males in hydro?

[fishcabo]

I have germinated a great sour diesel cross and plan on putting it in hydro (ebb and flow trays). The question is once the males show and begin to flower (which is before the girls), can I collect pollen and chop the boys and leave the stems in the system for the rest of the run without endangering root rot problems for the remaining girls? I don't want to take clones, re-veg and start over. I also want to back cross to get a more stable strain once the girls start to flower. Thanks for any help for those that have tried this.

 

[brushybill]

i would not take a chance on leaving the males long enough to make pollen, when they show sex remove them all from your space, you can take 1 male and finish it off somewhere else, the selectively pollenate 1 female when your male throws pollen i sure hope that made sense

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I have germinated a great sour diesel cross and plan on putting it in hydro (ebb and flow trays). The question is once the males show and begin to flower (which is before the girls), can I collect pollen and chop the boys and leave the stems in the system for the rest of the run without endangering root rot problems for the remaining girls? I don't want to take clones, re-veg and start over. I also want to back cross to get a more stable strain once the girls start to flower. Thanks for any help for those that have tried this.

If put into flowering at the same time, the males and females will mature at about the same rate. If you have males that are ready to release pollen or have released pollen, you also have females ready to be pollinate--in other words, you will risk pollinating your whole crop. You are risking root rot if you leaves the roots of the males after you have chopped them down--this endangers all the plants in the same tray. Backcrossing does not ensure a more stable strain.

I'm not sure what you mean when you say that you do not want to "take clones, re-veg (?) and start all over"? Breeding, collecting seeds, and starting seedlings is gong to take as long as cloning and vegging.

 

[BuddyLuv]

Get a beneficial to break down the dead root mass and you will be fine leaving the root mass. There are a few products out there just for this purpose.

 

[fishcabo]

Thanks for your replies. However, I'm not concerned about pollenating the whole crop. I wanted to take the best male and cross it with the best female only one bud at a time. What I was going to do was cut all males at the base and leave the one good one until it was just ready to pop. Iwould then cut him and move him to another area in a glass of water to release pollen. Put the pollen in a paper sack, put it over one selected bud on the best girl and shake the pollen onto the bud. Tie a ribbon on the bud and continue with the rest of the flowering cycle. My main concern as I have bred outdoors dozens of times with great sucess, was the male plant root mass left in the hydro tray for a few weeks while the girls finish. I may just start my seedlings in dirt, sex them, clone off of the best girl etc. I don't want a rotting system.

 

[BuddyLuv]

If you add Advanced Nutrients Sensizym to your medium you will be fine. I left my male stumps in my aero system with no ill effects. I waited for the beneficals to break down the dead root system and then I just pulled the net pots out. I am sure it would be even better if you were using rockwool or hyrdaton because then the sensizym will alway be eating away at dead material and breaking it down. Like I said there are several products out there for just this purpose.