Should I start my grow from clones or seeds?

[Canadianclstgrower]

While I agree the convenience on clones always haveing general genetic “trademark” and being always female is a plus but it is also what creates stagenet gene pools and over population of a strein I love starting from a fresh batch of seeds mostly from breeders I know personally who are always coming up with new crosses and flavours to try out, find a gene you like be it an OG cross or a skunk and play around in that gene pool maybe cross some of your own that’s the beauty of this plan is the diversity

 

[curley wurley]

Hi Guy , I have heard that you can freeze the seeds for future use, but I only acquire enough seeds for 2 grows at a time. I have learned from experience to always have some "extra seeds" just in case some do not germinate.

Was given 12 seeds 4 years ago, threw them in my fig and kind of forgot about them until recently.
Pulled out 2 about a months and the seedlings are looking good.

 

[joshua5050]

F2, F3, etc. don't come from cloning, they come from breeding. They are successive generations of the parent stock, not copies.

exactly, clones are exact copies, even though the final characteristics may become different as a function of different growing environments between the mama bear and the new clone.....

 

[joshua5050]

While I agree the convenience on clones always haveing general genetic “trademark” and being always female is a plus but it is also what creates stagenet gene pools and over population of a strein I love starting from a fresh batch of seeds mostly from breeders I know personally who are always coming up with new crosses and flavours to try out, find a gene you like be it an OG cross or a skunk and play around in that gene pool maybe cross some of your own that’s the beauty of this plan is the diversity

i don't believe that you can 'over-populate' a plant strain, it isn't as if they are pets that have been over-bred; there will still be enough evolutionary differences for each new plant in the end...or Nature would not let it survive, at least not for long....

 

[Canadianclstgrower]

When I say stagnant and over populated I don’t mean the genes become weak nessisarily just that they become bland and everyone ends up with more or less the same results but when new crosses are broght up from seed it can be something compeltely new and exciting

 

[Canadianclstgrower]

When I say stagnant and over populated I don’t mean the genes become weak nessisarily just that they become bland and everyone ends up with more or less the same results but when new crosses are broght up from seed it can be something compeltely new and exciting

You can cross 2 different Phenos of 2 Egactly strains and get something comepetly different than the same genes chosen from different phenos

 

[joshua5050]

When I say stagnant and over populated I don’t mean the genes become weak nessisarily just that they become bland and everyone ends up with more or less the same results but when new crosses are broght up from seed it can be something compeltely new and exciting

ahhhhh, ok..... clones eliminate genetic drift however, but i get your point: diversity is a good thing...

 

[JWPcinders]

Good information!

 

[MamaGreenThumb]

Introduction:
Growers face the decision to start a grow from either seeds or rooted clones. The decision is not obvious, as both growing options have their respective advantages and disadvantages. Growers may have to weigh cost, growing space, crop risk and turn around time.


Clones

Advantages:
# Clones are female! No need to pre-sex or worry about males
# Clones are much faster to veg up and flower than starting from seed, resulting in a quick harvest and a much shorter turnaround time.
# Clones can be quickly grown into moms and re-cloned, for an (almost) instant vegetative and flowering crop
# Clones are genetically identical, but some differences will still be evident in the phenotype. In general, clones will exhibit even growth and growing characteristics.
# Rooted clones can be flowered immediately if space or time is a problem.
# Clones can quickly indicate a strain's characteristics (smell, vigor, branching pattern, sativa/indica dominance, rooting quality, etc).

Disadvantages:

# Clones can be difficult to find, as opposed to available seed banks. Clones from unknown sources are of suspect quality and genetics.
# Growers run a high risk of inheriting problems from the last grower: Root rot, spider mites, powdery mildew, etc. If these problems are not identified and treated, they can quickly spread to an entire crop.
# Unhealthy clones may die or remain in shock for an extended period
# Shipped clones may be in shock and take weeks of TLC to recover. There are many stories of medical clones shipped without any protection and arriving flat!
# Clones are more light-sensitive than seeds. Unrooted clones take time to become established, and are easily burned by light (and nutrients)
# As clones are almost always female, breeding options are limited. Hermies are possible with unstable clone crosses.


Seeds:

Advantages
# Seeds obtained from reputable seed banks are of known lineage and genetics. You should have a reasonable idea of what the strain will do in terms of yield, quality and flowering time.
# Breeding and crossing options are possible with male seeds. (Feminized seeds produce a higher % of female seeds, but 100% female is never guaranteed, and hermaphrodites are more possible).
# Hybrid vigor. Females grown from seed are often higher yielding than clones. Strains can lose their vigor over time; growers may want to 'rejuvinate' their grow with the same successful strain.
# Your seeds should produce healthy plants, free of disease and pests.

Disadvantages:
# Seeds take a long time (and there is more labor, money and time involved) before a harvest can occur.
# Cost. Seeds can be expensive, not only per seed pack, but in the time they take to produce a flowered crop.
# Problems with shipping/customs seizing seed bank deliveries, switched seeds, etc.
# Unstable hybrid strains (See faqs on strain breeding )
# Not all seeds will be viable (germinate) and only 50% of the unfeminized seeds will be female (feminized seeds may produce up to 90% females). Only female seeds will produce female mothers, from which productive clones can be taken and flowered.

# It may take several seed packs to discover an excellent mother.


The procedure to sex seeds enmasse:
-germinated
-grown into mothers
-clones taken from each mother, labeled, then sexed to tell which mother is female or male
-the best mothers are selected (males may be optionally discarded).

-mothers are mass cloned
-clones are vegetatively grown and then flowered

Author: snoofer

I am curious to know if cloning from a clone and cloning from that clone and so on greatly diminishes quality of the plant? I'm new to this. Just started a feminized (will see) seed. Last year, I had 4 clones which just as they went into flower, some thiefs in my are stole them. Trying a new grow this year from seed.

 

[Smoking Granny56]

You can plant your feminized seeds and flower them.

You can also take clones from one of the plants that grow from those seeds and flower them, while keeping the original plants as mothers. Or you can take clones and use the clones for mothers. Or you could take clones and flower both sets. It's up to you.

As long as the seeds are not the auto-flowering type. Those you do not clone. But regular strains (be the seeds feminized or standard) you can take cuttings (clones) off of. Or not, it's up to you.

Taking clones allows you the option of keeping them (or the originals) in vegetative while you flower the other set, which would let you decide whether or not one of the plants was potent enough, tasty enough, productive enough, etc. to keep and use to produce many more plants off of later. But there is certainly nothing requiring you to do so. Some people for whatever reason have never taken clones, other people only grow from seed when they are getting a new strain.

Where and how do I take clones from the mother plant?

 

[Sunasun]

I have pretty much given up the clone road, Good seeds can be obtained cheaply, and whoever thinks its quicker to clone must be dreaming. I have several areoponic cloners gathering dust. If you clone off a plant before you have harvested from her, how do you know what she will do? Example: I have 10 White Widow s going right now (from femminized seed) the differnt geno types are evident in bloom, but not before. The Sativa came out in 3, Indica in 3 and a weird combination in the other 2, and one was kind of a runt.

If i had raised just the runt seed and cloned it what would i have now? Room full of runts? I contend that if a very experienced grower had a large mother of known genetics and offspring, then yes then you should clone. If you dont have all those years behind you then for god sakes buy some seeds. You can go to Nirvana and buy fem seeds for like 7 bucks. Can you make a clone for that much time and labor that can be put into bloom in 45 days? Do you have room to keep a mother plant? Will you be happy with one type of plant?

Whick came first, the Chicken or the egg?

Isn't it obvious? The came first. Twice, in fact.

 

[ResinSaurusRex]

I don't do clones, even off of great genes. I prefer to create my own hybrids from two great strains.

My old high school friend runs a cannabis store in Hawaii so he is sending me some pure Hawaiian sativas. I'll cross one with a Cirtus Black from Solfire Gardens. I expect great results out of the two, plus enough seeds to last many many grows.

 

[Ferrous Keg]

I realized like most things in conventional agriculture have a very backwards thinking. As i learn more about regenerative agriculture I start to apply it to almost every part of growing. including why males are not trash, infact the opposite, keeping a strong male lineage in breeding and storing pollen/seeds/KEEPING DATA is super important. as with designing trees in apple orchard's i design my trees for height and airflow to minimize the heavy dew effect here, also getting above it where it can dry out effectively. the white mold everyone here outdoor has been experiencing over the past 3-4 years and some having even GIVEN UP OUTDOOR! Starting With the Strongest Male you can find and using females with the characteristics/medicinal benefits your looking for or even both! you can create something and tweak it and backtrack as needed, this is more fun than engine building and drag racing imo
like apple trees, things need to breathe especially if they are low to the ground and everything pruned from it need to be removed to compost elsewhere. this keep diseases from returning year after year. i prune to keep a 2-foot minimum air gap under my outdoor crop here in MA. i experienced the same white mold only on my plants under 4ft. height is the issue here, my tall giant paint brush like male was totally uneffected because it could dry out, as my taller female got taller it stopped turning white luckily. also ive come across other local grown from 2023 that experience similar soot from the ohio traincrash/canada fires. it liquefied and sat inside crevices inside their bud and my seed crop. its all over my truck still actually.
But back to why keeping a strong male lineage is super important. getting males is no longer an issue because 90% of the time when you need a male you're gonna get a DAMN GOOD ONE. it keeps the fork of your genetic tree map very tight strong fruitful, just like your apple tree shaped cannabis tree. keeping track of whats-what is everything in breeding and data. a part of my team in my mission who brought our indica female to the table for its medical benefit had an accidental cross this same year by someone else not growing a strong male. it made the mother strain totally inferior to what it was. this is why its important. sharing pollen is a reality and it doesnt have t o be a bad thing. infact it very good and important to the plants survival in every form, especially for KEEPING DATA Seeds are like making multiple number save point with your genetics. in the case of my contributers plants being seeds youd be mad. seeded by mine you have a super crop the next year.
i also believe there is something about growing seeded weed that differs and brings out different wider characteristics medicinally.

Do the opposite of what everyone else is doing and run with it, genius is hitting targets nobody else sees, talent is hitting the target everyone sees.

 

[grayeyes]

And what's great with clones is I read 98% of the clones in the US have----> THE DUDS, so make sure you take cuttings off your clones and pass them around to your friends.