Over the summer of 2022 I figured I might be able to get seeds from my GHS indica-dominant SLH phenotype to grow in 2023. She was from feminized seed and if pollinated would produce regular seeds, giving me females and males. But there was a big if involved because seeds need time to fully mature.
Pollination 6 weeks before harvest allows ample seed maturation time (minimum 4 weeks), so when would harvest be? I just ass-u-me'd the SLH#2 would be ready for harvest around the "end of October". That's what GHS says, and that seemed realistic because my 2020 SLH was harvested on October 23, 2020. And as it turned out in 2022, the haze-dominant pheno was harvested on October 23, 2022, with a second cut on November 5.
Counting backwards 6 weeks from "end of October", I arrived at early September, which would allow for seed maturation if I harvested them in late October. So I pollinated SLH#2 on September 5. (I used pollen from a male Michka because I had one. Michka is said to have a lemony aroma as well, and has 80% sativa genetics with a cerebral effect. If in 2023 I grow out a male SLH x Michka from the seeds received, I can also grow out one of my remaining two GHS SLH seeds and do a back-cross to a 100% SLH female, giving a 75% SLH / 25% Michka cross. I know that sounds complicated, but ordering new seeds by mail is not a risk-free option for me.).
Little did I know, I would not harvest SLH#2 on October 23, but mostly on October 14. The manually pollinated seeds, however, were left to mature and ripen until October 28, so in the end the manually pollinated branches matured for 7 weeks, 4 days, and so I might get a viable one. I'll post photos of the seeds below.
On September 6, I went away for two weeks, leaving the SLH indica-dom on a balcony with other plants, including one Super Malawi Haze (SMH) thought to be female. He was, however, male, as I could later see in photos I took before I left. Those photos show male flowers forming, if you look closely or enlarge the image (alas I did not see that coming):
Here's how the SLH#2 (indica-dom pheno) looked at the same time.
Sometime between September 5 and 20, that SMH went into full flowering and started releasing pollen. Not only that, but during that time there was a windstorm with rain; the male SMH was blown over, landing hard on the granite floor of the balcony. I can only imagine the cloud of pollen that went up. Almost every plant on the balcony received some SMH pollen, but in varying degrees. Right next to the male SMH was a NL#5 x Haze and a Shiva Skunk, and these two were well seeded. The SLH #2 and a DTHF stood at the opposite end of the balcony. The female DTHF was just starting to flower but did not produce any seeds (perhaps wind and rain prevented pollination, or she wasn't ready).
So when I returned on September 20, I saw the SMH lying flat on the floor where the wind had knocked him over. I figured the SLH indica-dom had been wind-pollinated -- in addition to the manual pollination I had done on selected and marked branches on Sept 5. On September 23, the hand-pollinated bud looked like this, with the pistils withering from the tips down, the calyxes swelling and also showing trichomes.
I don't have photos but in fact, the pollen of the male SMH must have reached hundreds of SLH pistils. At final harvest I found hundreds of immature outer shells of seeds that never fully formed. The plant I wanted to grow out for weed was massively seeded but these seeds did not mature. Possible reasons for this failure are the wind and rain in mid-September (dispersing or killing the pollen), the SMH pollen itself might not have been quite mature yet, and also each plant's own window for successful pollination, i.e., the pollination occurred too late in flowering. The seeds from September 5 (photo above) matured nicely, but the SMH pollen in mid-September may have been outside the window for good pollination. It is likely the SLH plant did not grow any SMH seeds to maturity. The plant was in late flowering by that point and had already produced what looks like good seed from Michka pollen. But whether any of the seeds shown below are 50% Super Malawi Haze will of course be a question going forward.
By early October, it was clear that the SLH indica-dom completely stopped putting out pistils. Was the end of pistil growth the effect of the plant receiving a good dose of pollen? You can see above how the pollination of pistils made them shrink and wither. I've read that pollination will stop cannabis from flowering further as the plant diverts its energy to seed production. Did she stop flowering early? Or was she simply at the end of her flowering life and therefore stopped pushing out pistils? Was she ready to harvest already? I thought she was. I checked my info and saw that GHS Lemon Skunk finishes "early October", so I figured my "Lemon Skunk" pheno might be ripe well before the SLH haze-dom. Seeing her trichomes were cloudy, I took the decision not to wait, that the SLH indica-dom was ripe, and on October 14 I harvested all branches except those I had pollinated by hand. I left the selected branches I'd marked and pollinated until October 28, when I harvested the good seed and remaining bud. I doubted it would be excellent weed, but little did I know.
As it turned out, this small indica-dom SLH made for a small harvest, but she made the best infused coconut oil I've ever had, despite all her handicaps: extremely slow seedling start, less than vigorous growth in veg, sickly appearance, and despite all the pollination she received. It feels counter-intuitive, but I want to grow another one just like that.
The SLH indica-dominant produced some darker seeds, and many lighter ones, but some of these may be viable.
Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy your grows!
Emeraldo
