The easiest way to breed

supchaka

supchaka

Well-Known Member
I've read alot of tutorials and whatnot on getting seed and can't help but think its being brought to a level of difficulty that it doesn't need to be.

Can I just hypothetically have a male and female the same ages, side by side in a cabinet and just leave them together throughout the full cycle. I'd think as long as I have fans in there the pollen will get around on its own just fine.

I don't care if the plant has 1000's of seed and no usable bud, I'd actually prefer It that way then I have a lifetime supply of that strain so to say. I don't mind going through the whole harvesting the pollen and letting it dry then applying it with a brush if that's what I gotta do. Thanks for any info.
 
gqiqdna

gqiqdna

Active Member
That will be a very effective method, and you'll get a ton of seeds. Just remember, males usually mature a little earlier than females, but as long as you have them in the same room with a fan you'll get plenty of seeds. Also, as the pollen falls off the male, you can give him a shake and you'll have a cloud of highly potent pollen floating around your room. Pollen is viable as soon as it is in the air.
As for nutrients, seeding females needs something more similar to what you use in the veg state (ie more nitrogen) to get good and healthy, viable seeds.
Good luck! Breeding is a fun process!
 
T

taekwondoguy

Well-Known Member
yes deifnately choose the best of both sexes, doubtful theyll be the most stable first time around tho. You'll have pleanty of seeds to find out tho. Why have seeds tho instead of clones if you want the strain why not just choose your favorite pheno and clone.
 
supchaka

supchaka

Well-Known Member
taekwondoguy said:
yes deifnately choose the best of both sexes, doubtful theyll be the most stable first time around tho. You'll have pleanty of seeds to find out tho. Why have seeds tho instead of clones if you want the strain why not just choose your favorite pheno and clone.
Click to expand...
I grow 12/12 from seed, I only have one area so vegging and cloning aren't in the mix for me.
 
SupraSPL

SupraSPL

Well-Known Member
The hardest part of breeding seems to be finding a good male. If you are only after F1 beans just cross the very best females you have.
 
glockdoc

glockdoc

Well-Known Member
taekwondoguy said:
yes deifnately choose the best of both sexes, doubtful theyll be the most stable first time around tho. You'll have pleanty of seeds to find out tho. Why have seeds tho instead of clones if you want the strain why not just choose your favorite pheno and clone.
Click to expand...
its better in the long run to have seeds rather then clones. what if u cant get access to the clone later on, its hell of a lot convenient to order or make seeds to acquire that strain again. the clone method only brings more clone only strains.
 
Jogro

Jogro

Well-Known Member
supchaka said:
I've read alot of tutorials and whatnot on getting seed and can't help but think its being brought to a level of difficulty that it doesn't need to be.

Can I just hypothetically have a male and female the same ages, side by side in a cabinet and just leave them together throughout the full cycle. I'd think as long as I have fans in there the pollen will get around on its own just fine.

I don't care if the plant has 1000's of seed and no usable bud, I'd actually prefer It that way then I have a lifetime supply of that strain so to say. I don't mind going through the whole harvesting the pollen and letting it dry then applying it with a brush if that's what I gotta do. Thanks for any info.
Click to expand...
Yes, you "can" just leave a male and female in your cab and let them "get busy". This is called "open pollenization" and it absolutely will be effective at creating tons of seeds.

The problem, though, is that the males produce TONS of pollen. They're designed to spread pollen widely outside where 99.9999% of pollen grains are carried by the wind and wasted. This pollen is sticky, and if you let a full male grow to full size and release all its pollen, the pollen will get EVERYWHERE, including the floor, walls, pot, your clothes, etc.

So now anywhere you go, you have the potential to contaminate OTHER female plants with this pollen! Furthermore, under some conditions, pollen can remain viable for weeks to months. So now you have the possibility of contaminating FUTURE grows with your pollen left indoors in your growing area.

For this reason, you simply don't want to let a male plant "go all the way". If you don't want to collect and store pollen, then one alternative is just to take a small cutting/clone of your male plant, allow it to flower when ready, then collect some pollen for manual fertilization using the paintbrush technique you describe. This will save space, limit the potential for contamination, and make cleanup easier.
 
Jogro

Jogro

Well-Known Member
The Chemist Brothers said:
make sure you select the best female and male otherwise you will have a lifetime supply of mediocre/unstable genes.
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Well, the general point that you have to know what exactly you're crossing to get the best results is good. Before you create a "lifetime supply" bucketful of seeds, its a good idea to know exactly what you are creating!

But the above isn't entirely true as written.

First of all, if you're starting with a true inbred line (aka a "true-breeding strain"), then it shouldn't matter which male and female you start with since by definition they should all be genetically identical. You can go ahead and pick the "best" ones if you like, but in fact, when you start with seeds from strains like this, all the plants grown from seed end up looking highly similar. All the offspring of any two plants you cross from seeds like this will not only be similar to each other, but also to the original parents. If the original strain is strong, the offspring should be as well.

If you're crossing two DIFFERENT inbred lines to create your seeds, all the seeds will be the same. .. but they're likely to be quite different than EITHER parent, and instead of having the best features of each, they might end up with the WORST!

If you're starting with non-stable hybridized parents, be they of the same "strain" or different strains, its more likely than not that the offspring will *NOT* actually be similar to the parents!

The fact is that many, if not most of the "hot" strains these days are themselves unstable hybrids. In some cases the plants phenotype REQUIRES hybrid genes (so called "hybrid vigor"). In cases like that, you CANNOT stabilize the plant, no matter how many crosses you do! And this explains why there are so many strains where you have to grow out 10-15 plants to find one great "keeper".

The point is, even if you find that rare "keeper," crossing it with another "keeper" may not (and probably WILL not) create an equally good "keeper" offspring!
 
glockdoc

glockdoc

Well-Known Member
Jogro said:
Well, the general point that you have to know what exactly you're crossing to get the best results is good. Before you create a "lifetime supply" bucketful of seeds, its a good idea to know exactly what you are creating!

But the above isn't entirely true as written.

First of all, if you're starting with a true inbred line (aka a "true-breeding strain"), then it shouldn't matter which male and female you start with since by definition they should all be genetically identical. You can go ahead and pick the "best" ones if you like, but in fact, when you start with seeds from strains like this, all the plants grown from seed end up looking highly similar. All the offspring of any two plants you cross from seeds like this will not only be similar to each other, but also to the original parents. If the original strain is strong, the offspring should be as well.

If you're crossing two DIFFERENT inbred lines to create your seeds, all the seeds will be the same. .. but they're likely to be quite different than EITHER parent, and instead of having the best features of each, they might end up with the WORST!

If you're starting with non-stable hybridized parents, be they of the same "strain" or different strains, its more likely than not that the offspring will *NOT* actually be similar to the parents!

The fact is that many, if not most of the "hot" strains these days are themselves unstable hybrids. In some cases the plants phenotype REQUIRES hybrid genes (so called "hybrid vigor"). In cases like that, you CANNOT stabilize the plant, no matter how many crosses you do! And this explains why there are so many strains where you have to grow out 10-15 plants to find one great "keeper".

The point is, even if you find that rare "keeper," crossing it with another "keeper" may not (and probably WILL not) create an equally good "keeper" offspring!
Click to expand...
really? damn thats harsh to know if thats true. so blue dream is less likely to be created ever again thru breeding of blueberry and super silver haze seeing its a clone only strain. no seeds for it because its not stabilized i imagine? it was the cut that won idk if it was high times or w.e cup but clones were taken of that and as followed by thousands of others spreading the strain. i love BD
 
fatboyOGOF

fatboyOGOF

Well-Known Member
the first 2 genetics i bred were apollo 13 and cinderella 88. for both crops, i took two males and shook them in the appropriate flower room (i had 2 closets). the cloud of pollen was pretty. i wanted to make sure i made enough seeds. man was i surprised. i got ??? hundreds or more. i'll never run out. :)

now i take the pollen pod when it's about to burst (you can tell after some practice), and twirl it between my thumb and forefinger over a couple of bud sites for some controlled seeding. practice, practice practice! :)
 
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