Question on breeding

[Guest]

Im thinking about buying a strain that is no longer going to be for sale by its breeder. I want to keep it around after I harvest it, but I don't have the setup to clone and have a mom at this time. But what I was thinking is keeping 1 male and making my own seeds.

I can setup a small 42w cabinet for the 1 male plant, it'd be in a separate room as the females. And probably wouldn't be ventilated all that much.

Then I understand you collect the pollen on something, then do something like put some pollen on the end of a Q-tip, and touch the Q-tip to your female plant's buds...and wherever you touch, seeds will form? am i right?

Well, would having a male in the house cause all my plants to be completely seeded? Or will having the male in a separate room prevent that from happening?


And, can I expect the seeds to be any good? What steps should I take to ensure good seeds? Do seeds take any extra time to develop - for example, if I have a 56 day strain, can I still pick it at 56 days and have the seeds be ready?


Lastly, Here's my understanding as how breeding would work... tell me if im right

Single Cola Plant x Bushy Plant = Mix of the 2 (50/50 Bushy/Single Cola)

Single Cola Plant x Single Cola Plant = Single Cola Plant

Bushy Plany x Bushy Plant = Bushy Plant

Is this correct? Do you recommend crossing two plants that have different characteristics (such as growth styles), or would you cross plants that have similar characteristics?

If you wanted mostly bushy plants, would you cross a bushy female to a bushy male? Would that work?


Thanks everyone, I know it's a lot of questions, just entering the world of breeding. Done some research but some questions remain unanswered

 

[Pirate138]

try the search function

 

[Guest]

I did, and have read a lot...but none spell out what I am trying to do. I read the Breeding for Beginners stickey, plus a few other threads, if anyone has any input I'd appreciate it - thanks

 

[gmb]

Depends on alot of things. One thing I've learned is to never expect exactly what you think will happen. Theoretically, if you kept your male plant completely secluded and set the cab up well enough, you shouldn't have stray pollen..but nothing is 100% sure. It also depends on the parent stock. If you're using real P1 stock(say, a good single-cola pure indica and a landrace sativa), then you'd definitely get some indica-dominant, some sativa-dominant, and some inbetween.

So, if your plant is not P1, but maybe a hybrid that's been inbred a few generations to stabilize it...you may find that those genes you don't typically see in its propogation will come out in the cross. Make a cross, grow out the offspring, and take notes.

 

[chubbynugs]

Read the thread by jlp on his male isolation chamber. this is what you need to make.

 

[Guest]

Excellent, so basically make a sealed cabinet with filters over the intake and exhaust to keep the pollen from escaping.

I'm not sure I like the idea of having it right in with your female plants though.

I'd rather make a small cabinet, with filters on the ventilation, and have it in a separate room under some small lights. Who knows... if the filter fails... those females are ruined.

Thanks for the tip though, it was a good read

 

[jaykush]

I can setup a small 42w cabinet for the 1 male plant, it'd be in a separate room as the females. And probably wouldn't be ventilated all that much.

yes you can make a small chamber for the male so he can release pollen. if it has ventelation make sure to cover it with cloth because pollen will get airborne

Well, would having a male in the house cause all my plants to be completely seeded? Or will having the male in a separate room prevent that from happening?

if you let the pollen get into the air supply for the growroom it can happen.

Lastly, Here's my understanding as how breeding would work... tell me if im right

Single Cola Plant x Bushy Plant = Mix of the 2 (50/50 Bushy/Single Cola)

Single Cola Plant x Single Cola Plant = Single Cola Plant

Bushy Plany x Bushy Plant = Bushy Plant

Is this correct? Do you recommend crossing two plants that have different characteristics (such as growth styles), or would you cross plants that have similar characteristics?

basicly the next generation will be a mix of the two parents. some will lean single cola some will be bushy. the more opposite the parents and the more unstable the parents the more different plants will come out in the offspring.

 

[Sammet]

I don't know if the Genes that control single colas or bushes show dominance or not but I'll try to explain. If you're interested in learning about genetics have a gander at some Mendelian genetics

On wikipedia their diagrams are with flower colour, Red vs White crosses.

Parents here are Homozygous (genes come in pairs which can be both dominant, both recessive or one of each - hetrozygous) White and Homozygous Red.

The Red is dominant so all of the first generation of offspring (F1) are Red but Hetrozygous (one Red gene, one White). Now cross a pair of F1s and they make F2s (second generation).

As you can see they follow the simple 3:1 ratio in the F2.


This is really basic genetics. I'm not sure if the genes involved with single cola or bushness are linked, or show even show dominance. A guy named Mendel did a zillion experiments with Pea plants and found out all this stuff.

So assuming they show dominance with single cola being the dominant

Single Cola x Bushy produces F1 plants of all single Colas.

Single Cola F1 x Single Cola F1 produces F2 plants in a ratio of 3:1 Single Colas to Bushys.

However, chances of identifying a "pure" (homozygous) single cola are not great because the "hybrid" (hetrozygous) single colas look the same

If you want to talk about the theory of it some more feel free to pm me, but I'm not a breeder just a student of genetics so all I'm doing is applying what I know about other plants to cannabis.

(sorry to ramble on!)

Edit: If it works like Jaykush said above then this diagram applies instead:

But you still have the same problem as above - it's hard to identify the Homozygous Pure Single Cola or Bushy without running through a few generations.

 

[Guest]

thank you, takes me back to high school, haha