HOW AND WHY ARE NEW STRAINS OF WEED CREATED?

Walk into any cannabis dispensary, and you’ll be faced with the choice of which products you want, and more specifically which strains you want. Both cannabis flower and cannabis extracts come in a wide variety of strains.

With so many choices in the ever-evolving library of cannabis strains, you might be wondering where all of them are coming from. Allow us to help you understand how and why all of these weed strains are being created.

What are weed strains?

Cannabis strains are variations of the cannabis plant that produce their own unique attributes, thanks to their genetics. Those attributes can be boiled down to appearance, aroma, flavor, and high. Gelato, Wedding Cake and Orange Cream are examples of different weed strains with different attributes and experiences.

There are hundreds of different strains of weed at this point. They are all categorized by terms into sativa, indica, and hybrid.

Sativa cannabis strains

Sativa is a term used to describe cannabis plants that grow tall and lanky with long thin leaves. Sativa has also historically been used to describe cannabis strains with energizing and uplifting effects. Essentially, sativas have been thought of as “upper” weed strains.

Indica cannabis strains

Indica describes cannabis plants that grow short and bushy with wide leaves. Indicas have also historically been used to describe cannabis strains with sedative, sleepy effects. Essentially, indicas have been thought of as “downer” weed strains.

Hybrid cannabis strains 

Hybrid describes cannabis strains that fall in the median of sativas and indicas. Hybrids have historically been used to describe cannabis strains with middle-of-the-road, euphoric effects. 

Some cannabis studies suggest sativa, indica, and hybrid are simply descriptors of how plants grow, not their effects. Many of those studies suggest that terpenes, which are the molecules responsible for a strain’s smell and taste, are greater indicators of the effects we can expect.

There is truly not enough research for us to know one way or the other yet. It is worth noting that different strains definitely do provide differing experiences, though. For that reason, if you’re looking for a specific type of high, you should pay more attention to a strain’s genetics, and less attention to minimizing classifications like sativa, indica, and hybrid.

Why are there so many weed strains?

Look at any online strain database and you’ll see hundreds of weed strains. So many that you’ll probably ask why they all exist. The truth is that cannabis breeders, who are the creators of the strains and seeds that grow into the plants that give us consumable flowers, are artists just like people who make music and paint murals.

Besides the art of creation, weed strains exist because we all love different effects. It’s like why there are so many different flavors of soda. At some point, the pioneers of cannabis breeding noticed different characteristics amongst cannabis strains from different regions and they began to cross them with each other to make unique variations of the cannabis plant.

The result is a bunch of different cannabis strains with a bunch of different traits that can be used both medicinally and recreationally. This is why pretty much everything you buy today is a hybrid; very few pure indicas and sativas are being sold.

Another consideration is that so many weed strains exist because of consumer fatigue. Like any market, cannabis has to evolve based on consumer demand and desire. Oftentimes, weed users will enjoy a strain for a few months and then get bored with it, causing producers to continuously put out new weed strains and flavors.

How are weed strains made?

Breeders create weed strains. Cultivators grow those strains. Those strains can be grown from seed or clones to produce all of those big plants you love to see. From those plants, we get all the flowers that can either be smoked, or processed into different cannabis concentrates that result in all of the dabs, wee pens, and edibles we buy and consume.

To create weed strains, breeders need a father plant and a mother plant. Keep in mind, only female cannabis plants produce flowers; male cannabis plants produce pollen sacs. Breeders use the pollen from male plants to pollinate female plants, resulting in offspring plants that produce seeds with their buds.

From those seeds, we get all of the hybrid cannabis strains and different phenotypes of certain genetics that we all smoke, dab, and vaporize. Phenotypes are when a cannabis plant has the same genetics, but different physical and experiential characteristics, as other plants. Think of it like a family where the children of a mother and father all have their own different personalities.

A great example of this is the Gelato cannabis strain. Gelato was created by crossing Sunset Sherbert and Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies. From these two strains, we got the popular Gelato #25, Gelato #33, Gelato #41, and Gelato #45 phenotypes.

Over time, breeders did the above process with hundreds of different parent strains, and that’s how we now have so many different options of what to smoke and from where. It’s a beautiful reality, though the process of sorting through all of these hybrids can be a little daunting. Just remember: find the genetics and flavors you like, and you’ll usually find the effects you like.

At STIIIZY, we only use premium cannabis flower for all of our cannabis extracts. We also offer proprietary weed vape pods and a weed pen battery system.