How do you look for a keeper in a pack of seeds?

I used to think that my keepers were going to be big and that is all that mattered to me at the time... After a few disappointing runs, I decided to change my approach. I am finding a small percent will have a funk during veg. I am tired of shit that dont have a flavor or high to it. Am I right for going for the funky ones? I mean, do any badass plants NOT have an odor during veg? I am thinking that IF I find a plant that has vigor and funk that I should be going in the right direction.
I am kinda over-run right now and it is time to let some go. I am thinking that the ones that dont smell like anything would be my first to go. I mean, I am finding some that smell like old armpits(french dressing), transmission fluid, and old man nasty breath. Compared to the ones that dont smell like anything, they are funky. Are these the real keepers? Thanks guys. Take it easy on a newb! I am kind of a seed collector and I have many packs to sort through, not to mention some interesting freebies.

hey if you really want to KNOW if you've found the keepers, you best flower-off all the females. smell, or lack of, (early on) is not a definite indicator. i usually only eliminate a seed baby early if I really don't like how it's growing, or appears, for some reason.

seems like I've found my share of keepers in the runty bitches too. hell I kept my last girlfriend for nearly six years

As abe said, smell is not much until you're a ways into flowering.

I keep a ratio of about 2 out of 10. For my clones, I choose by root mass and root colour. For veg plants, I keep the ones with the strongest main stem and with the healthiest, most vibrant leaves.

Until you flower a couple of times with each strain, you'll never know which one is truly best for your environment.

Can you put them all in flower for a few weeks to see how they proceed, then put the keepers back into veg?

-spek

I have a question, are you looking for which plant is a keeper for one grow, like which is gonna be vigorous THIS RUN, or are you looking for specific keeper phenotypes of your seeds to isolate, stabilize, and breed out so that will have the qualities you want every time you grow it?

Ace Yonder said:

I have a question, are you looking for which plant is a keeper for one grow, like which is gonna be vigorous THIS RUN, or are you looking for specific keeper phenotypes of your seeds to isolate, stabilize, and breed out so that will have the qualities you want every time you grow it?

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Good question. I got too far ahead of myself and overlooked the possible shorter term possibility.

-spek

Ace Yonder said:

I have a question, are you looking for which plant is a keeper for one grow, like which is gonna be vigorous THIS RUN, or are you looking for specific keeper phenotypes of your seeds to isolate, stabilize, and breed out so that will have the qualities you want every time you grow it?

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I was looking long term... I have a few in flower right now and I have multiple clones of each, that is the problem really. time to do some clone chucking and keep the winners!
This one instance, I bought a 10pk of Critical Sensi Star and I have 2 that are in flower that have vigor and funk! They are early flower, like 1-3 weeks and smell the same as they did in flower only stronger.
How often does a truly funky plant hide its self until late flower? I have had horrible luck picking plants based on structure and vigor, they turn out like lawn clippings usually. Or I will let 2 of 3 into flower w/o taking clones, and picked the absolute worst of them and cloned off of it because it was bigger and had a beefy'er stem.?
I am ready to kick the hell out of the next shit that smells like actual grass. I thought it would be easier just to find the stinky ones in veg, IF they showed real potential.

I have 3-4 other packs going also. I thought that I just found a short cut really! Find the baby plant that smells like puke and toss the other 80%!

Well, they can be hard to smell from a distance, but a good way to check the smell on them is to rub the stem near the new growth and smell your fingers, that's where the plant will release scent first and you can see what it's gonna be like there, personally I like citrusy-fruity smelling ones.

p.s. Fingers must be totally clean and scentless first (Can be harder to get them this way than you would think)

p.p.s. This is the ONLY way I can smell the plants at all, far to accustomed to the smell it barely even registers to me nowadays hahaha

I take a clone of EVERY plant before it goes into flower. I learned my lesson once. I had a purple kush that was nothing special, slow in veg, nothing to indicate royalty... Well by week 6 of flower, she smelled like lemon heads, had solid purple-black fan leaves, and the buds were a lite green with a blueish tint. By harvest, she was very easy to trim, high yield and amazing smoke..... She was a keeper! Because of this, i take a clone of everything just in case.



* i revegged her and have many clones and a mother plant (happy ending)!

To find the keeper you harvest them and pick your favorite based on what you want from cannabis. Any decision made prior to trying the product is just speculation and gambling.

I take 2 cuts(just in case) from each plant before flowering. I throw away male plants/clones(unless looking for a male of course), if running regs.
I will USUALLY throw away clones from plants with balls.
The rest, i keep around till weigh in, and smoke time. It can definitely be a bitch, but It's the only way, IMO, to find that keeper(hopefully you started enough seeds to achieve this)

structure,vigour,smell,stretch,trich production,flowering time.and if you rub the stems of your plants in veg,and the smell on your fingers is impressive,then keep an eye on those plants especially.

amgprb said:

I take a clone of EVERY plant before it goes into flower. I learned my lesson once. I had a purple kush that was nothing special, slow in veg, nothing to indicate royalty... Well by week 6 of flower, she smelled like lemon heads, had solid purple-black fan leaves, and the buds were a lite green with a blueish tint. By harvest, she was very easy to trim, high yield and amazing smoke..... She was a keeper! Because of this, i take a clone of everything just in case.



* i revegged her and have many clones and a mother plant (happy ending)!

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that's what I do too. I learned the hard way in the daY..