Feminized autoflowers - a little rant

[blackosprey]

I will tell you.
F3-
aa x aa = 100% aa
You select autoflowering plants from F2 seeds and you make F3 seeds 100% auto.
Peace.

yeah, see, that makes perfect sense....I sat here for probably twenty minutes trying to figure that out...

 

[stealthcabber]

i would say they probably make more fem autos because they sell more, i mean lets remember we are pay 100$ for 10 seeds yielding up to 20 oz or more. where can u buy a elbo and half for 100 bucks..I used to feel the same way about photoperiod fems, but now i just look at it as a time saver. Plus keeping male pollen when running autos is almost necessary so most have pollen on hand to make crosses with the fems.

 

[Agaricus]

FoCo and Intern@tional, thanks much for the info on breeding. Can you recommend a genetics book comprehensible to a brain-damaged geezer?

 

[Bullwinkle60]

I agree. excuse me but i was answering to the post that said fems save time and trouble and I agree.

 

[KanadianKronik]

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=60610

 

[TGT]

I think it would be a better deal and more inticing to the consumer to be able to purchase say, 20 female auto's for the price of 10. It would probably convert a lot of people on the fence about buying auto fem's or not.

Agaricus, a book I once owned and studied, that read like one of those 'books for dummies' on breeding cannabis was by an author named 'Greg Green' (I hope that's correct?)

It was straight forward and easy to understand, although I have been told it was not the most accurate information to be learning from. It did expain Mendel's laws on genetics, so I am sure that part must be correct. It was a good read and taught me quiet a bit -I hope lol! May be some other's here know of this book and can comment?

Like I stated already, I can't vouch for the accuracy of info, but I am sure it can't be far off. I would really like to know myself as I am interested in breeding again.

TGT

 

[Agaricus]

Kodiak, that colloidal silver tek is something I plan to try. Not only for AF's but for photoperiod. I have very little room for clones and keeping good genetics in feminized seed form sounds like a really good idea.

TGT, I looked up that Greg Green book, "The Cannabis Breeder's Bible" and it looks really good. Just for the heck of it I looked for "Genetics for Dummies" and as a general text it looks even better, though not as much fun.

Lots of good info in this thread, thanks all.

 

[stinkhairs]

I think I'm liking feminized seeds for regular, clonable plants. I recently sprouted a freebie Blue Widow and she's looking really fine.

However, in shopping for autoflower seeds I'm noticing more and more fems and less and less regulars. And it pisses me off.

IMO fems just aren't worth it for autos. You pay a big premium per seed. The yield per plant is relatively low. You can't clone 'em and you can't do a seed run.

So why buy 'em?

A few years ago I did a nice seed run of LR#2 and had lots of seeds for myself, for gifts to freinds, and for trade. I was a very happy camper.

Now it seems that most of the newer strains are available only in fems. I understand the desire of the breeders/banks to limit the ability of the individual grower to make their own, thus more profits.

But fuck, it just gets too expensive for the comparatively low bud per bean. Not to mention losing the fun factor of making your own seed and auto hybrids. I just ain't gonna but 'em. Period.

Anybody else feel this way?

Not sure why you would want to buy some autoflowers and run the risk of them being male? Since you're buying seeds anyway you're not making your own.

I love the fact that most plants are feminised these days. There's enough strains out there that i would never try, let alone decide to add my own to the mix, and all the instablity that breeding brings.

They definitely are more expensive, i feel your pain there. But still alot cheaper than buying, so stop moaning

And as for low yield, the most i've got off an autoflower was 3.5 ounces. Granted the yields vary greatly by variety, but a good set up can get you all the benefits of regular fem plants, just costs a bit more in electric (no 12/12). Set up some autoflowers with a drip or ebb system and leave them to it!

 

[Agaricus]

The reason I prefer standard seeds over fems (for autoflower) is so I can do a seed run with the first "boughten" pack and have hundreds and hundreds of seeds. My first AF grow was LR2 in a seed run and I had enough beans to last for years, though I did give away a hell of a lot to friends.

An upcoming project will be to use colloidal silver to make fem autoflower beans, as referred to a while back in the thread.

I got about 60 seeded grams from 2 plants, and in subsequent grows they averaged aroun 2-2.5 oz. per plant with the males culled out. Not bad, but a good photoperiod plant in SCROG does a lot better.

I do much prefer fems for regular use, it's a bit of a pain in the arse to sex the standards, especially since my sprout/clone area's pretty tiny.

3.5 oz. per plant's pretty damn good. AF's have come a long way and I haven't grown them for a while. The rant came on when I got thinking about getting some more for a seed run and saw all those nice strains only in fem.

Anyhoo, 'nuff bitchin'. What AF strains do you like best? Sounds like you have a good handle on what's around.

Since I learned about colloidal silver I'm anxious to try it and would like to start off with something really good. Yield's a factor but secondary to really good bud.

 

[Tiredofschwag]

It's a good thing I saw the hand writing on the wall a couple of years ago about the feminized seed craze and realized that soon you will be forced to buy seeds for every grow. So I have bought quite a few auto strains and done seed runs for a long time and now I have lots and lots of beautiful seeds. I started with auto hindu kush regular, did a seed run and then crossed it with purple gem, auto blueberry from 2 breeders, titan, il diavolo and my latest and favorite auto afghan kush x auto hindu kush and now I'm making seeds from il diavolo with afghan/hindu kush. I can now just buy single feminized seeds and make seeds with one of my males. But these are all mostly indica and I also wanted to get an auto sativa and of course they are almost all feminized now.

However I have come up with a solution and have ordered the following seeds to make sativa. I really like the look of super-cali haze but it's only femmed. And I need a male auto sativa. And the only sativa strain I could find left was Auto Assasin regular. So I ordered them both the other day and they are in the mail.

Just immagine a large Haze one hit wonder auto hybrid with little odor crossed with a shorter, faster and more odourous sativa selection from AK47 called Auto Assasin. To me this is a good starting point and I can then select from the result until I get the perfect auto sativa.

Anyone that likes to grow autos from seed like I do better wake up. The feminized seed cartel is starting to squeeze. Buy some regular autos now before they are all gone.

 

[FiftySeeds]

..

 

[Krull]

And now , most fem breeders use shortcuts and make backcrosses to a well known and stable auto strain , but of course it reduces the interesting charcteristics of the non-af plant used at first.
That's why most of all those new auto strains look like pure merchandizing to me , as i'm quite sure that the breeding work behind those strain is quite poor .

As the auto critical fem seeds , I know from trusted source that they all come from the same spanish man who sell them to many "so called" breeders....yes , it seems that most of autofem seeds are produced by less than 5 indepedent breeders working for other companies !!

So true

Peace

=K

 

[mitch_connor]

I'm not a fan of the backcrossing to AF a couple of times to lock down the AF trait, seems like a waste of time to me as you're getting such a little amount of the non-AF parent in it.

But for the breeders doing it that way to get a 'new' strain to market, I can see why £$

I'm embarking on a fair few projects of my own, going to work to AF through inbreeding, then Bx back to the non-AF and start again. May take SEVERAL years but when you're doing it for the love not monies it's not too bad .. just hope no one pinches the hard work for themselves at the end of it!

 

[TanzanianMagic]

IMO fems just aren't worth it for autos. You pay a big premium per seed. The yield per plant is relatively low. You can't clone 'em and you can't do a seed run.

I tried to save seeds from a Diesel Lowryder, and they were of course very unstable. Some of the offspring didn't autoflower at all.

The only reason that would make sense to save seeds for an ordinary person is if you have a true IBL or highly inbred landrace.

And of course if you want to make a strain autoflowering, you can take your favorite strain and cross it with a ruderalis or even better, a semi-autoflowering sativa.

 

[5th]

I'm not a breeder...or insulting anyone that is....

Due to curcumstance I had to cross a Mach 3 (male) with a RRF (not a male)...both from Flash seeds. End product is kick ass. I've wanted to fem these seeds for about a year now...(to run in my vert octagon)...but I just like the making seeds aspect of it all.

There is still many breeders on the market offering both people. Just cuz "Super Shit Storm Auto's" is only selling fem's....means your ass needs to be shopping elsewhere.

 

[Snoopster]

You can get great yields from fem auto seeds. I got 5 and 6 ounces off a couple super lemon haze autos.
I am doing a seed run with autos, all fem right now.
It has been done before.

 

[Snoopster]

double post

 

[BjornFrieze]

I have both fem'd and regular auto seeds. Planning on making seeds with pollen from a reg male - gonna use the fem'd mostly for smoking material. Starting a few of each will give me both, hopefully.

I have no probs with fem'd seeds for maximum harvest - ever accidentally pollinated a crop and picked out seeds? Pain in the ass. If I want seeds, I'll buy some, or pollinate on purpose.

 

[Captain Ginyu]

I friggin can't stand fem-only breeders. You should indulge customers who want things the way they want it, right? After all; they are customers, so go ahead and piss off & alienate enough of them, & soon you wont have shit. Fuck all your greedy asses!

 

[marijuana]

It's a good thing I saw the hand writing on the wall a couple of years ago about the feminized seed craze and realized that soon you will be forced to buy seeds for every grow. So I have bought quite a few auto strains and done seed runs for a long time and now I have lots and lots of beautiful seeds. I started with auto hindu kush regular, did a seed run and then crossed it with purple gem, auto blueberry from 2 breeders, titan, il diavolo and my latest and favorite auto afghan kush x auto hindu kush and now I'm making seeds from il diavolo with afghan/hindu kush. I can now just buy single feminized seeds and make seeds with one of my males. But these are all mostly indica and I also wanted to get an auto sativa and of course they are almost all feminized now.

Yes that's whats up! I agree with TiredOfSchwag, there is nothing like finding your favorite strains and than manually pollinating to create your own crosses! not only do you get to play a part in the genetics your taking care of but I think it keeps things fresh so everyone is not growing the same strains from the same seedbanks and the aspect of experimentation is awesome! I am doing my first fem AF grow right now and it does save you in aspects of yield from eliminating males seeing as the seeds are way too expensive but it does not seem natural and in my opinion will have negative affects on genetics and growers alike down the road.