Hi Lefty,
Best of luck finding all the sexy arabic males you need.
Lefty on his search for males
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Oh no you didn’t 
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Lefty scoping those Arabian studs at the pool
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Nice working with fresh seeds. All germinated already, except 1. I have a few more of the Black Leb BX and RSC pheno in paper towels.
Syrian/Leb were jumping out of the shells, which is the same as the seeds from the pure Syrian. Most of these will get culled, but I can run them for the first 3ish weeks before I have to start knocking down numbers. Plants with a thirst for life, and early structural characteristics are what I look for.
I’m trying a few new products. I used up the last of my Root Riot cubes, and didn’t order more. I’ve read a lot of recent reviews on amazon that they changed the plugs. Shame, I really liked them. I hate the normal Grodan seed starter cubes, because they’re a PITA to separate, and not deep enough. So I’m trying these macroplugs. Even though they’re meant for cuttings, I don’t think the slit down the middle will really matter at all. The taproot should grow into the rockwoll.
Last, I splurged for King Crab as my reservoir microbe solution. It’s about $90, but concentration is good, and it will go a pretty long way. If it doesn’t biofilm up the walls of my res and tubes, I’ll consider it worthwhile. I have been using Southern Ag Garden Friendly Fungicide. It works, but I’m not completely satisfied. If I don’t like this one, I’ll give Tribus a shot next. I put ~10 drops into my soaking solution for the cubes/plugs. It even smells nice, like perfume and not like a goat’s asshole. 
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Spoiling us with photos already I see 
Those are definitely some fresh seeds over there
I threw down some Black Lebanon Bx about an hour ago 
The moment I read these words 
:
The Lebathon Returns
I nearly jumped out of my shell
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that turtle cracks me up
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Here’s the spring chickens. Macroplugs appear to be working just fine. I pulled up the heads on a couple, and we’ve got a few runners → into the trash. Luxuries of being able to overstart…
Vents going open, and time to adjust them to a lower humidity. In a day or two, I’ll transplant into the treepots.
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Project Status Update and Discussion
This is a pretty long term project, so I thought it might be nice to update on where we’re going with this and what we’re doing here.
Why not preservation?
In many ways, preservation is the opposite of breeding. Rather than trying to “build” something, you’re intentionally trying not to change what you already have – except maybe to remove obviously deleterious traits that are unlikely going to be useful to anyone. It is hugely important to the foundations of a project like this; however, the strain will always remain as difficult and frustrating to grow as when you started.
I love the Syrian strain from RSC, for instance, but on the other hand, I’m not sure I want to struggle through it’s inbreeding depression, aversion to nutrients and incredibly low yields grow after grow. To me, the point of hybridization in a breeding sense isn’t just to see what happens. When you start from something like a Syrian, it will never change much from where it already is, unless you bring in new genetics.
The bag o’ traits
Taking some inspiration from the way that breeders like Ace and Cannabiogen have approached it, I think this is a method that works well, even when you’re limited in numbers. I have picked a few different lines to hybridize (ie more than 2), and spend generations crossing them together and trying to use complementary males as I go. This way, I get to do many rounds of selection, without bottlenecking anything until later.
Mentally, I’m learning the individual strains and making checklists of the traits I want to keep as I go. The RSC Lebanese has the largest budding flowers, but also a lot of leafiness, compactness that is inconvenient and longest flowering time. I combine it with a male that has more stretch and open structure with low leafiness and shortest flowering time, like the Blue Hemp Lebanese.
Super short flowering:
- Syrian
- Blue Hemp Lebanese
Prominent branching structures
- Blue Hemp Lebanese
- Black Lebanon
Bud density
- Black Lebanon
- Syrian
Large flowers
- RSC Lebanese
High resin
- RSC Lebanese
- Black Lebanon
- Syrian
Botrytis resistance
- Blue Hemp Lebanese
- Black Lebanon
Low leafiness
- Blue Hemp Lebanese
- Black Lebanon
Psychological effect
- Black Lebanon
THCV(?)
- Syrian
Nutrient tolerance
- Black Lebanon
As I make crosses, I keep trying to pick these things out as best I can, and trying to use males where I can to apply the “missing” traits to the females I’m growing. Rather than just selecting a subjective “best” male, choosing the one that is most complementary toward bringing the traits that I need. It’s much easier to do male selection in this way when you know which females the best male represents (and approximately what it would have looked like if it were a female).
Direction and Goals
This will be the 5th or 6th generation of growing Lebanese/Syrian for the project, and I’m still struck by how much there is to work with in these lines. All of them have such stark differences, but the things that originally intrigue me, still do.
I love the Lebanese effects by themselves. There’s some really energizing, exciting effects to be found, that are a lot like some sativas, but with a <50 day price tag. I envision so much versatility in a line like that. Other than just growing it on its own, I have two main objectives for using it as an outcrosser.
- I love growing Afghans, but I think the Afghan/Lebanese combination is even better. Most Afghans can benefit heavily from hybridization with strains that will open them up for more branching, more open structure and diminished leafiness. The right Lebanese can be a great asset here.
- Landrace sativas – a great formula for producing big yields is bud density x big fluffy sativa buds. However, the Lebanese will do something different than the typical stoney indica. Since it already blurs the lines between indica and sativa, it won’t be as likely to produce typical (dare I say indica-leaning) 50/50 hybrids. With it’s potential for super short flowering times and rapid flowering onset, I think it has potential to provide some bud density and earliness while also making sativa-leaning 50/50 hybrids.
Next steps
This run, I’m really trying to wrap up the hybridization process, where I’ll have a population of seeds that are already starting to converge on the the traits I’m trying to pick out. I’ll switch from a mode of primarily outcrossing for traits, to incrossing for stabilization.
After I make seeds this run, I will inbreed 1 generation – though not a true “F2”, it will be a first generation of inbreeding, and will give me probably the broadest spectrum of plants. I think for this generation, I will make feminized seeds, because it will make my life a lot easier when I hunt for a mom. In this “quasi-F2” generation, I’ll identify the girl that I feel represents everything I want in my seeds. Once I have a mom, I’ll backcross her one or more times using males again, to reinforce her traits.
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Good stuff. I have never seen this. I’m been curious. Only seen a few things. Sorry I never asked.
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At the end of this, you’ll have something unique that you made. Best of luck in finding those precious girls that will be the stepping-stones to something great. So glad that you chose OG to post your work at, and I’m here to watch it progress.
This sentiment goes out to all the members here that are putting in the work, to develop something of their own.
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I have some of his stuff going. I never seen his page. I’m here now. Seen a few pictures. Good people
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