F4 Valley Ice _ 72 beans

After much contemplation, ive decided that this year's greenhouse crop will be simply one tray of F4 Valley Ice (MTF X SFV OG) seed.

My general plan is quite simple. I will keep the plants in small pots, and transplant them into the raised bed that is in the greenhouse, around late July. This way the plants wont exceed 5 ft in height. It will make the whole grow much easier.

This is a pheno hunt, with two objectives
1. Make F5 seeds
2. Backcross a vigorous purple male to the f3 Valley Ice mother.


** Important information to document, for my own records**
The Purple F3 male that was selected to create the F4 seeds has proven to possess strong genetics. From my small tests indoors, ive gathered that the purple flower pheno rate in the progeny of the F1 Valley Ice x Brandywine is 75%.
I am expecting 90% of the F4 Valley Ice progeny to display purple flowers.
Selection of the F4 VI male should be rather easy. I am confident that I will find a male plant that is displaying all the same characteristics of the F3 Mother.

Only 4 beans didn't pop...

Ive plucked the runts and weak looking seedlings. Its down to 52 plants. One plant in particular clearly has strong sativa genetics. Its lanky and tall, with thin long blades.

the only problem with that is, acording to the cannabis breaders bibal, is you will get loads of males one end and some females the other. they did an experiment as i remember

go go kid said:

the only problem with that is, acording to the cannabis breaders bibal, is you will get loads of males one end and some females the other. they did an experiment as i remember

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What exactly are you referring to? Are you implying that the runts and weak plants often turn out to be females? If so, I still wouldn't select them for breeding.

Its an interesting thought. I wonder if the male count will be higher than normal? Only time will tell.

With a large pheno hunt, what traits are you specifically looking for to make your crosses and culls? I’m curious how the physical selection and culling process compares to the old fashioned way of “smoke-testing” everything and then going back to breed with some “favorite” plants. Have you been able to predict how the plant may smoke by looking at a handful of characteristics, after breeding the line for a few generations? Have you been able to make any correlations ? This is obviously a much faster method to an end result.

MissinThe90’sStrains said:

With a large pheno hunt, what traits are you specifically looking for to make your crosses and culls? I’m curious how the physical selection and culling process compares to the old fashioned way of “smoke-testing” everything and then going back to breed with some “favorite” plants. Have you been able to predict how the plant may smoke by looking at a handful of characteristics, after breeding the line for a few generations? Have you been able to make any correlations ? This is obviously a much faster method to an end result.

Click to expand...

At the top of my list, for my selection process
1. Vigor
2. Overall plant and bud structure
3. Fruity terp profile

Im breeding this strain with one specific goal. It must do well outdoors in this pnw climate.

There is still a lot of genetic diversity in the Valley Ice. The MTF genes has a lot of variety. Ive seen ruderalis, sativa, and indica plants within that gene pool. Its freaking amazing.

In all honesty, I haven't found a plant with the effects that im after. Most of them are hard hitting indicas. The Mother plant that produced the F4 seeds, has a stony high that makes me drowsy. Its actually put me to sleep a few times.
The deep purple Valley Ice plant that is sativa leaning has a pleasant effect, its uplifting with a mild body sensation. Ive decided to take that plant in a different direction though. Im going to enhance the Sativa genetics, by crossing it with SSH and Oaxacan.
Its turned into a separate project.
Thread 'F1 Purp Valley Ice x SSH' https://www.rollitup.org/t/f1-purp-valley-ice-x-ssh.1105659/

Almost time to transplant into quart containers.

Nice, is that a lacewing?

MissinThe90’sStrains said:

Nice, is that a lacewing?

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Maybe? I dont know... Lol

I found an old picture of the F2 Valley Ice that I bred into the F3. It was black... outdoors. Hoping to find another one of these in the future.

No one cares...
Transplanted into quart containers.

Here is an update on this project. They were all topped and transplanted a week ago. Some of them are displaying a lot of vigor.
One of the things I’m doing, is watering them in the middle of the day, when its hottest. I want to put all of them through the ringer so that the robust plants really stand out.
The tallest plant was grown indoors for a few weeks, but I decided to toss her outside because I didn’t like the way she is looking. Im not interested in any of the phenos of that plant.
I have my eyes on 4 plants that are looking like winners. None of these have been sexed yet, so there is a good chance 50% will get chopped down. Started with 72 beans… and will end up with how many plants?

Updated lineage chart.
This years project is
F5
BX1
F1 VI x SSH (An outcross that will be crossed back into the original line. Im also splitting it into four F2 lines that will be developed into a new strain.)

Today I spent some time really inspecting the F4 plants. This generation ended up with many of the SFV OG genes. There is a strong pool of potential parents to cross for the F5 generation.
What I find intriguing is that 90% of the plants are exhibiting strong floral terpenes on the stems. One them has a potent lavender scent. A few of the plants have an underlying Pineapple smell. Its a strange terp profile… Strong floral with a hint of pineapple.
The plants that have a strong fruity pineapple scent are lacking vigor. Only one of them stands out, and she is definitely a sativa leaning plant. Unfortunately the bugs are really going after that plant. All the other floral plants have great pest resistance.
There are three things that are really important to me.

1. Vigor
2. Pest resistance
3. Mold resistance

The rest of the stuff that I select for, potency, plant structure, terps, etc. are not as important. If I choose to pollinate a plant that has low pest resistance, it must at least have vigor and mold resistance. Improving resistance to pests will happen naturally so long as one of the parent plants posseses all 3 V.P.M. (Vigor, Pest and Mold Resistance _ abbreviation).
My general plan is to select 2 males with very different phenos, and 4-6 females. Only two of the female’s progeny will be worked to F6. The other seed lines will be stored. I will pop a few seeds of the backup lines, just out of curiosity.
Thats all for now. I know its a lot to read.

Below is an Ai summary
Observations

• 90% of F4 plants exhibit strong floral terpenes on stems
• Some plants have unique terpene profiles, such as lavender or pineapple scents
• Plants with strong pineapple scent tend to lack vigor

Selection Criteria

• Priorities:
  1. Vigor
  2. Pest resistance
  3. Mold resistance
• Secondary considerations: potency, plant structure, terpenes

Breeding Plan

• Select 2 males with distinct phenotypes and 4-6 females
• Focus on 2 female lines for F6 development, store others as backups
• Test a few seeds from backup lines out of curiosity