Mastering Strains & Finding Best Pheno's

Personally the more money I spend on seeds the more Im thinking of how I just need to focus on one strain. Now this doesn't mean mono cropping but just growing more of a particular strain in general from seed.

My plan would be to grow 1 or 2 packs at a time, find keepers & pop more packs. Repeat for a year+ & eliminate keepers when I get a few. The seeds im thinking of doing this with are in the $50 range so I wont be breaking the bank. Also the seeds wont be sold out their not the latest trend or limited so I wont have to worry about securing more seeds unless the company just goes out of business.

Then eventually I would start another strain & find keepers. Also need to grow keepers more than twice to dial it in. Is this pheno hunting work doing too much I wonder? Maybe but I don't have room to pop more than 3 packs at a time. Another thing is that I'm just getting tired of the new strain hype and just rather commit to one lady for awhile lol!

What are yall's thoughts on this I guess its mainly for the seed popping folks. How long before you move on to another strain? Why another strain? What if there is a better keeper in another pack is what I'm pondering. Growing takes a lot of patience but I feel like I'm not patient when it comes to growing the strain out.

I'm with you on the "flavor of the month" thing. I tend to get a little tired of all the new strains; a lot of them seem popular just because they're a fad, not because they're better quality. There are a few old-school strains that are still as kick ass as they were 10 or 15 years ago, and I generally prefer to work with them - white widow, of course, along with purple kush, G13-haze, and a granddaddy purps/blueberry cross that I just flipped to 12/12. The last couple of years I've been working a lot with white rhino, and have isolated a strain that has mostly WR genetics but is a beautiful, rich shade of purple. Those are mostly my main strains.

But then I have to keep in mind that when some of these strains were first introduced, they were the "flavor of the month" fad strains, too. So who am I to judge?

I try to walk a line between the two schools of thought. I have 3 lights - 2 1000w flower chambers, and a 600w MH for seedlings, clones, and mothers. In the production rooms, I run mainly my new purple strain, but set aside some space for new clones and seedlings in each run. I'm working some black cherry dojo and blue twizzler clones right now, and a few granddaddy purps/blueberry plants as well. Probably 80% of my production area is my main strain, and the other 20% is set aside for mixing and matching new strains. It's complicated, because with the different finishing times I wind up moving stuff around a lot, but it's fun.

I also run different styles of grow, depending on the plants. For example, I have 2 lollipop SOGS running now, but one is a hybrid-SOG with 12 large plants that I topped and vegged for 2 months, and the other is 45 small plants that I flipped to 12/12 when they were about 10 inches tall (I planted 70 seeds, and figured about 30 females would survive. I got lucky, and had to adapt). Those two rooms each have different irrigation and feeding protocols, but I still find room to mix in a few plants from new strains.

It's not for everyone, but I enjoy doing it that way, and I never know when I'm going to pop a new plant that may become my next main strain. On the one hand, I realize that it sounds really time-intensive, but then again 3 months goes by pretty fast. And then i start all over again with a brand new blend of plants.

Skunk Baxter said:

But then I have to keep in mind that when some of these strains were first introduced, they were the "flavor of the month" fad strains, too. So who am I to judge?

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True indeed & not saying it cant be one of the trendy strains but those tend to sell out & people are usually pressed for obtaining packs. I like how you said your production is 80/20 that's something I want to move toward. My 20% would be fem seeds & the 80% regulars.

I feel you on different growing methods. Im usually growing at least 6 different strains at a time & we all know they dont like the same treatment. So my flowering tent will be a mix of SOG & topped plants that get bushy.

The only thing I feel like I get dialed in is the soil but I don't grow the clones enough to really dial in the plant. Me doing 6 strains each run is awesome for my stash but I'm not learning the in's & outs of my plants.

You ever run clones?

higher self said:

True indeed & not saying it cant be one of the trendy strains but those tend to sell out & people are usually pressed for obtaining packs. I like how you said your production is 80/20 that's something I want to move toward. My 20% would be fem seeds & the 80% regulars.

I feel you on different growing methods. Im usually growing at least 6 different strains at a time & we all know they dont like the same treatment. So my flowering tent will be a mix of SOG & topped plants that get bushy.

The only thing I feel like I get dialed in is the soil but I don't grow the clones enough to really dial in the plant. Me doing 6 strains each run is awesome for my stash but I'm not learning the in's & outs of my plants.

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That's one of the things I like about coco - it makes it a lot easier to run multiple strains, with different characteristics and different finishing times. It's such an adaptible, versatile, and forgiving medium.

Personally I cant limit myself to one strain. I have a different favorite for different needs

Yodaweed said:

You ever run clones?

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No dont have access to them & part of the reason why im doing this. No one to do selections for me which is fine.

Skunk Baxter said:

That's one of the things I like about coco - it makes it a lot easier to run multiple strains, with different characteristics and different finishing times. It's such an adaptible, versatile, and forgiving medium.

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Yessir! Thats what I use too along with a bit of long fiber peat moss. Can even clone in straight coco, I love it!

lio lacidem said:

Personally I cant limit myself to one strain. I have a different favorite for different needs

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I feel you, though not exactly talking about growing one strain only. Having different needs is a big thing though. I only really want strong sativas & a 50/50 for evenings.

At first I wanted to grow all of the new and latest things that came out. I went to the DAM and I realized the things that I was growing was up to par with what I found there , and in some cases better, after that I just decided to keep growing my own stuff, just pollen chucking and finding things that I like. It turned into something that I really like to do, and now it has to be something really special for me to buy something else.

astronomikl said:

At first I wanted to grow all of the new and latest things that came out. I went to the DAM and I realized the things that I was growing was up to par with what I found there , and in some cases better, after that I just decided to keep growing my own stuff, just pollen chucking and finding things that I like. It turned into something that I really like to do, and now it has to be something really special for me to buy something else.

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Nice! I like the idea of creating my own seeds but still having the name brand gear in rotation. I want to setup a separate small area for my pollen chucks. The more I pheno hunt one strain only the more quality males I will come across. No way if I grew out at least 6-8 packs im not finding nice males. Of course only way to know is progeny test.

higher self said:

Nice! I like the idea of creating my own seeds but still having the name brand gear in rotation. I want to setup a separate small area for my pollen chucks. The more I pheno hunt one strain only the more quality males I will come across. No way if I grew out at least 6-8 packs im not finding nice males. Of course only way to know is progeny test.

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Before you even think about making seeds and making strains you need to find quality females. I would never breed with plants I didn't think were worth breeding with (aka super elite plants that can make better offspring).

Yodaweed said:

Before you even think about making seeds and making strains you need to find quality females. I would never breed with plants I didn't think were worth breeding with (aka super elite plants that can make better offspring).

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No doubt! I would more than likely have the females 1st before I hit anything. Also I dont want to jump into this with no goals in mind for the seeds.The pheno hunt would take priority over the seed making until I find what im looking for. Im pretty good at keeping plants "bonsai" style in solo cups so just hold the keeper males I think might be worth something in veg while the females flower.

higher self said:

No doubt! I would more than likely have the females 1st before I hit anything. Also I dont want to jump into this with no goals in mind for the seeds.The pheno hunt would take priority over the seed making until I find what im looking for. Im pretty good at keeping plants "bonsai" style in solo cups so just hold the keeper males I think might be worth something in veg while the females flower.

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Nice , good luck!

Yodaweed said:

Nice , good luck!

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Thanks @Yodaweed !! Im not taking this on just yet but sometime early next year. I've still got my current grow to deal with & seeing where that takes me. Also waiting on this new Archive drop because that could change a lot of things in my garden lol!

higher self said:

Thanks @Yodaweed !! Im not taking this on just yet but sometime early next year. I've still got my current grow to deal with & seeing where that takes me. Also waiting on this new Archive drop because that could change a lot of things in my garden lol!

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Archive gear is pretty fire, you can definitely find something worthwhile in their beans. Hope you find a good one, you gonna do a grow log?

Yeah I'll do a new log or add it to the one I have going now @Yodaweed Have a few Rudeboi's from Archive going at the moment. The last pack of Archive I grew I had a potential 3 keepers out of 7 females but one was really special but I had to cut all my gear pretty much before me joining this site.

higher self said:

Yeah I'll do a new log or add it to the one I have going now @Yodaweed Have a few Rudeboi's from Archive going at the moment. The last pack of Archive I grew I had a potential 3 keepers out of 7 females but one was really special but I had to cut all my gear pretty much before me joining this site.

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Hey it only takes one to get you going , that rudeboi is pretty good og flavor and strong you got any nice OG pinesol ones?

Yodaweed said:

Hey it only takes one to get you going , that rudeboi is pretty good og flavor and strong you got any nice OG pinesol ones?

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Still vegging them their about 30 days from seed. From stem rubs a couple have that pine scent but its very faint. They defiantly have the OG structure save for one thats looking more face off dom & one of them looks like the Irene S1 I got from CannaVenture which is vegging as well. Only have 4 but I have a feeling their all females but hopefully in another two weeks they will show sex.

higher self said:

Still vegging them their about 30 days from seed. From stem rubs a couple have that pine scent but its very faint. They defiantly have the OG structure save for one thats looking more face off dom & one of them looks like the Irene S1 I got from CannaVenture which is vegging as well. Only have 4 but I have a feeling their all females but hopefully in another two weeks they will show sex.

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Oh yea that sounds good, hopefully those turn out nice, how do you grow them?

Yodaweed said:

Oh yea that sounds good, hopefully those turn out nice, how do you grow them?

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Hand watered in a soil less coco coir mix with mostly dry organic nutrients in it & top dresses during mid flower. Have a few liquid nutes from Natures Nectar just to supplement. I also brew teas w/ EWC, kelp or alfalfa meal. My lights are T5's in veg & three "300" watt LED's in a 4 x 2 kinda overkill in the tent but the lights are not the greatest but better than old HPS setups for me (too much heat).

I also dont grow for yield since its just personal supply. So I grow in small containers sometimes under a gallon, the coco coir allows me to use smaller containers. I usually can get over 1/2 oz out of those small 5x5 black square pots. I remember my 5 gallon days though, when I find my keepers I will run them in larger pots most certainly!