# When To Pollenate?



## GrandDaddyToke (Dec 30, 2007)

I have Blue Streak, Lowryder #2, and Masterlow. Here is a few pictures of my best males from each strain. I need to know when to use pollen on a few females of each strain. Would it be better to cross strains? This is the first time I am going to try to get some seeds. The othes picture is a female Masterlow to show where females are at. The plants have been in soil 22 days today.
*THANKS IN ADVANCE*


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## Kupunakane (Dec 30, 2007)

Great question,

    I hope that this article helps, it was borrowed from Cannibisgiving.
**********Breeding Marijuana**********
It is possible to breed and select cuttings from plants that  grow, flower, and mature faster. Some plants will naturally be better than  others in this regard, and it is easy to select not only the most potent plants  to clone or breed, but the fastest growing/flowering plants as well. Find your  fastest growth plant, and breed it with your "best high" male for fast  flowering, potent strains. Clone your fastest, best high plant for the quickest  monocrop garden possible. Over time, it will save you a lot of waiting around  for your plants to mature.​ When a male is starting to flower (2-4 weeks before the females)  it should be removed from the females so it does not pollinate them. It is taken  to a separate area. Any place that gets just a few hours of light per day will  be adequate, including close to a window in a separate room in the house. Put  newspaper or glass under it to catch the pollen as the flowers drop it.​ Keep a male alive indefinitely by bending the top severely and  putting it in mild shock that delays it is maturity. Or take the tops as they  mature and put the branches in water, over a piece of plate glass. Shake the  branches every morning to release pollen onto the glass and then scrap it with a  razor blade to collect it. A male pruned in this fashion stays alive  indefinately and will continue to produce flowers if it gets suitable dark  periods. This is much better than putting pollen in the freezer! Fresh pollen is  always best.​ When breeding marijuana save pollen in an air tight bag in the freezer. It will be good  for about a month. It may be several more weeks before the females are ready to  pollinate. Put a paper towel in the bag with it to act as a desecant.​ A plant is ready to pollinate 2 weeks after the clusters of  female flowers first appear. If you pollinate too early, it may not work. Wait  until the female flowers are well established, but still all while hairs are  showing.​ Turn off all fans. Use a paper bag to pollinate a branch of a  female plant. Use different pollen from two males on separate branches. Wrap the  bag around the branch and seal it at the opening to the branch. Shake the branch  vigorously. Wet the paper bag after a few minutes with a sprayer and then  carefully remove it. Large plastic zip-lock bags also. Slip the bag over the  male branch and shake the pollen loose. Carefully remove the bad and zip it up.  It should be very dusty with pollen. To pollinate, place it over a single branch  of the female, zipping it up sideways around the stem so no pollen leaks out.  Shake the bag and the stem at the same time. Allow to settle for an hour or two  and shake it again. Remove it a few hours later. Your branch is now well  pollinated and should show signs of visible seed production in 2 weeks, with  ripe seeds splitting the calyxes by 3-6 weeks. One pollinated branch can create  hundreds of seeds, so it should not be necessary to pollinate more than one or  two branches in many cases.​ When crossing two different varieties, a third variety of plant  will be created. If you know what characteristics your looking for in a new  strain, you will need several plants to choose from in order to have the best  chance of finding all the qualities desired. Sometimes, if the two plants bred  had dominant genes for certain characteristics, it will be impossible to get the  plant you want from one single cross. In this case, it is necessary to  interbreed two plants from the same batch of resultant seeds from the initial  cross. In this fashion, recesive genes will become available, and the plant  character you desire may only be possible in this manner.​ Usually breeding marijuana, it is desirable only to cross two strains that are very  different. In this manner, one usually arrives at what is refered to as "hybrid  vigor". In other words, often the best strains are created by taking two very  different strains and mating them. Less robust plants may be the result of  interbreeding, since it opens up recesive gene traits that may lead to reduced  potency.​ Hybrid offspring will all be very different from each other.  Each plant grown from the same batch of seeds collected from the same plant,  will be different. It is then necessary to try each plant separately and decide  it is individual merits for yourself. If you find one that seems to be head and  shoulders above the rest in terms of early flowering, high yield and get buzz,  that is the plant to clone and continue breeding.


smoke in peace
KingKahuuna
​


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## Hick (Dec 31, 2007)

... thanks KK!


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## Kupunakane (Jan 1, 2008)

More than Welcome

smoke in peace
KingKahuuna


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## TheStickyIcky (Jan 8, 2008)

A little hybrid vigor never hurt anything.


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## Leonard50 (Jan 15, 2008)

you should pollinate when they are at their reproductive best,if there is such a term.When she looks like she won't produce any more pistils and before the pistils start to turn brown.


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## Hick (Jan 15, 2008)

"IME"...It takes a _bare minimum_ of 4 weeks to form mature, viable seeds.
  5-6 weeks usually produces much better, darker, mature seeds. Plants producing seeds, should also recieve a "full spectrum" nutrient, don't cut off the nitrogen, as you would for sensimillia.


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## uptosumpn (Mar 29, 2009)

so for how long do u continually give a seed producing plant nitrogen?? and how much? maybe use something like superthrive supp. (good "N" source) or Fox Farm Grow Big?? what is "full specturum nutrient"?? Thanks..



			
				Hick said:
			
		

> "IME"...It takes a _bare minimum_ of 4 weeks to form mature, viable seeds.
> 5-6 weeks usually produces much better, darker, mature seeds. Plants producing seeds, should also recieve a "full spectrum" nutrient, don't cut off the nitrogen, as you would for sensimillia.


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## Pothead420 (Mar 29, 2009)

GrandDaddyToke said:
			
		

> I have Blue Streak, Lowryder #2, and Masterlow. Here is a few pictures of my best males from each strain. I need to know when to use pollen on a few females of each strain. Would it be better to cross strains? This is the first time I am going to try to get some seeds. The othes picture is a female Masterlow to show where females are at. The plants have been in soil 22 days today.
> *THANKS IN ADVANCE*
> 
> View attachment 43232
> View attachment 43231


IMO i would make more of each strain that will give you lots of seeds to work with then you can get into some Hybrid Crosses if you like or even start an IBL to lock in desired traits you like in the plants. 
i usually polly a fem 2-3 weeks into flower. were the males started at the same time as the fems? if not just collect and label the pollen untill its time to poly the fems then take each one seperete into another area and polly it i let it sit in a window for light for like 3-4 hours after pollination then i spray it down good with water so i can wash away any extra pollen. then its back into the grow room it usually takes 4-6 weeks for seeds to mature


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## Hick (Mar 29, 2009)

uptosumpn said:
			
		

> so for how long do u continually give a seed producing plant nitrogen?? and how much? maybe use something like superthrive supp. (good "N" source) or Fox Farm Grow Big?? what is "full specturum nutrient"?? Thanks..


the FF trio "including" Grow big" would be my approach


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## uptosumpn (Mar 29, 2009)

Apprieciate it bro!!!


			
				Hick said:
			
		

> the FF trio "including" Grow big" would be my approach


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## White WidowMaker (Apr 1, 2009)

That's some useful and insightful advice!  



			
				Pothead420 said:
			
		

> IMO i would make more of each strain that will give you lots of seeds to work with then you can get into some Hybrid Crosses if you like or even start an IBL to lock in desired traits you like in the plants.
> i usually polly a fem 2-3 weeks into flower. were the males started at the same time as the fems? if not just collect and label the pollen untill its time to poly the fems then take each one seperete into another area and polly it i let it sit in a window for light for like 3-4 hours after pollination then i spray it down good with water so i can wash away any extra pollen. then its back into the grow room it usually takes 4-6 weeks for seeds to mature


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