Have you ever wondered why certain strains have a number at the end of the name? Those numbers—like in Standard Farms Stay Puft #8, Blue Slushie #1, or Pink Certz #4—are used as indicators of different phenotypes for each strain, left by cultivation when looking for the best version of a strain grown from seeds.
That process—known as pheno-hunting—plays an essential role in the genetics that Standard Farms brings to patients in PA, and we sat down with the SF team to learn more about how they pheno-hunt and what it takes to be a keeper in their greenhouses.
When the SF growers source a seed pack from a breeder, they can come with anywhere from 5-20 seeds of a single strain. Each of those seeds is a different genetic expression—or pheno—of that strain. To find the best one, they have to pheno-hunt by growing each seed out in search of the version that checks all the boxes and works best in their environment.
Pheno-hunting is a huge part of the Standard Farms greenhouses. Every strain Standard Farms puts in flower goes through a lengthy R&D process before it can go into production. This dedicates a portion of their canopy just to searching for new genetics and finding keepers to bring to patients.
The goal is simple, but the process is time-consuming. No detail can be left unchecked—every pheno flowered, harvested, cured, ran through a quick test wash (shaken up in a mason jar of ice water to see the trichome yield), lab-tested, and then finally jarred up and put out for the team to analyze it all and make their decision from the lineup.
But what makes a keeper? What boxes have to be checked? The first is how it grows in the greenhouse. The team keeps an eye on each pheno through every step of cultivation, examining plant health and vigor and how it grows from start to finish.
Because while all seed packs are sourced from reputable breeders who do their best to ensure quality genetics, there is never a guarantee. Phenos can herm out and need to be killed off right away or just be too finicky to last in the greenhouse.
This can make for easy decisions, like with the Sundae Driver x Toaster Strudel (the name is always subject to change), where eight seeds that got popped hermed out, leaving only the #2 jarred up as finished flower. But for a strain like Cadillac Margarita, where ten phenos made it onto the table and only one or two can survive, the next test is the nose.
The team comes with notes and test results—but to be a real winner, a pheno needs to bring potent aromas. To find out, each jar will get opened, and they will take turns getting a whiff to find the one with the best profile that fills up the room and packs a punch out of the jar.
If it has the nose, the next check is the bag appeal. Here, the team studies each nug—looking for trichome coverage, healthy nug structure, good size, and the color variation between phenos.
If the pheno passes the eye test, has the nose, grows well in the greenhouse, and nails the test wash, the only box left to check before getting to production is passing the lab test. Standard Farms puts each pheno through sample testing to gauge its potential cannabinoid and terpene profile. While all the boxes are necessary to check off, the test results are typically the deciding factor.
The reality is that in the PA program—and a lot of markets across the country—potency is king, and as Standard Farms Director of Cultivation Mike Oster told us, “There’s plenty of times where the one we like the most ends up being the one that tests at 14% THCA in the lab results.” If you removed the test results from the equation and selected purely off looks, smell, and vigor, you might end up with different decisions, but the testing still serves as a roadmap to show quality and help make the final call— “if we’re between two phenos and one tests at 29% and the other at 17%, we will go for the higher tester.”
The true keeper is the one that has it all: bag appeal, nose, cannabinoid and terpene profile, health, and yield on the wash. For Standard Farms, finding the keeper takes patience and a willingness to explore what you end up with—but most importantly, it takes time.
Because that’s the thing, you can’t speed up nature. With their R&D process, Standard Farms has to stay nearly a year ahead of what will end up on the shelf. By the time their R&D selection goes into production and hits packaging, the team is far into looking through the next set of genetics popped.
It never stops—one pheno-hunt leads into the next, but Standard Farms takes their time, prioritizing the hunt for quality over pace and taking solace in finding the best flower they can bring to patients in PA.
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