Growing out 10 regular plants to pick out just the best male and female plants for genetics. Female for clones for my grow in september, and male for breeding down the road. All im doing is trying to get the best phenotype's, flowering them out as soon as possible, looking to see what ones grow the biggest and baddest, taking a clone off the best female, and male, and trashing the rest. I dont have time to grow them all out normally and get a good harvest but that isnt my concern. What is the earliest i could flower these and still be able to get a good idea of the strongest and biggest plants? Thanks much
I've put mine into flower as early as 1 month from seed. Didn't notice any adverse effects. Stayed nice and small just like I wanted. But that's just my 2 cents, I'm sure the real guru's will come out to help you soon.
you can throw seeds into flower as soon as they break ground, some do. but, if you're wanting to see which phenotypes each plant carries, you need to veg them out. throwing them right into flower, will not give the plant the opportunity to show you completely what it's got.
Alright thanks, i was thinking of letting them go for 4 weeks, do i really even need to flower them? I guess i would have to to see bud structure and all. In your oppinion mr growbot what would you do? think you could make a decent assumption of the strongest plant with most potential with 4 weeks veg and 4 weeks into flower? im on a time restraint and really dont want to move more plants than i need to. Thanks in advance for the advice! very much appreciated
I like fugit's method of phenotyping: http://forum.grasscity.com/advanced-growing-techniques/868538-height-grown-untopped-2.html From seed in 12/12. It seems to give a good comparison of growth habits with minimal time and space.
By, "what's the earliest I can flower", do you mean, "what is the shortest length of time I can flower my plants for and have them grow good examples of their buds"? If so, it varies with the phenotype. You have to grow each type of plant to an equivalent level of ripeness. Four weeks of flowering certainly won't be enough.
Agreed, you should finish them out and keep the ones that finish in your desired timeframe, and quality. When breeding any plant you need objectives prior to selection. Obviously quality is on the top of the list (yield has a very low heritability index, generally on the order of 0.1 for all plants). Yield is primarily a function of environment, however it can be misleading that one yields more than another when it may have more to do with growth rate and earliness of harvest. Maybe you have one that takes 10 weeks to finish but you get 50%, however if a 10 week flower doesn't fit your schedule you may need to select one that finishes in 8. Perhaps you want a plant that doesn't triple in size in flower (or maybe you do). Perhaps you want one that smells or tastes a certain way, or produces a specific high. Best thing to do right now is set your objectives, and wait for them to finish.
Here is an example of my breeding objectives: Female: 1) Vigorous growth 2) Strong high, appealing flavor/aroma 3) 8 week finishing time 4) Compact flowers 5) Doesn't get more than twice the size when placed in flower Males: 1) Vigorous growth 2) Small spacing between nodes 3) Has a potent female-like smell 4) Produces flowers/viable pollen quickly in heavy clusters 5) Doesn't get more than twice the size when placed in flower