Strain Base
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Introduction
Strainbase is a research tool intended for use by cultivators of recreational and medicinal Cannabis. It should not be considered an inducement to engage in illegal activities. That is a personal decision best left up to the grower, his family, and his doctor after all pertinent legal and medical ramifications have been considered. Cannabis and humans have lived in a continuous symbiotic relationship for several thousand years, preceding the founding of most religions, all governments, and every law of prohibition. Cannabis is a living organism with every natural right to exist as any other living thing. It is to those who seek to preserve and improve this most unique and ancient of human cultivars that this document is dedicated. == History ==
Strainbase began in 1997 as my attempt to archive growers’ reports on the seeming myriad of Cannabis strains that had suddenly become widely available throughout the world via the Internet. Credible information on many of these strains was severely lacking. Growers for the most part had only the seed dealers’ catalog descriptions to go on. Too often those descriptions, even from the best seed companies, were long on hype and short on objective cultivation specifications.
The best information seemed to be coming from those home growers brave enough to post their experiences on the internet. At first their only resource was the newsgroup alt.drugs.pot.cultivation. Later came web-based discussion boards like HempBC, Cannabis.com, Weedbase, and Cannabis Edge. These new channels offered feedback on many of these strains from real growers working in real growroom environments. Many offered strain comparisons and heredity histories that were simply unavailable to the home grower anywhere else.
But the nature of these Internet discussion groups and web sites was transitory, especially in the early days. I first realized just how transitory when I was researching a Dutch strain called Top44. The seed dealer that marketed the strain had posted a web page with a lengthy and informative description of its cultivation characteristics and lineage. I bookmarked the page for later reference, only to find it gone a month later when I returned to it. Search as I might, I could not find that Top44 information. I resolved to begin archiving strain information so that this would not happen again.
Methodology
Any database requires a system of organization and classification. A good method of classification can provide as much information about an individual entry in the database as the entry data itself. Strainbase is classified by region of origin and breeding lineage. That is, strains are primarily organized by the region from which they were first bred, and secondly, by their genetic heritage. They are not organized by seed dealer or breeder. Strainbase incorporates seed dealer and seed bank descriptions, but it is not a commercial seed catalog. This is by design, so as to cut through the catalog hype and more easily identify strains that are similar or only slight variants from each other.
The geographic classification is somewhat arbitrary in that Cannabis growers from the dawn of civilization have crossed the globe to find and exchange unique strains of the plant. So it could be said that all Cannabis strains have essentially the same region of origin, that of Indo-Asia, the area roughly encompassing Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Nepal. I have chosen the region in which a strain was first popularized and stabilized as its “origin” for the purposes of Strainbase. Wild or open-pollinated strains that were essentially plucked whole from their native environments, such as Afghani and Durban,
have been classified as originating from their native regions. Strains that are essentially refined versions of existing strains are classified under the region of origin of their predecessors, even though the refinements may have taken place half a world away.
Strainbase is the first serious and comprehensive attempt to document the heritage of commercial Cannabis
strains. Establishing the record of lineage for these varieties is has become difficult as commercial breeders
have taken an increasingly proprietary view towards this information. This attitude belies both a lack of
imagination and lack of vision on the part of the established commercial seedbanks. Much of the heritage
information is so jealously guarded by these companies because they feel the need to promote every new
hybrid as a totally unique, never before seen variety. Too often, the truth is that this year’s $200-a-pack
Cannabis Cup winner is merely a refined cross of last year’s $60-a-pack also-ran. Strainbase’s heritage
information is an attempt to focus growers and breeders on good genetics rather than good advertising.
Commercial Cannabis breeding, while it has grown tremendously over the last 10 years, remains in its
infancy as an industry, with few ethical standards. Without such a code of conduct, those breeders who
dare offer credible information on their strains can put themselves at a commercial disadvantage to the
hucksters and the knock-off artists. Yet by playing the hype game they also cheapen the value of their
contributions as experienced breeders. To deny that a new strain has a direct lineage to Skunk #1 or
Northern Lights not only robs the seed customer of important information but also devalues any
contribution by the breeder in the selection and cross-breeding of the strain. Lineage information is not a
recipe for creating a strain. Sensi Seed Bank’s Jack Herer may be a cross of Northern Lights, Skunk and
Haze, but no experienced grower assumes that if he crosses those three varieties he will create a hybrid
exactly like Sensi’s Jack Herer.
An analogy can be made to fine wine. Premium vintners don’t worry about revealing the strains they use to
create a particular bottle of wine, because they and their customers know that the quality of a particular
label has as much to do with how the wine was made as what it was made with. There are too many other
important factors that influence the final outcome beyond the variety of grape used. Thus, $6 bottles of
Merlot sell side-by-side with $60 bottles of Merlot, and no experienced wine buyer considers them “the
same.”
Fortunately, as the Cannabis seed breeding business matures, so are breeders’ attitudes towards revealing lineage and cultivation information. This is most evident in the younger generation of boutique breeders that have come on the scene in the last two years. Breeders such as the Brothers Grimm, NCGA and BCGA are choosing to reveal the lineage of their strains because they have come to understand that such information is good for the customer, and thus good for business. Moreover, in revealing the heritage of their crosses they are putting their breeding skills in the forefront, and moving away from the concept that a strain’s genetic “recipe” is its most valuable asset. In so doing they are creating premium varieties of established strains, some of which like the Grimm’s Cinderella or NCGA’s Blue Widow, are already legends in their own time. By adopting a open attitude towards their breeding projects they are highlighting the true source of value in their strains- the refined judgement, skill, patience and instincts of the experienced breeder. These are qualities no huckster or knock-off artist can replicate with a simple recipe. Baudelaire November 1999
The Origins of Indicas
“In the 60’s we brought seed back from Afghanistan and it was a pretty mixed bunch. The shorter, what you might now call indica type was what was used to make bulk cheap grade hash for export and depending on the valley it came from had a finish time 8.5 to 10 weeks and a height of 5 ft to 8 ft but all wide dark leafed. Higher up the slopes nearer the snow line was the wild indigenous sativa type, which was rubbed to make finger hash for local consumption. All these were fully seeded and being a wind pollinated plant to some degree mongrels. The high slope C sativa L types survived via nature being able to grow through the snow and stand frost and are also common in Pakistan Kashmir northern India Nepal and Bhutan just below the snow line. The short wide leafed phenotype [different with every farmer] is rogued for slim leafed plants and selected for large resinous colas so all this business of knowing an Afghan phenotype is a load of cobblers its just a mongrel strain that someone has selected. I suspect that that it was a fairly resent import as it wouldn’t have been grown if it wasn't for the demand for hash in the west, whatever a Sadu certainly wouldn't smoke it if there was real Afghani available.
Sativas
“What makes a sativa difficult from a commercial point of view is that a typical sativa grows to be 5'-8' tall without much encouragement, well beyond what is desirable for sea of green or mass cuttings technique. A finished sativa takes up 4 - 8 times the volume of space of a tight compact sativa for the same yield. It typically takes a fine sativa 10 - 16 weeks of flowering versus 6 - 9 weeks for an indica, almost 100% more. Thus a Golden Triangle Thai sativa or a Hawaiian Sativa ounce is worth probably four times more than the compact indica, at least it would require that to induce growers to commercially crop a sativa. We know no one pays $1,000 CN an ounce (four times typical ounce price in Vancouver) or $1,500 US an ounce (4 times US ounce price for mid-grade Sensi indoor) for any sativa, no matter how fine, so the sativa pot is never on the market. If you want to experience a fine Thai sativa, it will never be sold to you (unless you are visiting Thailand), you must grow it yourself. My favorite, with reasonably good yields, is the Hawaiian Sativa, requiring 85 - 90 days of flowering, but produces good sized buds and does not stretch out of control. The Golden Triangle Thai sativa requires 90 - 95 days of flowering. Both are energy inducing, buzz n' crackle, kinds of high. Great for activity or jobs requiring mental alertness. Of course, amongst friends, a sativa is very prized because there is no possible way to find this sativa otherwise. Prior to 1978, what pot was grown in North America was limited to below the 38th parallel, about the tip of Northern California on down south into Mexico, which is still the world's largest producer of pot by nation, outdoor anyway, and it was all sativa. Once the indicas were brought back by American tourists to their homes in North America, within 7 years, sativas were almost gone from the growing landscape, because indicas clearly are favored by their efficiency. The indica crosses by Federation I favor would be with Mikado (indica, 45 days, powerful, aphrodisiac) and Island Sweet Skunk (Sweet Pink Grapefruit indica crossed Big Skunk#1 from Sensi circa 1992, so its 35% sativa, trippy, alert, cerebral yet strong stone with a very sweet citrusy scent.)” - Marc Emery
