# How Can You Tell What A Real Strain Is?



## IllusionalFate (May 20, 2008)

I've been wondering about this for awhile as the same question applies to human heredity.

Say you buy White Widow seeds from a legit seedbank, say an online seedbank that carries Nirvana's variety of it (as an example). How do you, *and the breeder*, know that it is the actual strain of White Widow? This is different than say crosses, because if you do a cross between two different strains you can give it a new name as it is unique to other strains.

If this doesn't make any sense, let me phrase it how I would with human heredity, as it's the EXACT same principle. I don't believe that any human knows if they're Irish or German, because there is no way to tell who your ancestors are thousands upon thousands, or millions upon millions of years ago are. So how do you know how genuine or "pure" a person who says they're 100% Italian is just because you can observe Italian features? Appearance and observable traits doesn't actually tell you the exact genetics.

Do you see what I'm getting at?


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## bombbudpuffa (May 20, 2008)

> How Can You Tell What A Real Strain Is?


You can't. I never tell my friends the name of the bud. Just tell them it's some "_Dro_" and they are happy to be smoking it.


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## Aurora_Indicas_Dad (May 20, 2008)

i was wondering this same thing.i've also noticed that a seedbank will post a pic of the strain(which is what you look at when you are checkin out the strain and debating on ordering it) and when you grow it,its good,but it doesnt look like the bud in the pic you seen at the seedbanks website,why is this?do they just post pics that look extra good to sell the seeds? (a perfect example is the nirvana white widow,i've seen some white widow members in here have grown and i didnt think the plants looked as good as the one in the pic on the seedbank site)


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## Brouli (May 20, 2008)

Aurora_Indicas_Dad    sorry to ask but did u ever talk to a guy in hydro shop where owner is black ,and u were talking about gift for ur friend  thats coming out  (growing tent )     and those are names of ur kids ??    dont get me wrong just curies if thats u couse would be nice  



o yaaa u were switching the lights for somebody ( diferent box or somthing like that)


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## Aurora_Indicas_Dad (May 20, 2008)

...what?you lost me.


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## Aurora_Indicas_Dad (May 20, 2008)

Brouli said:
			
		

> Aurora_Indicas_Dad sorry to ask but did u ever talk to a guy in hydro shop where owner is black ,and u were talking about gift for ur friend thats coming out (growing tent ) and those are names of ur kids ?? dont get me wrong just curies if thats u couse would be nice
> 
> 
> 
> o yaaa u were switching the lights for somebody ( diferent box or somthing like that)


 
heres what i got from what you put.
sorry to ask but did you ever talk to a guy at the hydroponic shop................a black owner,my kids,switching the lights....lol...what are you talkin about?


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## maineharvest (May 20, 2008)

I think he is trying to say he met you in a hydro shop once and had a conversation with you.  thats what i got from it.


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## Aurora_Indicas_Dad (May 20, 2008)

thanks for trying to help me sort out what he put maineharvest,the words were a lil twizted and i couldnt put what he was saying together.
 brouli,i think you must be mistaken.that definitly wasnt me you were talkin to.i've only been the hydroponic shop by my house once and never again.they were so over priced.i'd rather order online than shop at the shop by my house.


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## smokybear (May 20, 2008)

You can't just look at a plant and know what the strain is. You have to go by what the seedbank says. Just my thoughts. Take care and be safe.


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## akirahz (May 20, 2008)

i know allot of people who refuse to give pot any name or strain.. i know allot of street smokers (who always buy it, never grow) who could careless if you know the name or strain of the smoke your selling, they'll even brush off the dealer if he tries to tell them any of the origins haha. 

Which i think is a shame, they'd be a much more knowledgeable connoisseur if they had taken the time to absorb all the different qualities and aspects that different strains have to offer, theres more conversation potential if you take the time to gain some knowledge about some of the popular strains available and what they have in flavor, potency, texture, fragrance and even appearance


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## Hick (May 20, 2008)

..."*BOY 'HOWDY"*.. you've noticed that too, ehh?? 
  Remember, those seed banks are "selling" you a product. Of course they are going to advertise with pictures that .. "represent" the strain, in the most lucrative manner. Not necessarily what "your" results will be, but what will sell seeds...
  If you look in the "Gallery" you'll see in the strain section, a list of strains with pictures from seedbanks as posted by Brouli. Once I swa what he was doing( google, copy/paste from seed site) I asked him to edit those to reflect that they also were from sites trying to sell you seeds, and may or may not represent "your"/actual results.
  I think it peed him off.., but I didn't feel that seed bank pictures always truely represent what the product yeilds, and as a neutral site, we should be interested in presenting correct and precise information. Not further promote the guise that seedbanks operate under.



			
				Aurora_Indicas_Dad said:
			
		

> i was wondering this same thing.i've also noticed that a seedbank will post a pic of the strain(which is what you look at when you are checkin out the strain and debating on ordering it) and when you grow it,its good,but it doesnt look like the bud in the pic you seen at the seedbanks website,why is this?do they just post pics that look extra good to sell the seeds? (a perfect example is the nirvana white widow,i've seen some white widow members in here have grown and i didnt think the plants looked as good as the one in the pic on the seedbank site)


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## maineharvest (May 20, 2008)

Its like when you see a Mcdonalds commercial on tv and it looks soooo good and makes you drool and then when you go get it, it looks like slop.  I hate that.  The burger looks nothing like advertised.


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## Puffin Afatty (May 20, 2008)

*I got what was supposed to be Snow White, 6 of the 7 females may actually have been, but 1 seed I selected as best, turned out to be a Hazey mystery.  I call Her SnowWhite just because that was what She was supposed to be. nothing at all like the pic in the seed catalog*  :rofl:


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## thief (May 20, 2008)

all seed catalogs post the best possible picture to further there capitalistic tendencys. one just has to pay the fee an take the ride


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## The Hemp Goddess (May 20, 2008)

Seedbanks buy seeds from breeders and basically have to trust that the seeds are what they say they are.  However, this is an industry that depends on it's reputation.  If a breeder is putting out bad seeds, any reputable seedbank will quit buying from them.  Seedbanks also live or die by their reputation.  A bad review on a major forum, Like MP, can really hurt a seedbank or breeder.  

I always check the reputation of a breeder and/or seedbank before I buy from them.

LOL.  Who in the world would ever care whether someone was 100% Italian or not (or whatever)?  Ultimately, if you go back far enough, we all came from a common ancestor.


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## Ilikebigbuds (May 20, 2008)

be upset when your seed turns out to be something other than cannabis!
YIkes!!


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## snuggles (May 20, 2008)

Another thing to keep in mind is what generation of seed are you getting? F1s, F2s, etc. Nirvana does a lot of F2 stuff, meaning you are getting a wide selection of genes and all the plants may be totally different. I grew their Bubbilicious once and got the whole slew of stuff from 10 seeds, I was really dissappointed to say the least, but I did make up for it and find one plant that I cloned. if I told anyone that it was Bubblicious they would have laughed at me. Just remember seeds aren't always stable and like people their can be huge amounts of variety. There are some strains out there that are stable and you would be able to tell if they were what they are advertised as. Breeder packs are also a nice thing to recieve your packages in, means you got what you ordered and if there is a problem it's at the breeder level and not the distributor. Always double and triple check before buying something, the breeder and the plant. If you ordered the Skunk, the stable one, and it had a lot of variety then I would cry foul.


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## IllusionalFate (May 20, 2008)

The Hemp Goddess said:
			
		

> LOL.  Who in the world would ever care whether someone was 100% Italian or not (or whatever)?  Ultimately, if you go back far enough, we all came from a common ancestor.


 Exactly! That's why I don't see how anyone could know the strain seed their getting. Nobody knows what happened 5,000 years ago and which strains actually were 100% indica/sativa... every single cannabis strain is probably crossed with so many other "strains"  by now.


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## snuggles (May 20, 2008)

IllusionalFate said:
			
		

> Exactly! That's why I don't see how anyone could know the strain seed their getting. Nobody knows what happened 5,000 years ago and which strains actually were 100% indica/sativa... every single cannabis strain is probably crossed with so many other "strains" by now.


 
True but take this into account too, the more a strain is interbred the more stable it gets....so if Jonny Seedbank decides he likes a certain quality he breeds for it. With each new generation the "other" qualities(genes) become less apparent. So you will get real uniform and stable plants as you go. However some of the variety can still be there in certain instances it just isn't dominant and since the strain is stable it shouldn't come out too much, maybe 1 out of every 10 shows some other variation. These are called IBL or truebreeding strains, I think I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination. An IBL should in theory be like growing clones from seed. But take that same stable strain and then cross it with some other strain and you will bring those recessive or hidden genes back into the pool so to say. So a strain can appear very uniform, you are right though it has some other qualities/genes that are recessive and should rarely appear. Good breeders make good strains trust me on that, there may be variations (phenos, genos) but they should be pretty stable still. If I grow out a plant that has 2 phenos and I see 2 phenos then I trust the breeder. Also it takes many years and a very good breeder to make something stable but there are strains out there.

The other thing you need to take into account is nobody who breeds WW is doing it the same as the other WW breeders, so right there what is WW? Greenhouse made it originally and now you can find 10 different breeders breeding their version. Which one is WW? Which is your whole point and it's a good one.  I think you need to look at breeding, you seem like you would like it a lot. 

And there are real stable strains out there, like Carmella...it's homogeneous dominant and the breeder says that. I grew out a bunch and they all looked pretty much the same to me. Terxhnically since it is homogeneous dominant and has been bred for stability for 15 years there should be no sign of any recessive genes...but it's nature and things do happen LOL mutations and little quirks.

Are you interested in breeding MJ? If so check some stuff out online, it's really interesting learning about f1s,f2s,f3s, dominant and recessive qualities etc etc. Do you know why f1 seeds are so uniform if they are the first generation? They are not stable but they should be pretty uniform. I'm so high and I just rambled on and on and I have no idea how to end LOL....I love to talk about strains and genes and breeding pipe dreams.


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## ms_1 (May 21, 2008)

Isn't this why cloning and seeding your own plants has become more popular?  You just hope for the best when you order based on what reviews say and what information you can get.  Then, you find which plants you like and clone or seed them.  Not that I've done it (yet) I just try to go with strains that have been around a while and only trust reviews from this site.


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## dragon_green (May 21, 2008)

IllusionalFate said:
			
		

> Exactly! That's why I don't see how anyone could know the strain seed their getting. Nobody knows what happened 5,000 years ago and which strains actually were 100% indica/sativa... every single cannabis strain is probably crossed with so many other "strains" by now.


 
few words from me. i studied "herbs" on university in one point of my life. so i learned it's possible to determine which strain is which,where are their geografical origins,what is crossed with what,etc. we can all do that if we are heavily financed by some bigshot company or institution.but for us consumers,growers(read common folks) we just have to trust the breeders. or not.
how can u know what u eat,drink,use these days ? we all know we would be surprised if we would analyze everything around us.
like bmw,for example. german brand,european.ok. but lots of parts are made in china,asia. roumors are that some models are completely produced and assembled in china,nothing european in them.
so which strain is which ?! most of us don't have enough time,free will or, what's most important, funds to check things out.
i got some hash.i'm told it's from india. how can i know if it's true? go to india and ask local manufacturers ?! it smells like hash, i get fairly stoned from it, but maybe it's produced in basement next door 
my point - trust them or don't trust them  
and i agree that in seed bussiness reputation is everything.


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## snuggles (May 21, 2008)

Do you know how much they could learn from MJ, the scientists that is. All kinds of valuable info, and thanks to barbaric drug laws it will always be viewed as a drug rather than an amazing plant unlike any other on our planet. It should be studied by experts who are going to tell the truth BTW. Also we can see how it moved in the early days, how did it end up here or there, what kind of people grew it, traded it, was it a valuable commodity. Genes are data and everything has it, one day they will wake up I hope and say this plant is amazing and should be studied....this plant has big business and major gov'ts all over the world scared LOL.

Good stuff Green Dragon.


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## dragon_green (May 21, 2008)

true snuggles 
"the plant" is amazing in the eyes of science. but scientists are not alowed to fully research it and inform the public due to laws. today it's easier to blame marijuana for social problems than the way we all live...but we're off topic now


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