Hey guys. I have always been curious about how regular people who find a wonderous plant get started in seed sales. I mean is there a widely accepted route? Or does everyone find their own individual path. I am completely clueless about commercial seed sales.
i think thatās whatās wrong with the seed market today. not that thereās anything wrong with it, thatās what i decided to do.
i didnāt find a good plant, just got a bunch of seeds and decided to grow my own. since itās illegal in wv right now, i found out about industrial cannabis that i can grow with a license and got one. i plan on breeding out the thca from plants and breeding in thcv and cbd. and making paper from the hemp outside. i canāt sell any of my smoke if it tests above 0.3% thca, but i just want the seeds from that. i plan on burning and composting all the plant matter that tests hot. it will be at least a couple of years before i sell any seeds but iāll be giving them away as soon as i have enough.
only part about my plan is that it is a plan in motion and not yet completed. iāll let ya know if it works. i too am completely clueless about commercial seed sales.
You plan on burning all that plant matter ?
Traditionally it was growers doing their thing, journaling what they are up to, showcasing some crosses etc and when they get asked constantly where ppl can buy their seed/lines some would start selling direct, eventually sub contracting distribution to a seed bank when volume dictated it.
You can email banks anytime to offer some of your work to be sent as freebies see what happens and work from there. Etc
You can choose to be business, marketing gimmicks etc
I like the traditional way, cream rises to the top
When you send in your samples for testing just dry them. My buddy sent in a sample he dried in an oven, it came in hot. The lab said never heat it, as itāll make it test higher
Coming from someone who has done it. If you plan on taking it all the way to a real business, and LEGAL its going to be painful.
Itās easy to throw a site together and start selling seeds. Whatās difficult is that no bank wants to work with anyone in the cannabis industry and well seeds are a gray area still.
It took me almost a year to find a bank that wouldnāt close on me for seed sales.
And at the end of this month I will have cc processing that has taken more than a year.
Itās fun but itās also very regulated. Its easy to do it, hard to do it legal and above the table.
If you want to hit me up im happy to answer any questions you might have.
You also have to ask yourself if youāre willing to go on consignment if you fuck with the seed bank. I was burned with over 100 packs of a cross that I made so you have to be willing to lose that. Thereās no regulation on seed banks either.
I work in commercial MJ and to be honest with you they donāt want to fuck with popping seeds.
I do it for more of the love of the plant thatās why Iām still in this game after 7+ years of making seeds not including the time spent growing.
You always have to deal with customers. Most are " master growers " so dealing with the issues is fun.
Work on becoming a good grower first, then selection, then rethink the thought of starting a seed company.
Love getting the perspective from distributors, this brings its own set of problems, most definitely
There is always risk, from the other side the risk is in paying for something that may or may not sell. If possible do everything with signed agreements. Consignment agreements are at least some bit of protection for each party.
Thatās absolutely true.
Like I said, itās easy to start doing it, but itās hard to do it the proper way.
This also is absolutely true.
~Ris
well, of course i do. itās what is required by law. and all of this is pure speculation. iāll find out this year.
@Emeraldgreen i donā't have any say in it. i notify them 30 days prior to harvest and they come and take samples, one from each lot. i pay $145 per sample. this is just industrial, not medicinal. they track the hell out of that and it cost a lot more for the license, like a mil compared to $100.
I remember D j Short telling how he had sent thousands of seeds to a breeder/ buisnessman and got nothing.
-Disclaimer-
I have no first hand knowledge about that claim.
Rip offs I think have been a part of this scene since forever, itās sad and frustrating but not everyone has good ethics unfortunately.
I think the seed market is so saturated now that to be successful would require something that differentiates your products from everyone else. In the meantime you can do the work to come up with your own varieties, give them to friends to test, try them indoors and out, stress them with heat and water etc.
I personally donāt appreciate it when I get a pack and everything is a different pheno, I know that some people like the āhuntā but I want what is advertised, so this kind of stabilization takes years of work. In the meantime you can try and jump through the legal/logistical/marketing/branding hoops. I have thought about this myself, but down here in Oz itās pretty much impossible atm.
Best of luck and donāt let anyone discourage you
Hey guys. I have not forgotten this thread. To everyone that offered to answer questions, I am not ignoring your offer. I simply can not think of the correct way to ask the right question.
āRiddle me thisā. How would you show someone what you have? If you give them a plant to test, dont they already have your genetics at that point? I am asking āhypotheticalsā.
You start a journal and show your grows. Thatās how Iād do it.
Yes, once you give it to someone itās theirs to use how they see fit.
i started making seeds in mid 2003 and i made my first real coin in 2011, 8 years i made jack.
itās tough ā¦
If you receive a pack for testing purposes itās common courtesy to not breed/seed increase with it unless explicitly given the go
OK, thatās a very fair point and probably one of the only caveats imo. Thanks for pointing that out.
yup testers should never be used to make fresh seeds of that strain or your tester is cutting you off at the knees.
it happens for-sure though ā¦
Yea thatās pretty shitty. I didnāt even think of it as I havenāt tested for anyone.
Taking testers only to offer them up in trade should also be frowned uponā¦