[maree]

Hi Verdant - you may remember me from earlier posts on your grows which I followed with some interest. Back now after a year or so enforced hiatus - family responsibilities - and wondering how on earth you actually make a purchase from seed bay from both the commercial and small vendors like yourself. I know this isn't eh sort of question that should be asked here but hoping you're not too busy to take five and explain.

cheers man.

[VerdantGreen]

thanks everyone for the kind words!

maree, hello again!, you have to log onto seedbay.com and register. then if you hit browse and look down the categories you will see 'private breeders'. many are listed as a 'buy it now' price.
after you've 'bought' the item you have to print out an order form and send i in with the money - as cash or postal order. then they send you the seeds and usually some great freebies.
i think thats it, someone will correct me if i've missed anything.

VG

[maree]

Ta very much Mr.V!

[944s2]

thanks vg, good luck,i look forward to ordering some of your feminized beans,please give us a shout when available,once again congrats and good luck peace and safe growing s2

[ganja_hasi]

congrats VG, wishing you nothing but only the best good man

[D9_THC]

VG, you are one of the true treasures of icmag!

[maree]

Hi Verdant - wanted to ask you (yet another) question as a long time grower and now breeder of mj. Why can't seed companies ensure the stability of their strains before releasing them? Is it just not a credible thing to do with mj or are financial and other reasons too pressing? Now you've had some experience, perhaps you can hazard an answer. When I buy carrot seeds from Mr. Fothergill there's no need to warn me that some may turn out to be all leaf and no carrot, or some of my carrots may be pink or taste like baked beans. If I put in an orange climbing rose I can be pretty sure the flowers are not gonna be pink, it's not gonna turn into a bush instead or that the flowers will smell like turps. Most "strains" hardly seem to warrant the name. When a large seed company advertises proudly that you should get one keeper out of a bag of ten, that seems like an admission of failure to me. Of course, not all variables, like seed vigour, are possible to control but shouldn't we be getting what we're sold? What do you think? And which company, in your experience,provides the most stable lines in general?

ps I'm gonna have a pop at your pips when I get a chance.

I'm not VG and won't presume to know his mind or try to make his answers for him, but this carrot analogy you're using is good because it really demonstrates the very real difficulties of trying to create a variety or line that breeds true when it's a criminal act to do so.

When breeders can grow by the acre, using hundreds, if not thousands of plants from which to make their breeding selections, we might be able to get seeds that remain true to form just like other fruits and vegetables and all other plant commodities we use.

BTW, seedling vigor is one of the easiest aspects to control IF you understand what makes it vigorous in the first place.

[FirstTracks]

you had me at Bubba.....

Congrats on the new subforum VG

[VerdantGreen]

maree, good question!, i agree with what seamaiden said... and i also think it would be good if breeders were realistic and honest about what one might find in a pack of their seeds....
the only seeds that are likely to be stable (as in all uniform) would be landraces/inbred lines or 'proper' F1's (i.e. first generation crosses of two stable lines) - but even then some ibls will have been selected to retain a degree of variation and that can be a good thing imo.
some of the lines i might offer in the future are likely to be offered at the F2 stage, and they by their very nature should show all the degrees of variation between the two original parents that made the F1 - but this isnt necessarily a bad thing as it gives a grower a choice of what they wants to keep, and indeed what they want to use to continue the line to F3's. also if one of the original parents is an 'elite' cut, then you might have the best chance of finding a pheno amongst the f2's that closely resembles that elite.
some crosses, like a cross of two hybrids, will always show lots of variation and is unlikely to ever be stabilised into a line, but then again a grower that is just looking for a 'keeper' pheno to monocrop wont mind that as long as they find the keeper they want.

so i guess the seed companies should give an honest appraisal of what peeps might find in their seeds and then they could make an informed choice.

there arent really that many stable ibls being offered these days. i would look at TomHill's offerings or find a skunk or similar if thats what you want.... but a word of caution, stability can also go hand in hand with lack of vigor - something called 'inbreeding depression'

of course im no expert but thats my take on it

VG