Is Premium Cultivars a Scam?

There’s a new seedbank online called Premium Cultivars that has burst out onto the scene in the last year with seeds of many coveted cultivars. Many people, myself included, were worried that they might not be legit. Backstory: I get approached a lot to promote cannabis affiliated websites. Everything from the standard “sorry to slide into your DMs” graphic designers, small arms purveyors, and Telegram channel hosts to formal emails from operators of clearweb honeypots operating under an ephemeral veneer of decentralization. The world is full of dumbasses who think they can pull one over on stoners and shedding light on bad actors in the space is a fun passtime. There are bad actors in the cannabis seedbank space and you shouldn’t trust everything you see online even if the website claims to be royalty or tells you that they really like growing marijuana. By and large, these seedbanks operate on the backs of seedmakers in Europe. They create low quality F1 seeds that might only be half of what you wanted if you’re lucky – and that’s if they aren’t just taking bulk seed and selling it as the hottest new strain name. The rename game also applies to seeds in mylar bags. Brand: Premium Cultivars Editor’s Note: This article was substantially edited and updated after a conversation with the owner of Premium Cultivars on 9/7/23. The previous version of this article contained personal speculation and questions which have since been answered.

Is Premium Cultivars Legit?

Yes, PremiumCultivars is legit. They make their seeds in the United States and they sell feminized seeds (S1s) of cultivars which have been sourced from as close to the original source as possible, grown out, reversed, and verified by the only way possible – growing it out and smoking it. Whether this is ethical in the minds of the original breeders is obviously up for contention but there’s nothing illegal about this process and it is an established tool in the breeders’ and growers’ toolkit. There are many breeders that focus on bringing hype genetics to the world through this route.

Why you should think long and hard about which cannabis seedbank to trust

There are seedbanks that repackage and sell wholesale cannabis seeds under popular cultivar names with the goal of scamming growers around the world to make a quick buck. You think you’re buying that new hot strain? Guess what, you probably got sent a hermie, king of crap seed that does not have the claimed lineage and genetics. It’s a sad fact that many seedbanks don’t actually have the genetics that they’re allegedly selling. Will they actually send you seeds? Will they grow into type 1 cultivars? Maybe, but if they aren’t the exact pheno or even in the same family tree as what you wanted what the hell is the point? Why support a scammer that is trying to pull one over you? At the end of the day, it all boils down to the integrity of the person making the seeds AND the integrity of the people selling the seeds. If there’s a disconnect between those two groups, your chances of not getting what you want are obviously higher.

Is Premium Cultivars a scam?

No, Premium Cultivars are not scammers. They make and sell S1 seeds of popular current genetics, which are pretty much guaranteed to have hermies because they’re feminized seeds of polyhybrids. From user reports, if you have issues with seeds not popping or way too many herms, just reach out to customer support and they’ll take care of you as is industry standard among legit seedbanks. Should they explicitly list all of their seeds as S1s?  Clearly. but not doing so is unfortunately the current industry standard.

Where does Premium Cultivars get their cannabis cultivars (strains)?

The same way everybody else does in the free market. Whether from a clone from a mother of a cut that was liberated by a disgruntled hourly worker or a pack of seeds bought directly from the breeder, cannabis genetics are nearly impossible to keep a lid on at scale. This is why IP protections for breeders are so in vogue but that’s just getting its legs in the legal market and might not ever make it to the legacy market. The more popular a cultivar becomes, the more incentives there are for it to be “leaked.” In fact, most large outfits will leak genetics themselves because how else can a cultivar get popular if there isn’t enough of it to go around to be smoked.

Who runs Premium Cultivars and where are they based?

Premium Cultivars is owned by a longstanding member of the cannabis community who is based in Portland, OR and wishes to remain unnamed.

Why people are so suspicious of coveted cuts even in S1 seed form

While talking with Bill from Up the Hill on FSOTD, The show came around to talking about imitations showing up on the market and why they’re always suspicious of coveted cuts showing up in flower form. Blackleaf started:

“People will be like that’s zoap or zushi and i’ll be like no it’s not.”

PackGods agreed:

“Oh, I hate that they’re doing that. If you’re not breeding with the Zushi that we know is Zushi from Team Ten… You can’t call it Zushi.”

Pack Gods continued:

“It’d be like you calling a strain rs-11 but it’s like some other thing you called rs-11 that’s kind of like the strain. It just doesn’t make sense.”

He ended with a plea to growers around the world:

“Please stop doing that.” “I’m starting to see Zushi pop up and I’m like, nah because the crew that holds that down holds it down so tight that I know it’s all just lies.”

That’s how the default mode of thinking came to be. If it’s rare, be suspicious of anything claiming to be close.

So does Premium Cultivars actually have real Seed Junky Genetics?

When I reached out to JBeezySJG on Twitter to ask if the Permanent Marker, Giraffe Puzzy, and other seeds sold by Premium Cultivars are fake, he immediately responded in the affirmative:

“Yes they’re fake.”

But what does fake actually mean in this context? Presumably, he’s never grown out these seeds and compared them to the “original” Permanent Marker. So while Premium Cultivars certainly doesn’t stock seeds directly from Seed Junky Genetics, they do pride themselves on having “real” Seed Junky Genetics genetics – or as close as exists at that price point in seed form at least. It’s semantics honestly but in a world where real growers are avoiding original breeders because the trust regarding issues such as HLVd has been broken, S1 seeds made by third parties might just be the most accessible and affordable way for growers who aren’t tapped in directly to access seedstock of certain genetic lines and start a hunt for the “original” or even something “better.”

Final thoughts on Is Premium Cultivars a Scam?

Over the last several months, I’ve sought to complete this article and asked my burning questions of multiple employees at Premium Cultivars and didn’t ever get satisfactory answers on a desired timeline. In fact, I was slandered and accused of being an industry “plant” by one of those employees. It wasn’t until I had the down to earth conversation with the owner that I had been seeking since Day 1 that I was able to get all of my questions about Premium Cultivars’ seed provenance and business philosophy answered and more. Lesson learned? Do due diligence. Even if it takes months, it’s worth it.