The best seeds and weed at Hall of Flowers Santa Rosa 2025

Plus, Seed Junky Genetics’ big new drop, Zalympix Michigan winners, and the High Times Cannabis Cup re-boots

Happy Dreams Triangle Kush x GMO. (David Downs)

BY DAVID DOWNS | Sept. 16

Good evening, and welcome to the Fire Follower genetics intelligence service. Here’s your Sept. 16 weekly report. My garden is chunky, icy, and smells like a gas station, and I’m not alone. The continent is pregnant with fat, juicy colas, ... although, technically not pregnant. … Sexually frustrated. Like blue balls, but for the lady plants. … Blue bracts? Either way, the newsletter and North America is bursting with too much good bud.

In this week’s newsletter: …

• Big winners of the Michigan Zalympix

• Seed Junky Genetics’ next move

• Top seeds and weed of California—via Hall of Flowers

As usual, the first hit is free, then I'll see you in the Pro version. Assuming you got $5 on it.

Lemonberry LANTZ (Courtesy Ridgeline)

IS LANTZ THE STRAIN OF THE YEAR 2025?: Ridgeline Farms’ LANTZ just distinguished itself in Michigan's leading pot contest, the Zalympix. Fun fact: farm-direct packs of LANTZ are sitting for sale on Tangled Roots, and I don’t know why they're not sold out. Get your head in the game and grab the LANTZ packs. Also winning in the mitt: Honey Banana, and Rainbow Beltz 3.0 Distinguished grower: Growing Pains. Top hashmaker: RKIVE. See all the Zalympix MI winners plus, Oklahoma 2026 and California 2026 contest details in the Pro edition.

Magic Marker x Lemon Cherry Bx1 (Courtesy SJG)

GUESS WHO’S BACK: Mark your calendar. Seed Junky Genetics is back with a new seed drop this Friday Sept. 19. It's a bunch of Lemon Cherry bx1 crosses that promises to prolong the LCG wave indefinitely. J Beezy’s Lemon Cherry Bx1 is louder, higher THC, higher yield, and higher terpene than the parent. It's crossed to: Magic Marker, (Zkittlez x Kush Mints 11), Magic Marker, or Permanent Paradize. My top pick is in the Pro edition.

HAUL OF FLOWERS, AND SEEDS: We went to nearly every seed booth at Hall of Flowers in Santa Rosa, CA last week. First pick: Southern Oregon’s Ziplock Seeds, who has been winning awards too fast to keep his marketing update to date.

Check Shanoah’s Lazer Wolf line of Seed Junky Amaretto Sour x Tropsicle. Tropsicle is (Dosidos x Lava Cake) x Trop Cookies F2.

And his Neon Moon line: (Seed Junky Hawaiian Rain x Seed Junky Permanent Marker) x Ziplock’s Maui Wowie 2.0.

You see how the Hawaiian native is remixing the most hype genes to make a new banger. Look at Neon Wolf (Lazer Wolf) x (Neon Moon). $100 for 10 fems. Buy, buy, buy. We also endorse: Supernova (Piescream x Neon Moon), and Lazer Wolf BX.

Flower of the moment: Blueberry and Blackberry Caviar. Don’t sleep on the Cookies’ fall marching orders for Blueberry and Blackberry Caviar—delivering the goods from Grape Gas x LANTZ. Berry taste. Power. Not the biggest nugs, though; blueberry to blackberry-sized.

Read more top picks from the Hall of Flowers in the Pro edition for $5.

3 TOP SEED DROPS

Here’s three seed drops that are so good you should bring a change of pants.

Cannarado Genetics has two new Blue Zushi crosses. Ooowee. Blue Blockers (Zawtz x Blue Zushi) and Butterscotch Zushi (Butterscotch Banana 3 x Blue Zushi). Blue Blockers delivers “Chem pine fuel from the Zawtz mixed with some sweet from the Zushi. … Good yields and great terp numbers.” Butterscotch Zushi offers “Sweet buttery banana terps on sturdy frames. [and] Lots of good resin for solventless extraction.” Cannarado calls Zawtz and Butterscotch Banana “two of his favorite creations,” so take note. 6 fems for $80.

Archive Seed Bank has 32 cultivars live on its site and I don't know if they weren't there last week or I didn't just see them, but holy shit: Rainbow Belts 3.0 (Rainbow Belts #20 x Moonbow 112 F2 #60) for “locking in the Zkittles terp profile ... a taller more stretchy profile that stacks, to complement the lip-smacking Rainbow Belts #20 mother cuts, more bushy structure ... Several 6% plus hash champions. ... A true wonder for the solventless hash producer. Dry, sandy resin phenotypes that are packed with gobstopper, blue sour patch, tropical Zkittles overtones.” $200 for 12 regs.

See also: Black Belts (Oishii #9 x Rainbow Belts #20);

Lemon Cane (Lemon Peel x Dosidos) with “a focus on concentrating the smell and flavor of the Lemon Peel mom paired with the improved resin quality and structure provided by the dosidos can yield the perfect blend.”

And Flak Jacket (GMO x Chem91) x Face Off OG #4. $75 for 3 fems. “Be prepared for battle and put on your Flak Jacket.

“Bong hits of this will leave you gasping for air like being hit with an explosive.”

Capulator’s Black Pine Reserve

Capulator has listed some new strains for your radar. Most intriguing: Medicine MAC—a Harlequin x MAC cross that’s 1:1 and 1:2. “Uber-relaxing smoke that makes you feel like you just took a hot shower and drops you into some excellent sleep,” Cap said. $200 for 20 regs “so you can hunt for an easy winner. Enjoy!”

Also: Black Pine Reserve (Black Lime Reserve x Pine Cone Jones) for stretchy monsters that are “sharp, sour, gassy lime for the most part. ... Would probably crush outside by the way they look inside.” $100 for 20 regs.

Reminders:

• Grab an early bird free RSVP to the Terpnami seed show Dec. 6-7 in SF. Give it up for the first vendors: Bosky, Zeed Vault, Humboldt CCTV, Luscious Genetics, Purple Caper, Happy Dreams, and Sticky Fields. Expected aboard shortly: Tangled Roots featuring Huckleberry Hill, Ridgeline Farms and Casa Flor, Alpine Seed Group featuring Biovortex and Freeborn Selections, Humboldt Seed Co, DNA Genetics with Errl Hill, Grove with James Loud, Dr. Dabber, Compound Genetics, Bloom Seed Co, Purple City Genetics, Ziplock Seeds, Xeno Grows, Lempire, First Cut Farms, Greenshock Farms, and NorCal Genetics. Just 6 tables left.

• And look for Fire Follower now syndicated in print editions of Leaf Magazine all around the country.

• It’s harvest season, order my book “Marijuana Harvest – Maximizing Quality & Yield in your Cannabis Garden” and finish like a pro.

TOP BUD SHOT OF THE WEEK:

Blackberry Caviar. Ginja Club. Courtesy Ridgeline Farms

In this week’s Fire Follower Pro for $5

• More top seed drops from Masonic, Mephisto, and Sin City Seeds

• Essential buys from Umami Seed Co, Surfr Seeds, and Cannarado

• Where to get the latest GMO Root Beer clones

• More seed and flower picks from Hall of Flowers

• Access to back-issues of Fire Follower Pro, featuring dozens more stellar additions for your grow.

• Genetics and awards Event Calendar

• Full list of Michigan Zalympix winners

Fire Follower saves you over 100 hours per year keeping up with genetics news, so you never miss a big drop. It’s for commercial growers, breeders, seed junkies, collectors, store buyers, PR people, executives, and pro-am aficionados. Buy this week’s issue for $5. Subscribe to 52 issues and save 30%. (I email you the full genetics intelligence report when you pay.)

I’ll see you in the Pro edition.