Female and Feminized Seed

22 Mar

X Chromosome

During the 1960’s and 1970’s some cannabis breeders took to experimenting with Colchicine.  Colchicine, a powerful mutagen for both man and beast, stops cell duplication, while the cellcore duplication continues the same.  The end result is a doubling or more of the chromosome set.  This treatment can be beneficial to cannabis because it enforces many properties such as higher production of thc and resistance to disease.  What also resulted, when gender chromosomes doubled, is that male or female chromosomes appear manifold, called Hermaphrodites.  What’s the plant to become?  It becomes all at once.  The result is called feminized or effeminate seed.
Genetically, a cannabis plant is more or less predisposed to become male or female.  This is regulated by 2 chromosomes everyone knows as the X and Y chromosomes.  A plant with 2 XX chromosomes becomes female.  A plant with an X and Y turns into a male.  Plants have hormones that regulate it’s functioning, of which gender is one of those functions.  The hormone balance is genetically determined, and partly influenced by environmental factors.  An example is when plant roots get damaged.  The roots will produce a substance that in turn slows down leaf growth.  The result is male flowers.  When discussing hormone balance you get FEMALE SEED: a female is a plant with XX or only female chromosomes.
When you have a seed with just X chromosomes, you are certain this seed will grow into a plant that is genetically female.  To achieve the XX only plant: a female plant is forced by a hormone called Gibberellic Acid  to produce male flowers, the pollen created contains only X chromosomes, when you offer this pollen to another female plant you can be absolutely certain to get seeds which are 100% XX.  Once again this seed is called FEMALE SEED.  Gibberellic Acid can be found in online.  It takes years for an individual to achieve the proper plant hormone manipulation to get 100% female XX seed.  Supplies therefore fluctuate and there are many different strains available worldwide.

Metodos de Realizacion de Semillas Feminizadas‎

30 Jan
Hacer Semillas Feminizadas

Hacer Semillas Feminizadas

¿Qué son semillas feminizadas?

Las semillas feminizadas son semillas que por medio de un fenómeno natural o un proceso inducido químicamente llegan a producir plantas femeninas. Para crear estas semillas feminizadas es necesario inducir una planta femenina a producir flores masculinas con el fin de utilizar su polen en la polinización de sí misma o cualquier otra planta femenina. El producto de este cruce producirá semillas feminizadas.

¿Por qué producir semillas feminizadas?

El motivo principal para utilizar semillas feminizadas es para hacer uso racional y eficiente del tiempo y de los recursos utilizados en la producción de las plantas de marihuana. Tomando en cuenta que las lámparas, los “grow rooms”, los fertilizantes, la electricidad, los equipos de riego y el tiempo son recursos limitados y onerosos, la certeza de contar con plantas femeninas desde el inicio del cultivo, permite planificar y alocar eficientemente estos recursos. Es importante, además, tomar en cuenta la existencia de otros factores de valor agregado que se suman a los motivos anteriores.
Como en Costa Rica no se puede cultivar marihuana legalmente, ni importar sus semillas, el proceso de preservar las variedades de plantas excepcionales es indispensable. Si bien es muy sencillo clonar las plantas favoritas y así poder preservar la especie, no siempre se cuenta con las condiciones óptimas de espacio y de seguridad para mantener un programa perpetuo de producción de clones. Aquí es donde el método de la feminización juega un papel muy importante. Es por medio de este proceso que se logra crear semillas, que casi en su totalidad (99%) son de sexo femenino, y que van a preservar todas las características genéticas de sus progenitores durante muchos años. Bajo condiciones óptimas de almacenamiento, estas semillas se mantienen viables durante tres a cinco años.
Las semillas feminizadas permiten, además, cultivar marihuana para consumo personal sin incurrir en el alto costo y riego de importar semillas clandestinamente. Además, abre la puerta para que se genere el trueque de semillas entre cultivadores, enriqueciendo así el banco nacional de semillas y aportando material genético para crear nuevas variedades.

¿Cuál es la explicación genética para crear semillas feminizadas?

Si utilizamos el cuadro genético básico de Punnett, podemos ver lo que sucede al cruzar una planta de genotipo masculino con una planta de genotipo femenino y luego compararla con el cruce de dos plantas de genotipo femeninos.
Genotipo Masculino XY x Genotipo Femenino XX = (XX, XX, XY, XY) en este caso el 50% de los descendientes son masculinos y el 50% femeninos.
Genotipo Femenino XX x Genotipo Femenino XX = (XX, XX, XX, XX) en este caso el 100% de los descendientes son femeninos.
Si tomamos esta información genética y la aplicamos a la vida real, logramos por métodos naturales o químicos obtener una flor masculina de una planta femenina y cruzarla con ella misma u otra planta femenina para obtener semillas que van a producir plantas femeninas.

¿Cuáles métodos existen para crear semillas feminizadas?

Hay básicamente cinco métodos populares para crear semillas feminizadas:
1-Rodelización (Rodelization)
2-Envenenamiento de Luz (Light Poisoning)
3-Tiosulfato de Plata (Silver Thiosulfate)
4- Acido Giberélico (Gibberellic Acid)
5-Plata Coloidal (Coloidal Silver)

¿Podría describir la diferencia entre cada método de Feminización?

El envenenamiento de Luz o “light poisoning” en inglés es uno de los primeros métodos utilizados en las etapas experimentales para obligar a una mata femenina a producir flores masculinas. Este método consiste en aplicarle un “régimen de terror” a una planta femenina en donde se le somete a interrupciones constantes e irregulares de iluminación durante su ciclo de luz. Por medio de este sistema, en muchas variedades de marihuana se logra crear un desbalance hormonal tal que la planta culmina en la manifestación de hermafrodismo. El polen que producen las flores masculinas de esta planta es utilizado para polinizar sus mismas flores femeninas o la de otras plantas femeninas, creando así, en teoría, semillas feminizadas. El inconveniente que se presenta con este sistema es que a pesar del estrés al que es sometida la planta, por medio del descontrol de su ciclo normal de luz, no hay seguridad de que ella se manifieste de la forma esperada. Y, aun cuando se logra que la planta exteriorice las características requeridas, existe en esta metodología el riesgo de reproducir las características de hermafrodismo que se adquirieron de su progenitora durante el periodo en que fue expuesta al proceso de desbalance hormonal. Este factor negativo podría eliminar, en algunas ocasiones, la posibilidad de producir plantas sin semilla.

La rodelización es el método natural para producir semillas feminizadas. Este método fue desarrollado por SOMA de “Soma Seeds”, el gurú del cultivo natural y orgánico de la marihuana. Después de una minuciosa observación de sus plantas femeninas, Soma se dio cuenta de que al finalizar su ciclo de vida, y al no haber podido procrear, estas plantas se enfrascaban en un último y desesperado intento por preservar su especie emitiendo una o muy pocas flores masculinas para auto polinizarse. De igual manera observó que si este polen se utilizaba para polinizar plantas femeninas, que el resultado final era semillas feminizadas. El inconveniente que presenta este método es que no todas las variedades de marihuana manifiestan este fenómeno, y cuando lo hacen es muy difícil de observar y determinar a ciencia cierta el momento exacto en que se va a dar. También la posibilidad de crear una cantidad significativa de semillas feminizadas es limitada puesto que la cantidad de polen que se produce es escasa. Finalmente, para que este fenómeno natural se manifieste, es necesario que la planta se pase de su punto óptimo de cosecha (aproximadamente 14 días), disminuyendo notablemente las propiedades que se buscan en una cosecha de calidad. Para utilizar este sistema con eficacia, sería necesario cosechar el polen de la flor del macho cuando emerja, almacenarla y posteriormente utilizarla en un futuro no muy lejano. Otra forma de utilizar este procedimiento es de coordinar la producción del polen para que coincida con el ciclo reproductivo de otras plantas femeninas que estén listas para ser polinizadas.

El uso de Tiosulfato de plata es uno de los métodos más confiables para producir semillas feminizadas y ha sido el más utilizado por los productores de semillas comerciales. Para hacer tiosulfato de plata se mezcla 0.1 g de nitrato de plata en 100 ml de agua destilada (si es necesario, se puede calentar el agua para facilitar el proceso de dilución del nitrato de plata). Se revuelve esta mezcla hasta que se disuelva el contenido en su totalidad (Solución A). Luego se mezcla 0.5 g de tiosulfato de sodio en 100 ml de agua destilada. Una vez más, se revuelve esta mezcla hasta disolver el contenido en su totalidad (Solución B). Vierta la solución A dentro de la solución B. Finalmente, diluya la solución A/B en agua destilada a una proporción de 1:9. En otras palabras, vierta 200 ml de solución A/B en una botella de 2 litros y termine de llenar la botella con agua destilada. Con esta mezcla se atomiza (literalmente se baña) la planta por arriba de las hojas, por debajo de las hojas y sobre los tallos, inclusive. Inmediatamente después se someten las plantas tratadas al ciclo de 12 horas de floración. Es de esperarse que en los primeros días, las plantas se resientan y que sus hojas se marchiten un poco. Esto es normal, y la planta recupera su vigor después de unos pocos días. Después de 2 a 3 semanas se podrán observar las primeras flores masculinas. Es importante recalcar que las plantas tratadas con tiosulfato de plata están contaminadas y que una vez que se utilice su polen, deben de ser descartadas. Las plantas fecundadas, sin embargo, si se pueden utilizar. Las semillas producidas por este método no sufren contaminación alguna.
Lo bueno de este método es que es totalmente confiable, controlable, y se presta para planificar con certeza. Lo malo es que es un poco más complicado hacer las mezclas, conseguir la materia prima y no deja de ser un químicos peligroso por lo que hay que tener precaución a la hora de manipularlo.

El acido giberélico también se puede usar para producir semillas feminizadas. Utilizando el GA3, 4, 5 o 7 se logra revertir el sexo de una planta. Sin embargo, el GA3 es el más utilizado en la agroindustria, es el más efectivo para este proceso y está disponible en la mayoría de las tiendas de suministros agrícolas. Para utilizar el GA3, se usa una solución de 0.01% (0.1 g de GA3 en un litro de agua destilada). Se atomiza ligeramente la planta femenina con esta mezcla durante 5 días consecutivos e inmediatamente después se cambia el ciclo de luz a 12 hrs. Hay que tener precaución con el uso del acido giberélico pues una dosis más baja produce menos floración, y una dosis más elevada inhibe la floración. Si se aplica adecuadamente este producto, la planta se va a estirar un poco para finalmente exhibir flores masculinas en el lapso de unas dos semanas.

El método de Plata Coloidal es actualmente uno de los preferidos para crear semillas feminizadas. Durante más de una década los “blogueros” intercambiaron sus experiencias a través de los distintos foros de cannabis para finalmente llegar a dominar esta técnica. Es un método sumamente efectivo, es sencillo, no es tóxico, y se puede confeccionar con materiales que se encuentran en el hogar. Por su sencillez y efectividad es uno de los métodos preferidos a nivel mundial para crear semillas feminizadas. Vale la pena explicar con detalle su funcionamiento. Para esto voy a dedicar otro “post” exclusivo al tema. Pero por ahora les adelanto que para que este método funcione, se requiere de plata coloidal a una concentración de 30 ppm. Se atomiza (se baña literalmente) una planta femenina (o parte de una planta) durante 10 a 12 días consecutivos inmediatamente después de iniciar el cambio del ciclo de luz a 12 hrs. En dos o tres semanas se pueden obtener resultados espectaculares.

¿Cómo hacer semillas feminizadas con Plata Coloidal?

Instructivo Para Hacer Semillas Feminizadas de Marihuana Con Plata Coloidal

¿Qué es Plata Coloidal?

La plata Coloidal consiste en micro partículas de plata suspendidas en agua destilada por medio de electrólisis.

¿Cómo se usa la Plata Coloidal para crear semillas feminizadas de marihuana?

Se aplica sobre una planta femenina durante 10 a 15 días. Las micro partículas de plata que flotan en la plata coloidal sirven como inhibidores/antagonistas de etileno en la planta, induciéndola a producir flores machos con polen de cromosomas femeninos.

¿Cómo se hace la Plata Coloidal?

Simplemente se pasa una pequeña corriente eléctrica a través de agua destilada utilizando un electrodo de plata pura (dos monedas de plata pura, joyería de plata pura o alambre de plata).

Materiales Requeridos:

1-Un adaptador eléctrico de 9V o 12V (de esos que quedan por ahí cuando botamos un modem, un walkman, un PlayStation o un teléfono viejo; cualquiera sirve).
2-1 litro de agua destilada (como la que se usa en las baterías de los carros y que venden en los supermercados)
3- Dos piezas de plata pura (.999% o .9999%). Pueden ser monedas, joyería, o alambre de plata calibre 14 (se pueden comprar por internet o en EBay). Si se usa alambre de plata, se ocupan dos pedazos de 6” c/u lo que equivale a 1 pie (1ft) de alambre.
4-Dos prensas de lagarto que se consiguen en las tiendas electrónicas.
5-Una pistola para soldar (cautín) y soldadura electrónica.

Metodología:

1-Corte el conector que se encuentra al final del alambre opuesto al adaptador.
2-Separe los alambres eléctricos para que quede una punta positiva y otra negativa.
3-Pele las dos puntas de alambre eléctrico dejando los hilos de cobre expuestos.
4-Solde una punta de lagarto a cada extremo de alambre expuesto. ¡Listo! Es así de sencillo. Ya tiene un generador de plata coloidal.

¿Puedo usar agua de cañería en vez de agua destilada?

¡Definitivamente no! El agua de cañería tiene muchas impurezas que terminan contaminando el producto final. Si utilizamos agua que no es electro pura (destilada) producimos una “sopa” de impurezas en el proceso de electrólisis.

Ya confeccioné mi generador de Plata Coloidal, ¿Ahora cómo hago para producir Plata Coloidal?

Instrucciones:

Se vierte 1 litro de agua destilada en un frasco de vidrio. El frasco debe de estar completamente libre de impurezas. Es recomendable enjuagar el frasco con la misma agua destilada para asegurarse de que el frasco no tenga polvo, residuos de jabón, o esté mojado con agua de cañería.

Caliente el agua hasta hervir (en microondas). El agua caliente agiliza el desprendimiento de las micro partículas de plata. Si tiene un calentador de tazas o alguna otra forma de mantener el agua caliente durante el proceso, es recomendable, ya que el agua caliente va a permitir reducir el tiempo de producción. Sin embargo esto no es indispensable ya que el proceso de electrólisis se encargará de desprender las pequeñas partículas de plata.

Se conecta el convertidor al tomacorriente.

Solo la plata debe de tocar el agua destilada (las puntas de lagarto no deben de tocar el agua)

Inicialmente, cuando se enchufa el adaptador, pareciera que nada pasa; No se ve nada, ni se oye nada. Pero al volver después de una hora, se puede notar como un extremo de plata se empieza a poner oscuro y el otro se llena de burbujitas. Esto nos indica que las partículas de plata se están desprendiendo y que se están empezando a desplazar dentro del agua. Dependiendo del voltaje y del amperaje del convertidor que se use, este proceso puede durar desde medio día hasta 24 hrs.

Es recomendable limpiar las puntas de plata con una esponja abrasiva (tipo scotch brite) unas cuantas veces durante el proceso. También ayuda cambiar la polaridad de las puntas. Para hacer esto, simplemente se cambian las monedas, la joyería o los alambres de plata de una punta de lagarto a otra. Hay que tener cuidado de nunca juntar las dos puntas de lagarto para evitar que se produzca un corto circuito y se dañe el adaptador.

La plata coloidal para uso médico por lo general es de color amarillo. El que nosotros estamos haciendo podría ser amarillo o inclusive café. El color no es tan importante para nuestras necesidades. Lo que sí es indispensable es que logremos una concentración de 30 ppm como mínimo. Lo ideal es tener un medidor de PPM o EC para determinar el punto exacto de concentración. Sin embargo, me atrevo a decir que si el agua está bastante turbia, que es muy posible que se cuente con las 30 ppm requeridas. Sin embargo, se reporta que las concentraciones menores a 30 ppm producen pocas flores machos cuyo polen tiende a ser infértil. Es por esto que vale la pena adquirir un medidor de PPM o EC para determinar a ciencia cierta la concentración de plata que hay en suspensión.

Una vez que se tienen las 30 ppm de plata coloidal, filtre el agua turbia a través de un filtro de “coffee maker” y viértalo en una botella de “spray”. Este proceso filtra las impurezas, sin retener las partículas de plata que son muy pequeñas. Es recomendable limpiar las piezas de plata inmediatamente después de terminar con el proceso de electrólisis (apagar el adaptador) con una esponja abrasiva (tipo scotch brite) pues es el momento ideal para hacerlo.

Mantenga la Plata Coloidal alejada de la luz

La luz deteriora la plata coloidal por lo que se recomienda que el proceso de electrólisis se lleve a cabo en un lugar oscuro. También es importante almacenar el producto final en un lugar oscuro a temperatura ambiente. Este detalle le va a permitir utilizar la plata coloidal durante el tiempo de tratamiento sin que pierda su efectividad.

Tenga precaución con el sistema eléctrico

Este proceso es muy seguro siempre y cuando se mantengan las precauciones básicas de una instalación eléctrica segura. Utilizar un dispositivo de seguridad como una regleta y conectarla a un tomacorriente que este protegido por una caja de “breaker” es indispensable para evitar cualquier peligro de corto circuito.

¿Cuando empiezo a atomizar mi planta femenina?

Lo recomendable es atomizar la planta femenina en el momento de cambiar las luces al horario de 12/12 de floración. Sin embargo se reportan casos donde personas han aplicado plata coloidal después de 4 semanas de floración femenina con resultados de “reversión de sexo” igualmente efectivos.
Es de suma importancia saber con certeza el sexo de la planta antes de empezar a aplicar la plata coloidal. Si no hay certeza, es mejor hacer el cambio al horario 12/12 de floración y esperar hasta que los primeros pistilos femeninos emerjan antes de empezar el proceso. Sin embargo, lo común, en la creación de semillas feminizadas de marihuana, es trabajar con clones de madres femeninas para evitar este tipo de contra tiempo.

¿Durante cuánto tiempo debo atomizar mis plantas femeninas?

Se ha reportado la eficacia del tratamiento con solo 5 días de aplicación, pero el consenso general es que la aplicación se debe hacer durante 10 a 15 días consecutivos. Solo en el caso de topar con una variedad sumamente resistente a la “reversión de sexo” se recomienda continuar con el tratamiento durante 3 semanas. Es necesario aclarar que el tiempo de aplicación puede variar de acuerdo a la concentración de la plata coloidal y a la frecuencia con que se aplica.
En algunos casos, los “bananitos” de la flor del macho no se abren, por lo que se debe de recurrir a abrirlas manualmente y aplicar su polen a las flores femeninas receptoras con un pincel.

¿Durante cuantos días se deja la planta tratada con las plantas femeninas receptoras?

El polen de las flores masculinas se transporta por el aire muy eficientemente. Si tiene plantas femeninas que están en producción de “sin semilla”, se debe de hacer un gran esfuerzo por aislarlas del polen de los machos tratados, de lo contrario ellas también terminaran siendo polinizadas. Si este es el caso, una vez que las flores hembras de las plantas femeninas receptoras estén fertilizadas, se debe de destruir la planta tratada que porta las flores masculinas. Este proceso puede durar unas dos semanas. Es posible determinar que las flores receptoras están fertilizadas porque sus pistilos se empiezan a secar y el embrión se empieza a formar.

¿Se pueden utilizar las plantas tratada con Plata Coloidal?

No. Una vez que una planta es tratada con plata coloidal, y que su polen haya sido utilizado, es necesario prescindir de ella. La planta femenina receptora, sin embargo, si se puede utilizar.

¿Cuales factores pueden influir en que el proceso de feminización de semillas falle?

En general, el proceso de crear semillas feminizadas de marihuana con plata coloidal es sencillo siempre y cuando se sigan las instrucciones debidamente. Si por alguna razón usted intentó hacer semillas feminizadas con plata coloidal y fallo en el intento, es muy probable que alguno de los siguientes factores se obviaron:

Errores en la confección de Plata Coloidal:

-no usar agua destilada
-no usar plata pura (.999% o .9999%) en el proceso de electrólisis
-no darle suficiente tiempo al proceso de electrólisis y terminar con una concentración de plata coloidal menor que 30 PPM

Errores en la aplicación de Plata Coloidal sobre la planta:

-utilizar una solución menor a (30 PPM)
-no cubrir bien la planta con plata coloidal. Es indispensable atomizar la planta por encima de sus hojas, por debajo de sus hojas y sobre sus tallos inclusive; hay que bañarla, literalmente.
-no aplicar la plata coloidal con la frecuencia requerida (se deben de atomizar las plantas al menos una vez al día)
– no aplicar la plata coloidal durante suficientes días (si bien es cierto que en la mayoría de los caso la aplicación de la plata coloidal se hace durante 10 a 12 días, en algunas variedades “tercas” se podría necesitar hasta 3 semanas de aplicación para poder bloquear el etileno en las plantas e inducirlas a producir flores machos).

Nota: mucha de la información presentada en este artículo fue sustraída, traducida y resumida del link de PhenoMenal. http://anonym.to?http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=60610

Producing Feminized Seeds

22 Jan
Gibberellic Acid

Gibberellic Acid

Sooner or later every grower is going to want to produce marijuana seeds. Developing a new stable strain is beyond the scope of this discussion and requires the ability to grow hundreds or even thousands of breeding plants. However, just about any grower can manage to preserve some genetics by growing f2 seeds where they have crossed a male and female of the same strain, or can produce a simple cross which would be referred to as strain1xstrain2 for instance white widow crossed with ak-47 would be referred to as a WW x AK-47. You can produce some excellent seed and excellent marijuana this way.

To Feminise or not to Feminise

There are numerous myths surrounding feminized seeds. Feminizing seeds is a bit more work than simply crossing two plants naturally. However it will save you a lot of time in the end. If you make fem seeds properly then there is no increased chance of hermaphrodites and all seeds will be female. This means no wasted time and effort growing males and it means that all your viable seeds produce useful plants, since roughly half of normal seeds are male this effectively doubles the number of seeds you have.

Other times you will have no choice but to produce feminized seed because it will be a female plants genetics that you want to preserve and you won’t have any males. Perhaps you received these genetics via clone or didn’t keep males.

The new thing on the market for commercial Cannabis cultivation are Autoflowering feminized strains. By crossing of the Cannabis ruderalis with Sativa and Indica strains many cultivators have created interesting hybrids which boast benefits from both sides of these families.

Although Sensi Seeds already created the Ruderalis Indica and the Ruderalis Skunk crossing, the first variety to be marketed specifically as ‘Autoflowering cannabis seed’ was the Lowryder #1. This ‘hybrid’ was a crossing between a Ruderalis, a William’s Wonder and a Northern Lights #2. This strain was marketed by ‘The Joint Doctor’ and was honestly speaking not very impressive. The genetics of the ruderalis was still highly present which caused for a very low yield and little psychoactive effect.

Despite these first disappointing results for the grower and user, the interest of the cannabis community was most definitely caught. After the Lowryder #1 the Lowryder #2 was introduced by ´The Joint Doctor´. See also the article:”What are autoflowering cannabis seeds” about auto-flowering seeds.

Auto-flowering cannabis and the easily distributed seed have opened a whole new market in the world of the online grow-shop, making it easy for home growers with shortage of space to grow rewarding cannabis plants in many different varieties.

Selecting Suitable Parents

There are a number of important characteristics when selecting parents. First are you making fem seeds? If you are then both parents will be female. This makes things easier. If not then the best you can do is select a male with characteristics in common with the females you hope to achieve from the seed.

Obviously potency, yield, and psychoactive effects are critical to the selection process. But some other important traits are size, odor, taste, resistance to mold and contaminants, early finishing and consistency.

Collecting and Storing PollenIn order to collect pollen you simply put down newspaper around the base of the plant. The pollen will fall from the plant onto the newspaper. You can then put this newspaper into a plastic bag and store it in the refrigerator or freeze it. Pollen will keep for a few months in the refrigerator and can be used on the next crop. The freezer will extend that to up to six months but gives the pollen a lower chance of viability that increases with time.

Pollinating a Plant

To pollinate a plant you can brush the pollen on a flower with a cotton swab or you can take the plastic bag and wrap the flower inside it and shake. In this way you can selectively pollinate plants and even individual buds and branches.

Male Isolation

A male plant or a plant with male flowers will pollinate your entire crop rendering it seedy. You probably don’t want THAT many seeds so how can you avoid it? Moving the male to another room might work but if that other room shares an air path via ducting or air conditioning then pollen may still find its way. One technique is to construct a male isolation chamber.

A male isolation chamber is simply a transparent container such as a large plastic storage tub turned on its side (available at your local megamart). Get a good sized PC fan that can be powered with pretty much any 12v wall adapter, by splicing together the + (yellow or red on fan, usually dotted on power adapter) and the – wires (black on fan, usually dotted power adapter) just twist with the like wire on the other device and then seal up the connection with electric tape. Then take a filtrate filter and cut out squares that fit the back of the pc fan so that the fan pulls (rather than pushes) air through the filter. Tape several layers of filter to the back of the pc fan so all the air goes through the filter. Now cut a large hole in the top of the plastic container and mount the pc fan over top of it so it pulls air out the box. You can use silicon sealant, latex, whatever you’ve got that gives a good tight seal.

This can be used as is, or you can cut a small intake in the bottom to improve airflow. Pollen won’t be able to escape the intake as long as the fan is moving but you might put filter paper over the intake to protect against fan failures. You can also use grommets to seal holes and run tubing into the chamber in order to water hydroponically from a reservoir outside the chamber. Otherwise you will need to remove the whole chamber to a safe location in order to water the plant or maintain a reservoir kept inside the chamber.

Making Feminised Seed

To make feminized seed you must induce male flowers in a female plant. There is all sorts of information on the Internet about doing this with light stress (light interruptions during flowering) and other forms of stress. The best of the stress techniques is to simply keep the plant in the flowering stage well past ripeness and it will produce a flower.

Stress techniques will work but whatever genetic weakness caused the plants to produce a male flower under stress will be carried on to the seeds. This means the resulting seeds have a known tendency to produce hermaphrodites. Fortunately, environmental stress is not the only way to produce male flowers in a female plant.

The ideal way to produce feminized seed through hormonal alteration of the plant. By adding or inhibiting plant hormones you can cause the plant to produce male flowers. Because you did not select a plant that produces male flowers under stress there is no genetic predisposition to hermaphroditism in the seed vs plants bred between a male and female parent. There are actually a few ways to do this, the easiest I will list here.

Colloidal Silver (CS)

This is the least expensive and most privacy conscious way to produce fem seed. CS has gotten a bad name because there is so much bad information spread around about its production and concentrations. It doesn’t help that there are those who believe in drinking low concentration colloidal silver for good health and there is information mixed in about how to produce that low concentration food grade product. Follow the information here and you will consistently produce effective CS and know how to apply it to get consistent results.

Simply construct a generator using a 9-12v power supply (DC output, if it says AC then its no good) that can deliver at least 250ma (most wall wart type power supplies work, batteries are not recommended since their output varies over time). The supply will have a positive and negative lead, attach silver to each lead (contrary to Internet rumors, you aren’t drinking this is cheap 925 silver is more than pure enough) you can expose the leads by clipping off the round plug at the end and splitting the wires, one will be positive and the other negative just like any old battery. Submerge both leads about 2-3 inches apart in a glass of distilled water (roughly 8oz). Let this run for 8-24hrs (until the liquid reads 12-15ppm) and when you return the liquid will be a purple or silver hue and there may be some precipitate on the bottom.

This liquid is called colloidal silver. It is nothing more or less than fine particles of silver suspended in water so it is a completely natural solution and is safe to handle without any special precautions. The silver inhibits female flowering hormones in cannabis and so the result is that male flowering hormone dominates and male flowers are produced.

To use the silver, spray on a plant or branch three days prior to switching the lights to 12/12 and continue spraying every three days until you see the first male flowers. Repeated applications after the first flowers appear may result in more male flowers and therefore more pollen. As the plant matures it will produce pollen that can be collected and used to pollinate any female flower (including flowers on the same plant).

Silver Thiosulfate (STS)

Only mentioned for completeness. Silver Thiosulfate is more difficult to acquire and works on the same principle as CS. Its application is similar to CS and achieves the same results.

Gibberellic Acid (GA3)

This is probably the most popular way to produce feminized seed. GA3 can be purchased readily in powdered form, a quick search reveals numerous sources on e-bay for as little as $15. Simply add to water to reach 100ppm concentration and spray the plant daily for 10 days during flowering and male flowers will be produced.

Article: Marijuana Cultivation/Producing Seeds http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Marijuana_Cultivation/Producing_Seeds

Produire des Graines Femelles

24 Mar
Gibberellic

Gibberellic

Développer des graines qui produiront exclusivement des plantes femelles nécessite de la chance et de l’observation attentive, mais c’est simple. Rappelez-vous que certaines plantes femelles portent occasionnellement une fleur mâle isolée (voir les hermaphrodites au chapitre 18). Les plantes de marijuana sont habituellement soit femelles (chromosome XX) ou mâles (chromosome XY). Les plantes de marijuana, bien que prédisposées génétiquement pour être soit femelles, soit mâles, ont un degré de latitude qui est très souvent affecté par l’environnement. Une plante qui devrait être exclusivement femelle peut porter une fleur mâle occasionnelle et vice-versa. Le pollen de cette fleur mâle isolée sur une plante femelle a seulement des chromosomes X, les gènes pour les plantes femelles. En collectant soigneusement le pollen de cette fleur mâle et en pollinisant les fleurs de marijuana femelles (qui portent aussi seulement des chromosomes X), toutes les graines résultantes donneront potentiellement des plantes femelles (chromosomes XX).

La seule difficulté pour produire des graines femelles est de trouver une source réelle de pollen femelle. Comme énoncé avant, beaucoup de plantes d’Asie du Sud-Est portent d’une manière caractéristique des fleurs de marijuana mâles parmi des têtes principalement femelles. Ces plantes donnent des graines qui refléteront leurs parents; c’est-à-dire, des têtes femelles mélangées avec des fleurs de marijuana mâles. Ne reproduisez pas ces hermaphrodites naturelles. Ce que vous voulez trouver c’est cette femelle rare qui développe peut-être une ou deux fleurs de marijuana mâles. Cette plante est génétiquement femelle. Collectez soigneusement son pollen, et fertilisez une plante exclusivement femelle; toutes les graines résultantes se développent en pures femelles. La seule autre candidate certaine pour du pollen femelle est une femelle qui a bien fleurit avec des fleurs de marijuana purement femelles, mais qui tard dans sa vie, est retournée en floraison mâle. Ce n’est pas si inhabituel quand les plantes sont laissées à grandir durant une période étendue, ou si il y a une photopériode irrégulière.

Habituellement, vous devez attendre un hasard fortuit pour trouver une fleur mâle solitaire sur une plante femelle, mais il y a actuellement au moins six traitements chimiques différents qui induisent des fleurs de marijuana mâles fertiles à pousser sur des plantes femelles. L’acide “Gibberellic” (GA) est le produit chimique le plus communément disponible. Le GA est appliqué sur les pousses croissantes des plantes femelles, soit en spray dilué, soit en coton trempé avec la solution entouré autour des pousses. Les concentrations de GA utilisées sont de 0.02 pour cent dissout dans de l’hydroxide de sodium dilué (NaOH) puis dans de l’eau distillée pour un spray journalier, ou 5 mg par plante pour 10 jours successifs en utilisant la méthode du coton imbibé. Les pousses s’allongent en quelques jours et la première fleur mâle apparaît parmi les fleurs de marijuana femelles en deux à trois semaines après le traitement initial (le traitement marche sans être particulièrement précis avec la concentration de GA)

http://achatgraines.com/cannabis/graines_femelles.php

Creating Feminized Seeds

25 Jan
Feminized Seeds

Feminized Seeds

Creating feminized seeds is an art, there are a few different methods of application. I have written about some of my different methods of making seeds in previous HIGH TIMES articles. I have use gibberellic acid, light stress, ph stress, and fertilizer stress to force my plants to make seeds. All these methods are harsh on the plants, and some like the gibbrellic acid, are not organic. In my search for cleaner more earth-friendly ways of working with the cannabis plant, I have found a new way to make feminized seeds.

Feminized seeds occur as a result of stress, other than genetics. All cannabis plants can and will make male flowers under stress. Certain strains like a higher PH, some like a lower one. Some like a lot of food, some like a lot less. There is quite a lot of variety in marijuana genetics, and you can’t treat every plant the same way.

It takes many harvests before you really get to know a particular strain. Just like getting to know human friends, it takes time. I have grown strains for a decade and am truly getting to know every nuance the different plants exhibit. I can recognize them from a distance. I must say that I get a lot of help from my friends, both in making seeds and learning new and better ways of working with this sacred plant.

I named this new method “Rodelization” after a friend who helped me realize and make use of this way of creating female seeds. After growing crop after crop of the same plant in the same conditions, I noticed that if I flowered the plants 10-14 days longer than usual, they would develop male “bananas”. A male banana is a very slight male flower on a female marijuana plant that is formed because of stress. Usually they do not let out any pollen early enough to make seeds, but they sometimes do. They are a built in safety factor so in case of sever conditions, the plant can make sure that the species is furthered.

To me a male banana is quite a beautiful thing. It has the potential of making all female seeds. Many growers out there have male banana phobia. They see one and have heart palpitations, they want to cut down the entire crop or at least take tweezers and pluck the little yellow emerging devices out. I call them “Emergency Devices” because they emerge at times of stress.

In the Rodelization method, the male banana is very valuable. After growing your female plant 10-14 days longer than usual, hang them up to dry, then carefully take them off the drying lines and inspect for bananas. Each and every banana should be removed and placed in a small bag labeled very accurately. These sealed bags can be placed in the fridge for one to two months and still remain potent.

For the second phase you need to already have a crop that’s already 2 ½ weeks into flowering. Take your sealed bag of pollen out of the fridge, and proceed to impregnate your new crop of females. To do this, you must first match the female plant and the pollen from the same strain in the previous crop. Shut down all the fans in the grow room. Then take a very fine paint brush, dip it in the bag of pollen, and paint it on the female flower. Do this to each different strain you have growing together. I have done it with ten different kinds in the same room with great success.

I use the lower flowers to make seeds, leaving the top colas seedless for smoking. This method takes time(two crops), but is completely organic and lets you have great quality smoke at the same time you make your female seeds. If you’re one of those growers that has never grown seeds for fear of not having something good to smoke, you will love this method.

You can also use this pollen to make new female crosses by cross pollinating. The older females with the bananas can be brought into the room with the younger, un-pollinated females when they are three weeks into flowering. Turn all of the circulation fans on high, and the little bits of pollen will proceed to make it around the room. Do this for several days. Six to seven weeks later you will have ripe 100% female seeds; not nearly as many as a male plant would make, but enough to start over somewhere else with the same genetics.

As a farmer who has been forced to move his genetics far away from where they started, I know very well the value of seeds. My friend Adam from THSeeds in Amsterdam has a motto that I love to borrow these days: “Drop seeds not bombs”.

Article by Soma, Amsterdam www.somaseeds.nl

How to Use Colloidal Silver to Produce Feminized Seeds

22 Dec
Colloidal Silver

Colloidal Silver

A very basic description of colloidal silver and it’s actions: It is a solution of pure silver particles suspended in distilled water. It is often taken orally for health benefits (easy to purchase). When used on marijuana plants, it inhibits ethylene production needed (and normally produced) by the plant to produce female flowers, thus forcing the plant to produce male pollen sacs instead. Since there are no male chromosomes, the pollen is female (listed in many places as 99.99% female) and will produce female seeds.

CAUTION: First be completely aware that any part of a plant that you spray with colloidal silver IS NOT SAFE FOR CONSUMPTION (smoking or ingesting). The pollen created is completely safe to use and all seeds created with that pollen are safe.

BE SAFE!!! For this reason, I highly recommend using a complete plant (small clone or plant) to produce your pollen. Separate this plant from all other plants so you do not get colloidal silver spray on any consumable plants.

What you will need:

1) Colloidal Silver (CS) Spray (at least 40 ppm and pure – not too strong either!) and a spray bottle. I purchased Bio-Silver Ultra Colloidal Silver 50 ppm online and it worked.

2) One female plant to turn male. From seed or clone doesn’t matter – but it should be the best looking female with all the characteristics that matter to you, since it will be used as a parent for your seeds. This can be a small plant in a small pot.

3) One female plant to pollinate. You can pollinate just a few flowers on a branch (do not use bottom flowers because they may not produce finished seeds), an entire branch, or the entire plant.

The day before you change your light cycle to 12/12, you will begin to thoroughly mist all new growth areas with the CS spray on the plant you wish to turn male. Repeat this at least once daily until you see male pods forming (use magnifying glass to watch closely – approximately 10 to 21 days). If the plant begins developing flowers quickly (as with auto-flowering strains), spray 2 to 3 times daily (dependent upon the plant’s tolerance of the solution) until you see male pollen sacs forming where female flowers were developing). Once daily is the recommendation unless otherwise needed. Be sure to store your CS in a dark place between uses as light can degrade the CS solution. AND REMEMBER TO AVOID SPRAY TOUCHING CONSUMABLE PLANTS!!!

Once you are sure male sacs are developing, separate this male plant from your females to avoid accidental pollination. I simply took my female-turned-male plant to a different room with no air movement and let it survive on window light. A closet with a CFL would do nicely too. Heat and moisture are pollen killers, so avoid hot or moist areas.

Once male sacs begin to develop on the plant, it will be a bit of time before the majority of the sacs open to release pollen. With the auto strain I did, it was about 2 weeks, but this time varies with different strains. Don’t disturb this plant (no air flow) and simply wait for numerous pollen sacs to open. Even the slightest air draft carries the pollen adrift… but it also makes it so very easy to collect too! When numerous pollen sacs are open, a gentle tap makes the pollen easy to collect on any clean smooth surface like glass or a mirror. It will be slightly yellowish in color. Use immediately, or dry and freeze for later use.

Need I say it is very important to change clothes and wash yourself completely before re-entering your flowering room!!! Pollen is very small and clings to clothing, hair, etc very easily.

Now, if you prepared ahead, you will also have a female plant flowering very nicely by the time you have your pollen. Isolate the plant, or branch, and pollinate. This info isn’t geared towards detailed pollination methods, so please check other sources for that information. I used a Q-tip and tapped it gently over the flowers I wanted to pollinate.

Allow the female plant (or branch) adequate time to finish producing viable seed. If you take her early, your seeds will not be viable. The time needed for viable seeds varies with different strains and can range from 3 to 6 weeks with an average of 4 to 5 weeks.

Wah-lah… you now have feminized seeds… at least that’s what the info said SHOULD happen!

Last… my own experience…

Before deciding to try colloidal silver, I had already purchased 10 regular (not feminized) auto-flowering seeds because I wanted to be able to have male pollen to use to create my own seeds. After planting those seeds, I got to reading about CS and decided to try this too.

Nine out of ten seeds came up. My biggest concerns were that I couldn’t simply start spraying the day before light change because I didn’t have feminized seeds and the strain is auto-flowering. I knew I would have to wait until the plants showed their sex and worried it wouldn’t work because I couldn’t start it soon enough and autoflowering plants go direct into flowering once they preflower.

I ended up with 5 females and 4 males. I watched closely for preflowers and identified the females as quickly as I could. I saved the two best males in case the CS didn’t work. I did find out it is very easy to collect pollen with those first males… and I did pollinate a female just to assure I would have seeds and the CS procedure wasn’t finished by the time the true males pollen was.

I took the largest and best looking female and began to spray her once daily as soon as she clearly showed preflowers. But since this is an auto flowering plant, she began to grow small hairy flowers in the first few days. I increased to spraying the new growth areas (basically small flowers beginning in all nodes) to 2 to 3 times daily for the next 10 days, but this solution is pretty hard on the plant. When I began to feel I was seeing changes (looking at thru 20x magnifying glass), I decreased to once daily again for the remainder of the 21 days it took to have this lil lady turn male.

She put up a good fight. She kept shooting out hairs everywhere and I kept spraying them, which ultimately killed them and turned those female pods into male sacs. I am not at all concerned about hermie traits because she was definitely all girl being forced to grow balls. But balls she did grow in the end! I will also say, her leaves were shriveled pretty bad and her growth was definitely stunted with this procedure – but she ended up giving me all the pollen I would ever need for this strain.

Since it worked with an auto-flowering strain, I have now taken 2 clones from each of the non-auto strains I have vegging (I prefer pure strains, not cross-strains). I will use one to create a small male and the other as a small female to flower. Won’t need to put them in anything but small pots, won’t take up too much room, can remove from the room easily for safe pollination… and will sure give me nice returns with pure strains seeds I can pop anytime I want!!!

I hope others find this useful too – because I am in no way a professional!! If I can do it, so can others!

_____________________________________________________________________
From the author: Since professional growers produce feminized seeds, I decided to research how they did it. There were a few different ways suggested, but the one that interested me the most was using colloidal silver. Some articles said this is the main way seed growers develop feminized seeds and/or “self” the plant.

This article by Granny420 was originaly published on http://www.420magazine.com/forums/seeds-clones-strains/153838-how-use-colloidal-silver-produce-feminized-seeds.html

The Truth About Feminized Seeds

22 Dec

Barney's Blue Cheese

We explain how “feminized” seeds are made, why the plants are more likely to turn males, and how to use normal seeds to get a large all-female crop.

The idea of “feminized” seeds is heralded as a new wave of breeding enabling you to grow only females, but in reality it is a less reliable and less effective method than simply cloning your favorite plant. Feminizing seeds is nothing new; in fact, it’s done from a process that used to be called “hermaphroditic breeding” or “Breeding with Herman”.

During the 1970s and ‘80s it was often the case that the seeds you grew came from a bag of good bud. The bud usually had a name, but it was often made up by the local dealer trying to make his stash sound more exotic. In truth, you knew nothing about the parentage of the seeds that your bag contained. Sure, the female was great smoke – but you knew nothing of her size, shape, yield or genetics. The male involved was a total mystery; there was no way you could guess what the genetics of the pollen donor was. These seeds generally resulted in a range of plant genetics, which made one believe that there were a variety of males around when the female was budding

As is often the case when genetics are mixed, you get failures and successes. More than one great breed was founded on a bag of random seeds. You would plant a hundred or so of the seeds you had, wait to see what Mother Nature – and your local dealer – had handed you, keep your fingers crossed hoping for a super-breed, and watched as some of the seeds came up. A few of the seedlings were sickly and didn’t live long, while others were strong, vigorous, and grew like weeds (pun intended), so you culled the sickly, nourished the healthy, and picked your favorites.

Through this lengthy and detailed process you would end up with a number of healthy young marijuana plants, which would be transplanted into large containers and, after ten to fourteen days, introduced to a budding cycle of 12 hours light and 12 hours dark. This causes the plants to elongate and show their sex, so it was easy to quickly find and kill the males and wait patiently (or impatiently!) for the remaining females to develop buds and ripen. Doing this inside grow rooms and greenhouses was easy and effective, but the seed planting and selection
procedure had to be repeated every year, and crops varied from big and dense to small and weak. We also found that after all that trouble of removing males, we sometimes ended up with females that switched sexes when they were stressed, resulting in accidental cross breeding – female plants were pollinated by females that developed male sex organs (hermaphrodites). We decided to grow out those seeds and, to our joy, we discovered that the ratio of females to males was skewed to a greater number of females. This was our discovery of hermaphroditic breeding.

Taking cuttings

Taking cuttings

Around the same time we were re-introduced to the method of cloning – I say re-introduced because while it wasn’t a process we had been using, it was a simple gardening technique my grandmother had shown me years before as “making cuttings”. She would cut off a branch of a plant with a sharp knife and stick it into a hormone rooting solution, homemade from pieces of willow tree branches soaked in water. Growers these days buy rooting hormone, but the process is identical.

I had a crop of 20 young plants of various strain backgrounds. We took two clones from each of the plants, and then used the budding light cycle to force the sex to show. Once we identified the male plants (half of them) we killed them and their clones, which still left us with ten large budding females and their 20 clones.

Now we had ten different hybrid genetics in total with two clones from each to work with and choose from. Even though we were making great strides, we wanted a room full of the same breed with the same size and characteristics. Basically, we wanted many copies of one great female plant so made the decision to play “Breeding Hermans”. We took two clones from one female plant, stressed one of the clones until it developed male sex organs, and then bred it with the other female clone. To our delight it worked – we ended up with seeds that grew into females 85-90 percent of the time and were consistent with the original female plant’s characteristics. We could now plant around 30 to 40 seeds and end up with 30 female plants the same size with the same genetics. We were ecstatic.

However, silver linings often have a cloud attached and it was true in this case. The female plants that developed from hermaphroditic seeds had the drawback of being far more likely than ordinary plants to develop male branches – turn “Herman” – when stressed. More than once, a power, pump or light failure caused enough stress to the plants that they easily went hermaphroditic. Outdoors we had even more trouble; in bad-weather years we could end up with a plant from a feminized seed developing male flowers and blowing pollen all over the other plants, ruining our dreams of a sinsemilla crop. We decided that feminized plants might have a place in our business’ industry, but it wouldn’t be in our gardens.

It was our dream to grow rooms full of females of consistent genetics, and we made our dream come true by going back to cloning. It was so simple that we couldn’t believe that we hadn’t thought of it before. We planted ten normal seeds and nourished them with love and care, but this time we took 25 clones from each plant instead of just two. Then we put the mothers into bud cycle and sexed them; within ten days we identified and killed off the male plants and their clones, and found that we had six large females in bud and around 150 female clones. We continued to bud the mothers as we began to grow our female clones, and finally decided there were two plants that stood out from the crowd – they were bigger, denser, and smelled the best, so we kept their clones and culled the others. We harvested all of the mothers then placed the 50 chosen young marijuana plants into two rooms and switched them to the budding cycle. We had developed a process that made our dream a reality: grow-rooms full of consistent female plants.

It doesn’t take a horticulturist to see that using cloning to procure a room full of female cannabis plants is far more economical than growing “feminized seeds” that easily go hermaphroditic. It is simple to grow numerous female plants with only a few seeds of known genetics. For example, if you get ten seeds from a world-class marijuana breeder/bank, such as Burmese from Vancouver Island Seed Company (VISC), those seeds should become ten seedlings. At three to four weeks, take ten cuttings from each of the plants, then flip the plants to the bud cycle. Kill males as they show their sex and get rid of their clones, and you should be left with about five large budding females (more or less) and 50 guaranteed female clones of the same pure genetics, without any hermaphroditic tendencies.

So, for the price of ten seeds you end up with dozens of pure female plants, instead of purchasing “feminized” seeds only to get an unstable and unpredictable hermaphroditic breed. You can use regular seeds to grow an all-female crop, and that’s
why we don’t sell feminized seeds.

Article by By “G” for Vancouver Island Seed Company and Liberty Seeds:  http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/node/394

Feminize The Seed?

22 Apr

Ask Ed

Ask Ed

As plant lines are bred to themselves, the plants can lose some of their vitality or vigor. This results from the genetic makeup becoming more homogeneous as siblings are bred to each other or progeny are backcrossed to parents. When two such lines are crossed, they produce a hybrid that will exhibit “hybrid vigor.” Once a desirable hybrid is created, it is possible to take cuttings from it and its clone progeny repeatedly without loss of vigor.It is at this point that you may wish to create feminized seed. These F1 hybrids will be used for planting in gardens, rather than for breeding. With feminized seeds, the grower knows that every plant is female. The seeds are produced using pollen from male flowers which had been induced to grow on female plants. None of the pollen contains male genetics so they grow only into female plants.
It is at this point that you may wish to create feminized seed. These F1 hybrids will be used for planting in gardens, rather than for breeding. With feminized seeds, the grower knows that every plant is female. The seeds are produced using pollen from male flowers which had been induced to grow on female plants. None of the pollen contains male genetics so they grow only into female plants.

There are a number of other ways to create feminized seed. These include using chemicals such as aspirin and hormones such as gibberellic acid. However, it is easier to breed females to females using chemically-induced or stress-induced male flowers that produce pollen on female plants (forced hermaphrodites).

One drawback is that plants that are induced to produce male flowers may have a slightly higher proclivity toward hermaphroditism than the general population. Using them for breeding may be inadvertently selecting for hermaphroditism. So after five or six generations, some of the plants might have more of a tendency towards hermaphroditism. But there is little chance that plants grown from first-generation feminized seed will become hermaphroditic, so they are ideal for using in the garden.

Readers with grow questions (or answers) should send them to Ed at: Ask Ed, PMB 147, 530 Divisadero St., San Francisco, California 94117, USA. You can also email Ed at AskEd@cannabisculture.com, and send queries via his websites at http://www.ask-ed.net. All featured questions will be rewarded with a copy of Ed’s new book, Best of Ask Ed: Your Marijuana Questions Answered. Source: http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/articles/3381.html