Seed Banks and Cannabis Reviews

An aggregate of passionate growers and breeders who spend their days collecting and genetically exploring the genomes of plants. This is what a seed bank is, and its importance for the progression of plants, especially that of Cannabis, is huge. The first of the “killer buds” and the strong high quality medical Cannabis that exists today owes a huge thanks to the original seed banks that began popping up in the 1970’s throughout the world. Without these we would be at risk of losing some of the most valuable and historically important genomes in existence.

A seed bank is a type of gene bank used to store seeds for future use, meaning it is a place that allows one to find strains of plants that may be rare today. These include food crops, types of flowering plants, and rare species to help maintain biodiversity. The reasons for storage of these types of seeds vary, but a lot of it has to do with many of the plants that were once used in agriculture are becoming rare today as they are not used as often. Storing like this also guards the future of humanity against losing potentially very important plants in the event of disasters like war or disease. Some types of seed banks are used specifically for the sharing of genetics to allow for diversity to flourish for breeders. Banks like this are what allow for the huge diversity we see in the Cannabis scene we see today.

Seed Banks, like the ones for Cannabis seeds, are founded on three main principles. First, only the best genetics are stored. This allows a guarantee that the seeds found within are worth growing and allows for the continuation of only the best lineages. Secondly, the pioneering of innovation within the plant genomes. For cannabis seeds in UK this has results in feminized and autoflowering seeds that are popular today, where some companies have begun to specialize on top quality cannabis seeds like Ice HeadShop. Third, the creation of a positive community to share and explore the possibilities of their chosen plants, allowing even greater types to exist through cooperation and the sharing of knowledge and seeds with one another.

The beginnings of Cannabis Seed banks began with Nevil Schoenmakers who was a born in Perth, Australia to Dutch parents. He moved to the Netherlands in 1976 and began growing his own Cannabis for personal use. During this period where he was growing for his own use he realized that the current strains available to him did not perform well in the northern European climate, nor did they turn out well indoors under artificial lighting. He quickly came to the realization that better genetics in the plants would solve this problems, so he decided the best way to obtain better genes was to start his own seed bank. In 1984 he started what was simply called “The Seedbank” where Schoenmakers collected as many cannabis strains as he could and crossbred them with his own. He was successful in his endeavors and created new strains that were more easily grown in temperate climates as well as under indoor growing situations. By 1986 his seed bank had become a massive success selling to over 15,000 growers in the US alone.

This new found success put him on the target list of the DEA during operation Green Merchant. This was endeavor from the United States government to investigate into the advertising inside of High Times with the end goal of shutting down the exploding indoor Cannabis industry that was using the United States Parcel Service, records were kept to track where the seeds were coming from and where the operations were. Schoemakers was charged with selling Cannabis seeds to undercover agents and growers in the New Orleans area. He was arrested in Perth on the request of the US government and was put in prison for a year without bail while awaiting a hearing for extradition to the US. Weeks before his hearing he was granted bail and immediately fled Australia. After this he was put on the FBI’s most wanted list, but because his activities were completely legal under Dutch law extradition was refused and the charges were dropped. Soon afterwards he sold the Seed Bank to another company where he worked for them as their head breeder. Then, he went on to found another seed company called the Greenhouse Seed company. By 1998, Schoemakers was highly regarded throughout the world as one of the most successful Cannabis breeders of all times with multiple High Times Cannabis Cup wins and finally sold off his shares of this new company to leave fame behind and focus on new endeavours.

Schoemakers is still regarded as the “King of Cannabis” as he was the first breeder to export strains from the Netherlands to the rest of the world and his efforts of creating strains have credited him with many very popular award winning strains such as Northern Lights, Super Skunk, Silver Haze, and many more.  The Northern Lights hybrid is regarded as one of the best strains of all times, as its lineage still continues to dominate the Cannabis Cups to this day. Its breeding led to many of the Medical Strains available today.

But, the importance of all this is that without this original seed bank Cannabis as we know it would not exist. We would still be dealing with the dry, stem-filled, seedy strains of the past without the work of Schoenmakers and other like him. The world of Cannabis is now brimming with exciting new scientific advancements for medical patients as well as the recreational user. The efforts Schoemakers went through to create this new world in Cannabis are highly respected, and he continues to this day to promote legalization from behind the scenes. Besides this, we now have the confidence that these great strains will be around as long as the banks are.  This goes beyond Cannabis as well, plants that we may lose in the future are guaranteed to be backed up and potentially improved upon through the world’s many seed banks.