Art or Science ?
Numbers or preference ?
Analytical data ...or..personal experience ?
Common consensus ...or..trail and error ?
Accepted theory ...or..your own intuition ?
What should really be the driving force behind breeding the best cannabis we as enthusiasts possibly can ?
The direction of travel as of late seems to be cold hard statistics, numbers, data, rigid parameters for selection, a set flowering time .. a THC percentage .. a yield per kw hour calculation ... a particular scent or flavor
.. with seemly no allowance for nuance or individuality.
I personally believe in a more open minded approach geared towards objective comparison, judging a plant on its own merits and overall quality but with the number 1 driving factor always being .. how a plant makes us feel.
Objective comparison to me means not selecting by memory or past highs or past grows, or by bias, bias influanced by hype or reputation or the price of particular seeds. i believe in large numbers of plants grown side by side competing to become my next keepers judged purely on their objective merits .. which is really the Art to my selection.
I first started growing cannabis back in 2002/2003.. with a clone provided by the older brother of a close friend and a bathroom mirror light from a local D.I.Y center, not sure what the clone was, but it was most definitely a Indica,and its fair to say my first love was Indica, in fact the first seeds i ever purchased where none other than the legendary northern lights from Sensi seeds..a true Indica classic, ..which to this day, I still rate very highly.
Seeds would go on to became a big part of my cannabis enthusiasm, collecting and researching on a joyous exploration in search of the ultimate cannabis experience, it was this exploration many years ago that would bring me here to ICMag, it was at that time, .. and still is now, .. the largest body of cannabis based information in the world hosting the most experienced and accomplished cannabis growers/breeders in the industry, admittedly my seed collecting became a bit of a unhealthy obsession, which i think is something allot of members here on ICMag can relate to, getting to the point where i had more seeds than i could likely grow in a lifetime. Well, after many years of obsessive seed hoarding an innervation finally came, and it came in the worst way possible, resulting sadly in the loss of pretty much everything I had collected, it was a hard pill to swallow but it ultimately lead me down a more positive path and to a better approach in preserving the plant i love.
All though i started out as a Indica fanatic, ..as my interest and passions for the plant grew I became more interested in the Sativa side of things and its in Sativa where i have found the most inspiring and profound experience's with cannabis, I have a particular love for Thai and southeast Asian Sativa generally.
I do still have allot of love for Indica, but these days i like my India with some Sativa infusion .. I'm a massive fan of DJ short and his work with blueberry flo and F13.. all though as allot of growers can attest ....it is no easy task to find a quality specimen, i see blueberry as almost the flawed genius of cannabis ..so many plants fall 'short'......but when you find 'the one' it is truly exceptional.
Along my 20 year plus journey with cannabis, I would say only a few other seed lines have truly stood out to me.
One of those is haze.. I'm a big haze lover with the upmost respect for the late great Sam the skunkman and the many other individuals responsible for keeping this amazing Sativa available to the public, and in terms of a pure Sativa high ..it really does not get much better than this.
Another variant of haze i have much love for is neville's haze, the exquisite 3/4 haze, bread by the revered Neville Schoenmakers, a bit of a hero of mine and the man who in large part, is responsible for allot of strains we all enjoy today, as it was he who was responsible for making the genetic foundations of modern cannabis available to the wider public.
Mango haze is yet another haze relation that stands out to me as an exceptional breed of cannabis, created by the 'breeders breeder', one Shantibaba, someone who worked very closely with the for aforementioned Neville, it is a masterful mix of haze skunk and northern lights that produces an exceptional Sativa high, all in a manageable package which finishes in a time frame suitable for indoor growing.
A more recent strain that has had a profound effect on me is Destroyer, a multi pronged Sativa hybrid coming out of Spain, not containing any haze skunk of northern lights, its an extremely strong and profound strain that can easily overwhelm, there are many facets to this breed in term of high and pheno expression ..created using the legendary Meao thai an extremely strong Thai variety ..its not a strain for the faint of heart .. but it has certainly captured my heart for being one of the best seed lines i have ever worked with.
So here we are in 2025. and with my passion as strong as ever and inspired by recent promotions here on ICMag, and very generous price initiatives by the El capitano himself,.. @Gypsy Nirvana i decided to make the jump and become a Boutique Breeder, which allows me firstly to support the site i love and gives me my own individual space to showcase how i work, and what I'm working on, its something i would encourage other passionate members here on ICMag to consider doing. Also, the price is very reasonable for a yearly subscription, the process is very easy and straight forward you don't need to provide tons of personal information or make big commitments, it really is easy peasy, it will not only help ICMag flourish and grow but also help in the promotion and advancement of the plant we all love.
I invite you to come over to my Boutique Breeders subforum to say "Hello!", and check out the Art Of my Selection!
much love
A.O.S
Numbers or preference ?
Analytical data ...or..personal experience ?
Common consensus ...or..trail and error ?
Accepted theory ...or..your own intuition ?
What should really be the driving force behind breeding the best cannabis we as enthusiasts possibly can ?
The direction of travel as of late seems to be cold hard statistics, numbers, data, rigid parameters for selection, a set flowering time .. a THC percentage .. a yield per kw hour calculation ... a particular scent or flavor
.. with seemly no allowance for nuance or individuality.
I personally believe in a more open minded approach geared towards objective comparison, judging a plant on its own merits and overall quality but with the number 1 driving factor always being .. how a plant makes us feel.
Objective comparison to me means not selecting by memory or past highs or past grows, or by bias, bias influanced by hype or reputation or the price of particular seeds. i believe in large numbers of plants grown side by side competing to become my next keepers judged purely on their objective merits .. which is really the Art to my selection.
I first started growing cannabis back in 2002/2003.. with a clone provided by the older brother of a close friend and a bathroom mirror light from a local D.I.Y center, not sure what the clone was, but it was most definitely a Indica,and its fair to say my first love was Indica, in fact the first seeds i ever purchased where none other than the legendary northern lights from Sensi seeds..a true Indica classic, ..which to this day, I still rate very highly.
Seeds would go on to became a big part of my cannabis enthusiasm, collecting and researching on a joyous exploration in search of the ultimate cannabis experience, it was this exploration many years ago that would bring me here to ICMag, it was at that time, .. and still is now, .. the largest body of cannabis based information in the world hosting the most experienced and accomplished cannabis growers/breeders in the industry, admittedly my seed collecting became a bit of a unhealthy obsession, which i think is something allot of members here on ICMag can relate to, getting to the point where i had more seeds than i could likely grow in a lifetime. Well, after many years of obsessive seed hoarding an innervation finally came, and it came in the worst way possible, resulting sadly in the loss of pretty much everything I had collected, it was a hard pill to swallow but it ultimately lead me down a more positive path and to a better approach in preserving the plant i love.
All though i started out as a Indica fanatic, ..as my interest and passions for the plant grew I became more interested in the Sativa side of things and its in Sativa where i have found the most inspiring and profound experience's with cannabis, I have a particular love for Thai and southeast Asian Sativa generally.
I do still have allot of love for Indica, but these days i like my India with some Sativa infusion .. I'm a massive fan of DJ short and his work with blueberry flo and F13.. all though as allot of growers can attest ....it is no easy task to find a quality specimen, i see blueberry as almost the flawed genius of cannabis ..so many plants fall 'short'......but when you find 'the one' it is truly exceptional.
Along my 20 year plus journey with cannabis, I would say only a few other seed lines have truly stood out to me.
One of those is haze.. I'm a big haze lover with the upmost respect for the late great Sam the skunkman and the many other individuals responsible for keeping this amazing Sativa available to the public, and in terms of a pure Sativa high ..it really does not get much better than this.
Another variant of haze i have much love for is neville's haze, the exquisite 3/4 haze, bread by the revered Neville Schoenmakers, a bit of a hero of mine and the man who in large part, is responsible for allot of strains we all enjoy today, as it was he who was responsible for making the genetic foundations of modern cannabis available to the wider public.
Mango haze is yet another haze relation that stands out to me as an exceptional breed of cannabis, created by the 'breeders breeder', one Shantibaba, someone who worked very closely with the for aforementioned Neville, it is a masterful mix of haze skunk and northern lights that produces an exceptional Sativa high, all in a manageable package which finishes in a time frame suitable for indoor growing.
A more recent strain that has had a profound effect on me is Destroyer, a multi pronged Sativa hybrid coming out of Spain, not containing any haze skunk of northern lights, its an extremely strong and profound strain that can easily overwhelm, there are many facets to this breed in term of high and pheno expression ..created using the legendary Meao thai an extremely strong Thai variety ..its not a strain for the faint of heart .. but it has certainly captured my heart for being one of the best seed lines i have ever worked with.
So here we are in 2025. and with my passion as strong as ever and inspired by recent promotions here on ICMag, and very generous price initiatives by the El capitano himself,.. @Gypsy Nirvana i decided to make the jump and become a Boutique Breeder, which allows me firstly to support the site i love and gives me my own individual space to showcase how i work, and what I'm working on, its something i would encourage other passionate members here on ICMag to consider doing. Also, the price is very reasonable for a yearly subscription, the process is very easy and straight forward you don't need to provide tons of personal information or make big commitments, it really is easy peasy, it will not only help ICMag flourish and grow but also help in the promotion and advancement of the plant we all love.
I invite you to come over to my Boutique Breeders subforum to say "Hello!", and check out the Art Of my Selection!
much love
A.O.S
