Ocean Grown Seeds

Those are some might words of praise
You'll forgive me if I don't cough up 150 euros for 11 to 12 regular beans from a breeder that has yet to build a reputation.

I mean they do have a reputation in the US.
And worldwide to a certain extent through Vader's youtube channel I suppose.

An easy way to exhibit just what kind of reputation they have is the fact that they have these huge waiting list for most of their strains.

Ninja fruit was mentioned here. That one was grown/selected by StonedNinja not Vader but he is also part of the OceanGrown crew so it's under the same label.
That one sells out in a heartbeat when it's in stock, waiting list is hella long. Really hard to get. Reason being that it is an OG variety which makes beautiful purple/orange flowers and people salivate over it.

Another way to exhibit this is how they select their testers. You really have to go through several steps and then keep them up to date constantly to become a tester for them. Much different from many other breeders. Very strict apparently.
And that wait list is long as hell as well.


All that being said, I too won't cough up 150 bucks for 10-12 seeds. That's just way beyond what I find acceptable.
Rule of diminishing returns and all. Fire as it may be, it can't be double as good as say some Karma gear.
So as much as I enjoy and think relatively highly of the OceanGrown crew, nah, pass for me.

You are right mate. They may have a reputation. But because i'm living on the other side of the pond it would seem that their reputation has not yet reached me. Where is it that i may hear more of their reputation? Is it on their private page and forum?

Do they have some pretty pictures? Yup.
Do they have some people growing their stuff? A few around here.

Now what does a huge waiting list mean? For people selling very little oh...let's say 2-3 packs, 10-20 people on a list can be HUGE.
Selling very few beans also means more control over who has your genes...easy damage-control
- not a lot can start selling knockoffs.
- hermies - easy to pretend that it was the grower's fault
- bad germ rates or messed-up seedlings - same as above
- huge demand vs offer means you control pricing and can demand a pretty penny

Testing? HA!
- Go through all the hurdles they put up, accept whatever rules and changes they demand so that you can be one of the very few to grow their stuff? Ummm... yeah...
- I've seen some of these "testers". Few posts, appear out of nowhere and then disappear into the void. Their skills are real and they all seem to be quite good with lighting and cameras.

Even so. It's not all bad.

Their plants look awesome and they have built a reputation (this is hear-say) and take care of their followers like any smart entrepreneur would (again hear-say). Making sure their genes get to good growers and not flooding the market with cheap seeds are also good moves (disguised as quality control, elitism and high demand) and smart business practices.

But 150+ bucks? What is this? Blowfish and Lovepotion all over again?

I'll wait for 20-30$ knockoffs or F2s, thanks

I get your points but forums like IC are kind of "how it used to be".

With progressing legalization, the core of the game seems to be on instagram and that is where you will find lots of info on ocengrown, as well as youtube, where, again, they are very active and present, have tons of views and likes etc.
You can also get some more in depth info on the Crazy Dago show (also on yt) where they have the grower's round table or what they call it and oceangrown is a co-sponsor with TGA/Subcool and always have at least 1 person on the panel.
They are also very present at many expos/shows apparently.
Vader is also an ex-forum member here on IC and has a diploma (not sure what) in biology (not sure which field exactly).
His youtube videos/channel stretches back to the time he was here on IC which must have been 5 or so years ago by now.

But just as a side-note.

In a normal market, I would say what speaks most for them/their genetics is the fact that even if you wanted to buy a pack, you couldn't.
You would have to wait for others to be served once the next round of seeds drops and then you could potentially get your pack.

Simplified that means that demand outweighs supply and that speaks for a quality product (not for a quality company/management mind you).

But your points are not wrong, particularly in this game/market, we actually know from experience that demand outweighing supply is not always a surefire indicator for a great product.
More than the artificial limitation of supply that you mentioned, I think hype, particularly in forums/social media, are a huge factor here.

This community is just a sucker for strain hype and the like and many will be willing to disregard the whole "bang for your buck" argument just to get the new hot thing on the market they believe to be the holy grail or whatever.



Again:
I myself, after carefully researching breeders and strains for over a year, set me a limit of 5 bucks per seed. I will not go over it no matter what because I think that is already ridiculous and there are plenty good genetics to be had for less than that and anything above that is definitely not that much better (if at all) than anything below that threshold that it warrants the price (again: rule of diminishing returns etc.).

So yeah, maybe F2s or a clone or something someday. Otherwise no for me as well.


But what I am really trying to say is:
If you are willing to spend that much on seeds, I believe, scratch that, I KNOW there are maaaaaaany worse options than Oceangrown at that price.