*Official* Colchicine: Adv. Growing

[Extracurricular]

Okay, so I felt like there needed to be a thread specifically for those who have heard of or want to know what this method is. I will be using a lot of Wikipedia information as long as information gathered throughout cyberspace. This is not my idea so do I take no credit as to more so providing a place for all the information to exist. Here we go..

What is Colchicine?
"Colchicine is a highly poisonous natural product and secondary metabolite, originally extracted from plants of the genus Colchicum (Autumn crocus, also known as the "Meadow saffron")."

What is Colchicine used for?
"Originally used to treat rheumatic complaints and especially gout, it was also prescribed for its cathartic and emetic effects. Its present medicinal use is mainly in the treatment of gout; as well, it is being investigated for its potential use as an anti-cancer drug."

Now, how does this relate to the growing of Marijuana??
"Since chromosome segregation is driven by microtubules, colchicine is also used for inducing polyploidy in plant cells during cellular division by inhibiting chromosomemeiosis; half the resulting gametes therefore contain no chromosomes, while the other half contain double the usual number of chromosomes (i.e., diploid instead of haploid as gametes usually are), and lead to embryos with double the usual number of chromosomes (i.e. tetraploid instead of diploid). While this would be fatal in animal cells, in plant cells it is not only usually well tolerated, but in fact <B>frequently results in plants which are larger, hardier, faster growing, and in general more desirable</B> than the normally diploid parents; for this reason, this type of genetic manipulation is frequently used in breeding plants commercially. In addition, when such a tetraploid plant is crossed with a diploid plant, the triploid offspring will be sterile, which may be commercially useful in itself by requiring growers to buy seed from the supplier, but also can often be induced to create a "seedless" fruit if pollinated (usually the triploid will also not produce pollen, therefore a diploid parent is needed to provide the pollen). This is the method used to create seedless watermelons, for instance. On the other hand, colchicine's ability to induce polyploidy can be exploited to render infertile hybrids fertile, as is done when breeding triticale from wheat and rye. Wheat is typically tetraploid and rye diploid, with the triploid hybrid infertile. Treatment with colchicine of triploid triticale gives fertile hexaploid triticale."

Polyploidy is a condition in which an individual has sets of chromosomes greater than the normal diploid number. There are number of key factors to help you remember:
* The number of chromosomes making up one set is the haploid number = n.
* The number of chromosomes making up two sets is the diploid number = 2n.
* Polyploid species would be represented by 3n, 4n, etc.
* Polyploids with even numbers of sets of chromosomes are fertile as the chromosomes can form as homologous pairs in meiosis.
* Polyploids with uneven numbers of sets of chromosomes are sterile as the chromosomes are unable to form as homologous pairs in meiosis.

Polyploidy is the condition of multiple sets of chromosomes within one cell. Cannabis has 20 chromosomes in the vegetative diploid (2n) condition. Triploid (3n) and tetraploid (4n) individuals have three or four sets of chromosomes and are termed polyploids. It is believed that the haploid condition of 10 chromosomes was likely derived by reduction from a higher (polyploid) ancestral number (Lewis, W. H. 1980). Polyploidy has not been shown to occur naturally in Cannabis; however, it may be induced artificially with colchicine treatments. Colchicine is a poisonous compound extracted from the roots of certain Colchicum species; it inhibits chromosome segregation to daughter cells and cell wall formation, resulting in larger than average daughter cells with multiple chromosome sets. The studies of H. E. Warmke et al. (1942-1944) seem to indicate that colchicine raised drug levels in Cannabis. It is unfortunate that Warmke was unaware of the actual psychoactive ingredients of Cannabis and was therefore unable to extract THC. His crude acetone extract and archaic techniques of bioassay using killifish and small freshwater crustaceans are far from conclusive. He was, however, able to produce both triploid and tetraploid strains of Cannabis with up to twice the potency of dip bid strains (in their ability to kill small aquatic organisms). The aim of his research was to "produce a strain of hemp with materially reduced marijuana content" and his results indicated that polyploidy raised the potency of Cannabis without any apparent increase in fiber quality or yield.

I will add more later. I have to go but ask questions and everyone can answer. A summary will be added later as well. Peace.

Sources:
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Safety Info
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[doyoudabble]

VERY INTERESTED

How is this chemical given in use in plants?
I have always been interested in how seedless watermelons were seedless, and why this is not widely applied to many plants and fruits in which seeds are undesireable.

The problem I see is that most governments' restrictions on marijuana research will inevitably prevent us from getting any concrete or conclusive evidence.

What are options for people looking to take research into their own hands? i have never heard of this before and dont even have a starting point...
and now i'm off to google!

[Extracurricular]

well there are two ways that it can be givin to the plants themselves.
a) put them in a glycerin and colchicine solution and rub that solution on the seeds as you are germinating. but this lowers the chances of it happening by a lot, seeing as when you do this it makes the seeds less than 5% viable (able to sprout a tap root) and then when you have that 5% that did sprout less than a 1/3 of them will be polyploid/tetraploid.
b) you can put it in the glycerin and colchicine solution once again and just put it directly onto a plant. personally i suggest cutting a part of the main stem off and applying it directly to the injured cannabis plant.

as to why this isnt applied to many plants.. it IS! the information is semi-<i>widely</i> available and manufactures use this and other chemicals/methods to induce polyploidy.

if you would like to do this yourself.. get some colchicine!! you can, which im attempting to do, fake getting gout to get a perscription for it. or just tell my doctor whats going down lol. or you can use the autumn crocus bulbs and extract the colchicine from there. which you would need to google those methods. i may put them on here someday if i can successfully do so.

good luck mate! pretty soon ill be doing my own colchicine grow. but dont forget that its highly dangerous and you will NOT want to smoke the first gen parent. you will want to breed it with another plant. as for if the original polyploid plant needs to be male/female when you breed it with another plant, i dont know. i do believe however that the polyploidy will take over no matter what.