A stash of seeds or a stash of weed ?

For many self-sufficient marijuana growers there is one pot-related stash which is almost as important as your weed.  The experienced growers will know exactly what I am talking about.  Your seed stash. 
Many self-sufficient growers love having a few spare packets of quality marijuana seeds for future grows.  Sometimes they collect a selection of favourite ‘tried and tested’ varieties, sometimes it is a variety bought knowing that it really ought to be grown one day soon.  The more dedicated growers often have quite extensive seed collections.  Some growers end up with a seed collection so large that they could never grow them all.  Is there a practical reason to have such big seed collections?  Or is the purpose of a seed stash simply an ‘insurance’ policy which guarantees the self sufficient grower a future crop…. no matter what the future brings?  Is a seed collection there in case of a seed supply issue in the future?  Or is a personal seed collection the growers ultimate guarantee that nothing shall ever prevent the glorious harvest of home-grown pot.

A friend with a big seed collection says that scare-stories of a worldwide Bird-Flu epidemic were the reason he decided to keep a couple of packets in his fridge to enable him to continue growing even if normal society is disrupted.  Another grower from California is convinced the ‘big one’ (a large earthquake) will hit very soon and he is determined that his growing activities will continue whatever happens to the rest of the West Coast.   He tells me that loads of west coast growers have seeds stashed away ‘just in case’, no matter what happens the harvest will still come in.



Here at Dutch Passion we can’t criticise anyone having a seed collection.  After all we have a truly massive collection ourselves –literally thousands of seeds in cold storage in various safe locations.  Some of these seeds are from recent grows which we wanted to keep for future breeding projects.  Some seeds are from many years ago, even decades ago, kept in cold storage for that important germination date in a future we do not know.  Many of the seeds in our collection are important varieties and hybrids which we want to preserve for future generations.

Old seeds and original genetics from plants such as the earliest Skunks, Haze, Northern Lights and Blueberry are increasingly rare, but always useful to seedbanks such as Dutch Passion.  That was the thinking behind the re-emergence of Night Queen which was a popular knockout indica Afghani originally from the 1970’s and 80’s.  We had to try germinating a huge number of old seeds to get a few of them to germinate and allow a breeding program to begin again on an old classic.  In some ways there is no substitute for genuine seeds of original plants. 



Many Europeans and North Americans take a relaxed view of seed availability.  After all a new pack of seeds is usually just a few clicks away on the internet.  But there are lots of countries where seeds are illegal and growers can’t easily get them by post/internet.  Sometimes these people have to breed their own varieties and produce their own seeds.  These days most recreational or medical growers only have to think about growing their weed.  But for some people, by choice or by necessity, making their own seeds is just as important.  Today around 30% of Dutch Passions strains are still available in regular (non-feminized) options for these people.  Offering non-feminized seed remains something we are committed to.
For the rest of the self-sufficient growing community it is easier to let someone else take care of the seed production.  And many growers will admit that it is a nice feeling being able to grow all the weed you need, and having a packet or two of special seeds in the fridge ready for the next grow !

Dutch Joe