Everyone has their own interpretation of what an elite cut is. For me personally, this refers to the end product - the flowers/resin. I think “elite” gets thrown about too loosely, lots of hype strains are pushed as being elite when they lack in some areas.
For me personally, an “elite cut” doesn’t refer to the growth habit of the plant itself…ie. rooting time, plant structure, flower time etc. are irrelevant. It’s all about the quality of the final product…I don’t care how great a plant grows if the flowers are “meh”. To qualify as “elite” in my books, the flowers need to be special, and a tier above normal top shelf smoke:
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jar appeal: colour, trichome coverage, bud structure
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smell and taste: need to both be prominent, as well as desirable and/or interesting/unique.
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potency/effects: has to pack a punch and get the job done. Lab %s aren’t the be all end all.
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overall smoke quality/enjoyablitity (the grower plays a role in this as well obviously).
Lots of pretty/hype Instagram strains are labelled “elite” and look insane, but are majorly lacking in terps/flavour and sometimes effects. I need to be blown away/wowed in every category to consider a cut to be elite. And a cut usually has to be grown at least twice to get a full and proper assessment.
In my opinion, truly elite cuts/plants are quite rare. So from a breeding and/or pheno-hunting standpoint, it’s very much a numbers game. The bigger the population to select from, the greater chance of finding truly special parent plants to breed with.