Are they ready yet......? ;)
Enjoy.......
So some initial comments about these seeds companies. Big picture I'm wondering why I bothered going with overseas companies. It's leftover from the 80s when we thought the Netherlands was some sort of weed Disneyland. It may have been for a few years, I think in the early to mid 90s The Netherlands did some sort of raids, they probably didn't like the attention they were getting, I don't know. So there's this leftover belief, if someone hasn't grown in many years (cough) that Holland is the place to go for seeds. And maybe there are a few........but the first thing I ran into was companies that won't ship to the US. Or, you have to buy them from a 3rd party seller. Now you're getting Netherlands seeds (or seeds they get from other companies), through Spain, or England.........it took a while to snap out of it, and find all the US companies, dozens upon dozens of US companies, to think "why am I ordering from other countries"? Then there's the bank/credit card issues, where your bank rejects purchases with their damn fraud alerts. Of course, without alerting us.......why would a bank alert their own customers, that's just common sense....
No matter what seeds company you use, take a minute to set up an account, quite often they'll give you a coupon code. Always look for a coupon code. Testers, freebies.....keep notes of what each company offers and what points, discounts they offer.
Another thing that you realize after a while is that a lot of companies sell other companies' seeds. So.......why don't I just buy these strains from the people who actually make them? Duh...
Herbie's. Excellent customer service. They have a pop-up window and a live rep will help you with anything. Huge selection, but a lot of the good stuff is either only available in feminized and auto versions, or sold out. I also learned first hand that if your seeds get snagged by customs.......they will replace your order, and send you another one. They're not the only company that will, but by the time we got to replacing ours...... something like 4 of the 10 strains I had ordered were now.......sold out. So I had to go through their selection again, back and forth, to replace them with other seeds.......nope, another Auto, how about this one? Nope, feminized.......
I may have the record for the fastest/first order to get snagged by customs. It was literally THE very first order I placed. I placed 2 orders with Herbie's. The 2nd order made it, but the 1st order was snagged by customs. But Herbie's took care of me.
I'm going to frame the customs intercept letter, and gloves that they had put the seeds in (thank you Customs!) and hang it on my grow closet door........ :)
Their seeds though? First of all they just put 'em all in little plastic baggies. But worse than that, totally inexcusable......are small, light, immature seeds. If I worked there (or for any seeds company) I would say "I'm not packaging and sending these seeds to anyone". That's your product. Inexcusable. We'll see what % pop and all, but I can already tell some won't. They throw in freebies, but if they're immature........
Seedsherenow. Solid company, well packaged, good strains, you earn points, get bonus seeds, the seeds arrived fast.......I'm saving their seeds for my next grow (DJ Short's FLO, Thugpug Hawaiian Unicorn, Blue Star Instablue, Best Coast Afghan Hash Plant, Banana Kush.). So I can't yet comment on how good the seeds are. They throw in freebies too.
DCSeedexchange. Another excellent company. Great, very popular genetics. Similar experience to Seedsherenow, even better. Very psyched to run these, but again, not on my first grow. Bluestar family blues, 1988 Northern Lights #2, Anthony Bourdaink, Bros. Grimm's Cinderella '99, Coastal Seed's Burmese IBL, Hazeman Choc Thai. They'll give you testers, I got a Dawgy Cookies.....
Seedcellar. Another good company. Right on point. I got 3 DJ Shorts from them, 2 Breeder's Choice mixes and a 90s blues pak. You earn points.
Homegrowncannabisco. Kyle Kushman works with them. Their site has long, very detailed descriptions of each strain. But weak packaging and labeling, little plastic baggies only. Not such a bad thing if the seeds are good. I only bought Fruity Glue from them. We'll see.
Doc's Dank Seeds. Another cool site, great strains, fast delivery.....I got Bear Creek Kush, and Monkey Massacre. They have "Colorado Clementine" crosses and threw in Divine Clementine and Orange Dose #8. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say........Orange-y?
Ok, now here comes the real fun. I'm 1/2 English so I get to make some jokes here (I'm also half Italian/Irish, so.....no temper whatsoever..... ;) ). But "The Choice" Seeds. What the heck you friggin' King George, colonial basts!! Are you kidding me?? This is the one where my wife and I are staring at the opened package......they sent the seeds along with my "stealth" choice which was "leather goods". And we're staring at these low quality leather "bracelets", the big metal studded kind that punk rockers wore 40 years ago......not wearing those, but where are the seeds?? We're looking inside the package, tearing the package further....no seeds! Really?? Then we shake one bracelet. Tink tink tink.........they put the seeds INSIDE each one of the metal studs! Loose too!! They're clanking around in there. Now I gotta get a tool to pry open each and every stud! And you think they put 20
Big Bud seeds inside one stud? Nope!! 4 studs, each with 5 seeds! Who the F........what are we smuggling heroin here!!?? How friggin' stealth do you need to be?? It was like a sick joke. Another 4 studs for 20 Blue Dream!! Argh!!!! To further drive me insane, these UK , brexit soccer heads give me 7.......7 freebies!!! Each freebie is 2 seeds!!! And you guessed it! Each and every one of those 7 freebies were put inside their own studs!!! AAAAARGH!!!! Now the Italian New Yorker side of me is coming out, I'm cursing these m.......performing surgery on these effin' leather studded.....my fingers are getting blackened from the cheap dye rubbing off from the leather........and let me tell you......another bunch of small, lightish, immature seeds!!! Don't ever, ever order from this place. "The Choice". You know what I choose?? Bad reviews!!! You friggin' basts!!!
I better get at least 1, massive, mind-boggling, resin-dripping monster from each of the Sensi
Big Bud, Sensi Skunk, Nirvana Blue Dream, THC Bomb, Lambo, Lemon Pie, Wreckage, Sweets, Big Bomb.......that I pried out of these studs......
MSNL. Good looking seeds, terrible packaging. Another one with the seeds just put into little plastic baggies. This time though, instead of labels with the names, they write the bare minimum, letters on each baggie with a marker. So is BB the Blueberry? No, that's just "B", the "BB" is the
Big Bud, "M" is Mazar......ok, so where's the "Master Kush"? Or is that the Mango? Get a friggin' label machine!! At least their seeds look good. So if MSNL can give me good looking
Big Bud seeds, what is "The Choice" doing? Saving them for someone else and giving me smaller, lighter
Big Bud seeds? How come these guys know how to let "Skunk #1" and Mazar seeds ripen, but Herbie's doesn't.....so MSNL has good seeds, at least on sight.....
But a theme started developing. Is this something specific to European companies? "Thai Stick" isn't a strain. The descriptions start by kind of making you think "I'm getting a Thai strain". This is just one example, but there are a lot of these, where one thing doesn't jibe with another. It will say "pure Sativa", or give the classic description of certain strains that make you think you're getting a pure, classic strain, then way down below they'll say "then we crossed it with an Afghani!", or "70/30 Sativa/Indica".......I don't remember Indigenous Columbians traveling to Afghanistan.......hmmmm. You have to get that some of these strains are "their take on" certain classic varieties. Some don't even make sense. "We took a Gelato Female and Runtz Male to bring you "Sheeba Skunk!". Really.....??
We'll see how MSNL's
Big Bud, Skunk #1, Jack Herrer, Critical, Master Kush, Pure Power, and Blueberry do.....
Irvine. Now we're talking. California, great strains. The "Ultimate Purple", eesh! If I get that picture.......their Blue Dream looks dreamy, and Sour Diesel x Apple Fritter testers? Yes, thank you!! One annoying thing, these companies that offer 3 or 6 seeds......but 6 is sold out. What? Come on man, what if I get 3 males?? Not likely, but possible. Then I try to order TWO 3paks but nooooo. They don't let me. If I come back wearing a mustache will you sell me 3 more?? This Ultimate Purple better be stellar. BC Bud Depot makes it. So, I go to BC Bud Depot's site and order 10 more. ;). Plus Wild Berry and "Original Blueberry". What "original" means I don't know but BC Bud Depot looks good. Of course, I spent another half hour out of my skull trying to figure out where my BC Bud Depot order came from, my credit card shows nothing.......and honey who the heck is "Rocket Seeds"?? It took a phone call to figure out that I either ordered THROUGH this Rocket Seeds, or that's the name of BC's ordering company........so another annoying thing is when the company doesn't call themselves by that name when the charge goes through. Come on man, I spent another 20 minutes trying to figure out who the heck "NXSYST" is! Because they don't want to call themselves "Home Grown Cannabis Company". I get it, but......come on man.....
Neptune. How many friggin' strains do you carry?? It's like an encyclopedia......"Largest in the US" indeed! And if I come close to the pictures of the UFO's Blueberry Breath, Blueberry Breath F2, and Blueberry Thai Bx1 I ordered.......I'll be breathing blueberry all over myself ordering from Neptune again.....
The Vault. No, Cannabis Seed Store. No, it's The Vault......what's your name?!!? Now what's this about? THEIR Sensi Skunk #1 and Dutch Passion Skunk #1 came in original Sensi and DP packages. So why do the other companies' Sensi and DP Skunk #1s come in little plastic baggies?? Do they open up the nice packaged boxes and put them in plastic baggies?? How does The Vault get those nice little boxes that contains and protect the seeds? But here's the kicker.......the seeds insude these original Sensi and Dutch Passion boxes looked INFERIOR to the other companies' ones that came in the little plain plastic baggies......what's that all about??
That made me even more turned off to these old Dutch companies. If Sensi Seeds and Dutch Passion put weak looking seeds in their OWN boxes (see the pictures I posted) then I don't have a lot of confidence in these old Netherlands companies. But we'll see how The Vault's "Seedsman's" Skunk #1, Ace's Violeta, and the Sensi and DP Skunk #1s turn out. And they gave me 1.....ONE free seed each, all Feminized! (argh!) of Critical Kush, Kush Mintz, Gorilla Zkittlez, Amnesia Express, and Gorilla Cookies, the last 3 all Fem Autos (double Argh!!).
AG Seeds. Classy, Landraces, old school, heirloom stuff. Now we're really talking! There are a few other landrace, strain hunters, heirloom companies I'm going to order from next. Now I know who to target, and what seeds to get and breed with for my 3rd. 4th, 5th grows......that's when things get good.....Indian, Pakistani, Hawaiian, Mowie Wowie, Kona Gold,.......not "Thai", but 12 different local Thai strains from specific regions?!? Oaxacan, Lebanese, Moroccan.......THESE are the ones I'm gonna end up working, saving, and breeding with the very best of all the other great ones! Why the hell am I prying weak seeds out of a friggin' leather bracelet!!??? What if I cross a true Punta Rojo with a DJ Dhort Flo with an old Afghani with Ultimate Purple.......
AG's ON Haze. ON Haze Purple, ON Haze Columbian, Northern Lights #5, #2, their Skunk #1 looks legit......their "Mariwanna" is a mix of their landraces/heirlooms. Their (ON x OG Haze) x NL#2. Now that's a hybrid!
Then there's more under the radar, seeds traders......ahhh.....not "companies", but real breeders with real stuff. Private stock kinda stuff. That's where it's at. Landraces, Heirlooms, people that have traveled to places and taken risks (thank you!!!), private stock people, and the latest, best strain genetics/hybrids of these super sticky, resiny, red, purple, Divine Banana x Michigan.....Sour Banana Sherbert....
If you see someone on a bridge cursing and throwing leather punk rocker bracelets into a river..........that's me. ;)
Hopefully you enjoyed this. I'm very funny. ;)