Quote Originally Posted by Justabloke
Hi All,

I'm curious if a/some growers can tell me if the genetics of the various med strains/strands mutate over time and distance.

IE: Is Northern Lights geneticly the same now in Denver that it was when it was created in, say, Detroit? If there is mutation what causes it beside intential cross breeding.

Thanks,
JaB
They definitely change over time, because a lot of the original hybrids have been lost, or at least are to me. In the early 90's, I had Skunk #1, NL #1, Hash Plant, Cali. Orange and Silver Haze x Skunk #1. These strains were THE original hybrids (except haze x skunk, but real Haze is a pure Sativa with 100+ days flowering time) because they were created from naturally occurring non-hybrid varieties like Thai, Afghani, Columbian Gold, etc... Maybe someone still has these genetics as they were when they were first created, but I haven't seen real Skunk #1 in years. The stuff I had actually smelled like a skunk, and the odor was too strong to mask, even a small bud in wrapped in 3 plastic bags reeked uncontrollably.

Then there is also the issue of genetic stability, which a lot of modern strains lack completely. Some are just clones from fortunate 1st gen. crosses that may never be recreated, so the degradation associated with keeping the original around for so long, and clones from clones from clones, etc causes the plant's quality to decrease over time. For instance, I tried starting Jack Herer seeds many years ago, and the result from starting Jack is one of FOUR different common phenotypes, and you need to start A LOT of Jack seeds to find a good mom. Finding a similar plant in the future might take starting 50 seeds to find the one that was similar to the one before it. A plant that has been bred with stable genetics produces seeds that, when germinated, are very similar to one another. Because of that, strains can show a lot of variation.

Then there is the current labeling of strains "Sativa" or "Indica", this is almost complete BS, as most strains presented as pure Sativa are anything but. They are all hybrid crosses. For example, I'm in a disp, and they have some herb labeled "Silver Haze". Great, I like Haze, and asked if this is actually real Haze. The grower happened to be there, and he said flowering time is 60 some days. Well, this clearly isn't pure Haze. Not even close. It was very good herb that smelled like Haze, but to call that plant Silver Haze is ridiculous. So, some differences in strains you see are a result of misrepresentation. Intentional or not, unfortunately it's a widespread problem.