This will be my biggest grow until now, Ive had about 8 or 10 outdoor grows, but never had more than 20 plants. This time Im going in BIG. So, here is the story: I live in latin country, right above the Equator. In my country we get several qualities of weed: first you have to low grade pressed weed which is not so good, it works but not the best, then you have the high grade import, usually this weed comes from Jamaica, Colombia and some from Mexico, and last you have the high grade bud, which btw is very expensive. In the past I started playing around with the seeds that came in the high grade imported pressed weed, I found out that most of the plants that came from these seeds (which I didn't have to pay extra for) where pretty nice, mixed Sativa and Indica, mostly hybrids that have a flowering period between 8 to 12 weeks, I always found new stuff: purples, reds, all kids of aromas from dirt smell to the sweetest candy and diesel, pure sativas, very fast flower (probably some Rudelaris genes), and many more stuff, Ive you have ever seen Arjans Strainhunters specially the Colombian and Jamaican episodes you would understand the incredible mix of flavors and colors that they grow. The more and more I grew these mixes the more I learned about the variety of plants, so I got a little better at it and now is the time to do it right, Ive taught about this and planned it for a quite a while, but I need it the time and space, now I have the space (not the time, but thats ok) so Im going for it. The goal here is basically get a shit load of weed, but there is a very important second goal, its to breed two or three of the best plants and of course have my own new variety and a load of new healthy seeds. For a about a year I looked around for the best pressed weed there was, I usually go for the bud, but if the new pressed looked great, I would buy it and then I would go trough the beans carefully picking out the ones that were ok. I was very strict when I went for only the best to assure some better genes. After some good 200 beans it was time, I planted them about 3 weeks ago, all in a coco mix and germinated them outdoors, a week ago I transplanted most of them in to pots and I set them up in a guerrilla style grow, although the area is a little more protected than normal for obvious security reasons. In this part of the world we are going in to the "rainy season" so I went for a good drainage and well oxygenated medium, the mix is composed by rice "cover" (dunno the english name for it), peat moss, coco peat and styrofoam used for soil mixing. I work with what I have. The pots have from one to 6 plants, most of them 2 or 3 plants, I know eventually I have to get rid of a lot of the plants, some of them that are not worth it for various reasons and of course the males, so I guess all end up with between 70 and 50 female plants, and 1 or 2 males. I will be doing all kinds of stuff: super cropping, lollipopping, FIM and topping, getting some clones to try out indoor, and maybe even some monster cropping, all of this depends on the varieties I will be getting to work with. Always looking for big producers with great aromas. I have just started to give nutrients and root hormones in low doses and well they are looking healthy and vigorous. The pics are a couple of days old but they give the idea pretty well. Ill be posting pics every now and then and Im open to any recommendations that are in my limits. For now I only have one question: How the fuck do I pick my males? What characteristics Im I looking for? BTW, this is my first time breeding, but I know the science behind breeding pretty well as my regular job is mainly about genetics in plants. So lets begin this project, any ideas are welcome!!
looks like rice hulls from the picture. thats going to be quite a workload tending the girls, and males actually. since theyre all bagseed im assuming you took note of which strains you liked and which you wanted to change and all that. just use that info to cross them accordingly. good luck.
Thanks, rice hulls is it. Lots of work coming up but I can pull it of for sure. I dont have note of anything, these are mixed seeds that came in the pressed weed, and I did not separate them, just had them in groups, but they were al mixed in planting, as the grow I will pick out the better looking plants. I do have a direction I want to go to when it comes to the characteristics I want in my "F1" so Ill be accommodating to what I get.
Here is an update, the babes are looking great! I eliminated a few plants here and there, some of them came out deformed from the seedling and it doesn't seem like a good start to me so I eliminated them, in the pics you can see an close up of two plants that are a little deformed but they look healthy so Ill just keep them to see what happens. I started supplying small doses of additives (humic acids, rooting fert and superthrive) and they are taking it well. Today I transplanted the last of the seedlings and that added some extra 15 plants. Check out the pics, and as always, any advice is welcome!!
Subbed. The males you wont really be able to tell conclusively until they all start to flower. Luckily males usually show before females. You want to look out for little balls growing on them. (Dont be too hasty though because often females grow ball looking things, before the little hair thing comes out) All the best with you grow mate. Looking forward to accompanying your journey
OK, so here are the babes, its been raining a lot but they like it, I think the pot mix is helping a lot with the drainage, so most of them are looking pretty good. I eliminated some of the mutations and have been giving them nutes and additives: organic and mineral. I also started moving the pots around, so they get sunlight evenly. Pretty soon Ill have to eliminate the plants that stay behind and juts keep the best ones. One of them is starting to flower, but I figured out it was an auto, maybe I could pollinate a branch! In the next few days Ill also be FIMing some of the bigger plants. Not much to say, let pics talk by them self, the first 3 were from 5 days ago, these were taken today.
Looking good Broski 😚💨ðŸðŸðŸ I'll be keeping my eye on this grow for sure! If you get a chance man take a look at my girls and let me know what you think!! Much love man
The babes are looking great, lots of rain but they are loving it, I do wish I could get some more sun time, as they only get 5 to 6 hours which is ok but not the best. I started upping the doses on the ferts, btw, all of them I give to the plant in a liquid solution. Here are the pics, the second one is the auto plant already flowering! Any advice and comments are always welcome!
Each plant should have its own pot so the root don't get tangled and so the plants don't have to fight for soil and nutrients. As far as picking males you should choose the biggest stingiest plants that have strong branching and the nodes are tightly spaced. Pick the best looking and strongest makes and kill the rest. Use them to pollinate your best females and start your the beginning if your own strain. Good luck.
Hey Thanks for coming by and giving me some advice! I wish I could use one pot per plant but because of the extra work, extra materials and the lÃmited space and time this was no tan option, the idea is to select the best plants so most of the post will end up with one or two plants, meantime the babes have to strugle for their righthious spot! The males are starting to flower, I already have two favorites, Ill post some pics better, Im going for the bigger and vigorous plants, Ill follow your advice on The males!! Keep them good vibes coming!!
Nice plants. I enjoy reading journals that have a lot of plants. I'm doing a pretty big grow also. Its ranges around three states. When I first started growing I would put a couple plants in each container, now, I just use McDonalds cups lol. They get decent size and I just take them from there and transplant them into their final resting place. The best time to pollinate is the 2nd week of flower and then repeat on the third week right after the flowers have formed.
Here is the update, I have feeding my plants nutes now to full doses, they are looking great. I eliminated all of the males but 2, one has indica dominant and the other one is sativa dominant, there are pics of them both, they look really healthy and nice, they are my 2 final picks. I will be separating them from the rest of the females today or tomorrow. Does anybody know if I can just cut them by the stem and just leave them in water untill they release the pollen?? I FIM most of the plants, all of the bigger ones, they kept on growing really well so there was very little stress. Some of the females are starting to flower witch I think is pretty quick but its ok.
Thanks!! I will also do that in the future, I did germ them in cups but it was just to much, I had to get rid of several seedlings... And I dont really know like when is the best time to plant here, we just grow all time around the year. Thanks for the tip on pollinating!
BTW here are a couple of experiments I will add to the grow, they are 2 monster clones and 3 plants I had into small pots, I want to see whats their reaction when they go outdoors compared to the plants that where out since seedling stage. They all come from the same mixed seed bag. Results may not be very trusty because of the huge difference between plants but its for fun! lol
Awesome, since I FIM them the growth kept on going and the stems are just huge, they look very healthy! Taking them nutes great!! I will post some pics tomorrow.
Here is an update, they are looking great!! I moved the two males to another location, and now Ill just wait for them to be ready to give some sweet pollen!!