It would be difficult to find a strain that has shaped cannabis culture more than Skunk #1. This cultivar, bred at the turn of the 1970s and 1980s, quickly became one of the most popular strains on the cannabis scene thanks to its exceptional qualities. The truth is that without this strain, a large part of the seed bank catalogue could not exist. We will examine Skunk #1 in detail and reveal the history, origins and most famous strains bred from this legend.
It is a hot Californian summer, and somewhere in the hills above Santa Cruz, a cannabis field is hidden among mighty redwoods, containing hundreds of cannabis plants. They were planted by members of Sacred Seeds, an underground group of growers, with a single aim – to breed the ideal cannabis strain. The flowers are weighed down with seeds that will be used the following year to sow the next generation. We are witnessing a unique breeding project that will change the world of cannabis.
The birth of a legend
The creation of a unique cultivar such as Skunk #1 is rarely a matter of chance. As with tomatoes and other crops, creating a high-quality, high-yielding strain requires many generations of targeted breeding, as well as the cultivation of vast numbers of plants. This was something cannabis breeders could rarely afford. One such exceptional case was the breeding of Skunk #1, which took place in remote areas around Santa Cruz, California, during the 1970s and 1980s. It is estimated that approximately 40,000 plants were grown over roughly a decade to create Skunk #1.
Ethnobotanist Robert C. Clarke recorded the Skunk #1 breeding process in detail, and his description perfectly illustrates how much work is required to create a stable cultivar. The entire project began with several plants that were hybrids of narrow-leaf sativas from Latin America and broad-leaf Afghan indicas. The original Skunk was three-quarters sativa and one-quarter indica. It may have been a cross between a Colombian and an Afghan strain crossed with a Mexican landrace, but no one knows the exact combinations and order of the strains in the original Skunk with certainty.
All female plants were subsequently pollinated by a selected male. The female labelled Skunk #1 was chosen as the highest-yielding and most potent plant and became the founder of the following generations. During the next nine growing seasons, at least one branch of each of up to 100 female plants was pollinated with pollen from a male selected from the offspring of the best female plant from the previous year. The following spring, seeds were sown only from the selected females.
Thanks to this backcrossing process, the line was relatively homogeneous and genetically stable after just two or three generations. This was followed by a cultivation experiment in which growers from Sacred Seeds jointly grew almost 20,000 plants from the seeds of ten females from the most promising lines.
Ten of the best plants were selected from those grown, based on vitality, potency, type of effect, flower yield, a high flower-to-leaf ratio, resin gland development, amount of branching and resistance to pests. At the same time, ten males were also selected based on vitality, resistance and several other traits typical of female plants suitable for breeding.
Ten clones were created from each of the ten selected females, and pollen was collected from each of the ten males. Each female was then pollinated with pollen from every male, creating 100 different combinations. Two hundred seeds were sown from each cross, once again producing up to 20,000 plants in total. Finally, five female and three male clones were selected and used to create the original Skunk #1 seeds.
The Dutch odyssey
The identities of most Sacred Seeds members were never revealed, with one exception – David Watson (1948–2025), better known by his nickname “Sam the Skunkman”. According to his own account, Watson moved to Santa Cruz at the beginning of the 1970s. He soon met many top growers there, including the Haze Brothers, the legendary breeding duo allegedly responsible for the original Haze.
With his new friends, Watson founded the Sacred Seeds Collective in 1976, and they began working on the development of Skunk #1. Their aim was to create a stable, high-yielding strain that matured early and would be easy to hide from prying eyes. They eventually succeeded, and in 1982 Watson founded America’s first commercial seed bank, Sacred Seeds, becoming “Sam the Skunkman”.
Unfortunately, the golden era of Sacred Seeds did not last long. In 1982, the police raided Sacred Seeds and Watson was arrested. After his release, which remains controversial to this day, Skunkman fled to the Netherlands. However, he did not arrive in Amsterdam empty-handed, bringing with him a treasure of approximately a quarter of a million seeds from the best Sacred Seeds strains, including Skunk #1.
After arriving in the Netherlands, Watson wasted no time and quickly distributed the seeds among local growers and breeders eager for American genetics. Among the first to obtain Skunk #1 seeds was Nevil Schoenmakers, founder of the first Dutch seed bank, The Seedbank, later renamed Sensi Seeds.
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The seeds brought by Watson found fertile ground in the Netherlands. Thanks to relaxed laws and a unique approach to plant breeders, the Netherlands became the global centre of cannabis breeding at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s. Strains emerged during this period that, according to many experts, launched the golden era of Dutch cannabis. Skunk can be found in the pedigree of many of these cultivars.
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Skunk #1 as a tool for breeders
Skunk #1 is not only a joy to grow, but also an excellent tool for breeders. This is partly thanks to the plants’ exceptional potency, vitality and resistance, but that is not all. Perhaps even more important is the cultivar’s genetic stability and the fact that it readily passes on many of its traits to virtually any other strain.
Breeders often say that crossing with Skunk gives plants greater strength and shortens the flowering period. Skunk #1 also withstands pests and mould relatively well, despite the dense structure of its buds. In the early decades, it was therefore customary to cross Skunk #1 with long-flowering plants such as Haze. The results include strains such as Super Silver Haze, Jack Herer and Super Lemon Haze.
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Skunk #1 combined with another short-flowering plant or an autoflowering cannabis strain is surprisingly effective. The result is an extremely fast-flowering strain with a respectable yield. Ideal examples include Super Skunk Automatic, Early Skunk, Shiva Skunk Automatic and Skunk #1 Automatic. Skunk #1 also has a place in the repertoire of the modern breeder. Among our favourites are Mendocino Skunk, Blue Skunk and Sensi Skunk.