reasons but has a certain mystery attached to it. Some breeders might claim that the strain came from a secret government cannabis research lab or from a guru who lives in some unknown cave in the Himalayas. The strain is actually very good but the story is hardly ever proven to be the truth. People like a good story and will buy strains that have a mysterious edge. However it must be said that if your story falls apart then sadly your career as a breeder will go down the tubes. There is also no use in breeding a poor quality strain and saying that the mother plant was given to you by a great Ganja God in India. Even though cannabis users can be very spiritual people and will give you the benefit of the doubt, at least have a great strain to give them along with the story.

Examples: G-13, Chemo, Matanuska Valley Thunderfuck.

Easy Strains for New Growers

Every day seed banks get hundreds of letters from people who are new to growing. The seed bank wants to keep these customers for future sales, so the seed bank wants to give them a great cheap strain that will take a beating in the garden no matter what the grower does to it except maybe uprooting the plant.

There are a few great strains that provide this function and seed banks rely on these strains in order to get good feedback from new customers. These strains have been developed by growers so that they will perform well under nearly any conditions. As a breeder you should know that there are only four or five strains which fit this category at the moment.

Examples: Skunk#1, Afghani#1, Northern Lights.

The Cannabis-Cup-Winning Strain

Any Cannabis-Cup-winning strain will sell and that is why people from all over the world enter the Cannabis Cup. Winning the cup usually means that you can charge more for your strain. However this will only last for a year and then someone else wins the cup, but your strain will still be remembered.

Examples: Blueberry, AK-47.

A High-Yielding, Potent Indoor Strain

Some potent strains have very high yields and these are favored by the commercial grower. Since the strain performs well and produces large yields, the grower has more bud weight at the end of the day. These strains are always successful and make quite a good turnover.

Examples: Jack Herer, Great White Shark, Hindu Kush.

The high yielding strain ‘Lifesaver’ from BOG seeds.

The Latest ‘Buzz on the Block’ Strain

Negative incidents such as a public grow bust can boost a strain’s sales. Sometimes we hear about very large commercial growers being caught and the officer in charge of the investigation mentions the strain name. This kind of advertising can send strain sales through the roof.

Also if there is a shortage of good bud around and someone grows out a good strain to supplement the drought, that brand name can take on a ‘savior’ image and sticks in people’s heads. One famous case is BC Big Bud, which was developed in Canada. Across the border there was a drought in the United States and a few Canadians were caught smuggling the stuff over. Of course this hit the news and the power of television soon boosted BC Big Bud sales. Unfortunately there are no BC Big Bud seeds (it is a clone) so the developers were never able to sell the strain in seed format. Movies like
American Beauty
have boosted G-13 sales.

Presentation Strains

These strains are created more for presentation than for yield and potency.They usually have very colorful buds and lovely leaf patterns. The strains always look good in a photograph so many people are taken in by the looks and go buy them. It might not be one of the better strains around but they sure do look nice in your garden.

Examples: Blue Satellite, Flo.

Historical Strains

A historical strain is a strain that has been around since the ’70s or early ’80s. Hippie folktales are responsible for these sales. Skunk#1 is a very popular historical strain that nearly everyone in the cannabis community has heard about. Since historical strains seem to crop up in common everyday talk about cannabis plants, people remember the names and probably end up buying these strains at some time or another.

Examples: Afghani#1, Skunk#1, Neville’s Haze.

A Mix

These are popular and cheap to buy but come with no guarantee and you do not know what it is you are getting. A breeder may have seven or eight strains on the market. During their harvest of seeds or seed packaging some of the seeds may fall on the floor or get mixed up. The breeder takes these seeds and just dumps them in a box somewhere. When the box is full the breeder will sometimes want to do something with these seeds so the breeder divides out the seeds at random and packages them as an indoor/outdoor mix. No one really has a clue how they will turn out but you will get some of the breeder’s stock in with mix. The baggies of twenty seeds sell for about $20 and are popular because you may get lucky and only pay $20 for a strain that costs $120 from the same breeder. It is also fun to see what you get too. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don’t.

Cheaper Knock-Offs

Like anything else, last year’s Cannabis Cup winner will most certainly undergo attempts by various parties to reproduce the strain. Since they will never reproduce the same strain you sort of get something that is different and will almost certainly have a large degree of variations in the pack. These seeds come cheap, sometimes 90% cheaper than the original, and are popular among growers who do not have that much money to spend on seeds but want something that is as good as the Cannabis-Cup-winning strain. As the man says—if you want a Rolex, buy a Rolex.

Free with Order Strains

Some seed banks, in an attempt to help promote a strain, give it away free with orders that exceed a specific amount of money. Since everyone who orders with that amount of money gets these other seeds for free they will probably try to grow them out. Since mass numbers of people will be growing them out these seeds tend to gain popularity with grow reports surfacing around the Internet. If the reports are good then people will go buy the strain.

The more you grow and listen to what people are growing the more you will understand the market and be able to focus your breeding projects in a direction that will bring about a certain degree of success for your brand name.

10

QUARANTINING FOREIGN CUTTINGS

ONE SURE WAY OF DESTROYING your entire breeding project is to allow some form of pest infestation to take over your breeding room. Some pests are easily dealt with but others may require that you completely clean down your grow room and toss away your strains.

This is a major problem for breeders who have not taken the necessary precautions to ensure that their grow room stays free from pests and fungi. (Detailed information on pests and fungi can be found in chapter 12 of
The Cannabis Grow Bible.
) Can you imagine a bad spider mite attack on your breeding project? Chances are your project would not survive such an infestation if it got into the severe later stages and you would have to throw away your crop if your pesticides did not completely get rid of the attacker. Prevention is better than cure and so you should always take the utmost care in maintaining a clean growing environment.

As a breeder you may have cuttings passed on to you from another source. The danger with taking cuttings is that you may be receiving a cutting that has been contaminated in some way by a pest or fungus. The best way to deal with cuttings is to keep them in quarantine. This requires you to build a very small quarantine grow box.

The box just needs one 10-30W fluorescent light to keep the plant alive. The box should not be kept in your grow room but as far away from it as possible.

Basically the cutting must be kept there for up to three weeks. Every day the plant should be observed for any signs of pests or molds. The reason for keeping the plant in the same place for three weeks is that some pests incubate their eggs in the stems, leaves and branches. If any pests are about to show then they should do so within the three week period. If you do not find any pests or fungi in the quarantine box after three weeks then the cutting should be safe enough to move to your breeding room.

Quarantine room for cuttings. Photograph by Eco.