Our Collectible Varieties
NorCal Select specializes in preserving and archiving historic California hashplant genetics through collectible seeds. Our focus is on curating and maintaining seed lines prized for their hash-making potential. With deep experience in traditional hash production, we identify and preserve genetics that yield exceptional resin and press into quality rosin. Our collection includes both heirloom hash varieties and carefully selected true-breeding strains, chosen for their unique terpene profiles. NorCal Select offers seeds for collectors and preservationists dedicated to maintaining California’s rich hashplant heritage.
Hashplants
Historic California hashplant varieties are valued for their exceptional resin production, making them an important part of cannabis preservation efforts. These collectible seeds represent strains known for their dense trichome coverage, particularly those with large, glandular heads that have been traditionally favored for hash production. Selected for their rich cannabinoid content, complex terpene profiles, and strong lineage tracing back to resilient landrace genetics from regions like Afghanistan and Central Asia, these seeds serve as a vital link to hash-making history. By archiving and preserving these genetics in a personal seed bank, collectors can help safeguard California’s unique hashplant heritage for future generations.
True Breeding Lines
“At NorCal Select, our true-breeding cannabis strains are preserved for their genetic stability and historical significance, making them ideal for collectors and archivists focused on maintaining California’s rich hashplant heritage. These carefully selected seed lines exhibit over 98% consistency in terpene expression, ensuring reliable aromatic profiles across generations. Originally bred for resilience—especially against mold in humid conditions—these genetics offer a glimpse into the breeding techniques used to refine terpene profiles and environmental adaptability. While some of these varieties also produce resin suitable for hash-making, their primary value lies in their role as stable genetic building blocks. By preserving these seeds in a personal collection, enthusiasts can safeguard key traits that have shaped the evolution of cannabis breeding, ensuring that these historic profiles remain accessible for future generations of preservationists and historians.
Our Categories
Beyond varieties, there are many “types” of Cannabis plants and seeds interesting to collectors. We use the following categories to organize our seed.
Regs (Regular seeds)
Regular seeds, (regs) are pollinated by male plants. These are normal seeds produce both male and female offspring. This contrasts with feminized seeds from plants pollinated by a female that was induced to produce pollen.
Feminized
Feminized seed is produced by inducing females to produce pollen. All seeds are female.
Photoperiod
Normal Cannabis that requires light changes to induce flowering. Note: ‘Reg’ and ‘photoperiod’ are often confused, but they do NOT mean the same thing. Regs are plants that are not feminized. It is possible to have seeds that are ‘regs’ but NOT ‘photoperiod.’
Autoflowers
The converse of ‘photoperiod’ is ‘autoflower.’ Autoflower Cannabis is a unique type of Cannabis plant that begins flowering based on age rather than light cycles, thanks to its Cannabis ruderalis genetics. Unlike photoperiod strains, which rely on specific lighting schedules, autoflowers start flowering automatically after 2–4 weeks. They are fast-growing, typically ready to harvest in 8–12 weeks, and remain compact in size, making them ideal for small spaces or discreet cultivation. Autoflowers are hardy, resistant to pests and environmental stress, and thrive in various conditions. While earlier versions were lower in THC, modern breeding has created potent varieties, making autoflowers a favorite for beginner and seasoned growers alike. Autoflowers seeds are available as both as feminized and regs.
F1 Generation
Cannabis F1 seeds are the first filial (offspring) generation of two genetically distinct and stable parental lines, prized for their hybrid vigor (heterosis), which enhances growth, yield, and resilience. These seeds typically exhibit uniform phenotypes with traits balanced between both parents, often favoring a 50/50 expression. Growers value F1 seeds for their robustness, consistency, and ease of cultivation, making them ideal for commercial production and reliable yields. Breeders use them as a foundation for exploration. Crossing F1 plants produces F2 generations, which reveal significant genetic variation, including hidden recessive traits, offering breeders the opportunity to select and stabilize desirable characteristics for creating new strains. This divergence highlights the differing goals of growers and breeders: growers prioritize predictable performance and uniform crops, while breeders embrace the genetic diversity of later generations to innovate and develop novel traits.
F2 Generation
In Cannabis breeding, the F2 generation refers to the offspring produced by crossing two F1 plants from the same parental lines. Unlike F1 seeds, which are uniform and stable, F2 seeds exhibit a wide range of genetic variation, revealing both dominant and recessive traits from the parental genetics. This diversity makes F2 generations valuable for breeders seeking to identify unique traits for further stabilization but less predictable for growers who prioritize consistent results.
Experimental Line
As a breeder starts the process of selecting F2’s for the F3 generation, to backcross, or to cross to another strain, an experimental line begins to forms. In some cases a line can be a simple F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, where the breeder is working out the variation in a single filial (parent-offspring) line. Often it is a much more complex process of back-crossing (breeding back to a different parent generation) and out-crossing (bringing in variation from a separate line. Under these circumstances precise breeding terminology becomes less useful and the line is referred to as an ‘experimental line.’
Breeding Line
One a direction is established, an experimental line becomes a breeding line. A breeding line is a strain under development or testing, typically being refined for desirable characteristics. Some of our breeding lines result in inbred lines, referenced in the strain name as ‘IBL.’
IBL (Inbred Line)
IBL refers to a strain that has been consistently self-pollinated or crossed within the same genetic pool for multiple generations to achieve uniformity.
Landrace
A landrace is domesticated Cannabis (not wild Cannabis) that has been grow outdoors in traditional ways and adapted over the generations of open pollination to a natural environment. Males and females are not separated. Human intervention in the development of landraces is minimal compared to 20th Century and modern breeding programs. People saved seeds from good plants, but they planted them by the handful. This did little to reduce variation. Landraces are typically named after the geographic regions where they originate, such as “Afghan,” “Thai,” “Hindu Kush,” or “Colombian.” They represent the foundational genetics from which modern hybrid strains are often developed.
Polyhybrid
A polyhybrid refers to a plant that is the result of crossing two hybrids, where each parent hybrid already carries a mix of genetics from multiple strains. This means that a polyhybrid inherits a highly diverse and complex genetic makeup, often combining traits from multiple indica, sativa, or ruderalis strains. Polyhybrids are commonly created to develop unique characteristics such as flavor profiles, potency levels, growth traits, or effects. Polyhybrids can produce offspring with a wide range of phenotypes, making them less predictable than single-strain crosses or simpler hybrids, but with many possibilities for new features. For example, crossing two hybrid strains like Blue Dream (Blueberry x Haze) and Gelato (Sunset Sherbet x Thin Mint GSC) would result in a polyhybrid with genetic contributions from all four of those original strains.