EARLYGIRL ANDEARLY PEARL

Early Girl (and Early Pearl)

Genetics

Early GirlPollyanna

Best-supported account · 2 sources

Bred by Early Girl: unknown northern California breeders

Genetics

Family tree

Early Girl (and Early Pearl)
  • Early GirlWell-supported
  • PollyannaWell-supported
  • Verified
  • Well-supported
  • Reported
  • Folklore
  • Disputed

Offspring

Bred from Early Girl (and Early Pearl)

No documented offspring yet.

Lab data

Cannabinoids

No lab data yet.

Bar = median; line = lowest to highest test. Values vary by grower and lab.

Lab data

Terpenes

No lab data yet.

Good for

Use cases

Not enough data yet.

Ranked against other strains from user reports and lab terpenes.

All reported crosses & sources (1 cross)

  1. Early Girl × Pollyanna

    Well-supported

    Tier A dossier early-girl

🧬 Look for DNA test reports on Kannapedia ↗

Type (Type not reported) is a reported label, not chemistry.

Full history

1. Summary

Early Girl is an early-maturing indica × sativa F2 seed line from northern California. Sam the Skunkman's companies brought it to Holland in 1984.12 The 1985 Cultivator's Choice catalogue, as quoted by Seedfinder, calls it "Another popular northern California variety. Developed for early, strong, medium yield plants". In March 1987 High Times listed it among the Seed Bank strains "originally developed by the Sacred Seed Company".34 Who actually bred it is unknown. A 2006 forum story crediting Sandy Weinstein is folklore: it comes from the same author whose Skunk #1 account Sam called fiction.5

Early Pearl is the Seed Bank's cross of Early Girl × Pollyanna, a Mexican-derived sativa (well-supported).16 The breeder text says Nevil made it in 1987. But the Seed Bank was already advertising Early Pearl ("ripe Sept. 1st, very resinous and very strong") in High Times in November 1985 and called it a "top U.S. strain". The date is therefore disputed.17 Early Pearl is a parent of the overall 1989 Cup winner, Early Pearl/Skunk #1 × NL5/Haze.89

2. Identity

  • Early Girl. Type: indica/sativa (Sensi: 75% indica, Afghan, north Indian and Mexican components).6 Breeder unknown; distributed by Sacred Seeds and Cultivator's Choice; now sold by Sensi.
  • Early Pearl. Type: sativa/indica hybrid. Breeder: The Seed Bank.1
  • Aliases: EP; "Pearly Girl" (a WA label variant).

3. Genetics & lineage claims

  • 3a. Early Girl is a northern California F2 hybrid of unknown parents. Well-supported.342
  • 3b. Early Girl was bred by Sandy Weinstein. Folklore.5
  • 3c. Early Pearl = Early Girl × Pollyanna. Well-supported.16
  • 3d. Early Pearl's date: 1987 per the breeder text vs 1985 per the dated ad. Disputed.17

4. Timeline

  • pre-1984: Early Girl circulates in northern California.3
  • 1984: Sam brings Early Girl and Pollyanna to Holland; Nevil acquires Early Girl.12
  • 1985: The Cultivator's Choice catalogue lists Early Girl (about 2 m, about 100 g, end-of-September harvest, about 5% hermaphrodites).3 The Seed Bank advertises Early Pearl from November.7
  • 1987: The Connoisseur column rates Early Pearl F1 highly; the Seed Bank catalogue offers Early Pearl × Mazar-i-Sharif.4 Pennsylvania readers grow Early Girl clones outdoors.10
  • 1989: Early Pearl/SK1 × NL5/Haze takes the overall Cup.89 Ask Ed recommends Early Pearl and Early Girl for frost-prone areas.11

5. Notable cuts / phenotypes / remakes

  • Early Pearl Improved and Early Skunk (SK1 × EP × EP) from the Seed Bank.1
  • Sensi's Early Girl.6
  • A Mr. Nice forum thread, "A Shanti gift... Early Pearl", shows a surviving Early Pearl line.1

6. Historical descriptions by era

  • 1985 (Early Pearl ad): "very resinous and very strong".7
  • 1987 (Connoisseur on Early Pearl): "without a doubt some of the finest marijuana ever to have crossed this Connoisseur's lips"; "fruity, sweet-tasting pot, with a wonderful, stony high".4
  • 2020s (Sensi): 7–8 weeks to flower, citrus flavour.6

7. Cannabinoid & terpene profile

LabelMeasurenSource
"Early Girl" (Smith 2022)THC mean 17.5%; dominant terpene myrcene in 5 of 8 samples10Smith 2022 data
"Early Girl" (WA)THC mean 23.9%12WA I-502
Early Pearlno lab rows——

Samples are too small to say much, and strain names are not reliable chemotype identifiers.

8. Community sentiment

Only 1980s comments were available; Leafly was blocked. Recurring themes:

  • Early, reliable outdoor finisher for short seasons (common, positive).71011
  • Early Pearl prized as top-quality smoke (1987).4
  • Modern Early Girl described as mild and beginner-friendly.12

Paraphrases: a Pennsylvania grower in 1987 harvested 18 Early Girl clones on September 1, ahead of autumn bud rot;10 the 1987 Connoisseur wished he had pounds of Early Pearl around all the time.4

Overall score: withheld (no adequate modern sample).

9. Open questions

  • Who bred Early Girl.
  • When Early Pearl was made, and whether it originated in the US.
  • What Pollyanna is.

10. Sources

Lab: src-chem-smith2022-data, src-chem-wa-i502-jikomes2018.

Footnotes

  1. Seedfinder, "Early Pearl (The Seed Bank)". https://seedfinder.eu/en/strain-info/early-pearl/the-seed-bank — seed_catalog. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  2. Todd McCormick, "The Primary Colors of Cannabis", High Times, 2023-06-06. https://hightimes.com/culture/the-primary-colors-of-cannabis/ — news. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. Seedfinder, "Early Girl (Cultivators Choice)", 1985 catalogue notes. https://seedfinder.eu/en/strain-info/early-girl/cultivators-choice — seed_catalog. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  4. High Times No. 139, March 1987 (Hager, "The Incredible Story of the Man Who Would Be King of Cannabis"; Connoisseur ratings). https://archive.org/download/high-times-magazine-1980s_202401/139%20High%20Times%20March%201987_djvu.txt — news. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  5. ICMag, "The Roadkill Skunk Fan Club" (NdF text), 2006-12-13. https://web.archive.org/web/20251023104110/https://www.icmag.com/threads/the-roadkill-skunk-fan-club.39068/ — forum_post. ↩ ↩2

  6. Sensi Seeds, "Early Girl Regular". https://sensiseeds.com/en/regular-seeds/sensi-seeds/early-girl — seed_catalog. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  7. The Seed Bank ad, High Times No. 123, Nov 1985 (repeated through 1986). https://archive.org/download/high-times-magazine-1980s_202401/123%20High%20Times%20November%201985_djvu.txt — seed_catalog. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  8. Wikipedia, "Cannabis Cup". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_Cup — secondary_database. ↩ ↩2

  9. Ed Rosenthal, "The 1989 Cannabis Cup Awards", High Times No. 169. https://archive.org/download/high-times-magazine-1980s_202401/169%20High%20Times%20September%201989_djvu.txt — news. ↩ ↩2

  10. High Times No. 148, Dec 1987, reader letter. https://archive.org/download/high-times-magazine-1980s_202401/148%20High%20Times%20December%201987_djvu.txt — news. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  11. Ed Rosenthal, Ask Ed, High Times No. 166, June 1989. https://archive.org/download/high-times-magazine-1980s_202401/166%20High%20Times%20June%201989_djvu.txt — news. ↩ ↩2

  12. Leafly, "Early Girl". https://www.leafly.ca/strains/early-girl — secondary_database — unverified_url: true. ↩