The Frankenbeans Experiment
Cheesy title I know lol. Here's the huge/story that explains it. Please keep in mind that this is an ongoing experiment and many of these theories are untested personal beliefs. I'm not trying to promote bad breeding but I do wish to address a common problem many growers run into.
I am a relatively new grower. I have recently completed my first Autoflower harvest and I have a few ongoing plants as well.
During my autoflower grow I experienced a few issues that I think are very common for beginners. Basically taking care of my plants too well by overwatering, over feeding, temperature changes, light changes, extreme LST, and ph imbalances.
Pretty much all the mistakes you can make. Shockingly I was still able to salvage a manageable crop. Out of my 6 plants I had almost 6 ounces of pretty good bud which was my goal for a first grow.
Of course it's not the top shelf bud I was hoping for but compared to the majority of the buds in my local area it's pretty good.
I did have one plant that was close to top shelf. It was my critical jack. Only got about 12 grams dry but she is really good.
A lot of people who have tried my first crop thought it was excellent but I have been smoking my entire life. I consider myself somewhat of a connoisseur. Even though I live in a place that has a terrible selection of buds I refuse to lower my standards because I have tried every grade of bud possible and I know how to grade my pot lol. I would grade 5 of my 6 plants 7/10 locally and 2/10 nationally. I would grade my CJ 9/10 locally and 3/10 nationally.
Why do I rate my bud so low? I have very high expectations. I want absolute top shelf meds. As someone who also grows vegetables/fruits I do realize there is a big learning curve to get to the store quality and above. I'm just trying to get there as soon as I can.
The main reason for my low scores is also the reason for this journal. As I'm sure many first time growers know the most dreaded word in growing is HERMIE!
Despite my best efforts of buying professional equipment, researching for hundreds of hours, watching my babies for hours a day and ordering feminized seeds from several quality breeders I ended up with seeded buds.
How this happened I can't honestly be sure. It's been a huge debate on my journal and has even caused some heated arguments on other forums.
I have researched this quite a bit but unfortunately all I can do is speculate.
My belief is that these plants were stressed into hemaprhodistm vs naturally/genetically. There is a huge difference between the two. A naturally occurring hermie is very bad, but a stressed hermie is a failure of the grower vs the plant.
Many growers will argue there is no difference. They argue that regardless of how a plant hermies it will produce seeds that will be hermies also. Some growers say they have tested and confirmed it. Other growers say they have confirmed being able to grow hermie seeds with 100% female ratios.
Here is my theory and why.
My theory is that a hermie seed created due to stress will produce mostly females with a slightly higher risk of hermie vs the original. I believe the seed will only hermie if it experiences the same stresses as the original and by eliminating those stresses (ie. learning to grow better). I will be able to produce nearly all female plants from these seeds.
The reason I've come to this theory is based on my research into creating feminized seeds. Most feminized seeds are created by stress inducing a plant into a hermie. Sometimes chemically, electrically, or environmentally. Then taking the pollen from the hermie and pollinating the same strain but on a different plant that wasn't stressed. The reason I believe they don't allow the stressed plant to self pollinate itself and use those seeds is because they would have a slightly higher chance of hermaphroditism. Also there is a theory on whether plants pass on stress to offspring or not.
My goal with this journal/experiment is to test the seeds that resulted from my hermies and see what I get.
Now the tough part is I'm not sure what I have. Meaning I had 6 plants with 4 strains in a tent together. All of the strains minus the CJ (pulled her before the seeds matured) were heavily seeded. I'm not sure if one plant hermied and cross pollinated the others (this would result in accidental homemade feminized seeds based on my theory) or if they all pollinated themselves. Needless to say I could have some interesting crosses. Examples including:
Blue Cheese x Mazar
Berry Ryder x Blue Cheese
Blue Cheese x Berry Ryder
A lot of people have asked me why I want to grow out these seeds vs buying more. Let me try to explain why.
I spent roughly $100 on 15 seeds before and ended up with hermies anyways. I had to risk sending seeds illegally and my first shipment was seized. Now I have over 100 seeds of 3 different world class strains. Even if I have a 50 females, 25 hermies, and 25 males I'm still saving hundred of dollars in seeds, getting some more practice before wasting more money, and I don't have to risk ordering seeds again.
Don't worry I'm not the type to put all my eggs in one basket so I'll be growing other strains as well. I have several mother plants that will eventually supply me with all the clones I need.
So after that HUGE explanation onto my Frankenbeans experiment! Lol
Last night I planted 4 Mazar's, 4 Blue Cheese, and 4 Berry Ryder. I have them under 24 hr t12 lights in my veg tent. I'll grow them in there for approximately 4 weeks and then move them to my flower tent on a 12/12. I realize this lowers yield but I have bigger plants and the savings in electrical is definitely worth it.
I should note that I made one rookie mistake from the beginning that may impact the success of my experiment. Usually autos should be planted in their permanent container but I planted these in small nursery seedling pots. I could cut the bottom off or just transplant them. I didn't have the room and didn't want to risk the space/soil when I don't even know if the beans will sprout yet lol.
Typically from what I've read the risk of transplanting with autos is not turning them hermie but stunting their growth. This means my mistake should only cost me overall yield which isn't a big concern for this project.
As I conclude the introduction of this journal I was to reiterate that these are personal theories I am testing. I am not condoning the use or breeding of hermie plants. I am simply trying to confirm whether someone can successfully use seeds they accidentally created.
I will be updating this later with pics. Other than that it will move pretty slowly these first few weeks while I wait for them to sprout and show sex. Please feel free to check out my other journal in my signature if you want the full story on how these seeds came to be.
Thanks for reading everyone and happy growing!
Cheesy title I know lol. Here's the huge/story that explains it. Please keep in mind that this is an ongoing experiment and many of these theories are untested personal beliefs. I'm not trying to promote bad breeding but I do wish to address a common problem many growers run into.
I am a relatively new grower. I have recently completed my first Autoflower harvest and I have a few ongoing plants as well.
During my autoflower grow I experienced a few issues that I think are very common for beginners. Basically taking care of my plants too well by overwatering, over feeding, temperature changes, light changes, extreme LST, and ph imbalances.
Pretty much all the mistakes you can make. Shockingly I was still able to salvage a manageable crop. Out of my 6 plants I had almost 6 ounces of pretty good bud which was my goal for a first grow.
Of course it's not the top shelf bud I was hoping for but compared to the majority of the buds in my local area it's pretty good.
I did have one plant that was close to top shelf. It was my critical jack. Only got about 12 grams dry but she is really good.
A lot of people who have tried my first crop thought it was excellent but I have been smoking my entire life. I consider myself somewhat of a connoisseur. Even though I live in a place that has a terrible selection of buds I refuse to lower my standards because I have tried every grade of bud possible and I know how to grade my pot lol. I would grade 5 of my 6 plants 7/10 locally and 2/10 nationally. I would grade my CJ 9/10 locally and 3/10 nationally.
Why do I rate my bud so low? I have very high expectations. I want absolute top shelf meds. As someone who also grows vegetables/fruits I do realize there is a big learning curve to get to the store quality and above. I'm just trying to get there as soon as I can.
The main reason for my low scores is also the reason for this journal. As I'm sure many first time growers know the most dreaded word in growing is HERMIE!
Despite my best efforts of buying professional equipment, researching for hundreds of hours, watching my babies for hours a day and ordering feminized seeds from several quality breeders I ended up with seeded buds.
How this happened I can't honestly be sure. It's been a huge debate on my journal and has even caused some heated arguments on other forums.
I have researched this quite a bit but unfortunately all I can do is speculate.
My belief is that these plants were stressed into hemaprhodistm vs naturally/genetically. There is a huge difference between the two. A naturally occurring hermie is very bad, but a stressed hermie is a failure of the grower vs the plant.
Many growers will argue there is no difference. They argue that regardless of how a plant hermies it will produce seeds that will be hermies also. Some growers say they have tested and confirmed it. Other growers say they have confirmed being able to grow hermie seeds with 100% female ratios.
Here is my theory and why.
My theory is that a hermie seed created due to stress will produce mostly females with a slightly higher risk of hermie vs the original. I believe the seed will only hermie if it experiences the same stresses as the original and by eliminating those stresses (ie. learning to grow better). I will be able to produce nearly all female plants from these seeds.
The reason I've come to this theory is based on my research into creating feminized seeds. Most feminized seeds are created by stress inducing a plant into a hermie. Sometimes chemically, electrically, or environmentally. Then taking the pollen from the hermie and pollinating the same strain but on a different plant that wasn't stressed. The reason I believe they don't allow the stressed plant to self pollinate itself and use those seeds is because they would have a slightly higher chance of hermaphroditism. Also there is a theory on whether plants pass on stress to offspring or not.
My goal with this journal/experiment is to test the seeds that resulted from my hermies and see what I get.
Now the tough part is I'm not sure what I have. Meaning I had 6 plants with 4 strains in a tent together. All of the strains minus the CJ (pulled her before the seeds matured) were heavily seeded. I'm not sure if one plant hermied and cross pollinated the others (this would result in accidental homemade feminized seeds based on my theory) or if they all pollinated themselves. Needless to say I could have some interesting crosses. Examples including:
Blue Cheese x Mazar
Berry Ryder x Blue Cheese
Blue Cheese x Berry Ryder
A lot of people have asked me why I want to grow out these seeds vs buying more. Let me try to explain why.
I spent roughly $100 on 15 seeds before and ended up with hermies anyways. I had to risk sending seeds illegally and my first shipment was seized. Now I have over 100 seeds of 3 different world class strains. Even if I have a 50 females, 25 hermies, and 25 males I'm still saving hundred of dollars in seeds, getting some more practice before wasting more money, and I don't have to risk ordering seeds again.
Don't worry I'm not the type to put all my eggs in one basket so I'll be growing other strains as well. I have several mother plants that will eventually supply me with all the clones I need.
So after that HUGE explanation onto my Frankenbeans experiment! Lol
Last night I planted 4 Mazar's, 4 Blue Cheese, and 4 Berry Ryder. I have them under 24 hr t12 lights in my veg tent. I'll grow them in there for approximately 4 weeks and then move them to my flower tent on a 12/12. I realize this lowers yield but I have bigger plants and the savings in electrical is definitely worth it.
I should note that I made one rookie mistake from the beginning that may impact the success of my experiment. Usually autos should be planted in their permanent container but I planted these in small nursery seedling pots. I could cut the bottom off or just transplant them. I didn't have the room and didn't want to risk the space/soil when I don't even know if the beans will sprout yet lol.
Typically from what I've read the risk of transplanting with autos is not turning them hermie but stunting their growth. This means my mistake should only cost me overall yield which isn't a big concern for this project.
As I conclude the introduction of this journal I was to reiterate that these are personal theories I am testing. I am not condoning the use or breeding of hermie plants. I am simply trying to confirm whether someone can successfully use seeds they accidentally created.
I will be updating this later with pics. Other than that it will move pretty slowly these first few weeks while I wait for them to sprout and show sex. Please feel free to check out my other journal in my signature if you want the full story on how these seeds came to be.
Thanks for reading everyone and happy growing!
