I’ve recently been thinking about the logistics of re introducing cannabis to grow wild in the countryside.
Now, living in the UK, my options and ideas would be very limited, initially thinking that just some hemp seed germinated and scattered randomly might eventually take hold in certain areas.
But then I got to thinking of what areas would be best to give it the best chance of surviving. The UK doesn’t exactly have the greatest climate to grow in, although it definitely can be done.
Just thought I’d start a thread to see what ideas people might have about this.
Wether it would be a good idea or not? What areas around the world do people think this could be done? What genetics to use, landrace ideally I’m guessing, but which ones? And any ideas for how this could be accomplished…
I’ve had this thought many of time. There is a verry specific spot I’ve had in mind for years that is lush and green. With beautiful weather. Thought about taking a few hundred beans and dropping em and letting life find its way.
I’ve wanted to do that along a river in Albuquerque. But they did a study in Canada and if I remember correctly, determined that it only takes 10 generations for the feral weed to basically turn into Oregano.
That’s what I mean, I’ve thought this so many times. And just never put it into practice.
I’d recently bought a load of hemp seed (which should have been sterilised here in UK, as you need a license to grow hemp lol) but I managed to germinat a small amount of them… they ended up not growing after sprouting tails. But it git me thinking that actual decent genetics would probably be a much better way to start.
Have you ever thought of specific genetics you’d like to try with?
Yeh, I’m thinking here in UK, it have to be something quite hardy, and resilient.
There are definitely spots in UK that I think it could thrive though. Its actually quite varied from south coast England with hot summers, to North west Scotland and its rainforests.
Yeh, that would be a bit of a problem in areas where a lot of people grow outdoor.
I do think it would be hilarious here in UK, where the governments friend and family are allowed to grow canabis, to go shaking loads of pollen around and seed all of their grows
I definitely think there’s something to that. I know someone with more experience and knowledge of landraces will likely set the record straight.
But as far as I understood it., even the plants that we consider landrace, are cultivars. Local people for generations making selections and breeding, however targeted or bot that breeding is, I think a lot of wild canabis will just revert to hemp eventually.
Having said that, I still see a huge benefit in having hemp plants too, so that wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.
My own… just because I have an abundance. I have so many of the Blueberry Diesel F2s that I could toss out without batting an eye and in my mind you don’t need a landrace to do this because if the seeds were to take off anyway they’d be in nature doing their thing like life is intended haha I figure it’d take a good couple years but if they took off and were undisturbed it would be your own landrace eventually.
This is just my thoughts mind you I have no idea how they’d actually respond.
The BBDs are thriving in our local extreme heat for a locq friend of mine. Showing real tolerance. Very exciting. Might have to just do what I’ve been wanting to and see what happens haha Though the place I’ve thought of it much more mild compares to here locally.
I’d thought about the landrace thing, mainly because of the genetics not being as bottlenecks as some more modern cultivars.
But then I also thought, what if you did this with a mix of 4 or 5 different seeds. And let them all just cross pollinate and see what happened over course of a few years.
Would be cool to see how they adapted to the local conditions.
Would be cool to see it done. I’ve been scouting out areas locally myself, (only just moved to this part of the country last winter) so I’m hoping to find somewhere good to try this experiment next year.
I might try and make some seeds over winter to do it with.
Intentional open pollenation? I would say, nah, and find something else to occupy your mind and time.
Chances you rewild and comeup with a winning formula I’d say 10-1 odds, at best, just a guess, but a great strain will almost certainly, not be made, in any sort.
Chances you ruin someone’s sinsemilla 2-1, good odds you screw up someones stuff.
I personally, would not be pollenating a new town I just moved to. Show some respect for your neighbors.
Ah that’s not the intention at all, it wouldn’t be to harvest or even use really. Just literally to re introduce the plant into the wild.
The multi strain open pollinating would just be to give it a greater selection of genetics to start.
I get where you’re coming from pollinatingof some ones crop wouldnt go down well at all.
But doing it in the countryside was the idea, somewhere remote, away from people growing.
Especially in the UK, hardly anyone growing outdoors over here.
You’d want to look for higher latitude landraces or Canadian/Alaskan/Dutch heirloom populations with seeds that are adapted to surviving a hard freeze in the ground or even prefer it for germination (assuming you’re in area of the UK with hard freezes). Populations with higher degrees of hermaphrodism / semi-auto flowering traits would also be useful for survival and increase the chance of reproductive success. Some Himalayan cultivar and feral selections come to mind as promising options. Also think a more vigorous duckfoot variety like Acer 1 would probably adapt well to feral life and have the selective advantage of not attracting as much human predation…
I suggest you should look into the Landrace of Hoper Valley, Gilgit.
36° N, 2400-2600 Meters above sea level at the place melting glacier. flowers fast 7-9 weeks max.
Wether it would be a good idea or not?
