Selecting keepers

[El Timbo]

I can't stop myself from choosing a favourite female at around 6 weeks into flowering - mainly based on aroma. I know that it's the final, cured bud that should be the deciding factor but as I am the grower I also want to spend those few weeks with live flowers that I enjoy.

How often do you find that your favourite in flower is later beaten by another once they are dried and cured?

I'm in this process atm Plants from seed at 8 weeks.

 

[Switcher56]

 

[BadRabbit]

For me, it's a regular occurrence. I rarely find a complete surprise keeper, but I very often find one that wasn't the most pleasing looker or smeller turning out to be, no question, the best bud.

Just had it happen with a stealthy winner (a CLEAR winner in the bud results) on the last grow actually ...

 

[GMT]

Almost always. Its rarely the one I want it to be.

 

[Storm Shadow]

Final decision should be based on how it smokes ...these days that ranks last

 

[thailer]

The only thing that seems consistent is the regret of my decision afterwards. Sometimes it’s the beauty through flower that ends up being the keeper but sometimes I find it’s this last week finisher or one that doesn’t look that great during bloom that cures up as a clear winner. When I choose early it ends up being the wrong choice so I have found for me a second round happens and while I am growing those out, the keeper is much more noticeable due to time to cure bud as well as the second round growing ends up being better than first round for me at least. The lemon shiv first round I picked a frosty heavy yielder that finished early but the keeper ended up being a late finishing super heavy, frosty plant that didn’t get to shine first round. I had four female initially but second round I grew the two I wasn’t sure about.

 

[bigtacofarmer]

The one that smells and looks the best is not always the one that smokes the best. In some lines it's more common than others. I feel like I can identify not keeper phenos in og and chem types. But I can't clearly pick a winner without smoking the cured product. I also think smoking a bunch of contending plants repeatedly you will learn some have way quicker tolerance build up. Which I avoid.

 

[Gaussamer]

I pick keepers after cure.

 

[Lester Beans]

If it's the jar I always reach for, that's the one.

It helps to have a plant that likes my environment but that's just a bonus. If the smoke is otherworldly then I'll change my damn environment haha

It's 100% about the smoke.

 

[Dropped Cat]

I flower plants that match my environment and select on potency, weight and nose.

Nose and taste matter, and have culled plants I wish I kept.

 

[unregistered190]

I can’t tell ahead of time and don’t always have everything backed up so unfortunately I have picked the wrong keepers at times.
In a perfect world I would have cuts of everything until a short cure and smoke tested.

 

[q3corn]

I've lost a lot of plants that were just testers that I wish I kept. Stuff I figured I'd be able to reveg and then wasn't able to, or things I took cuts of and then accidentally killed the cutting.



At least I make a lot of seeds!

 

[WaterFarmFan]

Best practice is take clones before flowering, but not always practical. Almost every single grower will encounter this and there is but one solution - You have to learn to reveg! It is not full proof, but you can usually get normal growth to return 80-90% of time. I like to grow taller plants, so I cut the tops and let the bottoms finish another week or so. I have found that real secret to reveg is to leave a fairly significant portion of the lower flowers for reveg. It sucks to leave buds from an A+ plant, but high success chances of getting clones and growing again far out weigh lose.

 

[WaterFarmFan]

Of course, I have had failed reveg attempts that absolutely broke my heart. It just goes with the territory and helps with muscle memory to take clones.

 

[Greenheart]

If it's the jar I always reach for, that's the one.

Exactly.

It took me about 50 plants last time. I agree with those that said it is best chosen after cure. ALWAYS establish a clone before you bloom an unknown female. Reveg isn't a guarantee. Chances of success vary a lot with grower skill, environmental conditions, and individual plants.

I usually run them twice to make sure it wasn't my fault.

You can determine it many ways. Myself I'm not demanding or picky. I just I want quality, quantity, quicker finishing, hardiness, and conditional tolerance for the mistakes I'm sure I will make.

 

[El Timbo]

Thanks for all the great responses! I have clones of 8 of the 9 females (hoping that the 9th won't be a good one!). I'm considering keeping 4 of them for a second run as I've seen second runs outperform first runs before.

 

[kro-magnon]

I take clones of all females the first day of 12/12 usually and run them twice before choosing a keeper because there is some differences between the seeds run and the clones run. Of course I choose the keeper based on the smokability as well so it takes some times before choosing a keeper for years.
I already had some fails when the clones of my favorite plant did not root, in those cases I try to reveg the plants but it's not as effective as cloning and can take forever before you can take some healthy clones, I'm not a fan of reveg.
I think you really have to run every females as least twice before making a decision because sometimes the first run is not a great success and there is sometimes big differences between seed run and clone run.

 

[CannaT]

I do it like this.

1. plant seeds

2. veg them,than take cuttings at least 2-3 of one mother.

3. put at least 2 clones in flower of one mother.

4.harvest,dry and cure them.

5. smoke them,review them

6. repot in bigger pots mothers i want to stay ,kill the rest and thats it.

 

[El Timbo]

I had four female initially but second round I grew the two I wasn’t sure about.

Were the 2 you gave a second chance to your favourites even before you smoked their buds?

 

[El Timbo]

So most people that are saying to do 2 runs are making some selection before the second run right?

So how often do these selections match your pre smoke favourites?