I don’t mean for this topic to come across in a way that would be comparable to horse and buggy times being better than todays modern vehicle technology.
I’m not qualified to genetically prove anything. I would simply like to express one angle of the camp I happen to be in. I’m not dogmatic in my beliefs and have changed my opinion on many topics through my life. I’m 51 years old and have been cultivating nonstop for more than 30 years.
I’m hoping to get some feed back from the community on this topic and look forward to hearing what your thoughts and opinions are…and lets have a bit of fun with the topic.
I will use one example to kick off the conversation.
Skunk #1 is known to be a cross of Afghani, Mexican, and Columbian. It’s arguably one of the 1st stabilized strains/hybrids. In essence, if you had 100 beans that came from Skunk #1 you could reliably obtain about 90% uniformity. More or less they would all be pretty much the same in quality, potency, look, size, growth rate, smell, and taste.
Where things get really interesting is that among the 100 beans you cultivated, one might be on the level of a Chem Dawg/Dawg (nomenclature aside) or a Mass Super Skunk. There are countless examples of beans from the 80’s and early 90’s that form the foundation for all hybrids we have come to love today.
The point I want to make is that these industry changing genetics can still be found, even from a lowly Skunk #1 bean. It takes luck, skill, and experience to identify such a plant but I believe “true” heirloom level Skunk #1 beans can produce industry changing genetics.
I suspect most cultivators would never waste their time popping countless Skunk #1 beans in the hopes of finding the Big Foot that’s riding a Unicorn at full gallup from the fire breathing dragon…my contention is that it can be done.
Any thoughts…