Breeding autos with photos?

NorthernLights_420 said:

I was thinking about using pollen from a male dj short blueberry on some autos. Once I get those seeds and grow some out and find a desirable female would I breed it with an auto then to try to stabilize the auto genes if that's what I'm aiming to do? Wouldn't they all be regular photo seeds at that point tho of the first photo and auto cross so then I have to again breed with an auto then 25 percent of the seeds wud be auto?Then if I breed with a auto from a desired plant from that batch itd be 50 percent auto seeds. Then continuing breeding 2 more times to stabilize the auto genes is my understanding right? Im learning so correct me if I'm wrong. But If I am correct then would I be able to find the first autoflower plant I find from early on in the breeding project and reverse her with CS wud that stabilize the auto genes too or just the feminized genes?

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The process you described is correct. Selection for stabilization starts before you plant a seed, by selecting/starting with two stable parents.. The auto gene is not the only trait you want.. If so, it's being done wrong... You will/should start selecting for whatever traits you want to lock in, at f1... Yes.. You can grow out the f2s, find an auto, reverse it.. Grow out some more f2s.. Find one.. Pollinate it, and be at full auto.. That's a pollen chuck short cut. By doing this tou actually know very little about the auto you just made.. Say you use 10 seeds each f2 grow.. So to get to full auto (using the short cut) you popped 20 seeds and saw 8 autos.. You probably saw less than 1% of the total possibilities. The full photo to auto process is what Mephisto used/uses to create original autos.. And it takes years..on a farm.. Growing multiples find of 100's of plants, to really get it right. What we are doing in tents is a scaled down/watered down version of breeding, lol.

You'll also want to keep the seeds/line regular (male and female) for as long as possible. You'll want to know how the males grow as well.. If they herm, or anything else, just like females. Cannabis plants get their flower structure from the male.. So you will want to see as much as possible before you choose plants to work with. Again, we are on such a small scale and if you only have a few plants to start with and just wanna make some seeds, that's totally awesome.. But to make a strain, there are no real short cuts.. I have a photo to auto cross that I've been working for 3-4 years, lol.. It's fully auto at f5.. Bit ya know what? The best plants to date have come from the photo period f1 stock. Hands down. So that's what get a grown the most.. You just have to keep growing out your crosses and seriously hunting them to find the best stuff or what you like the best..