I did everything you shouldn't do...

So in the midst of my weeding out the weak (pun intended), I discovered a male.

I, of course, uprooted him, but then thought, "what if?". I clipped the top of him and just put him in a tiny little glass vase and put it in a window sill in the kitchen. No nutrients, no humidity, no spraying...literally just set it and forget it. Even took a punny picture with it!

IT'S STILL ALIVE. Growing slowly but still sprouting new growth and producing pollen.

I just had to share this because I'm blown away that it's still kicking. Needless to say, im going to take my strongest female and breed the two together. Anyone else have a similar experience?

Who decided what you *shouldn't* do?
Plants were on this earth long before us and probably will be long after we are gone.
They can survive, and even prosper under very challenging conditions, in most cases growers just get in the way.

Cuttings can survive for weeks in plain water, that's normal.

DaveInCave said:

Who decided what you *shouldn't* do?
Plants were on this earth long before us and probably will be long after we are gone.
They can survive, and even prosper under very challenging conditions, in most cases growers just get in the way.

Cuttings can survive for weeks in plain water, that's normal.

Click to expand...

*parade just got rained on* lol

I genuinely thought that cuttings were super fragile. Is this strength worth passing on though? Like...should i crossbreed it if it can survive those crappy conditions?

Alexander Magnan said:

So in the midst of my weeding out the weak (pun intended), I discovered a male.

I, of course, uprooted him, but then thought, "what if?". I clipped the top of him and just put him in a tiny little glass vase and put it in a window sill in the kitchen. No nutrients, no humidity, no spraying...literally just set it and forget it. Even took a punny picture with it!

IT'S STILL ALIVE. Growing slowly but still sprouting new growth and producing pollen.

I just had to share this because I'm blown away that it's still kicking. Needless to say, im going to take my strongest female and breed the two together. Anyone else have a similar experience?

Click to expand...

Loose pollen, is a big no no!

see it like Radiation it gets everywhere

and soon gets to ur fems

find another isolated place no wind lean into sun

2x a day scrap the pollen to a medicine bottle half filled with rice

store in freezer up to a month

when fems are ready paint pollen on pistols and tag the stem use lower laterals

leaving the tops to toke

leave the maturing seeds as long as you dare

once popped leave in the sun to dry 1-2 weeks

store in freezer again with rice

good luck

ps don't fuck with loose pollen

Thank you for the advice! And I've been extra careful when collecting the pollen. My fems are in a greenhouse outside and this male is indoors. I also make sure not to get near my GH after handling the male until after i shower and change clothes. Any other knowledge you have in regards to breeding plants, feel free to let the word vomit flow through your fingers

Alexander Magnan said:

*parade just got rained on* lol

I genuinely thought that cuttings were super fragile. Is this strength worth passing on though? Like...should i crossbreed it if it can survive those crappy conditions?

Click to expand...

You can use that pollen for breeding only if the plant it came from had certain qualities you want to preserve AND if you are ready to screen hundreds of plants from the resulting seeds to select the ones that present these qualities.
The fact the cutting survived in water is not a good enough reason alone to use it for breeding, in my opinion.

If you do want to use the pollen, here's a nice post to complement Vostok's advice (I made some modifications to the original post, I believe it was written by someone called Uncle Ben, I'm not sure):

Collect the pollen over time and place it into a clean 1.5ml eppendorf tube.
For a pollen carrier, heat about 2 or 3 teaspoons of flour in an oven set to 110c for 20 minutes.
Let it cool thoroughly, and mix with the pollen to dilute it.

I use a ratio of about 1 to 12 pollen to flour and have very successful pollination rates.
Aliquote the diluted pollen to several clearly labeled 0.5ml test tubes and store in the freezer in a bag with sterilized, dried rice (same treatment as the flour) for long term use.Remember, it only takes one pollen cell to fertilize one female ovule, and there are millions of pollen cells in a 1/4 teaspoon of pollen so be sure and dilute it.

Use a small artist brush (my preferred method) or toothpick to pollinate a few of the lower branches which have fresh, white pistils,
label the pollinated branches, and harvest your seeds in 3 to 6 weeks.
I just cure the seeded branches with the rest of the crop, and tear apart the seeded buds with my fingers.
You'll find the seeds close to the stem.
Store the seeds in the fridge or freezer, labeled of course, with a little dessicant like silica gel
or heat treated (sterilized) rice for long term storage.