OK. This will really piss off some people and hopefully make others stop and think.
I have many strains from any geographical area. ( i.e. southeast asia, south america, ect….). I think cannabis genetic expression is different depending on the local micro climate of where it is grown but because cannabis is wind pollinated, are there really any differences in genetic make-up of plants that are grown within a large geographical area?
That’s what dreamers hate to listen : in this context the best grains of pollen carried by the most productive specimens take the genetic lead of sometimes an entire zone (for the best or the worse), making the selective pressure a lot bigger than fantasies said on indoor selection ^^ It’s not even botanic, it’s mechanic by the amount of pollen produced outdoor.
My 2 cents…
Landrace is defined in OED as “a local cultivar or animal breed that has been improved by traditional agricultural methods.”
This means selection is happening to steer the local cultivar population. Different growers in different areas will steer their local populations in different directions depending on their different preferences.
The surface density of pollen grains from a particular pollen source decreases as 1/(distance^2). This means that the probability of a particular female flower getting pollinated by a particular male flower decays accordingly as distance increases. The probability of a female getting pollinated at 100m is 0.01 times the probability of the pollination occuring at 10m, when all other variables are constant.
Yes. Depending on selection pressure from growers’ preferences and distances between farms, gene frequencies between localized populations can diverge. There will always be exchange between populations because of drifting pollen, but there will be statistical differences in the means and deviations. With greater distances and selection pressures, the populations will be more different.
This does not consider the gene exchange caused by growers introducing seeds or cuttings from foreign populations.
For wild populations especially, the selection pressure is different than a landrace. The phrase “survival of the fittest” should be restated as “survival of the breediest”.
You can’t compare the fate of the pollen of ketama valley with the one of Nepalese villages with some africans cultivars that exist only because hided in cocoa crops since the begin …
I understand the algos behind the thinking, but they should stay where they apply : in the genomic statistics. On the ground, where they are doomed to be innefiscient, there is no way to integrate complex ecosystem factors that can be universally used (practically).
I mean, your absolute considerations about the distances look fine for me as a guideline. I even find the numbers rationnals.
But it’s very easy in another hand to break it outside a modelization : take a high RH cultivars, consider the inherent quality of the grains/tubes of this kind, then let’s grow it in low RH terroir. Suddenly the concentric circles of pollen density don’t have any sense from one dry week to one wet week.
I’m not even starting to speak about the elevation from the sea, the lattitude, the kind of rain (iode, acid, polluted, clean…), the dominant winds (if there is any) and their forces …
I’m more prone to identify what belong to private genpool from traditionnal cultivars with cannabis. In both cases humans are behind since centuries lol, the purpose and the scales being just differents from my point of view.
This philosophical difference push me to consider the scale and the duration of the pressure before the type. At the DNA level, there is no specific leverages from on type to another.
I agree to don"t take for serious this well known statement, sometimes a minor subgroup that stayed around with a couple of recessive pheno become the new dominant fast in regard of a new lethal parameter.
Initially “not the fittest” because not adapted to the terroir, this subgroup become suddenly “the fittest” by the high mortality of an inadapted answer of the dominants.
Spew pollen to the wind!
I’ve had great success using pollinators, also nature tends to build an eco system to fit your needs outdoors.
For instance good pest will mimic your pistils, like a praying mantis was throwing out pink pistils on is body this year.
When bad pest set up, nature steps in to utilize them as food they can count on. So the little mentioned breeder pollinators,will increase pollen distance and coverage.
Testing 1 male will give you a overall sense of how your garden winds are for next year.
You can download wind,soil organic matter content of your land online, forgot the name of the website. This is the best way to approach pollination, in theory.
I’m gonna test it to find out, then the only way to find out is to test your seeds for how much diversity your best strongest plants really put into say 150 plants male and female. And certainly you would find plants undesirables
So figuring out the male to female ration may be the most important role as a breeder.
Many choose one, which could help or hurt, but it leads to IBL and that’s worth putting the work in, your nose,feel and eye’s were made for picking the best. That’s what makes you the artist of nature along with your pollinators.
In smaller sets of 25, then cross all new produced at seeds the end of the day, should give every male a great chance to be a father of a seed.
Then let them all start over in a big breeding project and begin again.
At least for the weather i’ve a tool to share ^^ : Ventusky
(winds, rain, barometric …)
That’s probably the best weather map I’ve ever seen. Thanks for sharing it here.
Nice looking plant man.