The Amsterdam Genetics Scene Heats Up
The globe’s amateur and pro growers of exotic pot need to put Amsterdam breeding back on their radar this winter. A shift in the legal winds is favoring some longtime European breeders with California sensibilities. They’ve absorbed everything their American counterparts have worked on and are now improving it — much like how Americans once wrestled the seed crown from the Old World.
Coming straight from the underground Amsterdam coffeeshop and Barcelona hash scenes, Grounded Genetics now clearly sits in the premium tier of modern Cannabis breeders, and there aren’t any tired Hazes or Northern Lights or White Widow in their tool kit.
Grounded’s work on Zunami, Z Road, Ozark, Peach Guava, Pink Yuzu and Pink Zoda fits right into the elite genetics conversation worldwide. Their Bluzzi took Highest THC at Spannabis 2025.
With a focus on fruit candy, Z terps, tropical fruit, gassy richness Sherb and Gelato, Grounded is clearly one of the best breeders of 2026. The work is loud, pretty and dual-use for flower and washing.
Why Are Karma Genetics and Grounded Genetics So Prolific in Amsterdam?
Amsterdam used to be the main focus of global Cannabis genetics from the ‘70s to the ‘90s, owing to the best legal climate for making and selling seeds. Seeds were legal under the Dutch coffeeshop model and European seed laws. They were treated legally as a novelty until you germinated them. It works that way in England to this day.
Washington and Colorado legalized recreational Cannabis in 2012. California voters followed in 2016. Seeds became federally legal under hemp law in 2018. Our legal climate became way more competitive, and the U.S. yanked the title of supreme seedmaker away from Amsterdam.
Now things might be tacking back a bit. Seeds that come from a THC plant are set to go back to being illegal in the U.S. on Dec. 11. Meanwhile, European countries like Germany and Czechia are legalizing, and the Dutch have gone ahead and licensed 10 commercial facilities, as opposed to merely tolerating them.
Suddenly European breeders are back in the game. They’ve come out of dank, squat basements and into proper greenhouses and indoor facilities — literally above ground now.
Grounded Genetics originally came out of the U.K., spent years operating in Amsterdam and has been based out of Spain since 2014.
In June, in Berlin, Ramone from Grounded told Leaf Magazines that they are able to do more than 2,500 lights, and he’s using 125 lights just for research and development.
Karma Genetics has another one of those Dutch commercial grow licenses, and the guys are tight.
“We go way back. He’s like a mentor,” Ramone said, whose full name is not disclosed for security reasons. “He’s 10 years older than me.”
Getting Grounded
Let’s look at Grounded’s new all-feminized, photoperiod seeds:
Grounded came in hard at Mary Jane Berlin and followed it up in September with another vibrant drop. The first two to sell out were Pink Zoda (Z Face x Ultraviolet Sherb) and Zuminati (Zunami x Ozark).
Pink Zoda has Z, Face Off OG, Sherbert and RS-11 in the parentage. Zuminati’s parentage includes OZK. Grounded is right over the hot zone, chasing Z terps, layers of flavor from Sherb, potency and rock-hard bud structure.
There are still several left worth adding to your bean collection: OZ Guava, Sour Peachez and Blue Bacio.
I’m partial to the OZ Guava, which unites Ozark’s OZK foundation with all this Peach Guava work from Peach Limeade and Key Lime Guava. Yum.
Sour Peachez crosses Karma Genetics’ mythical Zowahh with Grounded’s Peach Guava. Double yum.
Blue Bacio is this rerun of the 2021 Grounded classic Blue Sherb x Bacio Gelato. It sold out in an hour back then, and now it’s returned. The website states: “This one is pure 2018 Cali nostalgia, back when the batches of Sherbs and Gelatos were performing immaculately.”
Coming up this fall and winter: PowrHouse in Sacramento, California, is running all of Karma and Grounded Genetics’ gear. Sergio Picazo at the R&D facility shared with the Leaf that the founders of both Karma and Grounded are coming out to look at phenos.
Grounded also has a deal with Segra International to distribute its genetics as tissue-culture mother plants and plantlets. The best way to keep up with Grounded’s drops is to join the newsletter.
