Help a brother with a strain choice?

Hey folks.

So I grew a F2 knockoff of the (supposedly) serious seeds AK 47 way back when.
Along with some other strains but that one took the cake.

Since I read that the serious seeds version is very stable and just all around top notch and I know I like pretty much everything about that strain (growth, flowering, "forgivingness", high, yield, you name it), I planned to cough up a little more, get the "original" and select a mother this time.

This also got me into thinking about crossing... Undoubtedly, with 10-20 seeds, I could get very nice genetics for crossing, judging from what you hear/read of the serious seeds AK 47 (and my experience with the F2 knockoff was great too).


So my first question here would be:
Anyone got experience with crossing Serious Seed's AK 47?

Which would bring me to the next question (one that apparently has been somewhat asked here, but not answered before):
Any experience with Kalashnikov Seeds?
I know they are somewhat ignored because of all the "genetics secrecy" stuff...
But a Moscow Blueberry seems to be pretty much what I want...

I was going to go with a Serious Seeds Bubblegum or some other (preferrably more Sativa heavy hybrid [serious seeds' bubblegum is supposedly more Sativa heavy]). Mainly for the taste/aroma/smell and of course effect
But also with the dim hope of finding one of those "colorful" bubblegum phenos...

I don't know, I just looove the colorful archetypes, doesn't have to be the deep purple (although I like that too) but the red/orange phenos are awesome too. Hence I thought of Bubblegum.

Blueberry also crossed my mind and now I found that Moscow Blueberry from Kalashnikov Seeds, whose website is russian and who nobody knows/talks about this side of the globe :-/


I am also open for other strain suggestions of course ... I guess ultimately I am just another dude looking for Purple Haze... xD

But at least with the willingness to crossbreed myself and being fine with having a sativa heavy hybrid like AK 47 as the base (at least to me it seems like the perfect base for what I want, feel free to chime in).

Just had a fat sack of ak-47. Some of the "loudest" I've smoked. We took vacation, and were staying in hotels for about a week... We only made the mistake of smoking in the room once haha. The whole floor was danked out for about an hour...
There are already crosses out there with ak-47 already, so check around first. Could save you some time with a breeding project. They have a strain called "ak-48" its a sativa dominant hybrid (ice x jock horror), that sounds promising. I want to say its a Nirvana Seeds production....
You don't like OG's?

get serious seeds "happiness" or get ak 47.

...they have a strain called "blueberry headband" It may be right up your alley bro... Also one of my favorite sativa dominant hybrids is Bruce Banner.

Yes the AK 48 is from Nirvana.


I checked into AK 47 cosses and Bubblegum and Blueberry crosses.

The closest still seems the Moscow Blueberry.
In general, the Blueberry might be more what I am looking for than the Bubblegum.

DJ Short apparently went way deep into the production of "purple" and "blue" strains and Blueberry apparently played among the biggest roles in all that.

I am currently leaning towards the Serious Seeds AK 47 and either Blue Satellite 2.2 (spice of life), if I can get them ..., or DJ Short's True Blueberry (which is available from oaseeds, which seems to be a reputable seedbank). I could always go back to Dutch Passion's Blueberry but from what I read the purple with sweet taste phenotype was more pushed by DJ Short and Spice of Life. Dutch Passion's Blueberry is apparently quite rare in turning out purple...


So yeah, I am still very much open and interested in input.

But so far leaning towards going through with my own crossbreed.

...It seems to me you know what you want man. Be like Nike and just do it

Well I have no experience though, that's why I came here.

I mean I have found AK 47 crosses with Bubblegum and with Blueberry.

Just they either went extinct or are from a russian seedbank no-one knows (and which strain no one has grown as it seems).

Might be worth to give the Moscow Berry just a try, no matter what else I get, since the seeds are quite cheap.

/Edit

I think with the right base, I can select the right phenotypes within a few grow cycles and lets say at most 30 seeds per strain (depending on if feminized or not as well).


I think the Blue Satellite from Spice of Life or DJ Short's Blueberry/True Blueberry are my best bets in terms of colour, effect and sweet taste/aroma.


Now the only problem is to get those strains...


Again: Open to suggestions/different starting points

Yeah those online seedbanks are garbage to me. Yet I'm sure they work for most people (I'd rather make a road trip)... I'm a little perplexed by your post. Are you looking for strain info, or are you wanting to know breeding methods?

Well a combination of both I suppose.

It is not always that clear what strains are really known for in terms of breeding... What phenos are common in which strains etc.

Sure everyone and their mother is quick to post a super purple, dank, resin covered bubblegum/blueberry phenotype and comment on the taste.

But how likely which strain is to show that phenotype/the experiences with actually growing out certain phenotypes is rather rare ...


Like I said: I am also open for a suggestion if a strain like the one I am looking for exists and I just don't know it because I imagine it to be an AK 47 x Blueberry cross.

Ak47. Easy to grow, once a warrior always a warrior

Oh OK I see... Well you may be looking down a endless hall my friend. There's really not a lot of info out there, and you'll learn being around this site for a little bit, that the people that reach out to help you don't know too much. The experts are busy doing expert shit... Yeah man, as far as knowing in-depth knowledge about a strain is kind of trial and error. Picking what phenos you think looks more promising, what qualities do you want, and even back crossing to get some more qualities from a that particular strain... I say start with the three most promising strains, a 5pack of reg seeds for each strain. That way you're more than likely to land a male of each strain... You can separate the males from females, or just sacrifice the whole batch, pick the seeds, and make hash with the rest... That way you'll have plenty of seeds to work with, and to share with the homies

Well I just did a little more research and found that the hempdepot in canada and seedboutique in UK both have Blue Satellite 2.2 on sale at the moment for a nice price.

Gonna do some research into those 2 seedbanks tomorrow and probably secure about 20 seeds of the Blue Satellite 2.2

From those 20 seeds I am more than likely to get both a good mother and father with the phenotypes exhibiting the sweet taste, smell and purple color. Quite likely this strain is great on itself and once I select a good mother it will probably nice to grow as is.

Then just get the AK 47, do the same with it and once parents are selected I can try out some crossing while also just growing AK 47 and Blue Satellite phenos who got what I want.

If the crossing with these two fails/doesn't yield results, or even if it works and I get bored, I will go back a little in the Blueberry line and procure some of DJ Short's Blueberry strains.

Then I still have Bubblegum as a fallback and whatever else suggestions I might get here.

Thanks so far for the input you guys. Ima turn it in and check back tomorrow.

Also, check out the strain review or grow report forums. They may help you

I wouldn't grow any of that garbage.

Not trying to be rude or an asshole.

But I'd stay away from all of those mentioned in this thread... Serious.. Kalashnikov..Nirvana.. DJ Short seeds too... I put them all in the same category. Mass produced and not worth my time. These aren't customer service oriented outfits run by people with passion. Maybe DJ Short at one time.. but his gear isnt what it used to be.

There's so much better stuff out there.

Get some Bodhi seeds. or Dynasty.. Gage Green.. I personally like TGA and Alphakronik, and Exotic Genetix as well.. but there's so many good choices out there in terms of quality seed stock these days.

Breeding is all about selection and since you stated your goal first off is to find a good mom/keeper.. put the whole breeding/seedmaking dream on the backburner.. just get yourself some good genetics and find a nice keeper or 2. That should be your #1 concern. Find a good one and run it over and over.

That would make you the first and only person on the internet I found to call serious seeds genetics garbage...

Also it seemed to me (during my research) that DJ Short seemed quite legendary/knowing his shit and an actually tallented breeder.
Furthermore, from my understanding, the mass production from his strains was then done by Dutch Passion and others, while he himself stayed quite "specialized" on breeding out blueberry/purple/sweetness heavy variants and stabilizing them.

So I don't really get all the mass produced stuff ...


Anyway, coming from Europe, none of the Seed-producer names you mentioned ring a bell. I might have seen Bodhi seeds somewhere in some list ...

But from the names of their strains, their ancestry, etc, it seems that the seed producers you mentioned are way further down the line of crossing/breeding (i.e. less "pure" variants --> less useful for breeding).

I mean the Blue Satellite is certainly crossed bonkers and not very "pure" in any way shape or form, but the dominant pheno-types are exactly what I am looking for either in itself or to further cross with strong genetics ala SS AK 47 or Bubblegum.


Since the Blue Satellite sounds basically like most of what I want (sativa heavy strain, strong chance of purple/blue coloration, sweet/berry flavor), I would be willing to turn an eye on the fact that it has been so heavily crossed by Spice of Life seeds.

If the Blue Satellite turns out crappy, I would just go further up the Blueberry lineage.


If I were to go with a strain that doesn't exhibit/isn't known for any of the traits I am looking for and just take a good old, green, stable, workhorse strain, I wouldn't need to ask here. I already have the AK 47 selected in that category and have other strains in mind that would fit that bill.
So I wouldn't really see why I would go to any of those unknown (to me in Europe at least) seed producers, just because a dude on a forum called them his favorites ...

Might as well just dip into all the medical marijuana lists and grow any of the most popular dispensary strains then ...

/Edit

read over my post again and want to clarify:
Didn't mean to seem arrogant or "know-it-all".
I am interested in the seed producers you mentioned and their strains but from my research so far, I failed to see any characteristics I am interested in.

You kinda just mentioned "the stuff mentioned so far is shit, get some beans from these producers/strains, they are my favs, currently growing some too".

Care to elaborate?

Thaaaanks

I wouldn't buy those Blue Satellite after what Breeder Steve said on IG a few months ago. He said he quit making seeds when there wasn't a single re-seller selling counterfeits of his products which was 15 years ago. So even if those are authentic spice of life seeds best case scenario they are 15 year old seed stock. No thank you.

I think the general consensus in the community is that Serious Seeds is not what it once was. Maybe they lost parent stock, maybe they just got passed by all the new fancy hybrids that exist nowadays. I do not know.


I agree with the recommendation with Bodhi and Dynasty. Never seen a negative word spoke about either or an unhappy customer and have had great experience with their strains myself. You can pick up Dynasty strains for amazing prices breeder direct through Sannie's Shop(based in Netherlands). If you are looking for Blueberry check out PeakseedsBC. I've never grown his Blueberry but I've grown out almost his whole catalog and everything there is on par with Bodhi and Dynasty, just lacking variety of newschool strains and flavor of the months.


After further reading your posts I want to put emphasis on the PeakseedsBC. Oldschool preservation of "pure" lines well suited for breeding. Northern Lights, Blueberry and Sweet Skunk. Also ask about the C99. All of them should make good breeding material.

Hey there, thanks for the insight!

So if I understand you guys and Urbmon in particular correctly, all the "old seedbanks" that used to be held in high esteem (as was my impression), such as serious, dj short, spice of life, dutch passion, flying dutchman, TH etc. etc. basically "all" suffer from not keeping their genetics updated and thus having old seeds in circulation due to underproduction/overstorage?



So basically you gotta go with "newer" strains, simply because the old gene seed material is no longer very reliable ...

I mean theoretically, you could just get an amazing price on for example the 15 year old spice of life seeds. If they were preserved properly and you get 50 for the price of 10 or 20, I guess that could still be viable...

Mh k, nevermind, I took a good look at peakseedsBC!
Actually stumbled across them before but couldn't really decide what to think about them...

I mean the Blueberry looks insane in that pic and the price is great as well. Advertising it as a "pure breed" kinda made me think again, I guess...

Mhhhm... This means F2s of "oldschool strains" that were created by seedbanks such as PeakSeedsBC (would Nirvana be comparable as well?), are currently the most reliable and stable genetic makeup of the type of strains I am talking about...

The alternative being all the "newer", as Urbmon described them, "flavor of the month weeds" (I like that ;p).

Hmmmm, you are saying PeakSeedsBC has C99? I remember back when I grew the last time, Brother's Grimm came out with the Cinderella 99!
I also remember thinking that I thought to myself that I would have chosen that over the AK 47 (from Nirvana --> F2 "copy") if it had been available before we started...
What a coincidence xD

I am definitely intrigued!

So ..... the question now is, what are other reliable seedbanks with "fresh" and "current" material but preserving "older" strains such as Blueberry, Bubblegum, Ak47, C99 ..... Blueberry/Bubblegum x Sativa variants ...

Ima check in the forum, guess I find some info there, but would greatly appreciate a response.

That was of much help already guys


/Edit

So PeakSeedsBC seems very promising to me.

Gonna see what they say but I am currently thinking to make their Blueberry my main starting strain.
Try to isolate a sativa-leaning phenotype that has the strong sweet aroma/flavor and strong coloration.

Then grow their C99 and/or Sweet Skunk and select the ones with the sweetest/fruitiest flavor and most sativa-leaning phenotype.

Cross that together and hope I eventually get what I want


My only problem now is that I was told on another board that PeakSeedsBC's Blueberry isn't much of "the real thing" either...
That the classic Blueberry strain is essentially dead and I would be better off growing one of the Hybrid strains that exhibit similar characteristics, like Blue Satellite :-/

After reading through the thread in its entirety, I had to laugh my ass off some...

mista sativa said:

Yeah those online seedbanks are garbage to me.

Click to expand...

mista sativa said:

I say start with the three most promising strains, a 5pack of reg seeds for each strain. That way you're more than likely to land a male of each strain.

Click to expand...

Yeah I laughed too. Start with a 5 pack of seeds for breeding.

I can highly recommend Peakseedsbc Skunk Berry, Northern Berry and Kush Berry . MikeJ at Peak is a great breader and has great quality at a very affordable price. Peakseedsbc pure lines and crosses are legit.