Seeds! Any notion of what these might be? Guesses welcomed!

[Vesti Bule]

Hello all,

Hoping everyone is well!

Until recently I forgot that a couple years ago I got ahold of some very seedy bud that I was told resulted from a botched seed run. I don't know the grower at all, and am not sure how many hands it passed through before landing with me. After harvesting the seeds, I stuck them in the back of the fridge, where they languished alone and forgotten until recently.

Most of the +/-500 seeds appear quite young and unviable (very white or even greenish) but I went through the stash and a few dozen look pretty good.

My question is this: is there any way to make broad guesses as to general characteristics of the eventual plant/product from the appearance of seeds? At the very least, are these likely to produce a roughly consistent product, or is it a total crap shoot? Obviously I am not asking if an exact strain would be indicated, but, for instance, does seed appearance point to a sativa vs indica leaning?

I'd love to just run a few and see what appears, but my space is limited and I need to capitalize on generally reliable genetics.

Thanks!

 

[TorturedSoul]

My question is this: is there any way to make broad guesses as to general characteristics of the eventual plant/product from the appearance of seeds?

Nope.

for instance, does seed appearance point to a sativa vs indica leaning?

Eh... In nature, when such things were widely separated by distance, climate, etc. But there's too much hybridization and crossing of genetics, IMHO. "Life is like a box of chocolates," and all that. Jump in and hold on, lol. Take a bite. See what you got. You should be able to determine pretty early whether you'll need to take steps to artificially limit growth/size and, perhaps, cull some of the herd. Start some, and when they reach sexual maturity, take a cutting (or two, for insurance, and maybe one more so you can "reset and go with plants that are considerably smaller, but still old enough to flower.") Place one rooted clone from each parent plant under a flowering light schedule (which requires very little space, and not much light, since you're not trying to use these to produce), which will soon show you which are female and which are male. Cull the males, along with their parents. Cull the ones that show female, too, if you like (and if you're doing that part in a small cardboard box with a couple little CFL bulbs). Either continue to grow the parent plants that you learned were female, or cull those, too, if you are really short of space/resources (maybe after taking even more cuttings, both for flowering now and to keep alive in really small containers in a cupboard somewhere, to provide for the future (and in case one of the things turns out to be something special). Use the other set of cuttings you rooted originally. Grow them a little while longer or flower them immediately, your choice.

Harvest. Dry/cure. Enjoy the fruits of your labors. While doing so, rank them according to whatever characteristics you consider to be important. Presumably, potency, type of affect, duration of same - but, also, things like flowering time, ease of growing, amount of stretch during the first 40% of the flowering period, et cetera. Since they will have come from "bag seeds," whether they end up producing opposite-sex flowers will probably be on your list of things to consider.

End up with one (or more) that strikes you as being something you'd like to grow - and enjoy - again. Head to your cupboard, dispose of all the rest, upgrade the containers that the winners are in from (IDK) six-ounce Styrofoam coffee cups to something with a little larger capacity. Add a bit more lighting. They'll take advantage of both of those things plus their new lack of neighbors, lol, and will soon be of a size that you can take cuttings from them.

You'll end up with mothers that are producing clones that you know you want to grow, know the general characteristics of and, therefore, will have a much better idea of how many you can grow out at one time in your space and with your resources. And that's a wonderful thing. From time to time, you'll undoubtedly try something new. Treat those the same way. It really doesn't take much to keep "mini-mothers" going. You'll have long-term keepers, but they'll tend to change over time.

Much better than simply growing out a few plants, then growing out a few more, then... Eventually deciding that you really liked strain #2 from grow #3 - or was it strain #4 from that grow, or strain #2 from grow #2? <ARGH!!!> It was one of them. And it was gold. Sure wish I'd kept a mother...

IMHO. I'm just rambling. But, hopefully, you get the idea.

 

[Weaselcracker]

Ha ha. Taking the time honoured ‘can you identify this strain’ thread to a whole new level.
No there ls no way to identify much of anything by the seed appearance, but at least they’re cannabis.

 

[Vesti Bule]

Nope.



Eh... In nature, when such things were widely separated by distance, climate, etc. But there's too much hybridization and crossing of genetics, IMHO. "Life is like a box of chocolates," and all that. Jump in and hold on, lol. Take a bite. See what you got. You should be able to determine pretty early whether you'll need to take steps to artificially limit growth/size and, perhaps, cull some of the herd. Start some, and when they reach sexual maturity, take a cutting (or two, for insurance, and maybe one more so you can "reset and go with plants that are considerably smaller, but still old enough to flower.") Place one rooted clone from each parent plant under a flowering light schedule (which requires very little space, and not much light, since you're not trying to use these to produce), which will soon show you which are female and which are male. Cull the males, along with their parents. Cull the ones that show female, too, if you like (and if you're doing that part in a small cardboard box with a couple little CFL bulbs). Either continue to grow the parent plants that you learned were female, or cull those, too, if you are really short of space/resources (maybe after taking even more cuttings, both for flowering now and to keep alive in really small containers in a cupboard somewhere, to provide for the future (and in case one of the things turns out to be something special). Use the other set of cuttings you rooted originally. Grow them a little while longer or flower them immediately, your choice.

Harvest. Dry/cure. Enjoy the fruits of your labors. While doing so, rank them according to whatever characteristics you consider to be important. Presumably, potency, type of affect, duration of same - but, also, things like flowering time, ease of growing, amount of stretch during the first 40% of the flowering period, et cetera. Since they will have come from "bag seeds," whether they end up producing opposite-sex flowers will probably be on your list of things to consider.

End up with one (or more) that strikes you as being something you'd like to grow - and enjoy - again. Head to your cupboard, dispose of all the rest, upgrade the containers that the winners are in from (IDK) six-ounce Styrofoam coffee cups to something with a little larger capacity. Add a bit more lighting. They'll take advantage of both of those things plus their new lack of neighbors, lol, and will soon be of a size that you can take cuttings from them.

You'll end up with mothers that are producing clones that you know you want to grow, know the general characteristics of and, therefore, will have a much better idea of how many you can grow out at one time in your space and with your resources. And that's a wonderful thing. From time to time, you'll undoubtedly try something new. Treat those the same way. It really doesn't take much to keep "mini-mothers" going. You'll have long-term keepers, but they'll tend to change over time.

Much better than simply growing out a few plants, then growing out a few more, then... Eventually deciding that you really liked strain #2 from grow #3 - or was it strain #4 from that grow, or strain #2 from grow #2? <ARGH!!!> It was one of them. And it was gold. Sure wish I'd kept a mother...

IMHO. I'm just rambling. But, hopefully, you get the idea.

Hey @TorturedSoul, thanks for the insight. Got a couple things going with a few weeks remaining, but yea, I think some kind of pheno hunt is in my near-to-mid future. It will be my first from something totally unknown (although I recall the weak smoke seemed more "up" in effect than "down", so there is some point of reference, however vague).

My hope at least is that the dad was something the grower thought was worth having around, even if the pollination wasn't intended (which is what I was told), but it was from a harvest year in which a number of (stealth) outdoor grows got hit with pollen from some new commercial hemp fields in the area, so who knows.

Time will tell, and thanks again for the advice.

 

[Vesti Bule]

Ha ha. Taking the time honoured ‘can you identify this strain’ thread to a whole new level.
No there ls no way to identify much of anything by the seed appearance, but at least they’re cannabis.

Yup - indeed they are, and I'll think I'll just plan giving a few a shot before too long!