Is it bad to breed with a variegated plant?

[ReprobateMind]

I have a female plant that is variegated. The leaves on it have a lighter shade of green, almost neon green, no matter how much nitrogen I throw at it. It also shows variegation when under fed. It has dense but airy buds which makes it really mold resistant growing outdoors so I want to cross it with Friesland Indica in an attempt to create a hardy outdoor strain. Anyway, is breeding with variegated strains bad for the offspring? If so, how?

 

[VerdantGreen]

Hi, firstly, what you describe doesn't really sound like variegation if it isn't there all the time.. although the chem family does have some streaky leaf plants that will improve with good soil/nutrition at their roots so maybe you are describing something like that. Lighter green leaves can be natural to some plants
Anyway it isn't a desirable trait but for me it isn't a deal-breaker either, ive done a lot of breeding with chem D because it is amazing despite some stunted/streaky leaves.
So if you feel it is a good plant in other ways then i would give it a try.
VG

 

[JetLife175]

short answer is no.

Chem D is one of the most infamous variegated plants out there and look at the progeny it's made.

 

[JetLife175]

I have a female plant that is variegated. The leaves on it have a lighter shade of green, almost neon green, no matter how much nitrogen I throw at it. It also shows variegation when under fed. It has dense but airy buds which makes it really mold resistant growing outdoors so I want to cross it with Friesland Indica in an attempt to create a hardy outdoor strain. Anyway, is breeding with variegated strains bad for the offspring? If so, how?

It's also correctable more times than not with magnesium or calmag. Depends what you feed looks like.

 

[JetLife175]

Hi, firstly, what you describe doesn't really sound like variegation if it isn't there all the time.. although the chem family does have some streaky leaf plants that will improve with good soil/nutrition at their roots so maybe you are describing something like that. Lighter green leaves can be natural to some plants
Anyway it isn't a desirable trait but for me it isn't a deal-breaker either, ive done a lot of breeding with chem D because it is amazing despite some stunted/streaky leaves.
So if you feel it is a good plant in other ways then i would give it a try.
VG

Didn't read your reply until after I posted.

Great minds think alive. Cheers VG.

 

[ReprobateMind]

Thank you.

Here are some pics. I'm gonna go ahead and breed with it. Maybe it's a combination of windburn and deficiencies or even nute burn.

 

[whiteberrieS]

The expressions can be differentiated. Question is, is said variegated plant worthy for competition? If not just keep poppin beans

 

[VerdantGreen]

Thank you.

Here are some pics. I'm gonna go ahead and breed with it. Maybe it's a combination of windburn and deficiencies or even nute burn.

THat looks more like a deficiency to me, possibly calcium. Are you growing under LED? very easy to overdose a plant with light in veg using modern LEDs because they give out so much light. Try raising the lights or increasing the dark spell to 8 dark / 16 light during veg.
It's the DLI (total light a plant gets in a day) that you have to think about. In veg the day hours are longer so the light intensity should be less or it may be too much for the plant to deal with. Cal/mag is pretty important too with LEDs
VG

 

[ReprobateMind]

Yes, they are under LED and I think you are correct. The one I have outside under the sun is doing fine. I'm still trying to get a hang of the LED thing. Thank u

 

[VerdantGreen]

right, yes i see those symptoms a lot. remember light is cumulative, so a plant under lights on for 24 hrs is getting twice the light of the same plant in flower getting 12 hrs light. my advice is have a 6-8 hr dark period as the best way to reduce DLI, or raise the lights etc.
If you look at the angle your plant's leave are 'presenting' to the light, it will tell you if the plant is happy.
At the end of the day period, if the leaves are curling down away from the light then they are likely getting too much. if they are nice and flat and angled to catch the most light then they are happy.
with the strong modern LEDS, as soon as somethiing isn't ideal for the plant, like it is getting rootbound or low on some nutes then they can fade pretty fast.
VG