Seed price inflation

[RolandtheHead]

Has anyone else noticed the prices of seeds have gone way up over the last decade? That seems counter-intuitive; given the number of US states that have recently legalized weed, I would expect the price to go down, not up.

Until recently, I hadn't bought seeds for 8-10 years. Back then, about the highest prices were charged (deservedly) by DJ Short. Now, there are breeders and seedbanks I've never heard of charging as much or more than DJ's strains.

$15 to $20 for ONE seed? You've got to be kidding me. Why, in my day, they didn't even sell single or three-packs of seeds.

Today they give away single seeds. That's right, a few packs of one seed only, maybe three or four seeds total. Ten years ago, Seeds Direct/ Seed Boutique were giving packs of 10-25 seeds away with orders. Granted, most were seeds I never found time to grow, but still... Gypsy did give me a packet of gold, ten seeds of original Skunk by Sam the Skunkman.

That is my rant of the day, having just finished buying a dozen new strains from several seedbanks. Sheesh, some of these new breeders must think their seeds are made of gold...wait a minute. Twenty bucks is probably more than a gold seed would be worth. Me, spend that much?

Forget it.

 

[covert]

I hope you bought some regular seeds of strains you like.

As long as you don't go down the sinsemilla with zero tolerance fallacy then you can breed some decent weed. The genetics fall into a few broader classes but even the ones that have no psychoactivity might be CBD stars so all genetics have the chance to be useful.

 

[madalasatori]

Hype is king.

 

[WelderDan]

Nothing is worth any more than someone is willing to pay for it.

Dr Greenthumb charges outrageous prices for seeds. People buy 'em. Are they worth it? Not to me, but they apparently are to enough people, or he wouldn't be in business.

Just because it's expensive does not mean it's the best. The best weed I've ever grown was just a simple pollen chuck of two inexpensive strains.

High price does not equal superior quality.

 

[troutman]

If you're so worried about seed prices.

Make your own and never look back.

 

[Gypsy Nirvana]

There is much more choice today, as to where to get seeds from, than there ever has been.

Seems like many new and old established seed companies are still managing to operate.
As for prices 'You pays your money, you takes your choice'...no one forces anyone to buy seeds, best to shop around because there is plenty of competition to sell seeds these days, and if you are a buyer then you have many options possible locally and internationally to obtain good seeds at reasonable prices.....its more a 'buyers market' than it has ever been.

*best just make your own seeds.

 

[Skunkpassion]

Some Seeds are silly money these days.. Like dying breed seeds $500 for 3 seeds, it's laughable...

 

[Gantz]

I remember when blowfish was first listed...

 

[Sam_Skunkman]

If no one buys expensive seeds the prices will drop. As long as people buy seeds at $10-$20 each the high prices will continue.
Over all there are way more seed sellers today, and the prices are a bit lower over all.
I am sure the average price will fall to $1 a seed over the next decade as you can grow a Kg of herb that sells for $5,000-$10,000 or a Kg of seeds aprox 50,000 at $1 each which is way more. At $10 a seed a Kg is $500,000....
In 1975 the first Cannabis seed company Sacred Seeds sold seeds for $.50-$1.00 a seed and they were illegal, today in many places they are legal and can be produced unlimited and some sell for $10-$20 a seed, maybe this reflects the seed seller and his focus, be it $ or what ever...

-SamS

 

[willydread]

500$for 3 seeds??crazy!with this money how many seeds you can buy?or i can also take a good weed and search the seeds...
in 2005 I wanted to buy nl5 x haze from sensiseeds, but it cost too much, € 140...with € 30 I took 20 seeds from nirvana and I made selection, getting an excellent product (even if nirvana is f2)...

 

[CaptainDankness]

As bad as it is they did get your money. Lol

Of course even a pollen chucker like me needs to start somewhere so they got my money too. Of course I don't really buy the hyped up strains I'm more concerned with the genetics. I've tried lots of so called elite cuts while they are really good I can select weed just as good.

The worst are the breeders who use nothing but clone onlys and don't even have a clue of the genetics, chuck some pollen and sell. Takes no work but they do make a killing.

 

[Sam_Skunkman]

I will give 4 seeds for $500, a major savings..... LOL

-SamS

 

[RolandtheHead]

Hey, if a seed-producer (I can't bring myself to call them breeders, because a lot of them are just selling crosses of someone else's genetics) can get these prices, more power to him. He has found the perfect customer: one who is uninformed, wealthy, or both.

I think they should hit the point of price resistance soon. They already have, for me. I didn't mind paying ten bucks or more for genetics from DJ Short, Mr. Nice, or Serious. Curiously, I note these old established breeders have not significantly raised their prices in the last decade.

The Top money seems to be garnered by the newbie seed companies. (I'll define "newbie" as a seed outfit I've never heard of before.) I'd like to take a chance on a few of these seed companies, but am not willing to pay as much as for the work of DJ Short.

As I said, seed price inflation is surprising, since legalization should mean increased demand but also business opportunities for making F2 seeds, which after all, is something a child could do--provided she could operate legally. Barriers to entry into the seed business seem small, at least for a mom-and-pop operation.

I grew F2s almost exclusively for the last decade, but now I want to try some new stuff.

 

[willydread]

I will give 4 seeds for $500, a major savings..... LOL

-SamS

Uh,it's my lucky day!hahaha


I often wonder what the old (real) hippies of modern cane-biz think of it ... the romantic image of strain shared for free in the community/collective fascinates me ...

 

[Water-]

Most of the landrace stuff out there is still pretty cheap when you factor in how much it would cost you to travel and collect them yourself.


even if you where charged 500 a pack it would be cheaper and safer than getting them yourself.
My personal experience with seed collecting in africa and asia is that it is very expensive and potentially deadly.

but I agree that untested F1s of some hybrids for 10$ a pop is absurd.

 

[ahortator]

Get a heirloom, landrace, IBL. Anything which breeds true, and make your own seeds. Or breed from hybrids yourself if you can afford it.

Or do as most entrepreneurs nowadays! Beg for an overrated hyped cutting. Make more cuttings, spray on one or two with CS or STS, pollinate the females, Throw away to the thrash bin the sprayed plants, and wait.

 

[willydread]

Get a heirloom, landrace, IBL. Anything which breeds true, and make your own seeds. Or breed from hybrids yourself if you can afford it.

I agree, it's my way...obviously, in my case, most landrace strains come from ace / cbg (except for few friends' gift),if I wanted to start a business I should mention them ...
even doing an IBL with commercial hybrids is a good thing, but even in this case, for commercial purposes it would be necessary to ask the consent of the original breeder ...

 

[djimb]

Twenty bucks is probably more than a gold seed would be worth.

a Kg of seeds [is] aprox 50,000

Google tells me gold is going for $42/gram right now. At Sam's estimate, a gram would be 50 seeds, so one seed would be .02g. If you bought that much gold, it would only cost you 85 cents. Even reasonably priced packs go for $4-5 per seed, so which is the better investment?

I guess you still can't plant a gram of gold and grow a pound.

 

[Night crawler]

In the 90s i was paying 150 poond for seeds .Haze ,afghani etc

 

[RolandtheHead]

I just grew my own cross, which I call Blue Sage, an obvious name considering that it is SAGE (TH) x Blueberry (DJ). It turned out real well.

Stupid me. I should have done a bunch more seeds and made my fortune.