Visual traits of seeds

[Dee9]

I have saved most of the seeds over the years of buying stuff, ranging from mind-boggling , to smoke resembling nothing more than hay.

I have sorted them by visual traits, and I am curious to know, if anybody can tell me, whether one can make assumptions based on the visual appearance of the seeds.

There are:

• Small, dark, almost black seeds - shiny and smooth, no markings
  
• Large, dark seed, with darker markings resembling cammo
  
• Dark colored seed, markings and a slight red hue.
  
• Medium sized caramel colored seed - no markings
  
• Large light colored seed, with darker markings like cammo.
  
• Light colored seed, shiny with no or very little markings.

Can one tell whether a seed will be sativa or indica dominant?

I am aware of the fact that potency can not be estimated from looking at the seed, but maybe someone has come to certain insights pertaining to visual traits of seeds?

 

[Hazeseeker]

Can one tell whether a seed will be sativa or indica dominant?

Hi Dee,
as far as i'm aware you can't tell how indica or sativa a plant or pheno is gonna be based on how big or small the seeds are, for example you'd think sativa's would produce small seeds but i've got some Bangi Haze (F7) seeds in the fridge which is a 100% sativa IIRC and they are the biggest seeds i've ever had or seen, but i've also had Thai Haze x Skunk which isn't a pure sativa and they were 3 times smaller than the Bangi's, i've seen NL which is mostly Indica and they were still alot smaller than the Bangi Haze seeds, and NL#5xHaze seeds were bigger than the NL's, so it's near impossible to tell just by looking at the seeds man

peace

 

[Lean Green]

Dee9- I think R.C.Clark talked about seed size,shapes and markings in Marijuana Botany.
In the book he described some of the old regional cannabis varieties along with the seeds .Although in today's hybrid filled world I doubt it will be much use in identifying your seeds.

 

[levant]

Yeah usually I find sativa's have smaller seeds, this is of course not always the case.
This reminds me of back when african seeds were around, they mentioned an extreme sativa (I think it may have been Congo but I can't remember) that had seeds the size of peach pips!

 

[Dee9]

Thanks for the replies Hazeseeker, Lean Green and Levant.

One thing I have noticed is the fact that most of the little black seeds I have germinated, seems to trifoliate. But I suppose this is just a fluke...


Lean Green, I will see what I can find by R.C. Clarke....

 

[Snagglepuss]

An observation i noticed from making seeds in the past year.Seeds that come from plants that are completly "purple" or have purple parents.Come out dark or almost black..Just an observation....

 

[Dee9]

Estimated Breeding Values for certain Traits

Estimated Breeding Values for certain Traits

An acquaintance of mine gave me some seeds, and I can see he had some different suppliers in the past than I did!

His seeds are mostly either small & dark/black & no mottling with a lighter edge
or caramel/tan colored with no mottling.

Here is what I found in Cannabis Botany by R. C. Clarke:

Colombian strains:
The small flowers tend to produce small, round, dark, mottled, and brown seeds.

Hindu Kush Range:
Cannabis indica (Afghanistan and Pakistan):
Hindu Kush seeds are usually large, round, and dark grey or black in coloring with some mottling

India Central:
Seeds are usually small and dark

Malawi, Africa:
Seeds are large, shortened, flattened, and ovoid in shape with a dark grey or reddish brown, mottled perianth or seed coat. The caruncle or point of attachment at the base of the seed is uncommonly deep and usually is surrounded by a sharp edged lip.

Mexico:
Seeds from most Mexican strains are fairly large, ovoid, and slightly flattened with a light colored grey or brown, unmottled perianth. Smaller, darker, more mottled seeds have appeared in Mexican cannabis during recent years. This may indicate that hybridization is taking place in Mexico, possibly with introduced seed from the largest seed source in the world, Colombia.

Southeast Asia - Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam:
The seeds are very large, ovoid, slightly flattened, and light brown or tan in color. The perianth is never mottled or striped except at the base.​

I am by no means a beeder - I am just happy about my bit o'nug at the end of the day.
But I am interested in breeding in general and just happen to know a little bit about stud breeding. Not by choice - it just happened.

Stud breeders make use of Estimated Breeding Values - EBVs. These EBVs are calculated by collecting data for different traits for each animal and then using a formula that incorporates as much data from the breeding parents and available liniage information to calculate the EBV for a specific trait for a specific animal. A mouth full.

Typical values would exist for height, growth, weight, milk etc.

Having values for traits allows one to apply corrective breeding. Some traits do work against each other, for instance growth and milk: if the calf grows very good, chances are his daughters will have little milk...

Are there any such methods used for MJ breeding? And EBVs?

 

[BurmeseDragon]

^^^Nice post, very detailed perceptive.

the thing about the size and it's indica or sativa is mildly true. The size of the seed and the size of the calyx go hand and hand, but an indica may have small calyxes and a sativa may have large. Although there was a time when this was more unlikely and rare.