BBB#1 - BeansByBeans 2020 (I)

BeanswithPork, the next chapter... This will be my first breeding diary. Those in my internal circle knew this was coming, and so it shall be a fun one to narrate with a variety of possible outcomes. The naming convention is the first (#1) breeding diary overall, and the first (I) in 2020. My diary, my rules. The Purpose: Create a bunch of dank and charmingly inconsistent regular seeds, to then plant for the purpose of harvesting the females for product, and tossing the males. Generally, I will be working with the parents, and first generation offspring seeds only. Cloning favorable offspring for my own personal harvest cycle is on the table down the line. Feminizing is not in the cards and not part of my purpose. Selection in general won’t happen and even though it may appear I am systematic and organized, you aren’t *really* doing breeding without planting many and taking the best of the best. I anticipate many first crosses over the next year, plus. I’m not settled on pollen collection, but reproduction will largely happen naturally and with fan dispersal. What am I looking for? I find many strains to be similar, or overly crossed. I only grow photoperiod plants. I won’t criticize distributors, they provide good plants often as freebies, and under great conditions they can be grown into beast plants (I’m not at the level to turn everything into gems). But they have gone way too far down the circle of flavour rabbit holes, fast flowering/autoflowers, and just generally a wash of distant genetics. There is also the overhyped mystery designer world of cannabis seeds. I have particular tastes, oftentimes traditional, and sometimes niche, and so this is a half-rogue venture. I want to take some of the novelty and specialty strains that I seek, and have them take a step back with basic or landrace strains. Its a sham to say I’m ditching the mainstream if I am am just buying genetics from distributors and then crossing. But I bet I can make a bunch of regular seeds for cheap, the variety huge but some will be kickass, and the thing isn’t that hard. I will have total control and lets be honest thats what I really want. I will also have a large amount of regular seeds for my growmies if they dare play with the males. You know my policy: free seeds, free clones, free bud 🤙🏻🐒 The Setting: The entire process will start in my 4’ x 4’ vegetation tent which has two generic 300 actual watt full spectrum LEDs. The tent is hung mylar in an unfinished basement. The breeding will take place in another 4’ x 4’ tent with LEDs, my original tent. This will provide a nice contained environment, but more on that when its time. The Lineup: First up to the plate are the two freebies I received from ordering seeds through True North Seed Bank. They are great! I highly encourage checking them out for your next seed purchase. The two regular seeds are Original Afghani #1 by Canuk Seeds. This was a strategic freebie and I am really hoping one is a male 🤞🏻. To temporarily expand on this hope, I’ve planted three regular seeds for the first go (see systematic/organized but not really selecting), so the worst case scenario is three of the same gender , of either gender. Three males means I’m losing good opportunity and I can only half preserve this strain. Three female means I’m delayed in breeding, but not the worst case! But this strain is then lost. Both Original Afghani #1s being female or male is a bummer but can be partially preserved which is why I planted a third and similar seed to follow-up. But first, lead-off. Of course, the ideal scenario is one male and female and I can backcross and get many of this strain. “Afghani No 1 is a traditional landrace strain collected in the mountains of Afghanistan by Sacred Seeds in the 1970s. It was one of the first pure indica true-breeding strains used in worldwide cannabis breeding programmes. It is well known for its dense buds, copious resin production and its excellent properties for hashish production. ... Afghani No 1 is a vigorous growing yet small bushy plant, with a strong stem that is renowned for its strong aroma when flowering.” Batting Second: I want to minimize my waste but also increase and/or ensure chances so I planted a third regular seed, which is actually my TrueNorth order. This single seed is Afghan Hash Plant by Canuk Seeds. The strain doesn’t appear in the generated list. It is intentionally another similar landrace, both in terms of my tastes, but also in terms of selecting similar genetics to raise seed stock and preserve early on in my program. I’d like for the Original Afghani #1s to produce one male and one female, and this be female, and I can do a nice cross off the top. The description: “Acquired from heirloom gifted genetics, [a] pure landrace indica. The Afghan Hash Plant gives a spicy, fuel, hashy aroma accompanied by a earthy, woody taste, with vanilla undertones. Unlike typical Indicas our Afghan Hash Plant has a slightly stimulating effect with many users describing it as a euphoric, uplifting, creative, relaxing and an extremely long lasting experience. Afghan Hash Plant typically stays short and stocky producing light green, dense buds, heavily frosted in trichomes.” This is Day 1. I germinated the seeds in a peat pod in a cup with HP Pro Mix and Myke Flower mycorrhizae. Took just a couple and Afghan Hash Plant was the first to appear followed by Original Afghani #1 (A). I have some ideas in mind, now its a question of what do I have lined up in terms of timing and tastes, that I want to potentially breed and add to this diary? *Day 2 edit: Hey-Oh! The second Original Afghani #1 has emerged. Thats all three regular seeds emerged.*