Breeding without a grow room (outdoors)

[Alquaida]

Newb alert!

 

My situation only permits me to grow in the great outdoors sooooo...

 

Thought I was being a freakin' genius by ordering a strain of standard (presumably male & female) seeds - my master plan being to breed these plants with each other and create my very own batch of seeds of that strain (and not have to potentially risk my arse by importing new seeds each season).

 

However, I thought I'd better research the theory behind my grand plan and...HOLY CRAP!

 

I haven't been this confused since high school!

 

I just thought it would be a case of introducing the hottest male to the sexiest female and letting nature run its' course...but nooooo.

 

I've been trying to edumacate myself on F1's, P1's, genotypes, phenotypes, recessive genes, dominant genes, homozygous, heterozygous, cubing, squaring - and a whole lot of other terminology I can't even begin to pronounce, let alone know the meaning of.

 

From what I can gather, it seems these breeding professionals - once they identify a male and female that produce "true breeding" seeds - keep them in a continuous vegetative state in grow rooms - from which they take clones for the purpose of breeding.

 

So I guess my question is: am I wasting my time attempting to breed my own seeds, without access to a grow room? Will they bear any resemblance to their parents? And if not, then how were the "landrace" or "true breeding" strains originally developed?

 

Answers without too many syllables would be greatly appreciated ha!

[louise]

So long as you pick a true breeding strain it doesn't have to be anymore difficult than leaving a male and a female plant alone and let nature run it's course.

 

Most of the commercial strains available are hybrids which will produce more variable results than a true breeding strain. A few of *Sensi's strains are true breeding - Hindu Kush, Skunk#1, Durban and a few more will produce offspring very much like the parents at least for the first cross, more variation will occur in later generations - Shiva Skunk, NL#5 x Haze, Mexican Sativa, Early Pearl, Afghani #1, Shiva Shanti, Northern Lights.

 

*It's the only seed catalogue I know well enough to suggest strains.

[Frazz]

yep Louise is 100% correct ... I can add that Serious seeds ak47 and white widow are true breeding and crossing them into themselves will give very uniform clone-like off-spring too

 

*It's the only seed catalogue I know well enough to suggest strains.

 

[Alquaida]

Thanks for the replies guys - I appreciate it.

 

You've put my mind at ease.

 

From what I can understand of the research, it seems continued inbreeding can result in a weakening of the strain. And therefore it's recommended to breed with another unrelated line of the same strain.

 

Assuming that my original purchased seeds are all siblings from the same parents - and that any further seed purchases from that breeder would also just be the same siblings (if that breeder is continually using the same parents) - how then, do I obtain unrelated seeds of the same strain?

 

Do I order the same strain from another breeder - in the hope that their seeds are unrelated to the previous breeder?

 

And wouldn't all lines of the same strain, be related somehow?

[louise]

I wouldn't worry about genetic drift or regression... you can produce more seed than you can use by simply doing as you first envisaged... take one male and one female and leave them alone to behave as nature intended.

 

If you store the seed carefully, it will be around 10 years before the viability of the seed noticeably drops and you need to do another seed run.

 

Honest, it doesn't have to be anymore difficult that that.

[Alquaida]

Thanks for the advice Louise.

 

I didn't realise the seeds were viable for that long...should keep me out of trouble for a while!

 

Cheers

[Allotropy]

Edited June 11, 2012 by Anthesis