The Art of Breeding by Soma

The Art of Breeding
By Soma

In the breeding of cannabis, a gardener can come up with an endless number of combinations. Every once in a while, everyone who smokes weed gets a certain kind that they really like. If we were able to get a live plant of that same kind, we would have the start of a mother garden. Using this method continually, we would end up with several female plants that we know for sure we like. It would be a room full of mother plants without any rejects. Cloning these mothers and growing the plants to maturity will bring you tastes and smells that cannot be bought. I have been using this technique for a decade, and now have over 35 different mothers.

“Cloning these mothers and growing the plants to maturity will bring you tastes and smells that cannot be bought.”
I breed seeds and I wanted some even newer combos. I have a strain I’m working with called the NYC Diesel. It is a blend of a Mexican sativa and Afghani. It tastes like ripe red grapefruits. Everyone who smokes it, loves it, so I thought it would be a great male to use. I planted several of my seeds and came up with 3 males, each one showing a slightly different phenotype.I then read that using more than one type of male from the same genetic pool can give more genetic depth to a species.

With this new information, I set out to try a genetic experiment. I placed 15 different types of female plants in my grow room and crossed them with two of the male NYC Diesels. Each of the males showed slightly different phenotypes. One had internodes closer together with wider leaves and the other had more stretch to the internodes with thinner leaves.

I put the females into a 12-hour cycle one week before I put the males in. This gives the female plants a head start, allowing them to put on a little resin before getting pollinated. This way, at the end, when all the seeds are taken out, the material left over will make excellent water hash. I put both males in the room with the females, and as the pollen flew, the two of them pollinated all the plants.

It takes the male cannabis plant about 3 weeks to start throwing pollen. When it does give off the pollen, it does so for about 3 weeks. Female calyxes that are the first to get hit, make the first seeds. The females continue to make new calyxes, and as they become ripe, the male pollen touches them and seeds start to form there as well. The calyxes that get hit last, don’t get a chance to finish the seeds and they come out white.

The first time you cross two different kinds of cannabis together, you get a phenomenon that’s called ‘hybrid vigor’. This causes the new crosses to have an extra strong growing strength. Making mothers from seeds like this can give you plants with an almost super strength.

In my quest for the best medicinal genetics, I am constantly trying new techniques and genetics, constantly learning about this sacred plant and all the gifts she holds. Spreading seeds of this quality around the world has brought me many new friends and adventures and I truly think that it changes not only the topography of planet Earth, but her soul as well.

For so many years I grew only seedless ganja because it smokes the best, but sometimes I have daydreams about what would happen if every ganja smoker grew one seed crop and spread them around....

I now have a forum on my website: www.somaseeds.nl. If anyone has questions that they want me to answer about any aspect of cannabis, you can reach me there. Until next time, keep it GREEN.

Love and Light,
Soma