Anonomo_McChronico
New Member
Quantity of crosses being released doesn't necessarily mean hermaphroditic traits will go up, bad selection in breeding programs can contribute to this factor as hermaphrodism can be present in genetic pool.
The issue is that stabilizing a strain can take 5-10 years. Stabilizing meaning going through a proper breeding process such as "cubing" which will result in a homogenized line of plants if properly executed. I.E. same height, potency, flavor/smell on average with every seed produced in this method. Generally won't see hermaphroditic traits in this case unless stress or chemically induced.
You could blame consumers, you could blame breeders, you could blame the market, you could even blame the longevity of the process of stabilizing a varietal of any plant. At the end of the day typically "old school" breeders (1960-Pre Cookie Fam..) would often stabilize a strain before releasing it into the wild or for sale.
Legalization of Cannabis has probably had the biggest effect on this as the market has expanded and the types of people who have entered it have changed so has the standard for quality. Demand has gone up as more people become comfortable with the idea of Cannabis use but quality has not necessarily followed as many legal states have given legal production to the few not the many production sites have gotten larger and quality control has suffered. Less stringent quality control has affected not just the flower, extract, edible etc.. market but also has affected the quality control of the seed/breeding market.
Many of the labs used for testing determine their own standards and independent research shows many labs fake results to appease growers who keep them in business the research is overwhelming as to how many commercial growers alter test results with lab assistance. There might be a process in place for quality control but it's largely manipulated as it stands.
Anyways long story short the same ethic once ingrained into grower communities has largely dissapated or been watered down as corporate cannabis and all of the new comers that it's brought have come into the game. The number of breeders has gone up exponentially in the last 5-10 years. Very few are hunting landrace strains and even if they are even fewer are generating their own unique strains then stabilizing them via traditional horticultural process. There's too many factors influencing the influx of amateur/F1 one time cross breeders to say it's just one thing. If you where to pinpoint it I'd say maybe legalization but that word connotates a very large array of changing conditions.
My overall thoughts.. as someone who prefers stable traditionally bred strains.. I still like that the market has created boutique pop up over night one time cross strains. It introduces variance in genetic pool for anyone who wants to do their own breeding/hybridizing without gathering landrace genetics. I used to hate it but it's just the nature of anything change is natural, I'd rather embrace it then hate it.
