Grampas growing his hybrid F1s

Welcome to our 2013 grow. We started our plants in the final containers a month later to avoid early flowering and mid summer reversals. Cuttings from last year were kept under T5's until ready to plant this spring. They were transplanted into their final pots on June 6. Last year's soil was re-amended for the third grow. We add 25Gal of new mix consisting of peat, compost/EWC, and perlite to 75 Gal of recycled mix from older grows. New fertilizer amendments are added to the total mix at 2-3 cups/cu-ft.

Varieties from last year that were cloned are Columbian Gold, Vietnam Black X Thai. New varieties include Jack Herer, Strawberry Haze and more of the original seeds from the Big Sur Holy Weed X Blueberry. The F1 hybrids from our breeding include Alaskan Ice X (BSHW X Blueberry), BSHW X BSHW, Big Band X BSHW, and (Vietnam Black X Thai) X (BSHW X Blueberry).

The first five pictures are at transplant time, the second set of five are taken ten days later.

Best of growing to all

Pointswest

 

I will include a few of the hybrids from our breeding project, planted in other gardens by friends. All six plants in this post are F1's from the Big Sur Holy Weed X Blueberry. The first pic is a Big Band hybrid. The black pots in the second post are BSHW back-crossed with itself, the grey pot in pic 2 is a Vietnam Black cloned from last year.

The next picture is a purple phenotype showing in some of our F1's. We will take this hybrid and square it this season, then cube for stability next generation. I have a lot of confidence this will be a real winner. I will name the purple variety "Devil's Thumb" in anticipation of a fat keeper cola. .

The last picture is a BSHW X Alaskan Ice.

Next week I will update the greenhouse grow and add more outdoor shots of our hybrid project. The greenhouse plants have reached 5-6 feet since transplant and topping. All plants have been transplanted into their final locations and all fertilizers for this grow will be simple organic amendments. At this time no additional feeding has been necessary, the organic soil is providing everything needed. The plants have been topped twice and may get several more before harvest.

Best of growing

PW

 

All plants have been topped at the fifth or sixth node and are bushing out nicely. Secondary branches were also topped at the level of the uppermost previously topped branches.

The outside F1's are staying very compact and bushy. The plants inside the greenhouse are stretching more than the plants outside. Temps have been 100F+ for several weeks now and will stay high for a few more weeks. We are doing our best to keep the inside temp manageable by using the swamp cooler and wetting the floor to control high temperatures.

The inside plants will each reach the screen soon and will benefit from the added support of the netting. This week we found two males from the F1 hybrids. We will use this pollen to cross this year and will cube the resulting F2's next year to stabilize the resulting cross.















Best of growing to everyone

PW

 

JdmEf8, MrsM, ledgrow1, TIM1, DGT215  thanks for the interest,  I thought it was going to be me and MrsM for a while.
 
 
 

 
 
The pots are 20, 25, and 30 gal pots, we are old and can only move pots up to this size.  The house is a shed with the top and south side glazed with triple wall polycarbonate.  It is 12 x 30 x (10-12)H.  All plants are topped at the 5-6th node and topped secondary limbs to keep top canopy as even as possible, topping will stop upon flower initiation.
 
All pots were given a tea consisting of EWC/compost, molasses, and alfalfa.  This was the first addition of any amendments since transplanting into the final pots. A couple of weeks into flower we will use a kelp/EWC, molasses tea once more and this will be all the extra amendments used for the whole grow.  Up to this point the original recycled soil mix has provided everything needed for good growth.
 
Several of the F1's have become males and have been removed and we will use this pollen for future breeding.  Most of the greenhouse plants have reached the screen at 7' and are enjoying the extra support of the netting.
 
 
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Best of growing
 
PW

 

We have found and removed the last of the males from all of the seedling hybrids we are growing this year.  Collection of pollen has been very good and we have a couple of teaspoons of fresh pollen to use now and store frozen for future use.
 
The first pic are an outdoor trial, planted in July, four the first week and two more late July, two males have already been removed.  The oldest female is in full flower and looks like it will be a good producer for a late started plant.  The other larger plant in the corner by the fence has to be removed because it too has turned out to be male along with the two last week
 

 
 
 
The greenhouse plants are doing as well as can be expected, growing some days in 120F heat for several weeks in a row.  Two of the F1's in the greenhouse have started flowering and are sizing up nicely.  One is a hybrid of Big Sur Holy Weed and Tora Bora.  Another was Strawberry haze crossed with Tora Bora.  This has reduced the flowering initiation time by almost a month earlier on the sativa plants.  It will be a treat to try the F2 generation and see what surprizes it will bring.
 


 
 
Another set of F1's outside  are filling out nicely and all have started flowering now.  The Vietnam Black X Thai is just starting to show flowers , it may have to be moved inside to finish if it is an early fall.  All but one of these plants have been pollinated with pollen from the F1 males.  The remaining plant was back crossed last year and the resulting  hybrid will be pollinated with the same pollen saved from the original male parent.  I believe this will complete the squaring of this back cross and we will then cube the resulting hybrid plants from the  next generation to complete the cubing.  (Help me out here if I am doing this wrong Wharf).
 
 

 
 
Best  of growing 
 
PW
 
 

 

Old School Smoker and Arnoldshortman , thanks for the kind posts, hope this will be interesting.  AS, I don't think we will have a problem storing the pollen, it has been drying for several days before freezing.  We have done this before without any problems.  The only pollen I have saved and stored that didn't work was 37 years old.
 
PW

 

 
Thanks Wharf, I wasn't sure when back crossing if  I should use the F1 pollen or the saved pollen from the original male parent when making the square for the F2.   My goal is to remove the Blueberry from this hybrid, leaving the Big Sur Holy Weed phenotypes.  I used the original pollen to complete the squaring, and will use the rest when finishing the cubing.  We are getting anxious now that the bloom is starting.  It is always a treat to see the new generations from your own breeding projects.
 
PW
 
 

 

The early flowering F1's are now 3-4  weeks into flowering.  the flowers are bulking up really nicely and some are arm sized and are only half way finished.  The outside plants have only been fed 2 cups of meal mix and we have used one manure tea so far.  One more tea will be watered in soon, then we will not add any more amendments through harvest.
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It is hard to imagine 4-6 more weeks, and maybe 10 on some, until  harvest.  We are hoping for a good outcome this year.  My dream of breeding  a "devil's thumb" may be getting closer each week. Everything is looking good and progressing as expected, only time will tell.
 
The F1's in the greenhouse have also started into full bloom and are adding bulk daily now, but the unbred sativa strains are just starting to initiate flowers, so we wait patiently.  We have to hope for mild weather while these long flowering strains mature.
 


 
 
Enjoy
 
PW