Why Seeds From The Same Strain May Differ

cannabis seed stability
cannabis seed stability

If you’ve ever bought a pack of seeds and grown them out only to discover that each plant seems different from each other, you’re not alone. This is not only a common situation, but a natural one. In this article, we’ll look at what causes this, how to prevent it and why variation in your seeds isn’t always a bad thing.

Key Takeaways:

  • Variation between seeds from a single strain is completely normal, and not something to worry about.
  • Understanding how certain breeders work and what they aim to achieve with their crosses is important in gauging stability.
  • Strains which share close lineage will typically produce more stable progeny.
  • Variation has its upsides too, and is ideal for hunting that unicorn cut.

What Causes Variation In Cannabis Strains

Just like when two cats or dogs with different appearances are bred, most strains consist of two unique parents with individual traits. One may be tall and green, while the other may be short and purple. 

When they are crossed together, the resulting seeds are a combination of both parents, meaning some will be short and purple like one parent and others will be tall and green like the other parent. In addition, many seeds will show combinations of these traits and will be short and green with others tall and purple.

The exact degree to which each trait is passed down is dependent on the dominance of genes, which can only be learned when running through the progeny (the resulting seeds).

So each time you pop a pack of seeds, there will be a genetic dice roll on each seed, and depending on how the parents’ genes combine, the resulting seeds can be completely different from one another.

Naturally, the more similar the parents are to each other, the less variation you’re going to see, and this is where line breeding and stabilization come into play.

An example of variation between seeds. Keep in mind that dominant and recessive genes will determine how often each expression is found.

Why Stability Is Important To Some Growers

For some people, having stability between seeds from the same pack is essential. This is especially true if you’re flowering out your plants from seed and not from cut. You see, there’s two main ways to grow cannabis. The first is to pop a seed each time you want to grow a plant. The other is to grow out seeds now and again, then select a plant to keep from that batch and then keep a mother of it by taking a cutting.

Cuttings will have the same genetic traits as the plant they were taken from, which is ideal for those looking to run the same plant each time.

Still, not everyone has the space to keep mother plants, something that has to be done indoors or with supplemental lighting to keep them from going into flower outdoors. So for these growers, having stability in seeds is important for their crops.

How To Avoid Variation In Seeds

Although it’s common to experience variation between seeds, there are ways to minimize the variation, and it mostly boils down to understanding how each breeder’s work is created. These breeding practices are often determined by market demands and in an era where everyone is chasing the newest hype, it isn’t always possible to stabilize the genetics, a process which can take years of crossing and testing.

So you may need to pick between new and exciting strains or older, but more stable genetics.

Another option is to avoid F1 (first generation) seeds, which are seeds that haven’t been crossed with their sibling population to increase stability. That’s to say, F1 seeds are created using a male and female plant, and then sold.

Instead, look for S1 seeds – which is when a single female plant is reversed to produce pollen and then used to pollinate itself. Since there is a much narrower gene pool in doing so, the resulting plants will have a lot more stability to them.

You can also look at the lineage of plants and opt to grow those which have similar lineage. For example, Skywalker OG crossed to SFV OG will have less variation than an Amnesia Haze x SFV OG, since there is more overlap of the gene pool.

Why Seed Variation Isn’t Necessarily A Bad Thing

Some growers see variation in their seeds as a weakness, and something that should be avoided, but that’s not entirely true. Variation is something many growers seek out, and I too am personally quite fond of variation in my seeds.

The reason why variation can be a great thing is because it lends itself to finding something unique. When a strain is stable, everyone ends up with very similar plants, where with wider gene pools it allows one to hunt for something truly unique and special, which is often referred to as a ‘unicorn’ (the name given to a very special cutting that is usually unique, and smokes really well).

So for indoor growers, and particularly for aspiring breeders, variation can be fun and exciting. Allowing you to truly hunt for something different to what everyone else is running. This is also how most elite clones are found. Chemdog, Girl Scout Cookies, OG Kush, all these popular strains were initially found in seeds that weren’t bred and were merely happy accidents.

Modern Breeding Practices & Its Influence On Stability

As touched on above, breeding nowadays is sort of like fast food. It’s made to be available quickly to satisfy demand, rather than being seen as a way to create something stable and consistent. 

Back in the 1990s, there were far less strains around and the way seeds were bred was quite different. Instead of looking to satiate those looking for specific hype strains, the breeder would work on a single line for multiple years before bringing it to market. The result was much more stability, as the plants were selected over several generations and incrossed for more stability (narrowing of the gene pool).

Conclusion

It is completely normal to find that seeds from the same strain producing very different plants, it’s mostly an artifact of modern breeding, but also has a lot to do with the two strains used to create the cross in the first place.

If consistency between seeds is important to you, it’s a good idea to buy from breeders who focus more on stability than they do on popular releases.

Biltong & Budz