Multi strain pheno hunt 69 seeds

[Spliffy.Twojoints]

Hello everybody!
This will be my attempt at fully documenting a mixed grow with the intention of finding the best phenos from the seeds I am planting.

I say “attempt” because I’ve seen so many incomplete grow journals that I have to wonder if I have what it takes to see it all the way through, lol!

I will be working with 3 strains from well known breeders and 2 mixed strains from my own accidental pollination a while back, all regulars.

The accidental pollination seeds consist of two mothers with multiple male donors.
The males were potentially: Sour Diesel bx1 from Shoreline Genetics, Texas Roadkill from Shoreline Genetics, Pink Bubblegum from Mosca Seeds, Lemon Hashplant from Bodhi Seeds, Bubblegum from BOG.

The first mother was a Bx Bubblegum from Shoreline Genetics. It smelled like original bubblegum but I did not get to sample the flower. Trying 30 seeds.

The second mother was an LSD Poison from Expert Seeds. It was very close to a pheno I grew many years ago and was very happy with, extremely floral and soapy, similar to Thrills gum, but super loud and potent medicine. Trying 30 seeds.

The breeder strains are as follows:

3 LVTK x Longbottom fighter (Bad dawg genetics, freebies from GLG)

3 Rockstar Kush (BC Bud Depot)

3 Chemdog 91 (Shoreline genetics)

All seeds have been soaked and then placed in paper towels and today most of them were showing their tap roots.
I planted 2 of the 3 Rockstar, 2 of the 3 Chemdog 91 and 3 of the 3 Bad Dawg.
I also planted 27 of the 30 LSD Poison X and 27 of the 30 Bubblegum X.

Expecting a large variety in the plants, so choosing favourites might be tough, but currently aiming to keep about six at most.

 

[Spliffy.Twojoints]

Just a brief update and adding some missing info.

I did not mention how I was germinating, so here it is: soaked in water for 2 1/2 days which is half a day longer than I would normally do. Moved from water to damp paper towels inside Ziploc’s on top of heating pads. My heating pads do not have temperature control and run too hot for this, so I place a dinner plate and a layer of three or four paper towels before the Ziploc’s go on top. They were in there for two days before I was able to check on them and I found a tangled mess of tap roots. It wasn’t great, but I have had worse, lol.

Last night I put all the sprouted seeds in soil and their leaves (most were completely out of their shells) turned from pale white and yellow yesterday to green this morning.

This afternoon I checked on the remaining seeds and found 4 more little tap roots so I transplanted them into soil today.

The numbers so far are : 69 seeds started, 64 popped, 1 casualty.

LVTK x Longbottom fighter - all 3 popped
Chemdog 91 - all 3 popped
Rockstar Kush - 2 out of 3 popped
LSD poison X - 28 out of 30 popped
Bubblegum X - 28 of 30 popped

I killed one of the bubble gum crosses when I accidentally snapped the root in half pulling it from the paper towel.

Not expecting any more seeds to pop, but we’ll see.

I love these solo shot cups for seeds! Makes me feel like a giant!

After soaking in the cups they move into the paper towels inside Ziploc’s and go on the heating pad in a dark cupboard.

This is the mess of bubble gum X roots.

This is the mess of LSD poison X roots.

Got them all in soil and left them overnight. Domes in place because I’m just ending a war with thrips. Not usually necessary to use domes with seedlings unless you live in an extremely dry environment. Just keep soil moist.

Next day they’re already looking better, turning green.

Will only update as things happen but this is a slow process for the next couple weeks.

I don’t get notifications on my phone for any website but I do check in periodically and happy to share any info or answer questions if I can.

 

[TerpBeans]

Off to a great start!! A lot of variety to choose from

 

[Spliffy.Twojoints]

Off to a great start!! A lot of variety to choose from

Lol! Nice to see you over here too! I wasn’t going to post this grow on more than one site but I thought I might find some more interested folks if I spread it out a bit.
Really curious to see how anybody else did with the LVTK X Long bottom fighter, not many journals out there or I didn’t search for enough.

 

[Spliffy.Twojoints]

Minor update with some numbers. I originally posted that 28 of the bubble gum popped a tap root, but it was actually 29 because I accidentally killed one. The final seed did not pop.

The last two LSD poison X seeds popped and went into cups with the others yesterday.

I removed the domes because the humidity was getting too high and started developing a little white fungus. It’s relatively harmless, I’ve seen it many times over the years when I cloned under domes with soil or peat pucks. Built my own bubble cloner and will never go back to domes or peat pucks.

Looks like about a dozen or more seedlings have stalled out but I’ll wait a couple more days to see if there’s any progress before writing them off. Not really a surprise because I left them too long in the paper towels which had dried out more than I like.

The disappointing part about the stalled seedlings is most of them are the breeders’. Only one Rockstar Kush is above soil with leaves open and green, so I’ll just have to be patient and wait to see if they’re done or just slow.

I was kind of counting on the breeder seeds to provide some Kush/gas/chemical flavours to the grow because I expect most of my own seeds to be fruit influenced. I enjoy all types of flavours in my medicine but it is always nice to have those sharp chemical and earthy notes.
That said, some of the potential fathers were gassy and hashy but the mother’s were either fruity or floral. Maybe I’ll find a plant or two with a nice combination of floral hash or gassy fruit.

Final popped numbers:

LVTK x Longbottom fighter - 3 out of 3
Chemdog 91 - 3 out of 3
Rockstar Kush - 2 out of 3
LSD poison X - 30 out of 30
Bubblegum X - 29 out of 30

In a couple days I will post how many seedlings actually lived. I expect about a dozen won’t be making it, unfortunately most of the breeders’ seeds look like they’re going to be on that list.

 

[TerpBeans]

You sure do have quite the amount of seedlings going!!

 

[Spliffy.Twojoints]

You sure do have quite the amount of seedlings going!!

They are regulars so I’m expecting the numbers to be cut in half, and then I’ll be flowering those females quickly, not going for yields just checking different phenos, so hopefully it won’t eat up too much space or time with maintenance.
If most of them are female I’ll be first for space to say the least, but better too much than too little.

 

[Spliffy.Twojoints]

They are regulars so I’m expecting the numbers to be cut in half, and then I’ll be flowering those females quickly, not going for yields just checking different phenos, so hopefully it won’t eat up too much space or time with maintenance.
If most of them are female I’ll be first for space to say the least, but better too much than too little.

“ ….If most of them are female I’ll be pressed for space….”

Stupid dictation!

 

[Spliffy.Twojoints]

I know I said I would post in a couple days, but you know life etc…

So, none of the breeders beans survived. Maybe they were just weak seeds or maybe some soil not mixed enough with amendments. I considered that they may be too old, but I have popped beans more than 15 years old without an issue and I recently popped some more of those same breeders beans to make up for the ones that didn’t make it.

Here are 3 more LVTK X Longbottom fighter on the right and 3 more Chemdog 91 on the left, some happier than others. They are one to two weeks behind my mixed beans.

As far as the mixed beans, again, some happier than others. A couple have some orange/brown spots that just seem to be a nutrient issue that they have recovered from. I’ve found the smaller the container, the more likely to hit hotspots or low nutrient spots when using dry amendments. Likely not enough mixing on my part.
The last tray is what appears to be mostly runts of the litter, but I’m reluctant to pull them just yet because it might just be badly mixed soil.

Like I said in the beginning, not much happens this early on but I will post with any changes or progress as it happens when possible.

 

[Spliffy.Twojoints]

I forgot to mention that when I re-did the LVTK and the Chem, I also re-did a couple Rockstar Kush and tried to add to the mix 4 Sour Diesel from Top Dawg.

Two out of three of the Kush popped that died as seedlings.
Not a single SD seed popped, extremely disappointing considering how pricey they were and how good of a reputation the breeder and that particular seed has. I’m extremely careful about how I keep my seeds and have successfully popped 15-year-old seeds without issue, so maybe they were stored incorrectly before I got them or maybe they were just defective or something? When I used the paper towel method, I can tell after about two or three days if the seed is going to pop or not. The ones that become dark black don’t do anything, and these seeds were black from day one.
Might try them again but definitely disappointed so far with the SD.

 

[Spliffy.Twojoints]

Time for another update! It’s been a while, so this might be a little lengthy.

Plants are staying in the solo cups for now, might try to keep them in there until they show sex, another two weeks or so, playing it by ear.

As expected the area was becoming quickly overgrown for the sheer number of plants in my teeny tiny bedroom. Barely bigger than a walk-in closet but the previous owners had a bed in there so “a bedroom” we will call it.

Did some culling to remove the severe underperformers and the extremely leggy, most likely males. I know it’s risky judging a male before pre-flowers show, but even if some were not males they were simply too tall for my space.

Here is Dexter helping sort the empty cups after culling:

Ended up removing approximately 12 LSD Poison crosses and about 8 Bubblegum crosses. The rest of the plants are breathing a little easier now with that little bit more space. Definitely expect to remove a few more males once they start showing sex.

As far as the Top Dawg Sour Diesel bx5, total failure! It was a 12 pack of seeds that I took the first 4 duds from so I decided to throw the other 8 into some water. Thought I might’ve drowned the first 4 because I left them longer than usual in the water, so I carefully left these ones for half the time. Then into damp paper towels for about 3 days but still absolutely nothing happened, except for the shells turning shiny black.

I have to admit I was pretty ticked off and cursing the breeder for a minute but I have jumped to conclusions in the past, so I thought I’d give Mr.Dawg another chance.
I happen to have some Top Dawg Sour TK from the same order so I tried popping 4 seeds and 3 sprouted.

Not sure why none of the Sour Diesel sprouted, Mr.Dawg seems to have very few bad reviews and hardly any of them are low germination issues. Authentic clones are difficult to find in Canada, and those few reputable sources typically have little variety to choose from, so I focussed on sourcing the best seeds I could find. I really had my heart set on having some quality sour diesel in my garden, and a 0 for 12 germination rate is more than just disappointing.

Anyway, rant over, but still a huge mystery that my slight OCD can’t leave alone.
At first I thought user error because I left them too long in the water, but I’ve left seeds longer than that with no issues.
Then I thought maybe they were just too old, but many of the seeds I have been popping in the last year have been old. I’m talking like 10 to 15 years old because I’m finally trying to break my collecting habit and actually get to enjoy the plants before they’re too old to be viable. Also, I got to those beans just over one year ago, and I’m certain neither pack has been around for more than 15 years.
Finally, I thought maybe they got hit with radiation during shipping (they had to be shipped from the US to Canada). I’ve heard of this happening rather than confiscating seeds. The logic is that they’re sold and allowed as a “novelty” so it doesn’t matter if the radiation leaves them viable or not. The catch is, the package of Sour TK was in the same shipment and so far there’s a decent germination rate.
Have to write this one off as one of life’s mysteries but I hate not getting closure!

Anyway, back to the grow.
A few of the LSD poison crosses have this dense structure which I recall from growing it years ago.

Most of the bubble gum crosses seem to be Indica leaning and noticeably shorter than the LSD P. Here’s a couple bubble gum crosses, don’t mind all the burned leaves, a nutrient issue they will recover from.

Here’s the three Chemdog 91. Two of them showed a little deformity initially and I would have pulled them as runts but with only three I wanted to give them a chance. They seem to be recovering although I may still pull one.

Here are the LVTK X Longbottom Fighter.
I was going to pull the runt but again with only three I was a little reluctant.

Of the breeder strains I think I’m most curious about this one because I wasn’t able to find much information about this particular cross. Anyone with experience please comment or if you’ve seen a grow journal please point me in that direction.

 

[Galgrows]

Well fella sorry about sour D. But hey your hands are pretty full for now LOL. Best of luck with the grow.

 

[Beazy]

I popped 3 of those LVTK X Longbottom fighter beans a couple years ago and got one girl that was super frosty nice big buds and a breeze to trim, fairly potent but not much on the flavor scale. I think I ran it 3 times before I let it go

 

[Spliffy.Twojoints]

I popped 3 of those LVTK X Longbottom fighter beans a couple years ago and got one girl that was super frosty nice big buds and a breeze to trim, fairly potent but not much on the flavor scale. I think I ran it 3 times before I let it go

Appreciate the detail, thank you. A little disappointed on the flavour aspect, that’s a big part for me. We’ll have to just grow them and see if mine are any different.

 

[Spliffy.Twojoints]

I think I forgot to mention that the third Rockstar Kush fizzled out about an inch above the soil, so no RK this round.

 

[Beazy]

There could definitely be some flavor found in those I would think and I hope you find some. I need to do some pheno hunts like yours

 

[Spliffy.Twojoints]

Well fella sorry about sour D. But hey your hands are pretty full for now LOL. Best of luck with the grow.

There could definitely be some flavor found in those I would think and I hope you find some. I need to do some pheno hunts like yours

Thank you both.
I suppose it could just as easily be called a mixed grow, although it started as a focus on finding a good Bubblegum cross and a good LSD Poison cross, yet still as close to original as possible.
Then I decided I wanted to add some chemical or gas or funk flavours in case I only ended up with fruity stuff, so I added the breeders beans.
That said, I wouldn’t call it a pheno hunt with the breeders beans although I will be selecting the best of them.
Is there an official number you have to grow before you can call it a pheno hunt, or should I be calling it a side-by-side pheno hunt with some extra beans on the side?

Mmmm! Extra beans on the side!

 

[Spliffy.Twojoints]

There could definitely be some flavor found in those I would think and I hope you find some. I need to do some pheno hunts like yours

What really started this project was the realization that I would never be able to try all my seeds before I’m gone.

Collecting was fun and definitely addictive, but the goal was always to find nicer or better medicine, and to enjoy all the variety on the way. So, I made the commitment to pop tens of seeds each time instead of just a half a dozen or so.

Hope you get to enjoy going through your collection too, it’s very liberating and who knows what keepers you may be sitting on.

 

[Spliffy.Twojoints]

Just a quick update on the Sour TK

Of the three seeds that popped a tail, only one managed to crack its shell by this afternoon. This one:

They have stretched a lot considering they still have the shells on, so I didn’t want them to burn all their energy in the stretch and have nothing left to crack them open. I’m usually very good at preventing stretch, but these really shot up quick.

Since I had such bad luck with the sour diesel, I decided to interfere and pop those shells off before they stalled out.
Paranoid and a little premature? Partially, lol! Risky maneuver? Definitely, but I think worth the risk in this case. So I hoped for the best and popped the shells off. I did spray them down a little with water yesterday and today just to soften up the shells, but that didn’t seem to help with these ones. They were very hard and dry, very difficult to remove! When I finally got them off the little leaves inside were very pale yellow. Just a couple hours later and they seem to be filling with chlorophyl and ready to grow!

 

[Beazy]

I’ve had that same realization yet I just keep making more seeds I have at least quit buying more seeds tho !! Can’t wait to see what you come up with