5 70% Sat doms from the backbreed experiment

[leafminer]

Thanks. It does look very strange doesn't it? I never expected something like that. I wonder if anyone else has seen leaves like these have.

Today's news is that indica clone #2 died. I've turned the lights off during the day and I'm now running them at night mainly. Temps are horrendous. 41C daytime, shade. Let alone the plants, I am practically expiring too.

 

[leafminer]

Indica clone #1 continuing reveg, sprouts are a few inches long now, I should be able to take clones sometime next week. The mom is still stubbornly in flower. #1 is smoke now...

The sat doms are getting even weirder. Some of the top leaves are now single lobed or single with a recursive spike like you can see in the last pics. I have never seen a strain with this leaf shape before. And it has started vigorously branching at the tip, so I can't see a main stem any more. I suspect this means it is nearing its vertical limit?

The 5050 colas are putting on weight still and I see a lot of Aurora in it. Yay!

 

[smokybear]

The ladies are looking great. Nice job with the sativas.. I really wish my growing season was longer than it is so I could finish some sativas up outside... oh well!! Great job, though. Those leaf pics are weird. Very unusual. I haven't seen leaves like that before. Very cool. Just my thoughts. Keep us posted on your progress. Take care and be safe.

 

[BuddyLuv]

The Mekong Haze did some weird things too. I think it is a Sativa thing, but don't think for a minute they are done reaching for the sky. Just when you think the stretch is over they grow 2 more feet

 

[GrowinGreen]

leafminer- looking good as usual. It's awesome you are getting into the breeding. I have always wanted to but just don't have the space right now- so some day! Thanks for the updates

 

[leafminer]

Latest pics. Vigorous branching at the top, main stem starting to become undetermined.
Single-lobe leaves are becoming more common. The BC1 is at 39" today. Strangely, the lone male of the BC1 strain has quite normal-looking leaves. Why are the fems so strange? Hehe, if I could stabilise a strain with single leaves I could offer it as "secret agent" :afroweed:
All your comments have been much appreciated. Another two feet (or more) would be just fine. 10 feet is my limit otherwise they will be seen above the garden wall . . .

(edit) hmm .. . thought I could see trichs on the fan leaves in the pic so I took the mag lens out. Yep. Fan leaves are quite trichy. Good sign maybe.

 

[leafminer]

The BC1 is at 41". It's weird how it is averaging almost exactly an inch per day. In another week it's going to be at 4 feet. The side branches are now ten inches or more.
The 5050 is still putting on weight. Likes a lot of nutes. 8 weeks in flower: Probably needs 10 weeks at least.
And, yay! Aurora clone #1 has put out a two-inch long new shoot, and I can see new development in other places, so I hope to be able to clone in say, another week. The mom still stubbornly refuses to do anything. Static.

I'm fed up calling the new strains by their generation and lineage, so I've been thinking I will adopt a couple of names for them, since I am pretty sure I want to continue both of these.
I decided that (if smoke test favourable) I'll try to select for single-leaf sativa as a uniquely useful property. So I'll stay with the name "secret agent" since I can't find such an existing strain name. Please advise if otherwise!
And I was inhaling the aroma of the F1 hybrid fem bud, the very dank one, and I think the closest I can get is "mint chocolate". I'll occasionally note in posts what they are in terms of genetics.
If anyone objects let me know .... these names are only for use here, they are not available or commercial, you understand.

I'm busy making some experimental nutes, this will be like 14-2-15 for vegging. With lots of minerals.

 

[leafminer]

The info I got from the forum has made a big change to the way I grow ... or should I say, manage the grow.
I thought I was stuck in a major way with the fem Aurora clone line and the all-fem Mint Chocolate and Secret Agent strains. Until of course I spotted a male Agent so that's taken care of.
But the Aurora - what to do? - and then recently the very useful posts about silver compounds and Rockster's interesting input plus some stuff I found on the Web. So I hope to clone first and then reverse one, and self some seed from it. Same thing with Mint Choc. Actually I won't self, I will use a different fem so as to mix the genes a bit.
"The tiny breeding program":watchplant:

 

[leafminer]

I have been doing a little experiment on the side, using my sat-dom "Secret Agent". Two of them started out looking identical, and the same height. I repotted one into (5 gall. clay pot) coco, passive hydro, outdoor of course. The other in 75% coco, 25% pasteurised sheep manure.

Since then the first has been fed on MG Bloom 15-30-15 and more recently my 0-24-0 concoction. This #1 is 33" tall. The organic plant, #2, is 29.5".
Not enough said, though.

The organic plant has leaves of bright green at the top, indicating high N available, and the inflorescense - clusters of pistils - is more pronounced than #1. The organic, overall, looks markedly more healthy.

In future I will be changing to 75% coco 25% pasteurised sheep manure plus broken brick, perlite, & lime.

These two also have the 'signature' leaf abnormality. I suspect it is due to the inbreeding magnifying a recessive characteristic.

The male is beginning to drop pollen. It is 20 ft distant but even so I do not want my Mint Choc pollinated so I will surround it with a clear plastic bag and collect the pollen. I need that.

Preliminary smoke report on the Mint Choc: :holysheep:
is all I can say. It's one of those 'float away to paradise on the music' highs.

Secret Agent is 42" today. (Soil grow, 5 gallon)

 

[leafminer]

"Secret Agent, the BC1, is now at 44" and looking great. Both the organic and non-organic sibs are fine and the fourth one is about 8" tall. Will harvest the Mint Choc in a day or two I think. Looks like it is almost ready.
The Aurora clone is doing ok in reveg, I gave it some sheep manure as a top dressing. I need some indica clones, the sats will take forever to finish..

 

[leafminer]

The Mint Choc cola aint pretty but she's due for harvest so I can't be bothered to prune withered leaves ... :farm:
Here's what Secret Agent looks like now. Some of the leaves have no serrations at all and look like any old house plant. She's at 45.5" now. The sibs are at 35" and 32".

 

[leafminer]

Harvested the top half of the Mint Choc. Found some more eggs in white stuff, in a couple of colas. I used the garden hose set to 'shower' and washed it out.
It was incredibly hot today so I set out the colas to dry outside and by evening they were ready for the jar. It's probably about an ounce dry. I'll have to weigh it.
Hell of a nice smoke, though. Very potent - I guess the indica genetics complemented the classic Oaxaca sativa very well. If the Aurora is 18% (say) then I'd guess this is around 16%. This is more usable as an early-evening high whereas the Aurora is more like "The remote is only one foot away but my arm is too heavy to move"

 

[leafminer]

Secret Agent has reached another marker, she's at 48" today and bushing out really nicely. I make the average growth rate to be (5/5 to 28/6) 48/54 in per day, or just under one inch per day.

 

[leafminer]

Pollinated the Secret Agent yesterday. Pulled a piece off the male and brought it over to the fems, pollen rained down everywhere, not to worry the Mint Choc was ready so today I chopped it down.
Secret Agent at 49", she seems to be slowing down. OK, my max height is 108" or nine feet, so looks like I will have room to spare, height-wise.

Found about 1/4 of the Mint Choc plant had that white stuff infesting it ... not mould though, this was some kind of egg laying insect.
I had to use the garden hose to spray and rinse the stuff out of the colas. I put all the wet colas into a separate pile for quick drying to avoid mould. The rest went into its own drying bag.
Here's a pic of one of the lower branches so you can see why I had to stake and tie it.

I am seriously having problems with the breed lines. My sat doms are good and I have plenty of fem seed of them. But after sending some fem seed of the Mint Choc to a UK grower I have little left ... I will put a couple more in and see if I can reverse one later in the year to get some pollen. I like the high very much but it seems much more prone to insect attack than either of the parents were.

And as for the Aurora ... I think I will end up losing that line, the last clone has died and the mom isn't revegging well. I am sure it is the temps. Nothing I can do about that; it is the summer when temps go up to 46C ambient, often enough. Strange how the sativas love it and the indicas cannot tolerate it.
Don't know if I will buy more pure indica seed. Maybe for the grow room in winter.

 

[leafminer]

Got back from a six day hols in nice city with ideal climate and weirdly amusing restaurants. The weather seems to have been a bit gusty with stuff like the sprayer blown about the garden. Probly bin scattered thunderstorms according to the Web history.

Can't see much in the dark but it appears all the sativas are doing really well and even the old Aurora mom has hung on somehow. I'm going to try misting and increased airflow.

The two Mint Choc seeds, haven't come up. Worrying.

The landrace Nigerian seeds arrived. Yay! Will put three of those to germ, hoping for at least one fem to try. But of course I know what Nigerian is like .. from past experience. The Thai is on its way. I think.

 

[leafminer]

Secret Agent is 50.5" today, that is just 1.5" growth in 6 days, so it looks like she is topping out at just over four feet tall. Quite small for a sativa, must be due to the 25% indica genetics. I can see seed pods developing on all three so it looks like pollination was successful. I'll wait awhile to make sure and then destroy the male so as to stop any further pollination because I could use some smoke from this crop. The plants already have an interesting smell.

 

[leafminer]

51" today, but showing more calyxes. A fair amount of seed lower down from the early pollination. At least 50 anyway. Lots of new growth.
I pulled the male up and buried it away from the females. Don't need it now that three are carrying some seed.
I made up a solution of potassium phosphate from the crystals, gave them all a good shot of it.

 

[leafminer]

The tallest is still 51" so I guess the Secret Agent has topped out.
Now in the boring phase of just waiting for her to pack on the bud. And check for hermies.
No germination of the two Mint Choc seeds ... think I will wait until later in the year and put a few more to germ.
The other three are at 41", 39", 19", and #5, the male, has been destroyed because I already have seed pods showing.

 

[leafminer]

That's the end for the Aurora. The remaining old mom has died off. I have no more clones or seed. This strain just cannot make it through the summer temps here ... sad state of affairs.
I'm going to buy some more indica seed for the winter grow. Suggestions welcome. Prefer pure indica and nothing too expensive please!

 

[leafminer]

I got nearly a half ounce of old bud off the dead Aurora mom. Of course I had to try it. That was that for the evening. Spent an hour lying on the garden bench staring at the night sky. Of course I forgot to use Off and so I was eaten by dengue mosquitoes.

The #1 agent is now at 51.5" and the others are 44", 39" and 24". As expected the little one is fem. Some pics with this post.