Tips for Choosing Keepers in Veg?

[AloeRuss]

Hmm....
I guess any board need those..

 

[StickyHands]

things too look for.....
not the 1st to flower...undesirable trait
hollow stems... desirable
strong smell from the stem rub
good growth pattern w/ evenly space nodes, and branching
usually the short,squat,stinky ones.... are best
ladies, that can handle sum stress, and still produce
tops, or lst, well
clones in under 10days...

things too look for

hi m8,

was hoping you could help me,
im wondering why its not good to have hollow stems?
newb here, so please be gentle, lol, not looking to argue, just wanting to learn.
I would have thought that a hollow stem would allow for greater nutrient uptake, kinda like a motorway of nutes from roots to top of plant. Like i said, im newb, so im just thinking out aloud with no practical experience to say otherwise.

Ive got a few plants that are just hitting flower cycle. I noticed some of them had really hollow stems, which now im thinking i should keep an eye on since you mentioned the trait.

Any help would be appreciated.
Happy NY to all.

Peace,

Sticky

 

[Coconutz]

hi m8,

was hoping you could help me,
im wondering why its not good to have hollow stems?
newb here, so please be gentle, lol, not looking to argue, just wanting to learn.
I would have thought that a hollow stem would allow for greater nutrient uptake, kinda like a motorway of nutes from roots to top of plant. Like i said, im newb, so im just thinking out aloud with no practical experience to say otherwise.

Ive got a few plants that are just hitting flower cycle. I noticed some of them had really hollow stems, which now im thinking i should keep an eye on since you mentioned the trait.

Any help would be appreciated.
Happy NY to all.

Peace,

Sticky

I mean no offense when I say this, but... Hes just talking out of his arse
peace

 

[symbiote420]

In a nutshell, truthfully there really is no way to pick the best males or females during veg! ....sure you can narrow down your choices, but no actual way to tell till the plant is bloomed and/or consumed! ....then you still won't know what it passes to it's progeny till they are grown out and sampled!

Observation and selection are the main keys when it comes to breeding though, you look for and select for the traits that you want to continue or add to the cross/line and then grow/go from there! Nothing etched in stone that will ensure success, it's pretty much hit or miss but being mindful during the veg stage helps the process, that's what the guys who select from 100's of plants do, they cull pretty much all the ones with unworthy traits and the scragglers during all stages of veg then only bloom the most vigorous, healthier ones aka the best!

IME some muties or plants that "herm" can/will be the most potent, so potency alone is not always the best trait to select for!

 

[ShattaBrain]

I myself have selected a nice NYCD pheno in the past based on rubbing the main stem and sniffing. Internode spacing and lack of stretch is others I look for. I find the fruitier smelling ones have increased resistance to mould which would fit.
I had to ditch a shed grow of the lot of them unfortunately and put all the different strains in the garden during winter. The nycd pheno with purple stems appeared to dye off near completely apart from a single bladed leaf about 1cm long. It somehow remained dormant in the frost, survived into the next year and flowered out early.
It was one of my best smokes.

Would like to hear more from others on other indicators of good phenos.

 

[Easy7]

Years ago I bought a bunch of fems. Just wanting something for the season. Got to running three 125w cfl lights to test out the strains. The blue hash seed resulted in the most funktastic plant, with a horribly low yeild. Just large calyxes that didn't form bracts. Most resin covered plant I've ever grown, and the smell was one of a kind. I never could have selected this plant in veg and removed it. Had to see it's low bud yeild. Seems there will always be drawbacks to selecting in veg. Bud formation and bract development is the main factor in selection for me, then smell. Not much point in growing, putting so much into a pitiful stash....even if taste, smell and high impress.

There should probably be a saying, "never judge a plant in veg"

 

[moses wellfleet]

Selecting in veg is like choosing your favorite food from looking at photographs... Impossible people... Chimera knows!

 

[AloeRuss]

^^^^ you maybe right. And every strain may be different. I didn't have much trouble selecting 99 out of 110 few month back.
I topped them a few times and let them heal and grow a bit before I made the selection.
By that time it was an easy call. The harder part was dealing with 11 that's left

 

[Aquaponicos]

hi m8,

was hoping you could help me,
im wondering why its not good to have hollow stems?

Sticky

I think he meant it is good to have hollow stems.

No hollow stems = No good

Just my thoughts.

 

[BredForMeds]

just becareful with tossing out the slow growing seedlings.. the past 5 tiny ones that were super slow to grow.. ended up being way more vigorous after being cloned.. then once flowered.. 3of the 5.. were the best phenos I had out of the new seeds..

its tough to find keepers in veg.. but mostly I found that I can tell a male from a female most of the time just on the smell alone.. but ive had plants in veg that looked like and smelled like they were going to be awesome.. and turned out crappy.. and the other way around..

lately with seeds.. we go way over plant count.. but say fuck it.. we need to find the best medicine for our patients.. so we cant dick around.. we just make sure that the second we find out which are males.. we keep the best 2-4 males.. kill rest.. and then females. get clones and flowered right away.. then pick the bests an kill the rest.

 

[BredForMeds]

there are loopholes here tho.. so u just gota know ur shit . to stay outa trouble.. I try to stay at a low plant count.. to avoid anything becoming federal.

 

[CanniDo Cowboy]

For many of us who grow medically we are severely limited in the number of plants we may flower and thus end up having to pick a couple of girls out of maybe a dozen seedlings to keep while the others all get the axe.

I know the title of this thread is something of an oxymoron in that the only true way to determine a plants value is to flower it out and test the final product, but I've started to notice some traits in veg. that often seem to be promising indicators. I would love to hear from others who have identified desirable traits in their vegging plants BEFORE flowering begins. Anything that can help to narrow down the keepers during the culling would be helpful.

The one thing I have noticed that seems to often indicate a plant will be frosty in flower is how aromatic, sticky and frosty the stems on the fan leaves are in veg. The more resin the better.

The other traits I look at include the vigor of the plant and elements of its structure such as internode distance and overall branching propensity and shape.

For those that get forced to choose keepers while still in veg what traits do you look for?

In the world of growing, being "forced" into a certain method generally goes hand in hand with having to lower expectations of overall results. A simple example would be : Smaller room = less yield. If restraints from "forced" conditions place you in a "hit and miss" or "by guess and by golly" mode, you either remove or improve the restricting conditions/methods or settle for the results. Sometimes we have no choice. Whether growing indoors or outdoors, financial resources and available space can and often do, dictate everything.

IMO, trying to select the best of the best plants, while still in veg falls under the hit and miss category. Too many variables. As some have mentioned, larger plant size doesnt always result in the best quality. Same can be said regarding rate of growth. On the other hand, a smaller plant, lacking a greater yield, may produce a potency beyond belief. IMO, smell is relative to strain but doesnt really guarantee yield, potency or both. Incidentally, if working with a small space, the smaller plant with higher potency would be something I could live with...

With regard to CONSISTENCY, obtaining either yield, potency or both, depending on what youre after, within any size space-large or small, IMO, youre gonna have to go the distance. Male or female, going from cradle to grave is the only exact way to know what you have, what to replicate and what to discard. Especially working with seeds. And that may take numerous runs and taking a lot of 'just in case its a winner" cuts. Of course, that generally requires MORE room and if you just dont have the space, 'hit and miss" becomes..."it is what it is..."CC

 

[wantaknow]

I take cuts of each and keep them under floros ,until I have harvested ,then make my mom selection,and grow it out for cuts ,....

 

[yortbogey]

hi m8,

was hoping you could help me,
im wondering why its not good to have hollow stems?
newb here, so please be gentle, lol, not looking to argue, just wanting to learn.
I would have thought that a hollow stem would allow for greater nutrient uptake, kinda like a motorway of nutes from roots to top of plant. Like i said, im newb, so im just thinking out aloud with no practical experience to say otherwise.

Ive got a few plants that are just hitting flower cycle. I noticed some of them had really hollow stems, which now im thinking i should keep an eye on since you mentioned the trait.

Any help would be appreciated.
Happy NY to all.

Peace,

Sticky

I was wrong DJ said..... to keep hollowed stem

 

[bill cooper]

I'm sure i read DJ Short saying hollow stems was a desirable trait

 

[yortbogey]

I stand corrected..... YES the hollow stem is a desirable trait.... allowing for better water nutrient transfer thru the stem.....

I must have mixed up my info during the talk... then again, the hash was superb....

SO YES.... I stand corrected..... DJ said keep the hollowed stems.....

 

[StickyHands]

I stand corrected..... YES the hollow stem is a desirable trait.... allowing for better water nutrient transfer thru the stem.....

I must have mixed up my info during the talk... then again, the hash was superb....

SO YES.... I stand corrected..... DJ said keep the hollowed stems.....

Thanks for clarification, much appreciated. just trying to learn as much as possible as quickly as i can..
mmmm, hash you say, mmmm

Thanks again mate. Stay safe

 

[Snype]

There is no way at all to choose a seed plant in VEG. It isn't possible unless you don't care about the potency, flavor and effect of the high. True keepers are very hard to find. It is not common to germinate a pack or 2 of seed and find a true keeper. You see a lot of growers finding what they call keepers and it works for them but they settle for what they find.

In this day and age you have to be in the top 5-10% category to make a decent living and protect yourself. Look at a lot of dispensaries and talk on these boards about the product in basically legal states. It tells a lot about what's going on. I've seen a lot of product in my time that looks really nice but once you smoke it it's just ok. I'm lucky to have some of the strains that I have right now and I've popped many packs of seed that never passed my test criteria.

For something of mine to be a true keeper, it must pass certain tests. It can take me many months even up to a year to classify something as a keeper or get rid of it. The most important test is potency. If it doesn't contain extreme potency, it's gone, period.

Now if it has extreme potency it still has to have great flavor. If a pheno has great flavor and it's not extremely potent, it's gone.

Now if it got passed these tests we have to think about other variables like Vigor, Herm tendency, trich production, finishing times, yield, bud density, mold concerns, bag appeal and so on.

Also think about this, i'm sure you're aware that some strains can take around 2 months to cure to get their flavors and kicks. When you are looking for a keeper, it is best to keep an open mind and be very patient. Some of my strains are just ok without being cured but after a long cure they really come out so how would it be possible to choose in Veg with all the other things to think about.

The problem is that a lot of these growers are growing for profit and they seem to choose keepers mainly based on yield. I've noticed that a lot of the bigger yielding pheno's in my packs throughout the years were't actually the most potent or the most triched out. I'd rather find a balance so your product can be much better than the norm. That's not a hard thing to accomplish considering the norm is really not that great compared to homegrown that gets lots of attention to your details.

 

[BredForMeds]

I agree with snype. I will say if u look at atleast 75% of these growers here.. pop a pack.. and find a few keepers.. they aren't finding the keeper that's the BEST pheno in that STRAIN they pick the best one they grew n keep it going.. most of the time.. its ok. but deff not a KEEPER.

i love when people are breeding with bagseed and then go around telling people about how they made this amazing shit called SOSO.. but really they popped a bagseed.. and called it SOSO. and because it came out ok.. its a KEEPER NOW. haha.. half the so called BREEDERS out there.. don't pop enough seeds to find the REAL KEEPERS..

i been seeing dudes here.. who pop like 5 seeds. find a few females .. and next thing u know there making crosses with them.. and saying how they are an UNDERGROUND BREEDER... hahah . look at half the people here looking for TESTERS for there shit.. half those genetics ARE SHIT that they are hoping to god it comes out halfway decent so they can try to cash in on the SEED GAME.

i can bet that most of the seeds i give to family and friends.. are better then most the shit ur paying 100 bucks for a 6 pack of fems. or 10-12 pack of regs.. haha. . shit look at the GSC CRAZE.. some BAGSEED HERMI CRAP that went VIRAL

 

[Twisted pleasur]

I take cuts of each and keep them under floros ,until I have harvested ,then make my mom selection,and grow it out for cuts ,....

Thank You Thats How it is done.