I do a short soak of seeds but plant right into solo cup of soil or rockwool with plastic over the cups or tray of rockwool. Warm 75-80f is what brings them to life once they are moist. My favorite thing is a DVR/cable box or other electronic thingy that's warm all the time. I get a real good rate with expensive seeds. Now I'm older, half blind and not as steady with my hands I plant directly to save me from fucking up a tiny delicate sprout.
Cool thread, I'll be checking in to lurk and learn often. I am still reading through the common literature that's available out there for breeding. Trying to get my learn on before I ask a bunch of dumb questions. Reading a lot about genetics and hereditary traits. Very very interesting shit. I was wondering if you folks may share some insight as to the parameters you use when selecting a good plant for breeding stock. Recognizing traits in a plant that will be of significance when passed on... I'm kinda blitzed right now sorry if that just got confusing. Like I know once your female plant is in full mature flower mode, it's easy to see, that's a good plant. But are there other more subtle clues you look for?What about selecting a good male, what makes a good male? Many growers don't see too many males through full phase, are there any tips for selection other than smell, vigor and general appearance? Wow, sorry so wordy, I'm high. Sub'd
I would say it all depends on personal preference on what your trying to achieve. Mostly you look for that male that's sticky and full of resign. Some popular seed company breeders claim they don't like tall males and thick because it's more hemp them that "high"
@[member="snoopdog6502"] Because of YOU and another grower i linked to earlier, ive changed my methods after ten years of success, due to recent failures. I used to go paper towels, to jiffy pellets to soil, but jiffy is sucking lately and my old seeds dont like it, so ive switched to paper towel to soil directly. Jiffy pellets hold too much water and dont provide enough air. I believe this stunts and/or damages the taproot as well, and since i grow many plants, like sunflowers, i understand the extreme detriment this can have on a plants whole life, from retardation to early and smaller yields. Any stress in seedling stage should be avoided. Also, as per one of the past links, the dvr box and or cable box seems to be a recommended method. I personally started 15 seeds last night from 7 different strains or so. I currently have over 20 seeds germinating, but theyre old as dirt (lol) so I either try to crack them now or toss them away, which means ill be overwhelmed VERY soon with my breeding program if all goes as planned! I should hybridize quit a few strains and this thread will be poppin!
A very popular method Ive used in the past before male plants reach maturity is to squeeze the stem. Some smell like they will be potent females long before they mature into males. Its been my experience that this is one of the ways to pick a desirable male for breeding, but not the only thing to consider as height and yield should also be considered, as well as other traits mentioned in the links on page one, but its a good place to start.
I choose a male plant by the one who flowers first, and is a decent size with some sticky stanky dankness. The others get tossed into the hash bucket. I dont pick the tallest but go for a bushy one.
Thats pretty much how I do it, but I generalized because I dont want anyone to think one size fits all. Do you do the whole, 1 branch with sacks or leave the whole plant to produce? Ive always just isolated the male with a tarp under him to collect all his pollen. But I think I may try some new ways ive been reading about. One guy in one of those articles was saying that keeping his sacks on one branch allows him to keep his favorite male alive indefinitely, producing fresh pollin, as opposed to storing it for later use and killing the plant. Fresh pollin is ALWAYS better for very obvious reasons. Something to consider.
outdoor I let the whole plant flower till its done its job. then chop. Indoors its the same, male grown in another room but harvest pollen by slapping the plant on glass, scraping it up with a razor blade then storing it in a pill bottle for hand pollination with a Q-tip.
I recently switched from papertowel to a 12 hour soak and then directly into the peat. I broke 2 tails that got really long in a paper towel and decided it was time to switch, even though the paper towel is a great method. Ever considered cutting your pollen with sterilized flour? I have read about doing this as it streches your pollen a lot further.
If I were to do much bigger seed crops I sure would. It seems like I get way more pollen then I need for a few individual plants. Unless laws change for the worse in Washington state I will be growing in my front yard also next year. I need more land.
^ i was reading the peat moss/jiffy pellets were very acidic. I never had problems til recently with them, but healthy seeds go in then its hit or miss whether they grow out at all. Its very strange. Plus, those pellets dry up too fast for me, which is really frustrating. Last night I soaked some seeds for about 4 hours that were 4-6 years old to penetrate the shell. Its the longest i ever soaked a seed. I considered soaking overnight but didnt want to deprive them of oxygen. Im looking forward to some fresh beans. I wont even soak or paper towel them, just straight to soil with no worries. Truly miss those days tbh.
I'm really interested in chucking some pollen. My next go around I'm gonna do lots of smaller plants as opposed to fewer bigger ones so I think I'ma definitely chuck some pollen. I'll have a good variety to chose from.
Thats what im doing. Trying to get a ton of small plants seeded, rather than monsters this go around.
This past week I had a fucking surprise 24 hour property inspection notice. I had to rip my room down tear everything apart, pack everything up and move all of my 5 ft ladies who are 1 week from chop out of the property and stash in a fucking uhaul for 24 hours. What a shitshow. It really made me reconsider having small plants as opposed to big.
I have been THERE n Done THAT! Kudos to you. I have done that about ten times and somehow, fate was kind to me, but its a pain in the ass and another reason to buy a house imo.
i use jiffy they do dry out quick but I like that method just to get started. And yea pest moss is very acid like
I'm curious for some opinions. Out of my collection what do you guys think would make interesting crosses? Peakseeds BC - Northern Lights - Sweet Skunk - NL x Sweet Skunk - NL x Blueberry - Sweet Skunk x Blueberry - C99 - Kush x NL Next Generation - Romulan x NYC Diesel TGA Genetics - Galactic Jack (Jack Herer x Space Queen) Delta 9 Labs - Dawg Brains (Brainstorm Haze x Chem 4) La Plata Labs - Big White (Skunk #1 x Big Bud)