It helps to have fun projects to experiment with, heres mine.
Pringle can grow
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Ooooof
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Do you think the plants that speak to you make better offspring? Like is it a better selection criteria than physical characteristics alone, like structure or trichome coverage or smells, etc.?
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The girls that really speak to me, especially in veg, almost always end up smoking the best for my preference out of whatever pack. Breeding is a bit hard to say as most have bred wide since theyāre not inbred but Iāve been happy with the results in the lines I put out.
The couple males that spoke to me or looked and smelled the most like the favorite girl, that also passed the herm tests, were some damn good breeders. The c5ss f3 #1 male and the starshine aka starlite daydream male both put out some fantastic offspring.
That said, itās more mystical experience type stuff than anything scientific 
I still go by empirical evidence most of the time, but if something stands out, Iām paying attention.
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Right on, thanks! I figured if it didnāt lead anywhere then you wouldāve started ignoring the ones that spoke to you haha.
I feel like intuition is as important as anythingā¦ Part mystical, part experience. I was just curious because 1) you grow a lot of your own crosses and there seems to be a lot of good ones and 2) I donāt have much experience making seeds, but Iām moving towards getting my mind out of it, i.e. not just getting lured in by the biggest or frostiest buds, and paying attention more to feelings I get about the plants (without trying to sound too hippy haha). What weāre all looking for is personal and so subjective that it seems like a good way to go about it, or at least to pay more attention to.
Cool to hear about the males, since theyāre more of an unknown. Anything to increase the odds of growing great weedā¦
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A pro tip that most breeding beginners also can grasp easy, is to not forget the roots. There is root phenotypes etc. But that is not the important part. Itās judging the roots against other individuals of the same cultivar. Larger roots means the ability to utilise more water and thatās very important if you want optimal photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis works in two stages, first stage is called photolysis. At this stage sunlight split water molecules(H2O) into oxygen and hydrogen. The oxygen is released in the air and the hydrogen is saved within the plant as high-energy molecules.
The next stage is called Calvin cycle and at this stage the plant takes the hydrogen and bind it with Co2 to create a sugar called glucose(C6H12O6). Since the plant need one carbon atom and one oxygen atom for every two hydrogen, it can release the one oxygen atom that is left over in the air.
You probably already know this, but if you think about this in the context of the root zone. You quickly realise the importance for a plant to be able to drink and the more it can drink, the more photosynthesis can occur in a one to one ratio.
Pz 
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Man, I still donāt know what to look for in a male 
Iāve been told resin/stem rub/ structure but Iāve also been told frosty males donāt matter, stem rubs are misleading, and structure doesnāt always carry over. Iām inclined to go with the resin/ stem rub/ good structure but idk.
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What!
But where are your arrays of shelves of archived sheets of prunett squares?! 
Intuition is also often just experience too. Things observed and registered in the brain, that become an obviousness you donāt have to conciously think about. Guided by personal taste 
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Yeah monitoring root growth is good. Each plant is different though. The TK doesnāt root for shit in veg but absolutely takes off in flower. Some plants do the reverse, prolific veg roots but basically nothing extra come flower. Some are a steady climb the whole wayā¦
Its something Iāll take note of but rarely have done anything about. if I was breeding for others to grow, maybe outdoors or something, thatād definitely be something Iād want to take into more consideration. As is, I really just want stable plant that are fairly easy to grow and most importantly, have a really good high on it.
I will cull for herms(balls/banners by ~21 days) or weird mutants. Super variegation inhibiting photosynthesis, super long petioles that make it hard to grow indoors, branches that shear right off the plant, etc. if I know the line Iāll cull based on stem rubs and structure alone.
My general advice is, find the best girls first. harvest and smoke them to determine that, donāt go by looks and growth traits. Once you know your favorite(s) smoke, then come back and use the sibling male(s) that smell(stem rub, leaf rub) and look just like her. I like (breeding) pairs. Like breeds like.
Thereās always different goals tho too. Maybe the girl is floppy af but you found a male thatās super thick and sturdy. Could combine to try and get plants that smoke and/or smell like her but have thick sturdy stems. This is what I did with the starlite daydream/starshine line and into the ssdd f2 bx1. The mom gets floppy after 35 days so I used a sturdy starlite(A5Haze s1 x 89NL5) male to beef her up. I knew he was good already from his sisterās, but normally with this type of breeding, weāre not paying attention to the one thing we like the most, how it smokes. It can be hard to lock multiple things down in a single cross.
I personally find the stem rub to be an invaluable tool with this plant but it can also be highly nuanced. Slightest change in just one of the notes in the rub can give different results. Overall though, itās usually at least close. Iāve used stem rub alone to follow my favorite smoke through multiple lines and fgens. If I donāt pull out a plant that looks or smokes or tastes just like the plant whose rub Iām following, Iāll pull out one thatās descriptive of one of its parents.
Yeah, no punnet squares over here 
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I agree with that but if you have an IBL, time, and tenacity you need to build numbers because the number of viable seeds, plants with bad growth(sickly), weak stems, sterile, and just nobody growing it anymore is a good reason. I think taking them in a direction to acclimate them for your location takes numbers and despite a real nice one which you can self or whatever this will take diversify through numbers. I know this sounds idiotic but I am like this.
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I agree with @HolyAngel
Robust root growth is great but by that metric i wouldve culled this plant lol vegs like irene but not as needy, and just fucking stellar. Sits in salty water like its moby dick.
Because see, i hate slow vegging plants, but you know what i hate more?
Subpar smoke, settling for less effects,
And
Plants that dont like modern feed programs!
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P.S. just threw her in for her first LED lit sensimilla run. Was loud asf even when fully seeded.
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The plants wonāt grow if they fall over, with weak stems or sterile seeds. Maybe Monopteros is confused, so out of 30 seeds, Iām lucky to get three viable plants. Thatās the challenge Iām facingāitās not an easy task. Iāve noticed that slow-growing strains tend to thrive here, where the growing season is longer, and the light conditions (DLI) are more favorable. For example, Iām growing an Afghani strain from supposedly the 30ās. I am going this way and It should perform as it once did, but selecting for high production doesnāt always preserve the long-term health of a strain, especially when hybridization is the trend. Just my opinion.
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Ah yeah goals and your materials matter. The oldest line Iāve touched is an 80s polyhybrid, nl5 x haze x sensistar so those issues arenāt really a thing here. If they were id likely be doing exactly what youāre doing 
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Yeah like washers are obsessed with rosin returns like @JoeCrowe
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What Iām doing is creating a hybrid out of female plants that have the following characteristic:
3% of the weight of the calyx are capitate trichomes above 90 microns/micrometers wide.
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Technically, I donāt have a poly-hybridāat least thatās the belief, and I stand by. The techniques for selection and evaluation still apply, though with different emphasis. My goal is to restore health, potency, and acclimation in the strain. Maybe itās an unrealistic aim, but I think itās worth pursuing. Iām here seeking inspiration and insights that you seem to effortlessly provide.
Part of learning about the plant is setting goals and forming hypotheses around what can be achieved, with the results pushing your understanding further. I knew youād appreciate that since youāre highly skilled and a wealth of valuable information, which I hope to tap into someday.
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Is it for the market to make money or just pure curiosity to see if the inheritance is predictable. Maybe like mitochondria or chloroplasts? Good luck!
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Itās so I can stabilize hash productivity in a cannabis plant line. Once I do it, I can show other people how itās done. Itās the end stage for the hash plant thunder dome. So far I have gathered at least 3 plants, to create the hybrid out of, and it took about 7 years to get them all. 2 from seed and one as a clone.
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Or make your line from this plants ābreed trueā for that trait so that any cultivar can become 3%/90 microns washable. Sounds easy right? 
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