Checking out the Paradise Seeds Store, Amsterdam

Paradise Seeds has in my eyes always been one of those legendary seed companies, great strains and great people will do that.

They burst onto the scene in 1999 with their first Cannabis Cup for Sensi Star, this is one of the most awarded strains around.

It is also one of the strongest Indica’s on the planet.

I’ve been lucky enough to try quite a few different varieties in my day I can really attest to its incredible stone. I’ve also had the pleasure of growing it sever-al times and each time the glistening trichomes amaze me. It is also a fantastic medical strain with attributes like extreme pain relief and bronchial dilation, which is perfect for Asthma patients.

I was therefore very pleased to get the assignment of covering Paradise Seeds new flagship store in Amsterdam, called the Amsterdam Seed Center (www.amsterdamseedcenter.com) Luc, the owner of Paradise Seeds wants his store to be a haven for growers coming to Amsterdam looking for only the finest genetics.

Luc plans on selling seeds from other breeders as well, provided that they meet his strict quality control criteria. Currently they stock seeds from Serious Seeds and Dutch Passion. The shop is located on a small street directly behind the dam square its a great central location, right in the middle of the city (Gravenstraat 12).

The shop has a huge window looking out onto the street with some awards and posters showing off some of their amazing strains. As you walk in the space seems quite open and well laid out. It’s very bright and has a calming atmosphere, it doesn’t feel like a typical cluttered Amsterdam seed shop filled with posters and walls overloaded with information. Instead there is a row of Paradise Seeds logo T-shirts on one wall in all the colours of the rainbow.

On the other side of the shop are three glass display cases that show off all of the awards that Paradise has won, including the two glass cups from TY’s own Medical cup. The seed packages are also on display with a range of Hemp bags from Sativa. They will also be introducing a line of organic hemp soaps which should be in the shop in a month or so.

What has always struck me about Luc when I met him years ago was the calmness of his aura. When I activated my Merkaba, which is a mystical field of energy around me, life really changed for me. From that moment four years ago my perspective was forever altered.

When I met Luc this was something that drew us together as he immediately recognised the Flower of Life pendant I wear because of his own experi-ences with the Merkaba. I only mention this because spiritual-ity is important to me, it shows a certain truth to one’s charac-ter. It is impossible to not take a spiritual event like that with you into everything you do in life, including breeding and growing. This is one reason I was always so intrigued by Paradise Seeds as its philosophy was also coming from a place of spiritual awareness that was familiar to me.

Paradise Seeds has in my eyes always been one of those legendary seed companies, great strains and great people will do that. They burst onto the scene in 1999 with their first Cannabis Cup for Sensi Star, this is one of the most awarded strains around. It is also one of the strongest Indica’s on the planet. I’ve been lucky enough to try quite a few different varieties in my day I can really attest to its incredible stone. I’ve also had the pleasure of growing it sever-al times and each time the glistening trichomes amaze me. It is also a fantastic medical strain with attributes like extreme pain relief and bronchial dilation, which is perfect for Asthma patients.

I was therefore very pleased to get the assignment of covering Paradise Seeds new flagship store in Amsterdam, called the Amsterdam Seed Center (www.amsterdamseedcenter.com) Luc, the owner of Paradise Seeds wants his store to be a haven for growers coming to Amsterdam looking for only the finest genetics. Luc plans on selling seeds from other breeders as well, provided that they meet his strict quality control criteria. Currently they stock seeds from Serious Seeds and Dutch Passion. The shop is located on a small street directly behind the dam square its a great central location, right in the middle of the city (Gravenstraat 12). The shop has a huge window looking out onto the street with some awards and posters showing off some of their amazing strains. As you walk in the space seems quite open and well laid out. It’s very bright and has a calming atmosphere, it doesn’t feel like a typical cluttered Amsterdam seed shop filled with posters and walls overloaded with information. Instead there is a row of Paradise Seeds logo T-shirts on one wall in all the colours of the rainbow. On the other side of the shop are three glass display cases that show off all of the awards that Paradise has won, including the two glass cups from TY’s own Medical cup. The seed packages are also on display with a range of Hemp bags from Sativa. They will also be introducing a line of organic hemp soaps which should be in the shop in a month or so.

What has always struck me about Luc when I met him years ago was the calmness of his aura. When I activated my Merkaba, which is a mystical field of energy around me, life really changed for me. From that moment four years ago my perspective was forever altered. When I met Luc this was something that drew us together as he immediately recognised the Flower of Life pendant I wear because of his own experi-ences with the Merkaba. I only mention this because spiritual-ity is important to me, it shows a certain truth to one’s charac-ter. It is impossible to not take a spiritual event like that with you into everything you do in life, including breeding and growing. This is one reason I was always so intrigued by Paradise Seeds as its philosophy was also coming from a place of spiritual awareness that was familiar to me.

Luc started off growing his own herb in a squat around the corner from his store’s current location. When we chatted he reflected on his early days. At the time he was a big smoker and prices even back then were just too high in the cof-feeshops so he decided to start growing his own. He grew on

Luc started off growing his own herb in a squat around the corner from his store’s current location. When we chatted he reflected on his early days. At the time he was a big smoker and prices even back then were just too high in the cof-feeshops so he decided to start growing his own. He grew on

the roof of his squat which overlooked a police station, aah the good old days. It was this that gave him his start and he began working with different strains to find the ones he thought worked best. This propelled him further and his experiments continued into the late 90’s culminat-ing in the cup win in 1999. Paradise seeds has gone on to win pretty much every cup in the vast world of cannabis cup competitions. They have also won two cups at the Treating Yourself Medical cup including awards for the Delahaze, this year and for the Sensi Star last year.

In the early years of his company Luc had the chance to work with some large breeding facilities and grew out big selections of his strains as well as new genetics which would form the basis of future strains like the DelaHaze. This was the heyday of European growing. During this time Luc also created a sister line of feminized versions of his most popular strains. This was done using his strict breeding philosophy of using large selections to create both strain stability and feminization stability. This is why he can proudly state that with his feminized seeds you will get the buds seen in pictures of the strains and they will be hermaphrodite free, allowing you a stress and worry free grow.

For Luc it was important to ensure quality control as he always had difficulty getting good seeds back in the early nineties when he first started growing, he vowed to never leave growers in the same position again. When discussing the feminization process with him he said a few interesting things. To begin with he would grow out his progeny from his first self-cross and select only the moms that proved the most uniform and the most vigorous females. This would ensure that these traits where passed genetically down the line to future children, as these would be the mothers he would use to make his female seeds from. By having the space to make these selections Luc was very confident in his breeding process, and after seeing some photos I was pretty convinced as well. He’s also one of the few breed-ers out there that has personally conducted tests on all of his strains with incredibly large selection groups, in most cases well over 100 to 150 seeds would be thrown of each strain. Especially if you consider they have 21 strains in their stable, that is quite some space needed.

Now that growing has become more difficult in both Holland and the rest of Europe Luc has found a way to work with lots of smaller spaces rather than to put all of his eggs in one basket. This way by using micro produc-tion techniques he can still ensure his level of quality con-trol.

Over the last few years Luc has introduced several new strains such as: the Delahaze which is a Sativa/Indica hybrid but has some amazing flavours, combining a rich fruity mango taste with the earthy piney taste of the haze. The Acid, which is a mostly Sativa and has flavours that are very similar to the sour grapefruit taste associated with

some Diesel’s. They also have a Kush strain called the AllKush which is a really stocky and bushy Indica. If you’re looking for an old school Kush vibration this is the one for you.

They have also continued production on their classics like Sensi Star and MagicBud, i knew someone who swore by this strain, one of his absolute favourites as far as flavour and yield go. From the photos I’ve seen the MagicBud is one of the biggest yielders around.

Paradise also has three auto-flower strains ranging from a big yielder, known as Pandora, to a very white variety called the Automaria H to a purple one, named Vertigo. The auto-flower varieties all come from his vast research, rather than strictly using the standard technique of com-bining ruderalis with other strains he found that certain Indicas in his stable that had a base of Afghan in them could auto-flower. When combined he was able to create three fully auto-flower varieties. Including Vertigo which has some amazing medical properties like pain relief and appetite stabilisation.

Creating medical strains is also something that Luc holds

dear to his heart. He told me about the satisfaction he gets when he goes to the various expos around the world and gets to hear people’s individual stories about how his strains have helped them out with their ailments and eased their pain. He finds it very rewarding work. This is one rea-son he said it is so important for him to go to the trade shows as it gives him one on one contact with his cus-tomers from all over the world. “For me these people are beyond customers i like to think of of them as the paradise extended family. They take my work and grow it all over the world and in some cases it changes people’s lives as they find their pain going away or their appetite increasing. Its an amazing thing a little seed can do.”

I highly recommend you check out their shop when you’re here in Amsterdam and when you next visit the web check out www.amsterdamseedcenter.com and www.paradise-seeds.com for some more information about the individual strains and for some great bud shots. Keep an eye out as they’re always working on new strains and updating their catalogue. And most importantly enjoy the grow with Paradise Seed genetics i’m sure you will.

Love and light!