Читать книгу The Cannabis Grow Bible - Greg Green - Страница 70

So, what are you going to do? Are you going to buy a batch of 10 seeds and grow them all in one go? Are you going to then remove the males and just use the females? Are you going to keep the males and produce more seeds from the females? How many seeds can a female plant produce? What can you do to guarantee that all your seeds will grow? This is where propagation logistics come into play. The answers to these questions depend largely on the size of your grow area and your budget.

GERMINATION

Seeds can be germinated in cloth. Cheesecloth is the most popular type of cloth used in the process but even paper towels will do.

The size of cloth to use depends on how many seeds you want to germinate. It is important to keep the cloth damp and not to let it dry out.

This is a seed in cloth that has not yet germinated. Seeds can be checked daily for new growth.

This seed is starting to germinate. It must remain moist, as a dry environment causes damage.

This seed has been germinating for a few days. Care must be taken to keep the environment slightly wet and to avoid breaking the root (radicle).

These two radicles are around three times the length of the seed and suggest that they should be transplanted to a medium very soon.

If seeds are not harvested from flowers they will eventually disperse naturally. This is part of the life cycle of the plant.

Let’s say you have about $200 to spend on seeds. You can buy an expensive strain, like a G13 cross, grow the G13, and produce more seeds from it. You could get between 100 and 2,000 seeds, depending on plant size and grow conditions. If you produce lots of seeds in one season, you may never need to buy seeds for this strain again.

There is something else you can do to prevent the need to ever buy or grow from seeds again: cloning. Cloning is a technique whereby you first grow a number of plants and select a quality plant; in the case of cannabis cultivation, a female is selected. You then take cuttings from that female plant, and grow these cuttings into new plants. Clones always retain the same sex and vigor as the mother plant, so it is possible to create a garden of plants through cloning that will last for decades from a single mother plant. Cloning is described in detail in Chapter 12.

For the new grower, it is advised that you buy 10 seeds and only germinate three the first time, followed by another three, and then the last four. This will allow you some degree of experimentation, as you may fail on your first attempt to germinate the seeds.

For people who have germinated seeds in the past, it is advised that you germinate five, followed by another five the next week. Only if you are a long-time grower with a good amount of growing experience should you germinate all the seeds at once. In this way, you can reduce the risk of spoiling some, or all, of your seeds because of bad germination methods.

During your plants’ growth you may decide to pollinate only a few of your females. You will need two grow areas to do this: one for growing all your female plants as sinsemilla, and another for growing one or more females mixed in with males. As stated before, this depends on the size of your grow space and your budget. It is important that your pollination room be kept well away from your all-female sinsemilla grow room because pollen can travel by air. Bees and other insects can spread pollen, and so can you. Always wash your hands and face after handling a male plant to prevent pollen from getting onto a female that you wish to keep.

This male is beginning to produce pollen. Without males it is not possible to make seeds. Breeders cultivate males so that they can make seeds.

This harvested male is carefully taken to the breeding room to make seeds. Do not have any fans on in the room as they may blow the pollen away.

So, now you have 10 seeds and your goal is to achieve 100 percent germination results. The following section on germination will help you achieve an optimal success rate.