Strain Information
- Thread starter Tdtour
- Start date
I like seedfinder and leafly. I'll cross reference others as well.
Hashtag46&2
Trichome Technician
I personally use multiple facets to cross reference. Then, try to verify each pheno with a fellow gardener.
Different phenotypes within the same strain, can produce very different results.
Very hard to know for sure what one is really getting.
Different phenotypes within the same strain, can produce very different results.
Very hard to know for sure what one is really getting.
Thanks everyone. I agree, it hard to know what you are getting. My florist seems to misinterpret strain types. He considers blue dream to be a sativa, while leafly calls it a hybrid. More of a sative dominant hybrid. He also got chocolope confused. But I really dont have much of a choice since I do not live in a bud friend state.
Duncan MacLeod
Well-Known Member
I like to search for info on a strain on icmag.com
Lots of lineage information for most strains
Lots of lineage information for most strains
The Stranger
Account Closed
I use leafly usually. I don't really look into it too much though. I just kind of want to know "what it is" and what effects it's known for having. If it's not what they say it is, oh well, I'm likely to never know and am not going to go out of my way to track it down - I haven't even tracked back my own family tree...
kellya86
Herb gardener...
I suppose it's different depending on whether you just consume or cultivate too...
Knowing genetic history can help if your looking to avoid unstable genetics, and gives you a heads up on what to expect from a grow, for me anyway...
If your only consuming I guess it's not worth Knowing....
Knowing genetic history can help if your looking to avoid unstable genetics, and gives you a heads up on what to expect from a grow, for me anyway...
If your only consuming I guess it's not worth Knowing....
verdampersweats
Well-Known Member
Yea i got a call asking if i wanted Mango or Amnesia Haze today so off i go to Leafly and search to find which is the Indica dom. I call back and book an ounce of Mango and would of been pissed if i had picked the sativa haze and not been couchlocked.
God bless leafly!
God bless leafly!
CarolKing
Singer of songs and a vapor connoisseur
I bought a strain yesterday called I.E Kush. I couldn't find much info about this one. Leafy had nothing. It's an excellent strain. I called back the dispensary and asked what the I.E stood for and he couldn't give me any info. It's one I would definitely buy again. I thought it might be Ice Kush and they left off the "c"
This strain has a menthol taste with some earthiness and chemical. THC Finder had just a little bit about this one. It didn't say what the I.E stood for, so at least I know it's not a misprint. I could take a picture but nothing stands out about this other than being tight bud, a light green color with brown hairs.
This strain has a menthol taste with some earthiness and chemical. THC Finder had just a little bit about this one. It didn't say what the I.E stood for, so at least I know it's not a misprint. I could take a picture but nothing stands out about this other than being tight bud, a light green color with brown hairs.
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TeeJay1952
Well-Known Member
IE as in for example? ie a generic label.
Vitolo
Vaporist
looney2nz
Research Geek, Mad Scientist
Ciao goombah!
I had a baffling discovery last year... my regular source for an organic lab tested Cannatonic showed up with entirely different lab numbers from what we had regularly seen (normally was around 16% CBD and 6% THC) was around 10% CBD and 8% THC... that's a BIG difference, and my contact at the dispensary talked with the grower the next time they came in, and they brought a new grow of Cannatonic that tested out at normal levels... the difference?
The lower numbers were from growing in a hydroponic system, after the VERY different labs for all his strains, he returned to ONLY growing in a healthy vital soil.
Not trying to throw shade on folks who've invested in hydro, but... this is one of the reasons for good lab tests and I hope we finally achieve a level where it becomes cheap enough for all grows, concentrates, edibles, tinctures, etc. to be fully tested with rich amounts of information for consumers.
While I'm happy we're at least seeing THC CBD CBN numbers, all should still be tested for contaminants (pesticides, fungicides, bacteria, other toxins), and should include a robust array of cannabinoids including the terpenes.
Effectively giving a strain fingerprint (which in the days of 'catpiss' as a strain name, should be extremely welcome).
So yeah, there are more variables in play than we like to think!
looney2nz
Research Geek, Mad Scientist
I'll check out a couple of these sites I hadn't seen before... one strain has had it's label tainted I think...
my friends in the Triangle invented Trainwreck, and stuff from their grow was just plain amazing... but I haven't found a good HONEST Trainwreck in a long time, have any of you? Haven't opened it yet, but I got a cross called 'PowerWreck' which is supposed to be good (I may wait for my Herbalaire Elite monday).
I'd LOVE to find a good Purple Urkle or Grape Ape that was honestly what it was, but over the years, I think some folks played fast and loose with the strain labels in some dispensaries
Sadly most of the purples I have found (with some welcome exceptions) have not been stellar.Anyone else bummed that projectCBD ditched a bunch of early strain info when they re-did their site?
rabblerouser
Combustion Fucker
leafly is my goto, but definitely cross reference other sites and do some general googling.
doesn't help you in SoCal, but got some tasty Grape Ape in MA. Not my favourite effects, but hands-down most delicious.
I'd LOVE to find a good Purple Urkle or Grape Ape that was honestly what it was, but over the years, I think some folks played fast and loose with the strain labels in some dispensaries
doesn't help you in SoCal, but got some tasty Grape Ape in MA. Not my favourite effects, but hands-down most delicious.
rabblerouser
Combustion Fucker
http://en.seedfinder.eu/
is another one I have started using. Found me both versions of Dreamweaver when leafly didn't have a listing for it. Still had to see the in-dispensary menu and confer with the budtender to learn I was getting the MTG Seeds version.
It doesn't seem to have as much in the way of reviews / strain descriptions, but has all the lineage and seed company info and seems to have a basic description at least.
is another one I have started using. Found me both versions of Dreamweaver when leafly didn't have a listing for it. Still had to see the in-dispensary menu and confer with the budtender to learn I was getting the MTG Seeds version.
It doesn't seem to have as much in the way of reviews / strain descriptions, but has all the lineage and seed company info and seems to have a basic description at least.
herbivore21
Well-Known Member
To explain this further man, cannabis varieties ('strain' is NOT any kind of botanical classification relevant to cannabis and is stoner lingo, not science - IIRC in science 'strain' is a term used in virus taxonomy! lol) have many phenotypes (variety within 'varieties' if you will).Ciao goombah!
I had a baffling discovery last year... my regular source for an organic lab tested Cannatonic showed up with entirely different lab numbers from what we had regularly seen (normally was around 16% CBD and 6% THC) was around 10% CBD and 8% THC... that's a BIG difference, and my contact at the dispensary talked with the grower the next time they came in, and they brought a new grow of Cannatonic that tested out at normal levels... the difference?
The lower numbers were from growing in a hydroponic system, after the VERY different labs for all his strains, he returned to ONLY growing in a healthy vital soil.
Not trying to throw shade on folks who've invested in hydro, but... this is one of the reasons for good lab tests and I hope we finally achieve a level where it becomes cheap enough for all grows, concentrates, edibles, tinctures, etc. to be fully tested with rich amounts of information for consumers.
While I'm happy we're at least seeing THC CBD CBN numbers, all should still be tested for contaminants (pesticides, fungicides, bacteria, other toxins), and should include a robust array of cannabinoids including the terpenes.
Effectively giving a strain fingerprint (which in the days of 'catpiss' as a strain name, should be extremely welcome).
So yeah, there are more variables in play than we like to think!
What this means is sometimes a single variety (mistakenly called strain) can have multiple expressions, often between 2-5 phenotypes and maybe more in some cases. Some of these phenos might be purple. Some of them might be plain old green. Some of them may taste radically different from other phenos of the same variety.
For this reason (also many others, including how the plant was grown etc), you can't rely on the same 'strain' having the same smell/taste/appearance all the time - nor should we be surprised to find this given that 'strain' is not a scientific term relating to plant phylogeny/taxonomy and does not describe discrete botanical varieties.
My advise is to consider the chemotype (chemical profile) and/or both the variety (which is the term in the literature used for 'strain name') and phenotype of a given sample of cannabis material; not the 'strain', if you want to understand the nature of the material you have more fully in a way that better distinguishes different material. A few of the seedbank type sites mentioned above will outline the known phenotypes that are observed within a given variety which is one of the few sources of information where this can be found atm.
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rabblerouser
Combustion Fucker
good info, I'll add that the more common term for all sorts of plants isn't strain it's cultivar, which is just short for "cultivated variety". Meaning just a particular variety that someone is cultivating. And as @herbivore21 added. A single strain or cultivar can have different phenotypes.
altho, I have heard even non-stoners, but people who know the stoner lingo, refer to 'strains' of vegetables
also making it tricky, different strains with the same names from different seed companies. DJ Short's Blueberry vs Dutch Passion's Blueberry. Even started from the same genetics, I think the Dutch Passions has further breeding done on it by them after the initial work by DJ Short. I believe it is the DP that won the Cannabis Cup, whichever year that was in the 90s.
herbivore21
Well-Known Member
Absolutely, and further to this in the scholarly literature, drug varieties are referred to often as 'chemovars' - IIRC this term describes both the variety being cultivated as you say but also entails that this is a botanical drug variety
. Cultivar is a broader term that could be applied in the same scenario, or also in the case of a non-drug variety 
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rabblerouser
Combustion Fucker
yep, have heard that term as well. I plan on buying Cannabis Evolution and Ethnobotany when i get the cash, supposedly has in-detail info on the evolution into drug and non-drug varieties.
Also, the phenotypes come up in cultivars of vegetables too. I have bought grape tomatoes where out of the same flat of plants there were 2 phenotypes. One was a more normal cherry tomato style growth just with smallish decent tomatoes, the other had way wispier growth and smaller more delicious tomatoes. So 2 phenotypes, or basically just 2 different types, that were both "grape tomatoes" from the same company that were still different from one another. Same with different strains. Phenotypes can be indica-leaning or sativa-leaning high, taller or shorter, different branching, and so on. For many of the strains there are known common phenotypes that come up, but still variations within those.
(by Richard Connell Clarke, same guy who wrote Hashish!)
Also, the phenotypes come up in cultivars of vegetables too. I have bought grape tomatoes where out of the same flat of plants there were 2 phenotypes. One was a more normal cherry tomato style growth just with smallish decent tomatoes, the other had way wispier growth and smaller more delicious tomatoes. So 2 phenotypes, or basically just 2 different types, that were both "grape tomatoes" from the same company that were still different from one another. Same with different strains. Phenotypes can be indica-leaning or sativa-leaning high, taller or shorter, different branching, and so on. For many of the strains there are known common phenotypes that come up, but still variations within those.
(by Richard Connell Clarke, same guy who wrote Hashish!)
herbivore21
Well-Known Member
Phenotype is a broader genetic term that applies to animals (including humans) too actually!
'indica' and 'sativa' are another two thoroughly misunderstood words in the cannabis community lol but I'm sure you're aware of this and that is an explanation for another time!
@rabblerouser the sample has a nice chapter:
https://books.google.com/books?id=p...robert clarke cannabis sample chapter&f=false
https://books.google.com/books?id=p...robert clarke cannabis sample chapter&f=false
rabblerouser
Combustion Fucker
Nice, yeah will check out more, book is a must buy. But hating reading via google books.
He talks about the multipurpose cannabis plants in Hashish!, famers who grow it mainly for fiber/seed but also want just a little bit of hash to sell to bring in extra cash. Nice photo in there of a Pakistani Cannabis seed store, all sorts of multipurpose varieties. Drug Varieites are useless to them, and they are also uninterested in 'pure' non-drug varieties, they want both.
I have recently heard that supposedly most, if not all strains that are, at least counted-as, sativas have less than 0.5% Myrcene (known as probably the main couch-lock inducing terpene), which struck me as very interesting.
The other book I want to check out, and have actually ordered is Cannabis Pharmacy. I'm hoping that has the most practical info on various cannabinoids/terpenes. MA has mandatory cannabinoid percentage testing, and i have seen one dispensary with limited terpene % info.
It's also supposed to have a section on maybe 30 or so different strains detailing various medical conditions that they are good for. the main complaint i've seen about that section is just that it contains more of the 'old skool' strains and not the newer hybrids, many of which are crosses of those older strains
He talks about the multipurpose cannabis plants in Hashish!, famers who grow it mainly for fiber/seed but also want just a little bit of hash to sell to bring in extra cash. Nice photo in there of a Pakistani Cannabis seed store, all sorts of multipurpose varieties. Drug Varieites are useless to them, and they are also uninterested in 'pure' non-drug varieties, they want both.
I have recently heard that supposedly most, if not all strains that are, at least counted-as, sativas have less than 0.5% Myrcene (known as probably the main couch-lock inducing terpene), which struck me as very interesting.
The other book I want to check out, and have actually ordered is Cannabis Pharmacy. I'm hoping that has the most practical info on various cannabinoids/terpenes. MA has mandatory cannabinoid percentage testing, and i have seen one dispensary with limited terpene % info.
It's also supposed to have a section on maybe 30 or so different strains detailing various medical conditions that they are good for. the main complaint i've seen about that section is just that it contains more of the 'old skool' strains and not the newer hybrids, many of which are crosses of those older strains
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