Perennial Cannabis Trees? Is it Possible?

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Backyard_Boogie

Backyard_Boogie

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Hi Guys,

So I was thinking earlier and I had a pretty interesting thought maybe someone can shed some light on it. Within the last 20 years there has been a massive breeding movement with auto-flowers and in this relatively short amount of time we now have many high THC cultivars that can finish lightning fast. All that concentrated selective breeding allowed for the manipulation of the genetics in order to meet the desired wants of the breeders. So my idea is this... Since we can manipulate and select for speed and potency what would happen if professional breeders started selecting for perennial traits instead? Think about it. One day decades or centuries from now maybe they can selectively breed so that the plants can continue to grow and produce new fresh flowers for many yearly cycles over and over again.

I know some people here are gonna talk about re-vegging and I'm aware of that. I have re-vegged many strains but Im not talking about that Im theorizing about a strain that has been purposefully bred to act more like a stone fruit tree. You plant it in the ground once then it gets bigger and bigger year after year. eventually turning into a giant tree that makes flowers. You can chop the flowers off and then next annual cycle it just makes more flowers. Imagine planting a tree, an OG for example. 30 years later you are still pulling buds off the tree but its 25ft high by then. Like a legit tree that you can carve your initials into then bring your grandkids back to see decades later. I know this is wildly imaginative and definitely doesn't exist now but do you guys think it can be done if breeders focused on it? If we can turn a wolf into a poodle why cant we do this? Imagine what this could do for the commercial industry? Instead of having to chop the trees down and replant every season it would make it so much easier. They could just roll through the orchard on one of those portable cherry pickers on wheels then the workers can chop and harvest the nugs off the trees from up in the air. Leave em in the ground and do it all over again once they bloom again. What do you guys think? Possible or is it an unobtainable dream?
 
tobh

tobh

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Nah, I'd say it's a no go. There's a big difference between annuals, bi-annuals, and perennials, and I would say it's safe to assume that's purely down the fundamental genetics of each genus of the plant kingdom. The thought of how the effects would be impacted by this is kind of interesting to entertain though. Like a mother plant that's around for years and years, she's capable of producing clones that are equally potent with little degradation in quality over time. I'm not sure the same trait would be retained if cannabis was bred to be a perennial.

One interesting thing I've read about on other entheogen forums is people grafting hops to cannabis and vis a vis. Seeing as hops are in the cannabis family, and hops are in a sense perennial (you take a root rhizome, plant it, a bine grows, produces hops, then dies back for the winter), there might be something there and iirc there have been studies to identify it's possible to genetically modify hops to produce THC. THC being the target as it's the most prevalent compound in cannabis sativa, and likely the lowest barrier to achieve. Now, getting the other hundred or so compounds to be produced would be a whole other feat. Still interesting science none the less.
 
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Backyard_Boogie

Backyard_Boogie

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Yeah I mean for sure, I knew it was a long shot and likely a pipe dream. Just food for thought more than anything. Im sure mother nature could do it if the natural conditions favored the perennial traits but of course mother nature needs millions of years in order for natural selection to start to show in the line. At least any major genetic changes would need this type of time smaller changes need less time to evolve.
 
biggerbud420

biggerbud420

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Yeah I mean for sure, I knew it was a long shot and likely a pipe dream. Just food for thought more than anything. Im sure mother nature could do it if the natural conditions favored the perennial traits but of course mother nature needs millions of years in order for natural selection to start to show in the line. At least any major genetic changes would need this type of time smaller changes need less time to evolve.
find the gene in an orange tree or apple tree and mix it with the genes of cannabis plant
 
Backyard_Boogie

Backyard_Boogie

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find the gene in an orange tree or apple tree and mix it with the genes of cannabis plant
It would be awesome if they could but I think what tobh was saying before is that the only plant close enough on the family tree to breed with is Hops. Would be amazing to be able to take traits from actual fruit trees but I dont think that is possible. Its like trying to splice a human with a crocodile they are just too far apart for the science to take no matter how hard you try. At least Im pretty sure this is likely the case. The only way I could see it done is the long and painful way of selectively breeding the traits with a punnet square but thats gotta take forever. You just keep selecting the parent plants with the most perennial like traits and over hundreds or thousands of generations the plant line slowly becomes more and more like a perennial. It happens because your only allowing perineal like parents to breed and no other plants are allowed to pass on their dna. It would take a really long time.
 
biggerbud420

biggerbud420

3,624
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It would be awesome if they could but I think what tobh was saying before is that the only plant close enough on the family tree to breed with is Hops. Would be amazing to be able to take traits from actual fruit trees but I dont think that is possible. Its like trying to splice a human with a crocodile they are just too far apart for the science to take no matter how hard you try. At least Im pretty sure this is likely the case. The only way I could see it done is the long and painful way of selectively breeding the traits with a punnet square but thats gotta take forever. You just keep selecting the parent plants with the most perennial like traits and over hundreds or thousands of generations the plant line slowly becomes more and more like a perennial. It happens because your only allowing perineal like parents to breed and no other plants are allowed to pass on their dna. It would take a really long time.
i had a guy try an tell me 20 years ago that you could take a tomato plant vine and split it in half then take a cannabis cutting and place in the split tape it up and watch it grow just say a guy told me that lol
 
tobh

tobh

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i had a guy try an tell me 20 years ago that you could take a tomato plant vine and split it in half then take a cannabis cutting and place in the split tape it up and watch it grow just say a guy told me that lol
you can, it's called grafting. same technique is used in rose bushes, fruit tress, cacti, and hundreds of other plants. The whole idea is you're taking the root stock from one thing, and putting the fruiting top on that root stock. genetics play a very minor role in grafting. not sure what point you're trying to make here...
 
biggerbud420

biggerbud420

3,624
263
you can, it's called grafting. same technique is used in rose bushes, fruit tress, cacti, and hundreds of other plants. The whole idea is you're taking the root stock from one thing, and putting the fruiting top on that root stock. genetics play a very minor role in grafting. not sure what point you're trying to make here...
so sorry sir for not being on your level of intelligence
 
J

Johnnyturbo

17
3
Hi Guys,

So I was thinking earlier and I had a pretty interesting thought maybe someone can shed some light on it. Within the last 20 years there has been a massive breeding movement with auto-flowers and in this relatively short amount of time we now have many high THC cultivars that can finish lightning fast. All that concentrated selective breeding allowed for the manipulation of the genetics in order to meet the desired wants of the breeders. So my idea is this... Since we can manipulate and select for speed and potency what would happen if professional breeders started selecting for perennial traits instead? Think about it. One day decades or centuries from now maybe they can selectively breed so that the plants can continue to grow and produce new fresh flowers for many yearly cycles over and over again.

I know some people here are gonna talk about re-vegging and I'm aware of that. I have re-vegged many strains but Im not talking about that Im theorizing about a strain that has been purposefully bred to act more like a stone fruit tree. You plant it in the ground once then it gets bigger and bigger year after year. eventually turning into a giant tree that makes flowers. You can chop the flowers off and then next annual cycle it just makes more flowers. Imagine planting a tree, an OG for example. 30 years later you are still pulling buds off the tree but its 25ft high by then. Like a legit tree that you can carve your initials into then bring your grandkids back to see decades later. I know this is wildly imaginative and definitely doesn't exist now but do you guys think it can be done if breeders focused on it? If we can turn a wolf into a poodle why cant we do this? Imagine what this could do for the commercial industry? Instead of having to chop the trees down and replant every season it would make it so much easier. They could just roll through the orchard on one of those portable cherry pickers on wheels then the workers can chop and harvest the nugs off the trees from up in the air. Leave em in the ground and do it all over again once they bloom again. What do you guys think? Possible or is it an unobtainable dream?
Never mind all the nay-sayers BB, I like the way you think ! Jerry Falwell tried to shut down John Lennon for his imagination. Glad he failed. Dream on dude ! I’m already picturing a forest of massive redweed seqoia ! Love it !
 
Backyard_Boogie

Backyard_Boogie

1,161
263
Never mind all the nay-sayers BB, I like the way you think ! Jerry Falwell tried to shut down John Lennon for his imagination. Glad he failed. Dream on dude ! I’m already picturing a forest of massive redweed seqoia ! Love it !
Hell yeah bro that shit would be dope it sounds far off but maybe when Im old and gray decades from now some master breeder will have figured it out.
 

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