The world of cannabis has seen immense growth in the past few years, thanks to breeders working tirelessly to improve their strains with every passing day.
Many companies have focused on several types of strains including autoflowers and photoperiods, but some companies like Sweet Seeds® have improved even photoperiods that flower faster, allowing you to harvest and enjoy your yields quickly.
As one of the first companies to release F1 fast versions Seeds® (more on this below) way back in 2013, it’s no wonder that their offerings are celebrated across the globe. You’ll see very few companies boasting of strains like Cream Caramel® which has won more than 25 awards singlehandedly!
In this article, we will explore why and how Sweet Seeds® is introducing new strains that can blow you away.
Sweet Seeds® is focused on developing outstanding autoflowering genetics that can take your growing journey to the next level. The breeders consider themselves as users and collectors with one goal — choosing and preserving great strains that can dazzle generations of growers.
The breeders work according to a specific protocol. First, they choose plants with incredible traits as the mother and work on the strain's desirable qualities to enhance them in the offspring. Since they have a vast resource, thanks to experimenting on various strains for decades, they have the luxury of choosing the best strains.
Then, they breed the mother plants with other plants containing desirable traits using sex reversal and traditional breeding methods to create feminized autoflowers. The breeders experiment with the genetics by crossing them with specific clones to obtain offsprings that display the cannabinoid levels, size, and aroma they desire.
Sweet Seeds® boasts of various modern autoflowers on its menu. Since 2007, the company has focused on harnessing the potential of autoflowering varieties, thanks to their short flowering nature.
Between 2009 and 2010, the company released the first generation of its newly cultivated varieties named Fast Bud®, Speed Devil®, and Big Devil Auto®. Over the years, Sweet Seeds® has worked specifically on these three cultivars due to their massive demand and recognition.
Although many growers weren't interested in autoflowers for their lack of yields and size, Sweet Seeds®' Speed Devil® set the path for other cultivars as the first autoflower to bag an award against heavy-duty competitors such as White Widow, Jack Herer, and other legends. In 2011, Fast Bud Auto® also bagged another award in the autoflowering category. Later, in 2014, their Big Devil XL Auto® was named the best autoflowering strain of the year while their modernized Big Devil® and Big Devil #2 Auto® won awards.
Sweet Seeds® continues to use its three main strains as the base to create new strains with excellent genetics. They have hybridized the three varieties with photoperiod-dependent clones to obtain second-generation autoflowers that are stable, massive in size, and produce good yields.
Sweet Seeds® Red Family is a unique collection of exotic, aromatic, stunning cannabis varieties. As the name signifies, almost every cultivar from the Red Family is red. Most cannabis buds are purple or green, but the plants from the Red Family display astonishing red hues when they enter the final stages of maturity.
Although some of the plants from this family can appear blue and purple, they predominantly display fiery reds. It's not uncommon for even the leaves to appear red. For instance, their new release the “Tropicanna Poison®” — a mix of both the Reds and F1 fast version® — is so red that it looks like a combination of maroon, purple or blue.
The red color is due to the presence of anthocyanins. It's not just a matter of aesthetics because these anthocyanins express an entire range of molecules that have a deep significance in medicine. Anthocyanins are also present in fruits.
Anthocyanins are water-soluble molecules that are present mostly in the trichomes, allowing us to obtain red extracts from the buds.
Anthocyanins are nothing but a class of flavonoids that protect the tissues from UV damage, generate various bitter flavors to discourage animals from chomping them down, release delicious fragrances to attract pollinators, and regulate the transportation of auxins in the plant.
The plants in the Sweet Seeds® Red Family have undergone several hybridizations to retain their color. The breeders have introduced them to selective breeding techniques to ensure the genes are stable.
Typically, a mother plant is crossed with another plant to gain desired colors. For example, Afghan and Kush cultivars are famous for their purple tones, so a few of the resulting strains retain purple colors. To get a red color, breeders from Sweet Seeds® have used cultivars originating from the Hindu Kush mountains of Pakistan, close to the Afghanistan border. They are working on more strains from other parts of the globe to generate various hues and to also include new genetics in the Red Family.
At present, photoperiod strains dominate a great part of the cannabis growing culture. Almost every grower enjoys cultivating photoperiod strains because of their simplicity, forgiving, and user-friendly nature.
Most seed banks refer to photoperiods as feminized seeds; however, the Sweet Seeds® catalog displays them as photoperiod-dependent strains since many autoflowering seeds are also feminized, making the term incorrect.
At Sweet Seeds®, the aim is to provide photoperiod-dependent strains that cater to both medicinal and recreational users across the globe. A grower will never need to rely on dispensaries or others to purchase marijuana if he grows high-quality seeds. However, producing stable, high-yielding photoperiod strains isn't an easy task.
To achieve this feat, the team depends on its sophisticated breeding programs. All the varieties at Sweet Seeds® have been backcrossed with other genetics to produce cultivars of varying genetics. Once the breeders are satisfied with the results, the offspring are then tested under various conditions to ensure that the growers are not disappointed. As growers themselves, the team at Sweet Seeds® understands the need to grow high-quality genetics that gives you a bang for your buck.
Coming back to their breeding program, the breeders first choose strains that are stable with desirable characteristics such as bud density, fragrance, appearance, intermodal distance, etc. They also avoid strains with undesirable traits. They pay special attention to plants that are tasty and aromatic.
Cannabis plants produce different tastes. For example, mango-flavored strains are a big hit among users. However, the team at Sweet Seeds® is more interested in developing cultivars that produce a sweet taste. In short, the team favors organoleptic traits that involve your senses — a reason why the company is named "Sweet Seeds®". This is an important step as the rest of the breeding programs rely on this first step.
The team has a bank of elite clones that are selected for the very purpose of breeding. These clones are carefully picked at the end of breeding programs. Those that don't match desired traits based on their size, height, appearance, taste, and color are rejected so that the new generation gets only the best qualities.
The best clones make it to what the team refers to as the "bank of mothers" containing stunning plants that have outperformed others for decades with stellar genetics. These mother plants also have a great ability to produce offspring with similar characteristics. In addition, they must have the ability to sustain sex reversal when necessary to create feminized seeds.
Every seed produced by Sweet Seeds® comes from this Elite Bank of mothers to ensure the resulting offspring are stable, consistent, and strong. This also helps the grower to anticipate the plant's growth and predict the results, provided the plant is offered favorable growing conditions.
The plants in the bank of mothers are rarely replaced; however, since the team is constantly searching for new cultivars that exceed their expectations, the breeders tend to replace some of them at times when they come across exceptional genetics.
F1 Fast version® seeds are photoperiod strains, but there’s a twist. Unlike most photoperiods that take at least 8-10 weeks in their flowering phase, these fast version seeds finish much sooner within 6-7 weeks.
Photoperiod strains begin to flower once you switch to the 12/12 cycle where the plants receive 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. Therefore, you can expect these beauties to be done in 6-7 weeks once you make the switch. However, if you’re growing outdoors, the plants may take an extra 1-2 weeks, depending on your climate. Considering how plants that grow outdoors take more than 4 months to achieve maturity, the F1 hybrids are a boon for those looking to grow cannabis in the great outdoors.
In addition, these super-fast cultivars have received a great response from the cannabis community. It’s as good as growing an autoflowering strain while generating yields like a photoperiod.
So, how do these plants flower so quickly? The breeders have made it possible by combining two stable autoflowering and photoperiod strains. First, the breeders used a stable autoflowering strain that matured exceptionally fast and crossed it with a photoperiod renowned for its size. By focusing on the positives and eliminating the negatives from each strain after years of experimenting, the team has finally managed to produce strains that flower fast like autoflowers, yet grow like photoperiods.
Since these strains are a result of the amalgamation of two hybrids, they are named F1 hybrids. Note that autoflowering genetics are recessive while photoperiod genetics are dominant. This means that although the plants grow with full vigor and reach maturity quicker than most photoperiod strains, they will still display all the qualities of photoperiod cultivars, including size and yield.
The breeders at Sweet Seeds® are excited to present more strains in the coming years. Their philosophy is to produce strains that growers can enjoy from various parts of the world. And since the company’s motto is to create as many sweet cannabis strains as possible, you can expect a lot more sugar coming your way!
