"I don't see any reason this should be the case anymore."
Totally agree, my Friend, that SHOULDN'T be the case anymore. But it is. If this thread gets new wings I'll be happy to dig back through my grow logs to present specific examples.
And for what it's worth, I should have done a better job clarifying that I'm not just picking on Fast Buds. They have been kind to me, donated seeds for my medical patients, and I've had great results with several of their strains. One of my two single-plant full-pounder plants was Fast Buds' Green Crack. So I really don't mean to belittle & bash them, except that multiple grows of their strains, over time of different seed batches, shows consistent degradation. They simply don't develop stable strains. Even their self-professed most stable strain, G-14, has consistently gone downhill on yields. Fortunately, that strain's smoke quality has not also degraded like Gorilla Glue did.
"Also FWIW, I've found that Fastbuds gear are much more cold tolerant than the Mephisto strains I've grown and less likely to stunt. Possibly because they're based on Lowryder instead of ruderalis (and I've read that Lowryder isn't ruderalis)."
That's a good point to consider; I've been exclusive indoor for over 20+ years so I can neither confirm or deny its cold tolerance traits. But I think you're right about LowRyder's not being a "true" autoflower, but is instead a fully developed and stable hybrid. Seedfinder.eu describes its lineage as a hybrid "... stable and reliable in its properties, a product of nine generations of selective breeding.... Lowryder claims direct descendance from superior Williams Wonder and Northern Lights no.2 Indica, as well as a more exotic, virtually unknown short variety believed to be descended from "Mexican Ruderalis", an experimental cross created over 25 years ago."
So it's autoflowering characteristics are grounded in ruderalis, but stabilized with Indica parentals as well.
"In the tent, Mephisto is great. But many of us want or need to grow outside. Strains that stunt if everything isn't perfect aren't worth taking the risk on, especially at the exorbitant cost of seeds."
Again, I should have done a better job clarifying that I'm not promoting Memphisto as the be-all / end all solution to this problem! I have only grown their Skywalker strain. What I really DID INTEND to do was to use their breeding history as a benchmark that all breeders should follow. They really get into the historical details of the breeding cycles used to develop a new strain. Requiring this level of documentation would weed out the pollen chuckers.
"I welcome the new companies entering the autoflower space. I think competition for the big players will reduce prices and improve genetics but we'll see.."
Yeah, Buddy! Companies are going to come and go & I hope that new entrants will apply pressure to the older more established breeders to maintain accountability in providing accurate strain descriptions AND STABLE STRAINS.
But we cant stand idly by tolerating inferior products, hoping that free market competition weeds out the villainous many who are more interesting in controlling the market by taking in the lion's share of business by leveraging REALLY GOOD marketing programs, rather that REALLY GOOD strain stabilization programs.
That is where I would like to see this go - ways to require breeders to essentially certify their techniques to known gold standards. Ways for individual growers to be able to trust product descriptions , and to FAIRLY call out the failures. we as consumers have to apply pressure as well, without being tainted by our natural desire to brag on "grown by me".
Anyway, thanks for sharing your viewpoints, I enjoyed reading them. I've been away from AFN for awhile & hope to see more of your posts as I work my way back in here.
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