I'm thinking about starting a ruderalis hybrid. Anyone think its worth it or have any experience? I want a hardy auto-flower but I'm worried about the potency. Specifically I'm looking at Lowryder Mint from dutchbreed. They claim a high THC content 17-23% but I've read about some instability in ruderalis hybrids. Any other suggestions for a hardy auto-flower would be greatly appreciated.

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I'll fallow the laws of man, if they make perfect sense. If not I'm on my own.

From what I understood C. ruderalis was a low-potency species used mainly for hemp production. You can find this type growing all over the world where hemp production was heavy; i.e. Midwest in the US, Eastern Europe/USSR.

However, after doing some research into it I was able to find some interesting articles on this neglected cousin of Mary. Here's a link to a CC article written in 2003.The author goes into the history of cross-breeding attempts, tips on crossing, and general information about C. ruderalis.
http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/articles/3033.html


Excerpt from the article:
"Though they contain little THC, these plants hold large potential for use in breeding, both in hemp and marijuana applications. Early flowering and resistance to locally significant insect and disease pressures are but a few of the important traits present in these feral populations".

Though it may be a challenge to be consistent with the offspring, it would sure be worth exploring. Ruderalis has some desirable traits that could create some cool new strains.

Good luck and keep us informed if you decide to venture down that road. I'm sure many people would be interested.

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"In any civilized society, it is every citizen's responsibility to obey just laws. But at the same time, it is every citizen's responsibility to disobey unjust laws."
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

no. think of it like this half the genetics are hemp.

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"i really need help,
i plan to grow weed outdoors i know its possible but i need to know how will i power the lights."

Shabedue some of the people who post about ruderalis hybrids swear by them - easy to grow, some strain relatively potent, short, easy, less headaches, fast bud from seed to harvest, etc. I'm growing a Taiga by Dutch Passion as my first autoflower (auto AK was out of stock), I had it in 18/6 with 11 hours under the 1000W HPS and 7 under a 125W HO floro 10,000K and it's starting to grow flowers now under 12/12 (too big to move from flower to veg room in a 5 gallon bucket).

On the downside they will be less potent and produce a smaller harvest than a full size indica or sativa grown in the same place.

That being said, I've got 2 big laughing that I vegged to 16" and only stretched to 18" and 19" that produced 2-3 oz each of very potent bud. So short plants can be good producers, the autoflower growers often say that they get an ounce per plant.

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" I want a hardy auto-flower but I'm worried about the potency."

Auto AK47 gets the best reports for potency. I know nothing about Dutchbreed or Lowryder Mint.

http://www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk.../prod_427.html

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"I've read about some instability in ruderalis hybrids."

What type of instability? Sexual - hermies? The biggest threat to hermies, other than piss poor breeding are feminized seeds. Check out this thread, I'd advise regular seeds over feminized.

Feminized Seeds Hermie Test - 14 strains, which are high risk; frequency; DM Reverse;

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"They claim a high THC content 17-23% "

I always wonder "17-23% of what? The weight/volume/mass of cured bud? The weight of the bud removed of all water? The weight of the THC comared with the resin in the trichnomes stalk plus the resin that makes up the head plus the gland(s) inside the trich head that makes the THC? And how did they come up with the measurment - gas spectrometer or pull it out of their ass?

Forget that bullshit, all marketing, look for smoke reports and experience from growers.

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"I will have my money for my fine and a joint in the other hand."

- Jean Chretien, Prime Minister of Canada, on marijuana decriminalization

First off thanks everybody for the help and advice. I've been doing a lot of reading and I've decided that I'm going with a couple different ruderalis hybrids to supplement and existing guerrilla grow that encountered some early season issues and ended up smaller than desired. The grow will now include 2 plantings of different ruderalis hybrids so harvests will come at different times. The first wave will be lowryder original ($30 for 10 seeds plus 5 free and a start kit from sannie's seeds) and the second will start two or three weeks later with "little red ryder hood" from dutchbreed. I know everyone hated LR #1 around here but it’s mostly to get my feet wet with autos cuz that's super cheap. "little red ryder hood" has an excellent smoke report and a large harvest for an auto.

The instability I read about was failure to take on desired ruderalis traits (size and autoflower). Reading reviews of both strains I picked they should be very stable.
I always wondered about the THC percent thing too, all I could come up with was it must be the THC percent in the total cannabinoid profile but if that were the case we should see major differences between sativa and indica. Not to mention a hemp plant could theoretically have a very high percentage of THC in its total cannabinoid profile.

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I'll fallow the laws of man, if they make perfect sense. If not I'm on my own.