Issue #715 - Sunday, January 4, 2026 Hey grower, today's issue is all about genetics as we enter 2026... - New Strain Library is Live!
Want a list of strains with actual pictures and grower notes? Now it's here. Get 22 strains to start, with dozens more on the way from our past grows.
- What do fake cannabis seeds look like? We saw a heartbreaking case of a grower who got really wrong seeds. Learn how to make sure that never happens to you!
- Zweet Inzanity – Underrated Strain in Danger of Extinction - I just don't understand why this strain is retiring. I had to get the word out before the genetics are lost forever...
- My Experience with White Rhino Seeds in Hydro - Another underrated strain. Loves making huge buds, with that classic early 2000s "chillax" effect that results in a lovely afternoon smoke.
- "Seeds came from weed... but this can't be weed?" Check out this unbelievable story with pictures!
Nebula Haze & Sirius
Fourside Co-Founders, GrowWeedEasy.com
"Genes do not determine your destiny. They determine your areas of opportunity." ~James Clear (I enjoyed his book Atomic Habits)
NEW - GrowWeedEasy Strain Library by Nebula Haze & Sirius Fourside GrowWeedEasy.com just released a cannabis strain library for growers on the
hunt for the best seeds for their needs. This strain library contains strains recommended for home growers by us, Nebula Haze and Sirius Fourside of GrowWeedEasy.com. Read the strain description to learn why we recommended each strain.
How did GrowWeedEasy.com pick these cannabis seeds? These are cannabis strains we’ve grown ourselves. Each listing includes pictures of the real cannabis plants we grew from those seeds. If you have a strain you’d like to see us grow to add to this strain library, just reply with your submission. Example of a recommended strain:
I got these Mandarin Cookies V2 seeds from Seedsman. The vial came sealed in an Ethos breeder pack.
Here’s an closeup of one of the Mandarin Cookies V2 buds I grew from that vial of seeds.
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What do cannabis seeds look like?
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Are those REAL, actual cannabis seeds in your hand? If you're about to start growing weed, you want to be growing the good stuff. Every home grower should start with seeds from a trusted seed source (like Seedsman, Seed Supreme, or North Atlantic Seed Co., etc.). Real cannabis seeds are this size.
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If you see dark "Tiger Stripes", it means the seed is fully mature and it has not lost its tiger stripe "skin". So at the very least, you know that cannabis seed matured fully on the plant and hasn't been overly handled. But lots of "less than ideal" looking seeds produce some of the best plants and buds. Remember, if a seed sprouts and grows a healthy cannabis seedling, it was a viable
seed even if it was pale, flimsy, or small. The tan seed here in the front lost its dark tiger stripe coating, but sprouted just as well as the others. The best way to tell if a seed is viable is try to germinate it.
Small, pale, flimsy seeds are less likely to germinate. These next cannabis seeds are premature, which means they never fully developed. Premature vs Mature seeds
I was curious and germinated all the above seeds, including the underdeveloped ones. The pale seeds sprouted at much lower rates than the fully formed seeds. Of the two pale-seed seedlings that did sprout, one grew like a regular seedling, but the other seedling was a runt/stunted. Here are those same cannabis seeds again, with a camera flash, to help you see the differences
between the seeds in different types of light.
Here's another closeup of real, viable cannabis seeds. The shells can look a bit different depending on the strain and how the seeds were harvested and handled.
This cannabis seedling just made it above the surface of the soil.
When your cannabis seed first sprouts, the seedling should start with two round leaves. These two round "cotyledon" leaves were fully formed inside the shell. Then, two leaves with jagged edges start growing from the center. These are the first "true" weed leaves, which your seedling grew all by itself.
If you start with good seeds, even if you run into problems along the way, you'll end up with good weed at the end. That little Mandarin Cookies seedling grew these dense, greasy, potent buds.
Great seeds make great weed.
But if you start with low-quality seeds, you'll end up with poor bud quality even if you do everything perfect. Seeds are seriously the most important investment in your grow journal. And good cannabis seeds can be cheap if you shop
around. Check out what one of our growers got from "mystery" weed seeds. Growers deserve better! Invest in good seeds and save yourself the heartache.
In this next picture, check out the cannabis seeds towards the left. On some of the seeds, the dark brown tiger stripe coating is partly rubbed off, so you can see the tan mosaic pattern underneath. All these seeds germinated (all viable seeds).
Estimate the likelihood of genuine marijuana seeds. - Seeds came directly from good weed - 99.9999% of seeds are cannabis seeds (learn about the pros and cons of growing
bagseed)
- Bought cannabis seeds from a trusted source - 99.9999% of seeds are cannabis seeds.
- Seeds from social media or individual growers - The better you know the person, the more likely you got real cannabis seeds.
- Seeds from that sketchy friend - Chance of fake cannabis seeds skyrockets. Make sure to check your seeds closely against the cannabis seed and seedling pictures!
Here's where you can get
trustworthy weed seeds. - Seed Supreme – Florida, United States
- ILGM (I Love Growing Marijuana) – California, United States
- MSNL (Marijuana Seeds Netherlands) – Amsterdam seed bank now ships from US, Canada & UK
- North Atlantic Seed Co. – Maine, United
States
- Seedsman – Ships from US & Europe
- Other - Did we miss anyone you like? Let us know!
These seed sources are consistent top choices when we survey our students and readers. My most recent harvest used a mix of cannabis seeds from Seedsman, Seed Supreme, and North Atlantic Seed Co.
Zweet Inzanity – Under-Rated Strain in Danger of Extinction Zweet Inzanity is one of those strains that has somehow flown under the radar and is in danger of extinction! Zweet Inzanity is beautiful and easy to grow, with unique bud structure
But the real reason it needs to be saved are its unique, relaxing-but-not-sleepy effects.
Make sure to get Zweet Inzanity seeds before they're gone forever. News in the pipeline says this strain is going to be retired soon. Which is an absolute shame and I'll tell you why. Just click this picture.
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My Experience with White Rhino Seeds in Hydro
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I had good results in hydro growing White Rhino cannabis seeds. This was a DWC hydroponic setup home grow in a 3'x3' grow tent with General Hydroponics Flora trio nutrients at 1/2 strength what's on the side of the bottle. White Rhino cannabis plant in hydroponic DWC setup
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Here are some highlights and notes about that experience. Manifolding + Defoliation in Hydro This hydro cannabis grow used flowering stage defoliation increases or decreases cannabis yields overall. Here’s a past example of cannabis flowering stage defoliation. White Rhino plant in the vegetative stage.
This White Rhino cannabis plant was heavily defoliated in the flowering stage. Here’s what it looked like before the defoliation 3 weeks after initiating 12/12.
Side View: White Rhino before defoliation (week 3 after 12/12) - Very bushy strain!
Here’s that White Rhino plant after being defoliated. I removed a huge amount of leaves. I don't recommend defoliating cannabis plants more than this after buds have started forming. Plants need buds to be exposed to the grow light, which defoliation helps, but plants also need plenty of leaves for photosynthesis to power the growth of buds. White Rhino is a particularly
leafy plant, and takes very well to defoliation, as you will see in a moment. White Rhino after being defoliated
Side view from immediately after defoliation.
At that point I just gave water and nutrients, and waited until harvest. White Rhino is a relatively fast finisher. White Rhino plant at harvest.
The buds were bigger than my arms.
Summary of White Rhino: An easy, productive cannabis strain that smells amazing.
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📸 Weekly Spotlight: The seeds came from weed...
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Subject: Seeds came from weed, but this can't be weed? Two seedlings planted in Ocean Forest organic soil... The other seedling looks like a normal
cannabis seedling, but this one is wild. Every leaf has a different shape and color, and the stalk is reddish purple. There are more than two cotyledon leaves as well. The source of the weed has never had, nor seen, a mutation like this in any of his previous grows. I've
decided to let this plant grow instead of culling it, just to see what happens. More soon! ~AppalachianHarvest
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Such an interesting little plant. On the one hand, some of the leaves do vaguely look like cannabis leaves. At least sick ones. But on the other hand, I've never observed all these leaf types, even with many mutant cannabis
plants over the years. Yet regardless of the species, something is clearly off with this seedling. No healthy plant grows this many different types of leaf off the main stem. And while some plants (like conifer trees) grow more than two cotyledon leaves, flowering plants almost never do, which is further evidence this is a developmental problem. Growers, what do you think, is this a crazy unbelievable mutation, or a mixed up
seed from a different species of plant?
Free Digital Tools on GrowWeedEasy.com Also on the horizon are tools for calculating ideal light levels (PPFD, DLI, etc.), and a custom setup checklist tool. Hit reply and share what you want to see!
Recommended Cannabis Seed Sources These sources have gotten great reviews from our readers:
- Seed Supreme – Florida, United States
- ILGM (I Love Growing Marijuana) – California, United States
- North Atlantic Seed Co. – Maine, United States
- Seedsman – Ships from US & Europe
- MSNL – Netherlands bank with shipping centers in US, Canada &
UK.
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🌳 Check Out Our Grow Community!
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Check out our friendly growing community to ask questions, discuss your grow, share pictures, or otherwise talk about growing cannabis with other real growers! Ask Questions & Talk with Other Growers! Please note: We let each person in manually, so please be patient after you request to join. We'll let you in as soon as possible!
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Who Runs GrowWeedEasy.com?
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Nebula Haze: When I first started growing, I struggled. Now, it is my mission to make it easy for new growers to get started while helping advanced growers get bigger, better yields with less time and money. We update/add articles every week. Anyone and everyone can grow if they want to! Current Favorite Strain:
Mandarin Cookies (learn more in my article about relaxing limonene) Learn which seed sources are recommended by Nebula Haze
Sirius Fourside: Sirius Fourside is a hobbyist grower who has gained the bulk of his experience growing in water as a medium (deep water culture, bubbleponics).
Copyright (c) 2025 GrowWeedEasy.com NOTE: If links aren't working or if pictures are not showing up properly, please view the full newsletter here: http://archive.aweber.com/gwe-updates Disclaimer: Grow Weed Easy only recommends products that we've either personally checked out ourselves, or that come from people we know and trust. For doing so, we may receive a commission. Nothing in this e-mail should be considered personalized Financial, Legal, or Medical Advice. The contributors to this magazine grow legally under their local laws but are not lawyers or medical professionals. Any decision to grow
marijuana should only be made after consulting with an experienced lawyer or other legal adviser. Any medical decisions should only be made after speaking with a doctor. Be safe! How Did I Sign Up For This Newsletter? Our records indicate that requested to be added to the GrowWeedEasy.com weekly newsletter at . Date: January 4, 2026 To unsubscribe, click here: https://www.aweber.com/z/r/?ThisIsATestEmail
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