Breeding Fast Flowering

Aye
Quick backstory… been growing for 10+ years but only recently decided to get serious about breeding intentionally to serve my needs as a northern grower (I’ve pollen-chucked plenty over the years so I know the basics)
I prefer outdoor growing but have done a few runs indoor that turned out well but would rather be outside.
My goal is to work on creating strains that do well in a northern climate - I’m at 47 degrees N Lat with warm, humid summers but the growing season is done by the end of September… in the last few years we’ve been lucky enough to get into early/mid October. We chopped plants the second week in October this year. The next day we had 4 inches of snow fall… it’s pretty dicey when ya get into October around here.

has anybody here bred specifically for an early flower using a ruderalis strain? I understand the cross would yield F1 100% photo, F2 = 50% auto etc.
From what I gather, the F1 will obviously be a photo plant still as that being the dominant gene but the introduction of the auto genetics apparently shorten the flower period by a week or two - at least that’s what I’ve found in researching this.

I guess my question is, has anyone done this specifically for the purpose of reducing flower time with the intention of keeping the progeny a photo period plant? how well has it worked for you?
Would it be a better use of my time to take them to a F2 and go all out auto?
Ultimately I’d like to produce strains that flower early and quick… start flowering around August 1 and finish up by mid-late September. Obviously I could snap up a few packs that are on the market but like the idea of tailoring strains I prefer to my specific region of the world. And there’s the whole self-reliance thing.
Any insights are much appreciated!

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I got a small stash of autos, my plan so far, make a large batch of seeds first.
Throw them out, see what autos and cull the rest, thats as far as i`ve gotten.
Sorry cant be of much help, I would like to know as well.

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So, I have hit up a Juanita la Lagrimosa clone (10-11 weeks flowering) with my autoflowering Lowryder2. The resulting cross, JLO, finishes in 8 weeks. Problem is, if you go beyond the F1 cross, you start getting a mix, 25% normal photoperiod, 50% “fast” photoperiod, and 25% autoflowering. I’ve done the F2 generation and am going to sort through all of them to find the autoflowering ones

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also depends on the auto you use, if using a longer variety may not shorten your normal time frame

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Good point @Mr.Sparkle, the Lowryder2 (and it’s progeny) was done at 65 days from germination.

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Hmmm… hadn’t thought of that I guess… interesting

The JLO… that’s mint!

Id say play away, probably trying for both fast versions and some autos as depending on your season duration early planted autos could be done mid summer or sooner depending and you could potentially fit in two cycles in, and the fast photos will have the longer duration to grow and continue to grow till days start getting short.

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Yeah man… for sure that’s the plan.
I’m a “well, let’s see what happens” kinda dude. It’ll be fun to see what the results are.

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