Bank seeds vs. Bag seeds question

Hi,

I've been doing a lot of reading recently, as I plan to grow a plant. I have noticed people often talking about buying seeds from seedbanks or using bag seeds. However, bagseeds seem to be frowned upon.

My question is, if there is something wrong with growing from bag seeds? I mean if the seed is produced by a male plant of a cultivated strain, than it is no worse than a seed of the same strain from a seed bank. Or am I missing something?

Back in the day, when I used to smoke like there was no tomorrow and skunk was in short supply, we sometimes settled for something called "brown weed". Brown Weed contained a lot of seeds, had a musky sweet smell and it gave us a very enjoyable philosophical high. I've just come across a bag of the stuff with some seeds in it, but if I am to go ahead with growing, I want to make sure it's worth the while. My goal is to produce at least 200g of dried weed for myself.

I am not asking advice on how to grow. Like I said, I've done so much reading on the topic that I could easily give lectures at the Weed University of Saint God. I am, however, very puzzled by this seedbank vs. bagseed problem. I have the feeling that seed bank preference is only justified if you're looking for a specific strain and you want to make sure you know what you are growing. If you don't care about the strain then a bag seed seems just as good, but I am no botanist, so I better ask the pros here.

Can anybody shed some light on this?

i like the randomness with bagseed. when i am making a strain I like to start with a good name breeder, Gage Green, usually. they put science into their breeding instead of pure randomness as with bagseed.
but sometimes you can get a bagseed that can put everything to shame.

The pros of buying seeds from a bank are this: -you know the strain and growth rate -Seeds may be feminized meaning they are more likely to produce sweet juicy female buds -Good genetics with less likely chance of deformations - seeds from banks have been breed time after time for their superior traits such as, bigger buds, faster growth rates, bushy or tall and lengthy grow structure, and taste of bud smoke - Also higher germination rates.

pros of bagseed: -seeds are plentiful but not always viable - random genetics so you might have a top grade northern lights strain when grown correctly, but this could also mean you might have traits for low bud production or slower growing plant - A lot of the time shwag buds have been left on the plant long enough for the seeds to mature so you get decent germination rates - Genetics very because of cross pollination so its always a surprise when your when your ladies start to flower.

I love bagseed and have only grown bank seeds once out of my grows. In the end, seeds from banks are of higher quality but you can get results just short of amazing from bagseed so its really just preference. happy growing!

the main issue with bagseed is ......there arnt supose to be any seeds in weed. so where did those seeds come from? was it perhaps from a field where they missed a male or a hermi plant that was not caught. the later being the problem.

also if such weed was allowed to have seeds in it . it most likely wasnt grown with the most care nor is it likely to be a top strain.

why devote months of your time and money on the unknown . there are exceptions and accidents that happen and theres nothing wrong with the seeds but you just never know

THC...MATOES said:

In the end, seeds from banks are of higher quality but you can get results just short of amazing from bagseed so its really just preference. happy growing!

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So it is as I suspected. Thanks! As soon as I get back to the UK I get the gear and grow the hell of a bagseed.

viper2020cobra said:

the main issue with bagseed is ......there arnt supose to be any seeds in weed. so where did those seeds come from? was it perhaps from a field where they missed a male or a hermi plant that was not caught. the later being the problem.

Click to expand...

I know, but I am pretty sure those were male plants. Hermi is easy to distinguish from brown weed.

technically all weed should have seeds, but we protect our plants from pollination by males for smoking purposes. If marijuana grew wild all over the place it would be nearly impossible to find seedless buds, but Viper has a point, you just never know.

The outcome.
Seed banks have F1 hybrids or pure lines, you know what yer getting, they put pictures up, and that's exactly what you will get saving for a random mutation once in a thousand.... O, those pictures... those delicious, wonderful pictures. I could write poetry about them hahaha
Bag seed is god knows what genotype, so you are playing genetic roulette. Who knows? You might end up with a seed that has the genetic version of a weed superman. Or you can get a seed version of me, weak and stupid. Lol. Truth is, most bag seed will be some regular old weed (nothing notable and totally worth your time) and those that come out looking like ladies will stay ladies. MJ is dioecious, so it's my opinion that hermaphrodites are the exception, not as common as most might think. Anyway..
Does this help?

EDIT: your intuition is spot on mate.

Listen... got a story behind bagseed... Went to Punta Cana for my honeymoon and convinced the BRAND NEW wifey to go down the local market and get me some smoke even though it's frowned upon in the Dominican Republic. I was told before we went to the island by several smokers NOT to try to find it as it's more trouble than it's worth... Whatever! I was in the ARMY, I can handle myself...

So we go to the local souvenier stands on the first day and I ask about some ganja, and IMMEDIATELY guy says "I got you!" SWEET! Guy proceeds down the street at a faster rate than we both felt comfortable with. Keeps looking back and hurrying us on, then makes a left turn. Then another left and a right. Before we know it, we're off of the resort property and very worried about not being able to be seen by average tourists, but we're committed at this point. My ENTIRE goal with this mission is to get some authentic landrace bagseed from a tropical island.

Guy "Mr. Inexpensive" has us in a shop where NO ONE can see us and drops a bag on the table and basically says, don't touch the damn bag, just act like you're looking at a souvenier. First time in my life I ever complained about no damn seeds being in my sack, but the language barrier became a problem. Turns out he was Hatian and speaking Creole, which I now understand to be a combination of French, Spanish and English... please forgive me if I'm wrong, but my wife is fluent in spanish and she couldn't understand much here...

Eventually, after quite a few sharrades games and some struggling, I get him to return with a different sack, COMPLETELTY BROWN AND SCHWAGGISH, but this time holding 5 majical seeds in the bottom, so I manage to talk him down from 50 bucks to 14 (all I had in my pocket). We now, refuse to go back through the market from whence we came, so we take the other route home...

This route was outside the resort walls, and ended up being a 3 mile hike where we were confronted 6 times by armed guys in the back of pickup trucks offering cocaine and making us realize that we could be kidnapped in an instant without a single person in the world being the wiser for at least a week until our supposed return...

Get back to the front gate and I get the "Last time in your LIFE we do this" speech, and I was so scared I couldn't argue, so I said ok. Rolled up "the good brown" (heard THAT before) and proceeded to get higher than I've ever been in my entire life! Was soooooooooo friggin high I couldn't finish the joint and chucked it in the ocean, regretting it the second I did it, but now am glad I did.

Out of those 5 glanced at seeds in the sack, 4 were cracked through.... FUCK!

I took that ONE lonely seed and tucked it DEEEEEEEP in my luggage just hoping that I could get it home, and PRAYING it'd be female... I'd have given it 25, shit, 30 weeks flowering if it needed it just to feel that high in a place I felt safe to experience it again...

Sigh... Got stopped by customs in America on the way home @ 3 A.M. and they searched THE SHIT out of me and my luggage... Watched the agent type "D..R..U..G..S" into the computer and took a huge red marker across my customs slip. Felt like I got raped at the end of my honeymoon.

THAT being said, I risked both my safety and my brand new wife's safety over the chance of something absolutely special. Not proud of it, but wouldn't change it for anything in the world. It's something that makes me who I am, and makes me appreciate what some people go through to get us the strains that they do.

Most of the breeders out there are pollen chuckers who are lucky enough to be in the snobbish circles who hoard "elite clone only strains" and want nothing more than to be able to say they have "the best pot". They do however, have a better chance of being great smoke than your buddy down the street that let his hermie go too long and claims to have the majic cross.

I'm sick of how eliteish the pot world has become and how greedy people are with their 'good pot'. There is sooooooo much better pot out there than is actually available in seed form for purchase. Pot has become nothing but a money market, and the ones making the money are becoming the snobs whom we all despise. BUT, people are willing to keep supporting them because deep down, it cost a lot of money (electricity, bulbs, carbon filters, cameras, etc) to keep in a hobby we all share and love, so they're less willing to 'risk' 5-6 months (the 2 or 3 it takes to grow shit, and 2 or 3 more to replace strains that end up garbage)

If you feel your bagseed came from something special, it is totally worth growing out, but you have to weigh the potential of the seed against the cost and time you're willing to give it. ChemDog is some of the most renowned weed out there and came from nothing more than bagseed. How that bagseed was produced is a mystery. Was it a hermie, or was it a random "special" male that was left one day too long? No one really knows, but a lot of people know that was some damn fine smoke!

Bagseed can be SPECIAL, but bank seed is more reliable and very much more tested. Your call in the end! Good luck finding that special lady!

In my experience if you have seeds and your weed and it is what would normally be considered "Kind" and there is only an occasional seed the odds are it is a good seed from good gene's and the plant itself has had a mini herm to create this and it will not be substantial trait also odds are it will be female. If you have seeds in all buds of what you consider "kind" there is a very good chance this is a herm trait and it will be passed on to the seed.

If you are just going to grow some bullshit commercial that is brown and full of seeds why bother? It really is all about the gene's, now if you have some green weed that you think could be dank by all means sprout those beans!

damn bro you got nab for 1 seed? i would have thought you could get that by customs lol bad luck or bad timing i guess

Most of the seeded weed available in the UK is either Moroccan, South African, or Thai. There may be some hardy genetics within it, possibly even landraces. Would certainly be interesting to get some old block/dirt weed grown well indoors. Can't see it ever being as good as strains carefully bred for strength and flavour - but it's you that's gonna be growing. Do what feels right for you.

Yes viper, one seed caused a one hour detour through the "back" customs office on the way home. Looking back on things, I believe I screwed up by not washing my hands after rolling the J, and packing the seed in my bag. Luckily it was the only thing I was trying to bring back. If I were to try it again (which I probably won't) I'd try hiding it inside a bag of trail mix or something of the sort to better camouflage it.

Since then, the only bagseed I've tried to crack has been what my brother had saved from his college days. They were all random single seeds and only saved if the bag was fire, but he had stored them improperly for 10 years or so at room temp with no dessicant in the bottle. Tried to crack 20 or so but couldn't get any to germinate.

I'm not at all against bag seed, but I won't be growing any from the garbage my friends get around here.

Conversely, I know several people who do grow out seeds that they've tried to breed themselves which a lot of people consider no better than bagseed. It's all up to what you're willing to spend your time on like Bigby said. I personally would rather try as many different flavors as I can so I purchase seeds through the banks. If the OP has a dry weight goal as his driving force, I'd suggest the same for him. If purely interested in what you may be able to find, save the 50 bucks and go with bagseed.

Another advantage to bank seed is uniformity though, especially if you have height restrictions in your room.