Bag Seed Bias?

[crucialbunny]

I've only been here on GWE a short time now, but in these few weeks I seem to be sensing a vibe that many of y'all aren't very keen on growing bag seed. Most every time it is mentioned the feeling is akin to it being the redheaded stepchild. I'm just curious how some of you feel about it and the reasons why? Many of us purchase for the most part some top-shelf product so when I find a seed I kinda feel like I hit the lottery. I for one enjoy the intrigue of popping a seed and figuring out what I got throughout it's grow cycle.The only plants I have a clue about are misfit clones I am sometimes given and truth be told, many times my unknown stepchildren outshine those named clones. Chime in with your thoughts.

[bboyfromwayback]

Until recently I’ve only grown bag seed. Like you, I only grow seed from top shelf smoke and you don’t get many seeds if any so it is like hitting the lottery. Especially if you get a couple females out if them. All my mother plants are clones from bag seed.

[crucialbunny]

I like the idea that you're cloning what has been working for you. I grow outdoors so trying to maintain mother stock is a challenge for me so I'm pretty much a seasonal grower. I started seeds March 1st this year and it all should wind up mid October. The past couple of years I've been doing selective pollination of favorites to have seed stock for the next year but I still pop bag seed to see if anything interesting shows up. I really hit the jackpot a few years ago when one of my daughters bought a secondhand cana-butter maker and boxed with it was a jar of shake and hundreds of seeds. She says that the guy she got it from is a serious cannabis snob so the seed hasn't disappointed me yet. Thanks for responding.

[bboyfromwayback]

Nice, that a freaking steal! When I started growing it wasn’t legal anywhere and the seeds advertised in High Times made be both skeptical of them being real and afraid to order so I just used what I had available. Buy some really good weed and find a couple seeds so grow them out. I have one mother plant who’s genes I’ve kept going over 15yrs now. The others took longer to find.

[Matriumcauthon]

new myself but from what i gather its mostly because when bud for sale has seeds its generally because something went wrong a plant hermed and resulted in seeds. the plants from those seeds are then more prone to producing hermies themselves. still planted a few bagseeds myself just out of boredom while waiting on my seeds to come in well see what they do.

though while it might be fun to plant them and see, id still rather get seeds im serious about from a quality seed bank

[crucialbunny]

That's an interesting insight about herms. I'm not disputing that philosophy but in 40+ years of growing I have never had a plant go hermie on me. Not once. Like you, I've heard people say it but it just hasn't been my experience. Thanks for responding

[Matriumcauthon]

thats interesting. im one of those that listens to what folks say, but still likes to try and see for myself. should be interesting to see how these bagseed plants of mine turn out. if more than one turns out to be female i might keep one for a mother and flower the rest =D

[Rwise]

Last bag seed run I did produced 6 hermies out of 6 plants. I do grow them from time to time when I have plenty of bud in jars, just dont depend on them to yield a good harvest. When they do, then we hit the lottery! You never now what you'll get, many we pay for were accidents, like GG4.

[Gjourney101]

I only grow bag seeds. I love the surprise results, as I put all the seeds together and randomly choose one or two at a time. These seeds were hard to comw by though. I'm talking maybe 1-2 in a Oz. If that! So over the course of a few months, I've gathered up about 16 of them. The one I have going now is beautiful and hasn't had any problems (that weren't environmental). There is a relief knowing what your seeds are and what gender they will be, but for me I enjoy finding these little treasures pop out from my grinder, and in tact!

[AccidentalGardener]

I am of the opinion that everyone has an opinion about everything, lol.

I'm in the Willy Wonka's golden ticket camp regarding bag seed. It's what I'm growing now. First-timer growing pot. Plague boredom. Bag seed in the window in April and now I've got a full-service grow with a separate nursery tent. They were girls and continue to be so, but I've had a pollen sac here and there and I guess that had to happen at some point because I got seedy weed. But I liked it when I smoked it so why not?
A friend used to supply me with my medical cannabis until her life situation changed. She grew ACDC for me, and there was the occasional seed, which I saved. She said it would have crossed with an indica, probably a mandarin kush. If it's not ACDC anymore, I'm calling it 4-Chord Kush, lol.
I have been saving the seeds from top-shelf retail weed since I began using it for MS when it became legal in WA. I wish I'd been growing it long before now- god knows I have tried growing everything else, lol. I'm not the best at math and I am a so-so- artist, but I love gardening and I'm good at it. My outdoor garden is the oasis. It is my happy place and most of the time things go right, but sometimes they can go wrong, even if you spend a bundle on what are legit seeds (or nursery plants) - and you still don't know what's going to happen.
.Anyhow, I've saved every seed, labeled with a date, strain, grower/producer if known - just like a lab specimen. I also procured seeds - 5 strains - from a seed house not on the GWE list, but I got them and they are well packaged. And I want more. I am spending my kids inheritance on pot seeds, lol. I will probably die of old age before I can grow all the seeds I currently have in the space that I have to grow it in.

So many of you are outdoor growers, and I have no idea how you can keep the male in a garden a mile away from fucking up your perfectly good project because the wind was wrong. Or how you fight the elements, or local fauna. I would have a nervous breakdown.

I have seen more negative posts about seed-bank seeds in these forums than I have about bag seed disappointments. It's a different mindset maybe. I know I prepared myself for my bagseed seedlings to be males and that I would have to let them go if they were. But they were ladies, and here we are and even if I get seeds...it's not that big of a deal if its great weed. On the other hand, when you spend big dough for specific seeds from specific breeders, you expect your seeds to be exactly what you bought. When one or all turn out to be the wrong thing or don't germinate, its frustrating!
I'd rather be pleasantly surprised than bummed out

[crucialbunny]

The past few years I felt very fortunate that probably 75% of my seeds were female but this year though it was the same bag seed I ended up exactly 50/50. The stay at home mandate here in California convinced me to start far more plants than usual and it seems the odds caught up with me this year. As far as pollination problems go outdoors that has not been an issue for the 6 years I've lived in my town home. I live in a very urban area with the prevailing winds coming off the ocean. I grow out my males on the 2nd floor balcony with my vegetables and berries while the 3rd floor balcony is reserved for my girls. When I do pollinate I do it indoors in a windless environment and let it stay there for a few days.
I don't clone much myself but I have a friend that is co-owner of a commercial grow and he will sometimes give me their troublesome plants that they don't have time to deal with. He gave me a few Wedding Cake clones that I may take a few clones from and try my hand at growing indoors. It's way too late now to try and start them outdoors.
It seems the price of seeds these days has gone crazy and exceeds the cost of bud. When you factor in the cost of labor, packaging, cleaning, curing, storage, and shipping, the return on seeds has to be far more lucrative than bud, especially now that folks in many areas can grow guilt free. Thanks for sharing

[Rwise]

Last year (outdoor) there were 2 males 0.2 miles south of me, I had one seed in my garden on a BB3. This year I have had males (all BB3) out until a couple of weeks ago with most plants making some seed (like 0 to 5) and 2 making a ton of seed. I shook the male over them so I know they got pollen.