This is my this is my fourth grow this year. The last one I flushed down the potty about a month ago because I had to call Leo to my home to remove someone from my front door. It was the last of my NL seed. I was planning to seed the female. That grow was going very well. I was mad to say the least...anywho. The second one was JH, it turned out pretty good after I saved it from time release MG potting soil. First one was NL and not a good grow. One plant struggled to grow a quarter oz. So I think I've come a long way since then, with the help of everyone here. This is a great place to learn the ins/outs of growing MJ.

Well I have 6 plants going, well 5, all ready axed one, male runt.

This was 2.5 weeks veg under daylight CFLs, started under 400hps.
Soil is just Hyponex or similar/perlite/bone meal. I like it very airy.
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This was 3.5 weeks doing 12.5 hrs of light
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The males started to show themselves of course. Four of them. I plan on seeding one of the females. At least I'm pretty sure they are females. One has a few hairs starting the other plant doesn't look like male parts at all. I'm guessing I'll know for sure by the end of this weekend. Just feed them some bat poo yesterday...they looked hungry. I plan on transplanting to their big pot this weekend and I need to figure out the male I'm going to use for pollen. Maybe you guys could help me decide. I know, "Its whichever one I like". Turns out I kinda like all three.

M1 : He was a fast grower, large fan leaves/stem, showed his stuff first.
M1.jpg

M2 : He was bushy, purple attributes, very wide fans, some oddities on the 3 leaf set of leaves.
M2.jpg

M3 : He really puffed out this last week, the tallest, bushy, similar to the female in smell and plant structure.
M3.jpg

I really would like to create my own strain in time. But as of now, I don't know what the female will be like yet. My next grow I'm thinking Citral. I got four seeds left, haven't been able to get any of the other six to pop. That is all I got for now. Any input would be appreciated.

Peace

ill tell you what i'd do ...

id grab 1 female and pollinate three branches with the three males..
the first male cause of the early flowering, its probably faster coming on,
the second for the triple ramifications as opposed to the normal twin ramifications, this would mean in future more weight per plant (+ 50%)!!! if you can get those genes through to the second and third generations, you have a winner!
the third for its obvious growth and smell characteristics...

i understand ya when you say you cant decide... but if i had to ditch one , id ditch the first of the three, its the only one without real special characteristics...and polinate two branches with the last two...

did i confuse you?

peace
ileso

No not confused...I didn't think of it that way, I'll definatly be thinking about it now.

Thanks,
Peace

So, I took ileso's advice and decided to attemp that pollen catching adventure. So I got out a light, drilled a hole three plastic plates, cut a slit to slide the top into the hole, labeled, filled a medium size cup with water/superthrive, placed the pot top in plate, then that into the water, set timer for 11 hours light. Thinking of a way to keep the pollen from mixing...thinking sections of a 2-liter?
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My possible females were not responding to the feeding. I suspect it had out grew its pot. Noticing the male's roots was coming out of the bottom of the pot.Transplanted/heavly watered, Spread her out with some bag ties with little holes drilled the top of pot, set in front of side mounted aquarium light.
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Got to thinking this would be a neat little experiment. It would take months to bring three diff male types on one female type. But to see what changes occur would be interesting to see unfold.

Peace

I love when any us actually try an experiment rather than conjecture what would happen or try to find some reliable advise....if you have the time and inclination Meigs...go for it...long live the emperical method

Meigs, for hard to pop beans, I do this: I'll take a small fingernail file, and score the pointed end of the seed, just a little, right along the seam that opens. Next I place them in a little glass vile with water in it, and let them soak a day in a dark place. floating them in a glass will work. Afterwards, just use normal germ procedures that work for you. I have to do this with my hard to crack mexi gold seeds, and it sure helps.
As for males and pollen: after their flowers open and spread out, pollen is already in the air. it's possible for them to transfer pollen to one another -- not a good idea for exacting crosses. Are you able to put your males outside? (privacy and space) I have a room in my house, away from my grow shed, where I mature males under three 65w cfl's. Just inside my 'male room', I also have a white tyvek painters coverall, and surgical room booties and latex gloves. I put them on when entering, and remove as I leave. Pollen can get everywhere. Occasionally, my outside plants will have a seed or three, and I'm certain someone else is growing within a half mile or so from me, or I have transfered unwanted pollen on my cloths.

I guess what I'm trying to say, is be careful dealing with pollen...
Brussels

__________________
Ya gotta love those T5's
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"Some of my finest hours have been spent on my back veranda smoking hemp and observing as far as my eye could see."---Thomas Jefferson- 1781

I have used that method for germing on this grow and with the Citral (with no success for the citral). I am limited to space for the pollen making...I'm planning/hoping to catch the release as it happens. Allthough, I'm thinking I may need to make three seperate homes for them for sure...thanks, peace

I agree with ileso on using both the last two males. They each have the qualities you want and are the best in development as well.

I too would like to someday experiment with making my own strain so maybe you could be the inspiration. Keep us all posted on the outcome!

I'm not sure if I'm reading correctly but if those females you got are still in those small pots you should transplant now into some nice big ones at least double the size. If you transplant cleanly and carefully you should suffer no shock and those plants will explode to a big bush in no time. I always love the first week after transplanting because you get to see so much development in such short amount of time.

Well, I went back and did a little research/reading on strains and breeding. Come to the conclusion, I don’t even know what kinda female I have. Or even have a female, still waiting. If they are female…they are different…which one do I want to build from? This is experimentation, for me. So, given I still have many seed from the “farm” this stuff come from. I figure I could find those males again, I have the rest of my life to do this. So, I’m limiting the pollen gathering to The 2nd male (M2). Which has lead me to some questions possible girls (in third week of 12 hrs a day light):
Given I probably started the flowering process to early and I’ve been super-cropping since the first set of 5 leaves. I question if didn’t give the plant enough time to build up energy to flower? The region where it came from? Would the inherited genes/climate of this plant require a longer veg time…then giving a larger plant for the farm, maybe? They seem healthy, growing well. I think If I would of veged another 2 weeks, flowered…they would be huge (At least huge for my space). I’ve noticed that the indoor strains that I have grown from a seed bank have flowered quicker than these, and I was fairly abusive to those strains too. Or are they just healing from the stem crushing…mid last week is when I last did it. I know the transplanting would probably be slowing it down so, I’m going to let them go pretty dry this week to get the roots to do some searching and adjust the bag ties as needed. See what happens this week.
Peace.

Peace

Brung them out of there home to inspect color...took photo. Gotta go put them back. Peace.

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hi there,

i missed this post for a bit, ive been job hunting.
anyway, here are some tips on pollen collection...

you get your male(s) and flower them right up till the little magic beenbags are about to open, (this is a bit tricky cause i have noticed that the little buggers open at night for some reason), then here you have two options:

1- you can 'harvest' the almost open bags into little plastic zip bags, or into a small bowl,(you can tell they are ready cause, they are fuller and slightly yellow or lighter green than the others..) ... they will open at night and you tap the pollen out of them, one or two of these balls are enough to pollinate 1 bud;

2- this is the method i usually use and i'll explain why afterwards. when the flowering tops are almost 'ripe' but still unopen cut the branch, and put it in a cup of water like you would a clone, then put it somewhere safe away from your females, put it near a window but somewhere where there is NO breeze, now work out a way to collect the pollen, if theres no breeze itll drop straight down onto a paper or foil and not float into the air, any way work it out, and if theres more than 1 male as was your case, keep these seperate as well, seperate room, containers ...

now the reason i choose this method normally is that after you take your 'clone', you can ditch the rest of the male... you really nly need that tip, and there is absolutely no risk of contaminating you females

by the way if you take the males out of the flowering and get them onto a window sill there is no amount of light that wil stop the almost ripe flowers from opening anyway,...

now you collect your pollen int marked plastic zip baggies and you get yourself 1 CLEAN and DRY small paintbrush for each strain of pollen(like those thin watercolour paintbrushes) and pollinate carefully 1 bud with each ... did i stress 1 clean and dry brush for each strain enough?, ok, your set.

oh, once in the baggies and tagged you can store the pollen in the fridge till you need it

well as a stoned ileso always says...
have fun

oh and one other thing, if its mongrel gear you have there, some traits may not repeat themselves cause youll have a mixed bag of seeds, they are similar but may never be quite alike... like cousins. so if you see something you like, grab it and use it. thats how most breeding programs start..

ps, ive read somewhere a long time ago, in 'outdoor marijuana cultivation in AUSTRALIA' i think, but im not sure of the title, its a small yellow paperback, maybe some other aussie knows of it.. anyway, in this book, i remember the guy talked about tying a bag around the male flowering branch, leaving it on for a few days, the putting the same bag over the female branch he wanted pollinated and shaking it around for a few days ( i imagine he have to chop up the male, before removing the ba from the male) anyway, that another method, just seems a bit messy, and less precise.

peace
stoned ileso

"mongrel gear", please explain? And thanks for the tips, ileso!

i mean non pedigree

So, the girls are slowly flowering…thinking they need a little more nutes. Just feed them a weak MG Bloom Booster, yesterday. Bat poo in the soil.

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And the boy is still living/maturing on (isolated of course,)so far…

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So, I got board watching that action. So, I went and got some new soil/perlite (hard to find/I guess its seasonal. A small amount of weak tea and my citral seeds. Placed them in the fridge last night, put them in a coffee filter, this morning. I guess we will see if they pop…

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I figured that since my girls are prob going to take a while flowering I could put 4 more plants in my flower box, buy mounting a empty pot at at angle, on the sides…toward the light and above the other girls…and put the full pot in the empty pot, at least get them started. I have to attribute that Idea to this thread : Advanced growing techniques

I was also think at work this week…grocery store shelving (google,"retail shelving"). That framework that holds up the merchandise is very modular, easy to build, move, reuse, and the shelves will lock in the uprites at a angle. A lot of times when they remodel the big stores they leave that stuff out back for the taking. You could prob figure out how to put it in a box. Then I was wondering if “KV” shelving systems…have something that lock in at a angle.

I also got told my place smelled like skunky pine trees, with ONA. So, I got a cheap small HEPA filter with a ionizer thingy. Took the smell out. Who's to say how often I'll have to change filters...going to have to do until I build a new flower box with carbon filters and stuff.

That's about all I got for now...happy growing

Peace.

Does anyone know anything about crossing of the leaves on the tops? Is it a sign of something?

Crossleafs.jpg


I've haven't seen it/wasn't paying attention and didn't see it, maybe.

Peace.

Well, nothing from the citral seeds, except one pretty much fell apart showing me no life inside...not looking to good to me since I started the germination 3 day ago. I'll wait a couple more. That's fine... Just makes my quest for local strains more enjoyable.

The male started to drop pollen last night...2 weeks and 1 day @ 11 hrs of light. Going to keep for a couple more days. Not to worried if it gets in the air a little bit, there is only a few hundred possible seed pods on the girls.

Speaking of the girls...they are getting huge. Seriously I think they are going to grow out of my box and really sucking up the water. I guess, the crossing leaves are their way of flowering. Kinda looks like they are crossing their fingers (hoping that I'm not going to cut them down maybe), ha. They must have some sativa in their heritage. Very, very slow on the flower making. Very stretched but very strong stems. Wide leaves and a light sweet skunk smell. For now I'm going to keep them going...let them use up the nutes in their pot, leach and transplant to a bigger pot to finish.

I've come to a conclusion, if the the stumpy, bushy and purple male, doesn't make the next batch of seeds from these two females (I hope i get seeds), smaller size to get to their mature state to flower. If they still grow big and have good quality...I will build my outdoor strain from this grow. These girls needed to be outside to truly show off.

Happy growing!
Peace.

Wow, what a week. The girls were in the dark for 3 days. Power came on today (Thanks to the many hard working linemen/tree cutters in central Ohio and abroad, I do not envy your job, but I do admire it). They are very yellow/sad looking with some white mold growing on the soil (not much). And on top of that I'm getting a inspection tomorrow for "disaster damage". I should be OK with the inspection, I can stealth it up tonight. Any tips for my plants would be helpfull though. Not a "Happy growing week". Peace.

so sorry about the plants....but I bet they perk right up with some TLC.....