Why choose the correct Seed Bank ?

I often get asked “Can I grow my seeds I find in my deal ?” or “My friend gave me some seeds will they be ok ?”

Here I will explain why both them ideas should be avoided at all cost.

Every seed is unique, you can buy many strains for instance with the name Skunk #1 and we hope when we buy Skunk #1 that even though the seeds are unique they will show similar characteristics as other seeds of the same name. (although this is not always the case.)
as it has remained illegal in most countries for decades to grow cannabis at least on a commercial scale. the market up until now has been dominated from the major Seed Banks of Amsterdam. main players being Sensi Seeds, Serious Seeds and the likes of Flying Dutchman Seeds.
Now we have many commercial Seed Banks including major powerhouses like Greenhouse Seeds and Nirvana Seeds as well as Dinafem, Mr Nice and the new CBD-CREW. All the seed banks mentioned so far produce their own seeds all of there strains are a accumulation of finding the correct parents for each strain and breeding them together to produce seed. (Easy right ? WRONG )
That’s just the start so once they got there first seeds those seeds are known as F1. they grow all the F1 seeds this could be thousands !
they then select one F1 plant if its a male it will be breed back to its mother. if its a female F1 it can be crossed back to its father. The seeds from the F1 plants will then become F2 Seeds

Let me try to explain why this is done
Suppose we wanted the high of a Sativa plant in this example we will use the Mexican Sativa plant. Now the Mexican Sativa can grow upto 3 metres easily not only that if you wanted to grow this indoors it will take at least 16 weeks to flower. and you best flower as soon as its sprouted it will still hit 8ft indoors, so not very practical. but I can personally tell you the Mexican Sativa from Sensi Seeds is the strongest and best Sativa I ever had in my life. lol
But we also want the growth of say Afghani #1 which is a landrace strain provided by Afghani #1 is a very heavy hitter with the most fantastic solid buds and a really nice small bushy compact plant. You will find Afghani genetics in many modern strains. the Afghani is a true Indica and perfect for our example.

our Mexican Sativa father is 100% Sativa and our Afghani #1 mother is 100% Indica
The resulting F1 seeds will share characteristics of both parents 50% Mexican and 50% Afghani #1.
as you can imagine each seed from these F1 inherited different characteristics. just as my children share same parents but look and behave very differently.
so lets say I was a Seed Bank I have crossed my Mexican and my Afghani #1 and produced F1 seeds. I then decide to call my seeds “old Sombero” (Great ? WRONG)
if I was to sell the seeds some of the F1′s could be 3 metres tall and others not even a metre. lol
To solve this problem
we can take an F1 seed a male. in this instance the F1 male is 50% Mexican and 50% sativa and we will breed it back to its Afghani mother.
THE RESULTING SEEDS FROM THIS CROSS ARE NOW F2.
The genetics are now 25% Mexican 75% Afghani #1 of all the F2 Seeds

so as you can see we could then back cross the F2 male to the original Afghani #1 female again
THE RESULTING SEEDS FROM THIS CROSS ARE NOW F3
The genetics are now as follows 12.5% Mexican 87.5% Afghani #1
only when you get to F5 when you got your genetics upto 100% can I actually call my resulting F5 seeds “old sombero” and it be a new strain with stable genetics that behave in a very similar way despite them being individual.
and as for your seeds in your deal. most probably caused via a hermaphrodite plant (a plant with both male and female flowers. its probably just best you take my advice and don’t use them. as more than likely you will have seed in your bud when you grow them.
And if you feel like it why not grow your own strain with method above this ensures your plants get hybrid vigour and your resulting seeds will be perfect for the environment they were born in.
Have fun everyone !