The modern world of cannabis genetics can feel like it’s made for the hype of the moment, but Green House Seed Company Founder Arjan Roskam exploits cannabis genetics at the source.
Whether it’s the hills of South America or the rivers of Africa, Roskam has spent most of his life searching for the best genes in the world since he opened his first coffee shop in Amsterdam, the Netherlands in 1992. This would lead to the breeding business that he ended up with. Home tons of trophies.
Roskam first found his way to cannabis cup podium finish in 1993, taking second place with Silver Pearl and then taking second place again for Citral Skunk in 1994. But 1995 would be the year he found his way to the podium with White windowjudging from the legend of the breed that carries weight to this day, even if we’ve never seen it.
After taking second place in 1997, it was an era Super Silver Haze She would start out with her 1998 win. The following year, in 1999, he would be the first strain to win two back-to-back Cannabis Cups. All went well for the next few years, with another win in 2003 Hawaii Snow And the Argan Ultra Haze He climbed to the top in second place in 2005 before winning in 2006.
Green House Seed Company Super Lemon Haze It went on to win back-to-back Cannabis Cups in 2008 and 2009. It is arguably the strain that Americans have had the most exposure to from the Green House during the 2010s, as there were some exceptional phenotypes circulating around Northern California. The Village, half of Symbiotic Genetics, finished third in California’s first legal cannabis cup with Super Lemon Haze in May 2018. Most of the podiums in the Green House Cannabis Cup would be seen somewhere until Dutch officials cracked down on the competition and started European enthusiasm for herbs to move towards Barcelona, SpainOr even Germany, where they now legally import medical cannabis from Canada. While Amsterdam is the legendary home of cannabis genetics, its glory is more watered down now than it was in years past.
Thankfully, Roskam – known as the “King of Cannabis” – has spent most of his life helping build local traditions since opening his first coffee shop at the age of 21, but the world has shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a month before his 50th birthday, he will throw a key in his adventures.
However, when we met with Roskam in flower hall In Palm Springs, California, the world was feeling more open than ever—and Roskam was taking full advantage of that fact as he bounced around the world in the months leading up to the California event.
“We are very busy. We just made a new movie in Africa,” Roskam said. High Times.
as part of Breed hunters Cannabis Documentary SeriesRoskam and his team traveled nearly 100 miles by boat on an African river over the course of seven days last summer.
“The last six weeks I’ve been doing shows in Barcelona, then we’ve done Cape Town, then we’ve done Rome, we’ve done Bologna, then we’ve gone to the 420 Gold Cup in Colombia in Santa Marta.”
We asked Roskam if the pandemic had allowed him time to return to his genetic pool and search for new winners and breeding stock. He explained that his team was still able to “catch 100,000 seeds at a time” in their operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He also said there was a lot of work to be done at home too, and the pandemic was the perfect opportunity to reimagine green house cafes.
“The moment the coronavirus hit the Netherlands, I’m talking about March or February 2020, we all sat in the office and couldn’t go anywhere. We knew this [pandemic] Roskam said. “We remodeled our cafes. We have five in Amsterdam, we have four and we bought another one. So we decided to remodel all the green house cafes. It took six weeks for each cafe, and they look amazing now.”
With no cafes to run, the cafe staff wanted to help rebuild. The guard became one of the painters. One of the guys had some experience with plastering. They worked 10 hours a day moving from store to store. Oftentimes, it was a complete rebuild, even including new walls to go along with updated floors, lights, and marble.
Green House X Compound Inheritance
We did our interview with Roskam at Compound genetics booth at the Hall of Flowers while he and Green House CEO Joa Helms met with American fans. Roskam explained that Green House has some future plans lined up with complex genetics.
“We’re going to use some of our genes with hers,” Roskam said. “So we’re looking to cross the famous Exodus cheese and a few other things we can’t talk about right now.”
Christopher Lynchfounder of Compound Genetics, said High Times He is excited to work with Roskam.
“Our relationship with Arjan is in a bond of its own,” Lynch said. “His knowledge of cannabis, his worldwide experiences with the plant and his professional behavior is really impressive. I am very excited about the collaboration between Green House Seed Co and Compound Genetics.”
HYPE vs. legacy
Lynch and his company have played a large role in defining exciting weed trends in recent years. We asked Roskam how the Netherlands responded to the wave of candy weed that first began popping up from Northern California a little over a decade ago when cookies started taking off.
“It’s still only 15% of everything [in Holland]Roskam said. “Because people can’t pay it. And 15% can pay prices of $18 to $30 a gram. So most people buy the normal stuff. And in Europe, that’s a bit of a shame, because US imports are much more expensive. Of course, that will change in the future.”
Roskam has had a lot of its own “hype” strains over the years. Two new flavors he hopes his fans will add to the list Volgas And the lemon orange. On top of the 12 strains he had already released in 2022 by the time we talked, he also had three new strains of bananas that would be dropping in the following weeks.
Roskam noted that before his last four years traveling between Canada and Africa, he had spent another eight years in the bush. Now he’s pausing a bit to focus on everything he’s collected over the years.
“We’re gassing our new genetics,” Roskam said of their efforts. “There are four places in the world that we operate in besides Congo. We operate in Colombia, Denmark, Spain and America. So we have a lot of opportunities to make new genes, and we think Green House Seed, with all our knowledge and experience and the men around us, we can be very soon. [a] Leading again in the seed market, you know? “
We asked if there were more places where people could spend their money over the past decade, rather than having a green house fall off a mountain.
“Sure, which one is great for the industry, right?” Roskam replied. “More people make everyone happier because there are more varieties.”
Regarding the hype surrounding the strains, we asked Roskam if he had any concerns about everyone growing the same types of cannabis due to their popularity, which in turn reduces the flavors available in the market. He laughed and saw in front a very American problem. Roskam thinks there are a lot of big breeds in America, but he said in the rest of the world, there are even bigger breeds.
Most American genes, he said, come from four breeding breeds.
“There is a lot of Kush. There is a lot of this. There is a lot of that. Listen, it is a huge stress. I still consider the Hawaiian Snow to be the best breed in the world.”
As he spent the nights in Palm Springs communicating with some of the most influential people in cannabis, many of them agreed with his opinion of Hawaii Snow or at least agreed that he was a contender in the conversation.
“If you and your wife go out to a restaurant with friends, you get all the food and put it in the middle of the table. Why limit yourself to one kind? Do you eat the same food every day? Do you drink the same wine? Some people do, but these are not,” Roskam stressed. People who enjoy life.
Green House Gene Library
Then the conversation moved to how many genetic lines the Green House could work on at once. Given the success that Green House has had over several decades, Roskam said it’s a lot. He argues that thanks to a trick developed in-house over the years, he can understand a lot about a plant’s expression over the course of two months. He boasts that he can even pick up traits passed down from parents and grandparents.
“We like to come up with new things, weird tastes, and bring new genes into the world,” Roskam said.
One of the most funny things about the American breeding of Team Green House is how many people have used Super Lemon Haze over the years in their work. He notes that some breeders are now selling it openly, which they really appreciate. Roskam didn’t mention any names but shared that they use Green House genetics, and he plans to use their genetics in the future.
“And that’s great. Why don’t you know?” Roskam said. “Lemon orange, we used a seed from Crockett [Family Farms] Roskam said. “Cloud Walker, we used Punta Roja, which we discovered in our movie with Mendobreath. Well, yeah, we mix these days, but we put pure genes in it to make sure it’s strong. I think that really matters.”
He said it was unlikely that you would see plants affected by diseases with more stable genes. It also ensures that you see a bit of powdery mildew when the plants are taken care of properly.
When asked what kind of technology has made his life easier over the past decade, he shook his head, noting that it wasn’t really a technical problem once you got to what works.
He replied, “Listen, from the bottom of my heart, you can only do a really great job with huge fields.” “Nobody has that in America because everybody has an investor, and the investor wants to see their return by making profits on every square foot.”
On the other hand, Roskam is in a completely different situation. Green House’s Africa setup allows them to spread 20,000 to 40,000 seeds at a time in search of true genetic outliers.
“We have 40 greenhouses in seven valleys,” Roskam said. “And in those seven valleys, we bring out our Venus that we hunt. This creates the possibilities that we have that no one else has.”
For agricultural purposes, it is scientifically known that you need 10,000 plants to find one. Nobody can do that in America. That’s why there are so many public companies. This is the difference between Green House Seed and others.”
As for how stable American seed companies are compared to their European counterparts, that depends on how you look at them. Roskam said, of course, that some Dutch lines are very strong after 30 years in the business.
“And don’t forget that we are Dutch farmers. Seventy percent of all agricultural seeds in the world come from the Netherlands,” Roskam said. “The whole greenhouse industry comes from Holland. We are farmers. We are simple farmers. But we are very good farmers.”
He admitted that there are many other possibilities in America because cannabis is legal in many states.
“But we’re still here in the Netherlands, even though we’re completely illegal, we have great places in Africa and Morocco where you can do a very nice job,” he said.
This article appears in August 2022 edition From High Times. Subscription over here.