MJBizMag March 2023 - 42

SCIENCE, SEEDS & BREEDS
seeds, meanwhile, are usually smaller,
softer and pale or green.
" Once you have selected the best
seeds, then you have to find the needle
in the haystack, " Byington said. In
other words: It's time to conduct a
pheno hunt.
THE PHENO HUNT IS ON
In the case of 5280 Gravy, Byington
and his team selected 157 seeds to
grow and then discarded the males
and less desirable females, whittling
the number of plants to about 75.
From those 75, they clipped clones
to grow and selected the best 25 for
another round of cloning and growing.
Good Chemistry typically keeps
plants in the vegetation period for four
to eight weeks, while their flowering
period is eight to nine weeks.
That first round of breeding and
growing-from germinating the seeds
to harvesting and curing-usually takes
about five months, Byington said.
The first pheno hunt is usually
followed by at least two more, because
the growers want to see consistency
in multiple grow cycles. That quest
for consistency involves testing for
terpenes, potency, wet weight, dry
weight and ease of processing-or lack
of it-among other factors.
An important part of that quest
is a so-called STATS team that Good
Chemistry created to evaluate sight,
touch, aroma, taste and sensation. The
business grades all of its homegrown
products on those traits.
" We'll compare those notes from the
first harvest to the second harvest to
the third harvest, " Byington said. " You
want to see consistency in the data. You
want to see consistency in the field,
where it's growing. "
Byington stressed that the team must
cultivate many losers before crowning a
winner in the pheno hunt.
" You can spend a ton of time on
something, and it just didn't work out
that time. We're not going to force anything, "
Byington said.
42 March 2023 | MJBizMagazine
Harvested cannabis hangs
in the drying and curing
room at Good Chemistry.
Courtesy Photo
" When you clone No. 51, it will always
" We'll compare those notes
from the first harvest to the
second harvest to the third
harvest. You want to see
consistency in the data. You
want to see consistency in
the field, where it's growing. "
- Heath Byington, Good Chemistry
PHENO 51
Of the 157 seeds that Good Chemistry
germinated from the cross between Gravy
and White Mac, No. 51 was the group's
favorite, earning it the title 5280 Gravy,
named after the Mile High City, which
sits 5,280 feet above sea level.
be the same from there. Every single
plant that comes from that clone is
exactly the same, " Byington said. " You
can start from seed to get one, but you
don't have to start from seed again.
Once you find the right one, you clone
it, and that moves into our production
facility. "
Because finding the right phenotype
takes so much time, protecting the
winning genetics is critical. So, rather
than having just one vegetative mother
plant (and risk losing its genetics to
pests or disease), Good Chemistry
keeps several vegetating plants growing
at different locations.
" We'll have them in multiple buildings
in case there's a fire or something
happens. You don't want to lose those
genetics, " Byington said.
MJBizMag March 2023

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