Hey guys, I want to compile a list of must have strains that are currently available. Particularly strains that may become harder to obtain over the years for what ever reasons.
Individual lines may come and go, but I think that to the extent that
anything is available, good stuff will always be available. People tend to keep and perpetuate the lines that are good, not the ones that are bad.
For example, its legal to grow on private property in Spain, and its legal to possess ceeds there. Consequently, lots of the major breeders make their ceeds there, and at least several are HQ'd there (eg Dinafem, etc). So far as I know there is no serious criminalization movement in Spain meaning ceeds are probably going to be made there for a LONG time to come.
In general, the international trend (albeit slowly) is towards legalization. There are more seedbanks open today than ever before, more breeders, more strains, and more ceeds sold. So I think, if anything, there are probably MORE good strains available now then in the past, and more suppliers, and the number of them is probably only going to go up over time.
I'd say its difficult to know which individual lines may become unavailable. Usually when that happens its because the line isn't popular and the original breeder becomes defunct, and/or the line is some kind of hybrid where the parents aren't known or available so its effectively irreproduceable. Good stuff where the original breeder disappears still usually manages to stick around in someone's private collection and tends to reappear commercially.
So at least in terms of true-breeding lines, the big "name" ones are so widely held, that there is little risk that they'll totally die out (eg Skunk, Jack Herer, White Widow, Northern lights, etc). Lots of the "name" strains that people like right now really aren't stable lines. Stuff like that is always at risk of disappearing, but it probably doesn't really "matter" since lots of them are basically interchangeable "one off" crosses of other stuff. EG, how many variants of OG kush, or crosses with it are out there? If any one of them disappears, would it really change anything?
I don't count individual "one off" crosses in limited supply by breeders as "strains". These may make excellent plants, but they're not really "strains'. REAL strains, in my mind, have to exhibit some stability, meaning they have to be inbred over several generations, meaning they take at least a full year of work to create (and ideally closer to two years). Breeders who spend the time and effort to do that, don't intend for these lines to be one-offs.
Im always paranoid that one day all the seed banks will be forced to stop shipping to aus.
Don't think anyone can stop people from trying to ship ceeds into Australia. If there is a demand, someone will step up with the supply. The biggest real-world limiting factor is always going to be Aussie customs locating them. I'm pretty sure there is already lots of great genetics within Australia too, it just not may be widely available, unless you're in the right circles.
I would love to hear opinions on what people think are the current "legendary" strains.
I think by definition, if a strain is "legendary" its probably not going to disappear quickly from people's minds. Off the top of my head:
Northern Lights, Skunk #1, Blueberry, Trainwreck, White (aka Black) Widow, Romulan, Haze, Lowryder, Williams Wonder, Jack Herer, Super Silver Haze, C99, Mendo Purple (and variants including GDP), AK-47, Herijuana. Maybe we can put Kosher Kush, Chocolope, Kali Mist, Master Kush, in that list.
Note that these are all "legendary", that doesn't necessarily make them the best for any individual grower. I'm also deliberately omitting the famous "clone only" lines, or lines derived from them (eg Cheese, OG Kush, etc).
Landraces? Durban Poison, Panama Red/Punta Rojo, Acapulco Gold, Columbian Gold/Santa Marta, Jamaican Lamb's breath, Malawi, Oaxacan, just to name a few of the best/most famous off the top of my head.
One serious problem with these is that many of these come from equatorial or tropical type climates, making them difficult to impossible to finish outdoors in most of the world. These are also usually really tall/stretchy, and hermie prone, so they're not well-suited for indoor cultivation.
