As someone who has invested ridiculous amounts of time and effort attempting to create a new strain, I dislike the idea of someone taking my work and profiting from it (actually a seedback is about to offer the strain I worked for many years for sale) without my consent, it's not a classy move: by distributing someone else's work for money you are at once acknowledging its value and denying it to its creator.
As someone who lives in a foreign country with no access to "elite" genetics, I can see the point of making cuts available in S1 seed form available to people who wouldn't otherwise have them. Leaving aside that $50 US dollars is a lot of money in all except industrialized economies (I for one couldn't afford it), the real question here is respecting the intent of the person that originated the strain, cross or cut in question. Are the genetics free to reproduce or has a right been implicitly retained to the name and genetics?
For instance, Mr. Soul has announced that "Bros. Grimm" are coming back to offer their classic strains, is it ok for everybody and their aunt to keep selling seeds derived from their creations under the Cinderella, Apollo, Genius, etc. names? Clearly it's not ok. On the other hand, you can argue that certain cuts have been around long enough to be "public domain", or their originator has expressly or impliedly OKed their distribution so the S1 would be fine to sell. But the spirit here should be one of "paying it forward", which means not to charge more than it really cost to distribute it. Otherwise you'd be willfully ignoring the creator's intent out of greed.
Because there are no laws regulating cannabis genetics, ethics plays a big role. Trouble is, most folks don't give a shit about ethics, or honor for that matter.
You may have noticed, a few breeders have stopped working lines involving Soul's genetics, others are plenty happy to take credit for his work and keep on trucking.
Before I get crucified dont forget to set crosses up for cannaventure og raskal orgnkid cali connect csi humboldt dr greenthumb dna genetics divine genetics reeferman etc. Every single one of them actively have s1s available right now this second for 7 seeds at 100+ per pack. My plans are 10 seeds for 50. No seed pack should cost over 50-70 bucks but that another topic for another day.
First off, it's all love, anything I say is just my opinion.
The point is, most of those companies offer regular worked lines, not just s1 or fem crosses.
Reeferman has been offering regular combinations of landrace genetics, and has bred unique strains for well over a decade. DNA is a well respected outfit making regular crosses since what, 2003? Cali connect did just what I'm talking about, and while there are good plants to be found, Swerve still has problems relating to his unworked seed lines, and lost respect of many heads. I respect the fact that he's the first I saw to attempt a regular OG Kush seed line- he had bad results due to questionable methods and releasing too early to fill the demand created by the hype, then dropped the ball with customer service.
I fully believe people would talk shit about ograskal if there wasn't rumors he's tied in with Mexican mafia. Why I respect his acumen is that he did it when everybody wasn't, but I say again, in my opinion his brand would only be stronger with regular seed offerings too (frankly his popularity suggests that my perspective is irrelevant). Personally I don't see why everybody jocks orgnkid seed releases for the same reason. Nspecta does plenty of work beyond fem crosses. These guys/companies have all done a lot for the community.
Explain to me again how you're not comparing yourself to these guys lol...
I'm not clowning you or talking shit, but dude just be honest. If you care so much about the dude in Germany having prime genetics just send your German homie 200 seeds for free, and let him give them to his homies for free. Or say fuck it and charge whatever you want because money is the real motivation. 3 dozen other companies are doing it, what damage can another do right?
A lot of us sacrifice time and space to make seeds, I run fewer lights than you do, been making seed since 2012 and have never made a dime off them. Maybe down the line when I have something unique to offer I will try to make some money with them. In my personal opinion, anything less is profiting off others' work.
I can go out right now and sell, for instance, the Ghost OG cut to half a dozen guys who have offered up to a grand each, but I won't, because I know Ghost gave it to my friend for no money, and he shared it freely with me. That's a matter of perspective, some folks have honor, some folks just want money.
I fully agree with your statement about the OG kushes- though in my opinion, based off the tumors I've heard is that a lot of these guys purposefully create confusion as to the origins of their plants. I won't name names but I hear one guy stole a plant from bikers and creates subterfuge all these years so the bikers don't kick his ass for stealing it, renaming it and starting a company with it. One crowd says shame on you for stealing and lying, one crowd says thank you for making the seeds available.
The fact is honor and ethics have flown out the window in the face of "legalization", everybody is trying to cash in right now because we don't know where it's going.
Another fact is my opinion only means something to me. I have people I call friends offering untested crosses to market right now, and they know how I feel about it (not that my opinion matters), but they've also done a lot more for the community in the way of sharing cuts and information and more. I won't spend money on those seeds, but I do support their efforts and suggest their wares to folks looking for good stuff.
But hey just look at cookiemaine, selling fem gsc x gg4, seeds I call TRASH but whatever he's justified because a bunch of uninformed high times readers think they just bought gold, right?
