How to seed a branch?

[F420]

Hey people,

 

I have always used clones and never needed to seed a female before. SO I hope you lot can help.

 

I have a female that is almost ready to turn to 12/12 and a male that is a clone and also fairly big. The female is NL#5 X AK47.

 

Can someone give me a run down on what to do, how to do it when to do it.

I want to only seed one branch and get some good seeds.

I have carefully selected the female, and this male was also carefully selected both from a heap of clones I made to get a good pheno.

I kept the female pheno as a short, very bushy plant with short internodes.

The male was selected because it was both the fastest grower and bushiest also.

 

BUT how do I seed one branch?

When Do I get the pollen off the male? anytime it has opened flowers or earlier, later??

I thought about putting a bag over the branch with the pollen in it and seal it, but that would block the light and air flow out of the bud and possibly turn it mouldy??

 

 

Cheers

[Nath]

I thought about putting a bag over the branch with the pollen in it and seal it, but that would block the light and air flow out of the bud and possibly turn it mouldy??

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

You cant select phenotypes from taking clones from a plant..

 

Since when do males have buds to get mouldy?

Use the bag method, works best.. and you dont get all the crap everywhere.

[Lucian]

i have read that you collect the banannas from the male flowers , which can be stored in the fridge ! 10-13 C .

 

put them in an envelope that has a big clear window , tape/warp that on to the branch , shake every coupla hours (2-3 i think ), then remove it vey carefully after 2-3 days

 

hope that hepls

Edited October 17, 2004 by Lucian

[Nath]

i have read that you collect the banannas from the male flowers , which can be stored in the fridge ! 10-13 C .

 

put them in an envelope that has a big clear window , tape/warp that on to the branch , shake every coupla hours (2-3 i think ), then remove it vey carefully after 2-3 days

 

hope that hepls

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

You will get more viable and higher quality pollen if you use the bag method. Even better if you use a tray.

[wassily]

If you only have one room - put them both into flower, and the male will flower earlier than the female. Once the male is showing flowers and looks nearly ready to drop pollen take it out and put it on a windowsill or a table in another room. It will continue to flower at this point even if you put it back in 24 hour light. The little green bananna bunches on the male will swell, but they also go a bit lighter coloured just before they open, so you can tell. Now when they open first the 3 banannas split apart at the tip and the petals pull back like a little parachute. You have a few hours before the tubes dry and drop the pollen. I cut the flowers off at this point and put them in folded paper in a dark place. After a few hours the cut flower will drop the pollen on th paper. I pick them up with tweezers and give them a little tap with a match. This way you can cut a bunch of flowers off before they drop the pollen. At this point I let the pollen dry for about 6 hours in the air then fold it up in paper and put it in a film cannister in the fridge. You will get a lot more pollen than you need. So I make up a bunch of little packets and put the date on them with a little pollen in each as it saves opening the whole pack for one fertilisation. The ones I'm not using get frozen.

Now - hopefully all this has happened within 2 - 3 weeks of switching to 12/12 cause you need at least 4 - 5 weeks for the seed to mature, and this needs to be before or when you harvest. To pollinate the female I use a little pollen on a cotton wool bud. I rub this all over my chosen bud - a lower one if I just want a few or a top bud if I want like 200 seeds - and wait a few days. I turn all my fans off and pollinate at night

in my cycle. I don't use bags or wear a space suit. The next day I keep my fans off except for the exhaust and the next night I give em a good spray then switch the other fans back on. I do this in 1 metre square. I got about 15 accidental seeds in a white widow last time and the rest were all in my intended mothers. In a small setup you can risk a few accidental seeds if you only use one father plant, so you know the cross. You can I'd like to remind you all still smoke buds after you pull the seed out and it's every bit as good as the seedless. Maybe stickier even.

You will know if it worked in a few days as pistils will wither and die off on the bud. If you had the pollen first you can pollinate the preflowers at about 10 days into bloom and you get a lot less immature seeds here and there, but generally if you get it done within 5 weeks of finish you'll be ok.

Good luck, making your own seeds (on purpose) is a buzz. And they make nice Chrissy presents.

Cheers

V

[wassily]

ps dry and cure the bud as you would normally, you should let the seeds mature in the buds for at least a few weeks. I have heard varying opinions as to wether pot seeds need a chilling period before planting, but I always put mine straight into the fridge fro storage anyway. I know this increases germ rates in a lot of other plants.

 

And for those who don't know I'll try to describe how to make a paper fold up that you put the pollen in. These are what people used to sell good coke in during the 80's as well. Here goes...

 

1.Cut a square of paper the size of a post it note.

2. Fold it in half diagonally to make a triangle.

3. Hold the triangle with the point on top, flat bit on bottom.

4. bend the 2 sides about half way out and fold the bottom outer points in towards each other so they overlap a little.

5. Tuck one point inside the other.

6. Fold the top point down so it goes about 1.5 cm past the bottom edge.

7. Fold the bit of the point that is now hanging over the bottom edge around the bottom, tucking it into the slot made by the two edge points you tucked together in step 4.

Simple?

Edited October 17, 2004 by wassily

[F420]

thanks heaps mate, that was all I was after and you have summed it up perfectly.

 

Nath I was worried about mould becuase it just a female flower with seeds in it, which could possibly make it denser.

[Nath]

thanks heaps mate, that was all I was after and you have summed it up perfectly.

 

Nath I was worried about mould becuase it just a female flower with seeds in it, which could possibly make it denser.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Oh, I must have misunderstood what you meant, if you have pollen on a female.. mix it in a paste with some flour and water, there are some link and info on OG about this, take a read there, lots of competant breeders there with good info. Turn off fans, raise the light if you think your plants are going to melt.. Im not sure about heat, I have a big space, with concrete floor.. just put in some lovely imported italian floor tiles in my grow room, so its WAY cooler now then the black plastic

[Guest jjfto]

Thanks for the origami lesson wassily :thumbsup

Try doing it after a few new's n billys

[Luke Skywalker]

Check out my white widow grow diary from quite a while back, and you'll see my efforts at a bag pollination of a white widow branch. Got about 25 seeds from one branch pollinated with Blue Widow male pollen, in a simple paper bag.