A question for experienced growers.

I will start with some back-story and then ask my question.

A while ago I started growing with bagseed. I managed to get two female plants and grow them until harvest. One of those females was much better than the other one so I decided to keep her. I re-vegged her, took some clones, and have been growing her for about a year. A couple of months ago I decided that I wanted to experience something better than bagseed. Among the seeds that I bought was Dutch Passion's Euforia; I bought 5 feminized seeds. I sprouted just one of the seeds because I was afraid to jump in and start all five at once. It grew up well and I moved it into flower along with my good bagseed plant.

So here is where I need the experiences of others. It is now week 5 of my grow and the plant is nowhere near as 'good' as my bagseed plant. The bagseed plant is bigger and has more 'crystals'. Euforia's buds are very whispy. The Euforia plant also looks nothing like some of the videos that I have seen of the plant on YouTube. In one of the videos, the guy's Euforia plant is white all over the large fan leaves on day 35, mine barely has any white on it's tiny buds on day 35. This is not a nutrient problem; this is not a lighting problem; this is simply the genetic potential of this plant--I promise.

So now I move onto my question:

Does it usually take several seeds/plants to find one that resembles the dankness that the seed banks advertise? Is it normal to find a couple plants that are pretty weak compared to the other ones of the same set of seeds? If I were to grow out 5 feminized Blueberry seeds, would only a few of them resemble the targeted strain? Is it possibly that a couple of them could end up being completely crappy and not worth keeping?

Thank you in advanced for any answers that you guys may have. I am really hoping to hear from those of you who have extensive strain libraries.

yeah the phenotype may vary from seed to seed and none may ever look as sweet as the one in the pic

its like going out to eat the food on the plate isnt as prety as the picture made it seem.

my ww turned out that way its ok but nuthin like the pic

Yes, the pheno will vary. One of the next four may be way better than this one.

Phenotype will vary & will never be an exact replica of the original, thats what cloning is used for.

you know when u go to mcdonalds, and you see a 5" big mac, but when u order it, its a 1" compressed pile of dog crap, well yeah, seeds are like that

they show the prettiest one, grown under above ideal conditions, add some sparkle from photoshop...


Either way, grow it out, it might not look as big, but its all about the smoke IMHO.

I only grow a few strains, but the list includes:
Swazi Skunk, Potent Purple, Diesel, Inca Spirit, C-99 x Sweet Tooth, Northern Lights, Mexican Sativa, ShishkaBerry, and an indica dom. from Reeferman, (tiz a long story) I call PokerFace. Plus, a shitload of hybrids I've developed from selective crossing.

Would give it some time, as some strains are late-bloomers, so to speak.

I wouldn't take much stock in someone elses' plants looking more awesome...some growers are known to exaggerate their success, especially with time in flower. (could have been a plant at 10 weeks, instead of the 8 weeks they claimed) A common marketing ploy.

Different growing styles, lighting and nutes, can also give slightly different results.

Some backyard breeders don't back-cross (stabilize) their genetics, so parental variations may express themselves.

Thank you for all of the responses!

In your experiences, how many seeds does it usually take to find a 'suitable' keeper? Taking Blueberry for example, do you think that I should be able to find at least one out of a feminized 5-pack that is covered in crystals and tastes like blueberries, or should I expect to buy several more packs just to find a keeper?

In other words, just how much do the phenotypes vary in feminized seeds?

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Originally Posted by DieselRyderGrow

In your experiences, how many seeds does it usually take to find a 'suitable' keeper? Taking Blueberry for example, do you think that I should be able to find at least one out of a feminized 5-pack that is covered in crystals and tastes like blueberries, or should I expect to buy several more packs just to find a keeper?

In other words, just how much do the phenotypes vary in feminized seeds?

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Depends if the breeder has stabilized the strain. Inexperienced or lazy breeder...4 likely pheno's. (altho you might be hard-pressed to see a visual difference at first, growing them out shows all the differences) Experienced breeder with back-crossing (stabilizing the strains desirable characteristics thru selective back-crossing) usually just one, but a maximim of 2 phenotypes. This is my own experience, doing my own femming. (I've never purchased pre-femmed seeds)

So far I have got all of my seeds from Dutch Passion. Although I believe that they might be responsible for 'watering down' their genetics with skunk and haze, I do believe that they have stabilized their strains to a great degree. Although I don't have any evidence of any of this, it is simply the vibe that I get from them.

That being said, I thank everyone for their responses. I have decided that from now on, instead of growing just one seed and saving the rest, I will be sprouting all five seeds at once and selecting the best females of the bunch.

I guess I assumed that even a 'bad' seed from Dutch Passion was going to be better than my bagseed. Either the 'bad' seed is really bad, or my bagseed was some really good stuff.

A couple final questions if I may...

Is it possible to have Bud-A that has fewer 'crystals' than Bud-B, but Bud-A is still more potent than Bud-B? Does the amount of 'crystals' directly relate to the potency of the bud?

Most of the time, do sativa dominant strains have less 'crystals' than indica dominant strains?

Thank you again, everyone!

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Originally Posted by DieselRyderGrow

...or my bagseed was some really good stuff.

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Perhaps the grower of your "bagseed" took pride in their work, but was careless enough to have seeds, lol.

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Originally Posted by DieselRyderGrow

Is it possible to have Bud-A that has fewer 'crystals' than Bud-B, but Bud-A is still more potent than Bud-B?

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Pore spacing is genetic, but trichomes on a lower bud will mature slower than those closer to the lights.

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Originally Posted by DieselRyderGrow

Does the amount of 'crystals' directly relate to the potency of the bud??

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No.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DieselRyderGrow

Most of the time, do sativa dominant strains have less 'crystals' than indica dominant strains?

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Depends on the strains, but trichomes are tricky, and visually can't be relied-upon to be an accurate gauge of potency. (maturity, yes...potency, no)
I've smoked strains that were really tasty, with shitloads of trichomes, but didn't get you high. I've also smoked some male leaf that would make your eyes bleed.
Also depends on what type of effect you're looking for. Trichomes that are just turning milky (almost mature) have a bit different effect than mostly milky, with some rusty trichomes showing. (getting very mature)

I grew some bag seeds one time only 3 and they all came out Female. Only one of them seemed to be the best she grew 4x faster then her other sisters. Longer, more branches and bigger buds. But her high wasn't there and her sister who were more shot and bushy got you baked quick. I have no idea where i'm going with this but just wanted to post something. :hippy:

Well something is better than nothing. I appreciate it.

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