Tracing the genetic history of the current best flower strains in the Missouri cannabis industry is not quite as easy as spitting in a test tube and mailing your DNA to Ancestary . com to learn about your background . Even if there were some kind of online genetic database for collecting cannabis genetics like there currently is for humans , it would be hard for your research to get any further than Missouri ’ s original “ Immaculate Conception ” rule .

The “ Immaculate Conception ” regulation applied to Missouri licensed cultivators after receiving their commencement ( approval to open for business ) was basically a 365-day race to stockpile their Mother / Clone room with the highest quality genetics they could scout out from anywhere across the globe before they were no longer allowed to bring in clones from these “ mystery ” locations . This rule was set by DHSS long before the first MMJ licenses were even awarded . It was intended to be a more efficient way for cultivators to meet the demands of medical marijuana patients faster and with higher quality cannabis than what they could have done if just starting their cultivation businesses growing from seeds . all those boxes mentioned previously , and the straws are all the clones that must be kept alive and well in a controlled environment along the way to find the needle .

Let ’ s say you planted 100 seeds . Odds are that half of those seeds will be males and produce seeds instead of flower , so we are down to 50 potential mother plants . You would take clones of the 50 remaining plants once they have matured into young adults just before the flowering stage and carefully label them to keep track of how well their siblings do in the flowering stage .

Those initial mother plants brought in by clones have already checked off most of the boxes you would want to search for in a cannabis pheno hunt from seeds like : 1 ; Terpenes : Quality , concentration , and distinction . ; Vigor : How strong the plant performs in the grow . ; Yields : Biomass , cannabinoids , extracts , etc . ; Bag Appeal : Dried flower appearance . ; Cannabinoid Content : Variety , concentration , and rarity . ; Sexual Stability : Lack of intersex traits . ; Defense : Pest and pathogen resistance .

After that first year , though , licensed cultivators can “ only ” introduce new cannabis genetics by “ seeds .” They can continue to take clones from the “ mother ” plants they found within that year internally , but if they want to replace those mother plants or find new ones for new strains , they must start from scratch , which is when pheno hunting begins !

If you know anything about pheno hunting , you know that it can be a daunting task of time , space , and resources . It is like searching for a needle in a haystack . However , in the pheno-hunting scenario , the needle represents the perfect cannabis plant ’ s flower that checks off

At the VIBE cultivation facility with 3,000 square feet of canopy space , over 18 % is dedicated to pheno hunting for new strains . ( See the VIBE pheno hunt story in the January 2025 issue .)

Through the seven to ten-week flowering stage , you will get rid of the plants that aren ’ t performing well and don ’ t check off those boxes in your pheno-hunt criteria along with their clone counterparts . Once you reach the end of the flowering stage , you still won ’ t know if the remaining plants will check off the other boxes in your

32 February 2025

The EVOLUTION Magazine February 2025 | Page 32

Pheno Hunting , Strains , Test-Sampling , Cannabinoids , Oh My !