yeah that about sums it up. archive seeds is basically a separate entity than the dispensary. The dispensary is in the legal rec system, and the seed company isn’t.
The dispensary staff are good. they do a good job with viroid screenings and plant health to meet olcc testing requirements.
A lot of the stuff on their menu doesn’t interest me, but they usually have one or two options for more classic lines like the blueberry. I have been able to get cuts from them that were very usuable for my goals breeding hybrids alongside other preservation projects.
With well known lines like blueberry, obama, and the pinseoul goji, I know what medicinal attributes I can expect from the mother plants.
I can include their cuts in my outdoor grow or breeding projects without worrying about problems with plant health, pests, or hermaphrodism.
I really appreciate that they offer clones all year round.
All the other places that carry clones here have scaled back to only have them seasonally from around april to august. it makes planning grows difficult, and their stocks are very inconsistent.
about archive seeds,
I just don’t get what they are going for with their hybrids or selections. I’ve grown 3 or 4 selected clone onlys of their in house lines, and I don’t get what their goals are for the growth traits or the highs. The highs from everything made with the faceoff seem really similar, sedative and one note. It’s possible it’s just not a good fit for my grow methods and produces unspectacular results in my organic soil.
They put an emphasis on sweet smell and sweet flavor, which makes the experience from a lot of their strains seem very similar regardless of genetics.
the archive dispensary provides a very valuable service. It’s the only actual plant nursery that is licensed to sell directly to consumers. The other nurseries now only sell to dispensary retailers.
I don’t like getting clones from retailers because you never know how they have been handled or cared for between the plant nursery and delivery to you. A lot of dispensaries let customers touch the clones, which is a terrible idea and a recipe for mites and mold.
(the worst thing I’ve seen in a dispensary here was at a dispensary called ‘rip city buds’ on the first day of legalization. Two women walked into the dispensary with melty ice cream cones, said they had never seen a weed plant before, and asked to touch all the clones. The budtender didn’t give a shit, and they proceeded to handle every clone on the shelf, getting melted ice cream on everything. fortunately, that dispensary closed after just a few months of operation. customers should never be allowed to touch buds or clones, it’s not medical quality if it has been handled by the public. It’s technically illegal for consumers to touch a jar or buds in a dispensary here. No one wants to inhale bacterially contaminated bud.)
I think my gold standard dispensaries are still harborside oakland and sparc patient resource center in sf. Harborside had the best clone selections I have ever seen, and very healthy plants. Cuts that now sell for hundred or thousands of dollars were twelve bucks each at harborside. The prices in the medical system were so cheap compared to prices after rec legalization.
clones from archive can be $80 which still seems high to me, but understandable with the taxes and testing requirements in the legal market.
Nah, it’s scary to see some dispensaries setup like that… I’ve seen some of that myself.
Wish you lived down the street 