While there is a ton of info on keeping mother plants available, there is very little about keeping father plants.
I was wondering if anyone has found a reliable way to keep males in veg without pre flowers developing. Seems like it would be a handy trick to suppress flowering until desired, including pre-flowers, since all it takes is one little flower bursting at the wrong time to mess things up. Of course isolating males in a separate area would be best, but not all of us have the luxury of extra space.
It would be great to be able to keep a small bonsai like father going when a winner is found to keep a source of fresh pollen. I’m wondering if there are any feasible ways to do this, or if I should just focus more on pollen collection and storage techniques. I suppose it wouldn’t be too hard to just pluck any male flowers before they ripen until one wants pollen, as long as it’s only a couple plants in veg. Sure would be nice if we could modulate male flowering hormonally or chemically.
Make sure the male always has way more soil or root space then it needs and take a new clone every 2 months and replace the plant with a new clone. If u can keep 18 hours of light on instead of 16.
Imo males will flower when stressed, root bound or dramatic shift in lighting (12 on/12 off).
The best males ive used in breeding have been ones that show themselves later and tend to want to flower later than the rest
I thought about taking clones regularly to replace the more mature father, and think it’s a really good idea. Wouldn’t really take up too much space either. Didn’t think about the root space, but that totally makes sense, since small pots can force our girls into flowering earlier.
Shouldnt take much space, i literrly rip my male out of my 10 gallon and plant the new clone in its spot, ive got a little 300w led light for a 3x3 area thats been working fine at 18 on, 6 off
I tend to let my males live their life as best and as natural as possible. Also prolong maturity by proper conditions and nutrients. For me one harvest is enough to last a lifetime. I usually will air dry the pollen for a week or so depending on humidity and then I’ll jar it with silica gel packs and freeze it.
I have frozen and re applied pollen with success, but I suspect that probably 99% of the spores died in freezing. The next time I try will be with a cryo freezer, to see if that helps viability.
Males are very difficult to keep in veg. I have tried many methods but only was able to keep the father alive an extended period of time before it naturally died. Pollen can be stored successfully for years. Add a nitrogen tank you may be able to get a pollen to be saved a decade. I have only tried the lesser method which is storing the pollen in rice or baked to dry flower.
If u wanna store pollen, sift it, then mix it with molsieve and put it in little 2ml vials then vac seal each one, dont suck too hard before sealing. Then place those in a mason jar and put the jar in the freezer, just take out one vac baggie at a time and let it come to room temp before cutting the bag open
These were from pollen that was freezer stored for 4 years. Oldest pollen I’ve used so far. I’ll be using some of the same pollen this next season again.
Thanks, I was stoked for sure but unaware I guess of how tough it really is to store. I’ve had fairly good success the last few years producing my own seeds. This pollen only took to 1 out of the 3 plants that I tried to pollinate it with so I do suspect it’s losing its viability. The jars I use are small/ vial-like… I have them stored for individual use also not to expose any of it to atmosphere until it’s time.
I think two things must be optimized in the aim of freezing pollen for extended conservation.
First the pollen should be carefully dried in ambiant conditions (storring next to dry silica being the best approach). Once well dried, it should be flash frozen by dipping small vials in liquid nitrogen for 30 second at least. And then it should be kept below 20c.
I’d be very curious to see what, if any, genetic inheritance of photo-period comes from male plants. Most of the breeders I’ve talked to also select their males to be late flowering. If you bred the same mother plant against a quicker flowering male from the same line, would it have an affect?
Very good question, that i think doesnt have one answer and the answers are kinda expensive and time consuming to get to haha.
The way i look at it, in the wild there are females that are gonna flip to flower in august. If the males did aswell, they will most likely shoot all their pollen at nothing. The good males will wait another 3 weeks before trying to dump pollen. Kinda like a puppy trying to have babies, its load isnt active yet or is premature.
It’s definitely easier to keep mothers around, but there are tricks to keeping fathers too. Some genetic variations just dont want to be kept, no matter what you try. You’re forcing nature after all.
Cut your root ball in half and replant in the same sized container. It helps w/ rootbinding being the cause of pre-flowers and it’s a little stress test too. You need to test your males just like your desired females!
Having a back up(s) of your male is definitely recommended. Just like you want to refresh your mothers over time, you want to do the same with the dads.
@Estokha - Is your question whether or not selection plays a roll in your progeny?
congrats thats pretty long