Cloning autos, the key may be tissue culture!

[Olde School Player]

I've often wondered about putting autos in TC.
I have a TC lab so maybe I just need to start up cupla autos and get it done instead of wondering.
I'll back up what Bob was saying, in that to remove viruses from genetics, you need a microscope to take the tiny portion of (hopefully) unaffected meristem.
I'm doing a side by side of a grow where I 'cleaned up' an old 'tired' cut of Northern Lights x Big Bud, growing out clones next to some grown from TC explant. Pretty much at harvest now and haven't noticed any difference tbh, possibly because I've dialled in a few things and everything is absolutely cranking

SHB, thanks for chiming in. Do you have a thread or grow journal where you describe your lab? It would be very helpful rather than relying upon spending days and weeks researching the web with no bullshit filters to weed out truth from marketing product favorisms. I'm semi-retired from growing now, keep a couple of self contained single plant hydro tents active to keep the wife happy and medicated from her fibromyalgia. Strain selection is a real crap shoot for me when searching for my next grow options. I wouldnt mind paying for seeds (do it all the time) but tissue culture would remove my biggest headache - strain stability from subsequent breeders' strain generations from seed rather than a clone-like result with tissue culture.
I thought I'd found the perfect specimen in Fast Buds' initial release of Gorilla Glue several years ago. They even comped me with several free strain variations when I told them I donated all my product to medical patients. The first seed batch of their GG was a real 10 out of 10 - a 12oz yield from a single plant, large rock solid heavily trich'ed buds, excellent leaf-to-bud ratio, amazing taste & awesome head/body high. It literally was as good as the original GG#4 photoperiod. That was the first grow. Second seed batch resulted in less yield, heavier leaf to bud ratio, reduced medical / taste profile. Third batch literally went to shit with poor yield and extreme leaf to bud. Even their most stable strain - G14 - has rolled off in yields to the point that I was growing two plants in a single tent to equal original one plant yields.
Anyways... Mephisto and Royal Queen have been good to me, but it surely would be wonderful to know I could come back to a great producer as I used to do with photoperiod clones.

Another TC related question - have you tried a tissue culture regeneration from old seeds? I have a couple of photoperiod seed strains that are over a decade old - a G-13/Big Bud cross that was unbelievable, followed by a G-13/Big Bud - Frankenstein cross that consistently grew full 1+oz buds. Great yields and amazing hash-like taste reminiscent of the original landrace Colombian Red Bud. I haven't spent a lot of time trying to germinate those seeds, but I've read that there is enough plant material in a seed to successfully start a tissue culture plant. Your thoughts?

 

[Olde School Player]

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:

What Is Cannabis Tissue Culture Propagation? - RQS Blog

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....
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?

Time and sustained thinking have a way of sometimes changing my views on a subject. It's kind of like beer goggles - the next morning you wonder if she was really that pretty????
But to my previous post and if Royal Queen has a rep on AFN, I'm realizing I was a bit naive in thinking they would come on here and educate us on tissue culture techniques & technology. They have a business to run, and the only way they will live long and prosper is if they continue to be successful in breeding AND SELLING new strains. The moral of my story? I'm not looking for that to happen, there's nothing it would do for their business plan and I have to respect that. Anyone who puts the work in to stabilize autoflower strains has my support so I'll continue buying from RQS and Mephisto, because SO FAR, their seeds seem to be very stable from batch to batch.
So I'll keep my fingers crossed that Serious Home Breeder has a thread I can follow to pursue my educational interests.
And that young lady's meristem YouTube article. I'm just trying to remember if I was ever as young as she is now.... maybe there is hope for our next generations of growers.

 

[Serious Home Breeder]

Hi Old School Grower. No I don't have any threads about my TC lab. Tbh I'm prob not the best person to learn from as my knowledge is fairly basic. I learnt just enough to set it up on a budget and carry out basic meristem culture. I don't have the experience to create my own mediums but if I spent a little more time on it I would figure it out.
As for the seed question, yes I tried embryo rescue as I have some old seed stock from the 80's gifted to me that I'm trying to revive. I failed with thise then sent them to an actual research lab who also failed unfortunately.
I'm going to try again soon though..