clone and generations?

[goliath]

is it true you shouldnt use clone for longer than 6-8 generations because the genetics gets messed up and you eventually lose potency and yield? its a real pain in the ass having to buy new seeds that are reliable, the phenos are almost always differant.

 

[Rosenberg]

Nope. That's a load of rubbish. You could take a cutting off a cutting off a cutting indefinitely and it will not effect the genetics.

 

[Supercharge]

Very true. The cutting will retain all the genetic info in the DNA of its cells. Plants are totipotent, and cells can differentiate and dedifferentiate into various cell types. The DNA in each cell however is the same, it’s what is expressed and when that makes the morphological changes. So if your strain looks weird after 10 generations, it hasn’t lost the original info that is there, something in the environment (stress, nute burn, root rot, etc) is causing the plant to express different proteins / activate or suppress different genes.

 

[mayonnaise]

I've had a strain that I've taken cuts from plants going into flower(no true mother plant) and she is going strong after 9 years. I have some weak runs, but its all my fault not my genetics. Clone on!!!!

 

[Organica]

Have one a decade old no probs yet.

 

[Supercharge]

Something else to think about..

Most of the bananas you buy (cavendish variety) are from plantlets broken off the parent plant. So thats the same as a cutting. They’re all from the same original plant originating decades ago. No loss of vigor or yield, but no disease resistance either.

 

[Rosenberg]

Does anyone know if there are any double haploid strains out there yet? I know this would be the ultimate seed strain, as all strains would be diploid yeah? Or is weed tetraploid? (I know wheat is hexaploid)

 

[infocus]

One day this misinformation will die! some plants have lost the ability to produce seed and only reproduce through clones. true story.

 

[yellowhead]

Does anyone know if there are any double haploid strains out there yet? I know this would be the ultimate seed strain, as all strains would be diploid yeah? Or is weed tetraploid? (I know wheat is hexaploid)

I doubt it bro. This would require some pretty sophisticated science, and until weed is legalized everywhere I don't see things like that happening any time soon. You can achieve the same results via traditional inbreeding methods, but this takes 7 generations, and I doubt most breeders bother to do this properly. The biggest advantage to double haploidy is it can be done in 1 gen instead of 7.

 

[Grow Up]

How do you make double haploid plants?

 

[yellowhead]

Ovary tissue culture is one way, or anther tissue culture which is notoriously tricky. This is making haploids from gametes and then the chromosome is doubled to make the double haploid. Wide crossing is alternative method that can make haploid seeds.

 

[Grow Up]

So this means the male and female plants will have identical genetics? So the seeds won’t have any phenotypic variation?

 

[yellowhead]

Thats’ right. But like I said, essentially the same can be achieved with 7 generations of backcrossing, some seed companies claim to do this, but it takes a lot of time and money to do it, so I don't believe what I read.

 

[Prince Blanc]

I was reading a while back about a method of making "artificial seeds". Essentially a piece of tissue coated in some synthetic material and then treated with hormones so that it could be sown like a seed and sprout a new plant, the advantage being that these "seeds" are actually clones. At the time I thought that was a pretty cool method.

This however, seeds with zero phenotypic variation...could imagine it being very popular amongst growers! Granted only from proven quality strains.

 

[goliath]

good to know it's bs.