Small Scale Strain Preservation Seed Production & Some Personal Smoke

[MidgeSmith]

I am in the process of trying to pop some old Flying Dutchmen Kerala Krush regular seeds.  There aren't many left on the planet it seems, but I adored the strain when I smoked it 7 odd years ago, so I figured I could at least grow a batch of seeds to preserve some of their genetics.

 

The first 4 out of 10 which I scarified did nothing.  Of the next 2, I cut the seam off both and 1 popped up, albeit upside down.  It took me nearly a day to figure out that it wasn't just a weird thin cotyledon package, but the flippin root.  I turned it back up the right way, removed the seed casing and resoaked the plug in mild seaweed solution.  Whether or not the cotyledons will actually open is unknown.  Anyway, its not enough, so the next 3, I soaked in a 2% hydrogen peroxide mix for 24 hours and have watered them with the same very mild seaweed mix in the plugs.  Fingers crossed I get three sprouts out of 10.  If I only get one I can continue with just a male or reversing part of the female.

 

I grow all my plants in a 120 x 60 tent which satisfies my requirements for personal supply. I usually grow 3 at a time.  My plan this time is to have 2 female Kerala Krush in the 12.5L air pots I usually use, 1 male in a smaller conventional pot to supply the pollen, I don't care if it doesnt get too big and 1 ketama in a 12.5L. If I just get one female Kerala Krush, I could do her in a 20L air pot and allow longer veg.

 

AM I KIDDING MYSELF?

My plan is to grow them all until I know what is what - I'm hoping to have 1 male and 2 females, but will have to go with what I get.  I am really hoping also to get some pre-flowering sex indications, but I'll muddle through.

 

Anyway, having done some selfing reversals before, my plan is to remove the male at the last minute, finish it off under a light outside the tent and quickly raid the pollen sacks the moment the first one looks fit to burst / has burst. I then plan to dust a couple of the better colas of each plant with pollen with a bag around the buds and a good shake, leaving the bag on for a couple of hours or so, then carefully remove it and damp down the area to try to limit stray pollen spread.

 

Then grow the plants out until they are nearly dead to get the most mature seeds possible.  I do know that I most likely wont have made Ketama Krush seeds in this first step, but I will at least have some fresher seeds to work with as I research the best way to try to restore it to its former glory.

 

BEST CASE SCENARIO

I will have some Kerala Krush F2ish plants (I dunno whether they'd actually be because I dont know if the seeds I have are F1 even, probably not) anyway, I will have begun the process of preserving the strain which is a lovely mostly Sativa plant with a beautiful tropical flavour and relaxed, focused, up high.  I will also have created Ketama Krush which would be an interesting hybrid and got some lovely Ketama flowers and some Kerala Krush at the same time.

 

REALISTIC WORST CASE SCENARIO

If I don't manage to contain the pollen well, then I will have less good bud to vape and more seeds.  That's absolutely fine too as I can go 6 months without new herb if required.  Nobody else will get their mitts on it, so there's only me to have to be careful to not grind seeds into the vape, so that doesn't matter either.

 

QUESTION?

I started off with a series of questions in mind.  Not least:

#1 how would I go from these F2ish-whatever Kerala Krush seeds I get, to more like actual Kerala Krush?  Should I preserve a cutting from one of the females and back cross the results of these seeds to that mother female?  Any quick clues or suggested links for a would be low scale breeder?

 

#2 is there anything I have missed?  As I say, I have done a couple of S1 reversals before and contained the pollen, so I am convinced that doesn't need to go too far wrong, but maybe I've suggested something that won't work out.

 

#3 any comments about the process to improve confidence?

 

Cheers guysies!

[Crow River]

Interesting project mate. Sounds like you're on top of things. I had some success germinating ten year old Danish Gold seeds with a solution suggested by some tissue culture fella on t'internet.

 

I made a soaking solution as follows:

10ml 3% H2O2 

190ml distilled water

1g of granulated sugar

 

Four out of six seeds germinated, and are now seedlings by the window. 

 

One of the things I plan to do, which you may wish to consider, is topping the plants once they reach five nodes, then rooting the tops out as clones. Gives you some possibilities, such as keeping the original plants in veg, and flowering the clones. You could also flower mums and clones all in the same space, giving twice as many females to pollinate, and double the number of males to produce pollen. This may seem odd, given the clones are genetically identical to the mums, but I have read that due to the randomness of pollination, this can effectively work in a similar way to open pollinating a larger number of unique individual plants grown from seed. Maybe worth a try?

 

In my case I'll be making crosses, so I can have two tents on the go with a Danish Gold male / clone in each, and females from different strains in each. So twice as many crosses...  

 

Anyway, good luck with the grow, will follow along to see how you get on. 

[MidgeSmith]

Just now, Crow River said:

I made a soaking solution as follows:

10ml 3% H2O2 

190ml distilled water

1g of granulated sugar

Thanks, that's great!

 

Regarding the above solution, how long did you soak them in that? I'd heard adding sugar into the mix can help with older seeds with lower vitality.  I only have 2 seeds left, so if the current 3 dont make it, I'll give that a shot, or maybe I could add sugar to the seaweed I am droppering to keep the plugs moist while we see if they germinate.

 

The sprout that came out upside down isn't doing much, so I'm not counting my chickens there.

[Crow River]

Just now, MidgeSmith said:

Thanks, that's great!

 

Regarding the above solution, how long did you soak them in that? I'd heard adding sugar into the mix can help with older seeds with lower vitality.  I only have 2 seeds left, so if the current 3 dont make it, I'll give that a shot, or maybe I could add sugar to the seaweed I am droppering to keep the plugs moist while we see if they germinate.

 

The sprout that came out upside down isn't doing much, so I'm not counting my chickens there.

 

No worries, hope it works for you, it did for me. I soaked for 24 hours, by which time four seeds had germinated.  In the end I got 100% germination, but two seeds didn't make it to seedling stage.

 

Apparently the sugar boosts the food available to the embryo, gives it a kick start. Maybe in older seeds the enzymes needed to break down the starch in the embryo get depleted? So having simple sugars in the solution could mean that starches don't need to be broken down immediately. Might work with the seaweed, but only needs a very tiny amount...

 

[MidgeSmith]

Just now, Crow River said:

 

No worries, hope it works for you, it did for me. I soaked for 24 hours, by which time four seeds had germinated.  In the end I got 100% germination, but two seeds didn't make it to seedling stage.

 

Apparently the sugar boosts the food available to the embryo, gives it a kick start. Maybe in older seeds the enzymes needed to break down the starch in the embryo get depleted? So having simple sugars in the solution could mean that starches don't need to be broken down immediately. Might work with the seaweed, but only needs a very tiny amount...

 

That's what I had read too, makes up for depletion.  Good to hear your results.  Will go gently if I need to germinate more this way.

 

Cheers / All the best.

[Gaijin]

Following along  Good luck 

[MidgeSmith]

Thanks, not much to show so far! What there is, isn't even in focus.  Had to be quick as people were coming in... lol.