There are thousands of cannabis strains in the world, and thousands of new strains pop up each year. So, what’s the deal? How are new weed strains made? Well, it’s an intricate process of breeding, selection, and cultivation, where growers use the power of genetics to unlock new creations. So, join us and learn about the art of creating new weed strains and how you can start growing TYSON 2.0 strains today!
Creating New Weed Strains 101
Creating new weed strains is the process of cross-breeding–taking two different strains to create a blended offspring. It’s a bit like the story of the birds and the bees. The children are left with traits from both parents, creating a brand-new type of plant. For example, the crossing of Chemdawg and Super Skunk created Sour Diesel, a now timeless classic.
However, before a new weed strain is mass harvested, cultivators need to look at all the phenotypes (offspring) to select the best plants in the litter. Don’t know what a phenotype is? We got you covered.
What is a Phenotype?
Phenotypes are the seeds a female cannabis plant produces–the children of the parent plants. Female cannabis plants, when pollinated, can produce dozens of phenotypes that all have slightly different genetic structures (genotypes); some of the offspring will appear more like mom, and others like dad.
Genotypes determine how the plants will grow, but the environment of the plants also has the power to switch certain genes on and off, altering the outcome of traits. When all the phenotypes are grown, cultivators will be left with offspring that have varying leaf morphology, aroma, resin production, flowering time, potency, etc.
The next step is to find the best ones, like our TYSON 2.0 phenotypes.
What is Pheno-Hunting?
Pheno-hunting is the art of sorting through all the phenotypes and selecting the ones with the best traits. When creating a new weed strain, growers might produce dozens or hundreds of phenotypes (seeds). They will then grow those seeds and carefully observe the cultivated plants’ characteristics.
During the pheno-hunting process, breeders want to select the best offspring. Some of them might look picture-perfect, but their aroma may be lackluster. Others might smell great but not be so potent. Essentially, the breeder is looking for the phenotype that is a combination of all the best qualities. That golden offspring will then be mass-harvested and put into the market.
Interested in growing your own weed plants? Check out our new TYSON 2.0 seeds so that you can start growing our best strains like Mike!
Pheno-Hunting Timeline
Growers will often select a handful of the best phenotypes and grow them again–repeating the process and whittling down the best offspring until the perfect phenotype is found. Once growers have the perfect offspring, it’s time to harvest it and take it to market.
Growing cannabis takes several months. So, the pheno-hunting process can take months and months or even years if the process is repeated multiple times. But that patience and dedication to finding the best phenotypes is the reason we get to smoke so many epic new weed strains.
Grow Your TYSON 2.0 Seeds Today!
When it comes to seed breeders, Royal Queen Seeds (RQS) is one of the masters of cultivating timeless classic strains and cutting-edge genetics. RQS is a seed bank that has operated since 2007, before it was the hip thing to do. That’s why TYSON 2.0 teamed up with RQS to give you the ability to grow our knockout weed strains at home. So, check our exclusive seeds catalog with Royal Queen Seeds, and start growing like Mike Tyson!
