Trouble reading today's article? Click
here: Issue #303 - Sunday, February 4, 2018
Dear Fellow
Grower,
In today's issue... - Get the basics of what it takes to breed your own strains! A grower reading this could be a future cannabis cup winner!
- I've got two words for
you: MAUI WAUI!
- Prepare your eyeballs for a bit of Montana-made "Cookie Dough" cannabis cola! Wow, that picture was fun to view and describe!
Nebula Haze & Sirius Fourside (founders of GrowWeedEasy.com) "We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." ~T. S. Eliot
Breed Your Own Cannabis Strains! Nebula Haze |
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Are you interested in breeding your own cannabis strains? With all the incredible genetics available today, there are more opportunities than ever for breeding new strains.
Evolution of the Cannabis Plant
Through Selective Breeding
Let’s take a look at an example of the power of selective breeding.
Here are some of the top 40 strains according to High Times magazine in 1977Here’s a small assortment of some of today’s strains Some of these changes are because of different growing practices, but a lot of the changes have to do with genetics and what people have been breeding for over the last several
decades.
Over the last few decades, many growers have been selecting for high-THC and “psychedelic” effects, big plump buds with big yields, shorter flowering periods, pretty colors and overall looks. Recently there’s also been many people breeding high-CBD strains for medical users.
But in addition to
the percentage of THC or CBD, there’s a lot more to the overall effects of cannabis. There are many cannabinoids and terpenoids that we haven’t studied, and these all can change what effects the buds will produce. Some growers are starting to breed for other traits besides color or THC/CBD levels, paying more attention to the nuances of different strains and their effects.
For example, some cannabis
enthusiasts enjoyed the cannabis they got back in the 60s or 70s, and miss certain effects from older strains. While these strains may not have been as high in THC or as "pretty" as famous strains today, they had other pleasant mental or body effects.
Luckily for breeders, many heirloom and landrace genetics have been preserved through seeds. Some seed breeders like ACE Seeds and Cannabiogen offer some interesting genetics from landrace and heirloom
strains.
These days, there’s so much opportunity to grow buds that produce the exact effects you want. Growers everywhere have access to huge seed banks full of diverse genetics, both new and old.
Landrace & Heirloom Strains Generations of growers before us have traveled the world finding landrace strains of cannabis so that we all get to benefit from a huge pool of genetics for our breeding
programs.
A landrace strain is a local cultivated strain; a strain which has been developed by local residents of that area. So, a grower might visit an area where the local growers have a unique strain of cannabis. Sometimes their local strain has new desirable traits you haven’t seen before (a particular color, taste, smell, potency,
etc.).
Many growers will take seeds to grow themselves. A landrace strain collector might bring back dozens of seed so the genetics of these local strains are preserved. These seeds are then mixed with other breeding stock to capture those traits in new plants.
Many famous cannabis breeders travel around
the world to find unique landrace strains to bring into their breeding programs.
The strain Panama (shown below) is made from three heirloom strains:
Panama ’74, Green Panama
& Colombian “Punto Rojo”
There are many phenotypes that show up in mixed heirloom strains like this, and unique genetics you may not be able to find in most modern strains.
Case Study: The Ruderalis
Plant
A famous example of a local plant that rocked the growing world is the “Ruderalis” plant. People might not consider it a landrace since it doesn't seem to be actively cultivated by local growers, but it is a local plant that’s been mixed into many breeding programs around the world.
In the wild, Ruderalis is a small,
scraggly cannabis plant that grows in extremely cold climates with short summers. The buds aren’t potent and the plants are scrawny, but these plants have one very important trait - the ability to “auto-flower” after just a few short weeks, regardless of light schedules.
Here’s an example of two Ruderalis plants in the wild (pic taken in Russia)
Unlike most other strains, auto-flowering strains are not dependent on light schedules. Instead, they start growing buds and are ready to harvest in just a few months no matter what happens.
At some point, an enlightened grower realized that this auto-flowering trait could be useful to growers. Yet the wild Ruderalis strain would never be useful to growers in its original form, as it had low levels of THC and the
buds were tiny. So breeders began crossing these auto-flowering plants with quality high-potency cannabis strains.
Original crosses created relatively small plants with low potency, but growers have continued to refine and stabilize auto-flowering strains. Over the last decade or so, many breeders from around the world have been working together to isolate the auto-flowering trait in plants that produce high-potency buds and big yields. By
continuously breeding the Ruderalis plants back to potent cannabis strains, we now have strains that have kept that auto-flowering characteristic but are just as potent as modern strains (we managed to "breed out" the phenotypes that didn't produce good buds or growth patterns).
Now there are numerous stabilized auto-flowering strains that are just as potent and beautiful as any other strain and several breeders now also carry an
auto-flowering version of their regular strains.
Here’s an example of a modern auto-flowering plant (Dutch Passion AutoMazar) about 2.5 months from seed. This pic is just after harvest and the plant ended up producing about 4 ounces of
high-quality bud.It doesn’t look anything like it’s wild cousin anymore, does it? And the potency and effects of high-quality modern auto-flowering strains are now about the same as photoperiod strains.
In just a few years, breeders were able to take a scraggly hemp plant and breed out
everything except the auto-flowering trait. This gave breeders the power to create potent auto-flowering strains around the world!
As a breeder, you have the power to identify specific traits and then incorporate them into your strains, leaving behind everything you don't want.
Overview: Breeding New Cannabis Strains
First off, why make new strains? Because each new strain has the potential to bring something to the growing world which has never been seen before.
Just like many strains now have different effects than popular strains from years ago, you could create strains that are better for you than anything available today. You can even take older heirloom strains and create unique strains that no one else has ever experienced.
Every plant is a little different, and when someone grows a seed, the
resulting seedlings will have a mix of traits from each of their parent plants. As different plants are bred together, people can select to cross only their favorite plants. They can create new combinations that produce unique and wonderful effects.
Over a few generations of picking the most desirable plants for breeding, new seedlings will show more of the specific traits you’ve selected for, and less
of the traits you’ve selected against.
This is basically how new strains are born, though there are several special techniques (explained below) to help you get to your goals as quickly and efficiently as possible.
There's still plenty more information left on breeding your own strains! Click on any of the links below to continue on
GrowWeedEasy.com
Old School Cool: Hawaii Maui Waui |
"Often you hear the phrase that marijuana wasn’t as potent back in the day and this is true. Hawaii Maui Waui sought to change that though and was one of the first strains to appear in the 1960’s with a THC percentage that landed in the teens." - Nirvana
By today's standards, Maui Waui is a low THC strain. But for those who reminisce about that old-school, low-key weed with unique effects, Maui Waui will seem like a welcome escape from the current array of ultra-potent strains.
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"All praise the weed growing angels you are!!! I have read all and have grow a bit of weed with great results thanks to you. I have turned a bunch of people on to your site and they love it. THANK YOU!!!!!
p.s. more on coco."
~Tom |
Trophy Picture of the Week! |
"Cookie dough. Day 63. Coco. Montana made."
-Shay |
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Who Runs This
Newsletter? |
Nebula Haze:
I'll be honest with you, when I first started growing, I struggled. Now, it is my mission to
make it easier for new growers to get started as well as help advanced growers get bigger, better yields with less time and money. We are updating and adding articles every single week and our goal is to eventually build a comprehensive growing resource so anyone and everyone can grow if they want to! If we all share the knowledge there's more buds in the world for everyone :) |
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Learn which seed sources are personally recommended by Nebula Haze |
Sirius Fourside:
Sirius Fourside is a hobbyist grower who has gained the bulk of his experience growing in water as a medium (deep water culture, bubbleponics).
"Growing cannabis can be a relaxing hobby in and of itself, but it also saves you money and keeps you from having to deal with shady characters. Cannabis is much easier to grow than people give it credit for, and growing in water
doesn't increase the difficulty much, if any. But whether you want to grow in water, coco, or a different medium, we'll show you how easy it can be!"
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contributors to this magazine grow legally under their local laws but are not lawyers or medical professionals. Any decision to grow marijuana should only be made after consulting with an experienced lawyer or other legal adviser. Any medical decisions should only be made after speaking with a doctor or other medical professional. Be safe! How Did I Sign Up For This Newsletter?
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