Breeding of new marijuana seeds strains
Let me begin with explaining the difference of home produced seeds and marijuana seeds you can buy from reputable seedbank. At home you have at most 20 plants to choose father and mother plant from. You have been watching your seed parent plants for one generation only, meaning their lifetime at your grow place. At seedbanks breeders sex and watch plants for at least 3 generations and from every generation plants which is usually around 100 plants they choose the best 10 for the next generation seeds. These way proffesional genetics become extraordinary stable, very viable and with high thc potency. Do not expect the same stability, viability and potency from your home grow marijuana seeds. But, anyway, your seeds will germinate and grow into plants you will be proud of :-)
Let's say you have 5 plants in your home grow place, one of them is male and 4 are females. You want to sacrifice the male and your most beautiful female for seed production. Remember to move away your seeds plants into a pollen tight room, because you don't want your other females to become pollinated :-). They must remain sinsemilla to produce nice potent buds for you.
Now when the time comes for your male to release pollen, collect it by placing a plastic sheet under male pot. Shake the male or wait a few days for pollen to fall. The male should show desirable characteristics, like fast growth, potency and resistance to pest and mold. Black paper or plastic bag can also be used to collect pollen. In a few days the paper will have quite a bit of pollen on it. The pollen can be stored in film canisters until it is needed. When your female is ready to become pollinated, use a paintbrush to brush on the pollen to the LOWER branches of the female. The female is ready around a week after the male releases pollen. The best way to be sure that all the seeds are mature before harvest is to just never harvest the female. Let your female die naturally so you can be sure it produces viable, ripe marijuana seeds for your next crop.
Your first generation of seeds can grow nice plants, but remember using the first generation to make seeds again can and will produce weak inbreed plants unless you can grow 2 separate genetic lines of parent plants.
The main thing to remember is that breeding is an art and a science. Even the most experienced breeders find it difficult to stabilize their strains. Many strains become unstable as they are bred, revealing unexpected traits that can be traced back many generations.
Professional seed breeders spend a lifetime recording every detail of plant development and post-harvest characteristics. They record growth rates, disease resistance, flowering duration, psychoactive effects. They test breeds under different conditions, trying to match genetics with environmental conditions to ensure optimum yield and health. They pick and choose favorable characteristics from different strains and then cross-breed these strains seeking to develop super-plants which have the cerebral high of a Sativa combined with the short-season hardiness, yield, height and narcotic stoniness of an Indica. Then, they seek to develop stability in their strains so purchasers can expect, within a reasonable degree of variation, predictable results crop after crop.
Breeding is a creative combination of hard work, record-keeping, horticulture and genetics, but it's worth it. Marijuana botanists have given us dozens of varieties of distinctive cannabis. You can do it too, just let them have sex :-)
Continue reading here: Powdery Mildew - marijuana seeds growing
Was this article helpful?
