Fast Flowering? Gimick or Viable Option?

[tobe]

Hi friends
I can only speak about my own experience. I do several crosse's auto x photo and the f1 is around 1-2 weeks faster in flower than the photoperiod parent. I got different phenos in the f1 in taste and high but they are all close to each other. All the phenos got the same reduced flower time.
For the commercial market those f1 seeds are interesting for northern outdoor growers but also for large indoor operation, especially in this time with high price for electric.

 

[Buz]

"That doesn't make sense, because the "fast-flowering trait" comes from being heterozygotic (Pa) at the autoflowering locus -- it's not an independent trait that could be stabilized. "

Exactly, I started out with an F1 "fast cross" a few years ago that yielded a wonderful mid September maturing plant for our short Vermont season. However attempts to stabilize this trait became complicated in the subsequent years as sib-crosses yielded maturation dates all over the spectrum, not the three phenotypes suggested by a single Mendelian trait..... Going back to the literature gave a simple explanation. Flowering is controlled by at least 6 genes (and the assortment of these genes on the cannabis chromosomes were not determined) (See article below).

Indeed I have grown out several of the commercial F1 "fast" offers and had them mature along with the normal photoperiods in mid October. Thus, even the F1 crosses between auto and photo, although uniform in their maturation, can have a wide range of maturation periods. Most likely this is due to the particular makeup and contribution of the multiple parental flowering genes. As usual, nature is a lot more complicated than we would like to think.....

I remain committed to finding appropriate crosses for the rigors of the short Vermont flowering season. Outdoor photoperiod plants seldom can reach full maturity here. And autoflowers, at least the ones I have tried, don't seem to be robust enough for the outdoor environment. So my current breeding program goes back to the basics that George Shull outlined in the early 1900's. Find two extremely inbred lines, one Autoflower and one Photoperiod and then evaluate the F1 for the multiple loci "fast" trait. The inbred nature of the parents is to take advantage of the well known heterosis concept...hybrid vigor. I don't have enough seasons in me to fool with segregating and selecting 6 genes for some stable and perhaps unreachable "fast" phenotype. So the trick will be to find the appropriate inbred parents to continuously produce F1 seed for a superior short season variety .......

You young folks with a number of seasons ahead of you could approach things differently, selecting for more robust, larger autoflowers that were slower to initiate flowering. Or selecting photoperiods that were quick to flower. All a lot of work and a lot of time

[2] Beginnings of the Heterosis Concept

www.iastatedigitalpress.com

Frontiers | Genetic Architecture of Flowering Time and Sex Determination in Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.): A Genome-Wide Association Study

Flowering time and sex determination in hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) strongly influence fiber quality and seed production of this crop. The control of these tra...

www.frontiersin.org

 

[Buz]

Here are a couple of photos I took today 8-29-23. The "fast" cross is Lemongrass Photo (Humbolt Seed ) x Northern Lights Auto (Fast Buds) . It is well into flower and should make it to full maturity weeks before the end of the season. The "standard" plant is Humbolt Sour Diesel (Humbolt Seed). It is beginning to flower and here in Northern Vermont will finish as well with much nail biting and watching the weather and possibly covering for a few nights of frost. The Sour Diesel looks like all the other cannabis in the area. A yearly crap shoot. I know that some have had bad experiences with commercial "fast" crosses. I have grown two "fast" cultivars that were no faster than standard. Since there are multiple genes controlling flowering, the particular cross is important. I hit upon a winner and am distributing seed to local growers who know the short season can wreak havoc. Also early maturity allows the labor intensive harvest and trim to be done at a more reasonable pace . To address the original question---is fast flowering a gimmick? It is not a gimmick and as seen here is a wonderfully viable option. I have never grown these fast strains indoors.....I don't know if they are any faster indoors....interesting question. I bet they finish at the same time.....the switch to 12 hour is a powerful signal to all cultivars.

 

[Serious Home Breeder]

I've just grown a rotation of HSOs fast flowering white runtz indoors. Cutting most tonight. 7 weeks from flip, although a couple of phenos look like they need to go another week or two.
I had been playing around with fast flowering projects for the last several years, particularly for outdoors as I'm looking for gear that finishes a week to two earlier than everything else.
Actually just picked up the project again this season (I'm in southern hemisphere).
Playing around with some 'semi autos', autos that weren't that I selfed or crossed to photos.
On that subject. Some years ago, I grew out some f1 crosses of a Chinese landrace variety that finishes two whole months later than standard modern hybrids and a typical modern photoperiod. All the f1's finished halfway between the two parents usual time (a month later than usual)