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 This page is all about the creation of Freakshow in Shapeshifter's words, for short answers please refer to our FAQ page.

"The creation story of Freakshow Cannabis is a rather complicated one, so I'll try to condense and simplify it as much as possible here. People often ask, “How did you do it?” and I can only reply, “You got a couple of hours?” It’s hard to say where to begin on it because the story on it might begin in 1958 when I was born. I was born a person who has always had a profound interest in things that are rare and different. Things that are unusual, odd, weird, strange, abnormal,(even people), or mutated have been something I've always been intrigued by. Conversely, things that are common, ordinary, normal, or standard I have always found to be boring and uninteresting, I guess I'm a little freaky in these respects. The same holds true for anything popular, fashionable, or mainstream (some aspects of recent cannabis culture, sorry, just kidding!)

Anyway, in the ’70s everyone had access to large amounts of cannabis seeds out of imported brick weed. Some Mexican of course, some Colombian, and some others of unknown origin. Flats of hundreds were sprouted, and just because it was interesting and people suspected that there might be correlations between a kind of evolutionarily advanced phenotype and other desirable characteristics,(such as potency and taste) anything unusual was selected. Knowing that they’re all different, total screening would be routine. Back in those days, there were a lot of phenotypes that were out of the ordinary. These were all NLD (Narrow Leaf Drug) types because that's all we had at the time. Later when we grew out some kinds from Thailand,(Thaistick was sinsemilla, but had an occasional seed) it became clear how entirely different each kind was from another, and by sifting through so many, how much phenotypic variation there was between individual plants. And not just their appearance, but the aromas, the effects, and the chemistry (and not just between strains, but individual plants as well). Nothing had any names and most of these batches were randomly, thoroughly mixed up collections, though some were kept separate, graded, and itemized. (but only as good, killer, and not so good, but back then some damn fine genetics could be had in the Mex. schwag).

So I guess it could be said that searching for unusual phenotypes in cannabis has always been a hobby of mine. Along the way, many oddities were found and bred, including dwarf types, web-leaf, extremely narrow leaf, fasciation, high leaflet counts (up to 21), higher than normal serration counts, double serrate, double leaf, variegated, buds on petioles, etc. Nobody else really had any interest in this stuff. People were mostly interested in something that was high production in those days. As “Indica” or BLD(Broad Leaf Drug) came into the mainstream and BLD and BLD dominant hybrids became hugely popular, NLDs fell to the wayside. Maybe because they were becoming unpopular, and were getting to be scarce and harder to come by, almost to the point of extinction, I continued to work with “Sativas” and of course still do to this day. I feel good that I have preserved, refined, and archived a lot of these cultivars as they fell out of popularity because they've become a lot rarer and hard to find these days, and more and more people are finally discovering the value of them.

It is partly because of the life-long focus on working “Sativa” genetics that Freakshow ended up being developed. Afghanica types don't have the variation from the norm, this I know because many BLD (Broad Leaf Drug) batches were screened through also. This may be because they originate from the same basic geographical region (Hindu Kush range), or that they're from a much higher latitude. NLDs were developed under a much wider range of various tropical, sub-tropical, equatorial, and temperate zones, pretty much worldwide, thus forcing them to adapt to a much wider range of environmental conditions and as a result more variation.

Oftentimes people would choose the biggest plant, or biggest budder, as the yield was often the greatest concern. Truly, quality suffers when profit is the primary consideration. And demand dwarfed supply, so there wasn't much incentive to improve upon existing genetics. (But this is not true everywhere, some folks were religiously keeping their favorite line pure in those days, too.)

Back then males were often chosen arbitrarily, based mostly on the same criteria, (large), or maybe even more often seeds came as the result of an accident. (A small male missed or males pulled a little late or some herm action that went unnoticed). The only way I could see back in those days to increase the odds of preserving the desirable, favorable genetics was to breed groups of females, using a selected male, choose from finished seeded individuals, and cull (discard) the rest. Later (much later) when asexual propagation came into play (cloning) it streamlined things because now we could retain the exact genetics for future breedings, backcrossing, etc. These "holdbacks" would be kept around for years until they were no longer needed. Lab testing eventually became an instrumental tool as well, but personal, hands-on analysis (burn a doob) always was and still is very reliable, in my opinion. Marker-assisted selection may become a common protocol in the future, thus eliminating a lot of the guesswork. (toke test is worthy) Whoa... way off subject...

So this is how this all got started so many decades ago. Since screening through many, many seedlings were routine, anomalies would appear quite often. As time went by and Afghanica and hybrids began to dominate the collective California genome, and as the overall cannabis genome evolved, it seems fewer weirdos were appearing. Noticing that these strange mutant genes (and NLD's) were becoming a rarity, I started to take a new interest in them.

The breeding methodology could be described as line/ inbreeding coupled with methodical selection techniques with initial primary selection criteria to be simply the most unusual leaf morphology and of course, selecting from the unusual leaf morph phenos for the most desirable variation, and also for other desirable traits along the way. This extra selection screening is done at all stages of the way including analysis of mature, dry inflorescences. I did a backcross at the f-4 gen. to the original Pineapple Express parental line. The backcross parent was a fem. with nearly normal leaves except slightly deeper than normal serrations. This backcross was made to improve and stabilize other worthy traits that were prominent on that side. (terpene profile, bud structure, and density, etc) I went back and read the provisional patent and can see that I left off at the f-3 generation, at which point I handed it over to Nat. They (Nat and Ben of HSC) took it to f-4, and are now working on an f-5, and will now be breeding and selecting on the f-6 and 7 Supafreaks (aka Fruityfreak) These last two generations were dedicated to selecting for a new lacier leaf morphology and a wider variety of fruit tones (there is some berry, pineapple, and sort of mixed fruit types appearing now along with the lime/ pine phenos that it was expressing previously) and sesquiterpenes (lingering fume). We will both be taking it to f-7 and 8 and producing feminized now that it is locked into our satisfaction. We recently had an informal sampling get-together and there was no unanimous winner, instead, they were all generally approved of but everyone had a personal favorite. Guess it's all about personal interpretation. Original Freakshow at f-4 was and still is homozygous and true-breeding as many seeds have been sprouted and grown and to my knowledge there haven't been any that are not expressing the FStp.-2 leaf morphology  and also it is now proving to be fairly homozygous for several other desirable traits that had been selected for during the process of stabilizing the desired, chosen leaf configuration. (and this can be corroborated by all the posts online nowadays) I would attest this homozygosity to several factors: 1.) 3 of 4 of the original parental lines are of a nearly pure "Sativa" (NLD) heritage that very likely shares a high percentage of common genetics, because, among many other reasons including that they were unpopular, they had been kept as pure "Sativa", kept within their subspecies, all those years, while so much of the rest of the cannabis genome had been hybridized, and thus, destabilized. 2.) The parental lines were all expressing many common traits even before the f-1 cross was made. 3.) A very narrow margin of selection criteria was adhered to during the whole process. 4.) The environmental conditions (elevation, latitude, exposure, soil, nutrients, Ph, water, etc.) being the same for all generations of the breeding project inducing epigenetic shifts, and increasing the level of homogeneity 5.) The breeder's long history of striving to gain an understanding of the dynamics of genetic mechanisms and how to apply that knowledge to the goal of preserving, improving, refining, stabilizing, and archiving rare cannabis genetics.(no brag...just fact...hahaha...no, he's not egotistical at all) It should be noted that I have done a hell of a lot of breeding of FS that isn't being mentioned here, there's really no reason to lay it all out. but yeah, there are several separate lines, backcrosses, special terpene profile selections, and on and on. It all falls under the patented strain, and to keep working on it and improving it is just what I do. It would take volumes to elaborate, so I won't! So, here goes....The initial f-1 cross was made between a female Pineapple Express and a male Holy Chiquita aka Holy Banana. The PE was selected out of a generation of PE that I had done, which was out of an IBL of PE.( except for having sourced some PE genetics from G-13 Labs, the origins of it are unknown) The line sourced from G-13 Labs is no longer available. PE's only known lineage is supposedly Trainwreck (unknown lineage) and Maui Wowi (also unknown lineage). Other sources of information have it as BC Bigbud x Skunk #1 (Phylos) but I had sourced "Pineapple Express" from all over and had done some crossing and selecting of the various cultivars so it's a bit blurry now. (how much does it really matter) It would appear that a popular name can get adopted, it happens all the time. Anyway, after a thorough and diligent search, very little can be found about the heritage of this strain, except that it consists of nearly pure "Sativa" (NLD) genetics and I think it can be assumed that G-13 Labs had line-bred and selected this cultivar for some generations because they had it available for many years, it appeared to be very stable, and it proved to breed true fairly consistently.(homozygous) The staminate Holy Chiquita was bred originally by Coastal Seed Co. in Santa Cruz, and having researched it apparently is no longer available. Thorough research of the heritage on it reveals that they created it by crossing Big Sur Holy Weed (again, just a name) x Banana Kush and that the actual lineage of BSHW is unknown, and that BK was derived down from a cross between OG Kush and Banana both of which appear to be of unknown genetic lineage. The pollen donor was a selection from the f-2 generation. (assuming they were releasing f'1's, which is unknown, it may have been an IBL because the f-2 had very little variability) The selected male expressed slightly narrower leaflets, red stems, and higher leaflet and serration counts than the other candidates, and also a much more desirable (sweet, fruity) terpene profile. Another trait selected for was trichome density which is observed in the early stages with a handheld 40x scope and can be seen clearly with the naked eye toward maturation and dehiscence. (yes, males sometimes have trichomes that rival some females!) It was observed in the f-2 generation that this cross was very stable in overall phenotypic expression except for the appearance of the new leaf morphology (type 1 "gator tooth) As far as the public availability of FS-tp2, it's widely available.....Even though it is homozygous for leaf structure and many other traits, it's still a work in progress and will be channeled in whatever direction I decide to take it in. It would be a lot simpler if FS was just a new stabilized mutation, but it's a lot cooler that it's a changeling, a shapeshifter, a continuously evolving and mutating abnormality of the plant world the likes of which has never been seen before.

My breeding goals primarily have always been (in this order) terpene profile, especially sesquiterpenes which involve taste and fume and monoterpenes (aroma), trichome density, THC levels, bract/leaf ratio, bud structure, bract size, shorter or earlier flowering periods, pest/mildew resistance, among many other less important selection criteria. A lot of folks consider bud density (tightness) an important factor but there is such a thing as too tight which can make them botrytis susceptible. (trade off?) I've created and trashed quite a few. You might say that just keeping a type 'as is' without trying to improve it by outcrossing it, rather just selecting from the same line was oftentimes the goal. (stabilization).

Possibly as a result of having selected for the typical NLD phenotypic expression for so many generations, some anomalies seemed to start to appear again. For whatever reasons I had decided to just work the strangest ones to just see what would result, to find out what could be accomplished, if there were any limitations, and to see if there were any correlations with these anomalies and other traits expressed (this was about 4 or 5 years back). I really didn't have any goal of trying to create freaks until I saw the "gator tooth pheno in the f-2 gen of the Holy Express. I was working that line because it was awesome. It seriously had it all. 

As stated above, the initial phenos that started expressing freakiness were out of a cross that I was stabilizing for a certain flavor, terpene profile,(limonene, pinene) which had phenotypes exhibiting super deep “gator tooth” serrations. Another pheno out of this same line had extra leaflets, which isn't so rare, but this one was, as it had a crazy amount of extras. (17-21 total) The following generation was an IBL cross of the above-described two anomalous phenos, and some selections were made that exhibited both anomalies, and this was narrowed down even further based on other considerations. (breeding for more than one trait simultaneously, is not always wise, but it worked out nicely, terpwise!) At this point, we had created freakshow type 1, which has been subsequently stabilized in a separate line but is still being perfected and stabilized. Freakshow type one is just as cool as type 2 as far as I'm concerned but we released type 1 first because it's such a showstopper. Type 1 is coming out soon, though.

The following generation is where the magic began. Flats of hundreds were sprouted again and screened for freaks. This is when the name Freakshow came into being, some of them couldn't be described any other way. At this time, I had my son (@cannabis_potentcy_research on Instagram) post some pictures of them online to see if anyone else worldwide had anything similar. No one had anything similar at all, but the whole idea of breeding for freakiness had become seemingly a new thing. It was interesting that there were a lot of various atypical leaf morphologies out there, but nothing even remotely resembling these freaks.

So, I continued to select and breed the freaks for a couple more generations. Originally there was Freakshow which was wildly out of the taxonomic norm, but then an even weirder (way, way weirder) phenotype appeared. This one was called type 2 and the other freak was named Freakshow type 1. (type 1 is a total departure from the norm also and pics will be added to the gallery) The first type 2 was the only one out of the batch of 300 or so. Sorry for the redundancy, I'm not a writer, but I guess you could say that type 1 led to the discovery of type 2. Subsequent screening and breeding have brought us to the point where this super rare gene group is now very much dominant and can be called a “true-breeding strain”, which, needless to say, took a little time and effort! (Time and effort should be put in on remaining decent existing cultivars before we cross-breed them into oblivion. A legit F-1 can only result from a stabilized line-bred selected parent stock, something which we're in dire shortage of. More later, sorry to preach, I'm guilty too!)

Also, she seems fairly homozygous in the way of tasty terp profile, albeit diverse at this point, but not so much along the lines of say, growth rate, but that can be selected for in future generations. I believe that this strain will always express diversity because that's one of the most inherent properties of this plant. Anyone that has ever grown it can tell you that there are subtle differences between each plant and even each leaf. We intend to continue selection and stabilization on this familial line indefinitely. A dwarf mutation was found recently and is being propagated,(why not) it's 8 months old and is in a 6" bonsai pot, and is no more than 8" tall! Pictures will be posted soon. I have no doubt whatsoever that the potential of what can be accomplished with mindful line-breeding strategies is unlimited, And it will be fun and interesting to watch it unfold.

When I saw my first ever seedling of Freakshow type 2, I had a feeling I was looking at something no one in the world (today) had ever seen before, (which turned out to be right) it truly was a strange sort of enlightenment, even interdimensional, just knowing how many individuals (tens of thousands) that were looked for such a long period, and yet I'm looking at something entirely new, a morphology brand new to the planet! (The ability of some of these "freakiest of the freaks" to freely continue to redesign themselves is also...seemingly endless!) And awe-inspiring to put it casually.

The time and dedication that I've put in on this little pet project, has been well worth it, if only for the learning experience of watching real-time evolution in action. (albeit via artificial selection, but think about it, how much other "evolution" evolved this way? We, humans, have been around doing this sort of stuff for an extremely long time, look at canines and corn, for instance!) And of course, cannabis, man's other best friend, safe to say humans had a hand in the creation of this plant as we know it today, and will continue to. This latest project only leads to more questions, more study, and more learning. I'm thankful for my experience with cannabis, and all other genetic studies because it gives us a very spiritual sense of awe, amazement of the workings of DNA, of natural biological mechanisms, which in an almost magical, spiritual way seems to possess an infinite capability to improvise, adapt, and overcome, according to environmental pressures and conditions (epigenesis). I eventually had to shift my personal opinion of this to a genetic/environment influence ratio of at least maybe 60/40. Anyhow, as is true of all the scientific disciplines, the more we learn, the more we realize how much there is to be learned, and how limited our current understanding of things is.

Considering my long, (life-long) experience of striving to gain an understanding of the workings of genetics and their interaction with the environment (epigenetics) I feel I've only scratched the surface because it truly does lead to more questions than answers. This is good. I figure people with that kind of scientific curiosity should enjoy learning, but at the same time have a healthy respect and reverence for that part of the natural world that is magical and may never be fully explained in any scientific terms, or ever fully understood by humans.

I like the saying, “Just because something cannot be explained, doesn't mean it can't be true.” This is kinda where Freakshow cannabis falls in, because I myself as the breeder/creator of it, am truly at a loss as to how to fully explain it. Although I have hypothetical hunches (suppression of the regulatory function of the KNOX1 and FLO/LFY genes, for one, but possibly just a wild guess) I know there are scientific methods unending to cause mutation, but this is simply an approach that Darwin wrote about in 1868, that he called "methodical selection". It's that simple. And natural. No chem, serious hippy! I don't think it matters that much, what really matters is there will always be things that remain mysterious. Sure, it would be cool to have a complete explanation as to the biological mechanisms responsible for such an unreal phenomenon, but I think the even crazier question would be: could this unleashed ability to mutate be possibly induced in other plant species, or even all species at large? (no.. not GMO) I apologize, but it reminded me of the butter commercial.: "It's not nice to fool with Mother Nature." Aren't humans a part of the natural world? (debatable)

At any rate, as to try and summarize the how question, I guess it's acute observations of sometimes very subtle differences, making careful decisions selecting parent stock, having clear-cut goals in mind, exercising patience when setbacks occur, and in this case, having access to a personal collection of NLD stock. Honestly, I don't think this is the kind of thing where I could just write a step-by-step booklet on how to breed up some crazy-ass mutated cannabis, although I have thought about trying to go back to the original stock, do it all again, just to see if I could achieve similar results with entirely different phenotypes. Seriously, it is a fairly complex story, and nearly impossible to condense. (Maybe just the right gene and pheno combination at the right time). The whole project was conducted at the 4000ft elevation where we get extremely intense UV exposure and no shade. This may have contributed in some way to the initial mutations, but I'm somewhat doubtful, this resulted from gene combination and selection.

Nevertheless, although I am now outcrossing it in a few different directions to determine dominance, and so far have kept Freakshow in a few separate but pure, parallel lines (IBL), now at F-5 and F-6, with all ancestral stock retained in the library allowing all levels of backcrossing at any time. These separate lines are to maintain diversity, avoid bottlenecking the strain, and make crosses to maintain vigor while keeping it pure at the same time. Speaking of pure, some pure luck may have been involved as well, because as a seasoned manipulator of cannabis genetics, I know (as we all do) that the wrong parent choice anywhere along the line would have had a very different result, potentially making the project take much longer to accomplish.

I'll admit to some luck and take credit for some experience. As far as the actual lineage goes, that could only be determined later with DNA sequencing. Even then it could only be as accurate as the building blocks of the databank used. I kinda see it as pointless, as stated above, any given cultivar today could easily contain heritage from 50 or more different ancestral origins.

Well, a short version of a long story.... hope it suffices for now. And I'd like to add a few comments about the history of cannabis breeding (recent and distant past) and the possible hypothetical future scenarios that we may be confronted with concerning the collective cannabis genome. I'll be making these comments at a later time, but it should be remembered, at all times, that we, the people, are in charge of the future of this genome (that we should hold so very special) and that we and we alone will choose what directions it will take in its human-forced evolutionary pathway. Freakshow cannabis, to me, is overwhelmingly sufficient evidence of the amazing level of phenotypic plasticity, both genetic and epigenetic, that the species possesses. More later. " Peace n Love to All.....Jordan.....aka.....Shapeshifter