Who makes the marijuana strains you grow and love? Many of the best strains are made by skilled breeders toiling away in seclusion. We rarely learn who they are or how they became a successful marijuana strain creator. But thanks to the assistance of Tony Thetiger, media relations and information manager for legendary Dutch marijuana seeds company Dutch Passion, we scored an interview with Dutch Passion’s master strain maker, Antonio.

Antonio is a mysterious entity. The photo accompanying this article is the only photograph ever taken of him, that’s how security-conscious he is. But even though he’s secretive, he’s more well-known than most strain creators because he makes limited-edition strains for Dutch Passion, including Sherbelato Cake, Sour Tropicana Sherbet and Triangle Sherbet Kush, and talks publicly about creating them. He has won 40 Marijuana Cup awards so far.

Let’s do a deep dive into Antonio’s marijuana success story, and his insider advice for connoisseur marijuana growers and breeders…

How Antonio Became a Professional Marijuana Strain Creator

“I started smoking and growing marijuana more than two decades ago, as a teenager. When I was only 16, in the early 2000’s, I realized my passion is to work in the marijuana industry and create my own marijuana seeds that will be grown and cherished across the world. 

After high school, all I wanted to focus on was growing, smoking, and experiencing all the different things marijuana had to offer. It became an obsession for me.

I started experimenting with clones, and bought and grew marijuana seeds from others, while also studying growing techniques, nutrients, and other cultivation science. Over many years I’ve collected many too-good-to-lose cuttings—from 25% THC bangers to very terpy ladies.

I set up my own experiments with clones to compare nutrients brands. When LED grow lights first appeared, I did clone competitions putting LEDs against HPS grow lights.

One thing I realized early on is that lab testing is an indispensable tool to see what your buds really contain. A grower’s personal judgement is only accurate to a certain point. Extensive analytical lab testing has become an essential part of every stage of my breeding projects.

Another way I gained knowledge is by sharing my marijuana projects with family, friends and my collective, a group of like-minded individuals that love the marijuana plant almost as much as I do myself. Without the collective, I would have not made it this far. So, a special thanks to them for all those hours of working together, debating which strain is best.

After years of growing and testing, by 2015 I was ready to enter my strains in prestigious contests such as Spannabis and the High Life Cup. The first strains I entered won prizes, making me super happy and proud. Since then, the number of marijuana prizes I’ve won has grown tremendously, and my genetics collection continued to improve as I acquired new genetics, cultivation experience, and contacts with top breeders. Now in 2024, I have nearly 40 marijuana prizes from across Europe.

How Does Antonio Develop New Strains?

Partly thanks to all the rigorous scientific testing in my breeding programs, my collection of elite mother plants has never been so good and attracts plenty of discussion in the professional marijuana community.

Identifying and preserving only the best mother plants is key. You want to keep rare cuttings in several locations in case of a failure in one grow op. Learn to be ruthless and discard all plants that don’t reach epic quality levels. Keep mother plants in a stable room where they’ll survive for many years offering hundreds of cuttings.

Because I’m very active in international marijuana competitions, I meet the most serious marijuana entrepreneurs and aficionados. That’s how Dutch Passion and I got together and came up with the idea of celebrating April 20 (420 day) in 2024  with a limited edition feminized seed drop using some of my tastiest, most consistent, most powerful genetics.

Here’s how I developed Sherbelato Cake, Sour Tropicana Cookies, and Triangle Sherbet Kush feminized marijuana seeds for limited release. These are very tasty strains. Sherbelato Cake is a precision cross between Gelato, Sherbet, and Wedding Cake. Sour Tropicana Cookies is a cross between a rare cut of original Sour Tropicana Cookies crossed with Sherbet. Triangle Sherbet Kush S1 came from years of breeding refinement with Sour Banana Sherbet x Leeroy, which eventually led to a phenotype with a THC percentage well over 25%. This strain is an S1 (‘selfed’) Indica-dominant Kush cross that thrives very well in lower temperatures.

All excellent breeding starts with stellar origin genetics. Top breeders spend many years collecting and refining their collection of marijuana genetics. Meeting experienced breeders along the way to get breeding tips, rare seeds and cuttings, and techniques is a great help.

Many otherwise-excellent cultivars fall short because their terpene profile or cannabinoid percentages aren’t matched to the demanding standards required to gain a permanent home in the motherplant collection. During recent years, I’ve been doing very serious, very ruthless culling, saving only the most premium genetics. To make an elite strain, you usually do years of test-growing in different indoor and outdoor situations. You only keep strains that can handle the full range of marijuana garden types.

I was breeding more with regular marijuana seed varieties 3-4 years ago. Since then, there has been a lot more testing and culling, and I always learn new things about genetics and breeding every day, especially what to do and (perhaps more importantly) what NOT to do in to refine and stabilize elite marijuana strains.

Breeding, Seedmaking & Strain Development Strategies

About two years ago I got a request to do feminized seed breeding, which was a steep learning curve fortunately assisted by valuable input from seasoned pros.

The best breeding projects start with clear objectives. For the Dutch Passion 4/20 drop of Sherbelato Cake, Sour Tropicana Cookies and Triangle Sherbet Kush, the objectives were to deliver very high THC percentages and a connoisseur terpene profile. I used mother plants known for phenotype and genotype consistency for these traits, as well as for heavy yields. With just over 2,000 feminized seeds produced of each strain, we had enough for 420 packs of 5 feminized seeds each.

When you’re making seeds, the timing and method you use for pollinating female flowers is very important. I prefer to have my male pollen plant producing pollen at the same time my females are in bloom ready for pollen. Sometimes, I put the pollen plant in the room with several females. Some breeders collect and freeze pollen, applying it by hand with a small brush later. Realize that fresh or freezer-stored pollen eventually becomes clumpy, loses its ability to be brushed easily onto female buds, and loses its viability.

Yes, you can gain knowledge about pollination techniques and timing from the internet as well as experienced breeders, but there’s no escaping the fact that only by actually doing years of  breeding and pollination do you gain experience needed to become an expert seed producer.

Before you start making seeds, ensure your male and female plants come from the most high-potency, tasty, stable genetic lineage. Females should be pollinated in early to mid-bloom. I time pollen release from male plants to coincide with ideal bud development to ensure uniform pollination in the female’s flowering cycle. Use of a small, dry, narrow point paintbrush to brush pollen on flowers is a great way to ensure uniform pollination.

When pollination has occurred, you see formerly white pistils turning orange within a few days.

Seeds start to form fairly quickly, but need at least around 5-6 weeks to mature, but 6-7 weeks is the time you should allow for them to ripen fully in the flowers.

You’ll notice a big difference in development of pollinated flowers compared to seedless flowers. Appearance, trichome density, and terp scent may be different in pollinated buds compared to seedless. In some strains the difference between pollinated and seedless buds are very distinct.

One of the biggest challenges for a breeder is learning how to turn female plants into female pollen plants to their own pollen, which has no male chromosomes, can be used to create feminized seeds. This process is called “reversing” a female plant.

As with male to female pollination, timing of the feminized pollination process and availability of ‘female pollen’ from a reversed female, is absolutely crucial. You want to reverse the donor female to produce female pollen so that pollen is available when the females you want to pollinate are in early-middle bloom with white pistils.

One very important thing to remember as you build your genetics collection is that premium marijuana seeds made by professional breeders are one of the smallest expenses of growing marijuana. You don’t want to ‘save money’ by buying inferior brands. You only want the absolute best. You could have a totally perfect grow room, outdoor garden, fertilizers, and cultivation techniques—but if your genetics are mediocre or worse, you will not get the frosty, terpy, high-THC buds you want.

So yes, becoming a successful marijuana strain breeder and seedmaker means you have to learn techniques and strategies from experts, and from doing years of experiments yourself. What keeps me on track is passion for the plant and passion for consuming buds. Sharing my marijuana passion with like-minded individuals is a joy. So perhaps it’s not at all a coincidence that I am fortunate enough to breed strains for Dutch Passion—it’s in their name!”

Does Antonio’s story inspire you to become a cannabis strain breeder? It sure does for me! Keep an eye on the Dutch Passion website for the latest releases from Antonio.