Seedsman Meets FastBuds – Seedsman Blog

We’re offering a buy 1 get 1 free offer on multiple FastBuds strains right now on Seedsman. Check out our promo page for further details.

If you’re unfamiliar with FastBuds, we sat down with CEO Stan to learn a little about where they’ve come from, where they’re going and which strains they’d recommend you try out.

Tell us a little bit about how you first got involved with cannabis?

We were very young, just smoking weed, and at some point, we realised that it’s We were very young, just smoking weed, and at some point, we realised that it’s cheaper, easier and better to grow your own weed. We started growing and experimenting with clones, then seeds which eventually led to producing our own seeds.

And how did this lead to you getting involved in breeding?

We decided to take things more seriously and try to produce our own seeds at some point. We read a lot of books and looked for help online in forums. This helped us to start making our own crosses and experimenting. Eventually, we learned about autoflowers which were still new, but we realised they had huge potential, so we started focusing on autoflowers.

What are the 3 or 5 main considerations for commercial breeding?

First of all, I would say that you love what you do, but in terms of autoflower breeding,  the most important thing is plant selection, so you have to start with as many plants as you can—the bigger the selection, the better the result. 

You also need to plan ahead and understand what you need and what you want your plant to be. Do you need your strain to be bigger? Stronger? Are you looking for a specific terpene profile? But this is a matter of personal preference as there’s no best strain in the world. Each breeder goes through a different selection process, but we’re pretty happy with our results and our clients too. 

Another huge thing is to keep your grow area super clean and be very careful when pollinating to keep everything under control. But yeah, there are many things to keep in mind, but the most important one would be plant selection, as this will dictate the quality of your genetics. 

What strains have you developed close to your heart, and why?

I would say the Mexican Airlines and Californian Snow because they were our first Sativa strains and people really enjoyed them. A couple of years later, our Gorilla Glue and Girl Scout Cookies which were a big step forward and became one of our best-selling strains. And more recently, our Gorilla Cookies because it’s the biggest and strongest strain, in my opinion. But we are constantly improving our genetics and coming out with new strains, so I don’t know what will be our next favourite.

What, if anything, do you do that is different, unique, or particularly noteworthy in the breeding space?

We cannot reveal our company’s secrets, but we can say that years of experience taught us that experimenting and trying new things can bring amazing results. So we’re always looking for new parent plants, mixing and trying new combinations, and basically just trying some crazy things that may not look like the obvious thing to do but always surprise us. 

We also have one of the best quality controls in our breeding facilities because we have designed it to our liking. This allows us to follow the basic steps we need to perfect our strains, despite being time-consuming and sometimes tedious. I think this is why our customers are so satisfied with our products.

What is your best recommendation for a beginner from your range?

We recommend our Orange Sherbet, Forbidden Runtz, and Gorilla Punch for beginner growers. But remember to do your research and figure out the basics such as lights, fertilisers, substrates, etc. Once you have the basics, you’ll find growing much easier. But just like anything, it’s a matter of trying again and again and again. 

Why do you value Seedsman, and what have they done to promote your strains?

They are one of our biggest customers, they have thousands of customers and distribute worldwide. Seedsman has excellent customer service, and I definitely recommend them to get your seeds. I also know them personally and respect them a lot. They’re smart people doing excellent work.

What quality control measures do you take with generating seeds?

High-quality control standards, strain selection, testing, having all the technical details of male and female plants, and a couple of other things that we cannot reveal. But for example, for germination, we do a lot of tests and never release seeds that have less than 97% germination rates. Our goal is 100% germination rate, but we have a germination warranty if a couple of seeds don’t germinate because we want to do the best for our clients.

How do you ensure good seed health and best practices?

Basically, we know how to grow and produce seeds. We know how the seeds should feel and look. There are usually a lot of inviable seeds, so we have to select healthy seeds by colour and size to check for healthy seeds. We do everything manually. We sell millions of seeds, and all of them are selected manually to provide the best seeds possible to our clients.

How do you decide what to name a strain?

 In short, it depends on many things, but this is a good question. Lately, we’ve been naming our strains by what they are, so for example,  Banana Purple Punch is a cross between Strawberry Banana and Purple Punch. Sometimes we have more inspiration, but it depends on the smell, effect, and overall appearance of the plant. For example, our Wedding Cheesecake got its name because of the smell and flavour, although we always try to keep it close to the name of the parent strains. But our 2022 lineup is pretty straightforward. We just combined the name of the parent strains for our clients to get an idea of what to expect. 

What traits are you targeting that are outside of the desirables for finished flowers? (e.g. reduced flowering time, pathogen resistance, etc.)

I mean, everything depends on the plant we’re working with. What traits it has, what traits it doesn’t, and also what we’re looking for. Sometimes we’re looking for resistance, or sometimes we love a certain plant for its flavour, and we will try to enhance or perfect this flavour. Also, flowering times, but this could be the last of the list as we’re focusing on flavours, flower density, resistance structure, etc. ( a bit of everything, really). But we obviously have flowering times in consideration at all times.

What do you consider when selecting male plants/pollen?

Everything depends on what we’re looking for. But for example, if we want to preserve the traits of the mother plant, we will start with some males that we have in our genetic library and try to find a male that can contribute with resistance or any other trait without interfering with the characteristics we want. Sometimes we experiment with different plants or phenotypes, and as always, we try to grow as many plants as we can and just select the best ones based on our own standards.

Can you offer any advice for people starting out with breeding at home?

Yes, two things. First of all, the selection is key, so make sure to start with as many plants as possible and do not settle for anything less than what you’re after. Consumers will probably not like it if you don’t like it. So if you’re not happy with the results, continue looking. It takes time, dedication, and passion. And in second place, start with good genetics because genetics will make a huge difference between a good and an excellent product.

Don’t forget, FastBuds seeds are currently buy 1 get 1 free on a variety of strains. If you’ve wanted to try out their genetics, there’s never been a better time!