How RQS Compares to Your Standouts
Brothers Grimm (your "otherworldly" stars: Montel Iced Tea, Body Count, Bubbles Blueberry F4, Ricky’s Hash Plant, Black Tangi Tea)
These are landrace-influenced, heirloom-style genetics with exceptional resin, unique flavors, and structure.
They outperform RQS in quality, potency, and "wow" factor in your tents. RQS tends to be more commercial/hybridized for ease and yield, while Brothers Grimm prioritizes distinctive traits and consistency in experienced hands.
Humboldt Seed Company autos (your top autos for resin, especially OG Triploid)
Humboldt focuses on West Coast legacy genetics with heavy resin production.
Clearly superior to RQS autos in trichome density and overall quality. RQS autos are faster and easier for beginners but often lack the resin "frost" and depth you get from Humboldt.
Fast Buds (fast, flavorful, reliable autos — you like them a lot)
Excellent speed and flavor profiles.
You noted they're in a "different class" — fair point. Fast Buds emphasizes quick cycles and modern hybrids with nice terps, while RQS autos can feel more generic or require more coaxing.
Quick Thoughts on Your Observations
Brothers Grimm (Montel Iced Tea, Bubbles Blueberry F4, etc.): These are clearly the stars in your current setup. The strong smell, unique leaf morphology, and overall vigor in small pots show they're expressing well under your conditions.
They reward careful growing with quality that feels special — resin, flavor complexity, and effects that fit your low-dose, functional style better than most commercial lines.
Your homemade cross (Gelato 44 × Bubbles Blueberry F4 pollen = "Blueberry Knockout"): Nice work on your first intentional cross-pollination!
Getting viable seeds and decent plants from a garage-level cross is a real win. It’s not "pretend breeding" — it’s exactly how many great lines started. The fact that it turned out "pretty nice" is encouraging.
However, as you noted, combining a Royal Queen Seeds Gelato 44 (solid but commercial) with Brothers Grimm Bubbles Blueberry F4 (higher-quality, more unique genetics) creates a hybrid that can show the best of both, but also some inconsistency. If the RQS side brings easier growth but less depth, while the Brothers Grimm side brings the special traits, the offspring can be hit-or-miss depending on which phenos you kept.
RQS Gelato 44 / Mike Tyson 2.0 vs. Brothers Grimm: Your experience matches what many growers report. RQS lines are generally more "user-friendly" and higher-yielding for beginners or volume grows, but they often lack the resin density, terpene complexity, and unique expressions you get from Brothers Grimm. The Tyson 2.0 collaboration added hype, but in your tents it landed at 7/10 while Brothers Grimm hit "otherworldly." That gap in quality is why you're leaning toward sticking with the professional, boutique genetics going forward.
3/30 11:17PM Gelato 44 & Punch Pie were nice right off the tree the little buds put me right to sleep last night!! The Autos are 7-10 but the Photos are 8/10