Hi , Sorry if this sounds stupid, but I've read quite a few posts where the posters have mentioned phenos or phenotypes and I'm not quite sure exactly what they are. Anyone care to enlighten me?

A phenotype is an expression of a genotype(a plants genetic makeup) in a way that we can quantify m8.

i.e. in any given pack of seeds you will get plants that are different from each other, each one is a different phenotype.

Hope that helps, someone will no doubt explain it better shortly.

Even though 2 plants can be from the same mother and Strain one may grow taller than the other, or produce more buds, or have a much different scent while growing.

i think it means the type/style or look to your plant for example i done greenhouse cheese and had 2 types of pheno (completely different looking) i think thats it owd or someone will tell u better

Errrm, thanx m8. Does this mean the seeds in packets DON'T come from the same parents?

its just genetic, like humans you can have the same mam and pah as your brother/sister but you dont look identicle.

Edit: but yes sometimes seed batches can come from 2 different plants.

Forget that last reply m8. coupla other posters got there before me. thanx guys

No mate, think of them as brothers and sisters, you dont look the same as your siblings, right?

e2a: well beaten to it.

This is what I'm growing mate. Is it any good? I was after BB cheese but ended up with these after I was told BB had sold his business to GHS.

i have grown all cheese nothing beets original but outta bb and greenhouse my greenhouse was better for me best of luck mate

So I haven't been conned then?? I was a bit concerned as I wasn't really impressed with GHS white Rhino when I grew that. And a mate grew there NL5xHaze which wasn't great either.

your gonna be right happy mate nice solid buds i found not airy at all good smell good smoke god i need a smoke now but im at work

Not sure about that mate, big buddha have a new look website with new(ish) strains. They are still going strong. Although i believe GHS got/bought their cheese stock from BB.

They are much of a likeness to eachother

Regarding pheno's, eg, you get seeds from parent plants, although the same strain, some may be taller, smell a bit different, different bud formation etc. Like previously said, me and my brother are from the same genetic stock, and although we are similar, there are differences.....i am taller, he is thinner etc...

Pheno's are more variable if the cultivar is hybrid (satxindy) as the genepool is more diluted. True breeding strains tend to have less pheno variation. If you want to cut out pheno issues (for example to have an even canopy or even flowering time) grow fom clone.

hope that sheds some light on it.....

The explaination has been pretty well layed out before I got here..But I just want to say that this is one of my favorite aspects of growing the plant..
Say you order your 10 seeds of whatever.. You got 4 girls and 6 males... not the best ratio but go with it- so you notice as they are all gowing, that 1 is growing much taller than the others, 2 are fairly uniform, and the last is rather stunted. After admiring them for another couple of weeks.. you'll start to notice distinct characteristics about each of your four girls... 'One grows this way, one likes to be trimmed, one really keeps stretching' -whatever..
Now here's the part I like..
You take 2 or 3 cuttings from each plant, and then let them flower. After flowering - you'll be able to say confidently.. "Well.. 1 wasn't the best smoke.. a little harsh, 2 was smoother - but not very yielding, 3 was probably the best.. knocked my ass out, 4 was fairly decent.. an ok producer and stoned better than the first two"
Now at this point.. you know that you've taken 2 or 3 cuts from each plant... knowing which was the best for you.. you can then single out the cuts from only the '3rd' plant since it was the one you liked best, and grow out more plants that will have the same 'phenotype' as the plant that hit you the hardest - as there will be no genetic variation.

Its my favorite thing about all this.. (other than providing myself the most, best weed possible)

Does that make sense?

Sure does ma friend. Thing is I've never taken cuttings before as I'm growing in one of those Green Room tents and I don't have anywhere else to flower clones at 12/12 while the others are vegging. I was thinking of gettin' another tent for this but I'd be really struggling for space.

ahh.. oops.. My mistake. Send the seeded plants into flower, and keep your clones/cuttigns. After the original plants have flowered, you'll use your clones.... noting which plant was strongest.. and grow those clones out. You'll keep the clones in veg mode while you flower the original. - I know others do it just the opposite way, but I'm limited for space too - and a few small little guys is easier for me to shuffle around that 3 or 4 full grown one's.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by that Rev. I don't have the space to have one light on 18/6 and one on 12/12. Sorry if I'm coming across as thick as a bucket of shit.

not at all mate, not at all.
I dont have the lighting, or the equipment to run two seperate rooms right now either. Thing is though, the plants or your 'clones' wont really know the difference. Any light literally ANY light will keep them in veg mode.. so I just pull my cuttings out of the grow room before the 12 hour cycle turns off. So my cuttings/clones get 11 or 12 hours under the hps, and then however many remaining hours under whatever natural light is in my house. Light from windows, regular lights that are on around the house.. all these lights will tell the photocells or whatever that its still 'vegging' and it wont start to flower until you leave it in your room on 12/12.
So while they cuttings certainly wont be getting any kind of good light or anything for those 'extra hours', they will stay in veg mode, and allow time for roots to grow, potting up to occur, and everything to start getting ready for when you do finally go into 12/12. Heck pull your cuttings out and put them under a desk lamp.... just as long as there is another light source telling your plants to stay vegging. Any light will do this. -Its part of the reason also that its soo critically important not to allow any extra light into your room once on 12/12.
I long for the day when I can have an 18/6 room, and a 12/12 room... but its all about time and money for me... neither of which I have very much of at the moment.
Make more sense? -its kind of a lame way of keeping things going.. but we gotta improvise wherever we can.

I got ya man.


e2a: they're femmed seeds. D'ye think this method will be okay or is there more chance of them goin' hermie?

Absolutely! I've got 4 femmed trainwrecks going right now.. so 4 phenos, 2 of them are on their 3rd week of flower.. two of them are just sprouting... six cuttings (3 of each that are now flowering) and with the two more growing up... hopefully by this summer I'll have all 4 phenotypes grown and known - then I'll save the best one or two and continue to grow and propagate those.
Hermie shouldn't be a problem if you're room is sealed off correctly - although I keep hearing that my Trainwrecks like to put out balls in their last week of flower... I'll be checking.

Cheers Rev. You've gave me answers for questions I didn't even know I had. You da man

for the seperate grow room issue. What I found that worked a treat was to buy the cheapest build it yourself chest/box for storage from ikea/argos type place(£10-20) dimensions roughly 3' x 1.5' x 1.5'. You can hinge one side of the lid/door and use velcro tape to secure the door when shut.
A roll of thin draught excluder tape will do to seal up the edges. some sillica sealant for added sealing (duhh)Some mylar glued in place for the interior and some removable square polystyrine sheets for the base (add more to increase the height of the plants in the box).
1 full spectrum type bulb (25w+), plug, elecrtic cable and lamp connector all wired up and put through a hole that you cut in the back of the box at the top (2" x 2"), or as big as the lamp connector is (to fit through) and hung from a small screw in hook on the inside top of the box so the bulb hangs vertically in the box.
Its really just a do it your self mother/clone chamber but would be perfect for people with little space as you can keep it on 24/24 in the corner of your normal big growroom/tent, if its been lightproofed properly.

i sometimes think that another seed from another strain has found its way into my pack of seeds the last pack of seeds i bought was nirvana shiva, i kept 1 back as a mother and had a further 5 fems and threw them in the flower room, 4 of them all looked near enuff the same and were done dried and i put them in jars a few days ago....BUT i have 1 STILL left in the flower room which is sooo different in every aspect..much taller more airy and is now only 25% of brown pistils looks like another 2 weeks left at least

Lastly it is worth remembering that phenotype is a wildly over used word. Genuine phenotypes are alot rarer than you may be lead to believe. Ever seen two identical tomato plants? Nope nor me. Slight differances within any variety-cultivar are to be expected.