Crossing Malawi Gold, Strawberry Diesel, Banana Crack, Early Durban, Hindu Kush

[SashaShiva]

The first part is from this website
Cannabis Breeding Techniques (Advanced) - How to breed your own strain! | Grow Weed Easy


Dominant & Recessive Traits

Some traits are “dominant” and some are “recessive”. This means that your plants can sometimes be carrying “hidden” traits which won’t show up unless you breed together two plants that both carry a copy of the hidden gene.

So for example, you could take two plants that grow green buds, but some of their offspring could produce pink buds. This means that the parents were carrying genes that can make pink buds and this recessive “pink” trait was brought out in their offspring.

Ultra-Quick Rundown of Mendelian Genetics & Inheritance

Knowing a little bit about genetics and inheritance will give you a huge advantage in your breeding program.

The first thing you need to know is that all plants (and animals) get two version of each gene, one from each of their parents. The interaction between the two versions of a gene can have a huge effect on your plant.

Mendelian genetics examines how plants and animals show different phenotypes depending on their genes.

So lets start by looking at dominant and recessive genes. Certain genes have complete dominance, which means they always “take over” if the plant has even one copy of the gene. Recessive genes will only show up in the phenotype if the plant got two copies of the same recessive gene from each of its parents.

The figures below show examples of Mendelian inheritance. This is super-simplified, but could help you get a better understanding of dominant and recessive genes.

Complete Dominance – Let’s say that cannabis plants can have a “red” or “white” version of a gene that controls bud color. The red version is completely dominant, and the white version is recessive. That means that (with these genes) the plant can only shows buds that are either red or white. It doesn’t “mix” them.

Let me give you an example with a diagram. “R” is the dominant gene in the diagram below. What that means is if a plant carries any copy of the “R” (red) gene than the buds will be red. The buds will only be white if the plant gets two copies of the “W” (white) gene. Let’s look at what happens over 3 generations if a plant with two “R” genes is bred with a plant that has two “W” genes.

Mendelian Inheritance Example – Complete Dominance

Mendelian inheritance diagram Source: Wikipedia

(1) Parent generation
(2) F1 generation
(3) F2 generation

You can see that the first generation (F1) above would produce only red flowers since all the offspring would get at least one copy of the “R” gene. But if you crossed those F1 plants together, you would get about 3 reds to every 1 white since you’d start getting plants that received two copies of the “W” gene.

But in many cases, genetics are not that simple. Not all genes follow the dominant-recessive pattern. Often it’s not a case of genes being only “on” or “off.” They may interact with each other to form new combinations. And to add to the confusion, certain traits are produced by the interaction of dozens or even hundreds of genes.

Incomplete Dominance – Let’s look at an example where the genes have incomplete dominance over each other. In these cases neither version of a gene is “dominant.” Instead they partially affect each other.

So what does that look like in practice? The next diagram shows an example of incomplete dominance.

Just like the above example, we start with two plants, one with two version of “R” (buds turn red), and the other with two “W” genes (buds turn white).

But this time both genes display “incomplete” dominance – it’s not that the offspring will show just one version or the other, but actually a mix of the two.

This time, when a plant gets one copy of “R” and one copy of “W,” the flowers will actually turn pink.

Neither version of the gene is completely dominant, so they influence each other creating a “mix” of the two versions of the gene.

Mendelian Inheritance Example – Incomplete Dominance

Non-Mendelian inheritance diagram Source: Wikipedia

(1) Parent generation
(2) F1 generation
(3) F2 generation

In this case, the first generation above would produce only pink flowers since all offspring would get one version of each gene. But if you crossed those F1 plants together, you would get a 25% chance of getting white or red, and a 50% chance of getting pink flowers.

But so much more can be affected by genes than just the color of cannabis buds. Smell, taste, mental effects and more are all affected greatly by the genetics of a plant.

One of the best ways to discover interesting hidden or recessive genes in your gene pool is to first cross your starting plants, and then cross their offspring together or “backcross” with their parents to see if new traits appear.

Once you’ve identified a trait you’d like to keep, then you can start crossing that plant with other members of its “family” until you’ve figured out which plants you need to breed together for their offspring to always show that particular trait.

Over time, growers can develop a whole “suite” of new traits that can be consistently bred from their genetic stock.

You may enjoy learning more about genetic inheritance. A great tool to help you visualize dominant and recessive traits is the Punnett Square (shown above) to help you predict how a particular plant cross might turn out. There are other inheritance factors, such as non-medelian inheritance and epigenetics, that can also affect how your plants grow.


Double Pair Mating

Double-pair mating (DPM) is a mating (crossing) design used in plant breeding. Each individual is mated with two others.

In Fig. 1 a connected variant of DPM is shown. DPM is an efficient mating design in balanced breeding programmes, where equal contribution from each breeding population member is desired.[1] With DPM the number of new families created is equal to the number of individuals mated. DPM allows to efficiently utilise positive assortative mating for more efficient use of the breeding population members for deployment to seed orchards.[2]In comparison with single pair mating, DPM has the advantages that the genes from the individual are transmitted to next generation even if one of the crosses fails; that safer estimates of breeding values of the parents get possible (useful for seed orchards, where tested trees are preferred); and that genes from different ancestors have a better chance to combine.

The Breeding Program



Once I am done with this grow and get started into the next one, I will buy another strain and I will start making videos and everything about it.

What I am doing currently is breeding Malawi, which is said to be the absolute most Psychoactive Sativa by some, meaning it is probably higher in THCv than strains like Durban Poison.

So what I am doing with the Malawi is Pollinating it with an Early Durban, which is a cross of Durban X Skunk #1. If you look at that Genetic chart, what this should do is draw those Durban THCv Genetics out of the Durban X Skunk #1, plus Skunk #1 itself has THCv Genetics. So if you look at that post that has the Genetic Chart, what I am doing is bringing out the THCv more than ever has happened naturally, because I am selecting for it.

Then I am also doing the opposite, I will be Pollinating the Early Durban with the Malawi, so this offers 2 different routes, where in 1 the Father is a Malawi, and in 1 the Mother is a Malawi.

Then I will cross the Malawi and the Early Durban Males with the Strawberry Diesel and the Strawberry Stardawg respectively, and then maybe cross those 2 crosses with each other.

Then say once I make all those 4 crosses, and cross each pair with their closely related pair, then breed those 2 strains that are made from breeding the 2 pairs, and breed those 2 strains into 1 strain. I will have created something that we have never seen before.

Then that other strain, I will be mixing that other strain in, and once I explain what it is I will also explain the strains that have been made with it. And at that point everyone is going to want to start making THCv strains.

or

(Malawi X Early Durban) X (Early Durban X Strawberry Stardawg)

(Early Durban X Malawi) X (Malawi X Strawberry Diesel)

Then cross those 2 strains to make 1 strain to cross with the other strain.

And then there is also the Early Durban X Hindu Kush making Gandhi Kush, which can be used to cross with the other strain to create a THCv Kush strain.

Then I am crossing the Banana Crack with the Blue Mystic, that isn’t going to be a THCv cross, but it has Banana OG genetics, and Blueberry Genetics, so I will see what that does, and maybe recross it with Banana Crack again, and also probably Elemental Seeds Honey Bananas. Then once that is just a crazy Terpene bomb I with cross it with the THCv strain.



And the Early Durban is really going to make this whole thing amazing.

First off, while Durban itself is a high THCv strain, and has structure and trichomb production that allowed it to become popular around the world, but not as popular as Skunk. Skunk pretty much changed the entire World of Marijuana in the 70s-90s by being a THCv strain that has good nugs. Plus Durban itself takes 14 Weeks to Flower, I think that is the thing that keeps most people away from African strains that are available now. People look at Strains online and first off they hardly look at landrace strains, but they are looking for Yield Size, and THC content. That is all almost anyone really cares about at all when looking for seeds. And when you see “14 Week Flower time” a lot of people don’t want to wait that long,especially since it has been illegal and people have been growing Primarily in closets since 1971 and the Controlled Substances Act.

What the Early Durban has done is bring the Durban Flowering time from 14 Weeks to 8 Weeks, like any regular Strain. But somehow no one has been growing it. If you Google “Early Durban” in quotes right now, you will read it is “One of the most popular outdoor strains” and “One of the most resilient strains”, but no one is saying “I grew it” or “I smoked it”.

And the Early Durban will be crossed with the Malawi and the Malawi with the Early Durban. Then the Early Durban will also be crossed with the Strawberry Stardawg.

And by the end of it, doing the:

(Malawi X Early Durban) X (Early Durban X Malawi)
X
(Strawberry Diesel X Malawi) X (Strawberry Stardawg X Early Durban)

The ratio will be about

6/16 Malawi
3/16 Durban
3/16 Skunk
4/16 Strawberry Holy Smoke Seeds mixes (which I have seen for sale for $60 an 8th, and read about people buying for $60 an 8th)

Then I will mix in the other THCv strain.

 

[SashaShiva]

Re: Crossing Malawi Gold, Strawberry Diesel, Banana Crack, Early Durban, Hindu Kush..

I am talking to someone in text that I am helping with their first grow, and I thought I would post some information on Overwatering/Over Watering in case anyone has never experienced Overwatering, because I only ever had a plant outdoors in Texas; so when I came to Colorado I Overwatered on my first grow, it didn't kill anything, but I figured out what Overwatering was. I was also doing tests like using all my Marijuana ashes as Nutrients for my soil and other things like that, but Overwatering is what I am going to talk about here.

So, first, there are 2 types of wilting. 1 type of Wilting is the kind that means the plant does need water. In this kind of wilting the leaves will seem to be completely hanging, like dry tissue off the branches. When this happens it does not mean your plant is dead, if the leaves are Green it is fine and it just need water and will perk right back up. For most people, this is their biggest fear with plants. Because most people have an experience where they grew some kind of house plant, and they left for a week or 2 weeks and when they got back it was dead. So most people have this ingrained in their mind as their biggest fear. And if you just forget about your plants for 4 days or a week, sure, this might happen. But if you are looking at your plants every day or every other day, then this will not happen to you.

What you do need to worry about is Overwatering. So let's say you decide that you aren't going to let your plants dry out, because you have had an experience where that happened with a random houseplant, and this is NOT just some random house plant, right? So this time you are going to make sure that doesn't happen. So you water every day. After a few days, or even on the first day, they seem to be wilting, so you water again. But they are still wilting, so you wait to see if they can soak up the water, and water again a few hours later and they are still wilting. So you wait until the next day, and you water again in the morning. And at this point they aren't growing, they might even be getting diseased, and you don't know what you did because you thought the only thing that could happen was not enough water.

This is overwatering. The "Wilting" you see when you do this is actually more like what plants do when they are rained on, they are just weighted down by water. When you Overwater once, and you see this wilting, and you don't water for 5 days or more one time and see the REAL wilting, you will know the difference. The Water Weighted Wilting is like a curled claw, like bear claws, this is not actual wilting, again it is like what happens when it rains.

So do not Over Water. Even with seedlings you don't want to water more than every other day, and sometimes less than that, unless you notice visibly that they need water.

When you see a plant that visibly looks like it needs water, and it didn't look like that the day before, you are fine, just water it. That is actually a good indicator of when to water.

 

[SashaShiva]

Re: Crossing Malawi Gold, Strawberry Diesel, Banana Crack, Early Durban, Hindu Kush..

These are two 27 year old Monkeys, the one that was given less food than he needed every day is on the right.



I personally had the idea of Epigenetic breeding before I even knew what Epigenetics was, and when I learned what Epigenetics was, it completely proved my theory; and my theory was also based on evidence. What gave me the idea for stress breeding was Bouncing Bear Botanicals. They had San Pedro Cactus in like 2006 or something that was labeled “SS” which stood for “Super Stressed”. And since the age of 14 I had started reading everything I possibly could about Alkaloids, so when I found out that their theory behind “SS” was that alkaloids were a defense mechanism, and many plants had been shown to have alkaloids appear in larger amounts when introduced to slicing, stabbing, burning, and other forms of “Super Stress”. Their’s were Cacti that had been grown in harsh conditions, and stabbed and slashed. And the possibility was that that would have caused it to have more Mescaline.

Now THC is not exactly an Alkaloid, and no one knows if Stressing it will bring more out (so let’s find out). But UVB does bring out THCv, to protect from the UV rays. So there probably are ways to bring out more THC. And who cares if it brings out more in that particular generation, you can get the next Generation to be stronger, with higher THC content because of the stress of the parents. Epigenetics proves this.

I remember an old grower who said he had heard about people who used to hammer a nail into the stalk of their plant to make it produce more THC. And then someone else told me that they had known an old grower who would take his plants just before flower, and tie a cinder block to the top and stretch it out, then the branches would grow upwards like 3-6 plants, kind of like SCROG.



Most people breed plants by looking for “Vigor” and Vigor is usually a good sign that it is a good breeding plant? I actually will not water plants and let a bunch die; kind of a “only the strong survive” type test, and then only grow the ones that survive, because the other ones die. With the seedlings I started off with 1-7 seeds from each strain, and I now have 1 plant from each of those strains, because I let all the others die from underwatering, or being taken over by the other ones by being blocked from the light when their siblings got too big, or from the other ones taking over their Jiffy pack with their roots. So I don’t just look for Vigor, I look for Survivors.

Because my goal in Breeding originally was this:
I had come from Texas with 3,000 bagseeds or so from some bright green, Texas brick weed that was not bad except for that some energy had gone to making all the seeds. And I was using my Epigentic theory (before I knew about Epigenetics) in order to breed a “Ditch Weed strain” meaning that it was meant to be Johnny Appleseed-ed, and they would have good genetics for people to pull out of ditches, and people would not be mad to get pollen from a good Ditchweed. Basically just trying to make a strain that could survive anything, and basically make an American landrace.

Now I am basically doing the same thing, but with better genetics. I am going to be giving out seeds and clones, and mixing various landrace strains, and finding the plants that are survivors and have the best flavors and smells and THCv content. It’s just that right now I am not as focused on the survivors, I am just breeding the plants for now, and will be focusing more on the survivor aspect in later grows, once I have a good strain. But I will always find the best plants by letting a few die.



You know how you have probably had the thought that White people came from Cold, and then someone told you that it was more complicated than that, or just straight up told you you were wrong?

According to Epigenetics, you weren’t “wrong”, but you weren’t getting the whole picture. Epigenetics says that the likely reason for White people, is more likely a mixture of factors, 1 not the Cold and the Snow like a White Rabbit using Camouflage, but White people’s skin is actually due to a lack of UVB rays; which could either be accounted to the Climate, or living in Caves (like how you can see through a Cave Fish’s skin, and they have no eyes). Then there is also the possible factor of Albinos coming from Africa (Albinos are still taboo in many African tribes) and mixing with the Cave/Cold people, which is called “Recombination” of genetic material. For example, if one of the 2 sets of Darwin’s Finches made their way to the mainland, then on the mainland 2 groups were made because of a Mountain range that separated 2 groups of the 1 set for like 100,000 years; then at the end of that 100,000 years that new 3 species goes back to the island and breeds with the first one; Recombination. Then there is also the factor of things like Sickle Cell and Lactose Intolerance in higher rates in non-White genetics; the Sickle Cell is a protection from Malaria (and White people don’t have that protection), but Lactose Tolerance could be from living on Dairy in the Caves. Cheese and all that is just rotten milk and lasts a long time.

And all these factors had small effects on White DNA, making White people.

A more short term example is a test they have done with Mice, as well as the Monkey test where one Monkey was given less food than it needed over 27 years and it was much more vital (fuller hair, standing taller, etc) than the one that had gotten all the food it needed during the 27 years. In the Mouse experiment they took a mouse and had her live in a room with an electric floor, and they would put a lemon scent in the room, and shock her randomly. Then she got pregnant and when she had babies, every time they smelled lemons they would freak out like they were being shocked.

There are tons of experiments that have been done, and this is a completely accepted Science. And it’s not Human Science, or Mouse Science, or Monkey Science, it’s Genetic Science; so it applies to anything with DNA.



And just an example of how something like Lactose Intolerance would be turned to Lactose Tolerance. Everyone in a society that can’t survive on cheese because their body won’t take another animal’s rotten milk, dies, and everyone left is the new Genetic forefathers of those people. There may be many things that used to be poison to some humans, no one knows, because everyone that was allergic enough to make things like Broccoli or Beef poison to them, are all pretty much dead if they existed. There are a Million mutations that Humans may have gone through that are actually gone now, we just don’t know because it wasn’t the right mutation at the right time. Or the people with the mutation to accept it are the only ones left. Same thing happened with Ebola and the Plague.



Just an example of what someone could do:

If you literally infested a room with spider mites on purpose, then grow plants in that room for years, and breed only the ones that it seemed like the Spider Mites were ignoring more than others. Then eventually you might have a Spider Mite resistant Strain. There have already been mold and fungal resistant strains such as Holland’s Hope, created for outdoor growing in Cold, Wet Climates.

 

[SashaShiva]

Re: Crossing Malawi Gold, Strawberry Diesel, Banana Crack, Early Durban, Hindu Kush..

Also, for Nutrients I am using 3 things.

I am using the standard Fox Farm Nutrient set of 3, with the 2 Veg Nutes and the Tiger Bloom. I have used pretty much all of the Veg Nutes, and I will be using Flower Nutes now. I have also been using Silicate, the brand Pro-Silicate, which is an extra nute that most people don't add. Some people say you don't need it as long as you don't use the same soil over and over, but I am using Coco and I think people are missing the fact that Coco isn't soil and doesn't have those Nutrients, so anyone growing with Coco should probably be adding Silicate.

But now I am not using the Veg Nutes, but I am still using the Silicate. Then I am using the Fox Farm Flower Nutes from the 3 pack, and I am using Bud Candy from Advanced Nutrients

For Veg I used

5 tbs of the Bat Guano/Worm Castings per Gallon
4 tbs of the Grow Big per Gallon
and 1 or 1/2 tbs of the Silicate per Gallon

For flower I will use
3 tbs of Tiger Bloom, and I will up it to 4 or 5 in a few weeks.
1 tbs of the Silicate, and I may up that to 2 in a few weeks
1 tbs of Bud Candy, and I will definitely up that by 5-10x during flower. I may also just go buy some Molasses and Sucant and start using that.

 

[SashaShiva]

Re: Crossing Malawi Gold, Strawberry Diesel, Banana Crack, Early Durban, Hindu Kush..

I decided I am going to go ahead and add some Brown Sugar in my water this time. Just the 1 tbs of the Bud Candy, but then I will add the Brown Sugar also.

What Brown Sugar does is really based on its Molasses content, and the best way to describe it is a Marathon runner. Forget that Brown Sugar contains Sugar for a minute, because the main point is Molasses. When someone is a Sprinter, they like to get quick energy. Sugar from Fruit, etc. Quick energy that is meant to be consumed and burned. But a Marathon Runner wants to eat more Carbs, because if you just eat quick energy food then it is more likely that you collapse before the end of the race. Molasses Contains Carbohydrates.

Here is a video
[video=youtube;xSZlSaPJAdQ]

[/video]

We all know about Photosynthesis, and everyone knows that it happens through Chlorophyll. But no one really takes the time to figure out what that means. Chlorophyll contains Chloride, which is 2 Chlorine Atoms combined. When light touches Chloride the two Atoms separate, which allows various reactions to occur, as Chlorine is very reactive. This is why you may have heard that LSD breaks down when exposed to light, this actually only happens if their is Chlorine in the water. Now, what plants are doing when they go through the Process of Photosynthesis is using the fact that Chlorine is more reactive in light, and using it to create sugars, that it can use for Energy.

Really the absolute most important thing in a Marijuana grow is making sure that you have enough Wattage to fill the area without any areas that seem dark, and then from there it is just about upping the Wattage and making sure that everything else (from Buckets, to Veg Time, to Nutes, to Soil, etc) are all good enough for the Lights to give the plants the Energy they need to grow, and then eventually produce Flowers.

So by adding a Nutrient like Bud Candy, or Moleasses and Sucant, what you are doing is adding those Carbohydrates, allowing your plant to have the right kind of Energy it needs to "Finish the Marathon" and produce the fattest Buds.

So I will add Brown Sugar with the Bud Candy today just because I have some, but I will add Molasses and Sucant and more Bud Candy later on.

 

[SashaShiva]

Re: Crossing Malawi Gold, Strawberry Diesel, Banana Crack, Early Durban, Hindu Kush..

Also, people may have noticed that there are Ladybugs in my grow tent. This is because they eat things like Aphids and Thrips, so I just want to keep those kinds of Bugs out of the Tent.

You can also use Beneficial Nematodes to get rid of most things, and they are Microscopic, so you won't even notice them.
If anyone is looking for a place to get Ladybugs or Beneficial Nematoes, you can just get them both on Ebay. But if you have another infestation like Mites or Mealybugs, then go to Arbico-Organics.com


And I was talking to a person who wants to know more about growing, and when he saw the ladybugs, he said he might want to get some; then he asked if putting Worms in the Soil would help the Soil. And Worms do help the Soil, but if you are going to get Worms, you might as well just start composting, and eating more Fruits and Vegetables instead of stuff with bags. And you can also Compost Meat and Wood with Black Solider Fly Larvae. You can get those and Worms on Ebay also.

But after talking about that with him, I went and looked up Black Soldier Flies because I knew about them but I never actually like looked deeper into them. And right on the Wikipedia page it says that they produce a "Valuable Product called "Frass". So I went to the Frass Page on Wikipedia, and it says that Frass is full of Nutrients and Stimulates Blooming. And it just comes out of Black Solider Fly Larvae like Slug Goo.

And Frass is what actually makes the Soil of the Composted Meat not smell like Rotten Meat. So it's all over the Soil when you use these bugs to Compost.

Has anyone ever heard of anyone growing with Frass? This could be huge.

 

[SashaShiva]

Re: Crossing Malawi Gold, Strawberry Diesel, Banana Crack, Early Durban, Hindu Kush..

If you look up "Terpenes" right now, there are a few people Breeding for Terpenes, the same way I talk about THCv the Jungle Boys and Darkhorse Seeds, Holy Smoke Seeds, etc, they are all Breeding for Terpenes, which is "Flavors" and "Smells"; but also, "effects" that you get from smoking that aren't actually produced by THC or THCv, such as the Indica Effects and Normal non-THCv Sativa Effects.

What I am doing is taking those Bred Terpene Strains (Specifically Holy Smoke Seeds) and breeding them with African Strains, then I will breed those with a 3rd party THCv Strain from another country (in a few months I will start making videos for that, and all of this will start making sense to everyone in the Industry and it will go crazy).

That should achieve a Higher THCv content, but I am also doing things like adding Ladybugs to the grow to get rid of Pest Bugs, and Supercropping, Topping (hence all the flower sites), and various other Epigenetic
Methods.

Epigenetics is where your DNA is actually altered within your lifetime, by your environment, your diet, your stress, etc. And research has shown that the harsher things are, the stronger the descendants are. This also fits into Darwin's theory, because the ones that can't survive and keep that knowledge in their DNA, would not Survive.

An example of how anyone can do this, without having to kill some of your plants to find the ones with the best DNA, is by getting something called "Frass". Frass is kind of like the stuff that comes out of Slugs, the goo, but it comes out of different Bugs like the Black Soldier Fly Larvae, which release the goo in compost piles while composting meat and garbage, and it neutralizes the smell of the meat. But when Plants come in Contact with Frass, they freak out. The same way they freak out when you switch lights to 12/12 for flower, and the "freak out" because they know winter is coming. But in this case, they freak out and think they are being attacked by bugs. This causes them to release what is basically a Plant steroid, called Chitin. So you can use Frass to Breed Plants Epigenetically, without killing any of them. They will just all always think they are being attacked by bugs, and going into high gear to fight it. And eventually descendants will just be born in high gear. Frass also contains tons and tons of Nutrients. It is similar to Rabbit poop, or Fish poop, or Chicken poop, or Bat poop (Guano), but it is Insect poop.

 

[SashaShiva]

Some people might know about Silicate, but there are certain forms that are better for Plants to absorb. When I was younger someone came to my parents house once looking for investors for a Silicate product that allowed Banana trees to absorb more Silicate, and they were larger, held more Bananas, and were harder to tear down.

I went looking for something like that, and found this
OSA/28 - OrthoSilicic Acid - Supercharged Plant Available Silicon Fertilizer

 

[SashaShiva]

Re: Crossing Malawi Gold, Strawberry Diesel, Banana Crack, Early Durban, Hindu Kush..

Research on Epigenetics
Epigenetics: The Science of Change

Research on Plant Defenses from Insects
Mechanisms of plant defense against insect herbivores

 

[SashaShiva]

Re: Crossing Malawi Gold, Strawberry Diesel, Banana Crack, Early Durban, Hindu Kush..

Alkaloids,

A word that everyone should know. Every Natural Medicine, every Man-made Medicine, everything that enters your body and goes up to your brain or some other part of your body and does something, is usually an Alkaloid. THC is not officially an Alkaloid, as the official definition of Alkaloid is this:

any of a class of nitrogenous organic compounds of plant origin that have pronounced physiological actions on humans

And THC is not nitrogenous.

But it has been theorized that THC exists in the plant in order to keep it from molding from water, and works something like the oil on a Duck’s feathers, because THC does not dissolve in water, and works exactly like oil, and dissolves into oil. THCv is theorized to have developed in strains in regions closer to the equator because of the UVB rays, similarly to Melanin in human skin; white people are more likely to get skin cancer because they do not have the Melanin protecting them, THCv is the exact same but for plants.



And this is why Alkaloids all exist. Poisons in plants, Medicines in plants, Psychoactive substances in plants, these all exist for various reasons. And it has been shown that plants will produce more Alkaloids when exposed to harsh environments. For example, if a Hot Pepper plant has branches and leaves ripped off, and is somehow stabbed by nails a few times so that the nails grow in them, or if it has branches that bend and snap but don’t break; it will actually contain more Capsaicin (the spicy Alkaloid in Hot Peppers). This has been tested with Cacti which contain the same Alkaloid that the Peyote Cactus contains (Mescaline, San Pedro Cactus; a common garden variety of cactus that is 1 stalk or a few stalks with a big white flower). And it has been tested with Phalaris Grass/Canary Reed Grass, which contains DMT and 5-MeO-DMT. When these plants experience high stress, they produce more Alkaloids.



And just for an example of a Medical Alkaloid (and this is how most Western Medicines are made), the plant Datura/Jimsonweed (a common garden plant with big white or purple flowers and thorny seed pods) contains various Tropane Alkaloids, such as Tropine. Tropine is an anti-Spasmatic, and the Datura plant is a representative of the Goddess Kali on this planet, and often times Sadhus will combine Datura and Cannabis buds, as well as Snake Venom and Cannabis buds. Tropine has been altered in the Western World and has become “Benztropine”, they simply added a Benzene ring to the Molecule, put a patent on it, and sell it as an anti-spasmatic.



But I wanted to make these points for one reason. Not only is it possible to raise the Alkaloid content, and possibly THC content of plants, the fairly new Study known as Epigenetics proves that when plants are stressed, it can actually pass on genetic markers that make the next generation stronger.



Here are a few examples of things that you can try:



Use a Razor blade to cut your plant in half, and it will grow more like 2 plants with 1 root system.


Stab a Nail or Thumbtacks through the stalk of your plant


Tie a Cinder block to the top of your outdoor plants a few weeks before Flower, and the bottom will act like a support beam, and the side branches will grow as if they are their own plants.

 

[SashaShiva]

Oh, and for lights, there is a video, but here is it in writing.

1x 100W HPS
3x 26W UVB 10.0 CFL
1X 400W HPS
1x 1200W LED (equiv)
1x 1500W LED (equiv)


Info about lights for everyone

If you go Google "400W 1000W HPS LED Study" there was a study done where a few biologists and horticulturists grew in these conditions.

1.
1000W HPS

2.
400W HPS
100W LED surrounding it on 4 sides


And they claimed that the 400W worked the same as the 1000W, with the added benefit of better light penetration, meaning more branches getting more light making bigger nugs everywhere, instead of just mainly at the middle of the HPS like it does with HPS, they called the HPS good spot on the plant(s) the "sweet spot". But the LED/HPS combo gave more nugs, as well as more trichombes.

And I am doing a combo.

So I wouldn't say that the wattage is really important at all as long as you have enough. And I have enough, plus I will probably get a CMH soon, which is equivalent to 1000W MH, and CMH is just Ceramic Metal Halide (MH is Metal Halide for the benefit of anyone reading who does not know). And something like 315W CMH is 1000W MH because less Wattage goes to heat. And LEDs don't give off as much heat either, so it's also possible that the added wattage benefit I am seeing that is greater than actual wattage is the heat benefit. And I am just saying that it's better than actual wattage, I am not saying 1500W LED is equal to 1500W HPS, but it is higher than its actual wattage compared to HPS. I think LED 1500W is like 350 actual Watts, and I would say that 1500W LED is way better than 350W HPS.

But with Ceramic Metal Halide they are actually the same type of light, but just a different material allows the bulb to not heat up so much, which allows 315W to be 1000W, and there aren't as many people out there disputing that.

 

[SashaShiva]

In 1,776 AD the American Colonies Declared Independence, and the Constitution was written by Thomas Jefferson with help from Benjamin Bannecker. In 1,799 AD Alessandro Volta discovered Electrolytes and created the first Battery. Between 1,820 and 1,830 AD the first Electromagnetic Engines were created and Faraday’s law was written. In 1,837 AD Stein Hill proposed that the Earth could be used as a Circuit and that Earth’s magnetic field had Electrical Currents. In 1,839 AD Alexandre Edmond Becquerel discovered Photovoltaics, now called Solar Power. In 1,840 AD the Telegraph was invented and soon after this Morse Code was invented by Samuel Morse. In 1,858 AD the Transatlantic cable was put in place in order to facilitate communication across the Atlantic Ocean. In 1,861 AD Faraday’s law was expanded on by Maxwell’s equations. Then in 1,863 AD Abraham Lincoln gave the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves in the United States. In 1,879 AD Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb as well as fuses and microphones, then between 1,882 AD and 1,902 AD Oliver Heaviside, a self-taught Electrical Engineer, reformulated Electrical Theories laying the groundwork for modern Electrical Engineering and the modern AT&T. At the same time, between 1,886 AD and 1,900 AD Nikola Tesla invented Alternating Current (AC), the Rotating Electric Field, Radio, Wireless transmission, Quadrapolar Polarity, the Tesla Oscillator, the Tesla X-ray, the Tesla Coil, the Tesla Turbine and the Tesla Principle. Nikola Tesla was friends with Swami Vivekananda who brought the first Hindu Temples to the United States in that same time period. In the 1,890’s AD Charles Proteus Steinmetz reformulated some of Nikola Tesla’s work in a way that Electrical Engineers of the time could grasp, laying the groundwork for General Electric (GE). Steinmetz with Ernst Alexanderson expanded on Nikola Tesla’s invention of Wireless transmission, which expanded Radio and lead to Television. In 1,903 AD the Wright Brothers created the first Airplane, in 1,908 AD Henry Ford invented the Model T.

 

[SashaShiva]

And as far as LED V HPS because there is a big debate out there about that.

First I used CFLs and LED Corn Cobs for Veg. The LED Corn Cobs worked better than a CFL of a higher Wattage, but the CFL had been sitting around for 2 years, and had been used 2x before. So maybe that had something to do with it.

But once I added the 1500W Equiv LED, the plants just jumped up and got bushier. Then when I moved them in the tent with the 2 LEDs and the 2 HPSs, and in 10 Gallon containers, they bushed up a lot more.

And by the way, each of these plants has been topped more than once, and a few of them have been topped 8 or more times.

But I have noticed that with the LED HPS combo, and spreading the plants out instead of filling the entire space with as many plants as possible like most people do and having a "Canopy", it seems like the side branches are going to do well. And I lollipopped when I put the LED in the Veg tent, so they are lollipopped, and these upper side branches are looking like they are going to be good because there is tons of light out to the sides.

And just as an example, the South African Kwazulu is probably the furthest plant from any light, and once I put the bamboo poles on it it shot up and looks like it is going to be an ok yield now. And 4 of the Plants have lights directly on top of them, and as far as LED V HPS, the ones under the LEDs are doing much much better, and the LEDs are lower actual Wattage. But the 400W HPS is throwing out a lot of light because I bent the hood up so that it sends light out almost flat instead of down.

I would also say the LED plants' flower sites are looking much more active, both plants are related as one is Strawberry Diesel and one is Strawberry Stardawg, but their flower sites seem the most active. Then the African Strains 2nd, and they are supposed to take 14 Weeks.

 

[SashaShiva]

I will be adding Frass and Molasses very soon.

And when I finish this grow I will mainly be flowering clones of these plants that I am growing now, so I will continue in this thread after this harvest. And during that time I will start growing the seeds from the crosses from these plants during those 2 months of Flower. And then by that time I should also have that other THCv strain that I am mixing in, but that I am not saying the name of until I have the seeds I make to breed with it; and until I am growing it to breed with my seeds.

 

[SashaShiva]

If anyone is Breeding THCv Strains, or just growing Africans Strains, post pictures or videos here. I will post videos about every day or every other day. And I'll have the Frass and Molasses in a few days, so I will write a little more about those then.

 

[SashaShiva]

5th Day of Flower

[video=youtube;g1oYpfSfhlA]

[/video]

 

[SashaShiva]

I will start adding Frass and Molasses to the plants tomorrow. Then I will keep making update videos and everyone can see how the plants look by the end.

Here is an example of a Frass grow, I just found out about Frass when I was talking to someone about composting and suggested that they get Black Soldier Fly Larvae, and then decided to do some research on them, because while I knew they composted meat and wood I did not know anything else about them. Then I found out that they produce Frass, and then found out what Frass is. So after that I looked up if people grew Marijuana with Frass, and it seems to be a Secret Technique in the Organic Growing Community to add tons of Nutrients, without adding "Chemicals", because it is just wood broken down by a bug the way a worm breaks down dirt, then it is redeposited with all the Nutrients plants need, concentrated and in large amounts.

So I looked for Youtube videos and found this 100W LED grow with Frass

Day he put it on
[video=youtube;knnuNq1a2Bw]

[/video]

Talks about Flushing, but plant just stays Green
[video=youtube;2UTuPk5NZho]

[/video]

End of the Grow
[video=youtube;ddKqr7jvYas]

[/video]

 

[SashaShiva]

And 100W is not a lot of light, even for LEDs.

I've got WAY more than that in my tent, for about the same number of plants he has in those videos.

 

[SashaShiva]

And I will be using Frass and Molasses in the Root Feeding water as well as Foliar Feeding water, just to see how it effects the plant.

 

[SashaShiva]

From Outkast Seeds, Subcool: Breeding Better Marijuana

From Outkast Seeds, Subcool: Breeding Better Marijuana

Breeding Better Cannabis Part 1
Creating Better Cannabis
Many people collect things as a hobby, we are no different except we collect "Elite strains of Cannabis" usually in clone-only format. In the last 25 years I have collected and grown-out hundreds of strains. I have traveled to Holland and attended the Cannabis Cup, 7 times. I've also lived in Amsterdam. One thing I believe is that the best Cannabis in the world is still in North America, in some unknown garden and belongs to someone without internet access. We have been lucky enough to collect some amazing examples. Some of my all time favorites are Genius and Apollo-13 by Brothers Grimm, also Killer Queen and Space Queen by Vic High. Our most potent strain is Jack's Cleaner, a Pluton X LambsBread X Purple Haze freak, which can literally make a non-grower puke if they're not used to her brutal raw potency. We call it the "they're coming to take me away" stone. Now, MzJill and I continue this tradition working as a team. She has some of her own favorites as well. The Black Russian strain that gives all of our Sputnik crosses their insane purple coloring came from MzJill via Nebu. Over the past 5 years we have worked with these crosses to create new and interesting varieties. MzJill comes up with her own crosses using her favorites and even helps me pollinate when the males are ready. We grow in 100% organic soil mix I prepare myself using potting soil, bat guano, worm castings, and other natural soil builders. We feel the biosynthesis that takes place in soil adds something that cannot be measured. We use 10 gallon containers so the roots have lots of room. We would like to share with you a little of what goes into breeding a new strain.
Breeding has many complexities that I won't begin to try and explain here today. But I think our main goal was very simple, to combine an extremely potent "Sativa hybrid" with a "heavy yielding, ultra purple strain". The results would be a purple strain with the potency added from that parent. What gets tricky is many strains like G-13 are extremely dominant and can take over a cross. When you cross BlueBerry and G-13, usually you just make a nasty tasting, watered down version of both. This doesn't mean that there are not good Blueberry G-13 crosses; its just breeding is not as easy as 2+2=4. There is also a big difference between "breeders" and "seed makers". Anyone can take a male and pollinate a female. This is not breeding; it is making copies with large variations. Again if they're sold cheap, a winner can still be found if enough seeds are grown out. The difference is the selection process of the parent strains.
The Momma's and The Poppa's
Selection of the mother plant (or P1) was easy, Apollo-13 is in the top 3 of my favorite strains and I think it may be the most unique strain we have. Blending potency and a bizarre putrid-rotting-fruit smell, that make it a one of a kind. Selection of a male Black Russian was not as easy. The first mistake people make in selecting a male is by choosing the most vigorous. Remember those complexities I mentioned earlier? Well, the recessive drug traits we seek are stashed away in non-vigorous males. Think about the plant in the wild, the natural progression of Cannabis is back to Hemp. The drugs strains we have today are a direct result of human intervention. Robert Clark says it better "In the wild, the early males always win the breeding contest. Without proper selection, these early males cause "acclimatization" of the variety, and a decrease in drug quality. This is the "dominant" state of Cannabis. If it were otherwise, why would we need breeders? All you would have to do is let the plants do their own thing and they would become more potent over time, but they don't. The only way drug varieties ever get better is through human intervention in the natural order."
So, in order to find these recessive traits we choose males based loosely on the following. At time of germination are there any capitate trichomes on the cotyledon leaves? The number and frequency of non-glandular trichomes; this can be a great indicator of future glandular production. The earliest males to show sex get tossed, no ifs ands or buts. Dominant males are useless for drug (misuse of this rule has caused more hermaphrodite strains than the world deserves) Cannabis. If these basics are followed during each male selection process, then this gives us a much better chance of finding the genes we want. This is not meant to be a guide for anyone, just a basic explanation of what a "Cannabis Breeder" looks for when selecting strains to work with and/or improve upon.
Sometimes taste is the desired goal or maybe potency. I have taken cherry flavored Ortega and crossed it with Killer Queen to create a cherry phenotype called Danny Boy. Danny Boy is done in 48 days and the taste is like cherry candy. The famed Jack's Cleaner was crossed with a BlueBerry to create Batgirl and then JCB males from that cross have created entire seed companies. Our JCB male has blue pollen sacs and drips with resin.
Also in the works is an Orange Velvet X Space Queen that will be our first Pineapple-Orange offering. This is MzJill's creation so we have named it JillyBean. Orange Velvet is a PNW strain obtained from "some Hippies" as the story goes. Our goal is to create bad ass strains that we want to grow out and smoke ourselves. Once breeding pairs are selected then they are sent to BadBoy to replicate successful crosses or create insane new things BadBoy's Astro Boy (Apollo-13 X Ortega C99).

Sputnik 1.0
Once we had the Black Russian X Apollo-13 cross complete we gave it a name. Sputnik seemed like a logical selection and I think you can see we were beyond successful. We grew-out several seeds and we found that basically, we get two different phenotypes. The first is an eye-candy lady that you see so much of, starting with pink calyx and just oozing resin; we knew instantly we had achieved our desired results. Smelling like Blackberry jam and swelling to a wonderful large cola-covered-THC-factory. I will never tire of photographing this girl. At 4 weeks the pink stared changing to a magenta color and even the trichomes took on a pink to purple coloring. This particular phenotype, we gave the name Pinky. The other phenotype (Whitey) was a surprise to me and also a valuable learning experience! Whitey exhibited no purple coloring in fact the plant was ultra-white and during flowering, she almost smelled like a "blue cream soda". As the plant matured it took on a weird pungent smell and before it cured out a bit, MzJill and I both thought it smelled pretty foul. After about two weeks of curing I decided to give it another chance and it knocked my socks off. A grower friend, who sampled it, said it almost gave her visuals. So we knew the cross had potential. Now how to improve on her again?
Back Crossing
The concept of back crossing, again is simple in theory, you only pollinate to your P1 mother plant using sibling male offspring. Selecting a male from the Sputnik 1.0 cross we then pollinated the Apollo-13 sugar mom, using a male selected by the criteria explained above. The first cross can be explained as a 50/50 and the second a 25/75 with 75% of her make up coming from the Apollo-13 mother. That 75% cross, or Sputnik 2.0, is now complete and ready for the final stage. The seeds arrived at Dr Chronic's on 4/20, and are now available to the public. The great thing about using this breeding method is you don't have to stop at 3 crosses; you can always do it again and see what happens. We have a different plan though. Once Sputnik 3.0 is complete, we will then grow out 100 seeds and select 10 males and 10 females. The best will be used to create "Cubed" Apollo-13; these seeds will be stable and extremely valuable representing thousands of hours of work. These seeds can be used to create true breeding IBL's, or used to find more P1's for future breeders to incorporate into there genetic pool. TGA and Subcool will continue to strive for the best in new crosses and the search for recessive genetics.

(This was Jills Idea)
P1-The name of the parent to which a hybrid is crossed in a backcross.
F2- generation : The progeny resulting from self hybridization or inbreeding of F1 individuals is called Second Filial or F2 generation.
F1- generation : The progeny produced from a cross between two parents (P1) is called First Filial or F1 generation.
inbred line- (IBL) - A line produced by at least five generations of sequential inbreeding, self fertilization or backcrossing accompanied by selection within and between lines so that the individuals are considered to be homozygous, or nearly so.
Homozygous - An individual possessing (receiving from parents) identical alleles for a trait is said to be homozygous or pure for that trait, e.g. plant with RR alleles is homozygous for the seed shape. A homozygous always breeds true for that trait.
Phenotype - The external (morphological) appearance of an individual for any trait or traits is called the phenotype, e.g. for seeds, round shape or wrinkled shape is the phenotype
Capitate-Botany: forming a head like mass or dense cluster, as the flowers of plants in the composite family. Enlarged and globular at the tip.
Dominant - said of an allele which by itself alone will produce a particular phenotype regardless of which other allele may be present on the other matching chromosome of the diploid pair; thus it takes only one copy of the chromosome to cause a dominant trait to be expressed in the phenotype.
Genome - the total genetic information possessed by an individual, a breed or a species.
Genotype - the invisible genetic makeup of an individual organism, which includes alleles which may be recessive and therefore have no visible physical expression.