A clone-only is a single genotype, usually one exceptional plant selected from seed long ago, that survives only as cuttings passed from grower to grower. There is no seed that reproduces it: its seed, or seed from crosses using it, segregates into new genotypes. Many famous classic cultivars are clone-only.
In practice
Keeping a clone-only alive means keeping mothers healthy and free of pathogens, rooting backups, and ideally storing it in tissue culture. Its identity can be confirmed by DNA fingerprinting, which matters because names drift and the same name often travels with different cuts.
House view: elite clone-only gatekeeping is real. Some near-extinct classics survive only in small private circles, can change hands for very high prices or trades, and holders often cannot share them without repercussions. The founder believes some of this is deliberate control of the gene pool. GenetixBay's answer is the Stud Book, GB-ID documentation, preservation rewards and open sharing.
Don't confuse with
- Elite cut (slang): the hype term; a clone-only is the factual status.
- Seed line: breeds from seed, with variation.
- S1 of a clone-only: seed, not the clone; each seed is a new genotype.
Myth check
Clones do not "drift" or wear out genetically. Old cuts that decline almost always carry a pathogen such as hop latent viroid, or a care problem. House position: zero genetic drift apart from pathogens. See clone-only preservation and hop latent viroid.
The genotype is the set of alleles a plant actually carries, either at one locus or across its whole genome, as opposed to the traits you can see.Genotyping is reading a plant's DNA at selected markers to identify it, compare it with other plants, check sex or chemotype, or estimate its ancestry.An elite cut is a famous, proven clone-only plant, often held by a few growers and traded rather than sold openly.The gene pool is the total set of alleles present in a population, cultivar group or species; a narrow gene pool limits what breeders can select from.The Stud Book is GenetixBay's showcase of documented male plants, with selection journals, keeper details and sire credits; males are encouraged and rewarded.A GB-ID is GenetixBay's permanent identifier, such as GB-GEN-0001842-6, for a genetic line, landrace, seed batch, plant, cut, grow, harvest, trial or document, so records never get lost or renamed.HLVd, a small infectious RNA that spreads through sap and tools, causing stunting, brittle stems, small loose buds and reduced resin in cannabis; called dudding.Genetic drift is random change in allele frequencies between generations of a seed population, strongest in small populations; clones do not drift this way.A cultivar (cultivated variety) is a group of cultivated plants selected for distinct, uniform and stable traits that are kept when propagated, by seed or by cuttings.Tissue culture is growing small pieces of a plant on sterile nutrient gel in a sealed vessel, used to multiply, clean up and store cannabis genotypes.
