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Podcast Episode #14
Kagyu
Michael Fratis, aka Kagyu is an American plant breeder and preservationist who’s spent decades collecting and preserving heirloom and landrace cannabis genetics.
Photo by Outlook – Releaf
I’m sticking with seeds.
– Michael Fratis
Episode Preview
Canna Cribs Podcast: Episode #14.
When talking about old school cannabis breeders who’ve put in decades of work with this plant we have to include Michael Fratis.
About Kagyu:
Before retiring and focusing his time and energy on the preservation of his vast collection of cannabis genetics, Michael was a professional plant breeder working for Northrup King breeding alfalfa. Since then, he has brought his experience from the commercial plant breeding industry to the cannabis space where Michael continues this work breeding and preserving heirloom and landrace genetics.
QUESTIONS FROM THE INTERVIEW.
In this episode, Nick and Kagyu talk about breeding cannabis, Coastal Seed Co, landrace and heirloom strains, IPM, pheno hunting, difficult to grow cannabis strains, and much more!
- How did you get involved in the cannabis space?
- First collections of landrace or heirlooms?
- What’s the origin story of Kagyu and Coastal Seed CO.?
- What’s your day to day like?
- How do you source stock for breeding?
- What do you look for in plants for breeding?
- For people that are new in breeding, what is your advice?
- What are the most memorable experiences and the main challenges you’ve found up until this point?
- Why do you like Sativa after all this time?
- How do you transition from medical era prop 215 to recreational Prop 64 era?
- Tell us about your collaboration with other breeders?
- Give us your workflow – simplify it for the audience, what’s the steps in the breeding process and when releasing new cultivars?
- What is the most important consideration to keep in mind when breeding a new cultivar?
- What is your general analysis you have in the current cultivar selection and what is your direction/roadmap in 2021 beyond?
- What are some of the biggest changes/transitions you’ve seen in the cannabis space since you started?
- Has it changed the quality?
- Cannabis is widely accepted, which is great for business. How has corporate cannabis impacted you?
- For closing, tell us your project that you want to announce to the audience?
- Where can they access those?
