To Produce Small Amount of Seed

[cantharis]

Many of us, especially if we are growing an expensive strain, would like to get our plants to make a small amount of seed for next year (or couple of years). But without turning our whole crop seedy.

Keep one male alive, but keep him small by keeping him in a small pot. Keep him well away from the girls - my girls grow on my roof terrace, I keep any male in a corner of my garden downstairs. Carry out this procedure about 4 weeks into flowering, when there are a good load of trichomes, but about 4 weeks before you expect to harvest, as it takes seeds that time to fully mature. Mature seeds are brown, immature seeds are white.
Take a plastic freezer bag, put it over the male and give it a shake. You will collect a good lot of pollen in the bag - you may not actually see anything, but it´s there all right. Now put the bag around one flowering branch of one female, secure it with an elastic band, give it a good shake, leave it for a week.

At harvest, that branch will have a hundred or more seeds, but the rest of your crop will remain sin semilla.

I am not a geneticist, but I have done this with White Widow, and have found the progeny of the seeds to be every bit as potent as the parents.

[HydroGanic]

Originally Posted by cantharis

Many of us, especially if we are growing an expensive strain, would like to get our plants to make a small amount of seed for next year (or couple of years). But without turning our whole crop seedy.

Keep one male alive, but keep him small by keeping him in a small pot. Keep him well away from the girls - my girls grow on my roof terrace, I keep any male in a corner of my garden downstairs. About 4 weeks into flowering, when there are a good load of trichomes, take a plastic freezer bag, put it over the male and give it a shake. You will collect a good lot of pollen in the bag - you may not actually see anything, but it´s there all right. Now put the bag around one flowering branch of one female, secure it with an elastic band, give it a good shake, leave it for a week.

At harvest, that branch will have a hundred or more seeds, but the rest of your crop will remain sin semilla.

I am not a geneticist, but I have done this with White Widow, and have found the progeny of the seeds to be every bit as potent as the parents.

NOTE: Seeds take approximately 4 weeks to mature properly. Please be sure you pollinate 4 weeks before your particular strain will be ready to harvest. Should you maiss the timing... you may need to not harvest the one branch with seeds on it until the seeds fully mature.

NOTE: Store seeds in a COOL DRY PLACE. They can usually store for several years.
Great topic Cantharis.... getting seeds in this manner is a great backup in case of emergency and can be quite handy.

Just remember that the seeds you've made will have a slightly greater diversity than the seeds you originally started with. When you plant them you'll be looking for the females that have the same growing characteristics that the original female had. (as an example... C-99 always shows pre-flowers on day 43 after poking it's head up from the soil. Any C-99 female showing pre-flowers at any other day will probably NOT have the magic high that C-99 is known for and will have several other differences.)

The more stable the strain is... the fewer differences your seeds will produce. With unstable strains you may see up to 7 or more different types of plants growing. Tall, short, heavy flowers, light flowers, smell, no-smell.

The seeds you purchase from seed companies are bred for consistency and SHOULD all grow and mature at the same height and rates and have VERY similar highs.

Should you produce some seeds and grow those plants and grow THOSE seeds you're going to find even MORE diversity in plant types.

Have fun folks!

[cantharis]

Originally Posted by HydroGanic

The seeds you purchase from seed companies are bred for consistency and SHOULD all grow and mature at the same height and rates and have VERY similar highs.

That is sometimes true, sometimes not so. I will amend my post to reinforce your comment about seeds maturing, that is important.

[HydroGanic]

Originally Posted by cantharis

That is sometimes true, sometimes not so. I will amend my post to reinforce your comment about seeds maturing, that is important.

The whole point of purchasing seeds is so you get what you desire. Not a grow and pray, hoping you'll get a female or two that have the genetic traits you paid for.

If the seeds you buy from a seed bank DON'T all have the same traits... either the seed bank is garbage or the strain is and I would avoid both.

Really sucks when you get 2 females that look and grow almost exactly the same... only one ends up maturing 3 weeks later than the other... leaving you with a box flowering out only one plant after harvesting the other.

[cantharis]

Originally Posted by HydroGanic

Really sucks when you get 2 females that look and grow almost exactly the same... only one ends up maturing 3 weeks later than the other... leaving you with a box flowering out only one plant after harvesting the other.

I must say the progeny of the seeds that I pollenated myself are all very much consistent, all the ladies have matured together, I have to stagger harvesting so I only have one being trimmed and two drying.
I still have 120 seeds left, enough to keep me in good dank for a few more years.

[HydroGanic]

Originally Posted by cantharis

I must say the progeny of the seeds that I pollenated myself are all very much consistent, all the ladies have matured together, I have to stagger harvesting so I only have one being trimmed and two drying.
I still have 120 seeds left, enough to keep me in good dank for a few more years.

Excellent... sounds like a nice stable strain and not a flavor of the month. What is it?
(Gee.. answered my own question by reading the frickin post again LOL)

Yes.. White Widow is a very stable strain these days.

[amsterdamage]

seeds sound good if you're into breeding better strains, but wouldn't clones be easier if you're just wanting to keep producing bud?

..just wondering??

[HydroGanic]

Originally Posted by amsterdamage

seeds sound good if you're into breeding better strains, but wouldn't clones be easier if you're just wanting to keep producing bud?

..just wondering??

Heheh... Clones are freaking awesome... but for some reason I can't get them to sit in a dark drawer for 3 years without getting all messed up! ROTFL

Seriously though... seeds are a great backup in case of emergency. You'll still have the genetics you are familiar with and you won't have to wait for someone to ship them to you.

GROW ON!

[cantharis]

Originally Posted by amsterdamage

seeds sound good if you're into breeding better strains, but wouldn't clones be easier if you're just wanting to keep producing bud?

..just wondering??

Maybe, I have over 120 seeds that will keep me going for a few years. Not quite sure what I would do with clones.

I have taken clones, in years when I was short of females - good way to make up the numbers, and quicker than sowing seeds from the start again. But in 2009 I will want 6 ladies, so will sow 12 seeds. If I don´t get 6 females, I will take clones.

[madman6233]

hello newbie here to gc I am just the opposite I have always grown with clones and only go seeds once and they sucked I think I transfered pollen from a reg sack or something.
anyway ordered a half a dozen nyc deisel seeds and sprouted 4. I am thinking of growing all 4 on a short cycle 3 weeks veg then move to a cabinet and bloom them.my thing is I have some other strains im thinking of crossing 2 see what happens like my g13 or some maui wowi ive been told to take a baby food jar and cut off some of the pollen sacks into the jars.Freezing them will preserve till needed and you can pollinaqte using a small paintbrush so as to not over seed your grow.have yall ever done this or heard about the results?I dont want to have to clone all my momsto grow with the pollinating cabinet only has space for 4 2 foot plants with a 100 hps

[HydroGanic]

Originally Posted by madman6233

ive been told to take a baby food jar and cut off some of the pollen sacks into the jars.Freezing them will preserve till needed and you can pollinaqte using a small paintbrush so as to not over seed your grow.

Check the newbie link in my sig... there are a couple of different pollinating and storage methods listed there that you should find quite handy.

[chunkdaddyo]

Hello Cantharis,

Today I followed your instructions on setting seed, and followed to the letter. I crossed three different strains I have with an Indica male I grew from seed. This evening, as I visited the newly pollinated plants I found that the bags are full of condensation. Will this hurt the buds if kept covered for the entire week? Should I open the end of the bags to let fresh air in? I know that once the pollen gets wet, the chance of it cross contaminating the other branches is low, but I need a little guidance.
Thanks in advance for your time.......
chunkdaddyo

[cantharis]

Hi, Chunk, I never had that problem, so am unsure what to do. May be best to hope that pollination has taken place and remove the bags, as you say, too much damp is not good. Let us know what you do and how it goes.

[herbHal]

This is brilliant, Cantharis! I know cloning is paramount for preserving genetics, but sometimes you just would like/need some seeds! Great for long term, gifting, etc.

[JackHandy420]

Wow, Thanks for this. I'm just starting my first grow and was planning on seeding a whole plant. Now I'll get much better results. (I'm going to be cloning also, but wanted some seeds for a backup)

Edited to add:
+rep, and I know I' new, but this would make a good sticky.