Genetics: what to look for in a plant

Hey there all,
I'm a newb to this forum, but not that new to the hobby.
I want to know what physical charateristics you look for when selecting a good mother plant to carry on your grows, for high yields and hardyness in growing. I see Uncle Ben's posts and those are some KICK ASS buds. I see others have also obtained some similar yields with minimal work to the plant. Any tips? Do you buy 10 seeds and keep the cuttings from the best looking one? How do you determine what the best looking one is? How do you predict what kind of yield you'll be getting?

All this bullshit about dialing in your grow in my harsh opinion with all these over priced nutes with fancy cartoon labels and gimicks only lends me to believe that you get a semi-decent yield. Is it true- do you have to spend $200 on seeds to get the genetics to achieve this? I don't know.. I've got some northern lights and bagseeds going right now in my grow journal. They are doing amazing without all the crazy nutes that people add. I just give them what they need.

Anyways, thanks!

ps, don't be so hard on the Beave....

I think the most important place to begin is with a reputable breeder. Be sure you are investing all of your time and money into a quality product. The cost of a "Super Mother" is invaluable. Don't shy away from spending a couple of extra bucks for some strong genetics. Trust me, it's totally worth every penny, a thousand fold. Next, what you're gonna want to do is plant some seeds and chart the growth. The more data you have, the more informed decision you can make. Start plants in smaller pots so you have to transplant them soon. See which ones have the strongest root mass. Which one has the closest nodal spacing. Which one seems to respond the best to your particular style of gardening and of course, which are female. Stray away from stretching, weak rooting, and all around poor vigor. Once you have determined the best one to keep, you have a mother.

Learning how to clone consistently and successfully plays a big part in pheno hunting,take clones of everything before you flower. As far as genetics,sure you could find something decent in bagseed or just an ordinary old school strain, but when I go through the trouble of popping packs of seeds I want to find something remarkable..not just adequate,which is more like gonna be found through breeders who use high end genetics.

Beeve said:

Hey there all,
these over priced nutes with fancy cartoon labels and gimicks only lends me to believe that you get a semi-decent yield. Is it true- do you have to spend $200 on seeds to get the genetics to achieve this? I don't know.. I've got some northern lights and bagseeds going right now in my grow journal. They are doing amazing without all the crazy nutes that people add. I just give them what they need.

Click to expand...

when you can dial it in without those things, thats when you are a pro. you on the right track i bet that NL is killer dial it in and get it to look like this,
https://www.rollitup.org/harvesting-curing/330370-whos-got-fostiest-buds-lets-263.html#post8952955

genetics are only half the battle the other half is being a good grower and knowledgeable. fancy label and big boxes just make it easier on those that know less.

Beeve said:

Hey there all,
I'm a newb to this forum, but not that new to the hobby.
I want to know what physical charateristics you look for when selecting a good mother plant to carry on your grows, for high yields and hardyness in growing. I see Uncle Ben's posts and those are some KICK ASS buds. I see others have also obtained some similar yields with minimal work to the plant. Any tips? Do you buy 10 seeds and keep the cuttings from the best looking one? How do you determine what the best looking one is? How do you predict what kind of yield you'll be getting?

Click to expand...

I gow out the plants and keep clones of each. Once the original plants are harvested, or are near harvest, I flower the clones of the better looking individuals. Then grow those out and pick the best of the lot. It usually takes me three cycles to identify a mom ...or not. Good luck.

Simon

yes I agree with above said, I would order from hempdepot its easy you get international money order, I would order TGA beans. After I popped my first 10 pack an 5 pack I ordered many more of there strains. just waiting for their time to shine, I wana go thru each one. I've almost picked my keepers. still have 4 dif Chernobyl pheno an 3 qush pheno. I almost know but this round hopefully will gelp me move on.....

Create the environment to exploit the traits you seek... IMO in this this order...Potency, Potency, Potency, Yield, Hardiness, Vigour, taste, smell

As in all honesty if it is trippy and causes me visuals for a long wild ride I wouldn't care if it tastes like a burnt inner tube and smell like a crack whore's ass.

Did I mention POTENCY?

Wow! Thanks guys for all your great tips! That's the info I was looking for. I studied chem in college, so researching and charting growth is a piece of cake to me. But identifying the variables that need to be observed was my stumbling block.

The grow I have going is simply to test my lil professional room. I wanted to get some plants going and not spend a ton of cash just yet. I wanted to make sure my environment will optimize the growing cycles of the plants. So far- i'd say I'm doing pretty good- you can check out my grow journal.

Yeah- I hope the NL's pull off some half decent buds. I'll be sure to check out more forum posts on good genetics, but without a $200 price tag. I don't mind spending some $$, but I also don't trust half the newbs in here for their "advanced" genetics assessment on strains. Because we all know- it ain't hard growing, but it is hard growing good potency as kite high mentioned...

SimonD said:

I gow out the plants and keep clones of each. Once the original plants are harvested, or are near harvest, I flower the clones of the better looking individuals. Then grow those out and pick the best of the lot. It usually takes me three cycles to identify a mom ...or not. Good luck.

Simon

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So after your first harvest, you make clones, then grow out and take one more set of clones to ensure stability with that pheno?

Cannabis Genetics are Diverse as Human Genetics in reality . It all depends on what you seek to find in the first place , Indoor/Outdoor , Hybrid or Land Race as one is new world and the other old world and there is a big difference right there to begin with when choosing what one wants to grow ..

We seek a drug chemotype pheno and we are always looking for differences as there are many different effects of marijuana due to its wide cannabinoids and there ratios .. There are factors that play here as well when relating to strains . Some people also look for terpene profiles and make choices based on them as well .. So you see there are a lot of variables that go with selection ..

Bagseed was my best friend for 20 years and I still dabble in it too ..

Now what comes into play while seeking your own , time along with trials and errors .. Often the seeds sold are misleading so do your homework and study up on the journals and notes available already for any chosen strains .. Otherwise roll the dice as many often do ..

You ll find that to truly find the best of the best that you have to run many plants full course while keeping clones of each as final decisions can change easily after harvest and samples are tested .. There is much more behind this whole statement and example as I wont even begin to get into structure and floral expressions .

I am standing at a counter as I type and am being asked about premium nutrients such as Sensi Grow and Bloom , 2 quarts of each and I have $70 in the till , if it was my store I would not allow such high priced shit on my shelf . Its all a rip off if you see advertising gimmicks and games .. Shit soon they might put a prize in the bottle lmao .. Dont waste your money as Cutting Edge or Dyna-Grow and many other fair priced nutrients will work just fine while saving you hundreds and possibly thousands .

JMO-- but every grower & breeder has their "Holy Grail" plant- that ever-elusive perfect specimen that can be kept going completely homogeneously...

But the qualities differ person to person-
some want a stocky plant with a large main and little branching- others want heavy branching so they can LST/SCROG....
some look for really heavy producers, while others will give up some yield for a "Connoisseur" quality...
some want a fast turnover while others don't mind a 120 day flower period for a great Sativa...
some want that skunky/deisel/cat-piss stink, while others want fruity/herbal/sweet aromas...

Like I said- all depends on the person and what they are looking for.

Draig and I like variety- a LOT of variety-- but we look for these qualities in everything we grow:
Easy to clone
Mite/disease resistant
Decent yields/dense buds
responds well to LST/Supercropping
above 15% THC- or a high CBD to THC ratio...

For yourself-- you need to list all the different available traits in these plants- then decide which ones are most important to you and your circumstances--

Do you have a small space to grow in, or a whole room?
Lots of plants, or just a few really big ones?
For personal use or to "share" as well?
For recreation or Meds?
What kind of a high/medicinal reaction are you looking for... etc...

Good Luck on Your Quest!!!! Enjoy!

Beeve said:

So after your first harvest, you make clones, then grow out and take one more set of clones to ensure stability with that pheno?

Click to expand...

I do three runs to get the right plant, if any, from a pack:

1st run - From seed, can't tell much due to a lack of (overall) maturity. For example, a plant the seems tall and lanky can ultimately have a shot, stocky structure.
2nd run - The better individuals from the first run are flowered again. This is when we see what the plants are really like. The training (ie. LST) is streamlined, in my case.
3rd run - We know the structure of the given individuals, we know how they respond to training. Now it's time to go for the gold.

Simon

LadyZandra said:

JMO-- but every grower & breeder has their "Holy Grail" plant- that ever-elusive perfect specimen that can be kept going completely homogeneously...

But the qualities differ person to person-
some want a stocky plant with a large main and little branching- others want heavy branching so they can LST/SCROG....
some look for really heavy producers, while others will give up some yield for a "Connoisseur" quality...
some want a fast turnover while others don't mind a 120 day flower period for a great Sativa...
some want that skunky/deisel/cat-piss stink, while others want fruity/herbal/sweet aromas...

Like I said- all depends on the person and what they are looking for.

Draig and I like variety- a LOT of variety-- but we look for these qualities in everything we grow:
Easy to clone
Mite/disease resistant
Decent yields/dense buds
responds well to LST/Supercropping
above 15% THC- or a high CBD to THC ratio...

For yourself-- you need to list all the different available traits in these plants- then decide which ones are most important to you and your circumstances--

Do you have a small space to grow in, or a whole room?
Lots of plants, or just a few really big ones?
For personal use or to "share" as well?
For recreation or Meds?
What kind of a high/medicinal reaction are you looking for... etc...

Good Luck on Your Quest!!!! Enjoy!

Click to expand...

Thanks! All very good points, and luckily for me now, I'm not too picky as I jump into this quest! I only have a few criteria, I think that's fair for someone just starting out to not over think this. Master the basics...

SimonD said:

I do three runs to get the right plant, if any, from a pack:

1st run - From seed, can't tell much due to a lack of (overall) maturity. For example, a plant the seems tall and lanky can ultimately have a shot, stocky structure.
2nd run - The better individuals from the first run are flowered again. This is when we see what the plants are really like. The training (ie. LST) is streamlined, in my case.
3rd run - We know the structure of the given individuals, we know how they respond to training. Now it's time to go for the gold.

Simon

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ahh, okay, I get it. Double check the trait you want by following its course through multiple clones.

Luckily for me, cloning is easy. I rarely lose a clone.
So maybe once I get a seed packet, I'll try running them all out to start differentiating the traits.

I guess I have to do some homework on a good seed company, and which Strain I want. I was thinking indica, with a touch of Sativa. If it has medicinal traits- that would be good. As for size, I would prefer medium height, because I'd like to make enough for everybody, and then some! Lol

Kite High said:

Create the environment to exploit the traits you seek... IMO in this this order...Potency, Potency, Potency, Yield, Hardiness, Vigour, taste, smell

As in all honesty if it is trippy and causes me visuals for a long wild ride I wouldn't care if it tastes like a burnt inner tube and smell like a crack whore's ass.

Did I mention POTENCY?

Click to expand...

Teach me your ways.

Nice thread! Hope ppl keep it rocking bcuz I'm curious as well!
+rep and happy 4:20 Beeve and gang!

preference things- Smell, look other things im too stoned to remember. Growth pattern, vigor, consistent expression of phenotypes, resilience. you just want to find the best progeny in there and lock it down...

Good genetics don't usually come easily or cheap, but its worth it

Sincerely420 said:

Nice thread! Hope ppl keep it rocking bcuz I'm curious as well!
+rep and happy 4:20 Beeve and gang!

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Thanks-happy 420 to you too!

I hope this thread continues on too. So far we've identified some real variables that peeps look for in a good Strain. I'd like to break it down some more and look for specific identifiable characteristics .

ilovethegreen said:

preference things- Smell, look other things im too stoned to remember. Growth pattern, vigor, consistent expression of phenotypes, resilience. you just want to find the best progeny in there and lock it down...

Click to expand...

Hi there- when we look for growth pattern for example, the obvious trait is rapid vertical growth. Are there plants that have rapid lateral growth too, or does that only come to play once you top the cola. I've tried to keep lights close to the top of the plants, in hopes to slow down vertical growth, but it had no effect lateral growth. It was like the plant stayed shorter, but Rock solid sturdy.