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Exactly bro,i usually select a few males flower em out and see what they do. Its not until i grow the offspring out that i really know whats what and which traits are coming from the male side.Their children will tell the story. The proof is in the pudding, and when you know it, the proof is awesome
PS You could pick more than one
Apart from that when picking males the main traits i go for are general vigour, smell, trich production on flowers and my gut feeling. Other factors i take into account are flower production, branching, good root system, hollow stems, leaf and plant structure, ease of cloning and stress tolerance... Be interesting to see how this thread turns out, post your ideas people lets hear it..Peace
gettitreal
Member
Theres so much mystery around here regarding the selection criteria for male cannabis plants, I dont know why anyone is even selecting any. ??
If you had that little information about anything else, you wouldnt have it as a hobby. The typical advise in these threads is akin to choosing the fastest dog at the track based on the number of spots on its head.
Cannabis traits of major importance(i.e. potency,height, aromas,adaptive ability) are polygenic and are of low heritability, which means the PHENOTYPE is not a great indication of the GENOTYPE. Breeding strategies for these low h^2 traits must employ the inclusion of MANY males(and females) in order to ensure that the genes you want are included, since it is IMPOSSIBLE to ensure anything of the sort from only the PHENOTYPE of a male plant.
Using males of 'unknown inheritance'(as we are forced to do on cannabis) reduces the genetic gain possible in each generation of selection, and increases genetic drift. That is why femaleXfemale matings are more valuable to the breeder who is actually interested in making positive gain, while reducing drift.
Unless youre planning on evaluating the offspring, youre all selecting males for one reliable trait: pollen
If you had that little information about anything else, you wouldnt have it as a hobby. The typical advise in these threads is akin to choosing the fastest dog at the track based on the number of spots on its head.
Cannabis traits of major importance(i.e. potency,height, aromas,adaptive ability) are polygenic and are of low heritability, which means the PHENOTYPE is not a great indication of the GENOTYPE. Breeding strategies for these low h^2 traits must employ the inclusion of MANY males(and females) in order to ensure that the genes you want are included, since it is IMPOSSIBLE to ensure anything of the sort from only the PHENOTYPE of a male plant.
Using males of 'unknown inheritance'(as we are forced to do on cannabis) reduces the genetic gain possible in each generation of selection, and increases genetic drift. That is why femaleXfemale matings are more valuable to the breeder who is actually interested in making positive gain, while reducing drift.
Unless youre planning on evaluating the offspring, youre all selecting males for one reliable trait: pollen
As one gains experience looking at any given seedline, choosing males becomes easier. My basic rule of thumb is; Include as many males as there are females that meet the selection criteria. Only exception would be if you only have 10 seeds to start with, then use 'em all. Throwing all the males' pollen in there is basically the same as progeny testing only you don't know which male did the trick. It is true, as getitreal points out, that most all the traits we breed for are not simple recessive-dominant, but are controlled by many interacting genes that express themselves variably. That means that the trait, whatever it might be, shows in many different amounts rather than there-or-not. Never the less, it's still selective pressure business as usual. Same as we've been doing with various plants and animals for tens of thousands of years, nothing to get too excited about.
What really interests me about males is their greater potential for variation. One of the cool things about having two sexes is, nature can afford to experiment more with the expendable males. As a result, males of all species vary more than females on the 'bell curve'. Beethoven over here, Manson over there. It's one of the reasons I often include an odd or rogue looking male's pollen.
What really interests me about males is their greater potential for variation. One of the cool things about having two sexes is, nature can afford to experiment more with the expendable males. As a result, males of all species vary more than females on the 'bell curve'. Beethoven over here, Manson over there. It's one of the reasons I often include an odd or rogue looking male's pollen.
