Light Cycle & Seed development, Sativa Vs. Indica bloom progression

[IAmKowalski]

Ok, so here's my problem - I'm trying to breed a VERY slow blooming (like took FOREVER to even begin blooming for sexing) and VERY Sativa looking male with an Indica dominant female.

The male went into the bloom chamber about two weeks before the female, but it looks like it might be another week or so before it is 'ripe'.

The female, however, is COVERED in dime to nickel sized budlets already. I'm worried that she won't have enough time to produce mature seeds at this point by the time she is pollinated. How far into bloom is too late? She's already been in bloom for 23 days and seems to have about an 8 week bloom (didn't keep an exact record last time around, but I think it was about two months total bloom time). If she doesn't receive pollen within the next week or so, will it be too late? Even if she were pollinated now, is it too late?

Does light cycle effect development of seeds AFTER pollination? If I were to do a partial harvest, say a week early before she is too far gone while leaving the pollinated branches, could I re-veg this girl to give her more time for seeds to develop, or would the change in light cycle prevent the seeded buds from maturing?

At what point should I give up on this round and just save the pollen for one of her daughters? I could possibly separate the male now and put him in a box with a CFL to finish, collect all the pollen and paint one of the next girls once she's big enough to go into bloom. Is that my best route at this point?

Also, are all Sativas this damn slow? I realize they have a longer total bloom time, but this guy seemed to take forever just to BEGIN blooming - even with it's two-week head start. He's been under 12/12 since the 17th of September, and is still just growing more and more pollen sacks without a single one having opened yet!!??

IAmKowalski Reviewed by IAmKowalski on 10-19-2008. Light Cycle & Seed development, Sativa Vs. Indica bloom progression Ok, so here's my problem - I'm trying to breed a VERY slow blooming (like took FOREVER to even begin blooming for sexing) and VERY Sativa looking male with an Indica dominant female. The male went into the bloom chamber about two weeks before the female, but it looks like it might be another week or so before it is 'ripe'. The female, however, is COVERED in dime to nickel sized budlets already. I'm worried that she won't have enough time to produce mature seeds at this point by the Rating: 5

[IAmKowalski]

We Have Pollen! The first nanner just split open last night. I isolated the male a few days ago. It now lives in a cardboard box near a radiator with a single 23 watt CFL poked through the top of the box that I'm switching on and off manually. No vent holes in the box, and the male is tiny (about 6" high with only one main stem and a single inch-long side branch) so I'm not too worried about any pollen that happens to find its way into my bloom chamber by accident now.

I suspect that my girl in bloom is too far along to get mature seeds from at this point, so I'm just going to give him a few more days or until maybe half of the sacks have started to open and then I'll probably clip off the flower heads and put them in a bag in the fridge until the next girl is ready.

I am amazed at how long this thing took to bloom: 35 days from the day it was first placed under 12/12 until I finally have some pollen to play with. Again, is this just due to the longer bloom time for Sativas? Does this seem normal? Anyway, I'm not going to worry too much about the bloom time since these are the only Sativa genes I have to play with, so hopefully I'll wind up with some interesting results from the cross.:detective1:

[bigworm1922]

from what I have read on here you could do just the bottom few buds and then cut the rest off to dry and leave the seeds to get ripe.

[IAmKowalski]

Yea, might still be able to do that - but I think I'm going to opt for just pollinating a small one that's currently sitting in veg. I think I'll wait until I can take a clone or two off of it, give it a little time to recover and then move it into my bloom chamber. Once it begins to bud, I'll move it back out of bloom, paint it and isolate it for a few days. That way I can just leave the little girl in bloom 'tell its buds are completely mature and then some so I should have nothing but fully mature seeds.

The mother that I'm blooming right now is about half-way through bloom at this point and COVERED in crystals - such a pretty sight, I don't want to waste pollen and wind up with immature seeds - so this one is destined for the pipe - not going to try for seeds this round.