I like to believe nature in cannabis has a series of steps of acclimatization
Ie planting 20 seeds in a patch and collecting seed annually
It’s less gaudy then actual selective breeding which i do by backcrossing over and over again
And a question, do you think soil has a factor to this theory? Ie the offspring
look at how LAndraces are.
The closer to equator, trippyyer, sativaer, uphigher…
Sunintensity, or Warmth is what might be the cause for this.
Also, look at Desert-climates, plants grow into those INDICA thingyes, actually i could imagine Indica arises often in “harsh” conditions… Also at high elevations…
So i guess, elevation (might be the temperature at high elevation, or might be some hardly visible things like Microbial live at high elevations) is having much influence… or drought…
easily imaginable…
Soiltype, aslong as its not a very weird Soil for Cannbis only makes the difference between “african”, "Thai, “Columbian”, acording my Theory…
For me thats still important, but i dunno what your Goals are…
However, in my theory, above theLatitude of ruffly Turkey, there doesent exist much legendary Cannbis, so if you plant in north US… well, the adaption will not bring out legendary Traits…
Also:
Drug Cannabis was always selected for desired Traits such as getting high… so, you cant just open pollinate and SOLEY let the nature play… A Legendary Landrace is formed by the Nature AND the humans selection…
And without recognizing it, as you select THE GOOD TRAITS, they will always be a result of a Plant feeling happy, or not happy in the particular NAture you plant it… Or more in detail , the plant will not just be happy/nonhappy, she will react very precise to the surrounding…
So, the precisely reacting Phenos we Human like are a Cannbis-Genome feeling in a certain precise way about its Enviroment… And the Phenos we humans dont like are a Cannbis-Genome feeing in a certain DIFFERNT about its enviroment, because they are different Genomic expressions…
So you will automatically select a certain part of the Genome, and a certain PArt of the Genoe you wont select… if you select the nice pheno… your Cannbis-es Genomics get shaped…
but not from you, but from the nature aswell…
This “natural selection” therefore shows similarities wether the Human selects or the Human doesent select… its a similar imput… IN MY THEORY THAT ALL IS.
so thats why you can happily select a bit, otherwise your MArihuana Strain will revert back to a wild State, to low THC… very slowely probably, but it will, or will revert back to bad Traits, bad taste, ruff look, shitty headachy highs and whatever a prime State of Cannbis was…
So, if you would try to acclimatize a Tropical Thai Sativa to north US, wich i believe you want , then i would advise doing that not further north than Turkey… Greece had a nice SativaLandrace…
So, i would plant Thi in Greece every year…
Because like said further north no Legendary Strains have come up.
And a Greek Flowering Time isnt thaat hard to finish in north US… Once you finished the project…
I heard that certain tropical Species were tried to being acclimatized, and they did this somewhere i recall on Canary islands… Somewhere in between… they didnt just plant tropical Trees in north US… lol
I dunno if that project was fruitfull… but atleast you wouldnt been the first to try this…
You will probably run into inbreedingdepression after 20 Generations,tho… and therefore your strain just became weak… maybe it will still be pretty good, but… well, its a big undertaking.
I think soil type is definitely a factor, nearly everything is a factor. As for acclimatization, the population size starting out seems like an integral piece of the pie that will lend influence to the fitness of the line across successive generations. An interesting scope to view from, and I applaud your efforts in gathering scientific data in these unique ways. Much love
for a tropical sativa… I’m no expert but most of the “Legendary” strains north of the 49 were made by combining genetics to arrive at an acclimated strain… I don’t think the results will be realized without outcrossing to reduce the flowering times. Finding a male that will be transparent except for the reduction in flowering time and it will let all the desirable tropical sativa traits pass on into the proginy might be the path I would take.
We have “many” legendary strains in the north here in Canada. Bred by outdoor farmers in the western coast of Canada and Ontario/Quebec at or below the 49th parallel.
A great many were started from landrace genetics and then bred for acclimating to around the 49th parallel. Many landraces from south of the equator were used in the breedings and in many of the well known acclimated Canadian strains still express many of those NLD(narrow leaf drug type) traits in growth and effects.
So personally I think to acclimate a strain from the tropics, finding that fast transparent male and then selecting a breeding back with the offspring… that might get you to the destination you desire. And yes I’m just throwing the idea out there, I’m not claiming it is “the way”
Kinda to piggy back on this topic - do plants communicate better when they share root medium vs just sharing canopy but indivdual pods?
Like even indoors, you have one room with plants in a shared bed and one room with large pots of same soil - do the shared bed plants “share better notes”?
Hmm, I’ve found shared root space tends to result in competition and will reduce overall growth compared to dedicated soil.
I’m pretty sure that plants communicate via the release of hormones like jasmonate which is all done up top.
Well. About that.
I have some background in herbalism, permaculture and mycology.
What I’ve learned through the years is that plants and trees produce more energy than they can absolutely use. They then share about 50% of their gained energy (gained through photosynthesis) with the soil food web, which is largerly governed by bacteria and fungi. This 50% will not be accurate probably, but it’s the number I was thought, I’m pretty sure this number will depend on plant health and stressors in part, but that’s beside my current point.
Each plant or tree has it’s preference for certain types of soil (constituents of the soil) and a certain pH range (ability to leach/feed on each element changes with pH).
The plant or tree starts out as a seed with little or none of it’s own ability to choose on where it ends up, but once it sprouts, if sprouted within the conditions that are sufficient to start life, it will have in it’s genetic code the right keys to convert the soil food web towards a more beneficial one for it’s own good and it’s future generations.
It does this through direction of energy. Half of the energy produced is used directly by the plant to power it’s life and growth. The other half is split between the bacteria and the fungi. If more food is directed towards the fungi, the soil will move towards a diminished pH value, so it will “go sour” a little bit. If more food is directed towards the bacteria, the soil will gain pH value and will go more basic.
This division is directly influenced by each plant growing in the soil food web, and as you move from one plant species to the next, the soil will gently change with it.
This all takes time of course, and is only one part of what is going on below ground. There’s of course all kinds of critters as well, maybe a few yeasts here n there, you name it. These all work together, as the fungi and bacteria tag along on worms, nematodes, beetles, slugs, and whatever else you’ll find in the ground.
The bacteria and fungi then use this plant energy to boost an increase in surface area, so they can spread further and reach more materials to transform into nutritional elements for the plants.
The cannabis plant is a plant with an exceptional appetite, and thus it benefits from having a properly supported soil food web.
A lot of the organic plant food bottles focus on adding material to the soil. When this is combined with a soil that has a good balance of bacteria and fungi and thus the right pH, or when specifically tailored to cannabis micro-organism pellets are used, it can all combine into having a very tasty organic end product and leaving a healthy soil behind for the next year that no longer has a need for tilling.
The best thing to do after this point would be throwing on some fresh compost with integrated manure and planting some alfalfa as a cover crop until next round. The worms in the soil will transport the stuff you throw on top back down piece by piece as they chomp on it and shit it back out, leaving your soil patch ready for next year with minimal effort.
Aside from simply food production, fungi also protect the plant through the means of fungal enzymes aimed at plant pathogens. The fungi are also responsible for sharing food “between food webs” as they reach further than bacteria can and will communicate and transfer food with other fungi webs and can also cater to more plants. The bacteria are often larger in number, but usually smaller in mass. They also possess the ability to supply the plant with food as they supply it with nitrogen. And much like the fungi they also exhibit forms of plant protection by competing with harmful microbes. Last, but certainly not least, fungi and bacteria both do their own very specific work on soil structure, keeping it healthy and conducive to bountiful crops without having to break your back over it.
Now what I find interesting about this in relation to this discussion, is that this means 2 things: cannabis, like all other plants, will adapt to the soil it is grown in because the soil directly influences epigenetic factors. And the other is, cannabis, like all other plants, will adapt it’s action to the soil it is grown in (leaving all other conditions present outside of the scope right now).
Knowing all this, I think it would be completely and utterly impossible for soil to not have an influence on the plants and the product.
Though I also think that cannabis showcases an ability to make the best out of it’s conditions and not in the least in the flowers. This is logical from a evolutionary perspective as well, as the flowers are of course the main product it is cultivated for, and cultivation makes a great part of it’s history, both present day but also long ways back. Now if cannabis would not have been cultivated, things might have evolved a bit differently, as the winds pollinate without preference for smell or potency, and flower quality directed culling is mostly a human endeavor.
A wonderful read.
yes, i probably missrepresented: Soil is quiet , to very influencing. Sunshine and Temps might be most influencing…
And that’s exactly why the most productive and best quality strains are also the most difficult to master, they’re acclimated to growing rooms, to be in rich soil, and to be safe from harsh conditions so they’re not as resistant as an easy strain, because resistance was not the desired trait