First Pollination Project - Mystery Autoflower "Upgrade"

[lordbuddkitty]

I mentioned that I was doing this in another post, but I wanted to make a clean post for this side project.

I had a couple bag-seeds from an ounce of of random 22% THC weed from a dispensary in Colorado. No idea what it was, but I figured they would be photo period seeds from a clone, so I grew then both. They were my first "photos", so I started trimming, Kushman chiropractic, FIMing, and so forth. I beat the hell out of her, and she took it well. She bounced right back. Then a couple weeks later, she started into flower at 18/6 lighting. But one in particular went into flower with purpose. Fat, dense flowers even at half an inch. And I remember the weed this came from being fire. So I decided that, rather than just flowering her and loosing that extra-stable auto-flower feature, I would order some good pollen and make seeds with this queen.

For me, flowering without changing my lighting is nice because I have only one tent for now. Us poor folk gotta make due...

I special-ordered some pollen from my friend Mark over at CaliBest420seeds. Rather than one vial, he sent me three vials of pollen: Spain Skunk, Afghani Kush, and DJ Shor's Blueberry. Oh, it's ON, now, Mark lol

I shut off the tent fan and heater, donned a mask (to avoid breathing pollen all over), rubber gloves, and I covered the other plants completely. Then I pulled the queen out and set her up on a bucket so I could see better. I covered all but one cluster of flowers at a time, and gently applied tiny amounts of pollen to the pistols using a wooden toothpick. I made one mistake through the whole process, catching the toothpick on the edge of the vial. When it popped loose, a small puff of pollen floated off the toothpick, right onto the flowers I was trying to pollinate anyway, so it worked out. I went around the plant, exposing only a couple flowers at a time, and pollinated it about 1\3 BB, 1\3 SS, and AK. Then I covered her with a handy-dandy humidity dome, wide open at the top, and left the bottom not tight to the soil, so she can breath, but she doesn't get wind. I will monitor 2 - 3 times a day for a week, re-pollinating each flower every day for a week. Once I'm sure she's as pollinated as she can get, and that there is no stray pollen on her, I'll free her to the open air.

Why?

Because [1] that genetic, "auto-flower bag-seed" notwithstanding, is a really solid plant that makes dense frosty flowers already, [2] I will be breeding a little of the ruderalis out of it, hopefully leading to a longer veg time and raising the THC a little bit, [3] I'm getting some breeding hands-on making my own auto-flowers, and [4] I can't afford a separate flower tent right now, just my 2x4 Spider Farmer. So if I have a bunch of half decent auto-flower seeds, I don't have to change the lights, and I can run a perpetual grow using the resources I have. And all it cost me was $20 of pollen and a few paper towels. Does that make me a dirty pollen-chucker? Maybe, but I'm only making my own, not trying to market them.

Grow your own, right?

 

[Gmix]

ok

I see a few things that could improve your yeild and end taste.

I know when someone says something about your pride and joy it can feel like the person is trying to put you down but am not that minded.

Can I ask what’s with the paper towels, the dome & the plastic wrapped around the plant.

By the the hight and overall look of the autos they got overwatered quite a lot hence why it’s so small

When you over water the roots can’t breathe and the growth slows right down.

There’s also way to much n left even if you stopped adding it now i dout it would use it up by harvest time.

seeds found in weed typically come from a hermaphrodite they can have a high rate of females but will always carry that gene it can’t be breed out
That said some of the strains on the market come from a hermaphrodite.
Just something to watch out for/bear in mind for future pollon chucking

 

[lordbuddkitty]

Thanks. All good advice.

Those autos in the back are a little over a month old, just going into flower. HGCC Jealousy Autoflowers, actually. They are unrelated to this post about pollination, but for the record, they're pretty aggressive. I was impressed. The one in the back left had nutrient lockout problems, but she's breaking out of it, and the new leaves aren't yellow anymore. Epsom Salts...

They get watered every two to three days, if I find them to be almost dry three inches into the soil (long fingers). If nothing sticks to my cuticle, they get a very slow soak. I use water pH'd to about 6 with lemon juice, by the mL, with a syringe. I add a tablespoon or so of worm castings, and a dinky dollop of molasses to feed them. If I think they need it, I add about 4 mL of home-brewed eggshell calcium additive, and a very small pinch of epsom salts. This broke the back left one out of a lockout of some kind, and she's growing green leaves now.

Anyway, I mix the water, castings, etc, in a plastic 1 gallon jug, then insert an air hose with an air-stone on the end, to the bottom. This mix is left to percolate for two to three days between waterings, oxygenating the water like an aquarium. I water by hand, using a small pitcher with a narrow end, and I water very slowly to make sure the water actually goes down. If it pools, I stop. There is no runoff. I'm using home-made "living" soil, made from some junky bagged soil (sifted to get the wood bits out, then systematically microwaved to kill all the damned fungus gnat eggs), perlite, peat moss, worm castings, and sandy compost soil from below my own outdoor compost heap. The plants also get sprouted seed tea made from corn or cantaloupe seeds I sprout and butcher myself.

It's cold in Minnesota for now, so my humidity is around 40. I have no lung room at this time, so a humidifier is kinda pointless.

Anyway, I think the real reason the autos are stunted is because I over-trained them. The Jealosys are staked down with bent metal pins to keep the canopy fairly even without a scrog net. I mean, the one has like 20-some flower sites. But... I may have been a little too enthusiastic in my training. Autos hate that sh't, and my technique needs fine-tuning... clearly. The White Widow Auto in the rear left has been trained less, and hasn't gone into flower yet. So, I'm guessing the "user error" is my continual f_ckery...

btw, I mentioned the paper towels in the original post: "I shut off the tent fan and heater, donned a mask (to avoid breathing pollen all over), rubber gloves, and I covered the other plants completely." They were there to protect them from stray pollen.

Regarding the humidity dome, I said: " Then I covered her with a handy-dandy humidity dome, wide open at the top, and left the bottom not tight to the soil, so she can breath, but she doesn't get wind. I will monitor 2 - 3 times a day for a week, re-pollinating each flower every day for a week. Once I'm sure she's as pollinated as she can get, and that there is no stray pollen on her, I'll free her to the open air."

Basically, I covered the other plants while I did a pollination experiment, so I didn't pollinate them by accident, and then I covered the one I pollinated with a humidity dome until the pollen sets, so it doesn't get blown onto another plant by mistake. Then I removed and discarded ALL the paper towels, in case they had pollen on them. For obvious reasons...

But yeah, I've only been growing since about November. I do research daily, and I'm passionate about getting better. I'm not going anywhere. I'm still dialing in that environment, and getting that soil biology thriving. Gonna build a verma compost bin or maybe a full living soil bin, but I'm poor and just getting started, so probably not this week.

Hey, somebody should send me a pack of Great White...

Anyway, thanks for the feedback and all the encouragement.