And amateurs have the most fun.
Call me a pollen chucker, call me a breeder, I don’t care, too busy enjoying myself.
I’d call myself a co-creator, because none of us are doing this alone, we stand on the shoulders of our ancestors and without the creative intelligence of the Universe, of this amazing planet, we wouldn’t even exist.
It’s the Earth that created cannabis, for us to play with.
So I’m grateful for being able to play with these delightful living toys.
That’s all life is, a game.
Everyone plays an important and necessary part of creation.
Pollen chuckers create crosses that breeders can stabilize.
Breeders create lines that pollen chuckers can cross into something amazing.
It’s beautiful that both are doing their thing.
It’s a richness of diversity.
It’s all good fun.
Why does that remind me of When Buffalo Bill from Silence of the lambs is talking to himself in the mirror in drag when you say it?Would you buy me?..….Id Buy me ……id buy me hard
A breeder is someone that knows the genetics they’re selling to the point that they can tell you what to expect, and you ACTUALLY see that as true when you grow out the plants. If they can’t tell me what is in the population in detail, I know they haven’t done the required work to know what they’ve made. You need to own it. Sometimes they have done all the required work EXCEPT growing out enough of the end product to know what they have. And there’s a problem there. Too many projects rushed too fast so that they can get to the next one. If you can’t completely finish a project, then you’ve just made some seeds. That’s cool. But until you know what you’ve made INTIMATELY, it’s just fun.
Take that with a grain of salt. This is 3 beers in and I’m skinny.
I’ve been thinking on this since, and I really do hate “pollen chucker”. It’s meant to be demeaning. Yet there are those that have pride in being called that. I’d rather call them “opportunistic seedmakers”. Because that’s really what it is. People pop a pack to grow some flowers and end up with a male or two that they don’t want to “waste”. So they allow them to drop pollen and make seed with whatever they choose. That’s totally cool. Taking advantage of the opportunity when it presents itself.
That is very different from popping a pack with the intention of making seeds and culling without remorse if it doesn’t fit what you’re looking for. If you have a plan when you pop them to make seeds, I’d call that breeding. Professional? Maybe not but shit, it’s still breeding. There are levels to it but I believe it starts with intent to make seed, not fill jars.
There’s something magical about this plant that is way beyond any company or person or crew obsessively owning it. It’s interesting to discuss, but not so serious. Weed can be medicine, a paycheck, or art - but it should always be something that brings us together not separates us. That’s what I always liked about it from the first time I smoked it 30 years ago. It’s a great way to make new friends.
At this point I’d prefer being called a chucker black market outlaw. So sick of watching this legalization movement try to forget where everything they have came from
Breeders all start as chuckers, and lots of them remain that way. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that you can produce something every bit as good as 90% of seed breeders just by basic selection. The equation of two good varieties making a good cross isn’t exactly rocket science. And anyway, compared to breeders working on food crop varieties where they have large greenhouses and full field trials etc, nearly all of us are pollen chuckers.
Breeders remind me of superstar DJ’s, at the end of the day they are still spinning someone else’s creations.
Get down to brass tacks and this is what most breeders do also, no more complicated than that. I have yet to meet anyone who goes the full hog and works out a detailed breeding plan with the definition of traits down to the minute level crop breeders do.
Hell, we don’t even have clearly defined traits of interest let alone assessing them objectively and using data to guide the selection. People get precious about the concept of being a ‘breeder’. After 35 years of growing, virtually all the best plants I’ve grown have come from ‘chuckers’.
The main question is the story behind the seeds and plants the breeder has is actually true. Maybe in their own minds but anyone that’s been around before legalization knows the answer.
Let’s take this for instance. People will not grow it out or talk down about the company. They do no real work is what is often said. I look at it differently however. Genetics should be shared and worked further to some degree IMO. Now growing this Georgia Pie would probably result in a decent grow for someone not able to grow out 10-20 beans at a time. Some would argue to locate a cutting but that’s not plausible for some… Different tools for different jobs is how I like to look at it.
I like diversity over all but like to hone in on specific traits within the diversity. Chuck on my people, chuck on! 🫡
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