Seedhead's Breeding Thread

[seedhead]

Hello. I’m new to OG and this is my first thread, where I’ll be documenting my 2025 growing and breeding project. I’ll be doing successive open pollinations, both outcrosses and F2s, using packs from Bodhi, Copa, Solfire, and others if time permits.

The general plan: Germinate packs one at a time on a rolling schedule. When a pack matures, use all its males to pollinate the whole harem, which will include all females from that pack as well as cloned keeper females from previous packs. I will cull undesirable females as new ones are added, making the harem more and more selected over time, and hopefully keeping it a constant number.

The result is that every pack will produce an unselected, open pollinated F2 repro, while simultaneously outcrossing to the “worthy” females from other packs. I would love to share the seeds from this project with anyone here who’s interested! No way I can germinate them all…

The specific plan:

• Wave 1: The starter harem, an assortment of fems from Solfire: 2 Bahama Bussdown, 2 Mind Flayer, 2 Creature Panic, 2 Miami Mami, 1 NFSheeesh (9 total). Germinated in February. Starting with fems departs slightly from the plan above, but provides a diverse group to outcross to from the start. I will brush them with frozen Space Monkey (GG4 x Wookie 15) pollen from last year while waiting for wave 2 males to mature.

• Wave 2: More Cowbell (Forum GSC x 88G13HP) from Bodhi. Germinated early March. 13/13 popped and 11 made it to the seedling stage.

• Wave 3 (planned): 4 Play (Chem 4 x Wookie 15) from Bodhi. Never grown a chem cross before. Hoping for diesel smells, which someone on another forum reported.

• Wave 4 (planned): Mike Drop (Alien Rock Candy x High Voltage) from Copa. Not quite sure what to expect from this one. It was a GLG freebie from last 4/20. @Klyphman in the Copa thread grew it and reported hairspray/rotten fruit terps, which sounds promising.

• Wave 5: Undecided. Leaning toward Bodhi’s Banana OG x 88G13HP. Could also do Razzberry Hashplant or Caramel Afghani x Lavender Lemonade. Help me choose!

Here’s the progress so far in pictures.

Wave 1 / Solfire mix as seedlings.

3 weeks later, 6 of them getting repotted.

And today, all in 3/4 gal pots.

Wave 2 / More Cowbells in the drink. One was split open, and I was surprised that it still germinated.

More Cowbells as seedlings. So far they have been a bit sluggish, but the true leaves are starting to grow faster now.

[seedhead]

Apart from this, there is work to be done on my autoflower side project. I am growing some F2s of half auto parents (Red Poison Auto x Don Lemon) in order to obtain auto male pollen, which will be frozen and later outcrossed to some different autos and half autos. Because only 1/4 of (Auto x Photo) F2s will express the autoflowering trait, it takes a large number to get a few males. Hence the tray. Once the autos among them start flowering, the remaining 3/4 get culled, thankfully.

[DeeRezPoundmaker]

Welcome to the greatest online community in the world brother @seedhead! You got some good projects going on so will be watching the show …. Wishing you a bountiful bumper harvest in 2025.

[MaximumChron]

Sounds like quite the project man good luck.

[Tejas]

Welcome to OG @seedhead.

[plantaddict]

Sounds like you got a plan and a good project to work on for the year. Wish you success

[seedhead]

@DeeRezPoundmaker @MaximumChron @Tejas @plantaddict (<-- our usernames are almost brothers )
Thank you all for the encouragement!

A bit more info about the wave 1 Solfire crosses. They are mostly Bahama Mama (Trop Cookies x Black Banana) crosses:

• Bahama Bussdown = Runtz x Bahama Mama
• Creature Panic = Creature x Bahama Mama
• NFSheeesh = North Fire Cookies x Bahama Mama
• Miami Mami = Mind Flayer x Bahama Mama
• Mind Flayer = Double Tap x Why U Gelly

I grew out one seed of each of them several years ago and was impressed overall. There is definitely a lot of cookies influence, and it shows in the structure and frost. Like others, I’ve found a lot of herms among Solfire’s stuff, so I anticipate culling a bunch of these. High risk, high reward.

I got these seeds a couple years ago when first starting to seek so-called “elite” genetics, when I was still a bit naive about what quality means. When Bodhi talks about “pop art” style breeding (bright colors and flavors, repetitive, high volume), I think Solfire is kind of like that. Not knocking that approach – it has its value. But hopefully the males in this project will introduce some different influence into their progeny.

That said, I chose More Cowbell specifically to make some seeds that preserve their cookies traits.

Here are some pictures of them from a couple years ago.

NFSheeesh. Frostiest plant I’ve ever grown. Smelled like a latex glove.

NFSheeesh bud (weird lighting).

Bahama Bussdown. Super pungent orange/tangie smell. Hope to get that again.

Creature Panic

[Gmoney]

I like Mind Flayer.

[seedhead]

I only ever grew one seed of it, but I liked it as well. It was extremely foxtaily, especially the crowns, and smelled like bubblegum. Couldn’t find any pictures of it growing, but you got me thinking about it so I searched my box of jars and found the last of the larf from three years ago.

[seedhead]

Semi auto F2s have been repotted into 4 inchers. They will stay in there until the autos among them start flowering. Not concerned about stunting (in fact it would help me) as this is a pollen run.

[plantaddict]

What does the 3 yr cure smoke like. I wonder if the extra time improves it or does it start to go the other way after some time. I got some getting to be a year an half old but it was some of my first harvest so probably didn’t do it justice. Your names sounds like you like to pop seeds. I like the variety it’s crazy how they all smell different.

[seedhead]

Oops, just realized my post makes it sound like I smoked it, which I didn’t (on a break). In general I’m not the best person to speak about effects, since I’ve never felt very sensitive to strain differences or cures. I also tend to dry herb vape, which I feel flattens the high in the same way a cart does, though to a lesser degree (high is shorter, less trippy/stoney, lower ceiling). Others might disagree. As for flavor, it’s all downhill after 6 months (or less) IMO.

@plantaddict

I like the variety it’s crazy how they all smell different.

100% agree. Every seed is a mysterious little treasure chest.

[seedhead]

Progress update!

The semi-auto F2s are chugging along, despite it being 65 degrees in their tent with the lights on. They have a surprisingly strong skunky, burnt rubber smell about them, unlike my other plants.

Today I noticed one precocious male auto entering flower. But he has two pistils on one of his balls Oh well, at least it’s an auto. I expect the rest of the autos to show themselves within two weeks or so.

The wave 1 Solfire fems are starting to get large. Stem rubs are all some combo of varnish/dry erase marker/mint toothpaste that I expect from this type. I have taken clones from all of them, except for one runt, the NFSheeesh. Not sure what’s going on with it – it’s had a wrinkly, extra waxy leaf texture from the start.

Here are the cuttings in my high tech cloners, made from those plastic boxes that lettuce comes in. For plugs, I use Jiffy pellets with the outer fabric peeled off.

The More Cowbells are starting to pick up speed.

The two seedlings on the left of the middle row are Vanilla Creme Pie fems from HSC, which I germinated on an impulse. I grew one of these a few years ago and it was possibly my favorite plant ever – amazing smell (nothing like the name), super dense purple OG-type flowers. Had to include it in the upcoming pollinations. Here’s a picture of it from back then (it got purple at the end).

[seedhead]

Eventful weekend here. I flipped the wave 1 plants, repotted the More Cowbells into 1 gals, and transplanted the first few rooted wave 1 clones. At the same time, the early auto male dropped its first pollen and several other autos have started to flower. To top it off, my GLG order arrived, including a much anticipated Bodhi/Medicine Mountain freebie, Marisol x TV! Yay.

I’m eager to F2 the MxTV and will probably change the plans for waves 3-5 to accommodate it. I’m also thinking of shelving the 4 Play and running Lemon 27 in wave 3 instead. That way, there would be pollen donors from entirely different parents – a Wookie cross (Space Monkey), an 88G13HP cross (More Cowbell), and a Lavender Lemonade cross (Lemon 27). After all that cools down, the MxTV repro can follow. I will edit the main post to reflect the new plan once it’s decided.

[seedhead]

Here are the wave 1 Solfire fems in the flower tent. They were cut back aggressively to harvest extra clones since I’m flipping before they’ve all rooted, a slight risk. Unfortunately, the NFSheeesh is so behind in growth that it was left out. Maybe it will go in late, or next wave.

A wave 1 clone. The Jiffy pellets work great and are cheap.

The numbered ones here are the repotted More Cowbells (flanked by autos). Growing fast now.

[seedhead]

Here is the early auto male. Glad to see the purple streaks. His grandmother, Red Poison Auto, was a fully purple plant, and his mother had a few late onset purple highlights in her flowers. I can see that some of the auto females are coming in with purple flowers right out of the gate, so hopefully this is a case of transgressive segregation in the F2 gen and I’ll be able to recover the grandmother’s deep purple trait.

So far there are at least six confirmed autos (expected about 8 out of 32), and many with preflowers at one month old, which could be suggestive of imminent autoflowering. The rest have no preflowers and can be safely culled. Not a moment too soon – getting crowded here.

[seedhead]

Update…

Wave 1
The Solfire fems are a week into flower. Not much change in appearance. They’re in a cold basement tent, which is slowing them down and hopefully will decrease the stretch, which I remember being large with these crosses. Clones are rooting nicely.

Wave 2
With their new pots and spring warmth, the More Cowbells are starting to explode. They make up most of the plants in the picture below (though the far left side is all wave 1 clones). It’s a forest in there so the MCs will move into their own tent tomorrow.

Even in veg, the MCs are noticeably different than the wave 1 Solfire crosses. They are less fragrant, shorter, and leafier. I attribute some of this to the 88G13HP father. Their stem rubs give off smells, but not as strongly, and they don’t passively release as much odor into the air. A few males have started to show themselves. Hopefully I will be able to take main stem clones from the females within a week or two. Will probably flip them in early to mid may.

Autos
There are six female autos, which have all been well pollinated by the early auto male. I collected and froze three batches of his pollen and chopped him down today. He may have actually been the ONLY auto male. I kept three other males that look like they’re just about to go into full flower, but at this point, it’s quite late for them to start (almost 7 weeks from seed), so maybe they just have really big clustered preflowers? I can’t tell. Some males are just really flowery in veg, and it seems like being half auto makes plants more precocious (even females – many of them developed preflowers while very young).

Some of the females are starting to get resin. The purple one smells EXACTLY like the grandmother – sweet berry candy and earth, with maybe a little note of terpinolene (which was expressed strongly in one of the F1s).

Wave 3
Officially begun! I have chosen to run Copa’s Mike Drop. Started soaking yesterday. Wave 4 will be Marisol x TV, likely germinating in late May.

[seedhead]

Weekly update.

Wave 1 - Solfire Mix
Now almost two weeks into flower. They have stretched and grown their first pistils. I will apply frozen Space Monkey pollen in about a week. They are reasonably healthy, despite the low temperatures. Cold roots have given them red stems from lack of phosphorous uptake, and some are showing a slight magnesium deficiency due to low transpiration. I have come to expect this when growing with LEDs in a basement at this time of year. Weather’s warming up now and I’m confident that they’ll pull out of it as flower progresses. If anyone cares, I’m feeding Jack’s 3-2-1 formula, very diluted for now (1.5-1.7 EC, and the tap water is 0.5).

I did notice the beginnings of balls on one of the Miami Mamis. As written above, I expected some herms among these. MM in particular is known to be susceptible. If it’s not too severe, I’ll pluck the balls and let it ride. With this project, I wanted to pollinate everything at least once and see everyone’s flowers at least once.

Wave 2 - More Cowbell
These things are super low and bushy. I want to take main stem clones but they’re all still so short! I can’t believe there’s any GSC in these at all. I guess we’re seeing the famed dominance of 88G13HP.

Planning to flip these in two weeks. A bit long to wait, but I want the wave 1 plants to be less than 3 weeks from harvest when wave 2 starts dropping pollen to reduce the risk of contamination (the tents are close together).

Wave 3 - Mike Drop
Pictured. 10/10 popped and broke soil. We love to see it.

Autos
Wow, these things are fast! There are six pollinated females with a range of smells. Pictured below are the favorites. The purple one is strongly terpinolene dominant, for better or for worse. It’s the only one that’s fully purple, though some others may have purple highlights coming in. There is one other terpinolene dominant female, and the remaining four have a fruity Jolly Rancher smell with some earthy milk chocolate mixed in. Terpinolene isn’t my favorite, but I really like the smell of the other ones.

As for those ambiguous males I mentioned, they do seem to be fully in flower now. I’m unsure about what to do with them though. On one hand, if they’re autos that take a while to enter flower, that’s a desirable trait for my purposes (bigger, higher yielding autos). On the other hand, when they dump it will be too late to pollinate the auto females in my schedule, and I don’t really want additional fertile males around now that my other pollinations are in progress. Also, there is still a vague doubt in my mind that these actually carry the full auto genes, when they could just be eager half autos that are stress flowering from being in four inch pots for two months. Most likely I will just chop them down and move on.

[PlantTherapy]

The jiffy pellets are a great idea, never thought of that. Any special preparation you do on them for cloning besides taking the outer fabric off? Looking good my friend.

[seedhead]

Thanks! I put the pellets in a shallow bowl of water and microwave them for 30-60 seconds, which makes them swell up instantly and gives them a light pasteurization (though it’s probably not needed). Then I give them a light squeeze so they’re not too waterlogged. Then I remove the fabric (which helps it stay together during the squeeze).

There is a hole in the middle, but if the cutting is especially fat, it helps to give the pellet a few pokes with a toothpick to prepare it.

They’re made of peat with an added binding agent (like Rapid Rooters are), which makes them stick together almost like clay. If a chunk falls off or a crack forms, you can stick it back together. I get them at Home Depot where a box of 36 costs under $6.