I would appreciate input from those who already are successful outdoors growers of OG Kush.
This plant produces fine, dense clusters of buds, yes, but usually on stems that are way-too weak to support the weight. I've used various structural supports such as strings, chicken wire fencing, even deer net to make enclosures to prop-up the plants. This has been mostly successful, however, I don't want to think I'm able to come-up with the only ways, or perhaps even the best way to brace this fine strain.
So, I ask other ganjah gardeners what are their preferences for physically supporting the OG Kush they grow.
Thanks one and all, and may 2011 be the best season for us all...so far!
Snerval1
P.S. Hmmm...the Kush strains originated in the Hindu Kush Mountains, yes? I just can't visualize such a (now) delicate plant living in such windy conditions as exist in these mountains. Somewhere along the way did a breeder select-out this strains' stalk and stem strength for the sake of increased resin/THC yield? That would, at first glance, appear to be an incomplete hybridization: phenotype selection, though done best selecting for one trait at a time, still is well capable of selecting for numerous advantageous traits...it just takes more time. This might be where some separation between casual growers and serious breeders happens.
With 52 weeks in a year and OG Kush taking a full 12 weeks to finish a complete germination-veg growth through flowering cycle (one month to germinate and then vegetative grow before putting into a nine week flower), this equates to a wee bit more than four harvests a year. Let's say an ultra sturdy stalk&stemmed strain such as Blue Dream was selected for the male pollen source...using recurrent backcrossing with the saved pollen from the best (sturdy) BD male (your P1 male), not breeding a new male for each cycle. To start with what is being sought is greatly improved stalk&stem strength from within the successive generations of BD x OGK in this first stage of the breeding program...yes, always looking for that seed(s) that show both stalk&stem strength and the original HI resin and dense bud structure, too. Law of averages says it's not impossible to hit the jackpot, so to speak, with the F1, or first generation after mating the P1 male to the P1 female, however, same law says don't depend on it. Secret here would be the number of seeds produced from each pollenation=the more seeds the larger the number of phenotypes. Still, within four generations, about one year, astute breeders should see plants that are substantially stronger, strong enough to support throughout bloom the colas building on them. In the mean time each harvest will still be producing quality smoke, so not much, if any, is being lost during this process.
Final part should be fixing all the qualities we so love in OGK back into the production plants...that is if any of those qualities were "lost" while strengthening the plants' limbs. With enough seeds (seriously, a hundred or more seeds need to be germinated at each stage of this program!), selecting for a new male (this would be the second P1 male, the pollen source for subsequent breeding cycles), with strong resin presence on the leaves around its flowers...with, of course, sturdy stalk&stems...to be crossed with the best female plant(s) from the remainder of the seeds is how to finalize the new, stronger-limbed plants. Here you are using the same male pollen to produce subsequent generations of female (F!, F2, F3....), or recurrant backcrossing. This is how "hybred vigor" is established and expanded upon!
Now you have reset the plants' genetics back to what most likely it looked in its original form, only improved! Further back-crossing with the second P1 male pollen, with discerning, will narrow down the phenotype expressions so that within year 2, or so, you have fairly uniform plants from seed to seed, and have selected-out any BD traits, if any, that are unwanted. Further manipulation, say, for feminization, I leave to others to contribute to this.
Never accept the status quo...that's entropy.
This plant produces fine, dense clusters of buds, yes, but usually on stems that are way-too weak to support the weight. I've used various structural supports such as strings, chicken wire fencing, even deer net to make enclosures to prop-up the plants. This has been mostly successful, however, I don't want to think I'm able to come-up with the only ways, or perhaps even the best way to brace this fine strain.
So, I ask other ganjah gardeners what are their preferences for physically supporting the OG Kush they grow.
Thanks one and all, and may 2011 be the best season for us all...so far!
Snerval1
P.S. Hmmm...the Kush strains originated in the Hindu Kush Mountains, yes? I just can't visualize such a (now) delicate plant living in such windy conditions as exist in these mountains. Somewhere along the way did a breeder select-out this strains' stalk and stem strength for the sake of increased resin/THC yield? That would, at first glance, appear to be an incomplete hybridization: phenotype selection, though done best selecting for one trait at a time, still is well capable of selecting for numerous advantageous traits...it just takes more time. This might be where some separation between casual growers and serious breeders happens.
With 52 weeks in a year and OG Kush taking a full 12 weeks to finish a complete germination-veg growth through flowering cycle (one month to germinate and then vegetative grow before putting into a nine week flower), this equates to a wee bit more than four harvests a year. Let's say an ultra sturdy stalk&stemmed strain such as Blue Dream was selected for the male pollen source...using recurrent backcrossing with the saved pollen from the best (sturdy) BD male (your P1 male), not breeding a new male for each cycle. To start with what is being sought is greatly improved stalk&stem strength from within the successive generations of BD x OGK in this first stage of the breeding program...yes, always looking for that seed(s) that show both stalk&stem strength and the original HI resin and dense bud structure, too. Law of averages says it's not impossible to hit the jackpot, so to speak, with the F1, or first generation after mating the P1 male to the P1 female, however, same law says don't depend on it. Secret here would be the number of seeds produced from each pollenation=the more seeds the larger the number of phenotypes. Still, within four generations, about one year, astute breeders should see plants that are substantially stronger, strong enough to support throughout bloom the colas building on them. In the mean time each harvest will still be producing quality smoke, so not much, if any, is being lost during this process.
Final part should be fixing all the qualities we so love in OGK back into the production plants...that is if any of those qualities were "lost" while strengthening the plants' limbs. With enough seeds (seriously, a hundred or more seeds need to be germinated at each stage of this program!), selecting for a new male (this would be the second P1 male, the pollen source for subsequent breeding cycles), with strong resin presence on the leaves around its flowers...with, of course, sturdy stalk&stems...to be crossed with the best female plant(s) from the remainder of the seeds is how to finalize the new, stronger-limbed plants. Here you are using the same male pollen to produce subsequent generations of female (F!, F2, F3....), or recurrant backcrossing. This is how "hybred vigor" is established and expanded upon!
Now you have reset the plants' genetics back to what most likely it looked in its original form, only improved! Further back-crossing with the second P1 male pollen, with discerning, will narrow down the phenotype expressions so that within year 2, or so, you have fairly uniform plants from seed to seed, and have selected-out any BD traits, if any, that are unwanted. Further manipulation, say, for feminization, I leave to others to contribute to this.
Never accept the status quo...that's entropy.
Big Up! 420 Bandit;
