How to test different strains for keepers?

[TGT]

A friend and I have a place we are going to set up for the sole purpose of finding new strains. I have a collection of seeds that I have been adding to for about five years now. We are going to use this collection as our seed stock and just recently selected 200 seeds that we will be using. There are about 20 different strains in this batch of seeds with some crosses that I have made, along with bag seed from excellent pot from past purchases. Some notable purchased strains are Big Bud, Chronic, DJ Short's Blueberry, California Orange, AK47, Sweet Tooth and Northern Lights. We have the location and room, and now are in the process of saving for equipment as all our equipment we own to date is being used in other grows. I figure in about a month or so we can start on the room. Our selection will be quality with the largest yield.

We will be purchasing four 1000 watt HPS for the 200 seedlings and the room we are using is about 15 feet by 15 feet. We will probably get close to 100 females, so we will need to keep them very small.

My question is this. After we have carefully labelled and cloned each female and have finished product from each plant, how do I go about testing for the best? I know yeild will be easy as each plant will be weighed and recorded, but potency and quality are a little more tricky.

I was thinking of packaging each strain into small sample bags and hand them out to a few select testers. That way they can record their results. I just wonder if I should limit the time between each sample is smoked so that they don't get too baked, and then mistaken a really potent sample for being under par. With so many strains, what do you guys/gals think is the best way to test for quality and potency? I am at a total loss, and I don't want good specimens being weened out when they deserve better. Any idea's?

TGT

 

[Guest]

You want to keep the plants short but you are using 1K's?I would get a couple 4 ft 4 lamp T-8 Lithonia fixture from Lowes or HD to start them,then move on to HID's.1K's are for penetration,unless your plants are going to finish at 4 ft or better,I'd consider lower wattage.I've been on what seems a continual pheno hunt for some years now,I havent found any "special" way to do it.I simply clone all females and make my choice of phenotype from 3 main things.Yield,quality and finishing time.The plants structure is also important so if you are perpetual cloning,make your decision from the finished clone,not the finished seedplant.As a matter of fact after a couple years I found it beneficial to not flower out the seedplants at all,they take up too much room and they are not the finished product I will be judging.The flowered cut is the finished product.

 

[58FLH]

TGT
Weigh up say 1/2 gram samples, mark each differently. provide each tester pipe cleaning supplys get to clean their pipes. Smoke the samples, each tester grade each for taste, bag appeal, type of high and length of high. Sounds like a party doesn't it?
peace and pot

 

[TGT]

58FLH: That sounds good, and the ones with the highest score go to round two, and so on until I am left with only a few winning samples. I could put a new clean pipe with each sample as they are very cheap at a store here in town. They are nice wood pipes and are perfect sized, and only cost .99 cents!

Soilman: I have chose to use 1000 watt HPS lighting as this is what I have used numerous times in the past, and also I want to make a good yeild at the same time as finding a keeper. I might have to ween out a few of the weaker plants to get my numbers a little lower as I usually don't trigger the plants to bud until they are around a foot and a half tall. The buds will all be different when testing is done and they are all going to be bagged together in the end. Buying a bag of this stuff should be fun as you will have such a variety. When can you buy a quarter ounze and find five different primo strains mixed in? Some might not like it, but I will.

Thanks for the input. I just needed to talk about it a little to get it through my head. Really it's not as hard a task as I thought previously, but previously I was much more stoned. Thanks again!

TGT

 

[facelift]

A more scientific approach would be to weight out the total bud from each plant, and then find the best way to extract the THC from the plant and compare the weight.. For example, if you have 10 grams of bud dry weight, and extract 1 gram of hash, then you're THC content may be near 10%.

Just another P.O.V

 

[TGT]

That's a good idea, but much more work than what I was planning on. Also, I believe quality is more so in a mixture of chemicals and not so much one in perticular. I have had excellent bud that I considered top knotch primo, but it's THC was considerably lower than some other not so cherished strains. It's always good to get a kick from a high THC strain, but sometimes a creaper strain is nice. Or other times a strain with a high ceiling, or one that bums you out after a hard days work. You know what I mean, but thanks for the idea. It would be cool to see which one does have the highest THC. May be when I have more time and after selections are completed I can try it out and see just which one has the highest THC. Thanks for the idea!

TGT

 

[yts farmer]

You want to keep the plants short but you are using 1K's?I would get a couple 4 ft 4 lamp T-8 Lithonia fixture from Lowes or HD to start them,then move on to HID's.1K's are for penetration,unless your plants are going to finish at 4 ft or better,I'd consider lower wattage.I've been on what seems a continual pheno hunt for some years now,I havent found any "special" way to do it.I simply clone all females and make my choice of phenotype from 3 main things.Yield,quality and finishing time.The plants structure is also important so if you are perpetual cloning,make your decision from the finished clone,not the finished seedplant.As a matter of fact after a couple years I found it beneficial to not flower out the seedplants at all,they take up too much room and they are not the finished product I will be judging.The flowered cut is the finished product.

im with soilman.good luck m8