The only way to determine the value of a plant for breeding is to grow and examine its progeny. The most potent plant might not pass on this trait, and the healthiest plant might not have favorable combining ability. Judging a male by visual appearance and also smoke testing, or using bio-assay, should not be discounted, but test crossing the male is the only way to determine it's breeding potential.
Adding more info about male selection:
Incredibly frosty blueberry male flowers. Breeder Steve explained that for breeding finding the right male is very important and can’t be underestimated.
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All the Young Dudes
Cannabis Pollen and Use
High times is famous for its amazing pictures of Cannabis Flowers of mostly the female species. Cannabis is a dioecious plant, which means that the male and female flowers develop on separate plants, although monoecious examples with both sexes on one plant are found. Sibling crosses draw genetic traits from both the mother and father plant, the male plays just as important a role as the female does but its rare to see male cannabis plants in full bloom and pollen collection and use is almost a mythical craft. I will do my best in this article to shed some light on the ways pollen is collected and dispersed.
Before we talk about collecting pollen let’s talk about staggering. This is a trick I learned by trial and error that allows us to get the maximum number of seeds per plant. This doesn’t apply to those just working with a branch or two.
When pollinating a mother plant for seed I will start her into 12/12 a full 7 days before I move the male into budding room. Keeping in mind that each strain is going to be a bit different on time frame but this 7 day rule has worked very well for us. Once the male is flowering well the females will be entering a window around day 21-24. Most Hybrids I work with are done in less than 9 weeks so 3 weeks in is good place to start. You can pollinate up to day 30 but you stand a good chance of the seeds never getting mature so I find each strain perfect window. Apollo-13 is closer to 21 days and Jacks Cleaner is better at say 26 or so.
One thing I must insert and I am not trying to be rude for your younger inspiring breeders out there concentrate on producing the best herb you can and mastering the craft of room set up. Again no offence but you can’t breed properly in a cab I do it in a limited space granted but I have been growing successfully some 32 years and didn’t start breeding till I had around 20 years under my belt. It doesn’t hurt to experiment that is how we learn but I think at least a few years as a grower are in order before anyone attempts breeding even though I lay out every single step. If you think its easy ask a grower how many complete garbage strains he’s grown out from so called “Established Breeders” It takes an eye and that is gained from experience.
Ok so now we have our male in full bloom and we have our females in the breeding room. This area should be completely separated from main bud area preferably in another building completely. If the two rooms share a common HVAC duct system you will get pollution into your main area. Pollen is serious stuff and flies everywhere and you cannot see it. It will stick to your clothes, pets, etc. You must change cloths and bath after entering your breeding area.
Over the years I have budded out quite a few males and each one acts a bit differently. Some bud extremely fast while others tend to release pollen over a longer period of time. The best males to work with are one that matures in a short window maturing and releasing pollen in a short time span.
I prefer to simply allow my males to hang out with my mothers for a few days with a small fan positioned on the male with females in the air stream. As the stamen open the pollen naturally flies into the air providing max coverage. We also like to pluck off ripe pods and gently roll them between our fingers over each cola head. This is how we capture the amazing suspended pollen shots I set as a standard and later Jill perfected.
The Pollen Trap
One trick I have used in the past is the pollen trap. This trick takes a good eye for when the male is about to open. If you can figure that out simple take two large Tupperware containers and form a box that will hold a cup with water. Wax paper in bottom and along sides and tops you have cut off the mature male. Place the tops to hang over the wax paper and tape the entire box shut this allows you to have it in a non secure place like a vegetive room. Warning don’t spill the water it ruins the pollen don’t put more into the glass that you need to I used a heavy bar glass that wouldn’t tip over.
One thing we should cover is male cluster formation. When selecting a male for breeding we run him as a mature full size plant and we want to see even if he has met all our other breeding criteria that he makes big gnarly male clusters this indicates the bud formation he might pass on. If you male produces small clusters he most likely will not pass on larger yields to the offspring. This is not set in stone but it is a very good indication.
Once the plants are fully pollinated I wash the females off with a spray bottle of water and if its raining I place out doors for a night up high on a barrel where no bugs could possibly get to her. I prefer a gentle long rain to a spray bottle as it removed any access pollen. Once I have redundantly rinsed I place the mothers back into my main bud not in the main air stream of my blowers
More Tricks
Back to the male we have used for the breeding party. I will bend his branches over and cover them with a V spaded hanging trap I make from wax paper. This is the process I will get Jill to shoot here in about 3 weeks and add to the thread. One thing to watch out for is the male flowers they contain water and must be removed from pollen. I find the hanging traps I make can be shaken and the flowers being heavy fall to the corners and can be removed from the pile.
Collecting pollen is a bit like milking a gnat, when you manually roll a pod and it falls it may be a million grains but its is barley visible to the eye it also tends to stick to the wax paper but the solution is to mix in some dry flour. I used a ratio of about 5 to 1 and ended up with a yellow looking mix that resembled cake batter. I allowed the flour to dry well and microwaving wouldn’t be bad idea to remove any moisture that might remain in the flour.
The male Cannabis plant is amazing in its own right and in the game of creating hybrids a male known for his attributes can be worth a lot more than the most elite female cutting.
If you have any questions you can reach Subcool at:
TGAgenetics
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I believe another miss conception is the quickness of the male is associated with better. when really, the first to pollinate wins generally speaking so males that take longer, have less chance to develop viable seeds after pollination. this means that longer flowering males of the same variety can have less common characteristics that are desirable but you have to work to find it.
rules of pollen
- water kills pollen
- store pollen in a cool dry place.
- pistols are white before pollination, the tip will “burn” and that is the confirmation that the pollen has dropped.
- if we apply rule three to a garden with no males and upon inspection we notice a a concentration of dark colored hairs when all other hairs are white, that is a indicator of pollination from a male flower usually caused by stress.
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As a medical student 2nd year (I ex matriculated hehe) but I wanted to be home not in East Europe it’s a tough place to live really, not a warm place. But I can understand these scientific subjects and the math and physics bio et all. And I appreciate your time,it’s not easy to simplify genetics! And I think also it’s not easy to say that the journey is what you will remember not the certificate at the end for example for a student so no rush to get everything right first time. Have fun and take your time and keep notes and pictures!
Subcool,
When a bud first ripens it is more psychoactive, as it ambers it becomes more sedative.
If planned properly you could mature the seed either in the clear to white phase of the bud cycle and the seeds be more psychoactive, and maybe seeds maturing in a more sedative bud could be more sedative?
Is this a sound theory?
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You might not take the opinion of lit old me but no. The genetics will be the same regardless of the stage the onset of forming seeds begins.
This is a great example of the passing of traits between crosses. It’s a constant formula that doesn’t change.
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I am inclined to agree.
99
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The age or condition of the trichomes on the seeded plant will have no bearing on her progeny (seeds).
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When you say you wash the females after pollinating, is that right away? Like apply pollen then wash right away? Or wait few days?
Sorry if I missed something, just trying to learn
Thx
Not certain who this question is directed at…
The purpose of washing a female after pollination is most likely intended to kill any viable pollen still drifting around. A well washed female can rejoin the others in the flower tent. 
99%
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Ya if a crops only purpose is for seed stock there’s no need to wash. Also if your only looking for a small amount of seeds you can collect pollen separately and paint brush the buds you want pollinated. Or zip tie a plastic bag on to side branches filled with pollen and shake the pollen on.
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I am not trying to change the genetics, from sativa to indica or something. Just express different conditions to see if the timing of a two week period could show expression I could notice. I don’t have access to lab testing. Thanks for your help.
Use a paper bag for better results, after a day of two then put on the plastic bag to kill excess pollen as the plastic bag will sweat. Leave it on a day and the paper bag will be wet then take it off and be all clear.
Huh? You can’t change genetics from sativa to indica. Regardless of when you spread pollen the genetics will stay the same. There will be not noticeable difference bc there will be no difference.
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Just different expressions is what I look for in making seeds.
a plant in desert conditions will perform differently than one in a cold climate. If the plant acclimates, the seeds should represent some characteristics of the environment. Strong cold resistance for example. The genetic code doesn’t change,
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But those traits are passed on bc of genetics. We’re all humans correct and we all started from more or less the same people with the same genetics. We all have slightly different genetics over time bc certain traits where more favorable for our environment. Our genetics is what produces those traits. You can’t affect one without the other. But what your suggesting is like saying a girl that gets pregnant at age 20 will have different offspring then the same woman with the same partner at the age of 30. How does that make sense?
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It makes very little sense, but it’s called epigenetics. There are effectively switches that activate or inactivate depending on the circumstances of the plants (persons) life. It doesn’t change the genetics that are in the pool, but it may change which genes are expressed in a given population…
There is a bunch of (interesting?) articles, and an episode of NOVA called “The ghosts in your genes” about epigenetics.
https://www.nature.com/articles/5201832
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/genes/
twin mice
Though, it would take very extensive testing to say that any certain factor caused the change in expression of a future generation.
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Right, but if i apply the pollen, how long do i wait before washing it and returning to the tent?
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