I always find it interesting to sit down with fellow breeders and listen to strategies regarding the breeding of award-winning cannabis strains. I recently had the pleasure to meet with Karma from Karma Genetics and to discuss his views on breeding. His strains have finished in the top three at the Amsterdam Cannabis Cup over the last few years.
Karma has been working with the OG family. His OG roots can be traced back to the White OG, which finished in third place at the Amsterdam Cannabis Cup in 2010. Karma was one of the first European breeders to really embrace the Kush epidemic that had earlier swept across America. His breeding projects really inspired some new life into Dutch genetics, which for a time had really grown stagnant. He chose to start his OG breeding project with the White OG because he wanted to find a Kush that would be easy to grow and one that would provide patients with a muscle relaxation.
I wanted to know what his top five tips were for new growers, as I always find it interesting to see what other breeders recommend to newbies.
1. Grow from seed from time to time.
He recommends starting some seeds and growing them out, even if you are normally use clones. This will give you a new perspective, as often growers who exclusively use clones will never see a male flowering (of course always pick these out early enough or you will get an unexpected seed crop) and plants grown out from seed are often more vibrant, and grow faster and fuller.
2. Go organic.
If you are looking for flavor, then organic bio food used with soil is the best way to achieve a flavor overload.
3. Heed the need before you feed.
When devising a feeding schedule for your plants take your time to really look at each individual strain and adjust your nutrient program accordingly. “You can’t feed an OG Kush like you would a Haze.”
4. Sparkles make plants happy.
“Every now and then I like to give my plants a bit of sparkling water.” The bubbles which are rich in Co2 will give the plant’s roots a slight boost.
5. Go long.
When growing from seed plants, it can take a little longer to finish so always go one week more than you think they will need.
When selecting seeds, some tips Karma recommended are to think about what you want to grow. There is so much choice out there that you really need to know what you want before you start looking through seed banks. Next would be to research the strain you are interested in and get to know what it is that you want. Karma said there is an abundance of information online, use the resources that are out there, forums are especially handy for checking out grow reports and the quality of some seed companies products.
Keep it green and keep on growing!
