How the Most Famous Cannabis Genetics Families Appeared. Part 2

This is a continuation of the first part of the article on the history of famous Cannabis genetic families. While earlier we traced the path from regional populations to Haze, Skunk, Kush, Northern Lights and other classic lines, we now turn to American breeding of the 1990s–2010s — from Diesel and OG to Cookies, Gelato and modern polyhybrids.

Diesel: the family born from a mystery

The history of Diesel is usually attributed to the American breeding scene of the early 1990s. Unlike earlier families, its origin is not linked to one well-documented programme. Genetic material circulated among small groups of breeders, so the early pedigree has been preserved only partially.

The Chemdog story

One of the central figures in this story was a person known as Chemdog. According to the most common version, in 1991 during a Grateful Dead concert in Indiana he obtained samples of a plant known as Dog Bud. From the seeds received, plants were later selected that became the foundation of the famous Chemdog line.

At the same time, the exact origin of the original seeds is unknown. There are different versions of their genetics, but there is no reliable documentation confirming a specific pedigree. Therefore the Chemdog story is a good example of how the history of modern genetics is sometimes built on the recollections of participants and subsequent reconstructions.

How Diesel appeared

In the early 1990s the name Diesel began to spread in American breeding culture. The best-known line of this direction became Sour Diesel, which is usually linked to Chemdog 91 and East Coast American breeding.

However, here too there is no single confirmed version of origin. Different sources mention the involvement of Skunk, Northern Lights and other lines. Therefore it is more correct to speak of several versions rather than a fully established pedigree. Over time Diesel ceased to denote only one historical line. The name began to be used for an entire breeding direction and a multitude of subsequent hybrids.

In this sense Diesel became another stage in the transition from a specific line to a broad genetic family. The main significance of Diesel lies precisely in this transition. While Haze, Skunk and Northern Lights were formed in the era of organised international breeding, Diesel shows the development of American culture in which genetic material was actively exchanged within small communities.

Among the most recognisable representatives of the Diesel family several key strains are still distinguished:

OG: the mysterious line that changed American breeding

The next important stage was OG. Its origin is also surrounded by disputes, but the significance of this line for American breeding is hard to overestimate. The most widespread version links early OG to Florida of the early 1990s. Later the genetic material ended up in California. According to Josh D, in 1996 a cutting of the line known as Kush arrived from Florida to Los Angeles, where it was further distributed and became known as OG Kush. There are also other versions linking the origin of OG to Chemdog, Lemon Thai and Hindu Kush. However, it is impossible to documentarily confirm a specific parental combination.

Where the name OG came from

Even the origin of the name itself remains disputed. Among common interpretations are Original Gangster and Ocean Grown. Josh D associated OG with the concept of Original, that is with the original line. As with Diesel, it is important here to separate historical evidence from later reconstructions.

Florida → Los Angeles

The movement of the line to California became a key moment. Unlike the Dutch school, where seed lines and organised breeding programmes were of great importance, the Californian scene actively developed the culture of preserving individual clones. OG became one of the symbols of this model. A single genetic specimen could be passed between breeders for years and then become the foundation of new projects.

Over time an entire family of names formed around OG: SFV OG, Tahoe OG, Ghost OG and other lines. Therefore OG gradually ceased to be only one historical line and turned into a broad direction of American genetics.

Here are several of the most influential representatives of the OG family:

Cookies: transition to a new era

If Diesel and OG show American breeding of the 1990s, then Cookies marks the next stage. Here a genetic line for the first time became so closely connected with culture and commercial branding. The history of Girl Scout Cookies is usually linked to the San Francisco Bay Area and the breeder Jai Chang, known as Jigga. Later, together with Berner, he became one of the key figures in creating the Cookies brand. At the same time the genetic line appeared before the official formation of the company. Work on the future Girl Scout Cookies began already in the mid-2000s, and the name gained wide recognition in the early 2010s.

Disputed pedigree

The most widespread version of the origin of Girl Scout Cookies links it to OG Kush and Durban Poison. However, there are also other reconstructions, so this combination is more correctly regarded as the best-known version rather than an absolutely proven pedigree. This is a characteristic feature of many American lines of that period: breeding records were not kept as systematically as today, and a significant part of the information was transmitted through community participants.

Why Cookies became a turning point

The main difference of Cookies was that genetics for the first time received a full cultural shell. The name began to exist simultaneously as a designation of a line, a brand, an element of visual culture and a commercial project. The Cookies company was founded by Berner and Jai in 2010. Subsequently it turned from a Californian project into an international brand.

Even more important is the genetic legacy of Cookies. New directions formed around it, among which a special place was taken by Sunset Sherbet. Through it the history of Cookies led to the appearance of Gelato and an entire generation of modern Californian hybrids.

It was in this period that the diversity of forms in which genetic lines existed became increasingly noticeable: from classic photoperiod plants to modern variants for which feminised and autoflowering cannabis seeds later became especially in demand. The history of Cookies itself belongs to classic photoperiod breeding, yet its genetic legacy subsequently proved much broader than one seed category.

Thus another transition took place:

classic lines → American hybrids → Cookies → new genetic families.

Among the best-known representatives of the Cookies family:

Gelato: from Cookies to an entire network

The history of Gelato continues the line that began with Cookies. It is connected with the same Californian environment and the names Jigga and Mr. Sherbinski.

Sunset Sherbet

According to the account of Mr. Sherbinski, in 2012 a male plant from the Pink Panties line accidentally pollinated Girl Scout Cookies plants. From the seeds obtained the Sunset Sherbet line was later selected. This case well illustrates the character of American breeding of that time: significant lines could appear not only as a result of pre-planned programmes but also thanks to accidental pollination, after which breeders preserved interesting results.

Sunset Sherbet became a kind of bridge between Cookies and the subsequent generation of Gelato.

The appearance of Gelato

In 2014 work continued with the participation of Jigga and Mr. Sherbinski. The appearance of Gelato is linked to the combination of Sunset Sherbet and Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies. After obtaining the progeny the breeders selected individual phenotypes and designated them by numbers. Thus appeared Gelato #25, #33, #41, #43, #45 and other variants.

These numbers designated not different generations but individual phenotypes from one breeding project. Some later received their own names: for example, Gelato #33 became known as Larry Bird, and Gelato #41 as Bacio.

It is here that the change in the very concept of a “line” is especially noticeable. An individual phenotype could receive its own name and then become the source of new pedigrees.

Why Gelato became important

By the mid-2010s the internet and social networks made it possible to disseminate information about new lines much faster. Gelato quickly went beyond the original Californian scene and became an independent element of modern genetic nomenclature.

At the same time the tendency toward “dessert” names became established: Cookies, Sherbet, Gelato and a multitude of subsequent hybrids formed a new layer of terminology.

From here begins not a tree but a network:

OG → Cookies → Sunset Sherbet → Gelato → numerous subsequent lines.

At the same time the modern categories of indica and sativa are less and less able to fully describe such complex hybrids. In early descriptions these concepts were of great importance for classifying genetics, yet modern polyhybrids often combine traits of several historical directions.

The best-known Gelato phenotypes that are still actively used in breeding:

Runtz — the era of modern polyhybrids

The next important stage was Runtz. Its origin is usually linked to the combination of Zkittlez and Gelato. The details of creation and the authorship of individual stages have several versions, but in the history the participants of the Runtz Crew most often appear.

The significance of Runtz lies not only in the popularity of the line itself. It became an example of a new logic of breeding in which breeders no longer necessarily worked with original regional lines. Instead they combined previously formed modern families with one another.

Simplified, the chain can be presented as follows:

Cookies → Sunset Sherbet / Gelato → Runtz

At the same time the second branch — Zkittlez — came from another direction of Californian breeding.

By the end of the 2010s the name Runtz had become not only a genetic designation but also a cultural symbol. In 2020 Leafly named Runtz “Strain of the Year”, which additionally cemented its place in the history of modern American breeding.

At this stage the main change becomes especially clearly visible: modern lines increasingly represent not a direct continuation of one family but an intersection of several already known branches.

The best-known Runtz variants:

Wedding Cake — the interweaving of OG and Cookies

Wedding Cake shows this process even more clearly. Its history is usually linked to Seed Junky Genetics and the breeder JBeezy. The most widespread version points to the combination of Triangle Kush and Animal Mints, while the known selection received the name Triangle Mints.

The connection with previous families can be traced here through several generations:

OG / Kush → Triangle Kush

Cookies → Animal Cookies → Animal Mints

And then:

Triangle Kush × Animal Mints → Triangle Mints → Wedding Cake

Therefore Wedding Cake cannot be regarded simply as another offshoot of Cookies. In it two major directions of American breeding — OG/Kush and Cookies — are combined.

There has also been a certain confusion with the name. Wedding Cake appears under the names Pink Cookies and Triangle Mints, yet these designations are not always applied in the same way. In addition there exist commercial lines with the same name but a different pedigree.

This once again shows why modern genetics cannot be defined solely by name. Wedding Cake became a parent for new hybrids, including Ice Cream Cake, where it intersects with the Gelato line. Thus modern families continued to combine with one another.

Key strains of this direction:

Zkittlez — the last branch before polyhybrids

The history of Zkittlez is important primarily because it represents a separate branch of modern Californian breeding. It is linked to 3rd Gen Family and Terphogz. The pedigree is usually described as a combination of Grape Ape, Grapefruit and another genetics not disclosed by the creators. Therefore it also cannot be considered fully documented.

What is more important is something else. While Gelato developed from Cookies:

Cookies → GSC → Sunset Sherbet → Gelato

Zkittlez followed a different branch:

Grape Ape + Grapefruit + unknown component → Zkittlez

Then these two lines intersected:

Zkittlez × Gelato → Runtz

It is here that it becomes especially clearly visible how modern breeding moved from separate families to a complex system of intersecting pedigrees.

After the appearance of Runtz the number of new combinations began to grow so rapidly that examining each subsequent name separately no longer has much historical sense. Some lines became parents of several projects, others received new names, and still others existed in different versions with different breeders.

Therefore Zkittlez becomes a convenient final stop on our route.

The best-known representatives of the Zkittlez direction:

From family to genetic tree

If one looks at the entire history as a whole, it becomes noticeable how the very concept of a “genetic family” has changed. At first it was connected primarily with geography. Regional populations were formed under the influence of the environment, human selection and local traditions.

Then the mixing of these genetic pools began. Breeders started combining plants from different regions and working already with the results of previous generations. Thus Haze, Skunk, Kush, Northern Lights and other historical directions were formed.

The next stage was Diesel and OG, when individual American lines began to spread through small communities of breeders and the culture of clone preservation. After that appeared Cookies and Gelato, around which entire generations of new hybrids formed.

And then came Runtz, Wedding Cake, Zkittlez and other modern polyhybrids in which the modern families themselves already intersected.

The sequence turns out as follows:

regional populations → early hybrids → stable families → modern polyhybrids.

But the real structure is much more complex. One line becomes the parent of another, a new combination is used in the next generation, and then the resulting hybrid again intersects with a representative of another family.

Therefore modern pedigrees more closely resemble a network than an ordinary tree.

Why a name does not always tell the truth

This is one of the main conclusions of the entire history. One name does not necessarily mean one single genetic line. Over time well-known names could be used for different breeding projects, and related lines could receive new commercial designations.

Therefore behind every name it is important to see not only the name itself but also the history: who created the line, which parents were used, which generations the breeding passed through and how well its origin is confirmed.

This is especially important for the modern market, where cannabis seeds of one and the same well-known genetics may exist in different breeding versions. Individual producers offer photoperiod, feminised and autoflowering variants, but the mere presence of one name does not yet guarantee the identity of the genetics.

In addition, the familiar division into indica and sativa is today often used as a general description of origin or character of the genetics, whereas modern complex hybrids may have a very mixed pedigree.

The main change over this period is the transition from separate genetic lines to interconnected families. Diesel and OG were still formed as relatively independent American directions, Cookies and Gelato became major centres of further breeding, while Runtz and Wedding Cake already demonstrate the era when the modern families themselves begin to actively cross with one another.

Modern genetics is at the same time used not only in the context of collector and breeding lines. The development of research has gradually led to the appearance of specialised directions connected with medical cannabis, where origin, stability and composition of the genetics are of especially great importance. Therefore the history of Diesel, OG, Cookies and Gelato is not only a history of names but also part of the broader development of modern culture and the science of Cannabis.

Conclusion

Over several decades genetics has come a long way. From regional populations — to early hybrids. From separate breeding lines — to well-known families. And then from these families — to complex modern polyhybrids.

Haze, Skunk, Kush, Afghani and Northern Lights laid the foundation of modern hybrid breeding. Diesel and OG showed the development of American clone-line culture. Cookies and Gelato turned into nodes of a new generation of genetics. And Runtz, Wedding Cake and other modern hybrids demonstrated how strongly these directions began to intersect.

As a result, today genetics is more correctly perceived not as a set of independent names but as a huge system of interconnected lines, where one historical family may be present at once in several modern directions.

That is precisely why the further breeding develops, the more complex the pedigrees become — but the more interesting the history that stands behind every name.