What is visible, smellable and tasteable in cannabis comes from what is invisible - the phenomes are the observable traits, characteristics and expression of qualities in each individual plant that develops from a combination of its genotype, or genetic blueprint, and environmental factors. Genotype and environment have both subtle and overt effects on plant development and the expression of phenotypes.
Pheno hunting goes back quite a way... the selective cultivation of plants is one of humanity’s oldest sciences. Since very early in the history of human agriculture, people have selected and bred specific plants in the quest for bigger berries, better yields, sweeter fruits, and other valued qualities.
In this same effort to grow the best expression of the traits we love, IC Collective has selectively bred award-winning cannabis for decades. But when we got to Illinois, we started the process of strain building anew, and so began The Great Illinois Pheno Hunt.
Our founder, Ben, doesn’t consider himself a breeder - but he is a seed maker, and has even been called a “pollen chucker” with good enough reason. As a strain searcher, he makes strains for the joy and the possibility of the plant, its potential, and how that potential takes shape in the direct experience of consumers. It’s not gimmicky or manipulative of customer psychology - it’s simply offering our customers the best expression of the plants’ observable characteristics - appearance, smell, and taste, to name a few.
When we set up shop in Illinois, we had the opportunity and the space needed to begin a hunt for new and potent phenotypes to cultivate here in Illinois. We wanted to avoid any cross contamination from the previous facility and had put the legacy strains through the time-consuming process of Tissue Culture. But we were ready to fire up the Illinois facility - and so we popped thousands of seeds from which to cull new strains. The founder had been collecting seeds for years; some were accidental seeds from contact with male pollen while others were intentional breedings with the goal of collecting seeds to develop new strains.
The team dug into the behind-the-scenes work of whittling down cultivars from the 3500 seeds. It was a lengthly process and plants were chosen on criteria such as a strong nose, structure, resin content, yield, etc. After the visual acceptance, we had to wait through the extensive Illinois testing process to try smoking them, and then we were able to further narrow down the options to only 45 viable cultivars.
We are grateful for the opportunity to do the Great Illinois Pheno Hunt project and delighted to offer the Illinois market a full pantheon of unique strains.
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