I've been looking through the UK420 seedbank and elsewhere, and there is huge variation in the prices, from less than 15 quid to 90 or more, sometimes for what appears to be much the same strain, at least to a newbie like me. Are the more expensive seeds better than the cheaper ones in some way, or just rarer/more exotic? If, for example, you buy the 90 quid Northern Lights, is it three times better than the 36 quid one? Or would you do pretty much as well with the 14 quid skunk #1?

Lots of different factors here, not as simple and methodical as 3 times the price = 3 times the product (yield, taste,...). The principal improvement will be the stability and homogeneity of the plants i.e. no hermies, more uniformity. Also in many cases ur paying for the brand of more exclusive seed banks, and in many cases strains that have won awards or are particularly sought after. Then u get the premium of 'female' seeds, which in most cases is like buying 'premium unleaded', an expensive waste of time.

im growing mandala speedqueens ... retailing at a massive £12 from the shop .... i have had 3 females from 5 seeds ... all of which cracked within 12hours and have produced plants that are very healthy and growing brilliantly ... im on my second week of 12/12 and they are starting to bud

so maybe cheap and cheerful seeds is the way forward .. especially if your a newbie like me .. less to bugger up

mom
xxx

I'd say the main thing to do whilst ur getting more experienced at growing, is look through strains and grow reports, and apart from trying to find a plant which looks nice and u want to grow, look for a strain that is not too demanding. This will be the key to success and not spending loads of money. Some strains, like New york city diesel are literally idiot proof, whilst others are difficult to manage.

Mate if I were you i`d stick with skunk 1 for £12 yield well, smoke well,and not difficult to grow.Good luck

This is a complex subject but the saying you only get what you pay for dos'nt applie.For example i bought the £90 Northern Lights,out of 15 seeds i had only 5 germinate and ended up with one female,grew it out and at best it was a medioca smoke,not impressed.I think you have to choose carefully and take advise from those who have tried and tested these expensive strains.

so true, cant go wrong with skunks, cheap, simple and a lovely smoke.
expensive seeds arent always better, some companys sell crap for £300

Heya squirrel,

An often asked question, and a difficult one to answer. Most of the things already said on this thread are spot on.

Perhaps if the question was rephrased a bit, it might yield some light:- If you asked
- "Do I have to fork out a lot of money for a decent strain?" Then the answer is a definite NO.

With the emergence of new breeders, plus some old classics, it's quite surprising what very good genetics can be available at a low price.

Now, some of the expensive stuff, especially from the breeders with a solid reputation is also very good, sometimes exceptional, but NO GUARANTEE that it will be fine. There is an element of chance when dealing with seeds that you just have to accept. Even good strains may contain the odd dud, and cheapo stuff may occasionally yield an amazing phenotype, if you're lucky.

Hunters of an outstanding sample may even buy more than one pack of expensive seeds, in the hope of finding something exceptional. But that's pretty much advanced territory. The best advice has already been given:
Decide what kind of smoke you want, and then (also considering any other constraints - e.g. space) find an example that is robust and easy to grow. You can't go wrong.

===

My own experience: I've been growing just over a year, grown out, ooh, nearly 10 separate strains. All were under £30 pounds, and all have been great - got keepers from them. I also had one expensive strain from a breeder of extremely solid repute. Less than 1/3 of these germinated, three hermies, only one decent plant from the lot. And although it was nice, it wasn't a keeper. Go figure. I don't blame the breeder, BTW, and would germinate their seeds again. I just chalk it up to the luck of the draw.

So, bottom line: With good, solid, inexpensive strains out there, why gamble with something more expensive, unless you're 100% sure that's what you want? Nothing will encourage you more than initial success.



PS I realise you've probably already chosen your candidate strain

i'm with gert lush , i've grown maybe 20 strains and have as good results with 15 quid seeds as i have 70 pounders .

out of everything i have grown my keeper that have always kept a mother of is a 15 pound knockoff of armaggedon 11.59 .

ukgg

The most I ever paid for seeds was £65 for Sensi's Silver Haze. It's a solid, reliable plant, but not that impressive really. I'm still tempted by blueberry, but at the moment I'm growing mixes. The £10 Tiki mix was the best I've ever grown. The Canna Biogen mix I'm growing is more suited to sativa fans (maybe I will appreciate them more next spring but Tiki have got me hooked on indicas at the moment). I think now I will be trying the Sagarmatha mix next ... then probably another Tiki mix.

Somewhere along the line I really need to start taking cuttings and doing some decent sized crops .. but I don't smoke that much really and am enjoying the challenge of the unknown. I'm certainly not interested in growing a crop of 4 or 5 identical plants.

Roll on my new room which will be twice the size.

Thanks for all the replies everybody. We've gone with Skunk #1 and they started peeping out from the rockwool cubes yesterday. Very much swayed by the advice that they are an easy strain to grow, the relatively short growing time (bloody drought's still on here), and of course skunk is a legend. Let's hope we can keep them alive long enough to smoke. I'm hoping that they will prove resilient enough to survive our mistakes!

While studying the "which strain" question, it struck me that it's rather like learning about wine. Until you've tried a few cheap bottles from Tesco, you just don't have the experience to know whether an expensive bottle is worth the money. I suspect I will be quite happy in the bargain basement, but no doubt we'll experiment a bit once we get everything working properly.

Hi All,
I have a question which nobody seems to have covered, or that i can find. How many seeds do you get?
For example i have looked at the UK420 seeds and nowhere does it say how many you get. Is it only 1?? Do contents vary depending on the seed supplier. If you were to but the skunk number 1 for £14 how many seeds do you get?
I have used only pukka in the past and they to me seem expensive but in their catalogue it does tell you how many you get for the money. I have got 10 mixed seeds from them which all germinated but one died after about 2 weeks and all the rest are veging fine. I guess i can only tell what they are when they start flowering, is this correct or are there other ways that i can tell?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

You usually get at least 10 per pack - sometimes 11 or 12, depending on where you're buying it.

I personally wouldn't pay more than £40 for a pack of seeds and am growing Nirvana White Widow (£15? or something like that per pack) at the moment.

Nothing poor about the quality there!! Serioussssly...

Got 15 in the Skunk #1 pack. Check out the UK420 seedbank, it says how many seeds at the end of the blurb you get when you click on the strain.

Good question Fetish...I didn't know either when I started...I thought I'd be getting one seed as well
There is one seed co. out there that sells packets of 11 seeds...which I find slightly eccentric, but very pleasing

The truth is you need to grow out an awful lot of seeds to get a plant like the one that won the cannabis cup or whatever ...

Even Sensi's skunk no.1 will vary between plants to a certain extent - in terms of aroma and flavour - the growth pattern and high are pretty stable.

I have just been checking and it doesn't tell you on a lot of them. DP Mazar for example doesn't nor does Satvia Mexicana, Full moon, mexicana, Indigo to name a few.
Perhaps the powers that be, could add it for all seeds?? To help us newbies please?

I also paid £50 for my mixed seeds from Pukka and i have recently bought some Bluberry #1 from them but they are from the Doggies Nuts range which i can't wait to try. I love the sound of them and have never smoked anythin like that before. Just need to get these mixed seeds finished first!

if you aint opened the packet take them back and get a refund, pukka seedbank are frauds mate , get your seeds from uk420 mate
T1

Thanks mate.
I will in future buy from here as that definately seems the way to go. They also run the Esoteric Hydroponics shop in Guildford and i have bought most of my stuff from there and they seem expensive for most things. They do give good advice though you just seem to be paying for it!

i think the price is down to supply and demand mostly but whatever you pay will be more than made up with your first crop. each plant is worth more than the packet of seeds and that's then money you don't have to spend to buy your stash. if you grow a mother plant from the packet you've got free plants for life. cost just isn't an issue. i'd quite happily pay £100 for one seed if i knew it would breed true but they tend not to from smaller breeders so i'll happily accept 10 to play with.

the overgrow strain guide gives good info.

Don't forget the UK420 shop has a pricematch policy

PM joolz or the shopkeeper with the link to the cheaper price and they will do their best to match it
I have read some good reports on KC Brains and will be giving them a go soon.
£10 a pack and there are some KC Bahia Blackhead Feminised at a tenner a pack because a couple of males slipped through.
Still reckon on 8/9 females in a pkt but they state that most are still 100%. Bargain

G.A.T.I

Thanks all for some really good advice. I know where to buy from next time.