THE STRAINS ISSUE
A BREEDING GLOSSARY
STRAINS 101 Making new strains in the world today takes everything you’ve got … or at least some good genetics and a proper understanding of the breeding terms and techniques for expanding and improving the Cannabis gene pool.
AUTO-FLOWERING
INDICA
A plant that flowers automatically when it reaches a certain size regardless of photoperiod. Breeders created these types of strains using Cannabis Ruderalis genetics from higher altitudes with short flowering seasons.
Indica-dominant plants grow short and stocky with wide leaves and shorter flowering times.
LANDRACE
Domesticated plants that have adapted to the conditions of their place of origin over many generations. These are used by breeders to create new hybrids by crossing them with distinctly different varieties (e.g., African sativa landrace x Indian indica landrace).
BACKCROSSING
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This is a breeding practice in which hybrids are crossed with one of their parents in order to try to stabilize chosen traits to discover a unique genotype.
MOTHERPLANT
BREEDING
A female plant kept in the vegetative stage to produce identical clones (or cuttings) to root and flower out. A motherplant can be a source of clones for many years.
Applying pollen from male plants onto female flowers to produce seeds. This is done around the third or fourth week of flowering in order to give the seeds enough time to mature properly.
PHENOTYPE
A plant’s observable expression of its genetic material within its environment.
DIOECIOUS
Any plant with different and separate male and female specimens. Cannabis is a dioecious plant.
POLLEN
Fine grains released by male flowers to pollinate female flowers and produce seeds. Male pollen is carefully collected by breeders from flowering males and then brushed or dusted onto flowering females.
FEMINIZED
A type of seed that grows only female plants. Breeders use “male” pollen from hermaphroditic plants to produce feminized seeds for growers that don’t want to grow out any males.
GENOTYPE leafmagazines.com
The stored genetic footprint held within a plant’s DNA.
HERMAPHRODITE
A plant with both male and female flowers. This can be a genetic trait or a response to stress. Either way, growers should discard hermaphroditic plants to avoid seeding their crops.
HYBRID
A combination of two genetically distinct varieties e.g., Sativa x Indica F1 Hybrid - The first filial cross. F2 Hybrid, etc. - Each successive cross. S1 Hybrid - The result of selfing (using pollen from a hermaphroditic plant on itself).
MAR. 2022
POLY HYBRID
The genetic result of crossing unstabilized hybrids with each other. The resulting plants can differ vastly in their characteristics.
SATIVA
Sativa-dominant plants tend to have thin long leaves and a longer flowering time.
SINSEMILLA
“Without seeds” in Spanish. These are the unpollinated female flowers we call buds or nuggets that don’t contain any seeds.
VIGOR
Some hybrids created from distinctly genetically different parents express quicker growth and increased hardiness and yields in their first generation (F1). This hybrid vigor, also known as heterosis, is how new varieties are created and discovered.
STORY by DAN VINKOVETSKY @DANNYDANKOHT/LEAF NATION P H O T O B Y E R I K C H R I ST I A N S E N @ E R I K . N U G S H O T S
