I am in search of regional IBLs from North America. Mexico, US, and Canada are all included!
I am interested in the stuff that has been run in a region for multiple seasons with continued selection and seed production for the following year.
I’m not looking to create crosses or seeds to sell, however if any are produced they would be gladly returned for free.
I am interested in exploring the local adaptation of Cannabis grown in different regions of North America. My aim is to use them to develop both recommendations for growers based on their location as well as understand the different ways the plants have adapted to local biotic and abiotic stress.
If you are interested please reach out or drop a comment below, if you have questions please ask and I will answer. I will not be generating anything for profit from any of the genetics. I know cannabis breeders/growers and academics haven’t always gotten along (looking at Big Ag and production agriculture folks who think they know better…) but I think with full transparency and accountability that can change. So I will be as transparent as possible with what I do and my intentions.
Know this was long. Much appreciation if you made it this far (step away and take a toke, you’ve earned it!). Looking forward to hearing from all of you!
Sounds a bit like your consulting in unfamiliar areas. I’ve been watching a lot of west coast growers have some difficulties with northeast conditions
Good luck in your endeavors
I don’t think there is anything like that in America, unless it’s hemp. Too much prohibition to do so otherwise. Maybe in Mexico central or south america even would be hard pressed. It’s all been hybridized/modernized in some way since at least the 80s.
I would definitely be interested in finding out though.
Tom hills haze too then? That was grown in his care for 30 years… idk. I consider all those modern. Not landrace ibl’s grown regionally for years… deep chuck IS an IBL for sure, and it’s from america. Not disputing that. Just… idk
So I am in an interesting position where I am in the running for a faculty position for a school with a cannabis program. I have to be pretty vague until after I interview but if I get the job then I will gladly share the school name. And my research. I have just finished a PhD focused on organic cannabis production methods, cannabis-soil interactions and cannabis heavy metal accumulation in nonpolluted agriculture soil. Before joining this project, I was in an ecological evolutionary genetics program. Opportunity to work in cannabis popped up and 15 year old Potanist found a way to make his dreams a reality.
My future research and teaching is focused on sustainable cannabis production, hemp, rec, medical. Specifically, I am interested in exploring 1) cultural cultivation techniques, of which I’ve learned many on OG and other sites and believe these forums are often overlooked by scientists who don’t value citizen scientist integration 2) sustainable cultivation needs to leverage local landscapes and genotypes. Local genotypes, when cultivated as an IBL for many generations, should show strong genetic correlation to phenotype measurements. This information is incredibly important when looking at how plants cope with environmental and biotic stress. The use of regional IBLs from across North America, common garden experiments, and reciprocal transplant experiments would help to show what growth and defense traits have trade offs with cannabis yield and quality.
Additionally, because this work may result in genomic sequencing it could easily provide cheap genetic testing to growers looking for certain traits, assuming a genetic correlation is detectable. The goal is not to just give this information to Bayer or Monsanto or Corteva or whoever else, its to provide specialized regional recommendations to small-to-medium sized farms. If industry doesn’t fund the sequencing, industry doesn’t own any of the data. I will both promise and pledge right here i will claim no ownership over any of the data but would reserve the right to use it in academic papers, public presentations, and future research.
This is a pretty big block of text from me, so I’ll post it and if you have more questions just ask. I have been contractually obligated in the past to destroy leftover seeds from breeder and cultivar trials and destroy anything that may count as propagation and would have no problem doing the same again.
@Emeraldgreen I agree and have seen the same in the midwest, mostly related to environmental stress such as humidity, temperature, precipitation, and flower season length.
Edited to add: i dont know why I didn’t finish my thought here. Got too excited to keep answering questions I guess. Seeing results like this is why I am interested in doing this work. Crop failures don’t hurt large companies anywhere near as much as small and midsized farms but they do hurt ecosystems, biodiversity, environment, water quality etc. disproportionately more than small and midsized farms. I applied to be a sustainable agriculture professor partly because we need to for the environment but also because real sustainable agriculture is regional. Cannabis offers many opportunities to address sustainability, regionality, and safeguard small business grower and breeders
So maybe I should rephrase what I am looking. I am looking for seed lines that share parental descent and have been grown year after year. If someone is growing a cookies strain or bodhi or just their own cross. As long as the line has been propagated year to year by sequel reproduction there could be signatures of adaptation.
I should’ve said earlier that outdoor cultivation and propagation is a key requisite here.
So I have worked with regional hemp cultivars before and have been a part of variety trials detailing yield, disease, and insect pressure from US based breeders. It is super fun for me to see the diversity in phenotypes and to see how these strains react to changing environments. I also know that these trials have resulted in a lot of valuable data and feedback for the breeders.
That definitely sums it up. I would also add pest pressure is different in the different regions.
Good luck with your interview and study.
I have to agree that ibl are going to be difficult to find. Most people are chasing popular strain named, which may or may not preform well in the different regions.
There are family farms everywhere doing it. Some folks on here have inherited their family’s heirloom genetics that were bred that way. I think you’re looking for more well known strains? I was thinking Killer New Haven not Petrolia Headstash, idk anything about PH but KNH was bred that way outdoors in Kentucky right?
Deep Chunk is definitely the one that comes to mind just because of how it was bred for maybe the most specific and unique purpose: to grow big frosty buds without any real direct sunlight (to evade helicopters in the Northern California).
I’m more interested in how you’re going to grow them. If you’re looking for region-specific bred families, how will you grow them to show their specific attributes?
It is honestly best if they perform differently in different regions as they can improve the power of detecting genetic correlation. Essentially if a line has been propagated by seed outside for 6 or more years. There are many studies that show plant adaptation to local pests and environment is a form of rapid evolution on the way to local adaptation
Another great question. So I mentioned citizen science tests for a reason. I currently have a grant proposal pending final decision to study incorporating different cover crops and intercropping in cannabis. A component of this research is recruiting growers across the midwest (the particular region of my study). I do this by trying to offer participating growers incentives such as on farm education, training for disease and pest scouting or cold hard cash.
I get this business doesn’t promote broad trust of someone seen as an outsider and I have definitely positioned myself as such. I think the Cannabis community and products are better when academics work with and for growers. So to quote someone somewhere at sometime, “be the change you want to see”.
Give me a chance and I won’t burn you. More importantly, give me a chance to show you I won’t burn you
Edit to add: i like to leverage citizen science because I think people should be involved with and understand the work we do. I’ve done similar with Arabidopsis but other than the simple genome I am not a fan. Cannabis shows large environmental and genetic x environmental influence on phenotypes. At least modern strains do. I have a lot of questions about why and a few theories, but that is more a quantitative epistasis and population genetics question
Honestly, well known strain or not im interested. The Cannabis genetic pool of most modern strains is mostly a mess, but somewhere in there are patterns waiting to be found.
On a personal level, I am incredibly interested in the stories behind the strains. Why they grew that one, how they grew, what characteristics did they try to improve, etc.
central or south america even would be hard pressed. It’s all been hybridized/modernized in some way since at least the 80s.
