Science & Genetics

Every strain starts in the vault.

Dewey is run by a plant scientist. Every strain on our menu was bred here, from a genetics library of more than 2,100 accessions, and selected in our own facility in Pullman, WA.

2,100+accessions in the vault
12active strains, all bred here
6published cannabis studies behind our genetics
10NW Leaf Bowl awards, 2023–2025

01The vault 2,100+ accessions. One library.

The raw material behind every Dewey strain.

The vault is our genetics library: seed lots and living mother plants, from landraces to modern cultivars. Each accession is logged with its source and lineage, and every new cross goes back in as an accession of its own, so anything we make can be traced to its parents.

It's why our menu doesn't look like anyone else's. We don't buy in clones to follow the market. We breed from what's in the vault.

02How we breed Crossed here. Kept on merit.

We breed for stability: several generations of selection to fix the traits we want, before a strain reaches the menu.

Pick the parents
We choose parents from the vault using what we already know about them: lineage, aroma and how they grow. By the time we make a cross, we know roughly what it should smell like.
Make the cross
Every cross is made in-house, and its seed goes back into the vault as a new accession.
Select for the grow
Agronomics come first. A seedling has to be a strong grower in our facility to move on, however good it smells.
Fix the traits
Keepers are carried forward generation after generation, selected each round against a written protocol, until the traits we want hold steady.
Release or retire
A line reaches the menu once it grows true, run after run. Most crosses don't make it this far.

03Lineage One strain leads to the next.

Our strains share parents. Here's where five of them came from.

Parent is a current Dewey strain

04The research Peer-reviewed. Published.

The science behind the brand is on the public record.

Dewey's founder, Dr. Jordan Zager, holds a PhD in molecular plant sciences from Washington State University, where he studied how plants make terpenes. With Dr. Mark Lange of WSU, he has published on the genes, enzymes and growing conditions behind cannabis aroma and chemistry. PM1, the mildew-resistance gene now bred into every strain we grow, was discovered and mapped at Dewey.

Frontiers in Agronomy · 2021 Discovery and genetic mapping of PM1, a powdery mildew resistance gene in Cannabis sativa L. Discovered and mapped at Dewey · Vol. 3, 720215 Read (opens in a new tab) Why it matters First experimentally validated disease-resistance gene reported in cannabis. One gene gives complete resistance to powdery mildew, one of the crop's most damaging diseases, and a DNA marker lets breeders track it. In every Dewey strain. PM1 has been bred into every strain we grow. It's part of how our flower stays pesticide-free. Cited by later powdery mildew research at Cornell University and the University of British Columbia.

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01The vault 2,100+ accessions. One library.

02How we breed Crossed here. Kept on merit.

Pick the parents

Make the cross

Select for the grow

Fix the traits

Release or retire

03Lineage One strain leads to the next.

04The research Peer-reviewed. Published.

Small batch, on purpose.