breeding. two camps. modern elites, and classic cultivars. where do you sit?

[shaganja]

as i listen to potcast shows and read forums, and speak with fellow farmers, i have come to the concensus that there appears to be two camps of thought when it comes to breeding. we have our modern breeder who is looking for exotic tastes and high thc. and we have our old school/medicinal breeder who is looking for the cannabis that can affect emotion, and personality. the modern breeder is making super bucks right now. the public is convinced this is what cannabis is susposed to be. high thc. no entorage affect. just you feel a basic saitva high, that evolves into a indica feeling. all very homogenois. ( i know im a shitty speller. sorry.) the legs are usally always short. but the flavor is oooweee! these modern hybrids taste so good! and then we have the old head breeders we all look up to, that used to breed strains that made you feel so many ways! from a relaxing sleepy bubba kush, to a nervous wreck african sativa, or a happy up south american strain, or a no anxiety super asian sativa! long legs! like 6 hours of awwshit!! the entorage effect was in full swing with these plants! plants had 15% thc, but with the entorage effect, with the other ACTIVE cannabinoids, 15 percent thc weed could blow your mind! imho, so much better than the modern elites. where do you sit? do you grow the modern great tasting semi boring buzz, or do you grow the old stuff with personality? i do see some trend moving toward putting landraces on modern hybrids to gain some personality. where do you sit? what do you like to grow?

 

[Jimster]

as i listen to potcast shows and read forums, and speak with fellow farmers, i have come to the concensus that there appears to be two camps of thought when it comes to breeding. we have our modern breeder who is looking for exotic tastes and high thc. and we have our old school/medicinal breeder who is looking for the cannabis that can affect emotion, and personality. the modern breeder is making super bucks right now. the public is convinced this is what cannabis is susposed to be. high thc. no entorage affect. just you feel a basic saitva high, that evolves into a indica feeling. all very homogenois. ( i know im a shitty speller. sorry.) the legs are usally always short. but the flavor is oooweee! these modern hybrids taste so good! and then we have the old head breeders we all look up to, that used to breed strains that made you feel so many ways! from a relaxing sleepy bubba kush, to a nervous wreck african sativa, or a happy up south american strain, or a no anxiety super asian sativa! long legs! like 6 hours of awwshit!! the entorage effect was in full swing with these plants! plants had 15% thc, but with the entorage effect, with the other ACTIVE cannabinoids, 15 percent thc weed could blow your mind! imho, so much better than the modern elites. where do you sit? do you grow the modern great tasting semi boring buzz, or do you grow the old stuff with personality? i do see some trend moving toward putting landraces on modern hybrids to gain some personality. where do you sit? what do you like to grow?

I think you hit the nail on the head! My main bitch nowadays is that 99% of the plants that you see folks growing are new hybrids. Of course, most landrace strains don't enjoy a small grow tent, since they are generally pretty big in nature. I still grow old strains from the 70s and 80s, but I don't think my process would work for most as I let them grow to 7 ft or more if they want to. I havn't seen a newer strain grow much over 5 ft. Newer hybrids are bushier and much more potent than the old ones, but the desired traits in the old ones is what screwed things up currently. The entourage effect, as you call it, encouraged breeders to try to combine a plant with a great Entourage effect with another... trying to get an even better entourage effect. The end result is a plant that has all of the features of both strains, which eliminates the entourage effect by making everything the same... powerful, strong, but without the lack of certain compounds which is what contributes to the strains effects.
In another thread I was speaking of 75% of my plants now grow pistils during vegging. This was unheard of years ago but now seems to be a solid piece of the Berry strain. Now the trait seems to be here forever, as several other of the newer strains also show pistils during flowering. Much like tomatoes, I thin it is going to be fairly difficult to get the old Landrace strains in vthe future... they are lower in THC, which is the main concern for most smokers and not as easy to grow.
I like to think of myself as an old Italian guy who grows his prized tomatoes in a small backyard garden. I use the same strains I've used for years. The plants are great but not nearly as strong as some of the current one's, but you can actually function fairly well without being stoned to oblivion. The older strains don't wipe out your tolerance to high THC strains either... you will be surprised how stoned you can get by laying off of the high octane and using an old school strains for a while. hen, when you get a new and decent product, you can appreciate it a lot more. Medical cannabis is different, since it accomplishes a specific task, but the old strains are getting like dinosaurs.