So I’ve been thinking about breeding and plant genetics. The interesting thing about plants is how they are different from sexually reproducing organisms.
In a plant embrio the chromosomes mutate and combine to form a new organism, while in animals the chromosomes do not combine but only mutate. Further, sexual characteristics are assigned by a genetic sex marker which the male adds to pollen, so sex is randomly determined by the addition of sex markers by the male plant.
What I am getting at is that males and females, at least from a phenotypic viewpoint are phenotypically identical. Obviously, the plants themselves are different but the processes as well as the genes in both male and female are identical. The only difference is the addition of the male sex marker in male plants. The only thing a male does is add a sex marker to the chromosome.
What this means from a breeding perspective is that in using female pollen instead of male, the results in the offspring are the same, statistically males and females pass on the exact same genes. The downside of this is when you start using female pollen in a line, the males will obviously not be genetic equals and would need to be re-breed to get back up to par for reintroduction to the line.
Anyone have any experience or thoughts to share on this?
My first step was just to produce regular seeds. I had started some Gambian Auto, and grew out a male to collect pollen from. I had a small female and dusted her.
A small bud broke off awhile back, so I dried it for a few days, and viola:
Looking at the rest of the plant, might be a hundred or two seeds.
I’m currently attempting to reverse a Widow Maker Auto with STS. We’ll see how that goes. I sprayed my “donor” 3 days ago, but she’s outside for now, and it rained yesterday, so I’ll give her another squirt today.
I just took another branch of buds off. Very odd, looked like a lot of green fuzzy seed pods, but they were empty. Don’t know if it was too soon, or just not fully pollinated.
this is how i do it. ive only done it a couple times but it works great. im actually in the middle of running a gushmints sweep. planning on making gushmints s1, gm x wedding cake, gm x double dream
I’ve grown both fem and regs, all my hermies I’ve had a few of both fem and regs. They all could have been caused by grower error. 99% of the time my fems grow females no probs. Peace
Obviously males have their place in breeding but for someone restricted to one tent to grow their personal meds males are a pain in the arse.
Reversing plants from feminised seeds seems the logical way to go, and you can still play around with crosses.
My Widow Maker plants just started showing signs of flower stage…the reversal candidates got their first STS spray about a week ago. Gave them a second shot after a rain storm (they’re currently outdoor plants)
These will be the recipients of the pollen, if the reversal succeeds:
nah. theyre legit. they might have had higher hermie rates when people were making them by forcefully stressing their plants, but anything made by STS or GA3 is fine
Fems have a place in growing and are a great concept for most. But using Fems in breeding is a Mortal Cannabis Sin. And most of the Hermies are from breeding Fems. I’ve proved it to myself. As a hobby breeder I’ve done testing and grown a lot of other peoples stuff, not anymore. I run only MY tested genetics. And the reason is that fems make breeding easier. I’ve tested many strains and even bred strains in regular as a form of eliminating hermies. That’s why hermies are following certain breeders. And to properly breed fems you need to start with strains that test with minimal hermie traits. This process requires a lot of work that’s why so many commercial seed growers either are believing a lie or are cheating the customer with shortcuts.
It’s the sexual history of the line and not how you force it as much. I’ve tested this and have enough proof for myself but not enough proof to share as a fact. That would require a lot of money spent on verified tests.
hi,im an old fart brought up on regular seeds and it took me a long time to try feminised seeds and only then it was free sponsored from barneys farm,since then over 10 yrs i have grown most of barneys fems and liked the majority.
only thing i noticed is if you leave bud to become over mature before chop you find the odd partial seed in the bud tips but i have seen this with regs as well,never viable seeds.
i now run both regs and fems and barring the odd weather event like our current uk heatwave ive had no hermies in the true sense of the word.
good luck all whatever method you use to get there,peace
Someone in this thread stated you should run a reg strain then run the fem, to see how they compare.
If anyone ran Sannies sugar punch reg, you KNOW, as I do, the fem version, is half of the orginal reg. Half the taste, half the buzz, and same damned price.
I’ll not turn down a free packet, and may even buy one, but I never seek them out.
I never felt, reg’s were giving me that many males to worry over. We’re all different gardener’s and gardens, so buy what you want.
Question on STS and outdoor plants.
Most posts/articles on STS say to spray every 5 days.
My plants are currently outdoors. Should I respray after it rains?
One of the most beloved strains I’ve had over the years is my KAoS plant (Huckleberry Kush x Ace of Spades)
Ace of Spades was as I recall it available as feminized only.
Description
Ace of Spades is a sweet, tangy creation from the master breeder TGA Subcool, who crossed his Jack the Ripper with Black Cherry Soda to get a highly resinous indica-leaning strain. Carrying a taste and aroma of red fruits, lemon, and skunk, the plant may take on a violet or blue color during the late flowering stage.
I’ve mentioned it a number of times, so far I’ve taken it to F3 planning an F4 renewal next year.
I’ve made a few other seed batches with a fem mother, but never experienced hermies as a result. It’s been a concern since the beginning though. It is what it is
