How do breeders define finish times?

Breeder's Lab
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#1

Hi OGer’s.

I’m curious how breeders decide when a plant is finished? Do most breeders use those times as suggested harvest dates or drop dead dates?

I know for many it’s a matter of watching trichomes change coupled with the breeders suggested finish times, along with personal preference. So, what specifically dictates the length of time to finish when breeding?

  • The entire grow is observed, harvested, cured, smoked and cataloged?

  • The entire grow is observed, selectively harvest, cured…?

I know I’m missing a lot here.

Test grows/growers would toss another mess of variables into solidifying finish times since all feedback contributes to what is going to be sold/marketed, correct?

Maybe this should be in the sharks tank? Thanks in advance for any info.

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#2

Hi most Breeders, as I know, define Bloomtimes by onset of Flower to ripeness of Bud. Ripeness of Bud ist mostly defined as Cloudy/Amber. But it is a Variable and you can add a few days to the most catalogue declarations.

Of course Times should be measured by Seed not by clone because you are growing it from Seed, but you see there are a lot of variables going on and no 100% Rule for all.

Best is to ask the Breeder how the growing times are measured, so you are most accurate.

Be well.

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#3

So this is how I’ve understood it with every environment you will have variables so it’s all a suggestion. And with seeds you will always have them freaks of the bunch that you wood never have expected. And with clones your getting the same thing as long as your environment/Nutes are consistent. Becoming consistent is what’s important.

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#4

i imagine it differs from breeder to breeder, i don’t think there is a set standard for anything in the cannabis industry. i’ve seen some specifically say X weeks from start of 12/12, some say X weeks from end of stretch, some say X weeks from start of flower (is that start of 12/12 or start of bud formation? idk) etc. and of course personal preference plays a huge role.

i always assume 7-14 days over and am happy if it’s sooner

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#5

Same as above :arrow_up::+1: Happy growing
Gaz

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#6

It really depends if they are indoor or outdoor growers. Indoor flower time starts when they’re flipped to 12/12, outdoor growers start at onset of the first flowers. Although I believe some chuckers just tell you what you want to hear; you might find one that flowers in 8 weeks but you make also have one that takes 12 weeks in the pack. Thats where i’m at right now running Jazz Queen. Finish times really only work on stable lines or something that has been worked at least bx’ed unless the breeder gets lucky. I obviously haven’t tried every ones genetics so there could be exceptions. I always plan on 63-70 days of 12/12 when the breeder says 56-63 days.

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#7

From what I gather, There are so many variables that help determine finish times. It really comes down to suggested flower times being more of a guideline. For people who are really impatient like me, it’s more of an “At least” this long kind of recommendation.

The following factors are all things i’ve read can speed up or slow down maturation time. This is by no means a definitive list, but it’s a start.

Lighting (Far reds in your spectrum)
Some of the guys using the really nice commercial LED lighting have said they “finish” faster.

CO2
I’ve read CO2 supplementation can help mature things faster because it allows the plant to become “supercharged”

hydro or soil

training and veg time
A well trained plant is going to make better use of your lighting, in my opinion anyway. More even distribution of light would seem to help the plant make better use of it’s own production mechanisms.

Genetics: and or hybrid vigor
Can’t comment too much as I haven’t played with many genetics and haven’t witnessed hybrid vigor firsthand.

Strength preference (Cloudy or amber, some people go for mostly cloudy)

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#8

And all that being said, there’s nothing like just looking at the Trichomes yourself and waiting until you get the amount of amber’s that you want. It takes as long as it takes,

Imo unless you’re selling on a large scale, a few weeks in either way doesn’t really matter. It’ll finish when it finishes lol.

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#9

.
i always rated my indoor strains by how many of days of 12/12 to get to 60/40 trichs.
For outdoor strains, i use what day or week (ie: By Oct 1st, or, mid sept), it took, to get to where the calyxes that make up the buds reach the size of the branch union calyx, Weather can beat up pistils, beat up trichs, so i’ve always listed by calyx-swelling time for outdoor strains.

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#10

for outdoor, i sort of generalize… weather dictates all, ya know… its not an exact sceince. when 3/4th of the calxes are swelled to the max, i deem it done and those are the days that i’ll say it flowers in…

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