I see that the ignorant still prevail and bully people here. Sad that. I can assure everyone that seeds are not only viable after being frozen for upward of 40 years, but they will THRIVE! And they retain original genetics that have been lost to the ages of change in the black markets around the world. I have gotten some interesting international feedback on my threads here lately. I have also gotten some offers to buy my seed collection. Again, it is not for sale as a whole, sorry. I may sell or trade some seeds to people doing genetic research and original crossing, which is ongoing. But overall I have heard from some old friends on Overgrow and other places that seed companies are not generally trustworthy, even ones in Europe where I could bank my own seeds to sell direct.
Oregon laws are still in flux for growing commercially, but they keep adding more hurdles to grow and they have greatly increased the costs for permits. A full grow permit is now $5,000 a year, up from the original $1,000. They also want water rights certified, power grid impact analysis, zoning approval, state and county permits, approval from any neighbors on any shared easement to the grow property if there are any easements, a 10 foot perimeter wall (requiring a county permit) for outdoor grows, building permits for any building for indoor grows, the buildings and/or greenhouses installed, lights, electrical, plumbing and water systems installed, bathrooms for employees, designates vehicles for transport, marijuana handling certificates for all involved, county and state inspections, an expensive bar code tag, inventory and reader systems and training on it, complete video surveillance with cameras and a secure location video recording system, an alarm system with dedicated phone service and response, a commercial quality lock/secure enclosure, background checking and listing of all owners, a comprehensive business and accounting plan, a business license, a secure area for drying/trimming/curing/storing weed and a means of bagging, tagging and storing harvested weed while it is sent out for testing at a certified lab, a vault for storing cash, because it is still an all cash business with the current federal classification of marijuana, and an OSHA approved and ventilated area for working in with all state requirements for hiring and managing employees (payroll, benefits, withholdings, yadda yadda). They also want full testing of product for pesticides, mold and THC/CBD content at certified labs as of today, but there are only 10 labs certified at this time (out of the 30+ that applied) and there will be a huge bottleneck for testing product near term. Also outdoor grows are going to be impacted by the weather here this summer, as the rains started early in September this year. I have had spot mold and rot on my outdoor MJ grow this year, even in a greenhouse. Condensation is a problem here when the temps get below 50 degrees at night, and the humidity is high. Lately it has been around 70% humidity and in the mid to upper 40s at night. I hear that growers are using hair dryers and a lot of fans to try to keep their plants dry. The trick is to have a heated greenhouse with good ventilation, which my brother has. He has had no rot to speak of this year. I have had some rot, but it is manageable. I have also had a lot of powdery mildew here this year on my plants, but that is also manageable with Neem oil. Bottom line, I am not going to get a grow license here, even though my property is in the proper agricultural permit zone, I have the space, and I have water rights. Just not worth it. Medical grow is a lot simpler to get and only requires a commercial locking system. And of course I can grow 4 plants here w/o any permit or approval. I am also working with a local guy that is getting a grow license and intends just to sell live MJ plants to retail sales places, as well as commercial medical and rec weed growers.
That said, I have been growing some interesting clone-only heirloom strains this year to cross my seeds strains with. Most notably GDP and White Widow. I am looking for earlier blooming and finishing strains like White Widow to cross with my rot and mildew resistant seed landrace strains from Mexico. I noticed last year that my indica heirlooms were all subject to more rot and mildew growing here, whereas my Mexican sativas were pretty rot and mildew free. I am also looking for larger size and more open plants (White Widow gets really crowded and packed colas). So I am crossing those. I can also inject mint flavor from my Oaxaca seed strains into anything else, and I am trying a GDP/grape flavor Oaxaca/mint flavor cross. I have also been harvesting lately, and my hands were so covered in oil and resin yesterday that I had to stop and clean my scissors and hands with 91% alcohol several times. My back room REEKS of fresh drying tops. And the early buds that I have dried are smoking up really well now. So I have lots of good weed to stay stoned most of the time.
As for this thread, I will be finishing off the seed catalog listing here as there has been interest in my doing that, and for simply completing it. Then I will move on to finishing my two books on weed; the first is on small legal growing methods in the western states, and the other will be my memoirs of growing up in NorCal and being a pot head. I was writing one book, but it soon became apparent that there were two threads going that are unique. Growing weed, vs. growing up on weed. Simplicity is the key, as well as dispelling so much false information out there, the likes of which have pervaded this thread (and this site in many aspects). It seems that seed companies do not want people knowing that seeds can be frozen and stored, virtually forever. They would rather you pay upward of $20 a pop for one seed! I mean, really? My seeds were an undesirable portion of lids that I bought in the 70s and 80s. Most people tossed them out with the trash. We had rolling trays for de-stemming and de-seeding weed with in those days, just to get enough flowers and leaves to roll a joint with. Seeds left in joints tended to explode like popcorn does. As a result of that most of the early genetics were tossed out as well. Every top shelf strain out there now has to have a history and has to have come from somewhere. Much of this is from the early seeded weed days in NorCal from pot imported from around the globe. Strains like Haze, Skunk, and Mendo Purps/GDP, Dog Bud/Chem Dog, Blue Dream etc. all come from NorCal, and the seeds there were all imported.
Heckling is kinda rare on this forum. Please remember that.