The AF Movement & Genetic Conservation

[*mr.mike*]

I guess I have a simple mind. Lets say all the humans disappeared and nothing was left but autos and non-auto's all mixing up. Then man comes along and finds this plant growing. It's a landrace to him? We start back with hemp and work forward again? Depending on which cave man worked it first, maybe autos are the norm and non-auto would be the "problem" in the gene pool?

Simple, yes, but true. The plain truth of population genetics shows us that spread of AF genes is a non-issue. That's the easy math.

When you think of how an early, smaller plant will fare, it's pretty clear that autoflowering plants would only "flourish" far from the equator, much like ruderalis now.

I buy a lot of seeds every year - vegetable seeds, that is. I buy from a lot of heirloom places and banks that actually conserve "old" and endangered strains of plants. I don't think there's any real worry about losing strains of cannabis.

 

[medmaker420]

All that is needed is proper documentation

other things that should also be noted when giving out beans is if there were ever hermie parents down the line OR the use of feminized seeds.

As far as pure line strains, those who want to keep them will and those who want to play with "whats new" will do that. I don't see too many cash croppers trying to hold onto 100+ day flowering strains anytime soon. Even patients will find true sativas a bitch to fucking grow indoors and costly as hell electricity wise.

It would be great to have a nice long list of pure sativa and pure indica strains and maybe have a preservation thread where people can send them in as freebies or server fund beans for others to then hold onto and or breed those out for even more beans to give out to others.

 

[HydroManiac]

I never nor will I ever grow af genes!!

 

[arcticsun]

Very good post, I'd also urge all AF hobby breeders to keep personal gene charts over your strains, all such information is very valuable in the long run!

 

[streetvibes]

good post cant wait to look back in say 2-5yrs and to see all the documented posts and to see how far we have come from here for me afs are the new way to grow my freinds have played with plenty yeh as we have all said there is some fuck ups out there and yeh they take a while to get the stabilty but my freinds are getting there after 4yrs went over to see whats what and its looking better every time been chuffing afs for the same 4yrs and i love the potency i had some hot shit off some one else non af buzz was there no flav smoked my mates af wr/dr it has the flav the buzz and something i always forget to mention who gets wonky red eye coz i dont get this with any other strain ONLY with my mates afs its like the first time i smoked sticky black in the late 80s its that kinda off thing
put it this way when i smoke af i look like a fucking junkie my eyes get proper fucked up
peace out keeping the auto vibes alive

 

[Flying Goat]

I would have to agree if you are going to do some serious crosses it would be best to keep your original mom around. I would think it would be ok to get rid of the mom though once your strain is fully stabilized and the generations are very similar to what you bred them for.

Wait a minute, folks! I understand exactly what ICC is trying to say... Just because YOU have a nice cross which YOU like, it might be that someone else needs one of the original parents of your cross to help them. Ergo, I ALWAYS keep a few pure seeds for future use...

We must not allow strains already existing to be lost for future generations, however many "new" strains we as breeders may create...

You are 100% correct, ICC!



When I do my AFs outdoors, I will be moving the males indoors as soon as they show, then collecting their pollen for future use... I do the same with non-AFs, unless it's a guerilla gro...

All the more reason a pollen bank can be just as valuable as a seed bank...

 

[Kaneh]

You're right ICC.
But IMO mixing AF to everything will not be real problem. There's enough folk that doesn't want anything to do with AF that can keep the non-AF lines pure. And now with internet, information and seeds are shared with different volume than back in the days when many Sativas were lost.
I think the problem has allready happened and is still happening with people mixing everything with everything without any consideration of future generations.
You can see that when you buy 10 packs of seeds and see little variation with them. I love strains that you can tell with one look what they are, like Deep Chunk for example. If we still had all these original strains, specially Sativas, breeders would have something to work with. Instead they are now doing cross after cross with same old skunks, Northern lights and Hazes. It has lot to do with todays "elite-clone" hunting. People forget about the strains, and get exited about one plant. I want to see new strains like Skunk and NL, not just new combinations of them!

 

[IceColdCrickets]

...

 

[vicious bee]

I see all longer term flowering strains coming under severe pressure from autos. I know many do not believe this and think autos are a joke. Maybe you can get the last 3% of perfection out of a longer flowering strain but 97% is good enough for most.

 

[medi-useA-Redux]

I think of it this way...

Since monsanto and other companies have led the grains and foodstock markets for the last 60-100+ years, diversity of crops has dwindled from tens of thousands to possibly less than 100 genetic lines being grown...instead of entire fields of diverse crops we now have fields of monoculture...th@ MUST have certain temp ranges, nutrients, water and sunlight...if they don't, the crop fails...so there is no inbuilt diversity in the genes of the crops to help the adapt to adverse conditions.
The same has happened to our veggies...wh@ is grown are varieties th@ handles transport well...th@ spoil slower...th@ ripen evenly...but the flavour is not a major priority.
Have you ever eaten veggies fresh from the garden?...there's no comparison with store bought foods....and if you get a chance to grow heirloom vegetables...you will be in for a treat!

This is wh@ we face with weed in the global village we now live in.

Diversity must be maintained...otherwise weed might turn into something like modern food production...in 20 years we may just have the option of 3 strains of weed...soylent red, soylent blue and soylent green!

muA

It is just a word of caution: Make sure to spread the word of AF genetics when breeding with them.

PEACE ICC.

AFfimative action!*G*...I likeheheheh

muA