Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower's Bible

‘Haze’ (Afghani × Thai) × (Mexican × Columbian).
F1 hybrid varieties -
    An F1 hybrid population is obtained by crossing two unrelated, true breeding varieties. F1 hybrids are unique in that they are uniform when grown from seed, but, like all hybrids, are genetically unstable. If reproduced sexually by inbreeding within the F1 population, the subsequent generation will be neither uniform nor similar to the F1 generation.
    One of the major benefits of F1 seed to the grower is a condition known as hybrid vigor, or heterosis. Hybrid vigor occurs when the progeny resultant from crossing the two parental inbred lines exceed the performance of the parental lines in some character, or most often in sets of characters (F1 < or > P1 or P2).
    F1 hybrids are often bigger and more robust and grow faster than either of the parent populations used in the creation of the F1 population. For example, a (‘Skunk#1’ × ‘Blueberry’) F1 hybrid may grow faster and yield more than either the pure ‘Skunk #1’ or ‘Blueberry’ parent populations. Often, heterosis is apparent as a tolerance to adverse environmental conditions.
    F1 seed production has benefits to the breeder or seed-maker, as well as the grower. True-breeding seed can be easily reproduced by open-pollination. Most seed companies have no interest in selling easily reproduced seed. This is as true of corn as it is of cannabis. Very few companies that do take the time and effort to breed stable parent stock release it in a pure form. Most make and release hybrids, as certain competitor companies’ sole mission is to create knockoff versions of lines released by those who have actually taken the time to develop new true-breeding lines. By releasing only hybrids of their pure lines, seed banks ensure the customer comes back to buy more of the F1 seed each time they wish to do a new seed planting of the variety. They also protect the investment of their long-term breeding effort by removing the possibility that a competitor will reproduce their work and sell it as their own.
    Unfortunately, breeders of cannabis drug varieties have no recourse to the law when others reproduce and market their years of work. Due to the illegal nature of the plant, drug cannabis varieties are not protected by the various plant breeder’s rights legislation around the world.There is, however, at least one drug type cannabis clone registered for plant protection in Holland. The clone registered as ‘Medsins’ is owned for use by a pharmaceutical company licensed to grow cannabis for pharmaceutical production.
    Variety - A subdivision of a kind, group, or family that is distinct in some characters. Within the variety, all plants exhibit a set of defined morphological, physiological, or other chemical characteristics that differentiate the variety from all other varieties. The variety must be uniform. Variations in essential and distinctive characters are described and characterized by the breeder. The variety will remain unchanged to a reasonable degree of reliability in its essential and distinctive characteristics and its uniformity when reproduced *
    Cultivar (abbreviated cv) - A term derived from “cultivated variety,” a population of cultivated plants clearly distinguished by any number of morphological, physiological, cytological, or chemical characteristics. When reproduced sexually or asexually the population retains its distinguishing characters. *
    New selections derived from a cultivar or variety such that the selection shows sufficient variation from the parent cultivar to render it worthy of a name, are to be regarded as a distinct cultivar.
    * Note that the Guidelines for Classifying Cultivated Plant Populations (1978) stipulate that variety and cultivar are considered equivalents.
    Strain - Strain is not a scientifically accepted botanical term, although in the cannabis industry many use the term when discussing seedlots for purchase, for lack of a more accurate term. Strain is a term incorrectly applied to selections of cultivars or varieties. In the cannabis seed industry, very few seedlots could be considered true varieties or cultivars, because they are not uniform or do not breed true. All plants within the population do not reproduce the defining characteristics, and, usually the variations in the defining characteristics are not described. Very often, commercially sold seeds are nothing more than hybrids of hybrids with names, and there are no defining