Most Efficient Breeding Setup

[Slimpikens]

Hi, AFN and happy holidays!
I'm currently trying to set up my grow operation and I'm wanting to get the routine optimized. I currently have a 4x2x5 tent with 2 5 gallon smart autopots and a easy 2 grow double 2.2 module. I also have a 3x2x5 divided tent with a 2x2 growing area with a easy 2 grow double 2.2 autopots system, and a 1x2 growing area divided in half creating a level for seedlings and a level for perhaps drying or a mother. I want to start 2 females to reverse in the 2x2 growing area in the 2.2 pots for pollen, then a couple weeks later in the 4x2 tent start the 2, 5 gallons for flower and 2, 2.2 gallons for breeding. When the 2.2s begin to flower I'll bring them over for pollination, either by fan or pollination collection. I'm just wanting to know if there is a more efficient way to run my project using the 2 tents, different chambers, and the autopots systems. I'll get pics up soon so perhaps it'll make up for my poor description. Thanks!

 

[Slimpikens]

Here's a couple pics of my growing areas. I was thinking I could use the 2x2 section with the double auto pot for a direct cross pollination to get hybrid seeds, and then I could use the other 2 chambers for pollination to get feminized versions of the originals. So, if my theory is correct I could get 3 seed strains each cycle. Hopefully that makes some sense.

 

[Slimpikens]

I'm just going to keep adding to this as I get ideas. I was concerned about the 2 growing areas that are only 24 inches in height. I thought I could keep the plants small if I only filled the 2.2 gallon pots half full. I was also wondering what would be the best lighting for those areas since it will need to get close to the plants. What are the requirements in general from lights for breeding purposes? I assume I don't need to focus on pushing as many watts as possible? I'm thinking 100w dimmable quantum boards in each of the chambers? Would that keep heat low enough and allow room for the plants to finish producing seeds? I know this may not work at all, just ideas at this point. Happy holidays folks!

 

[Slimpikens]

Ok, I think I have my lights selected. I'm thinking of going all t5 to keep the temps low and allow them to sit real close to the plants. I was thinking a 2 ft 4 bulb fixture in both of the small chambers and a 2 ft 8 bulb fixture in the 2x2 chamber all Daisy chained together, with an even split between 3000k and 6500k bulbs. How does that sound?

 

[Proph]

Hello! You've got a lot to choose from. How will you be reversing the plant? CS, STS, stress? if you are using a chemical, then there is no reason to use auto pots or any of that. Why grow big, heavy yielding plants in autopots, when you can't use the bud? You don't need to waste a whole plant to collect pollen. You can take a cut and reverse that, or grow the plant in a solo cup or 1 gal pot and then reverse it. If these tents are close together or in the same room, you could easily end up seeding your entire grow. Not sure if that's the plan or not. With the way current plan reads, it fees like you won't be using any of the plants for smoke.And if that's the plan, no need wasting all the space, nutes, autopots, ect on plants you cant use due to the reversing. Also remember that plants stop focusing on making thc once pollinated. At that point their energy is focused on making seeds. i have the same 4*2*5 tent and 2*2*4 tent and autopots in both sizes. You can get 2 plants max in the 4*2 using the 5 gal pots. Won't be much room after that. You would want to start the plant you plan to reverse, about a month before you plant the one you want to pollinate. 2 weeks won't be enough time. And you'll want time to make sure the reveal takes. You don't always get pollen with reversals. Some strains are stubborn.

 

[Slimpikens]

Hello! You've got a lot to choose from. How will you be reversing the plant? CS, STS, stress? if you are using a chemical, then there is no reason to use auto pots or any of that. Why grow big, heavy yielding plants in autopots, when you can't use the bud? You don't need to waste a whole plant to collect pollen. You can take a cut and reverse that, or grow the plant in a solo cup or 1 gal pot and then reverse it. If these tents are close together or in the same room, you could easily end up seeding your entire grow. Not sure if that's the plan or not. With the way current plan reads, it fees like you won't be using any of the plants for smoke.And if that's the plan, no need wasting all the space, nutes, autopots, ect on plants you cant use due to the reversing. Also remember that plants stop focusing on making thc once pollinated. At that point their energy is focused on making seeds. i have the same 4*2*5 tent and 2*2*4 tent and autopots in both sizes. You can get 2 plants max in the 4*2 using the 5 gal pots. Won't be much room after that. You would want to start the plant you plan to reverse, about a month before you plant the one you want to pollinate. 2 weeks won't be enough time. And you'll want time to make sure the reveal takes. You don't always get pollen with reversals. Some strains are stubborn.

Hey, thanks a lot, I really appreciate your response. And I think I'm understanding what you're saying. The autopots system in the breeding tents are overkill because they are designed to produce high yielding harvests whereas in breeding it's more efficient to keep the plant small. I plan on doing full reversals at first until I get a feel for it. I will be using Silver Mountain CS for the reversal. My plan was to use the large grow tent, that's in a separate room of the house, with the 5 gallon autopots to produce flower from the 2 strains I will be crossing in the other breeder tent, that I'll only be using for seed production. So perhaps I can start 2 autoflowers in the breeding tent, filling the 2.2 gallon autopots(since I already have them) with only a gallon of soil to keep the plants small. Start administering CS around preflower. Around this time I would start my 2 large plants for flower production in the big tent, and also start the 2 small autopots(half filled to a gallon) and when they start preflower, bring the 2 small plants over to the breeding tent. I imagine 2 5 gallons is all that would fit in that 4x2 but I was hoping since those 2 small autopots are getting transferred at preflower they wouldn't interfere with he growing space too much. Here I start getting a little confused. Can the 2 small plants in the breeding room that have been reversed pollinate each other to get hybrids, while I directly pollinate with a qtip the 2 small plants I have brought over from the main tent and put in the 2 small chambers. Ideally I want some feminized versions of the 2 strains I'm growing for flower, and I would also like a cross of those 2 strains. Thanks again, and Merry Xmas!!

 

[Proph]

Im pretty sure I know what you want to do, but you may be over thinking it. But that all depends on what you want for your end result. The plan as you've described it just now, will result in a few things you may not want. But let me start by saying that I think I'm confused as to why the two 5 gallon pots are mentioned in the plans. I think that's what threw me off, so I went back and read everything again. So to clarify, the two 5 gallon plants have nothing to do with the breeding project correct?

Next issue is the reversal.. Sooo.. I didn't know you were talking about trying to do all of this with two different strains at once. If the two plants you are reversing are two different strains, they can not only pollinate themselves, but also pollinate each other, and contaminate or mix their pollen together. It would be incredibly hard not to have cross contamination. And that's just between the two reversed plants. Once you bring the other two smaller plants into the tent reversal tent while pollen sacs are opening, those plants will be cross contaminated as well, meaning you won't know what pollen landed on what plant. The seeds will be like random crosses.
I've never reversed two strains at once, nor flowers two different male plants for that exact reason. If your talking about reversing two whole plants, if it works correctly, you will have more pollen to deal with them you will ever need. It could get anywhere and everywhere if your not extremely careful. When I please plants, I do it with a tiny paint brush. In a separate room, I dip the brush lightly into my pollen and walk it to the one isolated plant I want to pollinate. I pollinate one bud site ever so carefully. Absolutely no air movement in the room. Then I mark the branch. Wait 24-48he's for pollen to take.. Spray the plant down with water to kill off any unused pollen, then put it back in the tent with the others.. And at harvest, I always find two or three other bud sites on other branches that have seeds. The stuff gets everywhere.

 

[Slimpikens]

Im pretty sure I know what you want to do, but you may be over thinking it. But that all depends on what you want for your end result. The plan as you've described it just now, will result in a few things you may not want. But let me start by saying that I think I'm confused as to why the two 5 gallon pots are mentioned in the plans. I think that's what threw me off, so I went back and read everything again. So to clarify, the two 5 gallon plants have nothing to do with the breeding project correct?

Next issue is the reversal.. Sooo.. I didn't know you were talking about trying to do all of this with two different strains at once. If the two plants you are reversing are two different strains, they can not only pollinate themselves, but also pollinate each other, and contaminate or mix their pollen together. It would be incredibly hard not to have cross contamination. And that's just between the two reversed plants. Once you bring the other two smaller plants into the tent reversal tent while pollen sacs are opening, those plants will be cross contaminated as well, meaning you won't know what pollen landed on what plant. The seeds will be like random crosses.
I've never reversed two strains at once, nor flowers two different male plants for that exact reason. If your talking about reversing two whole plants, if it works correctly, you will have more pollen to deal with them you will ever need. It could get anywhere and everywhere if your not extremely careful. When I please plants, I do it with a tiny paint brush. In a separate room, I dip the brush lightly into my pollen and walk it to the one isolated plant I want to pollinate. I pollinate one bud site ever so carefully. Absolutely no air movement in the room. Then I mark the branch. Wait 24-48he's for pollen to take.. Spray the plant down with water to kill off any unused pollen, then put it back in the tent with the others.. And at harvest, I always find two or three other bud sites on other branches that have seeds. The stuff gets everywhere.

Thank you so much, that was exactly what I was looking for. And yes, the 2 5 gallon are just so I can have some finished product since I assume all the other plants would be used for breeding purposes and not good for consuming. It sounds like I need to dip my feet in instead of diving. I'm just going to follow the standard reversal process until I can see first hand about this pollen situation. Thanks again!

 

[Proph]

Thank you so much, that was exactly what I was looking for. And yes, the 2 5 gallon are just so I can have some finished product since I assume all the other plants would be used for breeding purposes and not good for consuming. It sounds like I need to dip my feet in instead of diving. I'm just going to follow the standard reversal process until I can see first hand about this pollen situation. Thanks again!

No problem. You are definitely on the right track though just do one strain at a time, or you'll risk cross contamination of the pollen, and just remember that the plant you reverse will pollinate itself and make seeds, as well as drop pollen for you to store and use. So you don't necessarily need to bring in additional plants into the room with the revered plants. They will make seeds on their own once reversed!

 

[Archaic]

When I'm breeding I generally keep my male in a space bucket type of set up with some CFLs. Then I'll usually only only pollinate one bud per female. That is usually worth 20-50 seeds and it leaves me plenty to smoke. I just bring the male and female to a work bench and make the sexy times happen with a little makeup brush.

With only 24 inches of overhead clearance, you are probably going want to go with CFLs. They can be practically touching the plants and tend to not grow tall stretchy plants.

You can actually use seeded bud to smoke, especially if you use the leftover bud after you collect seeds for extracts or hash. The THC is still there, it's just in a lot fewer trichomes. Us old timers have been smoking seeded bud for decades. It's why we have so few kids