THE ETHOS WHITE LABEL PROJECT
In the next year, it is Ethos’ intention to bring to market a catalog of white label seeds that have been made for the dual purpose of keeping popular varieties around while also differentiating this product from the breeding projects that compose Ethos’ primary lineup. With this white label line, we will be selfing varieties that we did not make that can’t be sourced elsewhere.
The intention of this project will be to create S1 batches of sought-after varieties. We have a lot of customers and friends who ask specifically for this niche of seed making, taking into consideration what I want for my personal collection.
Creating an S1 Catalog of Current Zeitgeist Cultivars
You always think varieties will stick around, but I look around and, no exaggeration, 80% of the best cuts I’ve seen I don’t have access to anymore. Some of the original seed stocks and clone-only varieties are truly gone forever. But, if I’d taken the time to self those cuts when I had them, and had kept 100 seeds or so, there’s a good chance that I could have her back.
With this white label effort, I want to catalog the best cuts of the time; the current trends and lowest hanging fruits that are desirable to many but accessible to few. In markets like Colorado and California, it is relatively easy to find cuts of popular genetics and cultivars, but outside of these highly concentrated markets, it can be harder to gain access. Things that may be common in these markets may be difficult to get in Europe or South Africa, or vice versa.
The catalog is more than just for posterity, but it absolutely serves that purpose, and it’s a project that I wish I’d begun earlier. If it’s something that I want for my collection, and something that you can’t readily access an S1 seed pack of on the market, then of course it’s considered for the catalog. I’m going to do cuts that have been around and are time-tested.
While it will take some time to build, our goal is to create a catalog that will preserve the ability to resurrect a lost genetic without having to worry about plant counts nor space and storage for cloning or tissue culture.
Hedging Your Bets: Accounting for Genetic Stability
It’s easy to misconstrue a phrase like “If I had a 100 seeds of everything” to mean, “it’s about 100:1 of getting an exact variety of a seed”. The reality is that, depending on genetic stability of that variety, somewhere between 20-50 females is likely to give you a few that are very similar to the original, but 100 hedges your bet for less genetically stable varieties.
The upside to this lack of homogeneity is that you are more likely to find unicorns in less stable varieties; outliers that you’re less likely to find further along. The genetic stability of these popular cuts will be showcased in the variety of expressions observed from seed.
Rarely does a cut breed better than it is, especially as consistently and differently as Cookies. Because its S1s are so interesting and so good, that’s what makes it such a good breeder. 90% of what it breeds with, those are the qualities it is bringing to the cross. All of the variation, which is high, is desired, particularly with terpenes, compared to a cultivar like GG#4 which produces more undesirable variations. Both share the same low homogeny, but one is a stronger breeder in my opinion because of variation, which is why I retired my glue lines.
Ethos White Label
I remember even as a fairly educated grower that there was quite a bit about the seed market that I didn’t understand. When Sensi Seed Bank and DNA did white labels like Reserva Privada, I liked that they were up front about which ones were bred in-house and which ones were sourced favorites. The goal of this project is to make accessible good cuts of years past and preserve the cuts of now.
Be on the lookout for the Ethos White Label Project in 2022.
Subscribe to our Substack to receive new content automatically
This article is featured in Vol. 2 of The ETHOS Magazine.
Grab a collector's edition of the ETHOS magazine in print HERE.