Old School Strains
Classic Cannabis Genetics
Old school strains can be the very best strains, especially in terms of potency and yield potential. Classic cannabis genetics like Columbian, Afghan, Mexican, South African, Thai, Indian and other land race strains are the building blocks of modern cannabis genetics. Unfortunately, over the last decade or two, there has been a copious amount of pollen chucking occurring, i.e. unskilled breeding projects. For example growers crossing selfed (S1) plants with other selfed lineages lends to weak plants. While initially the seed progeny may produce acceptable results in an optimal environment, overtime, these genetics will drift easily and are not well suited to long term cloning and crumple under only slight environmental stresses. Often, they are crossed again to other weak genetics, compounding the issue further.
Old School strains are the results of many decades of selective breeding through a range of conditions with genetics that originate from diverse world regions, not just taking the latest flash-in-the-pan strains and smashing them together in a grow ten and coming up with cute names.
A lot of the reason old school strains will always rival modern day mash-ups is the fact they they were selected for important characteristics from thousands of potential parent plants over many decades. In contrast, many modern cannabis genetic creations are bred to look white and have unusual or noteworthy terpene profiles (doughy, fruity, etc). While they can be interesting novelties that lend bag appeal to the untrained eye, these strains may lack real potency—having a plant bristling with trichomes that don’t produce bulbous resin caps may lend to a potent look, but after smoking can be very disappointing (assuming the toker knows the difference).
In contrast Old School strains like a true Afghani or Tajikistani produce trichomes with thick resin heads, ie capped trichomes. These types of strains can have incredible potency when smoked and often yield greater when concentrating cannabinoids in the form of extracts.
Additionally, these old school strains grow often grow hardier with a stronger and more stable genetic make-up. For growers, this translates into better yields under a range of conditions and more plant vigor and resistance for plants better suited to long term cloning and genetic preservation. Think 1969 Camaro SS–a classic the day it was made, and still is half a century later. That’s old school strain longevity for you!
Some excellent examples of Old School Strains:
