Just out of curiosity. It seems to me that there are a lot of "designer" seeds out there with fancy labels and even fancier breeders. i've only been dabbling with growing for the last 6 months, so I have no historical perspective. I'm guessin' that there are old school growers that have figured out that they can get high yielding, potent seeds for 1/5 of what new "designer" seeds go for, simply because they are no longer "in style". One thing I cannot complain about as a noob, is feminized strains. I take it that this is a more recent phenomenon. Feedback from some vets?
^^this is true^^ and might I add very good & sound advice. Many of the new "designer" strains are the result of unique phenotypes discovered over the years from the older strains. In many cases, what we see is female cuts of these unique phenos being passed around and worked into more flavorful, more colorful, heavier yielders, and sometimes more potent hybrids. There are some very fine hybrids created using land races, and others using some of your more true hybrids. Bottom line, grow what suits you best; take into consdieration your budget, grow area, and personal preferences. If you want to produce your own seed stock, stick to your more true lines, for they will give you the best seed stock to work with. As for female seeds, I myself have never used retial female seeds, but I have resorted to making my own for future breeding projects in which the mother may become lost, or stressed to a point she show signs of genetic drift. For new growers, and growers who are not interested in breeding and/.or producing their own seed stock, they are good. I prefer not to use them b/c I like to work and rework strains, as well as produce more seed stock. I'm the kind of grower/breeder that believes you should only have to buy a pack or 2 of seeds of a strain to keep this strain forever.