GODAMMIT
This is about the mismatch!
The freebie wasn't even really free. I worked for it.
Chunky... Please note that in my post I said that applied to "some" not all. I read that and I understand that. Sorry for the confusion there buddy.
If I were in your shoes though and anyone else that is worried about flowering time being exact if anything more than a 2 week or so variation on finishing times is not acceptable, then clones are a better option for you guys.
Now if clones are not available and you really need to have something that finishes short/early, I suggest your only option is to have patience and grow out a few packs until you find the pheno that best fits the needs of your growth patterns and then clone the hell out of that early girl and keep her happy and marry her.
Your not going to find anything that claims to finish in "60 days" (example) that will always finish in 60 days, every time, every seed.
I remember back in the day I was excited as fuck to run a pack of Sannies Sugar Punch but the flowering times really threw me off to the point I wanted to avoid running it all together. But those smoke reports and close up bud porn shots, made me bite the bullet. I just knew with sugar punch having that SSH in the lineage was really gonna be aching my requirement for the time it took her to get to the finish line.
Sannie at that time was claiming her to run I believe it was 9 to 11 weeks. Well my very first fem pack of Sugar Punch I popped (and I swear this to you), I had one pheno that was totally fucking dank and covered in trichs, hues of purple and caked in white frost was done at exactly 52 days.... 52 FUCKING DAYS! And yes this is true. All others went anywhere from 70 to 90 and the 52 day was the strongest and had better bag appeal than all the reat and yielded just as well too.
Upon further research I found over on open grow that this phenol was rare and other people did have it as well as myself. You could have taken it at 48 days no problem as visually there was on difference in 48 days and 52 days.
Point is... You can never tell what ya got, till ya pop, bro.
You had mentioned professionals... Now if you are talking about professionals as in "commercial growers" you do not see most commercial growers running seeds period. You see them running clones, to keep thing's organized and needs at minimal maintenance... I have seen very few professional commercial growers run seed plants in indoor setups, in fact it is very rare and unheard of these days as a professional grower is organized and strains (clones) with minimal flowering time and bag appeal/potency/popularity is the sought after goodies for their success. Professionals are aware of the possible instability, variable finishing dates, variable nutrient requirements that plants grown from seeds have to offer and therefore seeds are really not anything of interest for the true professional. Exceptions for the professionals are growing outdoors, as it is a whole different ball game and in some cases seeds are more beneficial to their needs and have a much better survival rate as well as lower maintenance outdoors, due to their more robust and larger root system and of course, that famous "taproot" that borrows down oh so deeply beneath the surface of the soil that travels to places that even the most elite of clones, can only dream of going. That special intelligent taproot that needs no guidance, as it is equiped naturally with wisdom and knowledge to anchor itself into the source of water it needs, to feed its amazing gene pool selected by the grower to offer the best of resistance to the weather, pests and diseases of the environment in which thrives. This s a good example of when the professional grower may likely use seeds rather than clones. When there is one large yearly harvest on the table and having a short finishing time does not matter so much, as there is nothing else in the veg room waiting in line to replace those plants nor an exact date/deadline. Outdoors, a professional will tell you that having variable harvest dates are actually in favor and preference.
I have to stop this rant, before I never stop this rant.
Just grow the damn seeds, find you a pheno with the shortest flowering period and if you like her and she suits your needs then keep her around.
That or get yourselves some proven clones to suit your needs. Really seeds are not the best option for what you guys are looking for in a grow, if having "required" rather than "preferred" flowering time is the concern.
Grow perpetual, and solve your issue.
