Collective of Breeding information, Lost/Old/New Put it here.

I Do not take credit for this information, As I did not right it, I just found it scattered on different forums, and noticed that it wasnt here. So I thought I should post it here as it is good information.

I Know that it is a long read, and some of the information is probably most have read before but please take the time to read if your interested in breeding as it is good info!

Breeding (collective information)

(Thanks goes out to GreenSupreme for this. Your the man! )

I found an old disk from before I ripped out my old hard drive and left the country for a year. There is a bunch of usefull info in there, but yes it is VERY long. But hey what do you want from old Brothers Grim and Vic High info, good score I think. Peace

OverGrow.Coms Breeding FAQ

What is combining ability?
Added by: MR_NATURAL420 Last edited by: Team GrowFAQ Viewed: 3099 times
Certain inbred lines will display hybrid vigour when crossed. These vigorous lines are said to have favorable combining ability.
Certain inbreds have the ability to combine well with testers--these have general combining ability (GCA). When the inbred combines well only in certain crosses, it has specific combining ability (SCA). The only way to select for combining ability is to grow and examine the progeny. An astute breeder can recognize the potentital for hybrid vigour by identifying the dominant traits of the parents and deducing which lines may combine favorably.
Predicting the combining ability of recessive traits can only be determined through progeny testing.
The breeder is interested in single crosses (also known as F1 generations) that outperform other single crosses. If the breeder has multiple IBLs to work with, she could select first for GCA, then for SCA among the lines with GCA, then identify the best parental gene donors. In most cases with Cannabis you can go directly to selecting for specific combining ability between your IBL and your testers.

What is hybrid vigour?
Added by: MR_NATURAL420 Last edited by: Team GrowFAQ Viewed: 2201 times
When two inbred lines from diferent origins are crossed and the resultant progeny produce a better yield or quality due to a better balance of genes, that is hybrid vigour (heterosis). Not all crosses are an improvement on the parents. Random crosses among random lines will give you random results. Hybrid vigour results when the parents used express favorable specific combining ability.
Home : Breeding : Strategies

What are the different types of crosses?
Added by: MR_NATURAL420 Last edited by: Team GrowFAQ Viewed: 4645 times
A "single cross" is another name for an F1 hybrid. When two IBLs are crossed the F1 hybrid, or single cross, is the result. This type of cross has the most uniformity and hybrid vigor which makes it the best choice for the home gardener.
A "double cross" is made by crossing two single crosses which come from four separate IBLs. A double cross will be somewhat more variable than a single cross, but will have a wider range of adaptability. This adaptability makes the double cross good for diverse indoor environments.
The "top cross" and the "three way cross" are used as testers. A top cross is an IBL crossed with a variety, and it is used to test for general combining ability.(Ed.note:Only GCA can be found in a topcross.SCA is not sought because one half of the topcross is from a single genotype and the other half is from mixed gametes,therefore,one gene donor is unspecified.) A three way cross is an IBL crossed with an F1. The result of this cross will be one of the parents of the double-cross, and it is used to test for specific combining ability.
A "backcross" is crossing the progeny back to one of its parents,and on another level, to any plant with the same genotype as a Parent. It is designed to improve the parent by retaining most of its qualities and adding a new one. After a series of backcrosses,some degree of uniformity is realized as a result of increased gene frequencies,fixing of some loci through selection and some incidental homozygosity. However, the offspring can only become completely homozygous if the recurrent parent was completely homozygous,and will remain heterozygous for the loci that were heterozygous in the recurrent parent.
A "self cross" is the result of a female Cannabis plant pollinating herself, whether by artificial induction or natural hermaphrodite tendencies. A female that has produced seed from its own pollen is said to be the S0 generation and the resulting seeds are the S1 progeny.
A "full sib" cross is a straight male-female cross between brothers and sisters.
A "half sib" cross uses sister females and unrelated males.


Uncle Ben's pollination method
Added by: 10k Last edited by: 10k Viewed: 2223 times
Contributed by: Uncle Ben
You have several choices for collecting and using pollen. Males will show as a football-like "ball" on a small, short petiole (stem) at the node sites. Once the pollen pods form, they will elongate via a stem, droop, and the flower bracts will open. After about one week after pollen pods first start to form, or upon complete opening of the male flower bracts, the male anther's will shed pollen which will appear as pale, yellow dust.
Males do not take much light to survive once they reach flowering stage. Leave your male plant(s) in the grow room until the first male pollen bracts just begin to crack, and then move 'em into another room with a typical 12/12 schedule, this can be simulated with light thru a window or a fluorescent light fixture.
You have a choice of placing this plant in a very quiet room with no air movement, set on clean paper, or, you can cut the branches off, making a clean slanted cut with a razor blade, and place the branches in a vase of water over paper. Collect the pollen once it begins shedding by placing a glazed ceramic plate or paper plate under the flowers and gently tap the individual branches. Pick out any flowers which tend to drop once in a while.
The pollen will be like dust, so don't visit the garden until you have taken a bath, or you may end up pollinating plants you didn't intend on pollinating.
Collect the pollen over time and place it into a clean vial like a film canister. I really like using a paper plate held under a group of flowers, and then gently thumping the stem. After collecting the pollen, the paper plate can be creased, held over a vial, and the sides and edges thumped until all the pollen is shaken into the vial. Shape the paper plate like a creased funnel.
For a pollen carrier, heat about 2 or 3 teaspoons of flour in an oven set to 180f for 20 minutes or in a small pot set on low heat, let it cool thoroughly, and mix with the pollen to dilute it. I use a ratio of about 1/4 teaspoon pollen to 3 teaspoon flour and have very successful pollination rates. Store in small containers like contact lens cases or film canister, excluding as much air as possible and store in the refrigerator for long term use. Remember, it only takes one male to fertilize one female ovule, and there are millions of pollen cells in a 1/4 teaspoon of pollen so be sure and dilute it.
Use a small artist brush (my preferred method) or toothpick to pollinate a few of the lower branches which have fresh, white pistils, label the pollinated branches, and harvest your seeds in 3 to 6 weeks. I just cure the seeded branches with the rest of the crop, and tear apart the seeded buds with my fingers. You'll find the seeds close to the stem. Store the seeds in the fridge or freezer, labeled of course, with a little dessicant like silica gel or heat treated (sterilized) rice for long term storage.

Kryptonite's pollination method
Added by: Last edited by: 10k Viewed: 3194 times
Contributed by: Kryptonite
Collecting Pollen:
When the first male flowers start to show a possibility of opening, the plant is removed and isolated from the rest of the garden. The male can be placed in a makeshift box, closet, or in an adjacent room.
It is very important to make sure it is secluded from the female garden and there is absolutely NO possibility of pollen drifting into unwanted areas.
It is preferable to have sufficient lighting such as a compact flouroescent fixture, or if "Direct" sunlight from a window source is available that may also be adequate.
The male plant MUST Remain on a 12/12 schedule.
Through Experimentation I have found that if the male does not have ample lighting it will in most cases cease to finish the flowering cycle followed by complete shutdown of pollen production within several days.
Pollen is Easily collected by placing a shot glass or similar item under the flower of which you would like to harvest the pollen from.
Giving a gentle tap to the "ripe" flower with an object such as a pair of tweezers will often cause it to spring open like a parachute and occasionally fall into the glass, "remove them as they fall". It is very important not to let anything that will cause moisture to build in the glass which will result in your pollen caking up on you. Pull the flower from the glass with your tweezers and give it a good tap on the rim of the glass to remove remaining pollen stuck to the flower.
While harvesting Tap the Flowers gently as not to disturb other male flowers on the plant. An agressive Tap will cause pollen to fall from other finished flowers on the plant resulting in a loss of viable pollen.
Male flowers open over a period of several days, during this time you should gather what you deem to be enough for your project, working around the plant as the flowers are ready. A little goes a long way.
It is also helpful if you remove flowers that you have already collected pollen from after each harvest. This is done so that each time you visit your male you can easily Identify Newly ripened flowers.
It is common to catch enough for a small project over a period of 5 days or so after the male flowers have begun to open. At this time the male can either be discarded, consumed, or cloned for future use.
"Naturally" the males flower earlier than the females in order to allow for sufficient overlap. By the time you have finished collecting your pollen the girls should be just about ready to be pollenated.
I would then seclude your best Female for the traits that you want to hopefully preserve from the rest of the garden.
Pollinate early to insure sufficient time for the seed to ripen, most Indica Strains should be pollinated from 10 to 17 days of 12/12 allowing at least 4 weeks for them to finish. It would be preferable to let them finish with the buds, the longer you let your seed ripen the more viable they will be.
Applying the collected Pollen:
If you are not breeding for seed only pollinating the main cola should be avoided, as an example I have personally had excellent results introducing pollen to the secondary colas producing plenty of seed for future use and enough to give to friends.
Now take a cotton swab and gently dab it into the pollen collecting a small amount on the head of the swab, then hovering over the selected buds "female Flowers" that you wish to pollinate give the q-tip a gentle tap with your forefinger and you will see a golden cloud of pollen drift into the bud, try to avoid touching the "hairs" during flowering, It does harm them making them die and wither off.
You can control the fall of the pollen by blowing gently in the direction you want it to travel.
Before placing the girl back into the room make sure you dust it off by blowing excess pollen off of her manually, or you using a hair drying on it's cool setting also works, this will help to insure that you will not have the surplus pollen drifting into unwanted places.
Another good suggestion would be to let the plant sit "secluded" for several hours after pollination, at this time spray a mist of plain PH corrected water over the entire plant "thoroughly".
Wetting of the plant will dampen any residual pollen rendering it non-viable and basically useless. Let the plant sit and dry while it is away from the rest of the garden.
Within 24 to 36 hours you should begin to see the pollinated "hairs" turn reddish or amber, this will show you exactly where to find your seed later.
It is also a good identifier for finding buds pollinated by any occasional excess pollen.
Don't rush their finish, let them go!
I'd hate to see you waste a lot of good bud on immature "green" seeds by not letting them finish fully.
Another tip: In regards to pollinating the lower branches, make sure that you are getting enough light penetration to the area that you have pollinated, if the buds in the areas which lack ample lighting do not usually finish properly neither will your seed.

I'd try to always let them go at least 4.5 to 5 weeks.
The seed is then dried, cured and stored IN the buds, packed neatly in canning jars or bagged in the fridge, taken out as they are needed for use.
This should be a simple easy to use base for you to get started, but please continue Learning through experimantation. By doing this you will find unique ways of customizing this technique that better suits your needs.
Good Luck in your Breeding Endeavors, I hope I have helped you OVERGROW The World!!!!



Soul's Selecting breeding individuals for marijuana production
Added by: Bongaloid Last edited by: ~shabang~ Viewed: 3297 times
Contributed by MrSoul:
Breeding fine cannabis involves carefully choosing the breeding stock. To choose wisely we must first define male and female cannabis:
Female Cannabis

Contributed by British Columbia Grower's Association:
In this first situation, we'll deal with the situation where a plant breeder finds a special individual or clone.
It's a natural thing to be curious and cross a couple of plants that catch your fancy. Grow them out and find a new variation that you like even better. We can preserve the new variation through cloning indefinately, but accidents happen and clones die. They can get viruses or can suffer clonal deprivation from somatic mutations over time. Plus it's harder to share clones with friends through the mail than seeds. So it's only natural that we would want to create seed backups of this special clone.
But before we start breeding this clone, we should try and figure what exactly it is we want from the seeds we are going to create. Do we want them to simply be able to reproduce individuals like the special clone? Simple backcrossing (cubing) will accomplish this. Or do we want to to create seeds that will be able to create more seeds like the special clone, a true breeding strain? These are very different in nature. You see, chances are that your special clone will be heterozygous for many of traits she phenotypically expresses. This just means that she will contain genetic information (genes) for two opposing triats, but you can only see one, the dominant one. However, her seeds will only get one or the other of the genes, so her offspring will express all the genetic information she has, including what you can't see within herself. If you want to create a true breeding strain, you need to preserve all the genes you can see, and remove all the genes that you cannot, but may show up in the offspring. Creating homozygosity. The only way to accomplish this is through selection and generational inbreeding (selecting the homozygous offspring to be parents for the next generation).

BackCrossing and Cubing
Backcrossing is where you breed an individual (your special clone) with it's progeny. Sick in our world, but plants seem to like it
1) Your first backcross is just a backcross.
2) Your second backcross where you take the progeny from the first backcross and cross back to the SAME parent (grandparent now) is often called SQUARING by plant breeders.
3) Your third backcross where you take the progency (squared) from the second backcross and cross back to the SAME parent (great grandparent now) is often called CUBING by plant breeders. You can continue the backcrossing but we just call this backcrossing. Cubing is in reference to the number three, as in 3 backcrosses
Cubing works on the basis of mathamatical probabilities with respect to gene frequencies. The more males you use with each cross, the better the chance that your reality matches the theory. In theory, with the first backcross, 75% of your genepool will match the genepool of the P1 parent being cubed. Squaring increases this to 87.5% and cubing increases it to 93.75%. You can arrive at these numbers by taking the average between the two parents making up the cross. For instance, you start by crossing the P1 mom (100%) with and unrelated male (0%) getting 100% + 0% divided by 2 = 50%. Therefore, the offspring of this first cross are loosly thought of as being 50% like the mom. Take these and do your first backcross and you get 100% (mom) + 50% divided by 2 = 75%. And this is where we get the 75% for the first backcross. Same thing applies as you do more backcrosses. As you will see later, you can apply this same probability math to specific genes or traits, and this can have a dramatic effect on your methodology and selection methods.
Your selection of the right males for each backcross are the crucial points for success with this technique. In each case, you could select males that contain the genes you want, or you could inadvertedly pick those individuals that carry the unwanted recessive genes. Or more likely, you could just pick individuals that are heterozygous for both genes like the P1 mom being backcrossed. The easiest way to deal with this is to start by only looking at one gene and one trait, like lets assume that flavour is determined by a single gene (in reality it's probably not). And do some punnet squares to show gene frequencies through 3 generations of backcrossing. Now lets assume that we found a special pineapple flavoured individual in our pine flavoured population that we wanted to keep. The gene causing the pineapple flavour could be dominant or recessive and the selection abilities and cubing outcome will be different in both cases.
a) pineapple flavour is dominant.
P = pineapple flavour and p = pine flavour
Therefore since each individual will have two flavour genes paired up, the possible genotypes are PP, Pp, and pp. Since P is dominant, PP and Pp will express pineapple flavour while pp will exhibit pine flavour, these are their phenotypes. Now since the pineapple is a new flavour, chances are that the special individual will be heterozygous, or more specifically, Pp. Therefore, the only possible parent combination is Pp X pp with the Pp being the parent to be cubed.
Figure 1. The F1 cross

Now most will find it tough to pick males with the gene for pineapple flavour since males don't produce female flowers. Therefore, they will select males randomly and blindly with respect to this trait. The ratio of P to p genes of the male F1 generation to be used in the first backcross will be 2:6. Another way to look at it is to say that the P gene fequency is 25%. This means that one out of four pollen grains will contain the gene for pineapple flavour. Here is how this plays out in the first backcross.
Figure 2. The B1 cross

Now it's this first backcross that first creates an individual that is homozygous (PP) for the pineapple flavour. However, again because of our limited selection abilities, we choose males randomly. From the random males we should expect three out of eight pollen grains to to contain the gene for pineapple flavour. The P1 female will still contribute one P gene for every p gene. I'll spare your computor's memory and and not post the table, feel free to do it yorself though on paper to be sure you understand what happening

The second backcross (Squaring) will produce the following:
3 PP 8 Pp 5 pp
Therefore, 68.75% will have pineapple flavour and 31.25% will have pine flavour. The frequency of the P gene has risen to 7/16 or 43.75%.
And finally, the third backcross (Cubing) will net the following genotypic ratios:
7PP 16Pp 9pp
Therefore, 71.875% will have pineapple flavour after cubing has been completed. Roughly 22% (7/32*100) of the cubed progeny will be true breeding for the pineapple flavour. The frequency of the P gene has risen to roughly 47% (30/64).
In conclusion, if the backcrossing continued indefinately with random selection of males and with large enough of a population size, the frequency of the P gene would max out at 50%. This means that the best that can be expected from cubing is 25% true breeding for pineapple flavour and 75% that will display the pineapple flavour. You would never be rid of the 25% that would maintain the pine flavour. This model would hold true when trying to cube any heterozygous trait.

b) Pineapple flavour is recessive
In this case, P is for the pine flavour and p is for pineapple flavour. Convention is that the capital letter signifies dominance. For the breeder to have noticed the interesting trait, the mom to be cubed would have to be homozygous for the pineapple flavour (pp). Depending where the male came from and whether it was related, it could be Pp or PP, with PP being more likely. It won't make much difference which in the outcome.
F1 cross is pretty basic, we'll skip the diagram. We simply cross the female (pp) with the male (PP) and get offspring that are all Pp. Since the pine flavour is recessive, none of the F1 offspring will have pineapple flavour (hint ). However, the frequency of the gene p will be 50%.
pp X PP = Pp + Pp + Pp + Pp
Since the F1 generation are all the same (Pp), the pollen it donates to the first backcross will contain a p gene for every P gene. The first backcross will be:
B1 = pp X Pp = Pp + Pp + pp + pp
As you can see, 50% of the offspring will be pineapple flavoured and the frequency of the p gene is 6/8 or 75%. This B1 generation will generate pollen containing 6 p genes for every 2 P genes.

Figure 3. The second backcross.

As you can see, the second backcross or squaring produces pineapple flavour in 75% of the offspring. And the p gene frequency within those offspring is roughly 88%. (Remember C88 ). Of the pollen grains from this squaring, 14 out of 16 will carry the p gene for pineapple flavouring. When they are backcrossed to the P1 mom for the third time, they net the following cubed progeny:

Figure 4. The third backcross

After cubing of a homozygous gene pair, we end up with roughly 88% of them displaying the desired trait (pineapple flavour in this case) and also being true breeding for that same trait. The frequency of this desired gene will be roughly 94%. If the backcrossing was to continue indefinately, the gene frequency would continue to approach 100% but never entirely get there.

It should be noted that the above examples assume no selective pressure and large enough population sizes to ensure random matings. As the number of males used in each generation decreases, the greater the selective pressure whether intended or not. The significance of a breeding population size and selective pressure is much greater when the traits to be cubed are heterozygous. And most importantly, the above examples only take into account for a single gene pair.
In reality, most of the traits we select for like potency are influenced by several traits. Then the math gets more complicated if you want to figure out the success rate of a cubing project. Generally speaking, you multiply the probabilities of achieving each trait against each other. For example, if your pineapple trait was influenced by 2 seperate recessive genes, then you would multiply 87.5% * 87.5% (.875 * .875 *100) and get 76.6%. This means that 76.6% of the offspring would be pineapple flavoured. Now lets say the pineapple trait is influenced by 2 recessive traits and and a heterozygous dominant one. We would multiply 87.5% by 87.5% by 71.9% (.875*.875*.719*100) and get 55%. Just by increasing to three genes, we have decreased the number of cubed offspring having pineapple flavouring down to 55%. Therefore, cubing is a good technique where you want to increase the frequency of a few genes (this is an important point to remember ), but as the project increases, the chance of success decreases .... at least without some level of selective pressure.

Applying the pressure
The best way to significantly increase your chances of success is to apply intended selective pressure and eliminate unintentional selective pressure. Try to find clearcut and efficient ways to isolate and select for and against certain traits. Find ways to be sure your males are passing along the intended traits and remove all males that do not. This includes ALL traits that may be selected for. Some traits you will be able to observe directly in the males. Other traits like flowering duration you may not. If you are selecting for a trait you can't directly observe, you want to do some progeny tests and determine which males pass on the most desireable genes. I'll explain more on progeny tests later.
It's important that when chosing your best males to ignore the superficial traits having nothing to do with the real traits your looking for. You see, cannabis has several thousand genes residing on just 10 chromosome pairs or 20 individual chromosomes. Therefore each chomosome contains hundred of genes. Each gene residing on the same chromosome is said to be linked to each other. Generally speaking, they travel as a group . If you select for one of them, you are actually selecting for all of the traits on the chromosome. There is an exception to this rule refferred to as breaking linked genes via crossing over, but for simplicity sake, we will ignore that for now. Getting back to selection, you could decide to select for a trait such as you like the spikey look of the leaves while really being interested in fixing the grapefruit flavour. But as it may happen, both traits may be on the same chromosome pair but opposite chromosomes. If so, as long as you select the plants with spikey leaves, you will never get the grapefruit flavour you really want. It's good to keep in mind that each time you select for a triat, you are selecting against several hundred genes This is why most serious breeders learn to take small methodical steps and work on one or two traits at a time. Especially with inbreeding projects such as selfing and backcrossing.
Now lets see what kind of improvements we can make in the first example of trying to cube a heterozygous dominant trait using some selective pressure. Lets say that with each generation, we are able to remove the individuals recessive for the pine flavour (pp), but can't remove the heterozygous ones (Pp). If you recall, our P1 mom had the genotype (Pp) in that model and the F1 cross yielded (Pp + Pp + pp + pp) as possible offspring combinations. We remove the two (pp) individuals leaving us with only Pp. Therefore our first backcross will be:
Pp * Pp = PP + Pp + Pp + pp
Again we remove the pp individual leaving us with PP + 2Pp. Going into the second backcross we have increased our P gene frequency from 37.5% up to 66.7%. This means that going into the second backcross 4 of every six pollen grains will carry the P gene. The outcome is as follows

As you can see, after selecting against the homozygous recessives for 2 backcrosses, we have increased our P gene frequency to 58% from 44% in our squared population. If we again remove the homozygous recessives, our gene frequency increases to 70% (14/20) going into the third backcross, meaning that 7 out of 10 pollen grains will carry the P gene. Again, I'll spare your PC's memory and just give your the results of the third backcross.
B3 cross = 7 PP + 10 Pp + 3 pp
This translates to mean that 95% of the progeny will taste like pineapple after cubing a heterozygous dominant strain if the homozygous pine tasting ones are removed prior to to each backcross. This is an improvent from 72% when no selection occurred. The frequency of individuals true breeding for the pineapple flavour rose to 35%. But more importantly, the P gene frequency improves to 60%. This will be an important consideration when we discuss progeny testing .
But for now lets recap the percentage of individuals true breeding for the pineapple taste in each of the models. In the case where the pineapple flavour trait is heterozygous dominant and no selective pressure is used, cubing produced 22% true breeding individuals. By selecting against the homozygous pine recessive, we were able to increase this too 35%. And finally, when cubing a homozygous recessive gene, we are able to achieve a cubed population that is 87.5% true breeding for the pineapple flavour. And as I pointed out earlier, these numbers only apply to single gene traits. Lets say the pineapple flavour is coded by two seperate genes, one dominant and one recessive, and you are able to select against the homozygous recessive pine flavour while selecting for the dominant pineapple flavour gene. Your cubed population would then contain 87.5% * 35% (.875 * .35 * 100) = 30% true breeding individuals. As you can see, as long as the cubed source is heterozygous, it doesn't matter how many backcrosses you do, you will never achieve a true breeding strain.




What is cubing?
Added by: Team GrowFAQ Viewed: 1457 times
Contributed by MrSoul:
An alternative F1 hybrid breeding method I
Contributed by Vic High:
What really is an F1 cross?
Well defining the terms P1, F1, F2, homozygous, and heterogygous can be a simple task, however, applying them to applied genetics can often create confusion. Depending on your point of reference, a plant could be described as any of these terms. For our specific field of interest it's important to further define these terms to reduce confusion and protect the consumers. First I'll provide the classic scientific definition of these and other related terms and then I'll dive into each term into detail.
Heterzygous - a condition when two genes for a trait are not the same on each member of a pair of homologous chromosomes; individuals heterozygous for a trait are indicated by an "Aa" or "aA" notation and are not true breeding for that trait.(Clarke)
Homozygous - the condition existing when the genes for a trait are the same on both chromosomes of a homologous pair; individuals homozygous for a trait are indicated by "AA" or "aa" and are true breeding for that trait. (Clarke)
- Now the heterozygous and homozygous terms can be applied to one trait or a group of traits within an individual or a group of individuals. Depending on your point of reference, an individual or group can be
considered both homozygous or heterozygous. For instance, say you have two individuals that are both short (S) and have webbed leaves (W) and have the following genotypes.
#1 = SSWW
#2 = SSWw
They are both homozygous for the short trait but only individual #1 is homozygous for the webbed leaf trait. Individual #2 is heterozygous for the webbed leaf trait and would be considered a heterozygous individual. As a goup, they would be considered heterozygous in general by some and homozygous by others. It would depend on your point of reference and the overall importance you place on the webbed leaf trait. Most would consider it to be heterozygous.
For example, the blueberry cannabis strain is considered a true breeding homozygous seed line because as a whole the many offspring have a similar look and produce a similar product. However there are often subtle differences between the plants of characters such as stem colour and potency. When taking a close look at blueberry, you will find heterozygous traits, but because of the whole overall look, we still generally consider them homozygous for the purpose of breeding programs. Using dogs is another way to explain this, take a dobie for example, you cant tell the difference between dobies, but you can tell a dobie from another breed. Ya follow?
Hybrid - An individual produced by crossing two parents of different genotypes. Clarke says that a hybrid is a heterozygous individual resulting from crossing two seperate strains.
- For the purpose of seedbanks, a hybrid is in general, a cross between any two unrelated seedlines. ANY HYBRID IS heterozygous and NOT TRUE BREEDING.
F1 hybrid - is the first generation of a cross between any two unrelated seedlines in the creation of a hybrid. F1 hybrids can be uniform or variable depending on the P1 parent stock used.
F2 hybrid - is the offspring of a cross between two F1 plants (Clarke). What Clarke and other sources don't make clear is do the two F1's need to be from the same parents? By convention they don't. As well, german geneticists often describe a backcross of an F1 back to a P1 parent as a F2 cross.
- OK lets say we take blueberry and cross it with romulan (both relatively true breeding of their unique traits) to create the F1 hybrid romberry. Now lets cross the F1 romberry with a NL/Haze F1 hybrid. (Ed.note:The textbooks consider this a 'double cross'.)
Some could say this is a F1 cross of romberry and NL/Haze. Others could argue that it is a F2 cross of two F1 hybrids. Gets confusing doesn't it? Now lets cross this Romberry/NL/Haze(RNH) with a Skunk#1/NL#5 F1 hybrid to create RNHSN. Now some would argue that RNHSN is an F1 hybrid between RNH and SK/NL seedlines. Others would call it an F2.
- So what does this mean to the consumer? It means that a seed bank can call a cross whatever it wants until the industry adopts some standards. This is what this article will attempt to initiate. Clarke eludes to
standardising these definitions but never really gets around to it. Fortunately other plant breeding communities have (Colangelli, Grossnickle&Russell, Watts, &Wright) and adopting their standards
makes the most sense and offers the best protection to the seedbank consumer.
Watts defines an F1 as the heterozygous offspring between two homozygous but unrelated seedlines. This makes sense and gives the F1 generation a unique combination of traits; uniform phenotype but not true breeding. This is important in the plant breeding world. This means that when a customer buys F1 seeds that they should expect uniform results. It also means that the breeder's work is protected from being duplicated by any other means than using the original P1 (true breeding parents). [There are
exceptions to this by using techniques such as repeated backcrosses (cubing the clone).
F2 crosses are the offspring of crossing two F1 hybrids. This means that they will not be uniform nor will they breed true. However, F3, F4, F5, etc will also share these characteristics, so to simplify terminology for the seedbanks and seedbank merchants, they can all be classified as F2 seeds in general.
What does this mean for the preceeding example? Well, the blueberry, romulan, skunk#1, NL#5, and haze were all P1 true breeding seedlines or strains (another term that needs clarification). Romberry, NL/Haze, and SK/NL were all F1 hybrids. Both the Romberry/NL/Haze and the RNHSN would be F2s. Within each group the consumer can know what to expect for the price they are paying.
Few cannabis seedbanks (if any) and their breeders are following these definitions and are subsequently creating confusion within the cannabis seedbuying community. This is a change that needs to happen.
Note: this is a rough draft to be published to the internet. Hopefully in time it or something similar will be used to help establish an industry standard. Any comments and critism is welcome to aid in the production of the final draft. Small steps like this can only benefit the cannabis community over the long haul.
REFERENCES:
Clarke RC. 1981. marijuana Botony Ronin Publishing, California
Colangeli AM. 1989. Advanced Biology notes. University of Victoria, BC
Futuyma DJ. 1986. Evolutionary Biology Sinauer Associates, Inc. Massachusetts
Klug & Cummings. 1986. Concepts of Genetics 2nd ed. Scott, Foresman, & comp. Illinois
Grossnickle & Russell. 1989. Stock quality improvement of yellow-cedar. Canada-BC Forest Resources Developement Agreement (F.R.D.A.) Project 2.40
Watts. 1980. Flower & Vegetable Plant Breeding Grower Books, London
Wright JW Introduction to Forest Genetics Academic Press, San Francisco


What is linkage?
Added by: MR_NATURAL420 Last edited by: MR_NATURAL420 Viewed: 989 times
Genes located on the same chromosome are not randomly assorted but tend to be inherited together. This is known as linkage. Plants depend on a large number of factors for their phenotype and linked factors are usually dominant. Linkage adds to the difficulty of combining favorable factors of parents of a cross. Large populations are needed to obtain recombination and find that rare but desirable individual.


Theres More...

Some Kick ass folks saved alot of the OverGrow.com Faq from Google cache.
They have the other half of the Breeding FAQ.
Thanks for the heads up on this WoodsmanToker!!!!!!!

Ill put it up here for yall .....









Originally posted by S2 at The Graden's Cure
2008-01-11 01:13
Recovery of the Overgrow GrowFAQ

Almost 2 weeks ago one of the great marijuana Cultivation Resources available on the Internet went dark. Overgrow.com was home to the finest marijuana GrowFAQ available on the Internet and it too went dark with its host. Fortunately, Google had a decent cache of the Overgrow GrowFAQ data, minus the images. I’ve created a series of scripts to retrieve as much of this data as possible from the Google Cache.
Due to the complexities of some of the GrowFAQ records, a portion of the FAQ was simply unrecoverable using my programming skills. However, I am confident that I have recovered more than 3/4ths of the OG GrowFAQ. It’s important to remember that the recovery was limited to the data that Google had stored in its cache. I found this cached data to be full of duplicate entries and partial HTML pages which I was unable to retrieve.
I am now making the entire 524 recovered GrowFAQ entries publicly available to anyone who wishes to download them. I have made the entire GrowFAQ available as a single XML document available for download by clicking here (2,430 KB). If you are not familiar with XML or simply do not wish to duplicate the entire GrowFAQ you can find each individual entry listed here at growfaq.marijuana.com. I will be turning this over to the administration of HempCultivation.Com for further development and image replacement.
You will find that this GrowFAQ environment has several features that allow you to save information that you believe valuable. You can save each individual FAQ as a PDF file, XML file or simply print it out. You may comment on each individual faq to give further information or advice as well as rate each faq for its usefulness.
It is my hope that we can pick up where OG left off and keep this document alive for everyone to share. Help us grow the faq by asking a question or by answering one left by a visitor. This FAQ is what you make of it – there’s a solid foundation to build upon here.







ID #1006
What is an F1, F2, and IBL?

An IBL (inbred line) is a genetically homogeneous strain that grows uniformly from seed.

A hybrid is a strain made up of two genetically unlike parents, IBL or hybrid.

When you cross two different IBL strains for the FIRST time, it is called the F1 generation. When you cross two of the same F1 hybrid (inbreed), it is called the F2 generation.

The process of selective inbreeding must continue at least until the F4 to stabilize the recurrently selected traits. When you cross two specimens of an IBL variety, you get more of the same, because an IBL is homozygous, or true breeding for particular traits.





How can I contribute as a sativa breeder?

Just as we all benefited from SSSC and their networking of local European and North American seed breeders in the 1980's, we would benefit by a cooperative network breeding sativa or sativa dominant strains, stabilizing strains obtained in the country of natural origin and developing hybrids and stable strains from them. It will be space and time consuming, but these genetics would definitely have a large market. This concept would truly be an important undertaking.

My wish list includes strains from Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, Columbia, Ethiopia, India, Hawaii, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Panama, Peru, South Africa, Swaziland and Vietnam. Some may have other desirable genetics to add to this pure sativa gene pool. The Federation brought forward some unique pure sativa and double sativa hybrids with the Golden Triangle Thai and Celestial Temple Sativa along with their trademark Hawaiin Sativa. African Seeds and the Dutch seed banks offer various sativa from around the world. Pure Haze would, of course, have to be in the genetic pool. Certain sativas are not so long flowering and unwieldy they could not be used to produce nearly pure sativa hybrids and IBL's that were suitable for indoor growers also. Making hybrids of pure sativas with strains like AK47, Cinderella99, Genius, Jack Herer, Super Silver Haze and Skunk 1 would introduce potent sativa type genetics with more desirable structure and shorter flowering periods.

This will require dedication, time and hard work from people around the globe that are willing to travel to the locations not represented to acquire the seed stock. Individuals with a nose for adventure could spend some time making point of origin acquisition of the genetics for such a venture. It would not be too far fetched to visit some of these countries for adventurous people from places all over the world. Take a "vacation", if you make some connections, score some good local bud and see if any viable seeds are present. Many native land race strains have remained pure, while others have had outside genetics introduced. The older local growers in the region and educated breeders and growers would be in the best position to vouch for purity. If they obtained something of quality, vacationers could examine their "score" for seeds and consistency of the buds and send them home to evaluate. The indigenous strains of the countries listed are under represented in the overly reconstituted gene pool offered to us.

The larger scale outdoor growing to perform selective breeding is best suited to the tropics and greenhouses. Australia, Spain and their neighbors offer excellent weather conditions and proximity to local sativa land races for people living there. Africa, Southeast Asia, and India offer many unique genetics that should be worked with by experienced breeders and growers. Many individuals working in their corner of the world, developing strains and producing seed. The potential for meeting people who's locality has indigenous strains that have been cultivated for drug uses for many generations. These strains are needles in the haystack that need to be rediscovered and bred further.
The concept of seed archiving is important. There may be enough sativa strains in the hands of educated growers to probably fill all the locales on my wish list. Genetic diversity and continuance could be maintained indefinitely, if we organize a community of growers and breeders. Let's all put the time and effort into making strains available to everyone who wants them by forming a cooperative. The program goes as far as people are willing to contribute their own time and effort, not just people giving their seeds to others to grow. Sativa are like children...you have more patience and hope for your own. The idea is for people with the ability to set aside some time and space to perpetuate sativa genetics and hopefully come up with some special individuals to breed. It is my desire that individuals take the initiative to work with what is available to them.





How should strains be named?

In the horticultural world, the order of naming in hybrids should be Female X Male. Many breeders and retailers practice improper naming protocol. I have seen too many obvious discrepencies in commercial Cannabis naming practices to give any validity to the standard protocol as a way to determine the parentage. Breeders and retailers should correct this.

When choosing a name for your prize breeding project, it is important to be original and not be confusing. Unfortunately, some seed breeders are using names for their newer and different offerings already taken by strains currently held by other seedbanks. This is definitely something that is deceptive and troublesome. Introducing a different strain under another, now famous name appears to be an attempt to ride on their coattails. It is terribly confusing and misleading to the consumer for another company in the same market to decide to use the same name for a newer and different product. What if VW decided their new sports car was going to be called a Corvette because they are based in Europe and they like the name? They have lawyers for this.




ID #1021
What is hybrid vigour?

When two inbred lines from diferent origins are crossed and the resultant progeny produce a better yield or quality due to a better balance of genes, that is hybrid vigour (heterosis). Not all crosses are an improvement on the parents. Random crosses among random lines will give you random results. Hybrid vigour results when the parents used express favorable specific combining ability.




How do I select for combining ability?
The ONLY way to select for combining ability is to test for it.

Even though there is a positive relation between overall vigour of an inbred and the yield of its crosses, the combining ability is more important. The breeding value of a certain hybrid is determined by studying it's progeny.

Making an inbred-to-varietal cross (top cross) is one way. Cross the various lines to a stable variety (Skunk no.1, Northern Lights, etc.) and the progeny that produces the best crosses is selected. Repeating the test in different locations will eliminate any possible influences the environment might produce, and repeating the test with different testers would ensure that the results were accurate.




Does it matter which line is used for the male?

No. Some growers swear that certain plants do better as one parent or the other, but it really doesn't matter as yield and quality are due to that particular cross and remain the same whenever that cross is repeated. Genetically the siblings in an IBL are the same no matter which gender is used.




What should I look for in an IBL?

First define your goals. Are you growing for yourself or for commercial production? Indoors or out? Mostly sativa or mostly indica? Keep only the plants that have the qualities you want, and mercilessly kill the rest.

Select plants that don't fall over; if you have to prop them up with toothpicks, you might as well cull them. Keep the ones that are free from abnormalities and hermaphroditism. Hopefully you've got enough many seeds to be ruthless. Keep the ones that show better resistance to disease and pests. Even though the progeny performance is more important than the individual, there is a positive relationship between the overall vigour of an IBL and the yield of its hybrids. If they produce vigourous plants they are more likely to pass these traits on.





What is recurrent selection?

Recurrent selection refers to selecting for certain traits generation after generation.

With the interbreeding of reselected plants, the breeder can access favorable recombinations as well as stabilize traits within the genepool. Select your ideotype in each IBL, but don't be totally reliant on the phenotype because its not always indicative of the actual genotype. Make yield and quality trials with test crosses and select the best ten lines. Intercross and repeat.

After recurrent selection is done, select new individuals to be the new parents of IBLs. These are then recurrently selected for four or five generations. After recurrent selection has been done in two seperate programs, an F1 single cross of the two lines (A X B) is then produced.

In reciprocal recurrent selection (RRS), pollen of multiple A males is used to pollinate ideal B females and pollen of B used to pollinate ideal plants of A. Thus A is used as a tester to select for the combining ability of B plants, and B is a tester for A. At the same time,inbred seedlots(A X A) and (B X B) are made,using mixed male pollen and the best females of each population. Store the resulting seed-- the seedlines with the best combining ability will be used as parents of the next RRS cycle.

The (A X B) hybrid progeny are simply used as visual indicators of the combining ability that lies in the saved seeds.These specific inbred parental lines are kept in reserve until the progeny testing of the different (A X B) hybrids has shown which has better SCA and will make the better hybrids. Since this is such a complicated strategy, good note taking and organization are definitely required.





What is convergent improvement?


If you have a good single cross (A X B), and you know the vigour is the result of the dominance of growth factors, back-cross it several generations to A, selecting for qualities of B that are lacking in A. After two or more generations of back-crossing and selecting, IBLs are produced. Do the same for B. After improved A and B are obtained, they are tested in crosses and compared to the original (A X B). Multiple convergence is improving an inbred by convergence of gametes from different sources. If A is a very desirable inbred in crosses, it can be modified in two seperate back-cross programs {eg. (A X C) X A, and (A X D) X A}, with the idea that the improved inbreds will be vigourous enough to use as the male parent of a double-cross.





What are gametes and zygotes?

The gamete of the male is the pollen grain, the gamete of the female is the embryo sac. Gametes contain half of the genes of an adult plant and unite to form the zygote. After mitosis the zygote becomes the embryo of the seed.




How do I select a male?

The only way to determine the value of a plant for breeding is to grow and examine its progeny. The most potent plant might not pass on this trait, and the healthiest plant might not have favorable combining ability. Judging a male by visual appearance and also smoke testing, or using bio-assay, should not be discounted, but test crossing the male is the





What is a bio-assay?

A bio-assay is using a living organism to determine the qualities of a substance-- smoke testing your males or females. Have ten of your friends rate each sample based on your critera.





ID #1064
Can I breed effectively indoors?

Well, if you're thinking you can create farm-quality double crosses, the answer is probably no. It takes selection from hundreds of plants to find the right parents to use. Even without a lot of space for selection, you can do better than making random crosses.

Seedling selection for visual traits will help save space, but this is only useful at the start of breeding. When beginning, start as many seeds from the material to be used as you can so that you have a large enough base to select from. Take at least two clones from each plant, and keep them in the veg stage. Use bonsai methods to keep everything small.

Once you've selected the plants to use for the next generation, discard all of the other clones of the seedlings not chosen. Don't be sentimental, just do it.

Keep good notes, it's easy to get confused, especially when you're high. The down side is that you'll have to be happy with a hundred tiny, seedy plants, instead of big sinsemilla buds. Also if you're not exceeding mandatory minimum sentencing (it's for a good cause, your honor), you're not selecting from enough plants. I know, it's crazy, you might only get a couple grams per plant, with the seeds and all, but its still a hundred plants. Until some one goes to court to set the precedent, I'm assuming 1 plant plus 99 tissue culture vials would be 100 plants, but I don't know. Maybe, you could tell them they are venus flytraps.




What is the nomenclature of Cannabis?


Nomenclature is the method biologists use to precisely define the relationship of an organism. Common names are not descriptive enough. When I say "grass", more than one thing comes to mind, so you need a way to narrow it down.
The genus is always capitalized and the species is not: Cannabis indica
When the genus is mentioned frequently, it is often abreviated: C. indica
When there is a sub-species it is distinguished like this: C. indica ssp. kafiristanica
A variety is indicated by: C. indica var. afghani
A land-race, or "form", isn't different enough to be a variety and it is written like this: C. indica f. maple-leaf
Any plant that is in cultivation (a cultivar, clone or hybrid) is capitalized and seperated by quotation marks: C. indica "Super Skunk"
Inbred lines are indicated by an alpha-numeric figure: NL#5
There is disagreement among biologists as to whether Cannabis should be divided into species or not, but for practical purposes we usually divide it into C. indica, C. sativa, and C. ruderalis. C. indica has wide leaves and either a cadelabra shape or a dominant main cola. C. sativa is a tall plant with many branches and is either bamboo shaped or christmas tree shaped. C. ruderalis is a small plant with little THC that flowers independant of the photoperiod.

[Editor's note: It is widely accepted that genus Cannabis comprises a single species, Cannabis sativa, which consists of 2 or 3 subspecies: C. sativa subsp. sativa, C. sativa subsp indica, and possibly C. sativa subsp. ruderalis. This is called the Linnaean classification (after Carolus Linnaeus), and is usually denoted as such by including a capital L after the species name (i.e., Cannabis sativa L). Many recognized authorities, including RC Clarke, support this classification, which is also legally recognized in the US and elsewhere.
However, this system of classification has been much debated, with many advocates of classification as multiple species. Based on genetic analysis publshed in 2005, it has been proposed that low-THC (fiber) varieties be classified as species C. sativa, that narrow- and broad-leaf drug varieties be classified as species C. indica.
Yet another proposal is that the genus comprises a single species, with fiber varieties in subsp. sativa, narrow-leaf drug varieties in subsp. rasta, and broad-leaf drug varieties in subsp. indica.
Regardless of the classification system used, it is generally agreed that the different varieties of Cannabis interbreed freely.]





How long can I store pollen?

If stored dark, dried and cool you are safe keeping pollen 3 to 4 days. It is difficult to keep viable being highly susceptible to molds.




ID #1171
When should I pollinate my female?


Contributed by Mrsoul: The way to decide when to pollinate the female is by counting BACK from the end of her flowering period 4 weeks...this allows the seeds enough time to mature before harvest.
The seeds should be allowed to dry in the buds after harvest, as they do continue to mature during the drying process.




How do I pollinate?


A clean q-tip or craft paintbrush is effective. Wait at least 3 to 4 days to determine whether fertilization was successful.
Soul recommends removing the female to be pollinated from the grow area to pollinate. After 3 to 4 days spray the pollinated plant with water to kill any residual pollen and return to the flower room. Soul recommends pollinating 4 weeks before the female plant will finish. He also suggests not removing the seeds from their buds until the buds are completely dry, as they will continue to mature after harvest.




How do I create a true breeding strain?

Contributed by Vic High:

I've been hearing a fair bit of confusion from many on how to create a true breeding strain and so I'm writing this page to try and help shed some light on the subject. There are a few situations where a plant breeder would want to create a true breeding strain (IBL) and a few ways of accomplishing the task. But understanding the subtle differences of the various techniques is not so easy. This paper will attempt to give a basic understanding of what is actually happening with each technique and then apply what is learned to actual projetcs. As a friend worked overtime making sure I didn't forget, breeding is not a black and white subject and as a whole, it would be too complex to put on paper in an easily understood form. Therefore, I will create small fictional examples to reinforce various concepts and then we will take those examples and concepts and apply some reality to them. Try not to get hung up on the erroneous assumptions used here such as flavour being monogenic, the assumption is simply used to make it easier to learn a certain concept.


Just What Is It That We Are Doing?

Before we dive in, maybe we should take the time to understand what we are trying to accomplish when we set out to create a true breeding strain. There are hundreds of possible phenotypic traits that we could observe within a cannabis population. Are we trying to make all of them the same and remove ALL variation? Not likely, the genetic code is just too complex to try. Plus, since phenotype (what we see) is 1/2 genotype + 1/2 environment, everytime the population was grown under new conditions, new heterozygous traits would be observed. Basically, all we are trying to create is an overall uniformity while not worrying about the minor individual variations. No different than a dog breed. You can look at a german shepard and recognise it as belonging to a discrete breed. But if you look closer at several german shepards all at the same time, you will find variations with each and every one of them. Some will be a little taller, some a little wider, some more agressive, some a little fatter, some darker, etc. But they would all fall within an acceptable range for the various traits. Generally speaking, this is what a plant breeder is trying to accomplish when creating a true breeding strain, or IBL.

However this isn't always the case. Sometimes a breeder will just concentrate on a specific trait, like say outdoor harvest date, or mite resistance. You could still have a population where some are 2' bushes and some 10' trees. In this case, you would say that the strain was true breeding for the particular trait, but you wouldn't consider it true breeding strain per se. In genetics, wording plays a big part in meaning and understanding. As does point of reference as my F1 vs F2 comparison page illustrates.

Ok, so we want to make a cannabis population fairly uniform over a few phenotypically important traits, like say flavour for instance. For simplicity sake, we'll just deal with the single trait flavour, it's complex enough. And although flavour is controlled by several gene pairs (polygenic), we'll make the simplistic assumption that it's controlled by a single gene pair (monogenic) for many of the models and examples in this paper. There are many flavours such as chocolate, vanilla, musky, skunky, blueberry, etc, but in this paper we'll just deal with two flavours, pine and pineapple. Either gene in the gene pair can code for either of the flavours. If both genes code for pineapple or both genes code for pine flavour, we say that the gene pair (and individual plant) is homozygous for flavour. If the one gene codes for pine and the other codes for pineapple, we say that the gene pair (and individual plant) is heterozyous with respect to flavour. The heterozygous individual can create gametes (pollen or ovules) that can code for either pine flavour or pineapple flavour, the homozygous individuals can only create gametes that code for one OR the other. A homozygous individual is considered true breeding and a heterozygous individual is not.

However, as the words imply, when we are creating a true breeding strain, we are looking at a population, not individuals. We are trying to make all the individuals in the population homozygous for a particular trait or group of traits. Lets say we have a population of 50 individual plants, and each plant has has a gene pair coding for flavour. That means that 100 flavour genes make up the flavour genepool (reality is much more complex). When trying to create a true breeding strain, we are in fact trying to make all 100 of those genes code for the same trait ( pineapple flavour in our case). The closer our population comes getting all 100 genes the same, the more homozygous or true breeding it becomes. We use the terminology gene frequency to measure and describe this concept, where gene frequency is simply the ratio or percentage of the population that actually contains a specific gene. The higher the gene frequency, the more true breeding the population is. A fixed trait is where the gene frequency of the trait reaches 100%.

And folks, this is the basic backbone of what breeding is all about, manipulating gene frequencies. It doesn't matter if your making IBL, F1s, F2s, selecting for this or selecting for that, all you are really doing is manipulating gene frequencies. Therefore, to ever really understand what is happening in any breeding project, the breeder must pay attention to gene frequencies and assess how his selective pressures and models are influencing them. They are his measure of success.


What are we trying to create a true breeding strain from?

This a good question. Sometimes a gardener will notice a sport or unique individual in an F2 population, like say it has pineapple flavour when the rest have pine flavour. For one reason or another he decides he wants to preserve this new trait or combination of traits from that single individual. For the sake of ease of comprehension, we tend to call this special unique individual the P1 mom. He could start by selfing the individual OR breeding that individual with another and create what can be described as F1 offspring. If the F1 route was chosen, then breeders can diverge down two new paths. Some breeders will take the progeny of the F1 crossing and breed it back to the P1 mom, and then repeat for a couple more generations. This is referred to as backcrossing or cubing by cannabis breeders. Another common strategy is to make F2 progeny from the F1 population and then look for individuals that match the P1 mom. They would repeat the process for a few generations. We can call this filial or generational inbreeding since the parents from each cross belong to the same generation.

In another situation, sometimes a farmer will notice a few individuals in his fields that stand out from the crowd in a possitive manner. Like say the are resistant to a problem pest like powdery mildew. In this case, he will collect the best of the individuals and his starting population will contain several similar individuals and not a unique single individual as in the previous example. He would skip the hybridizing step (making the F1s) and go straight to the generational inbreeding step. Links to pages going into detail of each of these basic techniques and their impact on influencing gene frequencies are at:

A) Selfing the individual

B) Backcrossing and Cubing

C) Filial or Generational Inbreeding from an individual

D) Filial or Generational Inbreeding from a group


Applying the Pressure
Another excellent method to influence gene frequencies is to apply selective pressure. The idea here is to select only individuals that carry the desireable genes, and discard the rest.


A) Principles of selection
B) Progeny tests







What is selfing?

Contributed by Vic High:

As the title implies, the main drawback to selfing cannabis plants is that you loose the male portion of your population, making future crosses difficult. Some think that by selfing a plant, all the offspring will turn out just like mom. That is only true if mom is true breeding for all the traits you are interested in. Otherwise, her offspring will show two phenotypes for every trait that she is not true breeding.

There are two basic models for selfing a plant such as cannabis the first one being where the plant is homozygous for the trait in question. Let's assume again that pineapple flavour is controlled by the recessive gene pp. If we self the plant we fill get the following S1 cross.

S1 cross = pp x pp = pp + pp + pp + pp or 100% pineapple flavoured female offspring. But no matching males

The other likely possibility is that special individual heterozygous dominant for the pineapple flavour. In this case P will indicate for pineapple flavour and the S1 cross will be:

S1 cross = Pp x Pp = PP + Pp + Pp + pp, our familiar 1:2:1 mendelian ratio.

In this second example only 75% of the offspring will have pineapple flavour and the frequency of the P gene will only be 50%, a far cry from 100% or true breeding. From here on, this isn't much different from a half sib cross involving regular inbreeding or backcrossing. It will take a few generations to achieve something close to true breeding, but as with backcrossing, as long as we use the P1 mom in the crosses (selfing in this case), we will never achieve a true breeding population.





How important is male selection when cubing?

Contributed by Vic High:

Basically, when you are cubing a mother plant, you are taking her paired alleles and making them homozygous for each trait that you want to become true breeding. Some paired alleles will already be homozygous but most of the important ones will be heterozygous in the case of an F1 other-to-be-cubed. Mind you this can only be true of those traits that are controlled by basic dominant/recessive genes. This isn't always the case and sometimes genes can be codominant. Here is an example of the implications.

let A & B & C be codominant genes, d being a recessive gene on the same loci. Now for simplicity we will just look at the genotype and ignore the phenotypic effects of each genotype. Lets say our mother-to-be cubed has the genotype AB and the P1 male is Cd (both being F1s).

Notice that you can never really get a completely true breeding situation with this sort of gene. To fully capture the mother's trait you must maintain the heterozygoous AB condition. Crossing two parents with the same characteristic AB will give the following offspring:

AA, AB, AB, BB

Note only 50% of the offspring will ever be able to recreate this mother's genotype (and in this case phenotype)

Ok, now that aside, lets explore the practical issues of trying to cube that mom. Crossing the AB and Cd you the following combinations:

AC, Ad, BC, Bd. You then select from these to do your first backcross to your AB mom (creating the .75 generation)

ABxAC = AA, AC, AB, CA - 25% resemble mom in this case
ABxAd = AA, Ad, AB, Bd - 25% resemble mom again
ABxBC = AB, AC, BB, BC - 25% resemble mom again
ABxBd = AB, Ad, BB, Bd - 25% resemble mom again

As you can see, it really doesn't matter which males you selected for your first backcross as they all brought you equally close to your goal. Notice that it will also take a sharp eye to pick out the special offspring that will take you closer to your goal in the second backcross. Hopefully this shows how difficult it can be to stabililize a trait caused by codominant genes.

This was just the first factor affecting cubing success. Also, it only dealt with a single genes and you are often trying to stabilize dozens of gene pairs when cubing.







What is the difference between an F1 and a hybrid?

Contributed by Vic High:

What really is an F1 cross?

Well defining the terms P1, F1, F2, homozygous, and heterogygous can be a simple task, however, applying them to applied genetics can often create confusion. Depending on your point of reference, a plant could be described as any of these terms. For our specific field of interest it's important to further define these terms to reduce confusion and protect the consumers. First I'll provide the classic scientific definition of these and other related terms and then I'll dive into each term into detail.

Heterzygous - a condition when two genes for a trait are not the same on each member of a pair of homologous chromosomes; individuals heterozygous for a trait are indicated by an "Aa" or "aA" notation and are not true breeding for that trait.(Clarke)

Homozygous - the condition existing when the genes for a trait are the same on both chromosomes of a homologous pair; individuals homozygous for a trait are indicated by "AA" or "aa" and are true breeding for that trait. (Clarke)

- Now the heterozygous and homozygous terms can be applied to one trait or a group of traits within an individual or a group of individuals. Depending on your point of reference, an individual or group can be
considered both homozygous or heterozygous. For instance, say you have two individuals that are both short (S) and have webbed leaves (W) and have the following genotypes.

#1 = SSWW
#2 = SSWw

They are both homozygous for the short trait but only individual #1 is homozygous for the webbed leaf trait. Individual #2 is heterozygous for the webbed leaf trait and would be considered a heterozygous individual. As a goup, they would be considered heterozygous in general by some and homozygous by others. It would depend on your point of reference and the overall importance you place on the webbed leaf trait. Most would consider it to be heterozygous.

For example, the blueberry cannabis strain is considered a true breeding homozygous seed line because as a whole the many offspring have a similar look and produce a similar product. However there are often subtle differences between the plants of characters such as stem colour and potency. When taking a close look at blueberry, you will find heterozygous traits, but because of the whole overall look, we still generally consider them homozygous for the purpose of breeding programs. Using dogs is another way to explain this, take a dobie for example, you cant tell the difference between dobies, but you can tell a dobie from another breed. Ya follow?

Hybrid - An individual produced by crossing two parents of different genotypes. Clarke says that a hybrid is a heterozygous individual resulting from crossing two seperate strains.

- For the purpose of seedbanks, a hybrid is in general, a cross between any two unrelated seedlines. ANY HYBRID IS heterozygous and NOT TRUE BREEDING.

F1 hybrid - is the first generation of a cross between any two unrelated seedlines in the creation of a hybrid. F1 hybrids can be uniform or variable depending on the P1 parent stock used.

F2 hybrid - is the offspring of a cross between two F1 plants (Clarke). What Clarke and other sources don't make clear is do the two F1's need to be from the same parents? By convention they don't. As well, german geneticists often describe a backcross of an F1 back to a P1 parent as a F2 cross.

- OK lets say we take blueberry and cross it with romulan (both relatively true breeding of their unique traits) to create the F1 hybrid romberry. Now lets cross the F1 romberry with a NL/Haze F1 hybrid. (Ed.note:The textbooks consider this a 'double cross'.)

Some could say this is a F1 cross of romberry and NL/Haze. Others could argue that it is a F2 cross of two F1 hybrids. Gets confusing doesn't it? Now lets cross this Romberry/NL/Haze(RNH) with a Skunk#1/NL#5 F1 hybrid to create RNHSN. Now some would argue that RNHSN is an F1 hybrid between RNH and SK/NL seedlines. Others would call it an F2.

- So what does this mean to the consumer? It means that a seed bank can call a cross whatever it wants until the industry adopts some standards. This is what this article will attempt to initiate. Clarke eludes to
standardising these definitions but never really gets around to it. Fortunately other plant breeding communities have (Colangelli, Grossnickle&Russell, Watts, &Wright) and adopting their standards
makes the most sense and offers the best protection to the seedbank consumer.

Watts defines an F1 as the heterozygous offspring between two homozygous but unrelated seedlines. This makes sense and gives the F1 generation a unique combination of traits; uniform phenotype but not true breeding. This is important in the plant breeding world. This means that when a customer buys F1 seeds that they should expect uniform results. It also means that the breeder's work is protected from being duplicated by any other means than using the original P1 (true breeding parents). [There are
exceptions to this by using techniques such as repeated backcrosses (cubing the clone).

F2 crosses are the offspring of crossing two F1 hybrids. This means that they will not be uniform nor will they breed true. However, F3, F4, F5, etc will also share these characteristics, so to simplify terminology for the seedbanks and seedbank merchants, they can all be classified as F2 seeds in general.

What does this mean for the preceeding example? Well, the blueberry, romulan, skunk#1, NL#5, and haze were all P1 true breeding seedlines or strains (another term that needs clarification). Romberry, NL/Haze, and SK/NL were all F1 hybrids. Both the Romberry/NL/Haze and the RNHSN would be F2s. Within each group the consumer can know what to expect for the price they are paying.

Few cannabis seedbanks (if any) and their breeders are following these definitions and are subsequently creating confusion within the cannabis seedbuying community. This is a change that needs to happen.

Note: this is a rough draft to be published to the internet. Hopefully in time it or something similar will be used to help establish an industry standard. Any comments and critism is welcome to aid in the production of the final draft. Small steps like this can only benefit the cannabis community over the long haul.

Lucas' pollination method

Contributed by: Lucas

To determine pollination timing, start the male and the female clones under 12/12 simultaneously. Expect 3 to 4 weeks to elapse before you have pollen ready. Pollinate at this time, because seeds need 4 weeks to mature. A seed is mature when it is dark and hard, and does not crush when pinched.

The grower at a local medical club, did a test with Apollo in a bubbler using the above timing. They planted 3 distinct female clones and 1 male in the lid of a 10 gal rubbermaid, using 3" netpots. The male was reduced to a single branch, being sure to leave the large fan leaves to provide health and vigor. (If you let a pruned male get shaded out it can die, you must keep it well lit).

The top 6" of the male branch was bagged, using a brown paper bag with a clear plastic window. The bottom of the bag was taped shut completely, sealing to the stem. The top was also sealed, except one corner was clipped off, leaving a hole about the size of a dime. Pollen collected around the stem, in the bottom of the bag. There was no pollen escape from the breather hole. The grower would shake the pollen down into the bag, while pinching the breather hole shut, on a daily basis. After about a week of active pollen drop, the stem was cut off below the bag, and outside the room, the top of the bag was cut open. The male top was removed from the bag, which collected pollen sacks and debris still in the bottom. This excess pollen and debris was dumped out into a ziplock.

The pollen collecting bag was then carried into the grow and slipped over a single female cola and rotated around and wiggled a bit. This cola developed lots of seed. There was no stray pollination. Using a paintbrush and the ziplock of pollen, some selected buds on the other clones were pollinated as well. Again, no unexpected stray seeds. Of course oscillating fans, if you use them, should be off during painting and bagging. I do not recommend misting with lights on.





How do they get strains to taste different?


The different tastes of certain strains of cannabis are a product of controlled-breeding programs. The flavour and smell of Cannabis comes from five substances: mono- and sesqui-terpenes, alpha- and beta-pinene, limonene, myrcene, and beta-phalandrene. The amount of each substance present in a given strain will determine the flavor and smell.






What is the probability that I will have a female plant given X seeds?

Contributed by: The White Rabbit

Suppose that an experiment can have only 2 possible outcomes. This is known as a Bernoulli trial. In general the outcomes are success or failure.

If P is the probability of success, and q is the probability of
failure then p+q=1

Many Problems can be solved by determining the probability of k
successes when an experiment consists of n independent Bernoulli trials.
What we want to know is what is the probability of a success (female) given a certain number of experiments (seeds).

Probability of k successes in n independent bernoulli trials with
success as p and failure as q=1-p

We will use a 50/50 success failure ratio, so p=.5 and q=.5

Probability of K successes = c(n,k)*p^k* q^(n-k)

where;
C(n,k) = n!/r!(n-r)!

and n! is 'n factorial'.

for example: 6! = 6*5*4*3*2*1
: 3! = 3*2*1

Probability of 1 success w/ 6 seeds is 9.3%
Probability of 2 success w/ 6 seeds is 23.4%
Probability of 3 success w/ 6 seeds is 31.25%
Probability of 4 success w/ 6 seeds is 23.4%
Probability of 5 success w/ 6 seeds is 9.3%
Probability of 6 success w/ 6 seeds is 1.563%

The sum of these gives the probability of getting at least
1 female from 6 seeds with 50% male female ratio is approx 98%.

Now it is easier to find this by taking an alternate route. Simply calculate
the probability of failure. That is the probability of 0 successes and subtracting that from 1.

i.e. probability of 0 success w/ 6 seeds is 1.563%
so probability of at least 1 success is 98.43%

So the final equation we need is:
1 - C(n,0) * p^0 * q^(n-0)

SO probability of at least 1 female plant:

1 seed: 50%
2 seed: 75%
3 seed: 87.5%
4 seed: 93.75%
5 seed: 96.875%
6 seed: 98.43%

This example used a (50/50) male female ratio, but bernoulli trials allow
insertion of different p's and q's for different male/female
ratio's like (60/40) or whatnot. just make sure that p+q=1
in other words the probability of success plus failure = 100%.

Modification of this concept can answer different questions just use creativity!





How do I stabilize a clone hybrid?

Contributed by: ¤Spiritus†Domini¤

where;
T1 (Hybrid clone) = (t1 x c1)
T, t, t1, and c1 are all variables of expression.

1. T1mom x T1male = T1F2
2. T1 x T1F2 = T1Bx1
3. T1 x T1Bx1 = T1Bx2
4. T1 x T1Bx2 = T1Bx3

5. T1Bx3 x T1Bx3 = T1Bx F2

6. Choose parents here at the T1BxF2 phase to be used as an out crosser (One may continue down this one more generation if that is chosen), or continue on and cross the selected parents together (Inbreed), make T1BxF3’s, which should be stabilized for whatever application one wishes.

When selecting offspring, it can be complicated, especially with males, since there is so little to choose from concerning visually.
I make it a point to label all males, and to grow out their offspring, choosing which offspring is the most potent, and healthy. Also choosing a male for indoors > choose the shortest and healthiest, as well as showing potency in the offspring. As for which traits you are looking for, that is up to the breeder.

Also note, the original father used in the process above can be from the same hybrid family, but not from the same plant, different sex. If no male of the same is to be found. One would need to find a strain of desired trait/traits, the less genetic load the better. Cross it to the T1 mom, and use the seeds from that, to start the back crossing.

This is a model formula, and will not guarantee you that the final crosses will be special. It is here to be used to get you where you want the hybrid to be, and what one is trying to stabilize.





What is a phenotype and what does phenotype mean?

Contributed by: Chimera

Phenotype is one of the most incorrectly used terms on marijuana grow forums in my opinion.

What does phenotype really mean?

Phenotype is the observable/qualifiable/quantifiable representation of a trait.

So what does that mean?

Most folks say there are two main genres, sativa dominant and indica dominant, when actually there is a wide range of leaf phenotypes... the skinny sativa like class, thick indica type class, and many intermediate phenotypes in between the two.

This can be further compounded by leaves that are pinnate, webbed (ducks foot), curly, pointy tipped, round tipped, single or double serrations etc etc. A quick look in the book MJ botany will show a page of many different leaf phenotypes.

In this case we are talking about LEAF phenotype. All of these phenotypes can also show purple leaf, or green leaf, The green leafs can be classified as lime green or dark green.. thick leaved, thin leaved (texture).

Any of these plants may also show purple buds, or green buds... or even red buds.

See where this is going? There are multiple phenotypes for each and every discernable trait, well more than two. If you examine a pure indica population, you will see variation across the population with respect to many traits.

We have still only looked at two parts of the plant.... the leaf and the buds.

The buds can further be broken down into many different characteristics.

Highly resinous buds vs not quite as resinous. High THC content, or high CBD content. We also have mixed CBD/THC content. This can be further expanded to low overall levels of the primary cannabinoid (THC, CBD, or mixed), or high levels of the primary cannabinoid.

What about bud density? Dense, airy, or somewhere in between?. Large calyxes or small? Round tipped smaller buds, or long pointy tipped buds? What about large round buds? Small pointy ones? Small airy ones? Large airy ones?

Smells... fruity, skunky, piney? If fruity, citrus or berry? Citrus? Grapefruit? lemon? Orange? Strawberry? Blueberry? Grape?

All of these traits can come together in any combination... when we start thinking about which traits are associated, we are actually thinking about something called linkage.

For example, myself and another breeder have found that orange seems to segregate (appear most often) along with the pointy tipped bud characteristic.

In order to determine linkage, we have to calculate the frequency of occurrence of these two traits, or phenotypes, in the same plant, over an entire population... the larger the population, the more confident we can be that our conclusions about linkage are accurate.

So when you see a breeder or seed maker say "I selected the most Thai dominant males", you should ask how did that seed maker determine which were the most "Thai dominant".

If he says leaf traits, you should laugh!!

Why?

Because leaf traits are not known to segregate with the overall positive characteristics of Thai's... there is no assurance that the selection for thin leaves, will in turn guarantee the selection for the uplifting, soaring, STRONG Thai type of high. Get it?

The only way to select for the Thai high is to cross MANY males to the chosen/desired females, and examine the progeny of each lot individually, in order to determine which male(s) contributed the desired genes.

If you want my honest opinion.... seed descriptions are a scam. They are advertising tools, and should be looked at as such by the seed buying public. If you notice, many seed makers have started giving "probable outcomes" of plants that they have not grown. A quick look through some of our sponsors shows this in droves.

Don't be on the lookout for any plant that say have a "grape" flavour, just because the "breeder" says says these are the most potent. The grape one might have been the most potent in the 10 to 15 seedlings he grew (LOL), but overall the grape flavoured one may be less potent on average.

If a claim is made to look for any phenotype, ask how they came to that conclusion.

You should only be on the look out for the grape flavour if that is the most important criteria for you.

If you want the most potent, keep clones of each and after you have harvested only keep the clones from the most potent plants. It just depends on what YOU find important... to me, when growing drug cannabis, I look for drug content.

OK, so I got off topic a little, but I hope you can see what I was trying to say... there are many possible observable phenotypes for each trait, not just two. It is far more complex than just sativa or indica. Beware of seed makers that make it seem this easy is my advice. If you don't believe me, just grow a couple of packs of any given strain and see the many differences.





ID #1533
It appears that one of my plants has both male and female flowers. Is this possible or are plants either male or female?


Drug varieties of marijuana are generally considered to be dioecious. That is, most individual plants have either male (stamenate) flowers or female (pistillate, carpellate) flowers, but not usually both.
Fiber varieties of hemp are generally considered to be monoecious. That is, indivudal plants usually have both male and female flowers on the same plant.
A plant (or any organism that reproduces sexually) that has both male and female sex organs is also known as a hermaphrodite (or "hermie"). Hermaphroditism is a pretty common characteristic in drug varieties of marijuana.
A plant that has mostly female flowers with a few male flowers can be called a predominantly female hermaphrodite. A plant that has mostly male flowers with a few female flowers can be called a predominantly male hermaphrodite.
It is widely observed by growers that conditions of stress (such as irregular or increasing photoperiod, light leaks, nute burn, etc.) can cause a (clone of a) predominantly female plant to express hermaphroditism. These plants can be called "hermaphrodite-prone." Strongly dioecious plants that do not express hermaphroditism in response to environmental stresses can be called "hermaphrodite-resistant."
Some plants will produce male flowers even in near-optimum conditions, these can be called predominantly hermaphroditic.
The pollen produced by the male flowers may or may not be viable; it might be sterile. However it should be assumed that this pollen is viable, and is capable of pollenating and seeding the rest of the crop.
The tendency to hermaphoditism is a genetically heritable characteristic; allowing hermaphrodites to reproduce selects for this characteristic. Eliminating hermaphrodites (thus preventing them from reproducing) selects against this characteristic.







What is tissue culture?

Tissue culture is a method of propagation using little bits of plant tissue. These bits are seperated from the plant and placed under sterile conditions in an artificial medium. Given the right conditions the cells will continue to grow and divide. Cells in culture don't grow old, but can be kept in this condition indefinately, thus saving valuable space for the breeder. There are two types of tissue culture:
1. Meristem culture. The meristem is the where the plant is actively growing, and the cells are dividing. The meristem is usually free of viruses and other pathogens, so meristem culture is used to obtain a disease free clone.
2. Callus culture. The plant tissue is induced to form undifferentiated growth or a callus, then induced to differentiate into the various organs by finding the proper balance of hormones. In meristem culture organs are already differentiated, so epidermal cells give rise to more epidermal cells. In callus culture any cell could become an epidermal cell or any other organ. Auxin is used to promote roots, and cytokinin promotes shoots.





Should I start my grow from clones or seeds?


Contributed by: snoofer
Submitted: 11-10-2003

Introduction:
Growers face the decision to start a grow from either seeds or rooted clones. The decision is not obvious, as both growing options have their respective advantages and disadvantages. Growers may have to weigh cost, growing space, crop risk and turn around time.


[SIZE=+1]Clones[/SIZE]

Advantages:

Clones are female! No need to pre-sex or worry about males
Clones are much faster to veg up and flower than starting from seed, resulting in a quick harvest and a much shorter turnaround time.
Clones can be quickly grown into moms and re-cloned, for an (almost) instant vegetative and flowering crop
Clones are genetically identical, but some differences will still be evident in the phenotype. In general, clones will exhibit even growth and growing characteristics.
Rooted clones can be flowered immediately if space or time is a problem.
Clones can quickly indicate a strain’s characteristics (smell, vigor, branching pattern, sativa/indica dominance, rooting quality, etc).

Disadvantages:
Clones can be difficult to find, as opposed to available seed banks. Clones from unknown sources are of suspect quality and genetics.
Growers run a high risk of inheriting problems from the last grower: Root rot, spider mites, powdery mildew, etc. If these problems are not identified and treated, they can quickly spread to an entire crop.
Unhealthy clones may die or remain in shock for an extended period
Shipped clones may be in shock and take weeks of TLC to recover. There are many stories of medical clones shipped without any protection and arriving flat!
Clones are more light-sensitive than seeds. Unrooted clones take time to become established, and are easily burned by light (and nutrients)
As clones are almost always female, breeding options are limited. Hermies are possible with unstable clone crosses.


[SIZE=+1]Seeds:[/SIZE]

Advantages
Seeds obtained from reputable seed banks are of known lineage and genetics. You should have a reasonable idea of what the strain will do in terms of yield, quality and flowering time.
Breeding and crossing options are possible with male seeds. (Feminized seeds produce a higher % of female seeds, but 100% female is never guaranteed, and hermaphrodites are more possible).
Hybrid vigor. Females grown from seed are often higher yielding than clones. Strains can lose their vigor over time; growers may want to 'rejuvinate' their grow with the same successful strain.
Your seeds should produce healthy plants, free of disease and pests.

Disadvantages:
Seeds take a long time (and there is more labor, money and time involved) before a harvest can occur.
Cost. Seeds can be expensive, not only per seed pack, but in the time they take to produce a flowered crop.
Problems with shipping/customs seizing seed bank deliveries, switched seeds, etc.
Unstable hybrid strains (See faqs on strain breeding )
Not all seeds will be viable (germinate) and only 50% of the unfeminized seeds will be female (feminized seeds may produce up to 90% females). Only female seeds will produce female mothers, from which productive clones can be taken and flowered.
It may take several seed packs to discover an excellent mother.


The procedure to sex seeds enmasse:

-germinated
-grown into mothers
-clones taken from each mother, labeled, then sexed to tell which mother is female or male
-the best mothers are selected (males may be optionally discarded).

-mothers are mass cloned
-clones are vegetatively grown and then flowered






Why are F2 seeds less expensive?

Contributed by: Crazydevs

Why does one strain cost less from one seed breeder than it does from another?

Let’s start off by saying that in terms of seed prices, you normally pay for the strain genetics, but this is not always the case, some seed makers (breeders) will always try to charge more on a strain, simply because they seek a larger profit margin than some of their competitors. Also, some breeders have to pay premiums to the original, big name strain breeders, to be able to use the original copyrighted genetics strain name(s).

It’s also worth noting that just because you have grade A genetics, it does not always mean your going to get top grade plants. Growing conditions and experience can play a much bigger role in a plants end result than the strain genetics.

So why do some seed makers charge so little in comparison to others? Is something wrong with their genetics?

No, there is nothing wrong with the genetics. These seeds come from F2 stock, and are sometimes just fast knockoffs of the original strain(s).

What is F2 stock?

Ok, I’m not going to go into great depth here on just what an F2 stock of seeds is. Basically, you start of with homozygous strains. These are considered true breeding strains, and will show little variation in phenotype. When you start mixing true breeding strains you end up with heterozygous strains. The phenotypes in these will vary a little more than the homozygous parents. A heterozygous strain is considered to be a hybrid. An F1, F2, F3 etc are all hybrids!

F1 hybrid - is the first generation of a cross between any two unrelated seed lines in the creation of a hybrid. F1 hybrids can be uniform or variable depending on the parent stock used.

F2 hybrid - is the offspring of a cross between two F1 plants.

You can also get F1, F2 crosses etc, but I wont go into that.

Basically, all you need to know is that a seed bank will have a description of a strain and its characteristics. For F1 seed stock, most of the plants will remain true to that description, with little variance. F2 stock will vary more, your get maybe 3-4 plants out of 10 seeds that will be true to the seed bank description, the rest will be a little different.

So what’s this phenotype about?

A phenotype is a particular trait or characteristic of a plant. It could be high yield or berry like aroma, but a seed bank will often give you a description of a strain, normally listing the best phenotype. F2 stock phenotypes will vary more than F1 stock. And it gets worse as you progress to F3, F4 etc.

So basically, when you order an F2 stock of seed, be prepared for lots of different looking plants. However no potency or yield is lost between F1 and F2 plants.

When ordering F2 stock, the idea is to search out the better phenotypes, and clone them so in future you only work with the best genetics of the bunch. With F1 stock, you should have more uniform plants that all perform similar, and if the breeders done his job correctly, this should be as close to the original description that tempted you to buy the seeds in the first place as you can get!

So that’s why some breeders charge less for their seeds than others. Remember breeders prices will vary anyway, it’s always worth shopping around for a strain price.






How do I choose a strain?

Contributed by: Avis

Choosing a strain may seem overwhelming at first, but by answering a few simple questions, you will be able to narrow down the choices to strains that suit you best.

1.) Do you plan on growing INDOORS or OUTDOORS?

2.) Do you prefer the characteristics of an INDICA (i.e. short, compact, and high yielding)? Do you prefer the characteristics of a SATIVA (i.e. tall, high quality bud, and lower yielding)? Or would you prefer a mix between the two (i.e. 50/50 or 60/40 cross)?

3.) What type of stone/ high are you looking for? There are two basic types: the first is a ‘body stone’ that knocks you down and holds you there, which is synonymous with INDICAS. A second type of stone is a trippy cerebral high, often associated with SATIVAS.

How potent do you want it?
Different strains have their own unique effects (i.e. mellow, happy, paranoid, stupefying, clear and thought provoking, etc, etc…)

4.) What is your price range? How much are you willing to pay for seeds or clones?

5.) Is yield important to you? There are low, medium and high yielding cannabis plants. Does yield take precedence over quality?

6.) Is odor or smell a concern? Stealth growing requires low smelling strains. Some strains smell so strong they may be a security risk.

Is taste important for you? (Some strains have a unique flavor such as grapefruit, blueberry, etc)

7.) How long do you want to wait to harvest? Some are 6 week cash-croppers, some will take up to 14 weeks to flower. Many strains take 7-8 weeks.

8.) The last thing you should do when you have a few strains narrowed down is ask other growers. Find out what growers have experienced with it, etc.








How do I store seeds?

For uninterrupted long term storage, freezing in a vacuum pack with a dessicant is best. Each time a batch of seeds goes through a freeze/thaw cycle, a few become unviable. For storage lengths of a few years or less, room temperature storage in an airtight container with a dessicant is satisfactory. Vacuum packing with dessicant and room temperature storage is best for access without the thaw and re-freezing that kills them. The problem with using the refrigerator for any period of time is the excessive amount of moisture constantly present. Each time the door is opened, moisture condenses on items inside, for which the dessicant is an inadequate deterrent for molds. A vacuum sealed container should not condense moisture on the inside. I have no knowledge of the effective lifespan of rice as a dessicant, but it could be replaced occasionally if suspected to be losing effectiveness. Using heat to remove any moisture present in rice or other "makeshift" dessicants will improve effectiveness and longevity. I have heard of vermiculite being used as a dessicant, but would recommend silica gel as a first choice. I heard of properly stored seeds over 10 years old still germinating at acceptable rates.








The rest of the Overgrow.com FAQ is available Here http://www.growfaq.net

Ethylene Gas​

Found this on Ethylene gas an seeds.
By exposing your seeds to rotting fruit peals the ethylene gas will dramatically increase the female to male ratio.
An will help greatly promote germination rates, even in very old seeds.



Treatment of hempseed with ethylene gas will increase the resulting number of female plants by about 50%. Ethylene is produced by certain plants (i.e., bananas, cucumbers and melons), and these can be used to treat hempseed in a simple manner. About two weeks before you plan to sprout the seeds, place them in a paper bag or envelope and put that in a plastic bag with the peels of a ripening banana or cucumber. Replace the peels after a couple of days, and change the bags to prevent mold.

Hempseed can be feminized while they are forming on the plant. Fruit peels are spread around the area for two weeks before the plants enter the flowering phase. Remove the skins when the plants begin to flower. Otherwise, treatment with Etephon will accomplish the same effect.

Dr MohAn Ram
From his memoirs heres the link to the PDF.
http://www.ias.ac.in/jbiosci/dec2002/651.pdf





And ethylene is known to induce an promote germination.


Ethylene is a plant hormone. It has to do with plant germination, fruit growth, and fruit ripening. It is widely used in agriculture to make the fruits sprout quickly, fully, and uniformly.


​

​

​

 

I Do not take credit for this information, As I did not right it, I just found it scattered on different forums, and noticed that it wasnt here. So I thought I should post it here as it is good information.



A) In this first situation, we'll deal with the situation where a plant breeder finds a special individual or clone.

It's a natural thing to be curious and cross a couple of plants that catch your fancy. Grow them out and find a new variation that you like even better. We can preserve the new variation through cloning indefinately, but accidents happen and clones die. They can get viruses or can suffer clonal deprivation from somatic mutations over time. Plus it's harder to share clones with friends through the mail than seeds. So it's only natural that we would want to create seed backups of this special clone.

But before we start breeding this clone, we should try and figure what exactly it is we want from the seeds we are going to create. Do we want them to simply be able to reproduce individuals like the special clone? Simple backcrossing (cubing) will accomplish this. Or do we want to to create seeds that will be able to create more seeds like the special clone, a true breeding strain? These are very different in nature. You see, chances are that your special clone will be heterozygous for many of traits she phenotypically expresses. This just means that she will contain genetic information (genes) for two opposing triats, but you can only see one, the dominant one. However, her seeds will only get one or the other of the genes, so her offspring will express all the genetic information she has, including what you can't see within herself. If you want to create a true breeding strain, you need to preserve all the genes you can see, and remove all the genes that you cannot, but may show up in the offspring. Creating homozygosity. The only way to accomplish this is through selection and generational inbreeding (selecting the homozygous offspring to be parents for the next generation).




BackCrossing and Cubing
Backcrossing is where you breed an individual (your special clone) with it's progeny. Sick in our world, but plants seem to like it

1) Your first backcross is just a backcross.

2) Your second backcross where you take the progeny from the first backcross and cross back to the SAME parent (grandparent now) is often called SQUARING by plant breeders.
3) Your third backcross where you take the progency (squared) from the second backcross and cross back to the SAME parent (great grandparent now) is often called CUBING by plant breeders. You can continue the backcrossing but we just call this backcrossing. Cubing is in reference to the number three, as in 3 backcrosses

Cubing works on the basis of mathamatical probabilities with respect to gene frequencies. The more males you use with each cross, the better the chance that your reality matches the theory. In theory, with the first backcross, 75% of your genepool will match the genepool of the P1 parent being cubed. Squaring increases this to 87.5% and cubing increases it to 93.75%. You can arrive at these numbers by taking the average between the two parents making up the cross. For instance, you start by crossing the P1 mom (100%) with and unrelated male (0%) getting 100% + 0% divided by 2 = 50%. Therefore, the offspring of this first cross are loosly thought of as being 50% like the mom. Take these and do your first backcross and you get 100% (mom) + 50% divided by 2 = 75%. And this is where we get the 75% for the first backcross. Same thing applies as you do more backcrosses. As you will see later, you can apply this same probability math to specific genes or traits, and this can have a dramatic effect on your methodology and selection methods.

Your selection of the right males for each backcross are the crucial points for success with this technique. In each case, you could select males that contain the genes you want, or you could inadvertedly pick those individuals that carry the unwanted recessive genes. Or more likely, you could just pick individuals that are heterozygous for both genes like the P1 mom being backcrossed. The easiest way to deal with this is to start by only looking at one gene and one trait, like lets assume that flavour is determined by a single gene (in reality it's probably not). And do some punnet squares to show gene frequencies through 3 generations of backcrossing. Now lets assume that we found a special pineapple flavoured individual in our pine flavoured population that we wanted to keep. The gene causing the pineapple flavour could be dominant or recessive and the selection abilities and cubing outcome will be different in both cases.

a) pineapple flavour is dominant.


P = pineapple flavour and p = pine flavour
Therefore since each individual will have two flavour genes paired up, the possible genotypes are PP, Pp, and pp. Since P is dominant, PP and Pp will express pineapple flavour while pp will exhibit pine flavour, these are their phenotypes. Now since the pineapple is a new flavour, chances are that the special individual will be heterozygous, or more specifically, Pp. Therefore, the only possible parent combination is Pp X pp with the Pp being the parent to be cubed.


Figure 1. The F1 cross





Now most will find it tough to pick males with the gene for pineapple flavour since males don't produce female flowers. Therefore, they will select males randomly and blindly with respect to this trait. The ratio of P to p genes of the male F1 generation to be used in the first backcross will be 2:6. Another way to look at it is to say that the P gene fequency is 25%. This means that one out of four pollen grains will contain the gene for pineapple flavour. Here is how this plays out in the first backcross.


Figure 2. The B1 cross





Now it's this first backcross that first creates an individual that is homozygous (PP) for the pineapple flavour. However, again because of our limited selection abilities, we choose males randomly. From the random males we should expect three out of eight pollen grains to to contain the gene for pineapple flavour. The P1 female will still contribute one P gene for every p gene. I'll spare your computor's memory and and not post the table, feel free to do it yorself though on paper to be sure you understand what happening




The second backcross (Squaring) will produce the following:

3 PP 8 Pp 5 pp

Therefore, 68.75% will have pineapple flavour and 31.25% will have pine flavour. The frequency of the P gene has risen to 7/16 or 43.75%.

And finally, the third backcross (Cubing) will net the following genotypic ratios:

7PP 16Pp 9pp

Therefore, 71.875% will have pineapple flavour after cubing has been completed. Roughly 22% (7/32*100) of the cubed progeny will be true breeding for the pineapple flavour. The frequency of the P gene has risen to roughly 47% (30/64).

In conclusion, if the backcrossing continued indefinately with random selection of males and with large enough of a population size, the frequency of the P gene would max out at 50%. This means that the best that can be expected from cubing is 25% true breeding for pineapple flavour and 75% that will display the pineapple flavour. You would never be rid of the 25% that would maintain the pine flavour. This model would hold true when trying to cube any heterozygous trait.




b) Pineapple flavour is recessive

In this case, P is for the pine flavour and p is for pineapple flavour. Convention is that the capital letter signifies dominance. For the breeder to have noticed the interesting trait, the mom to be cubed would have to be homozygous for the pineapple flavour (pp). Depending where the male came from and whether it was related, it could be Pp or PP, with PP being more likely. It won't make much difference which in the outcome.

F1 cross is pretty basic, we'll skip the diagram. We simply cross the female (pp) with the male (PP) and get offspring that are all Pp. Since the pine flavour is recessive, none of the F1 offspring will have pineapple flavour (hint ). However, the frequency of the gene p will be 50%.

pp X PP = Pp + Pp + Pp + Pp

Since the F1 generation are all the same (Pp), the pollen it donates to the first backcross will contain a p gene for every P gene. The first backcross will be:

B1 = pp X Pp = Pp + Pp + pp + pp

As you can see, 50% of the offspring will be pineapple flavoured and the frequency of the p gene is 6/8 or 75%. This B1 generation will generate pollen containing 6 p genes for every 2 P genes.



Figure 3. The second backcross.


As you can see, the second backcross or squaring produces pineapple flavour in 75% of the offspring. And the p gene frequency within those offspring is roughly 88%. (Remember C88 ). Of the pollen grains from this squaring, 14 out of 16 will carry the p gene for pineapple flavouring. When they are backcrossed to the P1 mom for the third time, they net the following cubed progeny:



Figure 4. The third backcross




After cubing of a homozygous gene pair, we end up with roughly 88% of them displaying the desired trait (pineapple flavour in this case) and also being true breeding for that same trait. The frequency of this desired gene will be roughly 94%. If the backcrossing was to continue indefinately, the gene frequency would continue to approach 100% but never entirely get there.




It should be noted that the above examples assume no selective pressure and large enough population sizes to ensure random matings. As the number of males used in each generation decreases, the greater the selective pressure whether intended or not. The significance of a breeding population size and selective pressure is much greater when the traits to be cubed are heterozygous. And most importantly, the above examples only take into account for a single gene pair.

In reality, most of the traits we select for like potency are influenced by several traits. Then the math gets more complicated if you want to figure out the success rate of a cubing project. Generally speaking, you multiply the probabilities of achieving each trait against each other. For example, if your pineapple trait was influenced by 2 seperate recessive genes, then you would multiply 87.5% * 87.5% (.875 * .875 *100) and get 76.6%. This means that 76.6% of the offspring would be pineapple flavoured. Now lets say the pineapple trait is influenced by 2 recessive traits and and a heterozygous dominant one. We would multiply 87.5% by 87.5% by 71.9% (.875*.875*.719*100) and get 55%. Just by increasing to three genes, we have decreased the number of cubed offspring having pineapple flavouring down to 55%. Therefore, cubing is a good technique where you want to increase the frequency of a few genes (this is an important point to remember ), but as the project increases, the chance of success decreases .... at least without some level of selective pressure.


Applying the pressure

The best way to significantly increase your chances of success is to apply intended selective pressure and eliminate unintentional selective pressure. Try to find clearcut and efficient ways to isolate and select for and against certain traits. Find ways to be sure your males are passing along the intended traits and remove all males that do not. This includes ALL traits that may be selected for. Some traits you will be able to observe directly in the males. Other traits like flowering duration you may not. If you are selecting for a trait you can't directly observe, you want to do some progeny tests and determine which males pass on the most desireable genes. I'll explain more on progeny tests later.

It's important that when chosing your best males to ignore the superficial traits having nothing to do with the real traits your looking for. You see, cannabis has several thousand genes residing on just 10 chromosome pairs or 20 individual chromosomes. Therefore each chomosome contains hundred of genes. Each gene residing on the same chromosome is said to be linked to each other. Generally speaking, they travel as a group . If you select for one of them, you are actually selecting for all of the traits on the chromosome. There is an exception to this rule refferred to as breaking linked genes via crossing over, but for simplicity sake, we will ignore that for now. Getting back to selection, you could decide to select for a trait such as you like the spikey look of the leaves while really being interested in fixing the grapefruit flavour. But as it may happen, both traits may be on the same chromosome pair but opposite chromosomes. If so, as long as you select the plants with spikey leaves, you will never get the grapefruit flavour you really want. It's good to keep in mind that each time you select for a triat, you are selecting against several hundred genes This is why most serious breeders learn to take small methodical steps and work on one or two traits at a time. Especially with inbreeding projects such as selfing and backcrossing.

Now lets see what kind of improvements we can make in the first example of trying to cube a heterozygous dominant trait using some selective pressure. Lets say that with each generation, we are able to remove the individuals recessive for the pine flavour (pp), but can't remove the heterozygous ones (Pp). If you recall, our P1 mom had the genotype (Pp) in that model and the F1 cross yielded (Pp + Pp + pp + pp) as possible offspring combinations. We remove the two (pp) individuals leaving us with only Pp. Therefore our first backcross will be:

Pp * Pp = PP + Pp + Pp + pp

Again we remove the pp individual leaving us with PP + 2Pp. Going into the second backcross we have increased our P gene frequency from 37.5% up to 66.7%. This means that going into the second backcross 4 of every six pollen grains will carry the P gene. The outcome is as follows









As you can see, after selecting against the homozygous recessives for 2 backcrosses, we have increased our P gene frequency to 58% from 44% in our squared population. If we again remove the homozygous recessives, our gene frequency increases to 70% (14/20) going into the third backcross, meaning that 7 out of 10 pollen grains will carry the P gene. Again, I'll spare your PC's memory and just give your the results of the third backcross.

B3 cross = 7 PP + 10 Pp + 3 pp



This translates to mean that 95% of the progeny will taste like pineapple after cubing a heterozygous dominant strain if the homozygous pine tasting ones are removed prior to to each backcross. This is an improvent from 72% when no selection occurred. The frequency of individuals true breeding for the pineapple flavour rose to 35%. But more importantly, the P gene frequency improves to 60%. This will be an important consideration when we discuss progeny testing .

But for now lets recap the percentage of individuals true breeding for the pineapple taste in each of the models. In the case where the pineapple flavour trait is heterozygous dominant and no selective pressure is used, cubing produced 22% true breeding individuals. By selecting against the homozygous pine recessive, we were able to increase this too 35%. And finally, when cubing a homozygous recessive gene, we are able to achieve a cubed population that is 87.5% true breeding for the pineapple flavour. And as I pointed out earlier, these numbers only apply to single gene traits. Lets say the pineapple flavour is coded by two seperate genes, one dominant and one recessive, and you are able to select against the homozygous recessive pine flavour while selecting for the dominant pineapple flavour gene. Your cubed population would then contain 87.5% * 35% (.875 * .35 * 100) = 30% true breeding individuals. As you can see, as long as the cubed source is heterozygous, it doesn't matter how many backcrosses you do, you will never achieve a true breeding strain.

BC Growers - Cubing

 

I Do not take credit for this information, As I did not right it, I just found it scattered on different forums, and noticed that it wasnt here. So I thought I should post it here as it is good information.




Cubing.......a myth.

Here's breeder chimera's take on the subject:

"you’ve just discovered the biggest myth (IMNSHO) of marijuana breeding- it is a mistake that almost EVERYONE makes (including many of the most respected breeders!).

Backcrossing will not stabilize a strain at all- it is a technique that SHOULD be used to reinforce or stabilize a particular trait, but not all of them.

For e.g.- G13 is a clone, which I would bet my life on is not true breeding for every, or even most traits- this means that it is heterozygous for these traits- it has two alleles (different versions of a gene). No matter how many times you backcross to it, it will always donate either of the two alleles to the offspring. This problem can be compounded by the fact that the original male used in the cross (in this case hashplant) may have donated a third allele to the pool- kinda makes things even more difficult!

So what does backcrossing do?

It creates a population that has a great deal of the same genes as the mother clone. From this population, if enough plants are grown, individuals can be chosen that have all the same traits as the mother, for use in creating offspring that are similar (the same maybe) as the original clone.
Another problem that can arise is this- there are three possibilities for the expression of a monogenic (controlled by one gene pair) trait.

We have dominant, recessive, and co-dominant conditions.

In the dominant condition, genotypically AA or Aa, the plants of these genotypes will look the same (will have the same phenotype, for that trait).

Recessive- aa will have a phenotype

Co-dominant- Aa- these plants will look different from the AA and the aa.

A perfect example of this is the AB blood types in humans:

Type A blood is either AA or AO
Type B blood is either BB or BO
Type AB blood is ONLY AB
Type O blood is OO.

In this case there are three alleles (notated A, B, and O respectively).

If the clone has a trait controlled by a co-dominant relationship- i.e. the clone is Aa (AB in the blood example) we will never have ALL plants showing the trait- here is why:

Suppose the clone mother is Aa- the simplest possibility is that the dad used contributes one of his alleles,
let us say A. That mean the boy being use for the first backcross is either AA or Aa. We therefore have two possibilities:

1) If he is AA- we have AA X Aa- 50% of the offspring are AA, 50% are Aa. (you can do the punnett square to prove this to yourself).

In this case only 50% of the offspring show the desired phenotype (Aa genotype)!

2) If the boy being used is Aa- we have Aa X Aa (again do the punnett square) this gives a typical F2 type segregation- 25% AA, 50% Aa, and 25% aa.
This shows that a co-dominant trait can ONLY have 50% of the offspring showing the desired trait (Aa genotype) in a backcross.

If the phenotype is controlled by a dominant condition- see example #1- all 100% show the desired phenotype, but only 50% will breed true for it.

If the phenotype is controlled by a recessive condition- see example #2- only 25% will show the desired phenotype, however if used for breeding these will all breed true if mated to another aa individual.

Now- if the original dad (hashplant) donates an 'a' allele, we only have the possibilities that the offspring, from which the backcross boy will be chosen, will be either Aa or aa.
For the Aa boy, see #2.
For the aa boy (an example of a test cross, aa X Aa) we will have:
50% aa offspring (desired phenotype), and 50% Aa offspring.

Do you see what is happening here? Using this method of crossing to an Aa clone mother, we can NEVER have ALL the offspring showing the desired phenotype! Never! Never ever ever! Never!! LOL

The ONLY WAY to have all the offspring show a Aa phenotype is to cross an AA individual with an aa individual- all of the offspring from this union will be the desired phenotype, with an Aa genotype.

Now, all of that was for a Aa genotype for the desired phenotype. It isn't this complicated if the trait is AA or aa. I hope this causes every one to re-evaluate the importance of multiple backcrosses- it just doesn't work to stabilize the trait!

Also- that was all for a monogenic trait! What if the trait is controlled by a polygenic interaction or an epistatic interaction- it gets EVEN MORE complicated? AARRGH!!!!

Really, there is no need to do more than 1 backcross. From this one single backcross, as long as we know what we are doing, and grow out enough plants to find the right genotypes, we can succeed at the goal of eventually stabilizing most, if not all of the desired traits.

The confusion arises because we don't think about the underlying biological causes of these situations- to really understand this; we all need to understand meiosis.

We think of math-e.g. 50% G13, 50% hashplant

Next generation 50% G13 x 50% g13hp or (25% G13, 25%HP)

We interpret this as an additive property:
50% G13 + 25% G13 +25% HP = 75% G13 and 25% hashplant

This is unfortunately completely false- the same theory will apply for the so called 87.%% G13 12.5% HP next generation, and the following 93.25% G13, 6.25% HP generation; we'd like it to be true as it would make stabilizing traits fairly simple, but it JUST DOESN'T work that way. The above is based on a mathematical model, which seems to make sense- but it doesn't- we ignore the biological foundation that is really at play.

I hope this was clear, I know it can get confusing, and I may not have explained it well enough- sorry if that is the case, I'll try to clear up any questions or mistakes I may have made.

Have fun everyone while making your truebreeding varieties, but just remember that cubing (successive backcrosses) is not the way to do it!

-Chimera"

https://www.thcfarmer.com/community/threads/cubing-a-myth-by-chimera.81/

 

I Do not take credit for this information, As I did not right it, I just found it scattered on different forums, and noticed that it wasnt here. So I thought I should post it here as it is good information.



Here's a snipet on backcrossing from the breeding chapter I wrote for Jorge's most recent version of the bible.

Backcross Breeding –

A type of breeding that involves repeated crossing of progeny with one of the original parental genotypes; cannabis breeders most often cross progeny to the mother plant. This parent is known as the recurrent parent. The non-recurrent parent is called the donor parent. More widely, any time a generation is crossed to a previous generation, it is a form of backcross breeding. Backcross breeding has become one of the staple methods clandestine cannabis breeders use, mainly because it is a simple, rapid method when using greenhouses or grow
rooms, and requires only small populations. The principle goal of backcross breeding is to create a population of individuals derived mainly from the genetics of one single parent (the recurrent parent).

The donor parent is chosen based on a trait of interest that the recurrent parent lacks; the idea is to introgress this trait into the backcross population, such that the new population is comprised mainly of genetics from the recurrent parent, but also contains the genes responsible for the trait of interest from the donor parent.

The backcross method is a suitable scheme for adding new desirable traits to a mostly ideal, relatively true-breeding genotype. When embarking on a backcross breeding plan, the recurrent parent should be a highly acceptable or nearly ideal genotype (for example, an existing commercial cultivar or inbred line). The ideal traits considered for introgression into the new seed line should be simply inherited and easily scored for phenotype. The best donor parent must possess the desired trait, but should not be seriously deficient in other traits. Backcross line production is repeatable, if the same parents are used.

Backcross breeding is best used when adding simply inherited dominant traits that can easily be identified in the progeny of each generation (example 1). Recessive traits are more difficult to select for in backcross breeding, since their expression is masked by dominance in each backcross to the recurrent parent. An additional round of open pollination or sib-mating is needed after each backcross generation, to expose homozygous-recessive plants. Individuals showing the recessive condition are selected from F2 segregating generations and backcrossed to the recurrent parent (see example 2).

Example 1– Backcrossing: Incorporating a dominant trait

Step1– Recurrent Parent x Donor Parent
|
V
F1 Hybrid generation

Step 2 – Select desirable plants showing dominant trait, and hybridize selected plants to recurrent parent. The generation produced is denoted BC1 (some cannabis breeders break from botanical convention and denote this generation Bx1. BC1= Bx1).

Step 3 – Select plants from BC1 and hybridize with the recurrent parent; the resulting generation is denoted BC2.

Step 4 – Select plants from BC2 and hybridize with the recurrent parent; the resulting generation is denoted BC3.
.

Example 2 Backcrossing: Incorporating a recessive trait

Step1– Recurrent Parent x Donor Parent
|
V
F1 Hybrid generation

Step 2 – Select desirable plants, and create an F2 population via full sib-mating.

Step 3 – Select plants showing the desired recessive trait in the F2 generation, then hybridize selected F2-recessive plants to the recurrent parent. The generation produced is denoted BC1.

Step 3 – Select plants from BC1, and create a generation of F2 plants via sib-mating; the resulting generation can be denoted BC1F2

Step 4 – Select desirable BC1F2 plants showing the recessive condition, and hybridize with the recurrent parent; the resulting generation is denoted BC2.

Step 5 – Select plants from BC2, and create an F2 population via sib-mating; denote the resulting generation BC2F2.

Step 6 – Select plants showing the recessive condition from the BC2F2 generation, and hybridize to the recurrent parent; the resulting generation is denoted BC3.

Step 7 – Grow out BC3, select and sib-mate the most ideal candidates to create an F2 population, where plants showing the recessive condition are then selected and used as a basis for a new inbred, or open-pollinated seed line.

This new generation created from the F2 is a population that consists of, on average, ~93.7% of genes from the recurrent parent, and only ~6.3% of genes leftover from the donor parent. Most importantly, one should note that since only homozygous-recessives were chosen for mating in the BC3F2 generation, the entire resulting BC3F3 generation is homozygous for the recessive trait, and breeds true for this recessive trait. Our new population meets our breeding objective. It is a population derived mainly from the genetics of the recurrent parent, yet breeds true for our introgressed recessive trait.


Backcross derived lines are expected to be well-adapted to the environment in which they will be grown, which is another reason backcrossing is often used by cannabis breeders who operate indoors. Indoor grow rooms are easily replicated all over the world, so the grower is able to grow the plants in a similar environment in which they were bred. Progeny therefore need less extensive field-testing by the breeder across a wide range of environments.

If two or more characters are to be introgressed into a new seed line, these would usually be tracked in separate backcross programs, and the individual products would be combined in a final set of crosses after the new populations have been created by backcrossing.

The backcross scheme has specific drawbacks, however. When the recurrent parent is not very true-breeding, the resulting backcross generations segregate, and many of the traits deemed desirable to the line fail to be reproduced reliably. Another limitation of the backcross is that the “improved” variety differs only slightly from the recurrent parent (e.g., one trait). If multiple traits are to be introgressed into the new population, other techniques such as inbreeding or recurrent selection may be more rewarding.

Hope that's a little more clear......
Respectfully,
-Chimera

https://www.thcfarmer.com/community/threads/cubing-a-myth-by-chimera.81/

 

I Do not take credit for this information, As I did not right it, I just found it scattered on different forums, and noticed that it wasnt here. So I thought I should post it here as it is good information.


Dear Nevil, Howard, and Shanti,
I have decided to disclose my method of breeding in all of its simplicity, for the sake of this website and its cause, which I believe to be, above all else, for the benefit of improving and preserving the plant itself. I posted in this section of the forum because, above and beyond simple breeder support, this thread is also a plea and a guide to those who grow but don't breed.
I will be introducing this method in several chapters which I will be completing over the next week or so. I will try to release 2 chapters per day.

Special Thanks to all of you and my new found friends at MNS, I have written this for everyone, so please, enjoy.
Sincerely,
Joshua Hazen.

Note: I am introducing this article here for the first time. As always you should check the laws of your area, so you can design a program that is in compliance with those laws.

Chapter 1

Why Breed? The Ganja plant is an amazing organism. I believe she has her own sentience, and like all plants, she has a very simple charter, with but a single mandate: Be Fruitful and Multiply. She has given you so much, why don’t you give her something, the only thing she truly desires, the only thing she really wants: to reproduce sexually. If not for her alone, then do it for yourself as well, not only will it help you increase the yield and quality of your setup over time, but more importantly, it will give you a level of independence and control that you simply cannot get any other way. You will become an island. Now if things go to hell in a handbasket, or even if your favorite strain gets discontinued, your personal strains will be safe with you.

The idea behind this method is to be able to breed selectively using a large sample within a very small space.* In fact the Bonsai Sultan method only requires around four square feet of floorspace in a corner preferably,* going up to the ceiling, and can accommodate close to a thousand plants.* Initially, though most likely, one would not start with that many, so one would only need two 4 ft shoplight double fixture flourescents to start with.* It can be set up for around $100. The Bonsai Sultan Method is primarily for people who want to preserve and improve the strains that they are working with, and it allows one to breed using a male plant without endangering the cultivators main All Female seedless harvest.
It is about proper timing, and the fact that the male plant, like all the plants that will be pollinated, is a bonsai, and very small.* Effectively, it allows virtually any setup to become a scientifically based, quickly evolving horticulture, simply and cheaply, utilizing parts which can be gotten from any hardware store, and with comparatively little effort.* By utilizing the simple principals of selective breeding it is possible to improve one's yield considerably by custom breeding, finding and selecting that super clone, out of a sample of hundreds, in the case of the 4 square foot model.

Goals

Goals are very important. Every breeder should have a goal or a set of goals, when breeding, and these goals become the hypothesis.
More on this later for now lets get started on the more practical aspects of growing using the Bonsai Sultan Method.

Supplies

First of all lets go over the things you will need for beginning the bonsai sultan method. It is a short list.

1) 2 four foot double fixture fluorescent lights.
2) Notebook and pencil
3) masking tape, thread and ball point pen.
4) Power strip and extension cord(s)
5) 2 four foot 2inch X 14 inch shelves
6) Heavy duty black plastic sheeting
7) 2 timers
8) Mylar
9) 288 2 inch containers
10) 128 3 inch containers
11) 72 4 inch containers
12) Good dirt.
13) Good fertilizer for vegetative and separate fertilizer for flowering.

It is very simple. You will build 2 shelves, the first shelf 2 feet above the floor and the second 1 and a half feet above that. And you will hang one shop light from each one by chains, so it can be raised and lowered. Then you will drape the whole thing in black plastic with a staple gun, on the outside and the Mylar underneath it.
That is it, now you have two bonsai breeding chambers, one 2 ft tall on the floor and the other 1 ½ ft tall right above it. If you ever want to expand it, just add another shelf on top.

Alternatively you can build 2 foot by four foot shelves with 2 shop fluorescents on each shelf if you feel you need more space.

Generally, when one is selectively breeding for typology, in other words, choosing the best plant for intended use, from a given sample, the larger the sample is, the better.

I will be posting the next chapter, later this evening.

Thanks for the encouragement guys-- Here is the next installment.

Chapter 2

Breeding philosophy:* The philosophy behind the method is simple.* To use an anachronism from the military:* Keep it KISS simple: Keep It Simple Stupid.

* Another military saying:* Assumption is the mother of All Fuck ups.*

Don't get caught up in irrelevant details, why are you worried if the leaves are fat or skinny, are you going to smoke the leaves? and if you are going to smoke them why would it matter if they are skinny or fat? Beginning growers often make this mistake; they want fat leaves because they like indica, or they want thin leaves because they like sativa. Well if you are growing a hybrid, you might have to choose between 2 plants, from the same seedstock, one might have thin leaves and one might have fat leaves. Which one are you going to choose? A beginner might choose the one with fat leaves and eliminate the one with thin leaves, when unfortunately in this particular instance, it was the very plant with the thin leaves that had the short budding cycle and dripping buds he was looking for, or vise versa. He made an assumption, that because it had fat leaves somehow it was more”indica” than its sister, and in this case it was a wrong assumption, and he lost the very plant that he had been looking for. Assume nothing, and only make a judgment call when you have to.

Selection is the single most important factor in any breeding program. In the Bonsai Sultan method, we keep it KISS simple. We only have 4 major things that we select for. In order of importance they are:

1)Potency/high,

2) Over all vigor and structure,

3)Yield of dried harvest

4)length of budding cycle

1)potency/high

This is the single most important factor of any breeding program. There is only one real reason we grow this plant: That is for the effect it gives us when we smoke/consume it. Lets not put the horse before the cart. It doesn’t matter how heavy it is, how dense it is, how much it stinks, if it doesn’t get you high its worthless. Every person has their own unique idea of what the ideal bud should smoke like, so as breeders we are all going to have at least slightly different ideals regarding what exactly constitutes the perfect high. As a breeder your first and foremost goal should be getting as close to this personal ideal as you possibly can. Of course flavor and aroma fit into this catagory as well, but are lesser components.

2)Overall Vigor and Structure

Vigor refers to the general health of the plant, its ability to grow fast, resist disease, etc. This is very important. Again it doesn’t matter how stony or heavy yielding the plant is, if it can’t resist disease and it grows like crap, even if it is the stoniest shit on the planet, you will be lucky to get any bud out of it at all, and as a grower you don’t want to be dealing with a weak and sickly plant. You want a plant that grows like a champion, laughs at spider mites and practically grows by itself. This makes your job much easier. Structure refers to the shape of the plant, and what kind of structure you want depends on your growing setup, but as growers we all have ideals about what the perfect structure is. My advice is, keep an open mind and don’t be too judgmental. Look at the plants that yield the highest in your garden, what is their structure?
Generally the ideal structure in my opinion, are stout plants with thick strong and dominant stems, that have tight inter-nodular lengths, but not too tight, those giant buds need a little space. The plants that have secondary and tertiary shoots which grow and bud prolifically are also a great advantage in most gardens. If the plant has the vigor, and the highest yield per square foot in your garden, then it has the structure you are looking for. Structure is primarily a function that is desirous to yield.

Yield of dried harvest

This one is a no brainier. But just remember, the heaviest plant is not necessarily the heaviest plant per square foot, and again keep an open mind regarding structure, because you may find yourself pleasantly surprised by a plant who’s structure did not fit your preconceived ideal. The structure that yields highest in one garden may not be the best for a different garden, and that is why it helps to custom breed the perfect plant for your own unique brand of horticulture.

4)Length of budding cycle

Again this is a no brainer, but just remember that shorter is not always better, it varies from strain to strain, but there is a length of budding which is ideal for yield versus the time it takes to mature. I have had plants with budding cycles ranging from 25 days all the way up to 140 days within my strains. The plant that was ready within 25 days was totally mature and it was very fine bud, 50% NL5XHaze, unfortunately a 5 foot plant only yielded 18 grams. I was however , able to use this particular plant as a parent to breed many very short budding and highly potent and desirable high yielding specimens, which I have crossed with promising haze throwbacks that have had too long of a budding cycle to be practical. I don't think anyone would argue that length of budding cycle is not important, and generally, most of us are on the lookout for a shorter cycle as apposed to a longer one, within reason, but in our program we have to be careful not to sacrifice potency and yield in the name of a shorter budding cycle.


This is all there is to it. It is quite simple really, if you stay focused, and don't get caught up in irrelevant details you will be able to select superior plants from your sample, and this is the single most important thing you can do for your breeding program.

The next installment is coming soon.

Chapter 3

The key to breeding with the scientific method, is reserving judgment, observing and recording data, and utilizing a control group. In the Bonsai Sultan Method, the main Seedless Harvest becomes the control group, more on this in later chapters.

After you have been breeding your strain for a few years you may come to notice certain markers, but don’t put too much faith in these markers. Always record everything. And be sure to label. In the Bonsai Sultan Method, we label with masking tape. Each container is double labeled(2 pieces of tape with same label per container). When the plants are large enough, you can label them again at the first branch. By using a piece of thread and some masking tape. Just drape the thread around the branch and fix it with the tape. You can write on the tape when it is still on the roll, and make sure to use a standard Bic ball point pen. Labeling is one of the simplest yet most important parts of any breeding program.

It is important to isolate variables and keep all variables constant, so that you can make sure that all your plants have the same environment, that way you can isolate the genetic factor.

For example: if you are growing 2 plants in different soil, and one does better than the other, it becomes very difficult to say that one plant is better than the other because of genetics. Maybe one soil is better than the other, and that is why the plant appears so much better. So it is very important to make sure that all plants are treated exactly the same. Same soil, same fertilizer, same type of light, etc.

Generally you want to use as much of the same materials for your Bonsai growing as you do for your setup, this is so that you know the plants that perform well under the bonsai method you are going to be ultimately using in your main garden, so you want to select plants that will do well under those conditions. Of course you can’t keep all the variables the same. This is easier if you grow in dirt.
Don't worry if you use a hydroponic system, you will still want to use dirt to start with for your bonsai breeding even if you have a hydroponic system. The secondary and final selection process will insure that your strains are tested in whatever final medium you use, for your main setup, and the rare specimen that has trouble with hydroponics can be eliminated at this time, if you are using a hydroponic setup.

Chapter 4

Now for starters, you will probably have just a few seeds plus whatever mother clones you may have. This is great. In the Bonsai sultan method, hermaphrodites are avoided like the plague, and destroyed whenever they show themselves. This means you will need to find a natural male for your clone mothers. What kind of strain do you want for your male? Well that depends on what you are trying to do. The odds are if you have a particular clone mother that you favor over all your others than you will want to use that as your primary mother, but if you have more than one mother you will want to use all of them. It is called the Sultan method because you will only be using one male to pollinate all of your females, per cycle. This is one of the primary features of the bonsai sultan method. Of course on the next cycle the odds are you will use a different male but it will be just a single male. You will select the best male out of many. I will explain the method you will use for selecting males later. Occasionally you will find yourself in a situation where you are having trouble deciding which male you want to use because they are both so great. In this situation you can use both, provided they came from the same packet of seeds. Generally, you will choose your male based on its genetics prior to selecting, so you will only be keeping and selecting males, from the already decided cross. You may use as many as the top 3 males, of the same batch of seeds. But usually one male will stand out heads above the rest, so usually you will just use one male. Just to be clear, even though on some occasions you may use more than one male, on those occasions the males will ALWAYS be from the exact same seedstock, IE the seeds will come from the same female. You will NEVER use more than one type of seedstock per cycle of breeding for males, NEVER. This is the like the 1st commandment of the bonsai sultan method, and it is the pillar on which the method is founded. Generally you will have just one or two crosses per cycle which you will be focusing on even though you may be growing as little as just a couple plants or as many as thousands.

Chapter 5

If you are selecting a strain to use as a male you will want something that compliments your female, in terms of what you are trying to accomplish. I will site the following fictitious story as an example to help you better understand what I am talking about.

Joe Grow, is using the bonsai sultan method to improve and preserve his stock. Joe has 2 mother strains, one that he uses for production, and the other he uses for his personal smoke.

For example, he originally became interested in breeding because he wanted to preserve his 2 clone strains, primarily one, which he had gotten from Neville’s Seedbank, a strain which you might be familiar with: The Haze. he had noticed that it was experiencing some minor genetic drift, which hadn’t affected potency or yield, but it had worried him none the less. Also he had gotten some seed out of some crazy Humboldt county bud purchased directly from the grower in mid September, only 3 little white seeds from a whole . This “ounce” was a small round nugget broken off of the largest bud he had ever seen, and this “small” nugget actually weighed almost 40 grams, and the single bud it came off of must have weighed well over a pound. Well 2 of these little seeds had sprouted and they were both male. He had been toying with the idea of making seed, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.
he crossed the best male into his two clone samples, The haze and his other strain, which was the best female for production, selected out of hundreds of plants from all sources, for its extremely high yielding indoor capacity. It came from an unknown source, a miscellaneous bag of the kill, but it outperformed all else for yield, with Giant buds and easily made the grade. He named it simply: The Giant. It had a 70 day budding cycle
The Giant was his main production strain, wildly outperforming all else he had, and debilitatingly stony with a creeping high, that took at least ten minutes to hit you.
He then grew seeds of the Humboldt Haze hybrids, and crossed it into the original haze, the original Giant, and a female of the Humboldt Giant. He kept the best clone for personal smoke, it was the best thing he had ever smoked outside the original Haze. Satisfied with these seed crosses, He promptly put them on the shelf and forgot about them for several years. He had accomplished this first goal of preserving his carefully collected and tested strains.

Then a disaster forced him to shut down and he lost all of his clones, that had been the culmination of many years of collecting and testing. The thing that crushed him, was losing that original Haze clone. You can bet he remembered those seeds pretty quickly. When after things cooled down, he decided to take it back up again, he had a new goal.
His Goal was simple, KISS simple, he wanted a plant that tasted and smoked like haze, but had the structure of the giant, with the early budding and other dynamite features of the Humboldt.
Joe's own personal quest had started, and the gratification of seeking and finding that perfect strain became an obsession, with rewards that He had not even contemplated.


Lets start with those first two Bonsai seedharvests that Joe grew before his big calamity.
The production plant gives very heavy plants and looks like an indica, but is in fact a indica/sativa hybrid. It expresses itself as a giant indica. This plant he labels G(for Giant) for ease of recording. G is an extremely high yielder that came out of bag seed. In fact it is far and away the highest yielder Joe has ever seen, which actually says a lot. It has very stony bud, with a typical indica creeper high, it is devastating and lethargic, it also has immense bag appeal. It has a 70 day budding cycle. Joe’s other plant is a Holland Seedbank original, the NL5Xhaze. This plant he labels H. For those few who aren’t familiar, H is also an indica sativa hybrid, however it expresses itself primarily as a sativa. It is also quite high yielding, however it has a 100 day budding cycle. It has the greatest high Joe has ever experienced. The high lasts 6 hours, and can be smoked several times a day without building up a tolerance, the high is overwhelmingly trippy and hallucinogenic. To make a long story short, it is the bomb. Joe grows a single clone under fluorescents, and keeps it for his own stash because frankly, now that Joe has tried it, nothing else will suffice. Even though he smokes it with his friends few acknowledge it, everyone wants the G. Joe doesn’t really understand this, maybe they are scared. So he just grows it under a couple of shoplight fluorescents in a small box, and gets a few zee's per cycle, enough for him and his friends, cause Joe prefers bong hits.
Joe has a couple of goals. He would love to cross his G with his H, but all he has is clones, and they are female. So what is he to do? Well he needs a bridge. He wants to shorten the budding cycle of both plants, so he needs a fast budding plant. He wants something that is very stony. He does several crosses over a period of years but only one comes out solid and stable. This is a variety from a small Mountain Town called Paonia, and people call this stuff Paonia Kind Bud, so he labels it PK. The buds have bright red hairs are covered in crystals and have a delicate but powerfully sweet and fruity aroma. The high is amazing. The plants express themselves as short indicas, but due to the flavor and character of the buds, Joe suspects that there is some sativa hiding somewhere in this strain, possibly Hawaiian, or Colombian. Whatever the case it is some of the finest connoisseur bud Joe has ever smoked. Joe had crossed this with the haze, several years ago, and is thinking of using this strain, he has around 40 seeds of it. But then he scores some weed from a dude up in Humboldt county. Which changes everything

In the end he decides to use the Humboldt county strain, because it is some of the very stoniest, most potent and clearheaded shit he has ever smoked, and the fact that it was an outdoor and he had purchased it in mid September, stem crackin dry and nicely cured. He crosses this male into both the G and the H. But wait there is a problem, this stuff is called Humboldt, it also starts with an H, so now, The H becomes the HZ and the Humboldt becomes the HU, problem solved. So for the first cross he does, he has one male HU and he crosses into 2 females. HZ and G.
So now he has 2 new strains. Joe always makes sure that the male is named first when he labels his seeds. For example he now labels his 2 strains.
HU/HZ and HU/G . For his second seed crop he now has more strains, he of course uses a HU/HZ male and crosses it with everything he has, but for some idiotic reason, he doesn’t pop any of his PK/HZ s, oh well he is new at this and it just doesn’t occur to him.
So now out of his second seed crop, he chooses a male HU/HZ and crosses it with HZ , G, HU/HZ , HU/G

So now he has the following strains from seed:

First cross:
HU/HZ and HU/G


and from seed
HU/HZ//HZ , HU/HZ//G , HU/HZ//HU/HZ , HU/HZ//HU/GR

He is primarily interested in the first 2 crosses, HZ/HU//HZ this is ¾ HZ(NL5XHAZE) in case you didn’t notice. Of course in addition to recording this on the seed packs he is also recording it in his notebook.


Now he has a starting point. He has something that is 75%Haze(NL5XHaze) and 25% Humboldt County, and he also has something that is 25% Haze and 25% Humboldt County, and 50% Giant Indica.

Chapter 6

I will continue this story later. For now lets get back to the Bonsai Sultan Method. Joe Grow has a bonsai breeding setup like the one outlined above with 2 growing chambers, each one powered by one standard double fixture four foot shoplight fluorescent light.

For starters he just had 3 clones of HZ and 3 clones of G and he had two plants of Humboldt from seeds, He was hoping for a male and a female from these seeds, but all he got was 2 males, one was far superior, so he kept that one(more on selecting males later), and destroyed the other.
For all of this he only used one of his chambers. He could have used much more clones if he wanted, then he would have gotten much more seeds, but alas he used just 3 of each. For the purposes of breeding, 3 clones of the same strain still equal one plant, and there is no need to differentiate, IE, all seeds from 3 identical clones can be stored in the same pack.

Now keep in mind that in his main grow room, he is growing a crop of G, in the normal fashion, he also has a cloning chamber/veg room, and a small chamber, where he grows haze.

He starts the plants in 2 inch containers and keeps them root bound in 2 inch containers for around a month or longer. He waits until his main all seedless harvest of G plants are 2 weeks from harvest, then he puts his seedlings on budding, this way by the time he harvests his G, the males will almost be starting to release their pollen, and they won’t affect his All female harvest of G clones. Also the male he selects is of course, root bound in a 2 inch container, and he leaves it in the 2 inch container. Once the male flowers are fully formed but have not yet released pollen the male is trimmed down to just a couple of dominant branches and the trimmings are baked in the oven at 300 for 30 minutes, insuring that all the pollen is destroyed. The remaining branches which have pollen will open in a couple of days. Once the flowers start to open, this male in a 2 inch container, will be used like a magic paint brush, and Joe will paint all of his bonsai females with this male, lightly brushing all the females, with the male. He will do this every day until the male has released most of its pollen(around a week or 2), then he will destroy the male in the oven. He worries a bit about his haze female he is growing for his head because it is a long way from finished, and doesn't want it to get seeded. But he finds to his relief, because it is in a different room, and the male is so small, he finds that his precious haze stash doesn’t even have a single seed. Of course he always wears different clothes, and washes up well, after handling the male.

When he puts the seed plants on budding, he transfers his clones from 2 inch to 4 inch containers, because he has the space. If he didn’t have the space he would have put them in to 3 inch containers or not transplanted them at all. If he had any females from seed he would have transplanted them as well. When he transplants, he breaks up the rootball using a sharp knife. He cuts the root ball on all four sides by making 2 incisions going down through the bottom and then up to the other side, the cut should be ½ to 1 inch deep. He uses an exacto knife to make sure the cut is not too deep, but any knife will do as long as he is careful, and sterilizes and does not cut too deep. He starts fertilizing with a ½ grow solution when the plants reach their 4th or 5th leafset. He switches to a bloom fertilizer at full strength when he switches the light cycle to 12.


Chapter 7

His second seedcrop is more interesting, he plants 40 seeds of the HU/HZ and 10 seeds of the HU/G and keeps 10 clones of the HZ and 10 clones of the G. As always, which is a prerequisite of the bonsai method, he starts both clones and seeds in 2 inch pots, with a 24 hour light cycle. (I recommend 24 hour light cycle for all vegetative growth especially in the bonsai chambers.) after 5 weeks again the timing is appropriate as he is 2 weeks away from harvest in his main flowering room. After about a week and a half the bonsais start showing sex. He is keeping 2 males of the HU/HZ, that are clearly heads above the rest, he was having trouble choosing a favorite between 2 so he just kept them both. He winds up with 29 females and kills all males except the 2 he will use. Up until now all plants have been vegging in just one of the chambers. But now he is left with with 50 plants, He decides to use both chambers and transplant everything into 4 inch containers. He could flower a maximum of 72 plants in 4 inch containers, using both chambers. If he would have more than that, he would use 3 inch containers for transplant, but in fact he could just leave them in 2 inch containers if he had to. He flowers out the plants successfully on 12 hour light cycle. He winds up with just a couple of grams off of each plant, and anywhere from 20 or 30 seeds to as many as 100 seeds per plant. He uses old fashioned t12 fat, cool white shop flourescents, because these stay cool enough where the plants can grow straight up into the lights so they are even touching the bulbs. He tries to find a style of shoplight where there is as much space between the 2 bulbs as possible.

After he has been painting his females with his male, for around a week or 2, he bakes his male in the oven, to insure that it won't keep throwing pollen.
His plants are starting to flower and produce seeds. He is fertilizing them full on with bloom. When the seeds are mature, it is time to harvest the buds.
When he harvests the tiny little bonsai plants, he makes sure to leave the little bottom shoots that he had saved when he was pruning(more on this later), and he harvests the main stem, at those shoots, leaving those little bottom shoots, for regeneration.
When he harvests the little plants he places the whole plant with stem minus fan leaves, into an individual paper post envelope, standard letter, or 8X11, depending on size of bonsai, writing the abbreviated name(in pencil) on the envelope.

Chapter 8

Selecting Males

Of course, the main thing you select a male for is by its genes. So before you even plant the seeds you know which strain, or seedstock you are going to select your male from.
When you select males from among that preselected stock, you are primarily looking for 3 features, and it is not arbitrary crap you read about somewhere, like stem thickness. It is something you can measure and record. Here they are in order of importance:

1) High Factor:

You want it to be stony, however you like it. With the male you can't be too choosy because you will be smoking leaf. You will test it for stoniness, by finding small veg leaves, 1 ½ inch diameter leaves, and dry them out. Make sure that the leaf samples to be tested are the exact same size(leaf stoniness varys according to size of leaf). Then first thing in the morning right when you wake up, wake and bake. Take 2 dried leaves pack them in a bong first thing in the morning right when you wake up, and take the single biggest hit you can and hold, and hold it for as long as possible, exhale, wait a few minutes and then rate on a scale from 1 to 10. Only one bong hit per test, and only test one sample each day, right when you wake up. Do this a couple times with each sample, if you have time. You will be surprised what a variation you will find, and if you smoke right when you wake up and you have a superior strain, you will also be surprised by how high you will get. Note: if you can finish the bong then you need to use more leaves. there should be enough material in the bong that you can't finish all of it.

2)Vigor and Form:

This is just like a female. You know that plant, the one you are just praying will be a female? Well when it turns out to be a male, you select that one, provided the leaf is good and stony.

3) Length of budding cycle:

Usually, the earlier flowering males are more desirous, because generally people prefer a shorter budding cycle.

These are the three factors that can easily be isolated and measured, and these are the only three factors that you consider when selecting males for the bonsai sultan method. Keep it KISS simple and you are bound to come up with a winner.


Pruning your bonsais:

Generally, you can let your bonsais grow naturally and don't prune them at all in veg. Just let them grow strait up into the shop lights. Once they start budding, you can prune any of the side branches that don't make it up to the lights, but make sure that you leave the first 2 sets of branches at the bottom, but you can prune the bottom branches down to their 2nd leafsets. It is very important that you keep these low branches, because you will be regenerating your plants, and you will be clipping your plants down when you regenerate them and they regenerate best from these lower branches. Generally you should do all the pruning at once, a couple weeks after you transplant and switch light cycle to 12 hours, when they are showing sex, then you can eliminate males and prune females at the same time. Prune the males as you start testing them for potency. Remember, you will prune the Keeper(s) a second time when the male flowers are fully formed, just before they open.

Chapter 9

Back to Joe Grow.
So Joe has now harvested all of his females and they are drying in individually labeled envelopes. For example he has like 18 HU/HZ females so he labels them 1-18 IE HU/HZ 1 HU/HZ 2 etc, and he is careful to make sure he numbers both the envelopes and the potted plants.
Once he harvests the plants, he makes sure to leave the bottom branches that he left when he was pruning and puts the plants back on 24 hours, he prepares the plants for reveging in several ways. First of all he is very careful to remove all calyxes that have seeds or partially formed seeds with a tweezers, this is very important. Secondly he snips any yellow leaves. It is just fine to leave part of a leaf , IE if it is half yellow and half green, he snips the yellow part and leaves the green part. Larger leafs can be trimmed down to size. If there is an empty calyx that had a seed in it, make sure it is removed with tweezers. Also make sure to leave calyxes that do not have any signs of seed production. It is these calyxes from which new growth will spring.

He waters them with vegetative fertilizer of a solution at 1/10th strength. He keeps them moist but not too wet and generally treats them like cuttings. He drops the lights so that they are around 4 inches from the plants. It will take around a month or so for the plants to start regenerating so he is patient.
Once the individual plants have dried in their little envelopes it is time for the fun part. He is going to rate them in 4 different categories, and he will write their ratings right on the envelopes. Oh yeah he has already rated them for vigor and structure, when he rates them he does so on a scale from one to ten.
He also knows when they are ready, he records the dates that he takes each one on the individual envelope. Remember that seeded bud matures much quicker.
Now that they are dry he can weigh each one. Generally when weighing them it is best to remove all the leaves and stems and just weigh the seeded bud. Generally the plants just yield a couple grams each, so he needs a very accurate scale. Again he records the weight right on the envelope.
After he removes the leaf and stem from the buds he places the buds back into the envelopes, and now comes the fun part, he can start testing and rating the buds for smoke. He stops smoking for 3 days to a week before he starts testing. He waits at least a couple hours between tests. The higher rated ones he tests twice. He tests by taking a single bong hit. And he makes sure that he uses the exact same amount of bud for each test. Once he tests the plants again he rates on a scale from one to ten, and writes the rating right on the envelope.
By the time Joe is finished testing all the plants, with all the information he has gathered he has been able to select 6 plants that he will continue regenerating. These are the 6 best plants after being weighed and rated. If you have the space it is good to keep the best 10 percent of the regenerating plants. If your sample is just too large, then keep around 10 or 15. He destroys all the other plants that he is regenerating and just keeps these 6. He kept all until was able to differentiate through selection which he was going to keep. He winds up with 6 HU/HZ He doesn't keep any HU/GR, as he was just growing these so that he could cross them into the haze. So Now he has converted the bottom chamber into a mother chamber, and it now has 6 HZ/HU females regenerating. Once they start putting out shoots he will wait until he is taking cuttings off his main G mother for his main crop.

Then he will take cuttings of these regenerated plants at the same time he takes his main cuttings, and he will grow 2 of each of these in his main grow room, as female clones alongside his main G crop. Now, his main G crop becomes the control group, and he is testing his subjects, the 6 varieties of HZ/HU against this control group. This is where he really find out what his new hybrids are made of.


OK lets take a look at what seeds Joe got out of this last seedcrop. He had 29 females from seed plus his 2 varieties of clones
Of his females, 23 were HU/HZ and 6 were HU/G His 2 males were HU/HZ
The Clones were HZ(NL5XHZ) and G(Giant Indica)
So he winds up with 23 varieties of HU/HZ //HU/HZ These he labels as F2 HU/HZ because it is essentially HU/HZ crossed with itself. Because HU/HZ is and F1 hybrid this is an F2 hybrid
Now the best 6 F2 HU/HZ specimens, the ones he is regenerating, he divides out and stores and labels separately. The rest he stores in one packet, labeled simply misc F2 HU/HZ.
With the HZ/HU//HU/G since he did not keep any mothers, he separates the top 3 that have the best overall ratings and stores them each separately. The remaining he stores in one combined pack labeled misc HZ/HU//HU/G.
He also winds up with HU/HZ//HZ which if you think about it, is ¾ HZ and ¼ Humboldt
and he winds up with HU/HZ//G
These are his 2 most important crosses and the main reason he did this seedcrop, the others are just bonuses. Oh yeah he copies the info on the envelopes of his keepers into his notebook, along with other relevent notes.

Chapter 10

Now Back to Joe Grows main crop. He mainly grows G because it is very heavy and people seem to love it. This time he is growing 12 clones of haze hybrids along side his G clones. His G clones represent the control group, and ultimately he is looking for something that will beat G. The Haze hybrids perform very well, and they are all quite similar to one another. He is surprised to find that most of them actually finish just a bit ahead of the Giant, in around 65-70 days. While they have quite an impressive yield in finishing, of course they can't compete with G for yield. He is not surprised, in all his years of growing he has never seen anything that competes with G for yield, but in his opinion, the quality of the smoke is miles ahead. It is very similar to the HZ in appearance but lighter green, and the flavor is very fruity, with strong haze undertones. Joe is in love with one in particular, and saves that particular clone. But he still prefers the original pure HZ. In the end he keeps that one clone and grows a couple every cycle, so he has some variety for his head. Satisfied that he has preserved his strains, he puts the seeds in a drawer and forgets about them for a couple of years.
Then in a disaster, he loses all of his clones. Now he is thanking his lucky stars that he made those seeds. The main thing that devastates him is that fact that he lost the HZ. So now he feels he just want to find a few super strains, that combine the best features of the Hz and the G. In his quest however, he winds up creating many unique haze hybrids that he could never even imagined.

Chapter 11

The Bonsai Sultan Method is driven by specimens, this is to say, that in your first generation you will be using tested clones and possibly untested seed(in terms of grown). It is important to find the most potent seed you can, and stock that compliments your clones. What are your clones weaknesses? Try finding superior strains that are strong where your mothers are weak. IE you might have a plant that you really love it is very potent, but it has small buds and is low yielding. Well you may want to mix it with something that is also very potent, but is known to be a heavy yielder. Whatever strains you use, just remember, you are looking for the very best specimens, and don't be judgmental, let them finish, and see which are the best, scientifically, by measuring, albeit testing in bong, to weighing entire plant, to recording the length of the budding cycle, and recording data.


The first thing Joe does of course is cross a superior male of the HU/HZ//HZ( 3/4 HZ) into everything he has. He wants to get as much HZ into his strains as possible, because the main thing he is looking for is something that smokes like HZ, the other 2 factors are secondary.
He has, PK/HZ, HU/HZ, F2 HU/HZ, HU/HZ/G, HU/G, HU/HZ//HU/G
Now he focuses on 3/4HZ///HU/HZ//G because these plants seem to produce the haziest offspring and they are dynamite, in form, and yield, He inbreeds the very best specimens from his samples to F3, expanding to about 5 shelves.
Selecting from a huge sample In the F3 generation, he finds a remarkable specimen, that is uncannily like the original HZ, except that it is much heavier, and has a budding cycle of around 75 days, with wild fruit undertones. It has its own character, he didn't invent it, he discovered it, and it has its own character He names this Mother the HHG, and starts back crossing it into all kinds of his other lines. He always uses the Bonsai Sultan Method.
He creates lines, from this original superior mother:the HHG, and using males, from all different crosses of this mother, as well as her mother, he eventually finds several different mothers become the foundation of several lines. Through decent common sense and carefully recording genealogy, Joe has unwittingly become a linebreeder. He assumed nothing and only did one thing, looked for superior specimens from his sample according to the 4 simple criteria for which he was selecting, in order of importance: Stonyness, Vigor/Form, yeild, and length of budding cycle.
It is important to note that his setup has been evolving this whole time, and he is now experiencing record yields, beyond even the original Giant. This happened gradually, over several generations.

His All female seedless clone room is filled 75% with his dominant yielding plant, and 10% is dedicated to connoisseur and backup clones, and 15% of the room is dedicated to R&D, that is the clones he has taken from the regenerated bonsai hopefuls. So every once in a while one of these hopefuls Beats out the dominant mother in terms of quality and yeild.

When that happens, he does a test harvest, and gives half of the dominant mother's grow spaces to the up and coming hopeful. This is a competition, If the hopeful wins she becomes the new dominant mother, and the old mother goes in part to the connoisseur and backup section of strains. At this point his system just evolved, it is better then it was before. Joe is surprised how quickly his system evolves using this method.

Chapter 12

Now Joe Grow has evolved into something of a breeder and his plants have been evolving right along with him.
He finally has something that for his specific purpose, is better than anything he has ever had. His new mother HHG is 50% original HZ and 25% Humbodlt, and 25% Giant. But phenotyopically, the bud is mostly HZ, with Hu undertones, and its form is like the Giant, with giant buds, except the bud material is like the haze. The Giant was fluffy bud, but the HHG is very dense, not quite as dense and the original HZ, but close. He got this result, by simply growing everything out not making any assumptions, and withholding judgment until the plants had budded out. He also got this result, by selecting based on his 4 catagories, and religiously testing his males for potency. Nature took care of the rest.
He always labelled everything, and recorded all the definitions of his abbreviations in his notebook, just to be safe.

Chapter 13

When inbreeding using the bonsai sultan method one simple rule, generally, is not to go past the F3 generation. Generally if you follow this rule you shouldn't have too many problems with weakening strains due to inbreeding. Generally you will create many many lines, so as long as you keep track of your genealogy, you will have many combinations to choose from, when line breeding.
Generally in the Bonsai Sultan Method you are going for Heterogeneity, not homogeneity. This is because generally, when you are propagating with herb you are using clones. So in the Bonsai Sultan Method you want a very wide variety of expression within your gene pool so that you can select that one mother that is perfect. By cloning her you will get the perfect homogeneity that you are looking for. In my experience, plants with diverse genetic backgrounds, tend to make very stable clones, much more stable than plants which are inbred.
Joe started with just 4 different strains. 2 clones and 2 seedstock varieties. The clones were: The NL5HZ, and the Giant Indica. His seedstock strains were: The Paonia Kind(or Kine), and the Humboldt County Deathbud. Now the genes within these strains are extremely diverse.

NL5HZ- is most likely Afghani with a hint of Thai on one side, and a pure sativa hybrid -Thai, Columbian, Oaxacan, Indian on the other.

Giant Indica- Unknown, but phenotypically it is an Indica dominant sativa indica hybrid.

Humboldt County Death- This is a classic old school variety scored from a classic Humboldt bushman. It has the best of oldschool genetics, most likely an Afghan Hawian hybrid, acclimatized to Northern California, for many generations.

Paonia Kind(Kine)- phenotypically its form is pure indica, but the flavor and nature of the bud tells a different story, it has short compact plants that appear 100% indica, however the buds are fruity, dense, and covered in long exotic red hairs.

For now, with this kind of genetic Diversity, Joe finds that his strains are very phenotypically diverse. Even within the same seedstock, no two plants are the same. The one thing they all seem to have in common: they are all very exotic and stony and each one is definitely its own unique connisseur level smoke.
This does not bother Joe in the least because Joe grows his main crop from clones, so when he finds that super plant, he simply makes it into a mother, and then he has the perfect homogeniety that he needs for his indoor setup.

Chapter 14

Stabilizing strains, or going for Homogeneity is generally referred to as creating a “pure breed” or true breeding strain, and it is a very difficult thing to do properly. It can be done but it is beyond the scope of this writeup. These are advanced breeding techniques. If you master the Bonsai Sultan Method, you may eventually want to study and learn how to do this. However, the Bonsai Sultan Method is a simple and easy way for beginners to vastly improve and custom modify the strains they are working with. And in terms of propagation for the average grower, it is actually more desirous to have a heterogeneous sample to work from, this is because the average grower uses clones, and only uses seeds to select a mother plant from.

The average cultivator is primarily concerned with growing all female seedless harvest, and the Bonsai Sultan Method represents a simple way for the average grower to breed without jepordizing his seedless harvest. Not only will you be able to preserve your strains, in the form of seeds and vastly improve the strains that you are working with, but you will also guarantee the independence of your setup. You will be able to stop cultivating for years at a time without jepordizing the safety of your strains, because they will be stored safely and compactly, in the form of seed.

Right now the current status of cultivation of this wonderful plant is in a legal grey area and it is difficult to say if the current trend of tolerance will last.

There are significant powers right now in both the government and the private sector, that are organizing huge resources, in an effort to control and regulate this wonderful plant. We all need to work together as a community to safeguard what we have. I believe one way to do this, is for everyone who is growing to also breed, and for the beginner, and the non breeder, this method, represents a simple, viable and very effective way to do this. If every medical grower, who purchases these seeds from the Holland seedbanks, learns how to breed on his own using this simple method, then the powers that be, whether government, pharmiceutical or other big business interests will never be able to deprive us of what is naturally ours.

By increasing the amount of breeders in the world, we will also be increasing the gene pool of the plant. Then seedbanks like MNS, can become like the hub of a sort of co-op, where local breeders, when they come up with superior strains, through forums like this one can share these strains with the community, and send these strains back to the seedbanks(especially MNS) where they can be further improved and perfected by experts. It appears to me that this is already going on right here at MNS, and it is this forum which has inspired me to disclose this simple method.

Now is the time. We are blessed to have Nevil in our midst, he basically bred all the strains on which the Holland scene was founded, and it seems, MNS represents a new movement of the original masters. We must seize this moment while we have the opportunity. We do not know how long this window will remain open. By working together, and breeding, we can secure the future of this venerable plant for ourselves and those around us.

END

The Bonsai Sultan Method: Typological Breeding for the Non Breeder, Beginner, or Pro with Little Space. - MNS Forums

The Bonsai Sultan Method: Typological Breeding for the Non Breeder, Beginner, or Pro with Little Space. - Page 2 - MNS Forums

The Bonsai Sultan Method: Typological Breeding for the Non Breeder, Beginner, or Pro with Little Space. - Page 3 - MNS Forums

 

I Do not take credit for this information, As I did not right it, I just found it scattered on different forums, and noticed that it wasnt here. So I thought I should post it here as it is good information.



Appendix A: Bonsai Sultan Method for Outdoor Grows.

Basically, the method for outdoor grows is the same as for indoor grows. This alternate is also for the individual who just does the occasional indoor grow and does not grow perpetually. The main difference is timing. If you are growing outdoors you will want to start your bonsai grow about 4-5 months before you start your outdoor grow. Refer to Chapter 9. You will do everything the same, except, instead of putting your test clones into the indoor growroom, you will put them outdoors with your main clones. If you are an outdoor grower growing from seed, then using the Bonsai Sultan Method, you will switch to growing clones outdoors, this will drastically improve your yield. If by chance you have some kind of problem with clones, that is OK, you can just regenerate as many of the bonsai females as you need, and place them outdoors. Remember you will first need to get your indoor plants used to sunlight, before placing them in direct sunlight. Start them in a place where they will be in shade with about 1-2 hours direct sunlight, for a couple days, then gradually move them to a place that gets more direct sunlight each day, until they can handle full sunlight this takes about 1 week to acclimate them.
Alternatively if you are set on using seed outdoors, you can just use the seed from the best plants that you get from your bonsai seed crop. But be sure to save some seeds for the next generation bonsai seedcrop. If you do it this way be sure to do your bonsai seedcrop around 6 months before you plant outdoors, because it is good to let the seeds cure for a month or 2 before planting them. This allows you to produce your own seed, in the bonsai method, freeing your outdoor harvest for an all seedless female crop.


Appendix B Line Breeding

Line breeding is very important in breeding closely related specimens, and it is the key to avoiding things like inbreeding depression, and recessive defective traits.

The Bonsai Sultan method allows you to establish many multiple closely related lines within the strains you are working with. In a later appendix I will demnstrate how this happens through a fictitious example of an MNS fantasy Grow.

I recently had a dialogue with Batman, a member of MNS forums, in which he asked me a series of pertinent questions about linebreeding on the following thread: Cubing and backcrossing

With his permission I have reposted that dialogue here because I think it is an excellent introduction to linebreeding. Thanks Batman.



"
Backcrossing is a very valuable tool in breeding, however in my opinion, so called "cubing" is an abuse of this technique. That is just my opinion though.

I would be more likely to save excellent specimans be they male or female, and backcross their progeny to them, usually several generations down the line.
frequently I will do a backcross following an outcross, to preserve and compound desirous traits.
I think a straight backcross for one generation is ok, but even then you are pushing it.
I did this with my initial clone female of NL5hz.
I first crossed it into an outdoor strain from Humboldt county, and then I backcrossed this f1 cross immediatly back into the original clone. The resulting progeny was 75% NL5Hz.
I then used this strain, for linebreeding, so as not to pile up negative alleles because it was already quite inbred from that single back cross.
This is the only time I did this. Usually when I do a back cross, I do it following an outcross which has been then inbred for one or two generations.
after the brief inbreeding, I might backcross the F1, F2, or F3 back into the original parent that was outcrossed to fix and compound the alleles that I was attempting to preserve from that original parent plant.

I have serious reservations about any type of inbreeding. If done properly it is a very valuable tool, but generally, I do not go past F3 when inbreeding without following some regiman of linebreeding.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Batman
hello josh when you refer to linebreeding with cannabis, do you mean you cross cousin and cousine for example ?

That could be an example of line breeding. Linebreeding is a type of inbreeding.

generally when one linebreeds they are doing so to keep the offspring closely related to a superior ancestor.

In My Case it is NL5Hz.

It doesn't have to be cousins though it can be siblings. and even outcrosses.

A simple example of a very close form of linebreeding: you could take 4 plants from the same F1 seedstock, 2 males and 2 females, lets call them A B C D lets say A and C are males and B and D are females. Lets say the 2 parents are of different strains, one of which was selected for a very short budding cycle, and the other was selected for extreme stonyness.


Out of the F1 progeny from this cross, A and B were selected for their short budding cycle, so lets say we cross A and B together and inbreed them for 2 generations, selecting for the shortest budding cycle from each sample. This would take us to the F3 generation. So we would have F3 AB selected for a short budding cycle.

Lets sat C and D were selected for extreme stonyness. Now lets say we cross C and D together and inbreed them for 2 generations selecting for extreme stonyness. Again we would have F3 seed.

Now we have 2 seperate lines, from the same original parents going back 3 generations, one with a short budding cycle and the other with extreme characteristics of stonyness, Now we could cross these lines together, and start selecting plants that had a short budding cycle and extreme stonyness.

This is just one example. I don't generally like to breed this closely, but this is an example to show you how close you can inbreed and still call it line breeding.

Now you could also create 4 other extra lines, simply by backcrossing the 2 F3 lines back into the original clone parents.
backcross the short budding F3 with the original short budding clone parent
and do the same with the extreme stony F3 line with the extreme stony parent.
Then to mix it up you could backcross the F3 short budding line into the extreme stony parent, and conversly backcross the extreme stony line back into the short budding original parent.

Now you have six seperate lines all together, and your odds of painting yourself into a corner, by piling up on negative alleles with inbreeding, becomes much slimmer.

Now you can continue breaking off new lines every 3 generations, and keeping each line you break off seperate, as you continue to breed towards your ideal .




Quote:
Originally Posted by Batman
Cool, thanks a lot josh, its a great explanation, i have not considered this like that before. but when you wrote "It doesn't have to be cousins though it can be siblings." i assume you mean brothers and sisters ?

Yes, essentially thats what I meant.



Quote:
Originally Posted by Batman
and when you wrote "even outcrosses." do you mean F1 ? i thought outcrossing was the opposite of inbreeding and that inbreeding included mating brothers and sisters, line breeding and backcrossing.

Well for example, lets say in your F3 line of short budding which would be AB you had come across an unrelated exceptional variety of early budding weed, which you got a clone or seed of. Now you could cross your F3 AB with this strain, and create yet another line, which could give rise to another set of lines, this would be an example of doing an outcross within a given line. Which is a good idea in linebreeding to maintain diversity.



Quote:
Originally Posted by Batman
In your example you make 2 lines of monohybrid crosses(im not sure i can use the word monohybrid because each trait in the example are probably polygenic...), inbreed them till F3 and combine them in order to blend the traits wanted, you should inbred this line in order to true bred the traits of short budding cycle and extrem stonyness so can you explain me what is the advantage of this breeding strategy (in your example or not) compared to straight inbreeding started with individuals showing the wanted traits in the original F1 line ? and why backcrossing your F3 lines with the original parents ?

In the example, I actually make 6 lines in total, I backcrossed them to regain some of the diversity that may have been lost through inbreeding, and to create additional lines.

Now there are many distinct advantages of breeding in this manner, and I don't exactly know how to explain what they all are, but this is how breeders have been breeding for hundreds, even thousands of years to maintain the pedigree of everything from flowers, to dogs to horses and everything between.

The main advantage that I can think of is that it helps maintain diversity.
For example if one of your lines breaks down and starts showing defects, or signs of inbreeding depression, etc, if its the only line you have, you are screwed.

But if you have 5 other lines, well then you are going to be ok,
and you can even use one of the closer lines to repair the line that is showing defects.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Batman
im aware of the test cross method but its F1 x P1 so im wondering why bc the F3 ?

Like I said, you are doing this to regain the diversity that may have been lost from 2 generations of inbreeding. You are not doing it for a test cross, but to create additional lines, to preserve your diversity, and give you more to work with.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Batman
a lot of questions im sorry and a lot of things for me to understand and learn, i hope you can explain a little ?
i hope you understand my poor english. thank you very much for your help and your time.
sincerely

Bat

You are welcome, I hope this helps. Your english seems ok to me.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Batman
i understand much better now, its a good method and i will remember that, thanks very much josh, you enlighten me
sincerely

Bat


You are welcome,
I'm glad I can help.

Appendix C: The Bonsai Mother Chamber

This one is for NoShow... Thanks for your friendship and support.

Building a mother chamber 1'deepx2'tallx4'long is very simple, usually when building Bonsai propagation shelves, it is easiest to use the first shelf on the floor, as the mother chamber, this chamber will be 2' high, and generally the shelves on top will be 1&1/2' high.

So the Mother chamber, whether part of a whole system or just by itself should be one foot wide by two feet high by four feet long, powered by a single 4 foot double fixture shoplight. It will hold up to thirty six mother plants in four inch containers. each mother plant is trained to give up to 16 cuttings. One could also build a two by two by four foot chamber powered by 2 shoplight fixtures and this could hold up to 72 mothers. If someone just wants a mobile mother chamber only, without a full shelf system this can be built out of plywood very easily.

When one takes the cuttings from the bonsai mother, he should take them all at once. He should be sure to cut the rootball back by three fourths of an inch on each side and 2 inches on the bottom try to get four by four by six inch deep containers if they can be found, but any 4 inch container will do. A good tool for cutting the rootball is a cheap, sharp, serrated knife, ie a bread knife.


When training the mothers it is good to top the clones at 3rd leaf set and then pinch them back, its hard to explain but if done right each one will give around 16 cuttings. and they will last around a year or 2. I will explain more on this in a bit.

One can use a double chamber, one stacked on top of the other, and actually one could keep his cuttings in the top one, this could potentially free up a lot of space for 2 flowering rooms. In 2 inch containers one could propagate many clones in the smaller top chamber. If the plants are cloned in dirt, then they can hold for 3 or 4 months in 2” containers just make sure to cut the rootball when transplanting, 2 one inch cuts with a razor, one starting on one side in the middle, going down through the bottom and up the other side, and make the second cut on a nieghboring side in the middle going down again through the bottom and up the other side, so that the bottom will have a cross shaped cut and all 4 sides will be cut going down the middle. One should always make cuts like this whenever transplanting any kind of plant to free up the root system. Deeper cuts for larger pots.

Just remember when harvesting cuttings on the mother, the root ball should always be shaved and make sure that every branch is harvested, even branches not used, and always leave at least one set of nodes on the mother plant from each branch that is harvested.

Count on getting around 10-16 good cuttings from each 4” mother pot, and just keep extra mothers from same stock if more cuttings are needed.
Fertilize alternating between ½ and ¼ strength veg fertilizer, and then no fertilizer. Ecogrow brand, works the best because there will be no salt build up. Use ¼ strength When they start to lighten up too much, go to ½ strength, if this is too much back off again to plain water, for a few days to a week then back up to ¼ etc. Organics also works well. However you can use ordiary chemical fertilizers successfully, but be sure to leach the soil every few months if you do.

Now, one can take the cuttings for the mothers in 2 inch containers, and top them, then let them grow out to 2 branches, and then top them again, and transplant into 3 inch containers. Now they will shoot out 4 branches, and then top them again, and let them start to grow a little bit more and then transplant them into the final 4 inch containers. Be sure to cut rootball with incision along 4 sides and bottom as outlined above, whenever transplanting. This is crucial otherwise plants will become rootbound.

Now they will be at 8 branches grow them out and use these 8 for the first harvest of cuttings, when taking cuttings be sure to leave one set of nodes on plant from each branch that is topped, then make a second cut for the actual cutting,

Once all cuttings have been harvested from mother, shave rootball as outlined above and replant with fresh dirt in same pot. Now, when they grow back again, you should have 16 branches per plant.

This whole process starting from a rooted cutting in a 2 inch container should take around 1-2 months.

Once the mothers are trained, one should be able to harvest at least 6 times per mother before needing to start a fresh mother. At times when the mothers get a bit older one may need to harvest some entire branches, if there are too many nodes, and putting out too many branches which are then too small.

This is how to propagate bonsai mothers simply and easily. I have even kept mothers successfully in 2 inch containers. These were 2x2x6 inch containers, and yeilded 6 or so good cuttings per mother, and have kept them like this for over a year. However 4 inch containers are the best in my opinion.

One could make a plywood box that was 1footX1footX2feet tall, out of plywood, and powered with a 13 watt flourescent light, the kind that is used to substitute for a 60 watt incandescent bulb, for starting cuttings, and once they take, switch to a 23 watt flourescent light, the kind that substitutes for a 100 watt incandescent. Using 2 inch containers one can propagate and store up to 36 cuttings in a box like this very effeicintly, and up to 9 mothers in 4 inch containers, or 16 in 3 inch containers. 2 small boxes like this could be used, one for mothers and one for cuttings.
Anyway there are many possibilities using these reletively new incandescent substitute lights and they work very well for Bonsai propagation. They even have different spectrums, reddish for budding and daylight for vegetative. It is easy to custom build a box to suite ones needs, and it is a very versatile way to breed, within limited confines.


Appendix D: MNS Fantasy Grow

This is probably the most important and revealing section of the method, and will demonstrate the practical application of the Bonsai Sultan Method.

I have decided to write another fictitious story about Joe Grow, to illustrate how to breed using the Bonsai Sultan Method. Joe Grow is going to start with just 4 strains, 3 from MNS and one of his own.
In reality he would use many more of his own than this for a start, but I wanted to keep it simple, and illustrate how, even with 4 strains to start, in the space of just a couple of years, utilizing the bonsai sultan Method, one would literally wind up with hundreds of lines, and many dozens of different strains.

Joe Grow, after many years finally stumbles upon MNS one day, while cruising the internet, and is delighted to see the strains offered. Following the advice of some members posts he Pms Shanti Requesting a list of strains currently being offered. After much study and contemplation, He settles on three strains from Shanti. He orders Nevilles Haze, La Nina, and NorthernLights#5X Haze. Luckily the seeds arrive a few weeks later.

First he needs to work out a schedule. He decides that the most important of the 3 strains to him personally is Neville's Haze. He is also very curious about LaNina and of course Shanti's NL5Hz.
He plans out the first 3 generations of males he is going to use. He wants to be sure to keep pure F2 generations of the 3 strains he has just gotten from MNS. He decides that the first male he will use will be pure La Nina, then the second male he will use will be a pure MNS NL5HZ, and the third male will be Nevilles Haze. He saves the Nevilles Haze for last, because that way he will have many crosses to work with by the time he gets to Nevilles Haze. The Next three males he uses after that, in the second year, will be determined by which of his various crosses perform the best.

So first he needs an abbreviation system. He is sure to record the abbreviates with their corresponding full names in his Notebook.



He is starting with 4 strains:

1) Haze Humboldt Giant. Or HHG. This strain he abbreviates simply as G

2) La Nina. This strain he abbreviates as L

3) MNS Northern Lights #5XHaze This strain he abbreviates as H
4) Nevilles Haze: This strain he abbreviates as N


So lets go over this one more time to be sure

1)HHG= G
2)La Nina=L
3)NL5Hz=H
4)Nevilles Haze=N

The Bonsai Sultan Method of recording crosses is very simple and effective. First of all a cross is denoted by a slash. secondly the male is always listed first. For example if he crosses crosses a NL5HZ male with a La Nina Female, This would be normally be written like this NL5HZ X La Nina. In the Bonsai Sultan Method it would be
NL5HZ/LaNina and you would know that the male was NL5HZ cause it was listed first. But we know from our key that NL5HZ is H, and La Nina is a L so we could further abbreviate it as H/L Now supposing we decided to cross this new H/L hybrid into a Nevilles Haze. Well we know that Nevilles Haze is abbreviated as N, so if the male was N the cross would be recorded as this: N//H/L. If the male was H/L the cross would be recorded like this. H/L//N.
Pretty simple right?
Now lets suppose we decided to cross this new N//H/L Hybrid back into the Pure La Nina female.
The New cross would be recorded like this: H/L//N///L.
Finally lets suppose we were to cross this new hybrid into the HHG. Now the HHG is abbreviated as G, so if we used a male of G and crossed it into a female of H/L//N///L the cross would be recorded as this: G////H/L//N///L
Now it may appear confusing at first but it is very simple and one can determine just from looking at this label G////H/L//N///L what the pedigree of this plant is going back 4 generations and can even determine which the males and which the females were in the various crosses.


Just so everything is clear, Joe Grow will be using the Bonsai Sultan method, with 5 shelves each shelf powered by 1 double fixture 4 foot flourescent lights and each shelf measuring approximately 1ftX4ftX 1-2 ft high. Some shelves will be taller than other shelves. The first shelf will be 2ft high and the rest of them will be 1and ½ ft high.

He will be testing them against his main HHG clone mother in his propagation room, which is powered by a 600 watt hps and he is propagating in standard 12 inch diameter containers with soil.

So for his first crop he plants 10 seeds of L(La Nina), 10 of H(NL5HZ), and 10 of N(Nevilles Haze).
He has 3 different G(HHG) clone mothers representing the best Gs out of hundreds, and he has made 2 clones of each of these mothers. He starts all of them in 2 inch containers in one of his 1 and ½ ft shelves, as the 2 ft shelf is reserved for mothers. He saves the rest of his seeds as backups.

He winds up with 3 males and 6 females of L, 6 males and 4 females of H, and 5 males and 4 females of N. As soon as the males show sex, He tops them, and transfers them to the mother chamber. Except for the 3 L males he keeps 2 of these which look very strong, and he can't figure out which of the 2 are better, even after smoking the leaf. The third L male the one he doesn't use, he also tops, and moves to the mother chamber.
He takes cuttings of the 2 males he does use and puts them in the mother chamber, in 2 inch pots.

He also takes cuttings of all the females and transplants them into 2 inch containers, being sure to cut the rootball, before transplantning. He is only able to get 1 or 2 cuttings off of most of them. And some of those are the tops because the side shoots are not developed enough. He can always regenerate(revegging) the plants in the event that he is unlucky and some of his clones don't take.



Generation 1

In the first generation he winds up with 4 new strains and 18 new lines

He winds up with the following:

F2 L 1, 2, and 3. He orders the plants according to which he thinks are the best, ie the best L is 1, the next best is 2, and then 3, he is sure to store the seeds seperately in seals or envelopes made of standard typing paper so that they can get air for at least the first 3 months. He makes sure the mothers that he makes from each female is labelled the same. He may find at a later date that one of the other mothers than L1 is superior, ie, after he tests in the main growroom he may find that L2 is actually better, thats ok, it will still remain L2, don't change the name.

Anyway he winds up with the following:

F2 LaNina- L1, L2,L3,L4,L5,L6

La Nina X NL5HZ- L/H1, L/H2, L/H3, L/H4

La Nina X Neville's Haze – L/N1, L/N2, L/N3, L/N4, L/N5

La Nina X HHG- L/G1, L/G2, LG3

The least seeds he gets out of each line, or off of each plant is 35, the most is just over 100.

All together he winds up with well over 500 seeds. When he is finished they are all seperately labelled in 18 different homemade paper envelopes, and he has rated and wieghed each plant according to the Bonsai Sultan Method and recorded all data in his notebook.

He also has many F1 male and female clones of each of his MNS varieties which he stores in his mother chamber in 2 inch pots. One of the La Nina clones and one Nevilles Haze clone doesn't take so he regenerates those by putting the topped female into the 24hour mother chamber. They both regenerate successfully so he loses nothing.

For the next 2 generations he will be using a lot of clones as well as seeds, and the males will be the clones he has already taken.


Generation 2

he will be planting 16 seeds each of his new strains and using all of his clone mothers, he will be using a NL5HZ male. Actually there is one male of this strain that is clearly superior smoke to all the other males, and it is a little more sativa, he decides to use just this one, but he saves his other male NL5HZ clones just in case he needs them in the future.

So he does everything just the same as the first except he decides to keep the five best lines from each cross or strain seperate, and then all seeds after that will be placed together in a 6th packet labelled misc
for example there were 12 L/G females so this cross of H//L/G would have the first 5 stored and labelled seprately and then the last 7 strains would all be stored together in one bindle labelled
H//L/Gmisc.
Just like this:
H//L/G1,
H//L/G2,
H//L/G3,
H//L/G4,
H//L/G5,
and H//L/Gmisc

This would represent 6 different lines, because once he has mixed the remaining seven strains together in one envelope, for all practical purposes, they become considered as 1 line.


So I am just going to list the new strains created from this next breeding and we can just assume that there are 6 new lines for each strain, aside from the original MNS lines which are just a bit less.


F2H1,F2H2,F2H3,F2H4,

H/L1,H/L2,H/L3,H/L4,H/L5,H/L6

H/N1, H/N2,H/N3, H/N4

H/G1, H/G2, H/G3

These folowing strains each have six lines ie

H/f2L1(1),
H/f2L1(2),
H/f2L1(3),
H/f2L1(4),
H/f2L1(5),
H/f2L1(misc),

H/f2 L2,(1-misc)

H/f2L3,(etc)

H/f2L4,

H/f2L5,

H/f2L6

H//L/H1,

H//L/H2,

H// L/H3,

H// L/H4

H//L/N1,

H//L/N2,

H//L/N3,

H//L/N4,

H//L/N5

H//L/G1,

H// L/G2,

H// LG3



Now it is the second crop and already Joe Grow is getting limited on space, If you count you will see that he already has over 100 lines and around 20 different mostly closely related strains. By this time he would have had the chance to test clones from some of the best mothers in his main Sensi room, under 600watt hps, in `12 inch containers.

This is what I mean when I say that Ones breeding regimen should be primarily speciman driven. For starters of course the breeder will be making crosses based on guesses, but the deeper he gets into his program the less guesswork will be involved. He will be breeding with the plants that perfom best in his main room, all sensi environment. The Bonsai Chambers will simply be his first wave of selection, but ultimately he will be finding the plants that perform best in his main cultivation room and selecting those for his breeding program. Most of the lines he creates he will probably never even use, but they are there for backup, and insurance, in case he starts running into deletarious alleles.

These 3 MNS strains are the strains I am going to choose to work with, and are the best 3 for crossing into HHG in my opinion, but in order to facilitate my fantasy grow, please be informed these crosses are fictitious and I have never done these crosses, so don't assume that what I am saying is the best in this fantasy grow is actually going to be the best. I don't know and I have never done these crosses so this is fiction, I am doing this to give an example so that folks will actually have a better idea of how the Bonsai Sultan Method actually works.


Joe Grow, has narrowed down some very superior hybrids and although he hasn't done everything in his main grow room, he will be sure to represent every major cross he has done in multiples, but because of the sheer number of the strains and lines he has he opts to use five lines for the most part. Broken down as 3 from number one line and 1 each respectively from lines two and Three.
For example:

N///H//L/N1(1),
N///H//L/N1(2)
N///H//L/N1(3)
N/// H//L/N2(1),
N///H//L/N3(1),

what the above means is that H//L/N1 has had the top 3 selected so those three samples are named These strains are all very interesting because they are ¾ N, This is one of the strains that Joe focuses on, and he is looking for an early budding one that yeilds a quality of bud more like a Neville's Haze.
Of his 3 HHG clones he keeps 3 each for a total of 9 lines that are 50% Neville's Haze and 50% HHG.






when he does his final cross of the year using a Nevilles Haze Male he winds up with the folllowing labelled packages of seeds, they are labelled as such:


F2N1
f2N2
F2N3
F2N4
F2N5

N// L/H1(1),
N// L/H1(2)
N// L/H1(3)
N//L/H2,(1)
N//L/H3,(1)



N//L/N1(1),
N//L/N1(2),
N//L/N1(3),
N//L/N2(1),
N//L/N3(1),

N//L/G1(1),
N//L/G1(2)
N//L/G1(3)
N//L/G2(1),
N//LG3(1)

N/f2H1(1),
N/f2H1(2),
N/f2H1(3),
N/f2H2(1),
N/f2H3(1),


N//H/L1(1),
N//H/L1(2),
N//H/L1(3),
N//H/L2(1),
N//H/L3(1)


N//H/N1(1),
N//H/N1(2)
N//H/N1(3)
N//H/N2(1),
N//H/N3(1),

H/G1(1),
H/G1(2),
H/G1(3),
H/G2(1),
H/G3(1)



N// H/f2L1(1),
N//H/f2L1(2),
N//H/f2L1(3),
N//H/f2 L2(1),
N//H/f2L3(1),


N///H//L/H1(1),
N///H//L/H1(2)
N///H//L/H1(3)
N///H//L/H2(1),
N///H// L/H3(1),



N///H//L/N1(1),
N///H//L/N1(2)
N///H//L/N1(3)
N/// H//L/N2(1),
N///H//L/N3(1),




N///H//L/G1(1),
N///H//L/G1(2)
N///H//L/G1(3)
N///H//L/G2(1)
N///H//L/G3(1)

N///H// L/G2(1),
N///H// L/G2(2)
N///H// L/G2(3)
N///H// LG3(1)
N///H// LG3(2)
N///H// LG3(3)








Now throughout this whole process, Joe Grow is regenerating(revegging) the little plants that he grew out for seed. He is only regenerating the ones that are the best in terms of psychoactivity and yeild. Some are kept because they are very heavy while most have been spotted for their extreme characteristics of Haze potency. In the end out of the fifty or 60 that he kept, after growing them all out in his main setup over that year, 6 super plants emerged, the likes of which Joe had never seen. And he has not even tested the 25 or so Nevil's Haze hybrids that he just finished regenerating and taking cuttings of for the main grow room. Most likely he will find at least a couple in there as well. These few strains will make up over 50% of Joes Grow from here on out, as he continues to hunt those super clones that will become mothers.

As you can see, in just one year, of using the Bonsai Sultan Method, starting with 30 seeds and 3 clones he has produced close to 200 new and unique lines and he is just getting started...

to Be continued with 2nd Year of breeding....


Bonsai Sultan Notation in Detail

I am just going to reiterate what I have already stated in the last appendix, and embellish it slightly to clarify and and accentuate the importance of properly recording your work.

Strain Key:

1)HHG= G
2)La Nina=L
3)NL5Hz=H
4)Nevilles Haze=N

The Bonsai Sultan Method of recording crosses is very simple and effective. First of all a cross is denoted by a slash.

secondly the male is always listed first.

For example if a breeder crosses crosses a NL5HZ male with a La Nina Female, This would be normally be written like this NL5HZ X La Nina. In the Bonsai Sultan Method it would be recorded as:

NL5HZ/LaNina

You would know that the male was NL5HZ because it was listed first. But we know from our key that NL5HZ is abbreviated as H, and La Nina is abrreviated as L so we could further abbreviate the cross as:

H/L

Now supposing we decided to cross this new H/L hybrid into a Nevilles Haze. Well we know that Nevilles Haze is abbreviated as N, so if the male was N the cross would be recorded as this:

N//H/L.

That would stand for Nevilles Haze X NL5HZ La Nina

But if you analyzed properly one can tell from the abbreviation, that not only is it a Nevilles Haze crossed with a NL5Hz La Nina hybrid, but we can also determine from the notation that it is a Neville's Haze male, and NL5HZ LaNina hybrid Female.

But if we look closer we can also determine that the NL5HZ was the male in the NL5HZ LaNina cross.

If the male was H/L the cross would be recorded like this. H/L//N.
Pretty simple right?

Now if we look closely we can still see that this does not change the fact, the in the NL5HZ LaNina cross, the NL5HZ or H, as it is abbreviated, remains the male in that hybrid cross.

Now lets suppose we decided to cross this new N//H/L Hybrid back into the Pure La Nina female. The New cross would be recorded like this:

N//H/L///L.

Now we can tell from this notation that of course the N//H/L was the male, and the pure La Nina was the female.
But we can also tell from the simple notation, not only the entire lineage of the hybrid going back 3 generations, but we can determine which plants were the males, and which were the Females

We can tell by the number of slashes were the first generation was.
N//H/L///L

We can tell that because the H is first in this cross that H, or NL5HZ is the male.

We can also tell where the second generation cross is:
N//H/L///L

And we can further determine that Nevil's Haze, or N, is the male because it is listed first.




Finally we see that the stock which bares the label N//H/L///L is 3rd generation in the method, because the 3 slashes in the final cross.

N//H/L///L

Now we can see of course that the male in this final cross is of course a N//H/L

Finally lets suppose we were to cross this new hybrid into the HHG. Now the HHG is abbreviated as G, so if we used a male of G and crossed it into a female of H/L//N///L the cross would be recorded as this:

G////H/L//N///L

Of course we can determine that the HHG or G as it is abbreviated is the male in this cross and the H/L//N///L hybrid is the female.

Now it may appear confusing at first but it is very simple and one can determine just from looking at this label G////H/L//N///L what the pedigree of this plant is going back 4 generations and can even determine which the males and which the females were in the various crosses.

One need not stop at the fourth generation, one could concievably go to the fifth, sixth, seventh generation and beyond with this notation, however, usually it is a good idea to Name the particular clones that you are using as parents. At this point you would use that clones name in the pedigree and then record its pedigree somewhere else.

For example : Lets say you find a plant in the G////H/L//N///L seedstock that is superior. It becomes your new mother so you decide to name it Super G, so it then becomes abbreviated as S, now at this point you can record Super G's pedigree in your notebook, and instead of labelling everything with super G in it as G////H/L//N///L, you can simply label it as S, and you know the pedigree of S because it is recorded in your notebook.

Hopefully this will help to clarify the recording-labelling technique for the Bonsai Sultan Method.


Appendix D.2: MNS Fantasy Grow-- Second Year

Hi folks, well I have finally finished with the model for the second year of the MNS Fantasy Grow using the Bonsai Sultan Method, if you haven't done so already please check out the first chapter of this appendix which can be found on page 11 of this thread. It should be noted that the intent of this Model is not to predict what the best crosses are going to be, but rather, to provide a functional example of the Bonsai Sultan Method that will allow the reader to better understand this methodology.


Second Year of Breeding.

Joe's 4th harvest will be his final mixing harvest, because he had four strains to start with. He will use a male G for his final mixing harvest. Then he will have to decide which males he will use for his 5th and 6th harvests.


So in the first generation of the second year Joe will use a G male, and cross it with most of what he has. He has so many strains at this point that except for a few exceptions he will stick mostly with his number one lines from his different seed strains.

So the new strains he winds up with from his fourth harvest are as follows:

Clonal Female Crosses

G/L1
G/L2
G/L3
G/H1
G/H2
G/H3
G/N1
G/N2
G/N3
H//L/G2
L/G1
H//L/G

Seed Female crosses

G/F2 L1
G/F2 L2
G/F2L3
G/L/H1
G/L/N1
G//L/G1
G//L/G2
G//L/G3
G/F2H1
G/F2H2
G/F2H3
G//H/L1
G//H/N1
G//H/G1
G//H/f2L1
G///H//L/H1
G///H//L/N1
G///H//L/N2
G///H//L/N3
G///H//L/G1
G/F2N1
G/F2N2
G/F2N3
G///N// L/H1
G///N//L/N1
G///N//L/G1
G///N/f2H1
G///N//H/L1
G///N//H/N1
G///N//H/G1
G///N// H/f2L1
G////N///H//L/H1
G////N///H//L/N1
G////N///H//L/N2
G////N///H//L/N3
G////N///H//L/G1
G////N///H// L/G2,



By this time Joe has found several specimens that stand out above the rest. He has already found 6 clone mothers that are superior for different reasons. It should be noted that the clones he has found were chosen for their merit and not their pedigree. He was looking for superior specimens within his samples and he found the best for his uses. And some as foundations for some finished product. (Note: these crosses are fictitious and I have never done these crosses, so this is fiction{informed guess}, I am doing this to give an example so that folks will have a better idea of how the Bonsai Sultan Method actually works, starting with any small group of diverse strains. ) Strains are named and their names are recorded for ease of documentation. While in reality Joe would have given those 6 mothers colorful descriptive names they are all being abbreviated A-F to make things easier for this fantasy grow.

Clone A: N//L/G winds up being the haziest, stoniest hybrid, it has a 77 day budding cycle and appears to grow almost like a pure sativa. It is crippling stuff, and an acceptable yielder.

Clone B: H//L/G2 produces the heaviest and best for production. At 65 days budding it is a real monster. It is hazey with strong incense and slight sweet mango fruit undertones.

Clone C: L/G1 reveals a very early but dense and super crystalized very sativa dominant specimen with a 37 day budding cycle, very low yeilder but the quality is superior and hazey. Good for breeding only.

Clone D: N///H//L/N3 has extroardinarily Hazy and dense buds and 110 day budding cycle, the buds are very crystalized and super heavy.

Clone E: H//L/N3 has a very stony but NL friuty haze indica leaning pheno that is very heavy and ready in 58 days

Clone F: H//L/G is an early indica leaning pheno that has extremely dense crystalized growth with a very low calyx to leaf ratio that has an incense haze pheno and crippling medium yeilder 45 days budding.


In actuality these special cuts, or “keeper” cuts are the cuts that Joe has kept. Once he has completed his 4th seedharvest, he will use the very best cuts, and focus about 50% of his efforts towards these cuts and the seed that they came from.

The other 50% will be for expanding the number of lines within the genepool, and continuing to search in uncharted territory for superior females.

He still has not tried any of his most recent crosses from the G male, his 4th seed harvest.

Joes garden, once mature will have at least 10 keepers or clone mothers, which will be ranked. As new members that are superior to the #3 rank enter file, the older last ranked mother will drop from the file. So once he hits his maximum the number of mothers will remain constant. Mothers typically are selected for diversity from one another, so that different strengths and qualities exist in the different lines.

In this way the garden will steadily evolve, as new members from subsequent generations are discovered which are superior.


By utilizing some of the precepts put forth in basic Population Genetics and coupling these with precepts of modern evolutionary biology, Joe can utilize a methodology which leads to the cultivation of healthy populations of generationally evolving IBLs which are all related to one another but follow distinctly different lines, which do not comingle for several successive generations. In this way he can maintain and steadily build on and improve the traits being cultivated, within the specimens of different lines.

What he is doing is creating his own diverse population of distinct lines and strains and he is empirically tracking and recording these lines, and selecting specimens which exhibit the superior trait characteristics for which he is searching.


So essentially Joe has in his mind archetypes of what he sees as his ideal plant and bud. He may have several different archetypes. These archetypes are his personal visions of perfection. He will try to achieve these visions and attempt to exemplify them within his own strains. It is his personal hope as a breeder that he will one day reach or even progress beyond these personal archetypical ideals.


Joe has now finished mixing his 4 strains together, essentially he used 1 male from each of his four starting strains for each of his seasons. So if he had started with 5 strains he would have needed 5 seasons, or if he had started with 3 strains he would have needed 3 seasons. The Mixing phase is phase 1 of his project, which he completed in his 4th seedharvest.

He now has hundreds of distinct lines, and over 100 different strains he is now working with, all descended from his original four strains.

The 6 superior mothers will serve as a starting point for him as he moves into the second phase of his breeding strategy.


Phase 2:

In this phase he is moving from preservation, and diversification, towards a narrowing down, and selection phase. He was doing almost exclusively outcrosses in the first 4 generations, attempting to create as many lines as possible, with his space and resources. Along the way he has been collecting superior females that have shown themselves, and keeping them as clone mothers. Not only will these clone mothers themselves be used for the next phase of breeding, but they will each be used as a sort of landmark, or a clue as to where other superior specimens may be found.


In other words, when he does his next seedcrop, around half of the plants he will grow, will be closely related to the 6 superior clone mothers he has found. The other half will be an attempt to broadly represent the other strains within that generation, or as come as close to that as possible, giving the better examples first consideration.

Let us use one of the clone mothers as an example.

Clone mother A is actually a N//L/G this means it has a Nevile's Haze father and a La Nina X Humboldt Haze Giant mother.
It is 50% Nevilles Haze, and 25% La Nina and 25%HHG.
So this means that he will not only concentrate on N//L/G(1) which is where the seed that became the clone mother came from, but he may also concentrate on N//L/G(2), N//L/G(3), and possibly more lines from that strain as well. Not only that be he may also choose to conentrate on L/G as well, and also possibly N, with regards to this one clone mother.

So of all the plants in his next seedcrop, he will be focusing on those related to these 6 mothers that he has found. He will also be focused on his last G cross seeds, which he has not yet explored, and of course he will want to represent everything else as well.

So the big question is, What male will Joe use in his 5th crop? He is going to use a male that is a direct sibling of one of his clone females, in other words, he will use a seed that came from the same seedpacket as one of the clone mothers. Which One? Well, Joe is going to use his personal favorite, the most potent best one he has, which is A. This means that Joe is going to select a male, from the seeds he plants that are labelled N//L/G(1). (Note: non specificied numbers are always number 1, ieN//L/G is actually N//L/G(1).)

He will select the male from the N//L/G stock only, and from this stock he will select the superior male according to the 3 criteria for male selection as outlined in an earlier chapter.

In the 5th generation he will use an N//L/G male and cross it with virtually everything he has.

Clonal Female Crosses

N//L/G///L1
N//L/G///L2
N//L/G///L3
N//L/G///H1
N//L/G///H2
N//L/G///H3
N//L/G///N1
N//L/G///N2
N//L/G///N3
N//L/G///G1
N//L/G///G2
N//L/G///G3
N//L/G///A
N//L/G///B
N//L/G///C
N//L/G///D
N//L/G///E
N//L/G///F



A Clone relatives

N//L/G///N//L/G1(1)
N//L/G///N//L/G1(2)
N//L/G///N//L/G1(3)
N//L/G///N//L/G2
N//L/G///N//L/G3

B Clone Relatives

N//L/G///H//L/G1
N//L/G///H//L/G2(1)
N//L/G///H//L/G2(2)
N//L/G///H//L/G2(3)
N//L/G///H//L/G3

C Clone Relatives

N//L/G///L/G1(1)
N//L/G///L/G1(2)
N//L/G///L/G1(3)
N//L/G///L/G2
N//L/G///L/G3

D Clone Relatives

N//L/G////N///H//L/N1
N//L/G////N///H//L/N2
N//L/G////N///H//L/N3(1)
N//L/G////N///H//L/N3(2)
N//L/G////N///H//L/N3(3)


E Clone Relatives

N//L/G///H//L/N1
N//L/G///H//L/N2
N//L/G///H//L/N3(1)
N//L/G///H//L/N3(2)
N//L/G///H//L/N3(3)

F Clone Relatives

N//L/G////N///H//L/G1 (1)
N//L/G////N///H// L/G1(2)
N//L/G////N///H//L/G1 (3)
N//L/G////N///H// L/G2
N//L/G////N///H//L/G3

Considerational Crosses(crosses that are relevant based on pedigree)

N//L/G///F2N1
N//L/G///F2N2
N//L/G///F2N3
N//L/G///L/N1
N//L/G///L/N2
N//L/G///L/N3



Crosses of Seed from 4th Seedharvest


N//L/G///G/L1
N//L/G///G/L2
N//L/G///G/L3
N//L/G///G/H1
N//L/G///G/H2
N//L/G///G/H3
N//L/G///G/N1
N//L/G///G/N2
N//L/G///G/N3
N//L/G///H//L/G2
N//L/G///L/G1
N//L/G///H//L/G
N//L/G///G/F2 L1
N//L/G///G/F2 L2
N//L/G///G/F2L3
N//L/G///G/L/H1
N//L/G///G/L/N1
N//L/G///G//L/G1
N//L/G///G//L/G2
N//L/G///G//L/G3
N//L/G///G/F2H1
N//L/G///G/F2H2
N//L/G///G/F2H3
N//L/G///G//H/L1
N//L/G///G//H/N1
N//L/G///G//H/G1
N//L/G///G//H/f2L1
N//L/G////G///H//L/H1
N//L/G////G///H//L/N1
N//L/G///G///H//L/N2
N//L/G////G///H//L/N3
N//L/G////G///H//L/G1
N//L/G///G/F2N1
N//L/G///G/F2N2
N//L/G///G/F2N3
N//L/G////G///N// L/H1
N//L/G////G///N//L/N1
N//L/G////G///N//L/G1
N//L/G////G///N/f2H1
N//L/G////G///N//H/L1
N//L/G////G///N//H/N1
N//L/G////G///N//H/G1
N//L/G////G///N// H/f2L1
N//L/G/////G////N///H//L/H1
N//L/G/////G////N///H//L/N1
N//L/G/////G////N///H//L/N2
N//L/G/////G////N///H//L/N3
N//L/G/////G////N///H//L/G1
N//L/G/////G////N///H// L/G2,



All Other Crosses

N//L/G///F2 L1
N//L/G///F2 L2
N//L/G///F2L3
N//L/G///L/H1
N//L/G///L/G1
N//L/G///L/G2
N//L/G///L/G3
N//L/G///F2H1
N//L/G///F2H2
N//L/G///F2H3
N//L/G///H/L1
N//L/G///H/N1
N//L/G///H/G1
N//L/G///H/f2L1
N//L/G///H//L/H1
N//L/G///N// L/H1
N//L/G///N//L/N1
N//L/G///N/f2H1
N//L/G///N//H/L1
N//L/G///N//H/N1
N//L/G///N//H/G1
N//L/G///N// H/f2L1
N//L/G////N///H//L/H1



As you can see this is Joes most extensive seed harvest yet. Now he has many many crosses all related to his strongest best mother clone, A.

Let's examine why Joe really chose A stock for his male: The A clone really exhibits the incense like haze trait and it has that unmistakable hazey effect. It is that indescribable character that he is looking for. It most closely fits his archetype of the perfect haze, especially in terms of effect. That is the reason he chose it. Now he went back into the original seedpack from which the A came and picked out more seeds. He grew these seeds and searched for a male from these seeds only. Now just because he goes to the same pack of seeds is not a guarantee that he is going to get the same pheno. But it's not a bad bet.
When he selected a male he had some clues for that pheno he was looking for, so when he saw a male that had very similar attributes, he was careful not to be biased, but you can bet that when it also happenned to be the stoniest male in the lot once he smoked it, Joe chose it.


Joe found a couple of superior females in his 4th seedharvest which really stood out. They were Keepers. Joe would have given them colorful discripive names, but for the sake of simplicity they will be named I and J.

Clone I: G///N//H/G This one is very heavy and very hazy with a 73 day budding cycle. It has excellent form, sativa leaning, very stout fast growing, obviously a Giant.

Clone J: G///L/G1 This girl is also heavy and has a very fruity hazey flavor, like sharp mango with a creeper stone, and a 48 day budding cycle, very dense buds.




For his 6th seedharvest Joe is going to narrow down to just a few, as compared with before, and he is going to use many more seeds from each of the fewer crosses he is doing. Joe has a specific Goal in mind. Joe wants something that has an early budding cycle, is very high yeilding, and smokes like his archetypical conception of how a haze should smoke. It must be very dense. He now has some ideas where to look. The seedstock from his first harvests, is running low, and the remaining of it must be saved for austerity, or in case of an emergency.

He is selecting stock primarily from his best Clone mothers and the majority of his plants will be from just 4 crosses of his last seedharvest

Those four crosses are

N//L/G///A(F2N//L/G)
N//L/G///B
N//L/G///I
N//L/G///J


These are the four he is focusing on. He wants to get that very hazy stony pheno into something earlier and higher yeilding, so he is going with his proven winners and he is going to go deep into these 4 with high numbers and see if he gets lucky. He will dedicate about 50% of his seed to these four only.


He has been testing the final clones in his production room, which is actually a 6'X6' walk in closet with a single 600 watt HPS. He grows 50% B and I in this room his two best production lines, as well as A, and he is introducing new hopefuls as clones to see how they measure up to his reigning champions. This production room is totally seperate from the Bonzai breeding shelves which is where he does his seedcrops, the best seed mothers are regenerated and clones of them go into the production room for testing. The production room is of course an all female seedless harvest. So you can guess that of these 4 main crosses, he especially has his eyes on the N//L/G///B and the N//L/G///I he is looking for somethingat least as heavy and possibly much more stony, then his two production clones. So of the 50% that are these four varieties, the majority of seed will be from these two crosses.

The other 50% will be a healthy representation of everything else he has to date.

Now the question is, what kind of male will he use?

He decides to use a N//L/G///I male because he believes the very high yielding nature of the I(G///N//H/G) coupled with the extreme stoniness of the A(N//L/G) and the fact that the 2 plants are similar in many ways will give him a good chance of finding something truly spectacular.

Keep in mind that Joe is keeping cuttings of every male he uses.

So for his final crop of the second year Joe winds up with the following:

(For the sake of simplicity I will only list the strains and not the individual lines within each strian.)

Four main strains:

N//L/G///I////N//L/G///A
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///B
F2 N//L/G///I
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///J


Everything Else


Clonal Female Crosses

N//L/G///I////L1
N//L/G///I////L2
N//L/G///I////L3
N//L/G///I////H1
N//L/G///I////H2
N//L/G///I////H3
N//L/G///I////N1
N//L/G///I////N2
N//L/G///I////N3
N//L/G///I////G1
N//L/G///I////G2
N//L/G///I////G3
N//L/G///I////A
N//L/G///I////B
N//L/G///I////C
N//L/G///I////D
N//L/G///I////E
N//L/G///I////F
N//L/G///I////I
N//L/G///I////J

Other Crosses

N//L/G///I////N//L/G///L1
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///H1
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///N1
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///G
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///G2
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///G3
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///A
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///B
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///C
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///D
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///E
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///F
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///N//L/G
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///H//L/G
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///H//L/G2
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///L/G
N//L/G///I/////N//L/G////N///H//L/N
N//L/G///I/////N//L/G////N///H//L/N
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///H//L/N
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///H//L/N3
N//L/G///I/////N//L/G////N///H//L/G
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///F2N
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///L/N
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///G/L
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///G/H
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///G/N
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///H//L/G2
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///L/G
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///H//L/G
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///G/F2 L
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///G/L/H
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///G/L/N
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///G//L/G
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///G/F2H
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///G//H/L
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///G//H/N
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///G//H/G
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///G//H/f2L
N//L/G///I/////N//L/G////G///H//L/H
N//L/G///I/////N//L/G////G///H//L/N
N//L/G///I/////N//L/G////G///H//L/N
N//L/G///I/////N//L/G////G///H//L/G
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///G/F2N
N//L/G///I/////N//L/G////G///N// L/H
N//L/G///I/////N//L/G////G///N//L/N
N//L/G///I/////N//L/G////G///N//L/G
N//L/G///I/////N//L/G////G///N/f2H
N//L/G///I/////N//L/G////G///N//H/L
N//L/G///I/////N//L/G////G///N//H/N
N//L/G///I/////N//L/G////G///N//H/G
N//L/G///I/////N//L/G////G///N// H/f2L
N//L/G///I//////N//L/G/////G////N///H//L/H
N//L/G///I//////N//L/G/////G////N///H//L/N
N//L/G///I//////N//L/G/////G////N///H//L/G
N//L/G///I/////N//L/G///F2L
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///L/H
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///L/G
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///F2H
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///H/L
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///H/N
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///H/G
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///H/f2L
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///H//L/H
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///N// L/H
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///N//L/N
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///N/f2H
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///N//H/L
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///N//H/N
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///N//H/G
N//L/G///I////N//L/G///N// H/F2L
N//L/G///I////N//L/G////N///H//L/H



This is the final seedharvest for Joe's second year. Perhaps this will help to clarify what I mean when I say that the Bonsai Sultan method is speciman driven. It means that the superior females that wind up becoming clone mothers will determine the direction that the breeding program goes in. For example, when Joe went into the seedpack that his best female came from to find a male, he was demonstrating this, as he was when he chose his second male for his final seed harvest, as he was when we focussed the majority of his number of seedlings to crosses with his four best clone mothers.



Another important thing to notice about this method, is that even though Joe has been breeding for 6 generations using the method, even though he has not brought any new blood in from after the first generation, and he has been doing a closed project(no introduction of new genetic material) for 6 generations, it is important to note that Joe has managed to create hundreds of new strains, and the vast majority of the crosses are F1. In fact in his final seedharvest out of 95 crosses ,only 1 was an F2 cross, the rest are F1 crosses, and in the entire project out of hundreds and hundreds of crosses, there is not a single F3 cross. That is one of the things that makes this method so very different from other methods of line breeding. Joe may eventually do some F3 crosses, but as a general rule, one does not go past F3 in the Bonsai Sultan Method.

It is also important to note that in the 2 years that Joe has been breeding he has done all of the breeding in the tiny space of his 4 square feet of floor space, with 5 of the stacked Bonsai shelves discussed earlier chapters.


Appendix F: Back Crossing in the Bonsai Sultan Method. A healthy alternative to "Cubing"

Backcrossing is one of the most valuable tools in any agressive linebreeding program.
Selective Backcrossing makes up the backbone of the majority of my strains, and can be found literally in all of my lines.

I have a simple rule I follow regarding backcrosses:
Never do more than one successive backcross.

For example: If I am going to cross an F2 into it's P1 mother, the resultant cross would be 75% of the P1 Mother.

75% is, generally ,enough to find what I am looking for. I will just need a slightly larger sample to find the individuals with the expressed traits I am looking for.

For example Let us say that out of a large sample of F2s I find 2 superior mothers each expressing decidedly different traits, which I have been actively selecting for.

I backcross both of males from the progeny of these individuals into the original P1,

Now I have 2 seperate lines that are both 75% of the P1.

I can cross these two lines together, and search for the specimens that combine the 2 desired traits that I have been selecting for and I will have something that combines the traits from the original p1s in a unique manner.

I view breeding more wholistically instead of selecting for specific traits only and worrying about getting a true breeding strain. eventually after several generations, what I am selecting for will become true breeding on its own, based on my selections as the genepool gradually narrows down to express the superior traits for which I am selecting.

An arbitrary fictitious example to illustrate what I am talking about:

Supposing Joe wants to combine the super stony traits of the NH with the fast budding tendencies and copious resin of the la Nina. Everything is going to be based on the general character of his original P1 mother, and I view it wholistically, It is a huge yeilding 15 week NH that practically makes you halucinate and gives giant sized buds which are so huge as to be almost commical, but it is a bit airy with odd form. It is an F1 speciman that will serve as his P1 mother. It is a local cut that has been going around and happens to be the best stuff Joe has tried. The male is coming out of some F1 seed that Joe ordered from MNS. Joe is going to plant 10 of LN seeds and store the rest for later use.

Supposing he winds up with five females and five males, the largest most vigourous male also happens to be the earliest budding so he uses that one, but when he tests the males for potency by smoking the leaves he discovers that while his favorite male is on a level with the other males and therefore adequate, there is one male in particular that stands hands above the rest for potency. He decides to keep the 3 best males for later progeny testing as well as females. In the meantime, he is going to bud out all the females and keep the 2 males that were discussed, and pollinate them to the 5 la nina females and the NH mama.

So now he has an F1 cross LN X NH. He crosses and grows out 50 of these seeds. Now When I say "Wholistic" what I mean is, as a breeder, he has a general Idea of which traits he is looking for from each P1 parent, ie extreme stonyness and high yielding from the NH and early budding and copius crystals from LN, but he veiws each and every specimen from the F1 as an individual plant taking into account the whole picture of that single specimen as to how it represents the ideal of what he is seeking in his final goal.

So what is his final goal, or Ideal? Ultimately he is looking for a clone mother, that has at least the extreme stonyness of his NH Mama, except has a denser form, at least as high yielding and finishing in 8-10 weeks. Perhaps he will attain this goal, or he may approach this goal, or possibly he may even exceed his goal, and for this reason he must keep an open mind.

Now I have stated time and again that my breeding techniques are specimen driven and goal oriented,
This means that ones goals are not fixed, instead they are somewhat amorphous depending on which superior specimens show up. Any plan should be viewed more as a loose outline because ultimately we want to follow the superior specimens and we are sometimes surprised by where they come from.

So out of around 25 females he finds 2, one is even larger and heavier than the original NH mother and has a budding cycle of 12 weeks, but while very stony, is just not on the level of the NH mama. This one he is calling LN/NH(1)

The other one is very light and spindly but has a budding cycle of just 7 weeks, and is far and away the stoniest of all the plants. Even so it just is not quite as stony as the original NH mama. While by itself it has little or no commercial potential, it is the one specimen that has managed to combine NH stoniness with La Nina early budding characteristics and as such it becomes the cornerstone of Joe's breeding program. This one is called LN/NH(2)

Joe isolates an early budding super stony male that is hands above the rest for vigor. He uses this and crosses it into all of the 25 or so of the females that he has, including the two he is focusing on, he also keeps an NH mama clone in there for good measure.


It should be noted that joe is taking notes on each of the females that get pollinated, he is storing and cataloging the seeds from each female fastidiously cross indexing these discriptions as they relate to the goals of his project, and he is rating each female on a scale of 1 to 10 for several traits, as well as noting days to maturity etc.

He is also keeping clone mothers of all the females and males he uses for future use and reference. These progeny tested males will eventually be narrowed down as joe eventually isolates the very best of them, in terms of produced and tested progeny.

So while he is focusing on these 2 main lines, by the time he is finished with this project which is taking a year and a half to two years, he has created literally hundreds of lines each stored separately in packets with notes as to traits expressed by the parent mother of each line kept in a notebook. by looking at the pedigree of each line and indexing details on the males used, he can also know what the traits are of all males in a given line.

Each of These lines stored separately, as a collective group represent a large and diverse population, expressing heterozygous hybrid vigor, instead of the typical inbreeding depression and myriad other problems associated with intensive inbreeding and recurrent backcrossing techniques.

Remember all the best mothers and fathers from the project are also stored and cataloged as clones, of which he will have many at the end of his project.

On the Downside: Although Joe will not be creating a true breeding strain per say as can be successfully accomplished in certain cases with recurrent backcrossing, there is an alternative simple way for Joe to create a reproduceable line of seeds that express themselves in a uniform predictable way, utilizing the same techniques as masters like Nevil and Shanti. More on this later.



Now he sprouts 50 of the F2 LN/NH(2) plants still seeking that perfect plant that fits his ideal, and finds 3 outstanding males that he cannot decide between, They are super early budding and very potent, and he just can't decide between them, so he uses all 3. He selects the best females for the F3 seed even though he is focusing on the NH backcross.


So now he has a line of seed known as F2 LN/NH(2)//NH

This plant is 75% NH

Next He sprouts 50 of the F2 LN/NH(1) plants still seeking that perfect plant that fits his ideal, and finds 1 outstanding male that is early budding and very potent, He selects the best females for the F3 seed as clone mothers seed even though he is still focusing on the NH backcross.


So now he has two lines of seed which he is focusing on.

one known as F2 LN/NH(2)//NH

and the other as F2 LN/NH(1)//NH

He grows out 25 of each of these seed stock as sense, and keeps the very best female, which happens to be a F2 LN/NH(2)//NH.

This plant comes close to his Ideal, it is not quite as heavy as the NH mama but it only has a 9 week budding cycle, and the buds are totally dense and hazy, and it is as stony as the original NH mama but a little more of a debilitating body high.

The F2 LN/NH(2)//NH specimens are a little heavier a little stonier with a longer budding cycle.

Because the best Female is F2 LN/NH(2)//NH he uses a superior especially early speciment of F2 LN/NH(1)//NH as his male.

This cross results in the best yet, and it is a fairly uniform cross with around 25% of the seed resulting in plants that have a budding cycle of 10 weeks or less, with the occasional 7 weeker.

In the end he settles on a crippling 9 week variety, that gives very dense buds which are drenched in crystals.

Now, what of the alternative simple way for Joe to create a reproduceable line of seeds that express themselves in a uniform predictable way, utilizing the same techniques as masters like Nevil, Shanti and most other professional breeders?

Well this is very simple. Now that he has a huge catalog of progeny tested male and female mother and father clones, the superior ones he can experiment on different crosses among this catalog of clones to find those that create the best, most stable and uniform progeny.

After much experimentation most likely he will be able hone this large catalog down to only the very best specimens.

If he finds a particularly good cross recreating this cross is very simple. He just uses the same male and same female to create the same exact seedstock.

So now he has achieved his goal, and instead of promoting inbreeding depression, he is promoting Hybrid Vigor, instead of piling up negative alleles in a homozygous mess he has healthy hetorozygous plants.

What of homogeny you ask? Well perfect homogeny can be achieved by simply making cutting of your favorite specimen. This is why a strain that has considerable heterogeniety, but is true breeding for certain key traits like potency, is generally even more desirous. Because it allows one to find that perfect unique mother for ones individual setup.

The simple technique of backcrossing can be employed effectively in as little as 2 generations or up to several generations depending. This technique can be employed with as little as just a couple females per generation or as many as hundreds. The important thing is to have specific goals in mind, and to select specimens in line with these goals.

The Bonsai Sultan Method: Typological Breeding for the Non Breeder, Beginner, or Pro with Little Space. - Page 5 - MNS Forums

The Bonsai Sultan Method: Typological Breeding for the Non Breeder, Beginner, or Pro with Little Space. - Page 9 - MNS Forums

The Bonsai Sultan Method: Typological Breeding for the Non Breeder, Beginner, or Pro with Little Space. - Page 11 - MNS Forums

The Bonsai Sultan Method: Typological Breeding for the Non Breeder, Beginner, or Pro with Little Space. - Page 12 - MNS Forums

The Bonsai Sultan Method: Typological Breeding for the Non Breeder, Beginner, or Pro with Little Space. - Page 14 - MNS Forums

 

I Do not take credit for this information, As I did not right it, I just found it scattered on different forums, and noticed that it wasnt here. So I thought I should post it here as it is good information.



Breeding tips

By DJ Short - Monday, November 25 2002
Tags: CC39 Breeding clones Genetics GROWING
How to bring out the Sativa and breed the ultimate buds.
To understand the principles behind the breeding of cannabis you first need to be familiar with some basic terms related to genetics. "Genotype" is the genetic and chromosomal make-up of any given individual ? it is the genetic code. "Phenotype" is the expression of body type, structure, and appearance of individuals; it results from the interaction between genotype and environment.
Specific environmental conditions are often required for certain phenotypic expressions from a given genotype. If the available nutrients, hours of sunlight, or other conditions are not available then the development of the plant or animal will be altered. These conditions are referred to as "environmental triggers."

Two individuals with the same genotype can have greatly different phenotypes if grown in different environments.

Indoor vs outdoor

In terms of growing and breeding cannabis, there is a distinct difference between indoor and outdoor grow environments. No matter where on the planet one is, the indoor environment is usually far more limited when compared to the spectrum of conditions existing outdoors.

When compared to the wide variety of conditions available outdoors, the indoor environment may be seen as relatively bland and generic. The greenhouse environment, especially when fortified with electric light, is perhaps the closest thing available to a happy marriage between the two.

Three subspecies

It is useful to agree, at least in theory, that there are three separate subspecies of the genus Cannabis ? Sativa, Indica and Ruderalis.

Cannabis Sativa is the equatorial variety found primarily around 30 degrees latitude North or South. Sativa generally grow tall, from seven to thirty feet, have many long branches, narrower leaflets, and mature slowly.

Cannabis Indica varieties generally inhabit the areas between 30-50 degrees North or South latitude. Indica are generally much shorter than Sativa, only about three to five feet tall. They have fewer and shorter branches than Sativa, the longer of which are lower on the plant, with much wider leaflets. They also mature earlier and more rapidly than Sativa.

Cannabis Ruderalis grow naturally primarily past 50 degrees north latitude (the Siberian steppes). Ruderalis are the shortest, least bushy, and fastest maturing of the three.

The end of the sweet spots

Prior to the late 1970's, virtually all commercially available cannabis products came from the great outdoors. Many of these varieties had been grown in their particular region since antiquity ? not since the advent of sailing had a greater diversification and distribution of the herb occurred.

Most cannabis available was also very well acclimated to its particular region of origin. Certain places tended to produce very unique and desirable types of herb that were renowned to each region. I like to refer to these high-quality cannabis producing areas as "sweet spots." The products coming out of these sweet spots during this era were among the finest herbs ever available.

A series of phenomena occurred in the late 1970's and early 80's that has since revolutionized the cannabis industry. This series included the triad of sinsemilla, High Intensity Discharge (HID) lighting, and the introduction of Indica genetics, coupled with draconian herb laws that drove the industry far underground. Never before in human history was so much genetic diversity of cannabis grown in such generic, indoor conditions. The results of this phenomenon have wreaked havoc on the cannabis gene pool.

The road to blandness

As Indica, sinsemilla and HID lighting became predominant, it became apparent that Sativa varieties were very difficult to coax commercial amounts of sinsemilla herb from indoors. The fast maturing, dense bud structure of the easy-to-grow Indica soon dominated the indoor grow scene.

Another factor contributing to the desirability of the indoor Indica was its truebreeding "dioecious" nature, meaning that individual plants tend to be male or female only, but not both. In contrast, many Sativa strains show hermaphroditic tendencies indoors, with male and female flowers on the same plant. (It is my opinion that wild Sativa strains of cannabis are primarily truebreeding hermaphroditic varieties.)

As outdoor production diminished due to intolerant laws and the drug war, indoor production of Indica phenotypes became the staple of the commercial indoor grower. The road to generic blandness had begun.

Although some Sativa/Indica crosses matched some of the Sativa flavor and head high with the Indica bud structure, this desirability would only last for a few generations of breeding. Unless a person is breeding for a very specific trait, crosses seven generations and beyond the original P1 Indica/Sativa cross lose much of their original charm and desirability. Cloning, however, helps to extend a given plant's potential.

Ruderalis: myth and misnomer

As indoor growers attempted to improve their genetic lines via breeding, another interesting phenomenon occurred: Ruderalis. Although there is a wild variety identified as Ruderalis in Russia ("Ruderalis" is supposedly Russian for "by the side of the road") that grows very short and matures very fast, I seriously doubt the rumor that someone actually went to Russia to collect seeds of this variety sometime in the past. Or, if someone actually did go all the way to Russia to find, collect and smuggle "rudy" seeds, I do feel sorry for their waste of time. They could have gotten the same worthless thing from Minnesota, Saskatchewan or Manitoba with much less hassle.

The North American Ruderalis probably originated as follows: After the Indica varieties arrived in the US and became incorporated into the gene pool, many breeders began to cross the earliest maturing individuals with each other in hopes of shortening the maturation cycle.

It would only take a few generations for the ugly Rudy phenotypes to begin expressing themselves. By ugly, I am referring to a strong lack of potency and/or desirability. I know, I was once guilty of the practice myself. It did not take me long to realize that this was a huge mistake in regard to the quality and potency of the future generations' finished product, and all subsequent breeding along this line was ceased.

Many of these manipulated rudies were released on the open market between 1981 and 1986. It was shortly after this period that the grow journals of the era (Sinsemilla Tips and High Times) ran articles about the possibility of a new wonder variety for indoor grows: fast blooming Ruderalis. Rumor had spread to myth and misnomer. Therefore, it may be more appropriate to say that the Ruderalis phenotype was coaxed from Indica genetics, via the indoor breeding environment.

The same applies to many of the Indica dominant varieties available today. Breeders selecting for early, fast flowering or fast growth often miss out on some of the finer and more subtle characteristics available from crossing certain genotypes. My advice to breeders is to wait until the finished product is suitably tested before coming to any conclusions regarding desirable candidates for future breeding consideration.

Phenotypic expression

The malleability of phenotypic expression among the Sativa/Indica crosses must also be noted. The variability of phenotypic expression among the f2 generation of a truly polar (pure Sativa/pure Indica) P1 cross is quite phenomenal. The second generation f2 crosses will exhibit the full spectrum of possibilities between the original parents ? extreme Indica, extreme Sativa, and everything in between.

However, regardless of any particular phenotype selected from among this given f2 cross, future generations may drift radically. Depending on the presence (or lack) of a number of environmental triggers, an f2 Indica phenotype may be coaxed more toward Sativa traits, or an f2 Sativa phenotype may be coaxed more toward Indica expression. The key is environmental conditions.

This is what distinguishes the truebreeding, ancient acclimated, region of origin varieties ? especially the tropical and equatorial Sativa ? from the crosses that have happened since. The ancient specimens have a much narrower genotype range, and therefore a more specific phenotype than their contemporary crosses despite environmental conditions. It is up to future adventurers to provide the best possible environmental considerations, along with the best possible genetic considerations, in order to resurrect the legendary happy flowers of yore.

Inducing Sativa

After many years of first-hand experience breeding herb indoors as well as outdoors, I am of the opinion that the two most influential factors involving phenotypic variation and expression among current indoor herb breeding projects are the photoperiod (hours of light per day) and the angle of light in relationship to the growing plant.

Specifically, I find the single most powerful influence to the Indica dominant phenotype is the traditional 18/6 veggie cycle and 12/12 flowering cycle. The 18/6 veggie and 12/12 flower cycle is an attempt, however poor, to mimic the Indica-producing photoperiod. It is my belief that this light cycle strongly influences for Indica phenotypic expression.

Sativa phenotype characteristics will manifest under a more equatorial photoperiod, closer to a 13/11 veggie cycle and an 11/13 flower cycle. This is the light timing range to use to elicit more Sativa dominant expression from your plants.

As for the exact photoperiod formula that I incorporate into my growing/breeding regime, this will presently remain a trade secret. My advice is to experiment with different photoperiods, keep good notes and pay attention. Avoid the 18/6 and 12/12 photoperiods, while tweaking the times a bit differently with each breeding cycle until more desirable results in the finished product and their offspring are noted. Here's a hint: work in half-hour increments or a little less, and good luck!

Indica and Sativa characteristics.Angle of Light

Angle of light simply refers to the physical angle of light source the plant is dependent upon for growth. Perhaps the greatest difference between indoor and outdoor environments has to do with the angle of light received by the plant. This is also one of the greatest seasonal differences between the Sativa and Indica producing regions.

Outdoors, the main light source is the Sun, with minor influence coming from nearby reflective surfaces. As a plant grows taller and broader outdoors, that angle of light from the sun changes very little in relationship to the growing plant.

Seasonal changes in angle of light increase the further away from the equator one gets. At the equator there is the least amount of seasonal change in angle of light, only about 20?, whereas at the 45th parallel that change is as great as 45?. At the 45th latitude, the Summer Sun is high in the sky while during early Spring and late Fall the sunlight comes from much lower in the sky. The farther one goes from the equator, the greater the difference in seasonal changes regarding angle of light.

Indoors, the lights typically range from a few inches to several feet from the plant. As the plant grows taller, its physical relationship to the bulb's angle of light changes considerably. Most indoor grow rooms have relatively low ceilings, therefore, raising the bulbs may maintain a similar angle of light early on, but eventually the angle changes. The same differences may be noted among plants directly below the bulb and the plants off to the side of the room farther away from the bulb.

Circular light shuttles tend to emulate the arctic summer and create a confusing signal completely unknown to the equatorial Sativa. Straight-track overhead light shuttles are more conducive to inducing the Sativa phenotype.


Many indoor growers try to get their budding plants as close to the light source as possible. Though this may increase bulk production of both bud and trichome, I find that this practice tends to destroy many of the finer aromatic qualities of the herb.

Buds too close to the light tend to express nothing beyond the lower lemon/lime aromas of the fruity spectrum. Sometimes the aroma is no better than a strong chemical/astringent odor and flavor, especially those under High Pressure Sodium light systems. The finer berry flavors tend to favor more distance from the bulb, and will manifest more strongly under High Ultraviolet Metal Halide light systems, especially during the latter stages of flowering.

Something akin to a gymnasium building with high ceilings and super 5000W lights hung far from the growing plants, set at a Sativa-tweaked photoperiod, would be the ultimate indoor grow-op to coax Sativa phenotypes.

Sweet spot fantasy

Nothing will ever rival the great outdoor sweet spots for quality cannabis production. Hopefully, someday, somewhere, someone will be daring and lucky enough to get away with re-establishing some of the great genetic lines in their specific region of origin sweet spots.

Equatorial Sativa varieties are of interest for quality herb production (Thailand, Oaxaca, Colombia, Central Africa, etc.) as the Indica zones are more renowned for hashish production. Parts of Nepal tend to produce both excellent hashish and fine Sativa buds, with some plants reportedly living longer than two years!

I hope that I am able to live long enough to once again experience the joy associated with the fine herbal products from the great regional sweet spots of near ancient lore. It has been a long time and I am looking forward to the day.

Breeding tips | Cannabis Culture Magazine

 

I Do not take credit for this information, As I did not right it, I just found it scattered on different forums, and noticed that it wasnt here. So I thought I should post it here as it is good information.



Chap 3: Genetics and Breeding of Cannabis Part 1/3
Chapter 3 - Genetics and Breeding of Cannabis
"The greatest service which can be rendered to any country is to add a useful plant to its culture."
- Thomas Jefferson



Genetics

Although it is possible to breed Cannabis with limited success without any knowledge of the laws of inheritance, the full potential of diligent breeding, and the line of action most likely to lead to success, is realized by breeders who have mastered a working knowledge of genetics.

As we know already, all information transmitted from generation to generation must be contained in the pollen of the staminate parent and the ovule of the pistillate parent. Fertilization unites these two sets of genetic information, a seed forms, and a new generation is begun. Both pollen and ovules are known as gametes, and the transmitted units determining the expression of a character are known as genes. Individual plants have two identical sets of genes (2n) in every cell except the gametes, which through reduction division have only one set of genes (in). Upon fertilization one set from each parent combines to form a seed (2n).

In Cannabis, the haploid (in) number of chromosomes is 10 and the diploid (2n) number of chromosomes is 20. Each chromosome contains hundreds of genes, influencing every phase of the growth and development of the plant.

If cross-pollination of two plants with a shared genetic trait (or self-pollination of a hermaphrodite) results in off spring that all exhibit the same trait, and if all subsequent (inbred) generations also exhibit it, then we say that the strain (i.e., the line of offspring derived from common ancestors) is true-breeding, or breeds true, for that trait. A strain may breed true for one or more traits while varying in other characteristics. For example, the traits of sweet aroma and early maturation may breed true, while off spring vary in size and shape. For a strain to breed true for some trait, both of the gametes forming the offspring must have an identical complement of the genes that influence the expression of that trait. For example, in a strain that breeds true for webbed leaves, any gamete from any parent in that population will contain the gene for webbed leaves, which we will signify with the letter w. Since each gamete carries one-half (in) of the genetic complement of the offspring, it follows that upon fertilization both "leaf shape" genes of the (2n) offspring will be w. That is, the offspring, like both parents, are ww. In turn, the offspring also breed true for webbed leaves because they have only w genes to pass on in their gametes.

On the other hand, when a cross produces offspring that do not breed true (i.e., the offspring do not all resemble their parents) we say the parents have genes that segregate or are hybrid. Just as a strain can breed true for one or more traits, it can also segregate for one or more traits; this is often seen. For example, consider a cross where some of the offspring have webbed leaves and some have normal compound-pinnate leaves. (To continue our system of notation we will refer to the gametes of plants with compound-pinnate leaves as W for that trait. Since these two genes both influence leaf shape, we assume that they are related genes, hence the lower-case w and upper-case W notation instead of w for webbed and possibly P for pinnate.) Since the gametes of a true-breeding strain must each have the same genes for the given trait, it seems logical that gametes which produce two types of offspring must have genetically different parents.

Observation of many populations in which offspring differed in appearance from their parents led Mendel to his theory of genetics. If like only sometimes produces like, then what are the rules which govern the outcome of these crosses? Can we use these rules to predict the outcome of future crosses?

Assume that we separate two true-breeding populations of Cannabis, one with webbed and one with compound-pinnate leaf shapes. We know that all the gametes produced by the webbed-leaf parents will contain genes for leaf-shape w and all gametes produced by the compound-pinnate individuals will have W genes for leaf shape. (The offspring may differ in other characteristics, of course.)

If we make a cross with one parent from each of the true-breeding strains, we will find that 100% of the off spring are of the compound-pinnate leaf phenotype. (The expression of a trait in a plant or strain is known as the phenotype.) What happened to the genes for webbed leaves contained in the webbed leaf parent? Since we know that there were just as many w genes as W genes combined in the offspring, the W gene must mask the expression of the w gene. We term the W gene the dominant gene and say that the trait of compound-pinnate leaves is dominant over the recessive trait of webbed leaves. This seems logical since the normal phenotype in Cannabis has compound-pinnate leaves. It must be remembered, however, that many useful traits that breed true are recessive. The true-breeding dominant or recessive condition, WW or ww, is termed the homozygous condition; the segregating hybrid condition wW or Ww is called heterozygous. When we cross two of the F1 (first filial generation) offspring resulting from the initial cross of the ~1 (parental generation) we observe two types of offspring. The F2 generation shows a ratio of approximately 3:1, three compound pinnate type-to-one webbed type. It should be remembered that phenotype ratios are theoretical. The real results may vary from the expected ratios, especially in small samples.

In this case, compound-pinnate leaf is dominant over webbed leaf, so whenever the genes w and W are combined, the dominant trait W will be expressed in the phenotype. In the F2 generation only 25% of the offspring are homozygous for W so only 25% are fixed for W. The w trait is only expressed in the F2 generation and only when two w genes are combined to form a double-recessive, fixing the recessive trait in 25% of the offspring. If compound-pinnate showed incomplete dominance over webbed, the genotypes in this example would remain the same, but the phenotypes in the F1 generation would all be intermediate types resembling both parents and the F2 phenotype ratio would be 1 compound-pinnate :2 intermediate :1 webbed.

The explanation for the predictable ratios of offspring is simple and brings us to Mendel's first law, the first of the basic rules of heredity:

I. Each of the genes in a related pair segregate from each other during gamete formation.

A common technique used to deduce the genotype of the parents is the back-cross. This is done by crossing one of the F1 progeny back to one of the true-breeding P1 parents. If the resulting ratio of phenotypes is 1:1 (one heterozygous to one homozygous) it proves that the parents were indeed homozygous dominant WW and homozygous-recessive ww.

The 1:1 ratio observed when back-crossing F1 to P1 and the 1:2:1 ratio observed in F1 to F1 crosses are the two basic Mendelian ratios for the inheritance of one character controlled by one pair of genes. The astute breeder uses these ratios to determine the genotype of the parental plants and the relevance of genotype to further breeding.

This simple example may be extended to include the inheritance of two or more unrelated pairs of genes at a time. For instance we might consider the simultaneous inheritance of the gene pairs T (tall)/t (short) and M (early maturation)/m (late maturation). This is termed a polyhybrid instead of monohybrid cross. Mendel's second law allows us to predict the outcome of polyhybrid crosses also:

II. Unrelated pairs of genes are inherited independently of each other.

If complete dominance is assumed for both pairs of genes, then the 16 possible F2 genotype combinations will form 4 F2 phenotypes in a 9:3:3:1 ratio, the most frequent of which is the double-dominant tall/early condition. In complete dominance for both gene pairs would result in 9 F2 phenotypes in a 1:2:1:22:1:2:1 ratio, directly reflecting the genotype ratio. A mixed dominance condition would result in 6 F2 phenotypes in a 6:3:3:2:1:1 ratio. Thus, we see that a cross involving two independently assorting pairs of genes results in a 9:3:3:1 Mendelian phenotype ratio only if dominance is complete. This ratio may differ, depending on the dominance conditions present in the original gene pairs. Also, two new phenotypes, tall/late and short/early, have been created in the F2 generation; these phenotypes differ from both parents and grand parents. This phenomenon is termed recombination and explains the frequent observation that like begets like, but not exactly like.

A polyhybrid back-cross with two unrelated gene pairs exhibits a 1:1 ratio of phenotypes as in the mono-hybrid back-cross. It should be noted that despite dominance influence, an F1 back-cross with the P1 homozygous-recessive yields the homozygous-recessive phenotype short/late 25% of the time, and by the same logic, a back cross with the homozygous-dominant parent will yield the homozygous dominant phenotype tall/early 25% of the time. Again, the back-cross proves invaluable in determining the F1 and P1 genotypes. Since all four phenotypes of the back-cross progeny contain at least one each of both recessive genes or one each of both dominant genes, the back-cross phenotype is a direct representation of the four possible gametes produced by the F1 hybrid.

So far we have discussed inheritance of traits con trolled by discrete pairs of unrelated genes. Gene inter action is the control of a trait by two or more gene pairs. In this case genotype ratios will remain the same but phenotype ratios may be altered. Consider a hypothetical example where 2 dominant gene pairs Pp and Cc control late-season anthocyanin pigmentation (purple color) in Cannabis. If P is present alone, only the leaves of the plant (under the proper environmental stimulus) will exhibit accumulated anthocyanin pigment and turn a purple color. If C is present alone, the plant will remain green through out its life cycle despite environmental conditions. If both are present, however, the calyxes of the plant will also exhibit accumulated anthocyanin and turn purple as the leaves do. Let us assume for now that this may be a desirable trait in Cannabis flowers. What breeding techniques can be used to produce this trait?

First, two homozygous true-breeding ~1 types are crossed and the phenotype ratio of the F1 offspring is observed.

The phenotypes of the F2 progeny show a slightly altered phenotype ratio of 9:3:4 instead of the expected 9:3:3:1 for independently assorting traits. If P and C must both be present for any anthocyanin pigmentation in leaves or calyxes, then an even more distorted phenotype ratio of 9:7 will appear.

Two gene pairs may interact in varying ways to pro duce varying phenotype ratios. Suddenly, the simple laws of inheritance have become more complex, but the data may still be interpreted.

Summary of Essential Points of Breeding

1 - The genotypes of plants are controlled by genes which are passed on unchanged from generation to generation.

2 - Genes occur in pairs, one from the gamete of the staminate parent and one from the gamete of the pistillate parent.

3 - When the members of a gene pair differ in their effect upon phenotype, the plant is termed hybrid or heterozygous.

4 - When the members of a pair of genes are equal in their effect upon phenotype, then they are termed true-breeding or homozygous.

5 - Pairs of genes controlling different phenotypic traits are (usually) inherited independently.

6 - Dominance relations and gene interaction can alter the phenotypic ratios of the F1, F2, and subsequent generations.


Polyploidy

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.

Warmke's work with polyploids shed light on the nature of sexual determination in Cannabis. He also illustrated that potency is genetically determined by creating a lower potency strain of hemp through selective breeding with low potency parents.

More recent research by A. I. Zhatov (1979) with fiber Cannabis showed that some economically valuable traits such as fiber quantity may be improved through polyploidy. Polyploids require more water and are usually more sensitive to changes in environment. Vegetative growth cycles are extended by up to 30-40% in polyploids. An extended vegetative period could delay the flowering of polyploid drug strains and interfere with the formation of floral clusters. It would be difficult to determine if cannabinoid levels had been raised by polyploidy if polyploid plants were not able to mature fully in the favorable part of the season when cannabinoid production is promoted by plentiful light and warm temperatures. Greenhouses and artificial lighting can be used to extend the season and test polyploid strains.

The height of tetraploid (4n) Cannabis in these experiments often exceeded the height of the original diploid plants by 25-30%. Tetraploids were intensely colored, with dark green leaves and stems and a well developed gross phenotype. Increased height and vigorous growth, as a rule, vanish in subsequent generations. Tetraploid plants often revert back to the diploid condition, making it difficult to support tetraploid populations. Frequent tests are performed to determine if ploidy is changing.

Triploid (3n) strains were formed with great difficulty by crossing artificially created tetraploids (4n) with dip bids (2n). Triploids proved to be inferior to both diploids and tetraploids in many cases.

De Pasquale et al. (1979) conducted experiments with Cannabis which was treated with 0.25% and 0.50% solutions of colchicine at the primary meristem seven days after generation. Treated plants were slightly taller and possessed slightly larger leaves than the controls, Anomalies in leaf growth occurred in 20% and 39%, respectively, of the surviving treated plants. In the first group (0.25%) cannabinoid levels were highest in the plants without anomalies, and in the second group (0.50%) cannabinoid levels were highest in plants with anomalies, Overall, treated plants showed a 166-250% increase in THC with respect to controls and a decrease of CBD (30-33%) and CBN (39-65%). CBD (cannabidiol) and CBN (cannabinol) are cannabinoids involved in the biosynthesis and degradation of THC. THC levels in the control plants were very low (less than 1%). Possibly colchicine or the resulting polyploidy interferes with cannabinoid biogenesis to favor THC. In treated plants with deformed leaf lamina, 90% of the cells are tetraploid (4n 40) and 10% diploid (2n 20). In treated plants without deformed lamina a few cells are tetraploid and the remainder are triploid or diploid.

The transformation of diploid plants to the tetraploid level inevitably results in the formation of a few plants with an unbalanced set of chromosomes (2n + 1, 2n - 1, etc.). These plants are called aneuploids. Aneuploids are inferior to polyploids in every economic respect. Aneuploid Cannabis is characterized by extremely small seeds. The weight of 1,000 seeds ranges from 7 to 9 grams (1/4 to 1/3 ounce). Under natural conditions diploid plants do not have such small seeds and average 14-19 grams (1/2-2/3 ounce) per 1,000 (Zhatov 1979).

Once again, little emphasis has been placed on the relationship between flower or resin production and polyploidy. Further research to determine the effect of polyploidy on these and other economically valuable traits of Cannabis is needed.

Colchicine is sold by laboratory supply houses, and breeders have used it to induce polyploidy in Cannabis. However, colchicine is poisonous, so special care is exercised by the breeder in any use of it. Many clandestine cultivators have started polyploid strains with colchicine. Except for changes in leaf shape and phyllotaxy, no out standing characteristics have developed in these strains and potency seems unaffected. However, none of the strains have been examined to determine if they are actually polyploid or if they were merely treated with colchicine to no effect. Seed treatment is the most effective and safest way to apply colchicine. * In this way, the entire plant growing from a colchicine-treated seed could be polyploid and if any colchicine exists at the end of the growing season the amount would be infinitesimal. Colchicine is nearly always lethal to Cannabis seeds, and in the treatment there is a very fine line between polyploidy and death. In other words, if 100 viable seeds are treated with colchicine and 40 of them germinate it is unlikely that the treatment induced polyploidy in any of the survivors. On the other hand, if 1,000 viable treated seeds give rise to 3 seedlings, the chances are better that they are polyploid since the treatment killed all of the seeds but those three. It is still necessary to determine if the offspring are actually polyploid by microscopic examination.

The work of Menzel (1964) presents us with a crude map of the chromosomes of Cannabis, Chromosomes 2-6 and 9 are distinguished by the length of each arm. Chromosome 1 is distinguished by a large knob on one end and a dark chromomere 1 micron from the knob. Chromosome 7 is extremely short and dense, and chromosome 8 is assumed to be the sex chromosome. In the future, chromosome *The word "safest" is used here as a relative term. Coichicine has received recent media attention as a dangerous poison and while these accounts are probably a bit too lurid, the real dangers of exposure to coichicine have not been fully researched. The possibility of bodily harm exists and this is multiplied when breeders inexperienced in handling toxins use colchicine. Seed treatment might be safer than spraying a grown plant but the safest method of all is to not use colchicine. mapping will enable us to picture the location of the genes influencing the phenotype of Cannabis. This will enable geneticists to determine and manipulate the important characteristics contained in the gene pool. For each trait the number of genes in control will be known, which chromosomes carry them, and where they are located along those chromosomes.

Breeding

All of the Cannabis grown in North America today originated in foreign lands. The diligence of our ancestors in their collection and sowing of seeds from superior plants, together with the forces of natural selection, have worked to create native strains with localized characteristics of resistance to pests, diseases, and weather conditions. In other words, they are adapted to particular niches in the ecosystem. This genetic diversity is nature's way of protecting a species. There is hardly a plant more flexible than Cannabis. As climate, diseases, and pests change, the strain evolves and selects new defenses, programmed into the genetic orders contained in each generation of seeds. Through the importation in recent times of fiber and drug Cannabis, a vast pool of genetic material has appeared in North America. Original fiber strains have escaped and become acclimatized (adapted to the environment), while domestic drug strains (from imported seeds) have, unfortunately, hybridized and acclimatized randomly, until many of the fine gene combinations of imported Cannabis have been lost.

Changes in agricultural techniques brought on by technological pressure, greed, and full-scale eradication programs have altered the selective pressures influencing Cannabis genetics. Large shipments of inferior Cannabis containing poorly selected seeds are appearing in North America and elsewhere, the result of attempts by growers and smugglers to supply an ever increasing market for marijuana. Older varieties of Cannabis, associated with long standing cultural patterns, may contain genes not found in the newer commercial varieties. As these older varieties and their corresponding cultures become extinct, this genetic information could be lost forever. The increasing popularity of Cannabis and the requirements of agricultural technology will call for uniform hybrid races that are likely to displace primitive populations worldwide.

Limitation of genetic diversity is certain to result from concerted inbreeding for uniformity. Should inbred Cannabis be attacked by some previously unknown pest or disease, this genetic uniformity could prove disastrous due to potentially resistant diverse genotypes having been dropped from the population. If this genetic complement of resistance cannot be reclaimed from primitive parental material, resistance cannot be introduced into the ravaged population. There may also be currently unrecognized favorable traits which could be irretrievably dropped from the Cannabis gene pool. Human intervention can create new phenotypes by selecting and recombining existing genetic variety, but only nature can create variety in the gene pool itself, through the slow process of random mutation.

This does not mean that importation of seed and selective hybridization are always detrimental. Indeed these principles are often the key to crop improvement, but only when applied knowledgeably and cautiously. The rapid search for improvements must not jeopardize the pool of original genetic information on which adaptation relies. At this time, the future of Cannabis lies in government and clandestine collections. These collections are often inadequate, poorly selected and badly maintained. Indeed, the United Nations Cannabis collection used as the primary seed stock for worldwide governmental research is depleted and spoiled.

Several steps must be taken to preserve our vanishing genetic resources, and action must be immediate:

• Seeds and pollen should be collected directly from reliable and knowledgeable sources. Government seizures and smuggled shipments are seldom reliable seed sources. The characteristics of both parents must be known; consequently, mixed bales of randomly pollinated marijuana are not suitable seed sources, even if the exact origin of the sample is certain. Direct contact should be made with the farmer-breeder responsible for carrying on the breeding traditions that have produced the sample. Accurate records of every possible parameter of growth must be kept with carefully stored triplicate sets of seeds.

• Since Cannabis seeds do not remain viable forever, even under the best storage conditions, seed samples should he replenished every third year. Collections should be planted in conditions as similar as possible to their original niche and allowed to reproduce freely to minimize natural and artificial selection of genes and ensure the preservation of the entire gene pool. Half of the original seed collection should be retained until the viability of further generations is confirmed, and to provide parental material for comparison and back-crossing. Phenotypic data about these subsequent generations should be carefully recorded to aid in understanding the genotypes contained in the collection. Favorable traits of each strain should be characterized and catalogued.

• It is possible that in the future, Cannabis cultivation for resale, or even personal use, may be legal but only for approved, patented strains. Special caution would be needed to preserve variety in the gene pool should the patenting of Cannabis strains become a reality.

• Favorable traits must be carefully integrated into existing strains.

The task outlined above is not an easy one, given the current legal restrictions on the collection of Cannabis seed. In spite of this, the conscientious cultivator is making a contribution toward preserving and improving the genetics of this interesting plant.

Even if a grower has no desire to attempt crop improvement, successful strains have to be protected so they do not degenerate and can be reproduced if lost. Left to the selective pressures of an introduced environment, most drug strains will degenerate and lose potency as they acclimatize to the new conditions. Let me cite an example of a typical grower with good intentions.

A grower in northern latitudes selected an ideal spot to grow a crop and prepared the soil well. Seeds were selected from the best floral clusters of several strains avail able over the past few years, both imported and domestic. Nearly all of the staminate plants were removed as they matured and a nearly seedless crop of beautiful plants resulted. After careful consideration, the few seeds from accidental pollination of the best flowers were kept for the following season, These seeds produced even bigger and better plants than the year before and seed collection was performed as before. The third season, most of the plants were not as large or desirable as the second season, but there were many good individuals. Seed collection and cultivation the fourth season resulted in plants inferior even to the first crop, and this trend continued year after year. What went wrong? The grower collected seed from the best plants each year and grew them under the same conditions. The crop improved the first year. Why did the strain degenerate?

This example illustrates the unconscious selection for undesirable traits. The hypothetical cultivator began well by selecting the best seeds available and growing them properly. The seeds selected for the second season resulted from random hybrid pollinations by early-flowering or overlooked staminate plants and by hermaphrodite pistil late plants. Many of these random pollen-parents may be undesirable for breeding since they may pass on tendencies toward premature maturation, retarded maturation, or hermaphrodism. However, the collected hybrid seeds pro duce, on the average, larger and more desirable offspring than the first season. This condition is called hybrid vigor and results from the hybrid crossing of two diverse gene pools. The tendency is for many of the dominant characteristics from both parents to be transmitted to the F1 off spring, resulting in particularly large and vigorous plants. This increased vigor due to recombination of dominant genes often raises the cannabinoid level of the F1 offspring, but hybridization also opens up the possibility that undesirable (usually recessive) genes may form pairs and express their characteristics in the F2 offspring. Hybrid vigor may also mask inferior qualities due to abnormally rapid growth. During the second season, random pollinations again accounted for a few seeds and these were collected. This selection draws on a huge gene pool and the possible F2 combinations are tremendous. By the third season the gene pool is tending toward early-maturing plants that are acclimatized to their new conditions instead of the drug-producing conditions of their native environment. These acclimatized members of the third crop have a higher chance of maturing viable seeds than the parental types, and random pollinations will again increase the numbers of acclimatized individuals, and thereby increase the chance that undesirable characteristics associated with acclimatization will be transmitted to the next F2 generation. This effect is compounded from generation to generation and finally results in a fully acclimatized weed strain of little drug value.

With some care the breeder can avoid these hidden dangers of unconscious selection. Definite goals are vital to progress in breeding Cannabis. What qualities are desired in a strain that it does not already exhibit? What characteristics does a strain exhibit that are unfavorable and should be bred out? Answers to these questions suggest goals for breeding. In addition to a basic knowledge of Cannabis botany, propagation, and genetics, the successful breeder also becomes aware of the most minute differences and similarities in phenotype. A sensitive rapport is established between breeder and plants and at the same time strict guidelines are followed. A simplified explanation of the time-tested principles of plant breeding shows how this works in practice.

Selection is the first and most important step in the breeding of any plant. The work of the great breeder and plant wizard Luther Burbank stands as a beacon to breeders of exotic strains. His success in improving hundreds of flower, fruit, and vegetable crops was the result of his meticulous selection of parents from hundreds of thou sands of seedlings and adults from the world over.

Bear in mind that in the production of any new plant, selection plays the all-important part. First, one must get clearly in mind the kind of plant he wants, then breed and select to that end, always choosing through a series of years the plants which are approaching nearest the ideal, and rejecting all others.

•Luther Burbank (in James, 1964)

Proper selection of prospective parents is only possible if the breeder is familiar with the variable characteristics of Cannabis that may be genetically controlled, has a way to accurately measure these variations, and has established goals for improving these characteristics by selective breeding. A detailed list of variable traits of Cannabis, including parameters of variation for each trait and comments pertaining to selective breeding for or against it, are found at the end of this chapter. By selecting against unfavorable traits while selecting for favorable ones, the unconscious breeding of poor strains is avoided.

The most important part of Burbank's message on selection tells breeders to choose the plants "which are approaching nearest the ideal," and REJECT ALL OTHERS! Random pollinations do not allow the control needed to reject the undesirable parents. Any staminate plant that survives detection and roguing (removal from the population), or any stray staminate branch on a pistillate her maphrodite may become a pollen parent for the next generation. Pollination must be controlled so that only the pollen- and seed-parents that have been carefully selected for favorable traits will give rise to the next generation.

Selection is greatly improved if one has a large sample to choose from! The best plant picked from a group of 10 has far less chance of being significantly different from its fellow seedlings than the best plant selected from a sample of 100,000. Burbank often made his initial selections of parents from samples of up to 500,000 seedlings. Difficulties arise for many breeders because they lack the space to keep enough examples of each strain to allow a significant selection. A Cannabis breeder's goals are restricted by the amount of space available. Formulating a well defined goal lowers the number of individuals needed to perform effective crosses. Another technique used by breeders since the time of Burbank is to make early selections. Seedling plants take up much less space than adults. Thousands of seeds can be germinated in a flat. A flat takes up the same space as a hundred 10-centimeter (4-inch) sprouts or six-teen 30-centimeter (12-inch) seedlings or one 60-centimeter (24-inch) juvenile. An adult plant can easily take up as much space as a hundred flats. Simple arithmetic shows that as many as 10,000 sprouts can be screened in the space required by each mature plant, provided enough seeds are available. Seeds of rare strains are quite valuable and exotic; however, careful selection applied to thousands of individuals, even of such common strains as those from Colombia or Mexico, may produce better offspring than plants from a rare strain where there is little or no opportunity for selection after germination. This does not mean that rare strains are not valuable, but careful selection is even more important to successful breeding. The random pollinations that produce the seeds in most imported marijuana assure a hybrid condition which results in great seed ling diversity. Distinctive plants are not hard to discover if the seedling sample is large enough.

Traits considered desirable when breeding Cannabis often involve the yield and quality of the final product, but these characteristics can only be accurately measured after the plant has been harvested and long after it is possible to select or breed it. Early seedling selection, therefore, only works for the most basic traits. These are selected first, and later selections focus on the most desirable characteristics exhibited by juvenile or adult plants. Early traits often give clues to mature phenotypic expression, and criteria for effective early seedling selection are easy to establish. As an example, particularly tall and thin seedlings might prove to be good parents for pulp or fiber production, while seed lings of short internode length and compound branching may be more suitable for flower production. However, many important traits to be selected for in Cannabis floral clusters cannot be judged until long after the parents are gone, so many crosses are made early and selection of seeds made at a later date.

Hybridization is the process of mixing differing gene pools to produce offspring of great genetic variation from which distinctive individuals can be selected. The wind performs random hybridization in nature. Under cultivation, breeders take over to produce specific, controlled hybrids. This process is also known as cross-pollination, cross-fertilization, or simply crossing. If seeds result, they will produce hybrid offspring exhibiting some characteristics from each parent.

Large amounts of hybrid seed are most easily produced by planting two strains side by side, removing the staininate plants of the seed strain, and allowing nature to take its course. Pollen- or seed-sterile strains could be developed for the production of large amounts of hybrid seed without the labor of thinning; however, genes for sterility are rare. It is important to remember that parental weak nesses are transmitted to offspring as well as strengths. Because of this, the most vigorous, healthy plants are al ways used for hybrid crosses.

Also, sports (plants or parts of plants carrying and expressing spontaneous mutations) most easily transmit mutant genes to the offspring if they are used as pollen parents. If the parents represent diverse gene pools, hybrid vigor results, because dominant genes tend to carry valuable traits and the differing dominant genes inherited from each parent mask recessive traits inherited from the other. This gives rise to particularly large, healthy individuals. To increase hybrid vigor in offspring, parents of different geo graphic origins are selected since they will probably represent more diverse gene pools.

Occasionally hybrid offspring will prove inferior to both parents, but the first generation may still contain recessive genes for a favorable characteristic seen in a parent if the parent was homozygous for that trait. First generation (F1) hybrids are therefore inbred to allow recessive genes to recombine and express the desired parental trait. Many breeders stop with the first cross and never realize the genetic potential of their strain. They fail to produce an F2 generation by crossing or self-pollinating F1 offspring. Since most domestic Cannabis strains are F1 hybrids for many characteristics, great diversity and recessive recombination can result from inbreeding domestic hybrid strains. In this way the breeding of the F1 hybrids has already been accomplished, and a year is saved by going directly to F2 hybrids. These F2 hybrids are more likely to express recessive parental traits. From the F2 hybrid generation selections can be made for parents which are used to start new true-breeding strains. Indeed, F2 hybrids might appear with more extreme characteristics than either of the P~ parents. (For example, P1 high-THC X P1 low-THC yields F1 hybrids of intermediate THC content. Selfing the F1 yields F2 hybrids, of both P1 [high and low THC] phenotypes, inter mediate F1 phenotypes, and extra-high THC as well as extra-low THC phenotypes.)

Also, as a result of gene recombination, F1 hybrids are not true-breeding and must be reproduced from the original parental strains. When breeders create hybrids they try to produce enough seeds to last for several successive years of cultivation, After initial field tests, undesirable hybrid seeds are destroyed and desirable hybrid seeds stored for later use. If hybrids are to be reproduced, a clone is saved from each parental plant to preserve original parental genes.

Back-crossing is another technique used to produce offspring with reinforced parental characteristics. In this case, a cross is made between one of the F~ or subsequent offspring and either of the parents expressing the desired trait. Once again this provides a chance for recombination and possible expression of the selected parental trait. Back-crossing is a valuable way of producing new strains, but it is often difficult because Cannabis is an annual, so special care is taken to save parental stock for back-crossing the following year. Indoor lighting or greenhouses can be used to protect breeding stock from winter weather. In tropical areas plants may live outside all year. In addition to saving particular parents, a successful breeder always saves many seeds from the original P1 group that produced the valuable characteristic so that other P1 plants also exhibiting the characteristic can be grown and selected for back-crossing at a later time.

Several types of breeding are summarized as follows:

1 - Crossing two varieties having outstanding qualities (hybridization).

2 - Crossing individuals from the F1 generation or selfing F1 individuals to realize the possibilities of the original cross (differentiation).

3 - Back crossing to establish original parental types.

4 - Crossing two similar true-breeding (homozygous) varieties to preserve a mutual trait and restore vigor.

It should be noted that a hybrid plant is not usually hybrid for all characteristics nor does a true-breeding strain breed true for all characteristics. When discussing crosses, we are talking about the inheritance of one or a few traits only. The strain may be true-breeding for only a few traits, hybrid for the rest. Monohybrid crosses involve one trait, dihybrid crosses involve two traits, and so forth. Plants have certain limits of growth, and breeding can only pro duce a plant that is an expression of some gene already present in the total gene pool. Nothing is actually created by breeding; it is merely the recombination of existing genes into new genotypes. But the possibilities of recombination are nearly limitless.

The most common use of hybridization is to cross two outstanding varieties. Hybrids can be produced by crossing selected individuals from different high-potency strains of different origins, such as Thailand and Mexico. These two parents may share only the characteristic of high psycho activity and differ in nearly every other respect. From this great exchange of genes many phenotypes may appear in the F2 generation. From these offspring the breeder selects individuals that express the best characteristics of the parents. As an example, consider some of the offspring from the P1 (parental) cross: Mexico X Thailand. In this case, genes for high drug content are selected from both parents while other desirable characteristics can be selected from either one. Genes for large stature and early maturation are selected from the Mexican seed-parent, and genes for large calyx size and sweet floral aroma are selected from the Thai pollen parent. Many of the F1 offspring exhibit several of the desired characteristics. To further promote gene segregation, the plants most nearly approaching the ideal are crossed among themselves. The F2 generation is a great source of variation and recessive expression. In the F2 generation there are several individuals out of many that exhibit all five of the selected characteristics. Now the process of inbreeding begins, using the desirable F2 parents.

If possible, two or more separate lines are started, never allowing them to interbreed. In this case one accept able staminate plant is selected along with two pistillate plants (or vice versa). Crosses between the pollen parent and the two seed parents result in two lines of inheritance with slightly differing genetics, but each expressing the desired characteristics. Each generation will produce new, more acceptable combinations.

If two inbred strains are crossed, F1 hybrids will be less variable than if two hybrid strains are crossed. This comes from limiting the diversity of the gene pools in the two strains to be hybridized through previous inbreeding. Further independent selection and inbreeding of the best plants for several generations will establish two strains which are true-breeding for all the originally selected traits. This means that all the offspring from any parents in the strain will give rise to seedlings which all exhibit the selected traits. Successive inbreeding may by this time have resulted in steady decline in the vigor of the strain.

When lack of vigor interferes with selecting phenotypes for size and hardiness, the two separately selected strains can then be interbred to recombine nonselected genes and restore vigor. This will probably not interfere with breeding for the selected traits unless two different gene systems control the same trait in the two separate lines, and this is highly unlikely. Now the breeder has produced a hybrid strain that breeds true for large size, early maturation, large sweet-smelling calyxes, and high THC level. The goal has been reached!

Wind pollination and dioecious sexuality favor a heterozygous gene pool in Cannabis. Through Anbreeding, hybrids are adapted from a heterozygous gene pool to a homozygous gene pool, providing the genetic stability needed to create true-breeding strains. Establishing pure strains enables the breeder to make hybrid crosses with a better chance of predicting the outcome. Hybrids can be created that are not reproducible in the F2 generation. Commercial strains of seeds could be developed that would have to be purchased each year, because the F1 hybrids of two pure-bred lines do not breed true. Thus, a seed breeder can protect the investment in the results of breeding, since it would be nearly impossible to reproduce the parents from F2 seeds.

At this time it seems unlikely that a plant patent would be awarded for a pure-breeding strain of drug Cannabis. In the future, however, with the legalization of cultivation, it is a certainty that corporations with the time, space, and money to produce pure and hybrid strains of Cannabis will apply for patents. It may be legal to grow only certain patented strains produced by large seed companies. Will this be how government and industry combine to control the quality and quantity of "drug" Cannabis?

Acclimatization

Much of the breeding effort of North American cultivators is concerned with acclimatizing high-THC strains of equatorial origin to the climate of their growing area while preserving potency. Late-maturing, slow, and irregularly flowering strains like those of Thailand have difficulty maturing in many parts of North America. Even in a green house, it may not be possible to mature plants to their full native potential.

To develop an early-maturing and rapidly flowering 8train, a breeder may hybridize as in the previous example. However, if it is important to preserve unique imported genetics, hybridizing may be inadvisable. Alternatively, a pure cross is made between two or more Thai plants that most closely approach the ideal in blooming early. At this point the breeder may ignore many other traits and aim at breeding an earlier-maturing variety of a pure Thai strain. This strain may still mature considerably later than is ideal for the particular location unless selective pressure is exerted. If further crosses are made with several individuals that satisfy other criteria such as high THC content, these may be used to develop another pure Thai strain of high THC content. After these true-breeding lines have been established, a dihybrid pure cross can be made in an attempt to produce an F1 generation containing early-maturing, high-THC strains of pure Thai genetics, in other words, an acclimatized drug strain.

Crosses made without a clear goal in mind lead to strains that acclimatize while losing many favorable characteristics. A successful breeder is careful not to overlook a characteristic that may prove useful. It is imperative that original imported Cannabis genetics be preserved intact to protect the species from loss of genetic variety through excessive hybridization. A currently unrecognized gene may be responsible for controlling resistance to a pest or disease, and it may only be possible to breed for this gene by back-crossing existing strains to original parental gene pools.

Once pure breeding lines have been established, plant breeders classify and statistically analyze the offspring to determine the patterns of inheritance for that trait. This is the system used by Gregor Mendel to formulate the basic laws of inheritance and aid the modern breeder in predicting the outcome of crosses,

1 - Two pure lines of Cannabis that differ in a particular trait are located.

2 - These two pure-breeding lines are crossed to pro duce an F1 generation.

3 - The F1 generation is inbred.

4 - The offspring of the F1 and F2 generations are classified with regard to the trait being studied.

5- The results are analyzed statistically.

6 - The results are compared to known patterns of inheritance so the nature of the genes being selected for can be characterized.

Chap 3: Genetics and Breeding of Cannabis Part 2/3
Chapter 3 - Genetics and Breeding of Cannabis



Fixing Traits

Fixing traits (producing homozygous offspring) in Cannabis strains is more difficult than it is in many other flowering plants. With monoecious strains or hermaphrodites it is possible to fix traits by self-pollinating an individual exhibiting favorable traits. In this case one plant acts as both mother and father. However, most strains of Cannabis are dioecious, and unless hermaphroditic reactions can be induced, another parent exhibiting the trait is required to fix the trait. If this is not possible, the unique individual may be crossed with a plant not exhibiting the trait, inbred in the F1 generation, and selections of parents exhibiting the favorable trait made from the F2 generation, but this is very difficult.

If a trait is needed for development of a dioecious strain it might first be discovered in a monoecious strain and then fixed through selfing and selecting homozygous offspring. Dioecious individuals can then be selected from the monoecious population and these individuals crossed to breed out monoecism in subsequent generations.

Galoch (1978) indicated that gibberellic acid (GA3) promoted stamen production while indoleacetic acid (IAA), ethrel, and kinetin promoted pistil production in prefloral dioecious Cannabis. Sex alteration has several useful applications. Most importantly, if only one parent expressing a desirable trait can be found, it is difficult to perform a cross unless it happens to be a hermaphrodite plant. Hormones might be used to change the sex of a cutting from the desirable plant, and this cutting used to mate with it. This is most easily accomplished by changing a pistillate cutting to a staminate (pollen) parent, using a spray of 100 ppm gibberellic acid in water each day for five consecutive days. Within two weeks staminate flowers may appear. Pollen can then be collected for selfing with the original pistillate parent. Offspring from the cross should also be mostly pistillate since the breeder is selfing for pistillate sexuality. Staminate parents reversed to pistillate floral production make inferior seed-parents since few pistillate flowers and seeds are formed.

If entire crops could be manipulated early in life to produce all pistillate or staminate plants, seed production and seedless drug Cannabis production would be greatly facilitated.

Sex reversal for breeding can also be accomplished by mutilation and by photoperiod alteration. A well-rooted, flourishing cutting from the parent plant is pruned back to 25% of its original size and stripped of all its remaining flowers. New growth will appear within a few days, and several flowers of reversed sexual type often appear. Flowers of the unwanted sex are removed until the cutting is needed for fertilization. Extremely short light cycles (6-8 hour photoperiod) can also cause sex reversal. How ever, this process takes longer and is much more difficult to perform in the field.

Genotype and Phenotype Ratios

It must be remembered, in attempting to fix favorable characteristics, that a monohybrid cross gives rise to four possible recombinant genotypes, a dihybrid cross gives rise to 16 possible recombinant genotypes, and so forth.

Phenotype and genotype ratios are probabilistic. If recessive genes are desired for three traits it is not effective to raise only 64 offspring and count on getting one homozygous recessive individual. To increase the probability of success it is better to raise hundreds of offspring, choosing only the best homozygous recessive individuals as future parents. All laws of inheritance are based on chance and offspring may not approach predicted ratios until many more have been phenotypically characterized and grouped than the theoretical minimums.

The genotype of each individual is expressed by a mosaic of thousands of subtle overlapping traits. It is the sum total of these traits that determines the general phenotype of an individual. It is often difficult to determine if the characteristic being selected is one trait or the blending of several traits and whether these traits are controlled by one or several pairs of genes. It often makes little difference that a breeder does not have plants that are proven to breed true. Breeding goals can still be established. The selfing of F1 hybrids will often give rise to the variation needed in the F2 generation for selecting parents for subsequent generations, even if the characteristics of the original parents of the F1 hybrid are not known. It is in the following generations that fixed characteristics appear and the breeding of pure strains can begin. By selecting and crossing individuals that most nearly approach the ideal described by the breeding goals, the variety can be continuously improved even if the exact patterns of inheritance are never deter mined. Complementary traits are eventually combined into one line whose seeds reproduce the favorable parental traits. Inbreeding strains also allows weak recessive traits to express themselves and these abnormalities must be diligently removed from the breeding population. After five or six generations, strains become amazingly uniform. Vigor is occasionally restored by crossing with other lines or by backcrossing.

Parental plants are selected which most nearly approach the ideal. If a desirable trait is not expressed by the parent, it is much less likely to appear in the offspring. It is imperative that desirable characteristics be hereditary and not primarily the result of environment and cultivation. Acquired traits are not hereditary and cannot be made hereditary. Breeding for as few traits as possible at one time greatly increases the chance of success. In addition to the specific traits chosen as the aims of breeding, parents are selected which possess other generally desirable traits such as vigor and size. Determinations of dominance and recessiveness can only be made by observing the outcome of many crosses, although wild traits often tend to be dominant. This is one of the keys to adaptive survival. However, all the possible combinations will appear in the F2 generation if it is large enough, regardless of dominance.

Now, after further simplifying this wonderful system of inheritance, there are additional exceptions to the rules which must be explored. In some cases, a pair of genes may control a trait but a second or third pair of genes is needed to express this trait. This is known as gene inter action. No particular genetic attribute in which we may be interested is totally isolated from other genes and the effects of environment. Genes are occasionally transferred in groups instead of assorting independently. This is known as gene linkage, These genes are spaced along the same chromosome and may or may not control the same trait. The result of linkage might be that one trait cannot be inherited without another. At times, traits are associated with the X and Y sex chromosomes and they may be limited to expression in only one sex (sex linkage). Crossing over also interferes with the analysis of crosses. Crossing over is the exchanging of entire pieces of genetic material between two chromosomes. This can result in two genes that are normally linked appearing on separate chromosomes where they will be independently inherited. All of these processes can cause crosses to deviate from the expected Mendelian outcome. Chance is a major factor in breeding Cannabis, or any introduced plant, and the more crosses a breeder attempts the higher are the chances of success.

Variate, isolate, intermate, evaluate, multiplicate, and disseminate are the key words in plant improvement. A plant breeder begins by producing or collecting various prospective parents from which the most desirable ones are selected and isolated. Intermating of the select parents results in offspring which must be evaluated for favorable characteristics. If evaluation indicates that the offspring are not improved, then the process is repeated. Improved off spring are multiplied and disseminated for commercial use. Further evaluation in the field is necessary to check for uniformity and to choose parents for further intermating. This cyclic approach provides a balanced system of plant improvement.

The basic nature of Cannabis makes it challenging to breed. Wind pollination and dioecious sexuality, which account for the great adaptability in Cannabis, cause many problems in breeding, but none of these are insurmountable. Developing a knowledge and feel for the plant is more important than memorizing Mendelian ratios. The words of the great Luther Burbank say it well,
"Heredity is indelibly fixed by repetition."

The first set of traits concerns Cannabis plants as a whole while the remainder concern the qualities of seedlings, leaves, fibers, and flowers. Finally a list of various Cannabis strains is provided along with specific characteristics. Following this order, basic and then specific selections of favorable characteristics can be made.

List of Favorable Traits of Cannabis in Which Variation Occurs:

1. General Traits

a) Size and Yield

b) Vigor

c) Adaptability

d) Hardiness

e) Disease and Pest Resistance

f) Maturation

g) Root Production

h) Branching

i) Sex

2. Seedling Traits

3. Leaf Traits

4. Fiber Traits

5. Floral Traits

a) Shape

b) Form

c) Calyx Size

d) Color

e) Cannabinoid Level

f) Taste and Aroma

g) Persistence of Aromatic Principles and Cannabinoids

h) Trichome Type

i) Resin Quantity and Quality

j) Resin Tenacity

k) Drying and Curing Rate

I) Ease of Manicuring

m) Seed Characteristics

n) Maturation

o) Flowering

p) Ripening

q) Cannabinoid Profile

6. Gross Phenotypes of Cannabis Strains

1. General Traits

a) Size and Yield - The size of an individual Cannabis plant is determined by environmental factors such as room for root and shoot growth, adequate light and nutrients, and proper irrigation. These environmental factors influence the phenotypic image of genotype, but the genotype of the individual is responsible for overall variations in gross morphology, including size. Grown under the same conditions, particularly large and small individuals are easily spotted and selected. Many dwarf Cannabis plants have been re ported and dwarfism may be subject to genetic control, as it is in many higher plants, such as dwarf corn and citrus. Cannabis parents selected for large size tend to produce offspring of a larger average size each year. Hybrid crosses between tall (Cannabis sativa-Mexico) strains and short (Cannabis ruderalis-Russia) strains yield F1 offspring of intermediate height (Beutler and der Marderosian 1978). Hybrid vigor, however, will influence the size of offspring more than any other genetic factor. The increased size of hybrid offspring is often amazing and accounts for much of the success of Cannabis cultivators in raising large plants. It is not known whether there is a set of genes for "gigantism" in Cannabis or whether polyploid individuals really yield more than diploid due to increased chromosome count. Tetraploids tend to be taller and their water re quirements are often higher than diploids. Yield is determined by the overall production of fiber, seed, or resin and selective breeding can be used to increase the yield of any one of these products. However, several of these traits may be closely related, and it may be impossible to breed for one without the other (gene linkage). Inbreeding of a pure strain increases yield only if high yield parents are selected. High yield plants, staminate or pistillate, are not finally selected until the plants are dried and manicured. Because of this, many of the most vigorous plants are crossed and seeds selected after harvest when the yield can be measured.

b) Vigor - Large size is often also a sign of healthy vigorous growth. A plant that begins to grow immediately will usually reach a larger size and produce a higher yield in a short growing season than a sluggish, slow-growing plant. Parents are always selected for rich green foliage and rapid, responsive growth. This will ensure that genes for certain weaknesses in overall growth and development are bred out of the population while genes for strength and vigor remain.

c) Adaptability - It is important for a plant with a wide distribution such as Cannabis to be adaptable to many different environmental conditions. Indeed, Cannabis is one of the most genotypically diverse and phenotypically plastic plants on earth; as a result it has adapted to environ mental conditions ranging from equatorial to temperate climates. Domestic agricultural circumstances also dictate that Cannabis must be grown under a great variety of conditions,

Plants to be selected for adaptability are cloned and grown in several locations. The parental stocks with the highest survival percentages can be selected as prospective parents for an adaptable strain. Adaptability is really just another term for hardiness under varying growth conditions.

d) Hardiness - The hardiness of a plant is its overall resistance to heat and frost, drought and overwatering, and so on. Plants with a particular resistance appear when adverse conditions lead to the death of the rest of a large population. The surviving few members of the population might carry inheritable resistance to the environmental factor that destroyed the majority of the population. Breeding these survivors, subjecting the offspring to continuing stress conditions, and selecting carefully for several generations should result in a pure-breeding strain with increased resistance to drought, frost, or excessive heat.

e) Disease and Pest Resistance - In much the same way as for hardiness a strain may be bred for resistance to a certain disease, such as damping-off fungus. If flats of seedlings are infected by damping-off disease and nearly all of them die, the remaining few will have some resistance to damping-off fungus. If this resistance is inheritable, it can be passed on to subsequent generations by crossing these surviving plants. Subsequent crossing, tested by inoculating flats of seedling offspring with damping-off fungus, should yield a more resistant strain.

Resistance to pest attack works in much the same way. It is common to find stands of Cannabis where one or a few plants are infested with insects while adjacent plants are untouched. Cannabinoid and terpenoid resins are most probably responsible for repelling insect attack, and levels of these vary from plant to plant. Cannabis has evolved defenses against insect attack in the form of resin-secreting glandular trichomes, which cover the reproductive and associated vegetative structures of mature plants. Insects, finding the resin disagreeable, rarely attack mature Cannabis flowers. However, they may strip the outer leaves of the same plant because these develop fewer glandular tri chomes and protective resins than the flowers. Non-glandular cannabinoids and other compounds produced within leaf and stem tissues which possibly inhibit insect attack, may account for the varying resistance of seedlings and vegetative juvenile plants to pest infestation. With the popularity of greenhouse Cannabis cultivation, a strain is needed with increased resistance to mold, mite, aphid,- or white fly infestation. These problems are often so severe that greenhouse cultivators destroy any plants which are attacked. Molds usually reproduce by wind-borne spores, so negligence can rapidly lead to epidemic disaster. Selection and breeding of the least infected plants should result in strains with increased resistance.

f) Maturation - Control of the maturation of Cannabis is very important no matter what the reason for growing it. If Cannabis is to be grown for fiber it is important that the maximum fiber content of the crop be reached early and that all of the individuals in the crop mature at the same time to facilitate commercial harvesting. Seed production requires the even maturation of both pollen and seed parents to ensure even setting and maturation of seeds. An uneven maturation of seeds would mean that some seeds would drop and be lost while others are still ripening. An understanding of floral maturation is the key to the production of high quality drug Cannabis. Changes in gross morphology are accompanied by changes in cannabinoid and terpenoid production and serve as visual keys to deter mining the ripeness of Cannabis flowers.

A Cannabis plant may mature either early or late, be fast or slow to flower, and ripen either evenly or sequentially.

Breeding for early or late maturation is certainly a reality; it is also possible to breed for fast or slow flowering and even or sequential ripening. In general, crosses between early-maturing plants give rise to early-maturing offspring, crosses between late-maturing plants give rise to late-maturing offspring, and crosses between late- and early-maturing plants give rise to offspring of intermediate maturation. This seems to indicate that maturation of Cannabis is not controlled by the simple dominance and recessiveness of one gene but probably results from incomplete dominance and a combination of genes for separate aspects of maturation. For instance, Sorghum maturation is controlled by four separate genes. The sum of these genes produces a certain phenotype for maturation. Al though breeders do not know the action of each specific gene, they still can breed for the total of these traits and achieve results more nearly approaching the goal of timely maturation than the parental strains.

g) Root Production - The size and shape of Cannabis root systems vary greatly. Although every embryo sends out a taproot from which lateral roots grow, the individual growth pattern and final size and shape of the roots vary considerably. Some plants send out a deep taproot, up to 1 meter (39 inches) long, which helps support the plant against winds and rain. Most Cannabis plants, however, produce a poor taproot which rarely extends more than 30 centimeters (1 foot). Lateral growth is responsible for most of the roots in Cannabis plants. These fine lateral roots offer the plant additional support but their primary function is to absorb water and nutrients from the soil. A large root system will be able to feed and support a large plant. Most lateral roots grow near the surface of the soil where there is more water, more oxygen, and more avail able nutrients. Breeding for root size and shape may prove beneficial for the production of large rain- and wind-resistant strains. Often Cannabis plants, even very large ones, have very small and sensitive root systems. Recently, certain alkaloids have been discovered in the roots of Cannabis that might have some medical value. If this proves the case, Cannabis may be cultivated and bred for high alkaloid levels in the roots to be used in the commercial production of pharmaceuticals.

As with many traits, it is difficult to make selections for root types until the parents are harvested. Because of this many crosses are made early and seeds selected later.

h) Branching - The branching pattern of a Cannabis plant is determined by the frequency of nodes along each branch and the extent of branching at each node. For examples, consider a tall, thin plant with slender limbs made up of long internodes and nodes with little branching (Oaxaca, Mexico strain). Compare this with a stout, densely branched plant with limbs of short internodes and highly branched nodes (Hindu Kush hashish strains). Different branching patterns are preferred for the different agricultural applications of fiber, flower, or resin production. Tall, thin plants with long internodes and no branching are best adapted to fiber production; a short, broad plant with short inter nodes and well developed branching is best adapted to floral production. Branching structure is selected that will tolerate heavy rains and high winds without breaking. This is quite advantageous to outdoor growers in temperate zones with short seasons. Some breeders select tall, limber plants (Mexico) which bend in the wind; others select short, stiff plants (Hindu Kush) which resist the weight of water without bending.

i) Sex - Attempts to breed offspring of only one sexual type have led to more misunderstanding than any other facet of Cannabis genetics. The discoveries of McPhee (1925) and Schaffner (1928) showed that pure sexual type and hermaphrodite conditions are inherited and that the percentage of sexual types could be altered by crossing with certain hermaphrodites. Since then it has generally been assumed by researchers and breeders that a cross between ANY unselected hermaphrodite plant and a pistillate seed-parent should result in a population of all pistillate offspring. This is not the case. In most cases, the offspring of hermaphrodite parents tend toward hermaphrodism, which is largely unfavorable for the production of Cannabis other than fiber hemp. This is not to say that there is no tendency for hermaphrodite crosses to alter sex ratios in the offspring. The accidental release of some pollen from predominantly pistillate hermaphrodites, along with the complete eradication of nearly every staminate and staminate hermaphrodite plant may have led to a shift in sexual ratio in domestic populations of sinsemilla drug Cannabis. It is commonly observed that these strains tend toward 60% to 80% pistillate plants and a few pistillate hermaphrodites are not uncommon in these populations.

However, a cross can be made which will produce nearly all pistillate or staminate individuals. If the proper pistillate hermaphrodite plant is selected as the pollen-parent and a pure pistillate plant is selected as the seed-parent it is possible to produce an F1, and subsequent generations, of nearly all pistillate offspring. The proper pistillate hermaphrodite pollen-parent is one which has grown as a pure pistillate plant and at the end of the sea son, or under artificial environmental stress, begins to develop a very few staminate flowers. If pollen from these few staminate flowers forming on a pistillate plant is applied to a pure pistillate seed parent, the resulting F1 generation should be almost all pistillate with only a few pistillate hermaphrodites. This will also be the case if the selected pistillate hermaphrodite pollen source is selfed and bears its own seeds. Remember that a selfed hermaphrodite gives rise to more hermaphrodites, but a selfed pistillate plant that has given rise to a limited number of staminate flowers in response to environmental stresses should give rise to nearly all pistillate offspring. The F1 offspring may have a slight tendency to produce a few staminate flowers under further environmental stress and these are used to produce F2 seed. A monoecious strain produces 95+% plants with many pistillate and staminate flowers, but a dioecious strain produces 95+% pure pistillate or staminate plants. A plant from a dioecious strain with a few inter sexual flowers is a pistillate or staminate hermaphrodite. Therefore, the difference between monoecism and her maphrodism is one of degree, determined by genetics and environment.

Crosses may also be performed to produce nearly all staminate offspring. This is accomplished by crossing a pure staminate plant with a staminate plant that has produced a few pistillate flowers due to environmental stress, or selfing the latter plant. It is readily apparent that in the wild this is not a likely possibility. Very few staminate plants live long enough to produce pistillate flowers, and when this does happen the number of seeds produced is limited to the few pistillate flowers that occur. In the case of a pistillate hermaphrodite, it may produce only a few staminate flowers, but each of these may produce thou sands of pollen grains, any one of which may fertilize one of the plentiful pistillate flowers, producing a seed. This is another reason that natural Cannabis populations tend toward predominantly pistillate and pistillate hermaphrodite plants. Artificial hermaphrodites can be produced by hormone sprays, mutilation, and altered light cycles. These should prove most useful for fixing traits and sexual type.

Drug strains are selected for strong dioecious tendencies. Some breeders select strains with a sex ratio more nearly approaching one than a strain with a high pistillate sex ratio. They believe this reduces the chances of pistillate plants turning hermaphrodite later in the season.

2. Seedling Traits

Seedling traits can be very useful in the efficient and purposeful selection of future parental stock. If accurate selection can be exercised on small seedlings, much larger populations can be grown for initial selection, as less space is required to raise small seedlings than mature plants. Whorled phyllotaxy and resistance to damping-off are two traits that may be selected just after emergence of the embryo from the soil. Early selection for vigor, hardiness, resistance, and general growth form may be made when the seedlings are from 30 to 90 centimeters (1 to 3 feet) tall. Leaf type, height, and branching are other criteria for early selection. These early-selected plants cannot be bred until they mature, but selection is the primary and most important step in plant improvement.

Whorled phyllotaxy is associated with subsequent anomalies in the growth cycle (i.e., multiple leaflets and flattened or clubbed stems). Also, most whorled plants are staminate and whorled phyllotaxy may be sex-linked.

3. Leaf Traits

Leaf traits vary greatly from strain to strain. In addition to these regularly occurring variations in leaves, there are a number of mutations and possible traits in leaf shape. It may turn out that leaf shape is correlated with other traits in Cannabis. Broad leaflets might be associated with a low calyx-to-leaf ratio and narrow leaflets might be associated with a high calyx-to-leaf ratio. If this is the case, early selection of seedlings by leaflet shape could determine the character of the flowering clusters at harvest. Both compound and webbed leaf variations seem to be hereditary, as are general leaf characteristics. A breeder may wish to develop a unique leaf shape for an ornamental strain or increase leaf yield for pulp production.

A peculiar leaf mutation was reported from an F1-Colombian plant in which two leaves on the plant, at the time of flowering, developed floral clusters of 5-10 pistil late calyxes at the intersection of the leaflet array and the petiole attachment, on the adaxial (top) side of the leaf. One of these clusters developed a partial staminate flower but fertilization was unsuccessful. It is unknown if this mutation is hereditary.

From Afghanistan, another example has been observed with several small floral clusters along the petioles of many of the large primary leaves.

4. Fiber Traits

More advanced breeding has occurred in fiber strains than any other type of Cannabis. Over the years many strains have been developed with improved maturation, in creased fiber content, and improved fiber quality as regards length, strength, and suppleness. Extensive breeding programs have been carried on in France, Italy, Russia, and the United States to develop better varieties of fiber Cannabis. Tall limbless strains that are monoecious are most desirable. Monoeciousness is favored, because in dioecious populations the staminate plants will mature first and the fibers will become brittle before the pistillate plants are ready for harvest. The fiber strains of Europe are divided into northern and southern varieties. The latter require higher temperatures and a longer vegetative period and as a result grow taller and yield more fiber.

5. Floral Traits

Many individual traits determine the floral characteristics of Cannabis This section will focus on the individual traits of pistillate floral clusters with occasional comments about similar traits in staminate floral clusters. Pistillate flowering clusters are the seed-producing organs of Cannabis; they remain on the plant and go through many changes that cannot be compared to staminate plants.

a) Shape - The basic shape of a floral cluster is determined by the internode lengths along the main floral axis and within individual floral clusters. Dense, long clusters result when internodes are short along a long floral axis and there are short internodes within the individual compact floral clusters (Hindu Kush). Airy clusters result when a plant forms a stretched floral axis with long internodes between well-branched individual floral clusters (Thailand).

The shape of a floral cluster is also determined by the general growth habit of the plant. Among domestic Cannabis phenotypes, for instance, it is obvious that floral clusters from a creeper phenotype plant will curve upwards at the end, and floral clusters from the huge upright phenotype will have long, straight floral clusters of various shapes. Early in the winter, many strains begin to stretch and cease calyx production in preparation for rejuvenation and sub sequent vegetative growth in the spring. Staminate plants also exhibit variation in floral clusters. Some plants have tight clusters of staminate calyxes resembling inverted grapes (Hindu Kush) and others have long, hanging groups of flowers on long, exposed, leafless branches (Thailand).

b) Form - The form of a floral cluster is determined by the numbers and relative proportions of calyxes and flowers. A leafy floral cluster might be 70% leaves and have a calyx-to-leaf ratio of 1-to-4. It is obvious that strains with a high calyx-to-leaf ratio are more adapted to calyx production, and therefore, to resin production. This factor could be advantageous in characterizing plants as future parents of drug strains. At this point it must be noted that pistillate floral clusters are made up of a number of distinct parts. They include stems, occasional seeds, calyxes, inner leaves subtending calyx pairs (small, resinous, 1-3 leaflets), and outer leaves subtending entire floral clusters (larger, little resin, 3-11 leaflets). The ratios (by dry weight) of these various portions vary by strain, degree of pollination, and maturity of the floral clusters. Maturation is a reaction to environmental change, and the degree of maturity reached is subject to climatic limits as well as breeder's preference. Because of this interplay between environment and genetics in the control of floral form it is often difficult to breed Cannabis for floral characteristics. A thorough knowledge of the way a strain matures is important in separating possible inherited traits of floral clusters from acquired traits. Chapter IV, Maturation and Harvesting of Cannabis, delves into the secrets and theories of maturation. For now, we will assume that the following traits are described from fully mature floral clusters (peak floral stage) before any decline.

c) Calyx Size - Mature calyxes range in size from 2 to 12 millimeters (1/16 to 3/8 inch) in length. Calyx size is largely dependent upon age and maturity. Calyx size of a floral cluster is best expressed as the average length of the mature viable calyxes. Calyxes are still considered viable if both pistils appear fresh and have not begun to curl or change colors. At this time, the calyx is relatively straight and has not begun to swell with resin and change shape as it will when the pistils die. It is generally agreed that the production of large calyxes is often as important in deter mining the psychoactivity of a strain as the quantity of calyxes produced. Hindu Kush, Thai, and Mexican strains are some of the most psychoactive strains, and they are often characterized by large calyxes and seeds.

Calyx size appears to be an inherited trait in Cannabis. Completely acclimatized hybrid strains usually have many rather small calyxes, while imported strains with large calyxes retain that size when inbred.

Initial selection of large seeds increases the chance that offspring will be of the large-calyx variety. Aberrant calyx development occasionally results in double or fused calyxes, both of which may set seed. This phenomenon is most pronounced in strains from Thailand and India.

d) Color - The perception and interpretation of color in Cannabis floral clusters is heavily influenced by the imagination of the cultivator or breeder. A gold strain does not appear metallic any more than a red strain resembles a fire engine. Cannabis floral clusters are basically green, but changes may take place later in the season which alter the color to include various shades. The intense green of chlorophyll usually masks the color of accessory pigments, Chlorophyll tends to break down late in the season and anthocyanin pigments also contained in the tissues are unmasked and allowed to show through. Purple, resulting from anthocyanin accumulation, is the most common color in living Cannabis, other than green. This color modification is usually triggered by seasonal change, much as the leaves of many deciduous trees change color in the fall. This does not mean, however, that expression of color is controlled by environment alone and is not an inheritable trait. For purple color to develop upon maturation, a strain must have the genetically controlled metabolic potential to pro duce anthocyanin pigments coupled with a responsiveness to environmental change such that anthocyanin pigments are unmasked and become visible. This also means that a strain could have the genes for expression of purple color but the color might never be expressed if the environmental conditions did not trigger anthocyanin pigmentation or chlorophyll breakdown. Colombian and Hindu Kush strains often develop purple coloration year after year when subjected to low night temperatures during maturation. Color changes will be discussed in more detail in Chapter IV-Maturation and Harvesting of Cannabis.

Carotenoid pigments are largely responsible for the yellow, orange, red, and brown colors of Cannabis. They also begin to show in the leaves and calyxes of certain strains as the masking green chlorophyll color fades upon maturation. Gold strains are those which tend to reveal underlying yellow and orange pigments as they mature. Red strains are usually closer to reddish brown in color, although certain carotenoid and anthocyanin pigments are nearly red and localized streaks of these colors occasionally appear in the petioles of very old floral clusters. Red color in pressed, imported tops is often a result of masses of reddish brown dried pistils.

Several different portions of floral cluster anatomy may change colors, and it is possible that different genes may control the coloring of these various parts.

The petioles, adaxial (top) surfaces, and abaxial (bot tom) surfaces of leaves, as well as the stems, calyxes, and pistils color differently in various strains. Since most of the outer leaves are removed during manicuring, the color ex pressed by the calyxes and inner leaves during the late flowering stages will be all that remains in the final product. This is why strains are only considered to be truly purple or gold if the calyxes maintain those colors when dried. Anthocyanin accumulation in the stems is sometimes considered a sign of phosphorus deficiency but in most situations results from unharmful excesses of phosphorus or it is a genetic trait. Also, cold temperatures might interfere with phosphorus uptake resulting in a deficiency. Pistils in Hindu Kush strains are quite often magenta or pink in color when they first appear. They are viable at this time and turn reddish brown when they wither, as in most strains. Purple coloration usually indicates that pistillate plants are over-mature and cannabinoid biosynthesis is slowing down during cold autumn weather.

e) Cannabinoid Level - Breeding Cannabis for cannabinoid level has been accomplished by both licensed legitimate and clandestine researchers. Warmke (1942) and Warmke and Davidson (1943-44) showed that they could significantly raise or lower the cannabinoid level by selective breeding. Small (1975a) has divided genus Cannabis into four distinct chemotypes based on the relative amounts of THC and CBD. Recent research has shown that crosses between high THC: low CBD strains and low THC: high CBD strains yield offspring of cannabinoid content intermediate between the two parents. Beutler and der Marderosian (1978) analyzed the F1 offspring of the controlled cross C. Sativa (Mexico-high THC) X C. ruderalis (Russia-low THC) and found that they fell into two groups intermediate between the parents in THC level. This indicates that THC production is most likely controlled by more than one gene. Also the F1 hybrids of lower THC (resembling the staminate parent) were twice as frequent as the higher THC hybrids (resembling the pistillate parent). More re search is needed to learn if THC production in Cannabis is associated with the sexual type of the high THC parent or if high THC characteristics are recessive. According to Small (1979) the cannabinoid ratios of strains grown in northern climates are a reflection of the cannabinoid ratio of the pure, imported, parental strain. This indicates that cannabinoid phenotype is genetically controlled, and the levels of the total cannabinoids are determined by environment. Complex highs produced by various strains of drug Cannabis may be blended by careful breeding to produce hybrids of varying psychoactivity, but the level of total psychoactivity is dependent on environment. This is also the telltale indication that unconscious breeding with undesirable low-THC parents could rapidly lead to the degeneration rather than improvement of a drug strain. It is obvious that individuals of fiber strains are of little if any use in breeding drug strains.

Breeding for cannabinoid content and the eventual characterization of varying highs produced by Cannabis is totally subjective guesswork without the aid of modern analysis techniques. A chromatographic analysis system would allow the selection of specific cannabinoid types, especially staminate pollen parents. Selection of staminate parents always presents a problem when breeding for cannabinoid content. Staminate plants usually express the same ratios of cannabinoids as their pistiliate counterparts but in much lower quantities, and they are rarely allowed to reach full maturity for fear of seeding the pistillate portion of the crop. A simple bioassay for THC content of staminate plants is performed by leaving a series of from three to five numbered bags of leaves and tops of various prospective pollen parents along with some rolling papers in several locations frequented by a steady repeating crowd of marijuana smokers. The bag completely consumed first can be considered the most desirable to smoke and possibly the most psychoactive. It would be impossible for one per son to objectively select the most psychoactive staminate plant since variation in the cannabinoid profile is subtle. The bioassay reported here is in effect an unstructured panel evaluation which averages the opinions of unbiased testers who are exposed to only a few choices at a time. Such bioassay results can enter into selecting the staminate parent.

It is difficult to say how many genes might control THC-acid synthesis. Genetic control of the biosynthetic pathway could occur at many points through the action of enzymes controlling each individual reaction. It is generally accepted that drug strains have an enzyme system which quickly converts CBD-acid to THC-acid, favoring THC-acid accumulation. Fiber strains lack this enzyme activity, so CBD-acid accumulalion is favored since there is little con version to THC-acid. These same enzyme systems are probably also sensitive to changes in heat and light.

It is supposed that variations in the type of high associated with different strains of Cannabis result from varying levels of cannabinoids. THC is the primary psycho active ingredient which is acted upon synergistically by small amounts of CBN, CBD, and other accessory cannabinoids. Terpenes and other aromatic constituents of Cannabis might also potentiate or suppress the effect of THC. We know that cannabinoid levels may be used to establish cannabinoid phenotypes and that these phenotypes are passed on from parent to offspring. Therefore, cannabinoid levels are in part determined by genes. To accurately characterize highs from various individuals and establish criteria for breeding strains with particular cannabinoid contents, an accurate and easy method is needed for measuring cannabinoid levels in prospective parents. Inheritance and expression of cannabinoid chemotype is certainly complex.

f) Taste and Aroma - Taste and aroma are closely linked.

As our senses for differentiating taste and aroma are connected, so are the sources of taste and aroma in Cannabis. Aroma is produced primarily by aromatic terpenes produced as components of the resin secreted by glandular trichomes on the surface of the calyxes and subtending leaflets. When a floral cluster is squeezed, the resinous heads of glandular trichomes rupture and the aromatic terpenes are exposed to the air. There is often a large difference between the aroma of fresh and dry floral clusters. This is explained by the polymerization (joining together in a chain) of many of the smaller molecules of aromatic terpenes to form different aromatic and nonaromatic terpene polymers. This happens as Cannabis resins age and mature, both while the plant is growing and while curing after harvest. Additional aromas may interfere with the primary terpenoid components, such as ammonia gas and other gaseous products given off by the curing, fermentation or spoilage of the tissue (non-resin) portion of the floral clusters.

A combination of at least twenty aromatic terpenes (103 are known to occur in Cannabis) and other aromatic compounds control the aroma of each plant. The production of each aromatic compound may be influenced by many genes; therefore, it is a complex matter to breed Cannabis for aroma. Breeders of perfume roses often are amazed at the complexity of the genetic control of aroma, Each strain, however, has several characteristic aromas, and these are occasionally transmitted to hybrid offspring such that they resemble one or both parents in aroma. Many times breeders complain that their strain has lost the de sired aromatic characteristics of the parental strains. Fixed hybrid strains will develop a characteristic aroma that is hereditary and often true-breeding. The cultivator with preservation of a particular aroma as a goal can clone the individual with a desired aroma in addition to breeding it. This is good insurance in case the aroma is lost in the off spring by segregation and recombination of genes.

The aromas of fresh or dried clusters are sampled and compared in such a way that they are separated to avoid confusion. Each sample is placed in the corner of a twice-folded, labeled piece of unscented writing paper at room temperature (above 650). A light squeeze will release the aromatic principles contained within the resin exuded by the ruptured glandular trichome head. When sampling, never squeeze a floral cluster directly, as the resins will ad here to the fingers and bias further sampling. The folded paper conveniently holds the floral cluster, avoids confusion during sampling, and contains the aromas as a glass does in wine tasting.

Taste is easily sampled by loosely rolling dried floral clusters in a cigarette paper and inhaling to draw a taste across the tongue. Samples should be approximately the same size.

Taste in Cannabis is divided into three categories according to usage: the taste of the aromatic components carried by air that passes over the Cannabis when it is in haled without being lighted; the taste of the smoke from burning Cannabis; and the taste of Cannabis when it is consumed orally. These three are separate entities.

The terpenes contained in a taste of unlighted Cannabis are the same as those sensed in the aroma, but perceived through the sense of taste instead of smell. Orally ingested Cannabis generally tastes bitter due to the vegetative plant tissues, but the resin is characteristically spicy and hot, somewhat like cinnamon or pepper. The taste of Cannabis smoke is determined by the burning tissues and vaporizing terpenes. These terpenes may not be detected in the aroma and unlighted taste.

Biosynthetic relationships between terpenes and cannabinoids have been firmly established. Indeed, cannabinoids are synthesized within the plant from terpene precursors. It is suspected that changes in aromatic terpene levels parallel changes in cannabinoid levels during maturation. As connections between aroma and psycho activity are uncovered, the breeder will be better able to make field selections of prospective high-THC parents without complicated analysis.

g) Persistence of Aromatic Principles and Cannabinoids - Cannabis resins deteriorate as they age, and the aromatic principles and cannabinoids break down slowly until they are hardly noticeable. Since fresh Cannabis is only available once a year in temperate regions, an important breeding goal has been a strain that keeps well when packaged. Packageability and shelf life are important considerations in the breeding of fresh fruit species and will prove equally important if trade in Cannabis develops after legalization.

h) Trichome Type - Several types of trichomes are present on the epidermal surfaces of Cannabis. Several of these trichomes are glandular and secretory in nature and are divided into bulbous, capitate sessile, and capitate stalked types. Of these, the capitate stalked glandular trichomes are apparently responsible for the intense secretion of cannabinoid laden resins. Plants with a high density of capitate stalked trichomes are a logical goal for breeders of drug Cannabis. The number and type of trichomes is easily characterized by observation with a small hand lens (lOX to 50X). Recent research by V. P. Soroka (1979) concludes that a positive correlation exists between the number of glandular trichomes on leaves and calyxes and the various cannabinoid contents of the floral clusters. In other words, many capitate stalked trichomes means higher THC levels.

i) Resin Quantity and Quality - Resin production by the glandular trichomes varies. A strain may have many glandular trichomes but they may not secrete very much resin. Resin color also varies from strain to strain. Resin heads may darken and become more opaque as they mature, as suggested by several authors. Some strains, however, pro duce fresh resins that are transparent amber instead of clear and colorless, and these are often some of the most psycho active strains. Transparent resins, regardless of color, are a sign that the plant is actively carrying out resin biosynthesis. When biosynthesis ceases, resins turn opaque as cannabinoid and aromatic levels decline. Resin color is certainly an indication of the conditions inside the resin head, and this may prove to be another important criterion for breeding.

j) Resin Tenacity - For years strains have been bred for hashish production. Hashish is formed from detached resin heads. In modern times it might be feasible to breed a strain with high resin production that gives up its precious covering of resin heads with only moderate shaking, rather than the customary flailing that also breaks up the plant. This would facilitate hashish production. Strains that are bred for use as marijuana would benefit from extremely tenacious resin heads that would not fall off during packaging and shipment.

k) Drying and Curing Rate - The rate and extent to which Cannabis dries is generally determined by the way it is dried, but, all conditions being the same, some strains dry much more rapidly and completely than others. It is assumed that resin has a role in preventing desiccation and high resin content might retard drying. However, it is a misconception that resin is secreted to coat and seal the surface of the calyxes and leaves. Resin is secreted by glandular trichomes, but they are trapped under a cuticle layer surrounding the head cells of the trichome holding the resin away from the surface of the leaves. There it would rarely if ever have a chance to seal the surface of the epidermal layer and prevent the transpiration of water. It seems that an alternate reason must be found for the great variations in rate and extent of drying. Strains may be bred that dry and cure rapidly to save valuable time.

1) Ease of Manicuring - One of the most time-consuming aspects of commercial drug Cannabis production is the seemingly endless chore of manicuring, or removing the larger leaves from the floral clusters. These larger outer leaves are not nearly as psychoactive as the inner leaves and calyxes, so they are usually removed before selling as marijuana. Strains with fewer leaves obviously require less time to manicure. Long petioles on the leaves facilitate removal by hand with a small pair of scissors. If there is a marked size difference between very large outer leaves and tiny, resinous inner leaves it is easier to manicure quickly because it is easier to see which leaves to remove.

m) Seed Characteristics - Seeds may be bred for many characteristics including size, oil content, and protein con tent. Cannabis seed is a valuable source of drying oils, and Cannabis-seed cake is a fine feed for ranch animals. Higher-protein varieties may be developed for food. Also, seeds are selected for rapid germination rate.

n) Maturation - Cannabis strains differ greatly as to when they mature and how they respond to changing environment. Some strains, such as Mexican and Hindu Kush, are famous for early maturation, and others, such as Colombian and Thai, are stubborn in maturing and nearly always finish late, if at all. Imported strains are usually characterized as either early, average, or late in maturing; however, a particular strain may produce some individuals which mature early and others which mature late. Through selection, breeders have, on the one hand, developed strains that mature in four weeks, outdoors under temperate conditions; and on the other hand, they have developed green house strains that mature in up to four months in their protected environment. Early maturation is extremely advantageous to growers who live in areas of late spring and early fall freezes. Consequently, especially early-maturing plants are selected as parents for future early-maturing strains.

o) Flowering - Once a plant matures and begins to bear flowers it may reach peak floral production in a few weeks, or the floral clusters may continue to grow and develop for several months. The rate at which a strain flowers is independent of the rate at which it matures, so a plant may wait until late in the season to flower and then grow extensive, mature floral clusters in only a few weeks.

p) Ripening - Ripening of Cannabis flowers is the final step in their maturation process Floral clusters will usually mature and ripen in rapid succession, but sometimes large floral clusters will form and only after a period of apparent hesitation will the flowers begin to produce resin and ripen. Once ripening starts it usually spreads over the entire plant, but some strains, such as those from Thailand, are known to ripen a few floral clusters at a time over several months. Some fruit trees are similarly everbearing with a yearlong season of production. Possibly Cannabis strains could be bred that are true everbearing perennials that continue to flower and mature consistently all year long.

q) Cannabinoid Profile - It is supposed that variations in the type of high associated with different strains of Cannabis result from varying levels of cannabinoids. THC is the primary psychoactive ingredient which is acted upon synergistically by small amounts of CBN, CBD, and other accessory cannabinoids. We know that cannabinoid levels may be used to establish cannabinoid phenotypes and that these phenotypes are passed on from parent to offspring. Therefore, cannabinoid levels are in part determined by genes. To accurately characterize highs from various individuals and establish criteria for breeding strains with particular cannabinoid contents, an accurate and easy method is necessary for measuring cannabinoid levels in prospective parents.

Various combinations of these traits are possible and inevitable. The traits that we most often see are most likely dominant and any effort to alter genetics and improve Cannabis strains are most easily accomplished by concentrating on the major phenotypes for the most important traits. The best breeders set high goals of a limited scope and adhere to their ideals.

Chap 3: Genetics and Breeding of Cannabis Part 3/3
Chapter 3 - Genetics and Breeding of Cannabis

6. Gross Phenotypes of Cannabis Strains

The gross phenotype or general growth form is deter mined by size, root production, branching pattern, sex, maturation, and floral characteristics. Most imported varieties have characteristic gross phenotypes although there tend to be occasional rare examples of almost every phenotype in nearly every variety. This indicates the complexity of genetic control determining gross phenotype. Hybrid crosses between imported pure varieties were the beginning of nearly every domestic strain of Cannabis. In hybrid crosses, some dominant characteristics from each parental variety are exhibited in various combinations by the F1 offspring. Nearly all of the offspring will resemble both parents and very few will resemble only one parent. This sounds like it is saying a lot, but this F1 hybrid generation is far from true-breeding and the subsequent F2 generation will exhibit great variation, tending to look more like one or the other of the original imported parental varieties, and will also exhibit recessive traits not apparent in either of the original parents. If the F1 offspring are desirable plants it will be difficult to continue the hybrid traits in subsequent generations. Enough of the original F1 hybrid seeds are produced so they may be used year after year to pro-duce uniform crops of desirable plants.

Phenotypes and Characteristics of Imported Strains

Following is a list of gross phenotypes and characteristics for many imported strains of Cannabis.

1. Fiber Strain Gross Phenotypes (hemp types)

2. Drug Strain Gross Phenotypes

a) Colombia - highland, lowland (marijuana)

b) Congo - (marijuana)

c) Hindu Kush - Afghanistan and Pakistan (hashish)

d) Southern India - (ganja marijuana)

e) Jamaica - Carribean hybrids

f) Kenya - Kisumu (dagga marijuana)

g) Lebanon - (hashish)

h) Malawi, Africa - Lake Nyasa (dagga marijuana)

i) Mexico - Michoacan, Oaxaca, Guerrero (marijuana)

j) Morocco - Rif mountains (kif marijuana and hashish)

h) Nepal - wild (ganja marijuana and hashish)

1) Russian - ruderalis (uncultivated)

m) South Africa - (dagga marijuana)

n) Southeast Asia - Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam (ganja marijuana)

3. Hybrid Drug Phenotypes

a) Creeper Phenotype

b) Huge Upright Phenotype

In general the F1 and F2 pure-bred offspring of these imported varieties are more similar to each other than they are to other varieties and they are termed pure strains.

However, it should be remembered that these are average. Gross phenotypes and recessive variations within each trait will occur. In addition, these representations are based on unpruned plants growing in ideal conditions and stress will alter the gross phenotype. Also, the protective environment of a greenhouse tends to obscure the difference between different strains. This section presents information that is used in the selection of pure strains for breeding.

1. Fiber Strain Gross Phenotypes Fiber strains are characterized as tall, rapidly maturing, limbless plants which are often monoecious. This growth habit has been selected by generations of fiber-producing farmers to facilitate forming long fibers through even growth and maturation. Monoecious strains mature more evenly than dioecious strains, and fiber crops are usually not grown long enough to set seed which interferes with fiber production. Most varieties of fiber Cannabis originate in the northern temperate climates of Europe, Japan, China and North America. Several strains have been selected from the prime hemp growing areas and offered commercially over the last fifty years in both Europe and America. Escaped fiber strains of the midwestern United States are usually tall, skinny, relatively poorly branched, weakly flowered, and low in cannabinoid production. They represent an escaped race of Cannabis sativa hemp. Most fiber strains contain CBD as the primary cannabinoid and little if any THC.


2. Drug Strain Gross Phenotypes Drug strains are characterized by Delta1-THC as the primary cannabinoid, with low levels of other accessory cannabinoids such as THCV, CBD, CBC, and CBN. This results from selective breeding for high potency or natural selection in niches where Delta1-THC biosynthesis favors survival.

a) Colombia - (0 to 10 north latitude)

Colombian Cannabis originally could be divided into two basic strains: one from the low-altitude humid coastal areas along the Atlantic near Panama, and the other from the more arid mountain areas inland from Santa Marta. More recently, new areas of cultivation in the interior plateau of southern central Colombia and the highland valleys stretching southward from the Atlantic coast have become the primary areas of commercial export Cannabis cultivation. Until recent years high quality Cannabis was available through the black market from both coastal and highland Colombia. Cannabis was introduced to Colombia just over 100 years ago, and its cultivation is deeply rooted in tradition. Cultivation techniques often involve transplanting of selected seedlings and other individual attention. The production of "la mona amarilla" or gold buds is achieved by girdling or removing a strip of bark from the main stem of a nearly mature plant, thereby restricting the flow of water, nutrients, and plant products. Over several days the leaves dry up and fall off as the flowers slowly die and turn yellow. This produces the highly prized "Colombian gold" so prevalent in the early to middle 1970s (Partridge 1973). Trade names such as "punta roja" (red tips [pistils] ), "Cali Hills," "choco," "lowland," "Santa Marta gold," and "purple" give us some idea of the color of older varieties and the location of cultivation.

In response to an incredible demand by America for Cannabis, and the fairly effective control of Mexican Cannabis importation and cultivation through tightening border security and the use of Paraquat, Colombian farmers have geared up their operations. Most of the marijuana smoked in America is imported from Colombia. This also means that the largest number of seeds available for domes tic cultivation also originate in Colombia. Cannabis agri-business has squeezed out all but a few small areas where labor-intensive cultivation of high quality drug Cannabis such as "Ia mona amarilla" can continue. The fine marijuana of Colombia was often seedless, but commercial grades are nearly always well seeded. As a rule today, the more remote highland areas are the centers of commercial agriculture and few of the small farmers remain. It is thought that some highland farmers must still grow fine Cannabis, and occasional connoisseur crops surface. The older seeds from the legendary Colombian strains are now highly prized by breeders. In the heyday of "Colombian gold" this fine cerebral marijuana was grown high in the mountains. Humid lowland marijuana was characterized by stringy, brown, fibrous floral clusters of sedative narcotic high. Now highland marijuana has become the commercial product and is characterized by leafy brown floral clusters and sedative effect. Many of the unfavorable characteristics of imported Colombian Cannabis result from hurried commercial agricultural techniques combined with poor curing and storage. Colombian seeds still contain genes favoring vigorous growth and high THC production. Colombian strains also contain high levels of CBD and CBN, which could account for sedative highs and result from poor curing and storage techniques. Domestic Colombian strains usually lack CBD and CBN. The commercial Cannabis market has brought about the eradication of some local strains by hybridizing with commercial strains.

Colombian strains appear as relatively highly branched conical plants with a long upright central stem, horizontal limbs and relatively short internodes. The leaves are characterized by highly serrated slender leaflets (7-11) in a nearly complete to overlapping circular array of varying shades of medium green. Colombian strains usually flower late in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere and may fail to mature flowers in colder climates. These strains favor the long equatorial growing seasons and often seem insensitive to the rapidly decreasing daylength during autumn in temperate latitudes. Because of the horizontal branching pattern of Colombian strains and their long growth cycle, pistillate plants tend to produce many flowering clusters along the entire length of the stem back to the central stalk. The small flowers tend to produce small, round, dark, mottled, and brown seeds. Imported and domestic Colombian Cannabis often tend to be more sedative in psychoactivity than other strains. This may be caused by the synergistic effect of THC with higher levels of CBD or CBN. Poor curing techniques on the part of Colombian farmers, such as sun drying in huge piles resembling com post heaps, may form CBN as a degradation product of THC. Colombian strains tend to make excellent hybrids with more rapidly maturing strains such as those from Central and North America.

b) Congo - (5 north to 5 south latitude)

Most seeds are collected from shipments of commercial grade seeded floral clusters appearing in Europe.

c) Hindu Kush Range - Cannabis indica (Afghanistan and Pakistan) - (30 to 37 north latitude)

This strain from the foothills (up to 3,200 meters [10,000 feetj) of the Hindu Kush range is grown in small rural gardens, as it has been for hundreds of years, and is used primarily for the production of hashish. In these areas hashish is usually made from the resins covering the pistil late calyxes and associated leaflets. These resins are re moved by shaking and crushing the flowering tops over a silk screen and collecting the dusty resins that fall off the plants. Adulteration and pressing usually follow in the production of commercial hashish. Strains from this area are often used as type examples for Cannabis indica. Early maturation and the belief by clandestine cultivators that this strain may be exempt from laws controlling Cannabis sativa and indeed may be legal, has resulted in its proliferation throughout domestic populations of "drug" Cannabis. Names such as "hash plant" and "skunk weed" typify its acrid aroma reminiscent of "primo" hashish from the high valleys near Mazar-i-Sharif, Chitral, and Kandahar in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

This strain is characterized by short, broad plants with thick, brittle woody stems and short internodes. The main stalk is usually only four to six feet tall, but the relatively unbranched primary limbs usually grow in an upright fashion until they are nearly as tall as the central stalk and form a sort of upside-down conical shape. These strains are of medium size, with dark green leaves having 5 to 9 very wide, coarsely serrated leaflets in a circular array. The lower leaf surface is often lighter in color than the upper surface. These leaves have so few broad coarse leaflets that they are often compared to a maple leaf. Floral clusters are dense and appear along the entire length of the primary limbs as very resinous leafy balls. Most plants produce flowering clusters with a low calyx-to-leaf ratio, but the inner leaves associated with the calyxes are usually liberally encrusted with resin. Early maturation and extreme resin production is characteristic of these strains. This may be the result of acclimatization to northern temperate latitudes and selection for hashish production. The acrid smell associated with strains from the Hindu Kush appears very early in the seedling stage of both staminate and pistillate individuals and continues throughout the life of the plant. Sweet aromas do often develop but this strain usually loses the sweet fragrance early, along with the clear, cerebral psychoactivity.

Short stature, early maturation, and high resin production make Hindu Kush strains very desirable for hybridizing and indeed they have met with great popularity. The gene pool of imported Hindu Kush strains seems to be dominant for these desirable characteristics and they seem readily passed on to the F1 hybrid generation. A fine hybrid may result from crossing a Hindu Kush variety with a late-maturing, tall, sweet strain from Thailand, India, or Nepal. This produces hybrid offspring of short stature, high resin content, early maturation, and sweet taste that will mature high quality flowers in northern climates. Many hybrid crosses of this type are made each year and are currently cultivated in many areas of North America. Hindu Kush seeds are usually large, round, and dark grey or black in coloring with some mottling.

d) India Centra1 Southern - Kerala, Mysore, and Madras regions (10 to 20 north latitude)

Ganja (or flowering Cannabis tops) has been grown in India for hundreds of years. These strains are usually grown in a seedless fashion and are cured, dried, and smoked as marijuana instead of being converted to hashish as in many Central Asian areas. This makes them of considerable interest to domestic Cannabis cultivators wishing to reap the benefits of years of selective breeding for fine ganja by Indian farmers. Many Europeans and Americans now live in these areas of India and ganja strains are finding their way into domestic American Cannabis crops.

Ganja strains are often tall and broad with a central stalk up to 12 feet tall and spreading highly-branched limbs. The leaves are medium green and made up of 7 to 11 leaf lets of moderate size and serration arranged in a circular array. The frond-like limbs of ganja strains result from extensive compound branching so that by the time floral clusters form they grow from tertiary or quaternary limbs. This promotes a high yield of floral clusters which in ganja strains tend to be small, slender, and curved. Seeds are usually small and dark. Many spicy aromas and tastes occur in Indian ganja strains and they are extremely resinous and psychoactive. Medicinal Cannabis of the late 1800s and early 1900s was usually Indian ganja.

e) Jamaica - (18 north latitude)

Jamaican strains were not uncommon in the late 1960s and early 1970s but they are much rarer today. Both green and brown varieties are grown in Jamaica. The top-of-the-line seedless smoke is known as the "lamb's bread" and is rarely seen outside Jamaica. Most purported Jamaican strains appear stringy and brown much like low land or commercial Colombian strains. Jamaica's close proximity to Colombia and its position along the routes of marijuana smuggling from Colombia to Florida make it likely that Colombian varieties now predominate in Jamaica even if these varieties were not responsible for the original Jamaican strains. Jamaican strains resemble Colombian strains in leaf shape, seed type and general morphology but they tend to be a little taller, thinner, and lighter green. Jamaican strains produce a psychoactive effect of a particularly clear and cerebral nature, unlike many Colombian strains. Some strains may also have come to Jamaica from the Caribbean coast of Mexico, and this may account for the introduction of cerebral green strains.

f) Kenya - Kisumu (5 north to 5 south latitude)

Strains from this area have thin leaves and vary in color from light to dark green. They are characterized by cerebral psychoactivity and sweet taste. Hermaphrodites are common.

g) Lebanon - (34 north latitude)

Lebanese strains are rare in domestic Cannabis crops but do appear from time to time. They are relatively short and slender with thick stems, poorly developed limbs, and wide, medium-green leaves with 5 to 11 slightly broad leaflets. They are often early-maturing and seem to be quite leafy, reflecting a low calyx-to-leaf ratio. The calyxes are relatively large and the seeds flattened, ovoid and dark brown in color. As with Hindu Kush strains, these plants are grown for the production of screened and pressed hashish, and the calyx-to-leaf ratio may be less important than the total resin production for hashish making. Lebanese strains resemble Hindu Kush varieties in many ways and it is likely that they are related.

h) Malawi, Africa - (10 to 15 south latitude)

Malawi is a small country in eastern central Africa bordering Lake Nyasa. Over the past few years Cannabis from Malawi has appeared wrapped in bark and rolled tightly, approximately four ounces at a time. The nearly seedless flowers are spicy in taste and powerfully psycho active. Enthusiastic American and European Cannabis cultivators immediately planted the new strain and it has be come incorporated into several domestic hybrid strains. They appear as a dark green, large plant of medium height and strong limb growth. The leaves are dark green with coarsely serrated, large, slender leaflets arranged in a narrow, drooping, hand-like array. The leaves usually lack serrations on the distal (tip portion) 20% of each leaflet. The mature floral clusters are sometimes airy, resulting from long internodes, and are made up of large calyxes and relatively few leaves. The large calyxes are very sweet and resinous, as well as extremely psychoactive. Seeds are large, shortened, flattened, and ovoid in shape with a dark grey or reddish brown, mottled perianth or seed coat. The caruncle or point of attachment at the base of the seed is uncommonly deep and usually is surrounded by a sharp edged lip. Some individuals turn a very light yellow green in the flowering clusters as they mature under exposed conditions. Although they mature relatively late, they do seem to have met with acceptance in Great Britain and North America as drug strains. Seeds of many strains appear in small batches of low-quality African marijuana easily available in Amsterdam and other European cities. Phenotypes vary considerably, however, many are similar in appearance to strains from Thailand.

i) Mexico - (15 to 27 north latitude)

Mexico had long been the major source of marijuana smoked in America until recent years. Efforts by the border patrols to stop the flow of Mexican marijuana into the United States were only minimally effective and many varieties of high quality Mexican drug Cannabis were continually available. Many of the hybrid strains grown domestic ally today originated in the mountains of Mexico. In recent years, however, the Mexican government (with monetary backing by the United States) began an intensive pro gram to eradicate Cannabis through the aerial spraying of herbicides such as Paraquat. Their program was effective, and high quality Mexican Cannabis is now rarely available. It is ironic that the NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health) is using domestic Mexican Cannabis strains grown in Mississippi as the pharmaceutical research product for chemotherapy and glaucoma patients. In the prime of Mexican marijuana cultivation from the early 1960s to the middle 1970s, strains or "brands" of Cannabis were usually affixed with the name of the state or area where they were grown. Hence names like "Chiapan," "Guerreran," "Nayarit," "Michoacan," "Oaxacan," and "Sinaloan" have geo graphic origins behind their common names and mean something to this very day. All of these areas are Pacific coastal states extending in order from Sinaloa in the north at 27; through Nayarit, Jalisco, Michoacan, Guerrero, and Oaxaca; to Chiapas in the south at 15 - All of these states stretch from the coast into the mountains where Cannabis is grown.

Strains from Michoacan, Guerrero, and Oaxaca were the most common and a few comments may be ventured about each and about Mexican strains in general.

Mexican strains are thought of as tall, upright plants of moderate to large size with light to dark green, large leaves. The leaves are made up of long, medium width, moderately serrated leaflets arranged in a circular array. The plants mature relatively early in comparison to strains from Colombia or Thailand and produce many long floral clusters with a high calyx-to-leaf ratio and highly cerebral psychoactivity. Michoacan strains tend to have very slender leaves and a very high calyx-to-leaf ratio as do Guerreran strains, but Oaxacan strains tend to be broader-leafed, often with leafier floral clusters. Oaxacan strains are generally the largest and grow vigorously, while Michoacan strains are smaller and more delicate. Guerreran strains are often short and develop long, upright lower limbs. Seeds from most Mexican strains are fairly large, ovoid, and slightly flattened with a light colored grey or brown, unmottled perianth. Smaller, darker, more mottled seeds have appeared in Mexican marijuana during recent years. This may indicate that hybridization is taking place in Mexico, possibly with introduced seed from the largest seed source in the world, Colombia. No commercial seeded Cannabis crops are free from hybridization and great variation may occur in the offspring. More recently, large amounts of hybrid domestic seed have been introduced into Mexico. It is not uncommon to find Thai and Afghani phenotypes in recent shipments of Cannabis from Mexico.

j) Morocco, Rif Mountains - (35 north latitude)

The Rif mountains are located in northernmost Morocco near the Mediterranean Sea and range up to 2,500 meters (8,000 feet). On a high plateau surrounding the city of Ketama grows most of the Cannabis used for kif floral clusters and hashish production. Seeds are broad-sown or scattered on rocky terraced fields in the spring, as soon as the last light snows melt, and the mature plants are harvested in late August and September. Mature plants are usually 1 to 2 meters (4 to 6 feet) tall and only slightly branched. This results from crowded cultivation techniques and lack of irrigation. Each pistillate plant bears only one main terminal flower cluster full of seeds. Few staminate plants, if any, are pulled to prevent pollination. Although Cannabis in Morocco was originally cultivated for floral clusters to be mixed with tobacco and smoked as kif, hashish production has begun in the past 30 years due to Western influence. In Morocco, hashish is manufactured by shaking the entire plant over a silk screen and collecting the powdery resins that pass through the screen. It is a matter of speculation whether the original Moroccan kif strains might be extinct. It is reported that some of these strains were grown for seedless flower production and areas of Morocco may still exist where this is the tradition.

Because of selection for hashish production, Moroccan strains resemble both Lebanese and Hindu Kush strains in their relatively broad leaves, short growth habit, and high resin production. Moroccan strains are possibly related to these other Cannabis indica types.

k) Nepal - (26 to 30 north latitude)

Most Cannabis in Nepal occurs in wild stands high in the Himalayan foothills (up to 3,200 meters [10,000 feet]). Little Cannabis is cultivated, and it is from select wild plants that most Nepalese hashish and marijuana originate. Nepalese plants are usually tall and thin with long, slightly branched limbs. The long, thin flowering tops are very aromatic and reminiscent of the finest fresh "temple ball" and "finger" hashish hand-rubbed from wild plants. Resin production is abundant and psychoactivity is high Few Nepalese strains have appeared in domestic Cannabis crops but they do seem to make strong hybrids with strains from domestic sources and Thailand.

I) Russian - (35 to 60 north latitude) Cannabis ruderalis (uncultivated)

Short stature (10 to 50 centimeters [3 to 18 inches]) and brief life cycle (8 to 10 weeks), wide, reduced leaves and specialized seeds characterize weed Cannabis of Russia. Janischewsky (1924) discovered weedy Cannabis and named it Cannabis ruderalis. Ruderalis could prove valuable in breeding rapidly maturing strains for commercial use in temperate latitudes. It flowers when approximately 7 weeks old without apparent dependence on daylength. Russian Cannabis ruderalis is nearly always high in CBD and low in THC.

m) South Africa - (22 to 35 south latitude)

Dagga of South Africa is highly acclaimed. Most seeds have been collected from marijuana shipments in Europe. Some are very early-maturing (September in northern latitudes) and sweet smelling. The stretched light green floral clusters and sweet aroma are comparable to Thai strains.

n) Southeast Asia - Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam (10 to 20 north latitude)

Since American troops first returned from the war in Vietnam, the Cambodian, Laotian, Thai, and Vietnamese strains have been regarded as some of the very finest in the world. Currently most Southeast Asian Cannabis is produced in northern and eastern Thailand. Until recent times, Cannabis farming has been a cottage industry of the northern mountain areas and each family grew a small garden. The pride of a farmer in his crop was reflected in the high quality and seedless nature of each carefully wrapped Thai stick. Due largely to the craving of Americans for exotic marijuana, Cannabis cultivation has become a big business in Thailand and many farmers are growing large fields of lower quality Cannabis in the eastern lowlands. It is suspected that other Cannabis strains, brought to Thailand to replenish local strains and begin large plantations, may have hybridized with original Thai strains and altered the resultant genetics. Also, wild stands of Cannabis may now be cut and dried for export.

Strains from Thailand are characterized by tall meandering growth of the main stalk and limbs and fairly extensive branching. The leaves are often very large with 9 to 11 long, slender, coarsely serrated leaflets arranged in a drooping hand like array. The Thai refer to them as "alligator tails" and the name is certainly appropriate.

Most Thai strains are very late-maturing and subject to hermaphrodism. It is not understood whether strains from Thailand turn hermaphrodite as a reaction to the extremes of northern temperate weather or if they have a genetically controlled tendency towards hermaphrodism. To the dismay of many cultivators and researchers, Thai strains mature late, flower slowly, and ripen unevenly. Retarded floral development and apparent disregard for changes in photoperiod and weather may have given rise to the story that Cannabis plants in Thailand live and bear flowers for years. Despite these shortcomings, Thai strains are very psychoactive and many hybrid crosses have been made with rapidly maturing strains, such as Mexican and Hindu Kush, in a successful attempt to create early-maturing hybrids of high psychoactivity and characteristic Thai sweet, citrus taste. The calyxes of Thai strains are very large, as are the seeds and other anatomical features, leading to the misconception that strains may be polyploid. No natural polyploidy has been discovered in any strains of Cannabis though no one has ever taken the time to look thoroughly. The seeds are very large, ovoid, slightly flattened, and light brown or tan in color. The perianth is never mottled or striped except at the base. Greenhouses prove to be the best way to mature stubborn Thai strains in temperate climes.

3. Hybrid Drug Phenotypes

a) Creeper Phenotype - This phenotype has appeared in several domestic Cannabis crops and it is a frequent phenotype in certain hybrid strains. It has not yet been deter mined whether this trait is genetically controlled (dominant or recessive), but efforts to develop a true-breeding strain of creepers are meeting with partial success. This phenotype appears when the main stalk of the seedling has grown to about 1 meter (3 feet) in height. It then begins to bend at approximately the middle of the stalk, up to 700 from the vertical, usually in the direction of the sun. Sub sequently, the first limbs sag until they touch the ground and begin to grow back up. In extremely loose mulch and humid conditions the limbs will occasionally root along the bottom surface. Possibly as a result of increased light exposure, the primary limbs continue to branch once or twice, creating wide frond-like limbs of buds resembling South Indian strains. This phenotype usually produces very high flower yields. The leaves of these creeper phenotype plants are nearly always of medium size with 7-11 long, narrow, highly serrated leaflets.

b) Huge Upright Phenotype - This phenotype is characterized by medium size leaves with narrow, highly serrated leaflets much like the creeper strains, and may also be an acclimatized North American phenotype. In this phenotype, however, a long, straight central stalk from 2 to 4 meters (6.5 to 13 feet) tall forms and the long, slender primary limbs grow in an upright fashion until they are nearly as tall or occasionally taller than the central stalk. This strain resembles the Hindu Kush strains in general shape, except that the entire domestic plant is much larger than the Hindu Kush with long, slender, more highly branched primary limbs, much narrower leaflets, and a higher calyx-to-leaf ratio. These huge upright strains are also hybrids of many different imported strains and no specific origin may be determined.

The preceding has been a listing of gross phenotypes for several of the many strains of Cannabis occurring world wide. Although many of them are rare, the seeds appear occasionally due to the extreme mobility of American and European Cannabis enthusiasts. As a consequence of this extreme mobility, it is feared that many of the world's finest strains of Cannabis have been or may be lost forever due to hybridization with foreign Cannabis populations and the socio-economic displacement of Cannabis cultures worldwide. Collectors and breeders are needed to preserve these rare and endangered gene pools before it is too late.

Various combinations of these traits are possible and inevitable. The traits that we most often see are most likely dominant and the improvement of Cannabis strains through breeding is most easily accomplished by concentrating on the dominant phenotypes for the most important traits. The best breeders set high goals of limited scope and ad here to their ideals.

Chap 3: Genetics and Breeding of Cannabis Part 1/3

Chap 3: Genetics and Breeding of Cannabis Part 2/3

Chap 3: Genetics and Breeding of Cannabis Part 3/3

 

Bump cause its good info, Just lengthy.

 

Hey thanks man, Ill be adding more this is just what I could find in other places that I browse and socialize around!

If I could give a prize to the first poster I would, Lols seems like it is taking forever for this thread to get some attention! Thanks for stopping by!

Just to say it again, I in no way take any credit for the information posted. I just tranfered it over to here cause its good and we didnt have some of it!

Happy smokin and growin!

 

bump.

 

bump again to spread the good info around.

 

Thanks man, Yeah It is some awesome information if you have the spare time to read it through. Really good if your looking into breeding. Thanks for taking the time to stop by.

 

Hey man thanks for stopping by and taking to time to read this awesome info! I was kinda nervous at first as I was getting so many views but no replys. Thanks again for stopping by. Happy smokin and growin!

Hey man I will look into it for you, When I copied everything over here I had to space everything out and make some things bold so they would stand out better but I will deffinently let you know. Happy smokin and growin.

 

Hey man hopefully this helps. I couldnt get pastebin to work but I found this one and it did so hopefully it helps.

https://friendpaste.com/3AC4ak7YmWSuiBE2JXsf4v