Huge variety in my seedsman autoflowers - is this always true?

This is my second year trying autoflowers. I grow outdoors and was away in May / June, so couldn't do my regular photo-period (which are indoors for me during those early months and require some special care).

I have grown 3 Jack Herer autos and 3 Critical + autos from Seedsman. Each plant was its own story - some strange phenotypes. I checked in with seedsman - they have very good customer support. The customer support manager, Chris, wrote to say this:

Most cannabis will produce different phenotype expressions. This can happen from time to time especially with the more hybrid-leaning strain varieties.

This is less likely if choosing long bred genetics such as White Widow, Northern Lights, Blueberry, etc. The newer F2's will tend to produce greater varience as these are new genetics being combined. Anything that is a F4 or BX3 etc, will be more stable as it has been bred back to the original parent genetics to stabilize it. The same with any backcrosses which are the BX strains.

My question: are other seed companies better at providing seeds that are more robust? I only got one higher yielding plant from each of these three seed strains. And some of the others are not just small but weird.



Like this Jack Herer autoflower that has no leaves with more than three fingers!

bostrav59 said:

This is my second year trying autoflowers. I grow outdoors and was away in May / June, so couldn't do my regular photo-period (which are indoors for me during those early months and require some special care).

I have grown 3 Jack Herer autos and 3 Critical + autos from Seedsman. Each plant was its own story - some strange phenotypes. I checked in with seedsman - they have very good customer support. The customer support manager, Chris, wrote to say this:

Most cannabis will produce different phenotype expressions. This can happen from time to time especially with the more hybrid-leaning strain varieties.

This is less likely if choosing long bred genetics such as White Widow, Northern Lights, Blueberry, etc. The newer F2's will tend to produce greater varience as these are new genetics being combined. Anything that is a F4 or BX3 etc, will be more stable as it has been bred back to the original parent genetics to stabilize it. The same with any backcrosses which are the BX strains.

My question: are other seed companies better at providing seeds that are more robust? I only got one higher yielding plant from each of these three seed strains. And some of the others are not just small but weird.

View attachment 5417409

Like this Jack Herer autoflower that has no leaves with more than three fingers! View attachment 5417409

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Best consistency thru autos I’ve tried are Mephisto. Fastbuds are pretty reliable but their newer stuff seems a little rushed. Their gorilla cookies, blue dream, green crack and orange sherbet seem more stable to me.

All my seedsman autos have been pretty random in phenotype so far.

F4 seems stable enough from my limited knowledge

I've grown their Critical+ auto several times with good luck....phenos were close and usually yield well over 4oz/plant. Got a couple of their Gelato auto's going now that are going to yield over 8oz each. I've had great luck with their photos too. Can't speak for that Jack Herer.
That said yes they are a white label seed provider....they have other breeders available also but most are still in what is considered white label quality. If grow skills/environment aren't on point it doesn't matter how great the seed is. I stay with the lower cost seeds myself and like a large variety so works for me.
Others here can point you toward the higher dollar stuff better than me.....but bayareacannabisseeds or Beleaf maybe come to mind.

I think the seedsman guy summed it up well based on my understanding, and pheno shifts in autos seem especially prevalent. I’ve definitely had phenome variety with Mephisto and others.

Speedrun seeds , nightowl “when available” , mephisto , fastbuds are all over the place with phenotypes from my experience but I always get nice quality stuff from 1/3 of the autos I grow from them

I just grew 10 gorilla cookies autos , and harvested 5 plants 2 weeks ago - and they all yielded awesome , and honestly it’s some of the best smoke I’ve ever grown , and that’s a 25 year time period !

I actually smoked an uncured small bud earlier - took one rip off a fresh bubbler , coughed my ass off “still harsh from just hang drying for two weeks “ and it has some amazing skunky gassy taste with candy overtones . Needless to say I’m rocked right now - here is a picture of the little bud I smoked “I’m a lightweight “ . Can’t wait till the tops cure !!!
If you want heavy yielding consistent quality autos , definitely go night owl or speedrun . I saw autopotamus pull 26.6 ounces off a nightowl auto on instagram , and he’s always pulling 1/2 lb or more