Hey Everyone, been on an extended sabattical, seeing the world & "living large" if anyone remembers me.
This has been a topic of interest for me ever since I watched FastBud's Gorilla Glue strain go from the best yielding and smoking strain I've ever grown, to one of the biggest turds ever to gome out of my grow room. It seems the real challenge in stabilizing an autoflower strain is, how do you maintain a standard reference parent for breeding / back crossing? It's a seed-only thing, and we all know how recessive genes and multiple phenotypes keep screwing up a seed's plant profile. You can't maintain a "real" autoflower mother plant long enough to complete more than (maybe) one back cross if you're lucky, and that's just not enough!
But in my thirst for knowledge, I came across an excellent article from Royal Queen Seeds on tissue culture:
Cannabis tissue culture propagation serves as an alternative to traditional cloning techniques. It requires less space and minimises the chances of disease.
www.royalqueenseeds.com
The last time I was in search of new strains, I revisited & lurked around here to discover that RQS has gained an excellent reputation for strain stability as well as overall strain quality. And, I believe is a supporting member of some stature? Has anyone reached out to them to see if they might author a learning thread here? I've grown a few varieties of their seeds and have been very impressed with the quality - not repeated enough to prove strain stability to myself, but their reputation with other growers here, and the science in their (linked above) article really helps make sense of the uses of tissue culture in stabilizing strains.
Think about it - a truly permanent supply of both the male and female autoflower parentals for backcross stabilizations, as well as breeding more desirable characteristics into future strains. A photoperiod equivalent parental similar to what the original landrace Skunk did for photoperiods, and what LowRyder did for so many auto strains many years ago.
For example, leaf-to-bud ratio. How many strains have you grown that staredt out looking amazing, only to have the entire tent consumed by fan leaves choking out all the bud sites??? Am I the only one pissed about that when it happens?
It appears many European breeders are already embracing tissue culture for strain stabilization, as well as some Denver based breeders (don't remember where I read that) who contract their tissue culture requirements out to 3rd party specialists who will, for a fee, indefinitely maintain a parental of any breed, strain, type as long as you need it.
Imagine the possibilities - I recall a couple of decades ago when I was an active guerilla grower of photoperiods, maintaining a 48" wide shelf full of bonsai mothers (even did a couple of males as well). I could keep anywhere from 12 to 20 mothers alive & healthy in my own RDWC hydro system occupying one shelf. And I never needed it, but one full height shelf would have supported two bonsai plant shelfs. Now imagine a 1" diameter test tube holding your mother indefinitely - that same 48" shelf could support over 500 mothers!!! Just plan ahead a few months to propagate a clip to a "real" plant, back cross, or just re-visit a favored strain after a length of time.
One of the most interesting facets of tissue culture I encountered is how experienced vendors can actually heal and recover a virus-infected strain that, in past years, would have been lost forever. Now, with advances in tissue culture, specialists can practically recreate the strain, filtering out the genetic anomalies so that the resulting plant emerges bigger / better / faster / stronger / sexier than ever before. Like if Superman could be regenerated to not be allergic to kryptonite!
Anyway, just a thought. Seeing this thread makes me wonder, does anyone here have a contact at Royal Queen? I don't have the name recognition or authority to reach out, but perhaps the AFN management team does?
