Exotic Genetix
A cannabis breeder that started out in Washington State. In a Leafly interview, its founder Mike describes how making seeds for friends grew into a recognised seed brand.
- 23cup results
- 12first places
- 2013–2019active in results
- 1cups entered
01Beginnings
Exotic Genetix began in Washington State, and Leafly dates the company's beginning to 20081. The interview gives the founder's first name, Mike, but no surname1.
By his own account, it began as a small side project. About ten years before the interview (the page was last updated on 28 July 2020), he was breeding for himself and his friends1. The friends kept asking for more, and before long he was supplying seeds to a wide circle of people1. He got into breeding because he was unhappy with what was available: he thought most of the genetics on offer were poor, and he disliked the problems that came with clones1. He says it was not a passion at first, but it has become one1.
02The story so far
Leafly reports that the company won Best Indica for Tina and Best Hybrid for Cookies & Cream at the 2017 High Times SoCal Harvest Cannabis Cup1. Leafly also names Kimbo Kush, Trap Star and Lemon Meringue among its other notable strains1.
Mike tells an origin story for Tina. On a trip to Amsterdam, a friend at Hortilab gave him unreleased seeds from a Starbud and Karma's Biker cross1. Those seeds went into what he calls the Triple OG lineup. Tina came next, when he crossed an indica with a fuel-like smell into that lineup1.
Legalization changed how the company works. Before recreational sales began, it worked only in medical cannabis out of Washington. It moved from state to state and worked with local farms to produce seeds1. Mike says recreational-legal states have been harder, because strict rules limit what the company can do and genetics there pass only through licensed producers1.
03Culture and craft
Mike sees breeding as an art. He says he may not be the best breeder around but could still be a customer's favourite, much as a lesser-known painter can have devoted fans1. From the start he focused on visible frost, and he describes it as a goal from day one1. His biggest influence, he says, is the community itself. He remembers enjoying the old growing forums and the backyard growers who quietly shared their genetics1.
He also has firm views on how breeders should behave. He thinks serious breeders should develop their own male plants and their own lines first. He calls it an insult to the community when people cross other companies' lines and sell the results under a new brand for profit1. When he makes that complaint, he gives his own company and DNA Genetics as examples of lines that get taken this way1.
04Where things stand
The most recent information here comes from the interview, last updated on 28 July 2020. At that time, Green & Gold Brands was the exclusive operator of Exotic Genetix products in Washington State, and a separate program based in Long Beach served the California market1. The sources used here do not say whether those arrangements still hold.
The company also said it still used its approach of working with partner farms state by state in legal medical states, and that it aimed to follow local rules wherever it operated1. No newer interviews, announcements or official-site text were available for this page, so nothing after mid-2020 is covered here.
05Looking ahead
The sources contain no announced plans, launches or dated roadmaps, only a stated ambition. Asked about the next decade, Mike said he hoped Exotic Genetix would become a brand everyone knows, the kind people pick off the shelf the way they pick a favourite craft beer1. He also said he wanted to sell reliably high-quality product at fair prices, rather than charging more for average product1. These were hopes he voiced in 2020, not commitments.
On the podium, in our data
CannaLib records 23 cup results naming Exotic Genetix, between 2013 and 2019, 12 of them first places.
Where they showed up
- High Times Cannabis Cup (United States) · 23 entries
Strains behind the results
Sources
Written from the sources above and checked on 2026-10-29. Spot an error? Tell us on the contact page.