It’s understood that breeders in Northern California are making exponential strides every year, but few could claim to be as influential as Leo Stone, owner of Aficionado Seeds. A lifetime resident of the area and now CEO of one of the premiere seed productions in the world, he has more than his fair share of insight. The Emerald Cup will host its 13th annual competition this year. Aficionado Seeds has placed in the upper tier of the flower contest for the last four years, including wins in 2012 and 2015 for their Chemdawg Special Reserve and Cherry Limeade strains, respectively. With the industry growing and thriving daily, the competition gets stiffer in turn. So how does a producer like Aficionado keep their edge? How do you become the best of the best in growing? According to Stone, it comes down to loving what you do: “[That] was the best piece of advice I’ve ever fuckin’ gotten in my entire life. I’ve had a lot of really good teachers that believed in me just because I wanted to be there. It’s just authenticity, that’s why we like that music paradigm so much.” Indeed, Stone comes back to comparing cultivation and composition again ...
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