Why Cannabis Seeds Genetics Matter so Much

To the naked eye, there is barely any difference between cannabis seeds, at least not from the mere perspective of examining their physical appearance.

While spotting low-quality cannabis seeds can be accomplished even at a glance, it is quite impossible to know anything about the genetics of the cannabis seed by simply looking at it.

With this in mind, for all the business owners who are looking into establishing a flourishing cannabis seeds trade, it is crucial to learn why seeds genetics matter so much.

Decoding the Secrets of the Cannabis Seed Genetic Inheritance

Quintessentially, in a similar way as with humans, cannabis seeds’ genes are the most significant factor when it comes to the resilience and proneness of various diseases.

Ultimately, genes are what determine how far a cannabis plant can reach in its development when it comes to general health and well-being but also when it comes to cannabinoid content, terpenes content, time spent in flowering, and potential yields, to name a few.

Cannabis seeds genetics alone cannot make up for the possible nasty mistakes committed by growers, meaning that excellent genetics is not a set in stone guarantee for the ease and success of cultivating marijuana.

We must not forget that health, regardless of whether we speak of humans or plants’ health, is a complex sum up of many elements that extend way beyond the physical plane. To illustrate this better, we still know too little about plants’ intelligence and their way of communicating with the surrounding environment. Scientists are now progressively into studying the ways plants react to particular sound waves that are shown to boost growth.

Above all, apart from external factors, it is the genetic inheritance in animals, plants, and human beings alike that remains a foundational factor highly influencing life from early to old age.

Just like a person has particular limits in gaining muscle mass that is set by his/her genes, so do cannabis plants have particular limitations that they cannot exceed based on their genetic inheritance.

Currently, too little is known about the genetic background of cannabis plants from an in-depth scientific point of view. Due to the ban on marijuana, researchers were blocked from studying the ancient cannabis plant for too long. What we understand about the genetic inheritance encoded in the different cannabis strains as of now is insufficient enough but the upcoming years are about to drastically change the cannabis landscape forever.

How Quality Cannabis Seeds Are Brought to Life?

In order to understand better why cannabis seeds genetics matter so much, let’s take a look at the major steps highlighting how quality cannabis seeds are brought to life.

1. Strain selection

In order for just about any cannabis seed to be born, a male cannabis plant must pollinate a female cannabis plant, which happens with the help of the wind spreading the pollen or cannabis breeders accomplishing intentional, manual pollination by collecting the pollen from males and spreading it onto the females.

However, when it comes to creating a particular cannabis strain, experts must first select two fine parent strains, and respectively, to grow a male and female cannabis plant, so that the parents’ genetics can merge together. Parent strains must be of top quality, or else, experts cannot possibly expect the new strain to be to possess strong genetics.

A simple example of selecting two strains for the purpose of creating a new one is the White Cookies strain, which was brought to existence thanks to combining the genetics of the White Widow strain and Girl Scout Cookies strain.

But the thing is, cannabis breeding is not as simple as it may sound by the example provided above. In order to ensure that seeds will carry excellent genetics, breeders have a lot more work to accomplish than merely selecting the best parent strains.

After the parent strains’ genetics are combined and a big amount of new seeds is harvested, the best phenotype must be selected, which takes generations of cannabis plants.

2. Selecting the best phenotype

The numerous newly born cannabis seeds from merging two fine parent strains do not feature exactly the same genetic inheritance, hence, these seeds genetics are inconsistent enough, and thus, seeds cannot be released for sale yet.

Therefore, in order to stabilize the genetics and to get the best that the new strain is capable to offer, breeders need to select the best phenotype. This is only possible after growing not a single one but several generations of cannabis plants that need to be further tested with the purpose of understanding the provided effects upon use better, as well as for cannabinoid and terpenes content evaluation.

Selecting the best phenotype out of the bunch is not merely a time- and efforts-consuming endeavor but it is also a process that requires quite some bits of artistic flair, as this crucial step in refining cannabis seeds’ genetics is equal parts science, skills, and art.

Ultimately, it is all about laying hands on homozygous cannabis seeds, which refers to cannabis seeds exhibiting the same set of genes, as opposed to heterozygous cannabis plants, that are known to give way to different phenotypes that produce a lot of varieties, and hence, lack a uniform set of genes.

3. Back-crossing

The final step in strengthening a strain’s genetics is back-crossing. The newly created strain must be cross-pollinated with a parent or with itself. And this is pretty much what inbreeding is all about: stabilizing a strain’s genetics to make it more homozygous, to strengthen the desirable characteristics, and nonetheless, to ensure that the same strong genes will continue to be passed on from one generation to another successfully.

Why Cannabis Seeds Genetics Matter so Much: The Wrap-Up

In the lack of strong genetics that can only be achieved after a long period of refinement and in-depth evaluations, cannabis seeds will simply fail to live up true to the customers’ expectations in terms of both quality and quantity of harvest, and nonetheless, in terms of assuring that growers will deal with healthy, vigorous plants that can quickly recover from disease and/or accidental damage, as compared with their low-quality counterparts.

Being able to provide nothing less but high-quality cannabis seeds that possess strong, reliable, excellent genetics is the best, and in fact, the only way, to make the most from what the thriving cannabis seeds sales business market in Canada has to offer.

Reproducing “the golden goose” in seed form is a challenging process but it is just as much of an inspirational and fascinating journey into the mesmerizing world of cannabis for those who are deeply and sincerely engaged in allowing consumers to enjoy the best of what the ancient cannabis plant has to offer.

Thanks to the complexity of the task of producing cannabis seeds that carry brilliant genetics, especially since this process requires a lot of time, money, tons of skills, patience, suitable working space, and high-tech equipment, unlike other cannabis products, legal marijuana seeds sales barely face any competition from the illicit market.