Stabilizing Hybrids

Having a stable seedline is very much a benefit.
Outdoors for instance, having all your plants mature about the same time is much easier than harvesting plants maturing at different times.

I give away thousands of seeds every year, being able to give a desciption of the plants, and having them all come out fairly uniform and be like the desciption is a godsend!

Being able to carry on a special variety from seed, from year to year without having to maintain mothers all winter. There are many great reasons to have some stability in your seedlines.

Im not talking about True breeding strains here, that is much more work, involves keeping multiple lines to keep up the hybrid vigor, ect., well do another article on that later.

Right now, we'll start with-

The Modified Backcross:

Is succesively crossing back the offspring with a particular mother. Say you have an exceptional female hybrid from a seedline you would like to stabilize, use a cutting of your best male from the same F2 generation and pollinate a cutting from your killer mom. Grow out the F3 seeds and again, find the best male to cross back to another cutting from your special mum.

Again the F4 seeds are grown out, the best male chosen, and so on.

If your selection for males are good, your seedline can stabilize very quickly, as little as 3-4 generations.

There are downsides to this, like any undesirable traits your mother may have can and prob will be in the offspring. Make your selections carefully!

Your much more likely to have success with this if the mother is an exceptional plant in every way, it has been grown out many times and has proven itself.

The great Luthar Burbank said it best, SELECTION, SELECTION, SELECTION!

If at all possible, grow out as many plants as you can for selection, the more you have the better the odds youll find something special. If space is limited, but you still want the large selections, they can be grown out in waves. Grow out as many as you can saving the best specimens by cloning. Doing this over multiple grows can simulate a larger poulation. Yes it can take a while, and much work, but well worth IT!

Selection is the key, Burbank used as many as 500,000 seedlings when he made his initial selections for breeding!

Once the desired level of stability has been reached, multiple males and/or females should be used for pollination to avoid inbreeding depression.

Smoke on!

Stabilizing Hybrids
	Having a stable seedline is very much a benefit. Outdoors for instance, having all your plants mature about the same time is much easier than harvesting plants maturing at different times. I give away thousands of seeds every year, being able to give a desciption of the plants, and having them all come out fairly uniform and be like the desciption is a godsend! Being able to carry on a special variety from seed, from year to year without having to maintain mothers all winter. There are many great reasons to have some stability in your seedlines. Im not talking about True breeding strains here, that is much more work, involves keeping multiple lines to keep up the hybrid vigor, ect., well do another article on that later. Right now, we'll start with- The Modified Backcross: Is succesively crossing back the offspring with a particular mother. Say you have an exceptional female hybrid from a seedline you would like to stabilize, use a cutting of your best male from the same F2 generation and pollinate a cutting from your killer mom. Grow out the F3 seeds and again, find the best male to cross back to another cutting from your special mum. Again the F4 seeds are grown out, the best male chosen, and so on. If your selection for males are good, your seedline can stabilize very quickly, as little as 3-4 generations. There are downsides to this, like any undesirable traits your mother may have can and prob will be in the offspring. Make your selections carefully! Your much more likely to have success with this if the mother is an exceptional plant in every way, it has been grown out many times and has proven itself. The great Luthar Burbank said it best, SELECTION, SELECTION, SELECTION! If at all possible, grow out as many plants as you can for selection, the more you have the better the odds youll find something special. If space is limited, but you still want the large selections, they can be grown out in waves. Grow out as many as you can saving the best specimens by cloning. Doing this over multiple grows can simulate a larger poulation. Yes it can take a while, and much work, but well worth IT! Selection is the key, Burbank used as many as 500,000 seedlings when he made his initial selections for breeding! Once the desired level of stability has been reached, multiple males and/or females should be used for pollination to avoid inbreeding depression. Smoke on!