Discussion: Is Old School Cannabis Breeding Becoming Obsolete?

[GthaEnigma]

The problems arise out of the fact that all of the starting material came from the same wild populations that we all work from. When they start granting plant patents for plant traits that can naturally occur that is when it starts fucking with all of us.

 

[SecretSquirrel]

I was listening to a vid with AK BeanBrains he was sayin the gold rush faze of the green rush is over if you dont have your claim then its done now its about who sells the shovels and I think he means the tech side of the coming corporatization of cannabis. I see a need for the preservation of genetics and a way to store those things in large numbers (micropropagation) and the ability to test them for disease the biggest asset in the coming years. They gonna fuck up the gene pool playin around.

 

[Amarok]

When they start granting plant patents for plant traits that can naturally occur that is when it starts fucking with all of us.

That kind of thing doesn't concern me. As I only grow to consume and share, I don't worry about patents or commercial interests or legal entities.

 

[Amarok]

was listening to a vid with AK BeanBrains he was sayin the gold rush faze of the green rush is over if you dont have your claim then its done now its about who sells the shovels and I think he means the tech side of the coming corporatization of cannabis.

I was surprised so many people thought legal weed was going to be different from any other industry. Business is business and the ones that rise to the top are not usually the smartest or most innovative, but the most ruthless and the most shameless marketers. A lot of ill-informed and misguided people went broke in the early days. The gold rush analogy is a good one.

My friend in the OP is highly regarded and well connected, but the money is not at all large. He used to do project management in the oilsands for waaaay better money. He does this because he loves it, not because he's getting rich.

 

[SecretSquirrel]

Well when everything is Cookies that IBL and Landrace stuff will really be worth something.

 

[Psychobilly]

What's with Cookies anyway? I made a joke about calling a strain Runtz Cookies OG and watching money stack up but is that really that damn easy? Lol.

Personally I'm going to continue onward with my personal goal of being able to have a career at some point, and if I like a genetic, I'll find a use for it. I'm not trying to live in a mansion, I'd rather have a decent cabin in the woods where I'm a bit higher than my light bill.

 

[pwnytailjoe]

Lot of interesting thoughts on the subject. I'll add my 2¢.

I don't think anything ever truly goes obsolete. The markets simply shift towards efficiency.
The horse and buggy/carriage that many tend to use as a most recent form of obsolescence against the automobile is a good example.
The horse and buggy is still utilized throughout the United States either as a form of main transportation or entertainment.
Usage has simply shifted with the market but there isn't just one market, there's always several in concurrent operation.
The same with FM radio or anything else that has enjoyed the glory days of popular use.

Any time the market shifts, there are those who oppose the change.
The survivors are the ones that are able to read the market shifts and change in unison or understand where their niche is and how they fit in to the shifts.

The losers usually sit around arguing pointless things like history as the present devours them.

 

[SecretSquirrel]

Lot of interesting thoughts on the subject. I'll add my 2¢.

I don't think anything ever truly goes obsolete. The markets simply shift towards efficiency.
The horse and buggy/carriage that many tend to use as a most recent form of obsolescence against the automobile is a good example.
The horse and buggy is still utilized throughout the United States either as a form of main transportation or entertainment.
Usage has simply shifted with the market but there isn't just one market, there's always several in concurrent operation.
The same with FM radio or anything else that has enjoyed the glory days of popular use.

Any time the market shifts, there are those who oppose the change.
The survivors are the ones that are able to read the market shifts and change in unison or understand where their niche is and how they fit in to the shifts.

The losers usually sit around arguing pointless things like history as the present devours them.

You had me nodding in agreement right up until the end lol.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
George Santayana
I live in Amish country and while I can tell you they do use horses most have started using the Mennonites to drive them around. Over the last 20 years here I see less and less buggies on the road. Also why do we never see any Amish with disabilities?

 

[pwnytailjoe]

You had me nodding in agreement right up until the end lol.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
George Santayana
I live in Amish country and while I can tell you they do use horses most have started using the Mennonites to drive them around. Over the last 20 years here I see less and less buggies on the road. Also why do we never see any Amish with disabilities?

I've been here long enough to realize that the past is getting repeated, numerous times, regardless of who forgets or remembers it. Seems to be a byproduct of a cyclical Universe.
Why do we never see Amish with disabilities? Not sure but we do have a fairly large population of Mennonite and Dunkard here and they both have their fair share of disability[was in DME business for 20 years]. My guess is that we don't see the disabled because they hide them or bury them.

 

[Skunky Dunk Farms]

Interesting discussion.
I'm old and personally my stondest days we're many years ago.
All the "new strains" "crosses" etc, look great, taste fantastic, but the stone from flower just never reaches those highs gone past.
Something about those sativa's and the first indica hybrid combinations back then were frickin solid.
Yeah folks, we need to keep keepin on with the basics.
JMO.

 

[SecretSquirrel]

Interesting discussion.
I'm old and personally my stondest days we're many years ago.
All the "new strains" "crosses" etc, look great, taste fantastic, but the stone from flower just never reaches those highs gone past.
Something about those sativa's and the first indica hybrid combinations back then were frickin solid.
Yeah folks, we need to keep keepin on with the basics.
JMO.

Why do you think that is that plants of the past were better my only thought in that direction is somewhere along the line someone messed up and bred the wrong thing now we are here. I cant help but wonder if data might have been able play a larger role in not bottlenecking the genetics.

 

[Amarok]

I have breeder friends! That's what gay dudes say when they have straight friends so it's fun hahahaha

I missed this when you posted.

I also just had a moment of code-switching; might be a first.
Twenty-odd years ago I was a regular at a lesbian bar that was a block from my place, and I was accepted there to the point I was almost one of the girls. My friends there didn't censor themselves when I was around so I got an introduction to a lot of gay slang. The thing was, I never heard it anywhere else, and most of the words had multiple meanings, so when I hear it outside of that specific setting, woosh, over my head.

I skimmed your post originally and was like "weed breeders are straight? whachu talking 'bout Willis?" and just carried on. I actually read it this time and got a proper laugh. ?

 

[Amarok]

Why do you think that is that plants of the past were better my only thought in that direction is somewhere along the line someone messed up and bred the wrong thing now we are here. I cant help but wonder if data might have been able play a larger role in not bottlenecking the genetics.

That relates to my original post. Given that the researchers are discarding genetics because they don't have one specific marker(let's say the ability to be above a certain THC level), what else are they snipping out of the gene pool?

Anytime genetic manipulation is involved, if the goals of the manipulator become too focused, the chance of unplanned consequences increase.

 

[Skunky Dunk Farms]

Why do you think that is that plants of the past were better my only thought in that direction is somewhere along the line someone messed up and bred the wrong thing now we are here. I cant help but wonder if data might have been able play a larger role in not bottlenecking the genetics.

I don't have an explanation and maybe I just "can't get that high" anymore.
Couch lock was a real thing in the 80's, remember the "Stoned Again" poster from the era?
Science is good, so is chucking.

 

[SecretSquirrel]

That relates to my original post. Given that the researchers are discarding genetics because they don't have one specific marker(let's say the ability to be above a certain THC level), what else are they snipping out of the gene pool?

Anytime genetic manipulation is involved, if the goals of the manipulator become too focused, the chance of unplanned consequences increase.

Very true its why I want to make a hybrid breeder of sorts one who uses tech to look at the plant in a spiritual way.

 

[Amarok]

Science is good, so is chucking.

In my opinion, old Mother Nature is the best at producing a large and diverse selection of life and she will keep doing so in spite of humankind fucking things up. There will always be more life to be discovered, and some of that will be natural evolutions of cannabis.

Nature provides variety, science picks and chooses, and chuckers have fun and hope for the Wayne Gretzky/Michael Jordan/win the lottery plant.

 

[SecretSquirrel]

I don't have an explanation and maybe I just "can't get that high" anymore.
Couch lock was a real thing in the 80's, remember the "Stoned Again" poster from the era?
Science is good, so is chucking.

Very true I was listening to a Hash Church with Sam the Skunkman (I know most dont care for him) but he was saying they threw out the low THC high CBD plant back in the early days of breeding not sure which varietal he was talking about. Now I take most things with a grain of salt but if I was to believe this than how many times was this repeated throughout the entire scene with cannabis in the early days.

 

[Skunky Dunk Farms]

Might be interesting to cross some of their science projects with our chucks.

 

[SecretSquirrel]

Oh boy was I excited when the Phylos thing first dropped a chance to start cataloging and mapping out the lineage of cannabis. A real way to see parental lines and breed out to the most distant related plants creating new cannabinoid combinations and wild terp profiles but that all went to shit GREED man gets em every time.

 

[spyralout]

This is an excellent discussion. With technology moving so fast, a new smartphone every year (or is it half a year now), “a long time ago” being last week to most kids these days, etc. it’s inevitable that cannabis will evolve in that way. However oldskool will never die. That’s why there have been surges in craft breweries cuz not everyone wants to drink Buttwiper by And How’s Your Bush, and in more recent years, vinyl has made a huge comeback - only a record can reproduce the low bass that even deaf folks can feel and enjoy music, as well as provide a more “intimate” feel w the music as you put that arm on the turntable. Shit, girls are wearing “mom jeans” instead of hip huggers now. As it was mentioned a few posts back, history depends to repeat itself. Hollywood is imploding on itself w all its reboots (please please please don’t ever touch The Goonies) cuz it can’t come up w any new ideas or they’re all just bland and shitty. The new Challenger looks exactly the same as the old w more fuel efficiency while having super high horsepower with AC, etc. but even w all these technological advances, the original oldskool Challenger still remains the best. I could go on and on. Science is wonderful, embrace it along w the change that comes w everything else; but never forget your roots n where you came from.