Establishing Credibility Guidelines for Breeders

Son of Hobbes

High of the Tiger
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Good morning everyone!

We had a pretty good discussion about this in our private gladiator sub-forum with some of the gladiators/product testers on the forum, and I wanted to extend it out here publicly because I think it would be great to get some rounded perspectives on this!

So the backstory on it is that I spend a lot of time looking around at genetic breeders for autoflowers in various places, and Facebook has REALLY BLOWN UP in terms of who is coming out of the woodwork with genetics (especially as legalization grows.) The problem is, every Tom, Dick, & Harry out there can call themselves a breeder, and the discussion was about "how do we establish credibility with a new breeder if no one has heard of them, or if they have genetics that seem to be a bit too far fetched/too good to be true, etc."

It's very easy to go "well, that can't be, screw these guys, they must be lying to make a buck," but sometimes that's actually NOT the case (and I don't want us to make blanket statements about what could be CREDIBLE people (because that doesn't reflect well on us either.)

So what do YOU think establishes credibility? Someone says "I breed autos" and they want to sell you seeds? What makes you go "I'll give this a shot?"

There's a breeder I won't mention (he got SLAMMED on Facebook recently for their strains, I think they had about 15-20 new auto strains come out this last year or so and they are all BIG name sounding, attractive sounding, "power word" named genetics. But the speed at which they are coming out, most people have called him out for just pollen chucking.

Is there a way for us to establish credibility with some of these entities that you can think of, short of inviting them to the forum to have growers test out their stuff?

We've been told "you're too selective," and also "you're not selective enough" with who comes on the site, but sometimes we're just wanting to test the waters of those out there. Whether we give a thumbs up or thumbs down on someone, that seldom stops anyone from doing anything. But if we can create some guidelines to share with both new and experience growers on the site, maybe we can help avoid some of the headache and heartache of getting ripped off, or at least creating realistic expectations on what you might be getting with someone trying to sell you something.

Personally, I think if a breeder can't show you their breeding setup or talk in-depth about the process, it's extremely shady. I don't know anyone that spends signicant time with cannabis that doesn't like to nerd out, geek out, share out, and even brag a little about their successes, right? :rofl:

What do YOU think, AFN?

Maybe we could get some feedback from some of the breeder reps on the forum too, or have them go up the line to the actual breeders themselves if they aren't doing it themselves, etc etc.
 
Good morning everyone!

We had a pretty good discussion about this in our private gladiator sub-forum with some of the gladiators/product testers on the forum, and I wanted to extend it out here publicly because I think it would be great to get some rounded perspectives on this!

So the backstory on it is that I spend a lot of time looking around at genetic breeders for autoflowers in various places, and Facebook has REALLY BLOWN UP in terms of who is coming out of the woodwork with genetics (especially as legalization grows.) The problem is, every Tom, Dick, & Harry out there can call themselves a breeder, and the discussion was about "how do we establish credibility with a new breeder if no one has heard of them, or if they have genetics that seem to be a bit too far fetched/too good to be true, etc."

It's very easy to go "well, that can't be, screw these guys, they must be lying to make a buck," but sometimes that's actually NOT the case (and I don't want us to make blanket statements about what could be CREDIBLE people (because that doesn't reflect well on us either.)

So what do YOU think establishes credibility? Someone says "I breed autos" and they want to sell you seeds? What makes you go "I'll give this a shot?"

There's a breeder I won't mention (he got SLAMMED on Facebook recently for their bullshit strains, I think they had about 15-20 new auto strains come out this last year or so and they are all BIG name sounding, attractive sounding, "power word" named genetics. But the speed at which they are coming out, most people have called him out for just pollen chucking.

There's another breeder I've seen pushed in Missouri groups that's claiming to have pretty much ALL F6 and F7 autoflower seeds, but I've never even heard of the guy before. Probing into it, he runs 15k user group on Facebook that every other comment is praising his name, their genetics, etc (so it's not hard to see what's been done, it's a sham group to sell seeds. In fact, there's a LOT of sham groups on FB doing the same thing.)

Is there a way for us to establish credibility with some of these entities that you can think of, short of inviting them to the forum to have growers test out their stuff?

We've been told "you're too selective," and also "you're not selective enough" with who comes on the site, but sometimes we're just wanting to test the waters of those out there. Whether we give a thumbs up or thumbs down on someone, that seldom stops anyone from doing anything. But if we can create some guidelines to share with both new and experience growers on the site, maybe we can help avoid some of the headache and heartache of getting ripped off, or at least creating realistic expectations on what you might be getting with someone trying to sell you something.

Personally, I think if a breeder can't show you their breeding setup or talk in-depth about the process, it's extremely shady. I don't know anyone that spends signicant time with cannabis that doesn't like to nerd out, geek out, share out, and even brag a little about their successes, right? :rofl:

What do YOU think, AFN?

Maybe we could get some feedback from some of the breeder reps on the forum too, or have them go up the line to the actual breeders themselves if they aren't doing it themselves, etc etc.
this is a great idea i think your spot on with all your points the way i choose my breeders is the results growers get from there genetics either grow diaries or Instagram lately but like you say this is no good for the new guy who just popped up so i think as you mentioned the only real and best way to decide if a guy is legit is how open they are to SHOW you and talk about there way of breeding i put show in capitals because talk is easy showing consistency in photos or film is a different story so for example with a few guys we have here on AFN . mandolin genetics he posts up all his shots you can clearly see what he is doing and it has pushed me to want to try his stuff purely on this he has a great track record of his grow and others using his gear and another one would have been magic but he dosnt seem as active anymore so to sum up great pictures good honest open discussion are the most important to me
 
Good morning everyone!

@Global Moderators
@Gladiators
@Vendors

And of course community, members!

Read another report of a grower getting ripped off this morning by a USA-based seed bank (one that has been controversially talked about on here before.)

Food for thought, we had put this together awhile, back, I'm 100% open to modifying or changing the information in here if there's anything glaringly wrong or misrepresented:


Trying to put together some lists of banks/breeders by geographic...

Snowballing ideas, would a way to review the customer experience with a breeder/bank be something of interest? Not how the strains grew, not how the flower smoked, but how the customer experience went placing the order or getting feedback in a timely manner, etc etc.
 
Good morning everyone!

@Global Moderators
@Gladiators
@Vendors

And of course community, members!

Read another report of a grower getting ripped off this morning by a USA-based seed bank (one that has been controversially talked about on here before.)

Food for thought, we had put this together awhile, back, I'm 100% open to modifying or changing the information in here if there's anything glaringly wrong or misrepresented:


Trying to put together some lists of banks/breeders by geographic...

Snowballing ideas, would a way to review the customer experience with a breeder/bank be something of interest? Not how the strains grew, not how the flower smoked, but how the customer experience went placing the order or getting feedback in a timely manner, etc etc.
Personally I think it's a great idea. :thumbsup: It would keep breeders accountable for their actions and provide members with valuable information when selecting companies to do business with.:eyebrows:
 
That's a good idea. I have had a few different people PM on here asking if I want to buy there seeds. All I usually reply is sure send me link to website they dont respond lol. I'm all for keeping people from getting ripped off and help others find reputable breeders or banks.
 
That's a good idea. I have had a few different people PM on here asking if I want to buy there seeds. All I usually reply is sure send me link to website they dont respond lol. I'm all for keeping people from getting ripped off and help others find reputable breeders or banks.

I know there are a lot of good breeders out there too that don't have websites and don't solicit around a ton either (introverts of the world unite... just not in the same room!)
 
I have had a few different people PM on here asking if I want to buy there seeds.

Also if you do get requests like this (especially from brand new members,) please don't hesitate to report the post if it makes you uncomfortable. It only shows the reported post (not your conversation) in our panel, and we can review it for spam, etc.
 
I know there are a lot of good breeders out there too that don't have websites and don't solicit around a ton either (introverts of the world unite... just not in the same room!)
Oh I know. I just ask if they have a website. I figured they would respond no and say hey check out my Instagram or something. Only one of the few I've responded to has responded and they were outside the United states so didn't bother. Theres a list way ahead of theirs if I decide to make purchases outside the country to worry about customs.
 
Is dragon seeds reputable?? I got a private chat yesterday saying hmu DM for seeds. I messaged him sure I'll take a look let me see your website link. He still hasn't responded to me.
 
That's a good idea. I have had a few different people PM on here asking if I want to buy there seeds. All I usually reply is sure send me link to website they dont respond lol. I'm all for keeping people from getting ripped off and help others find reputable breeders or banks.
u must hang out in different parts of the site than i do iv never been asked to buy seeds loads of offers for free ones and clones but il be dammed if i give anyone my address who im not 100% on
 
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