Selecting the perfect male

Hey breeders!
I was wondering what you look for when selecting a male plant to use for breeding. In an ideal world of course one would sequester all the potential males in their own grow room with 1000watt lights and flower them all out so that you can record all the little differences between them like maturation times and flower production but most of us closet growers just don't have the space for something like that. I like to take a couple clones of everything when I prune them just before flowering but then I trash the large males as soon as they show their sex. What I want to know is, are there any traits that you should look for while the male plant is still vegging that will let you know it is going to be a great breeder? For example... I have heard that more hollow stalks equate to greater resin production.

Also, do carbon filters filter out pollen? I was going to get a small grow tent to do breeding in but it will probably need to be ventilated and I don't want to spread pollen all over the rest of the room.

This is the time you get to chose what you want your plant to be like in the future. Just my two cents, I have been making seeds for many many years, don't consider myself a breeder at all, so take this with a grain of salt. Ok, you have your female and you are pleased with her more or less. If this is the case then you are looking for a male that is close in structure, growth pattern and such. It is much easier to obtain the desired results from changing as little as possible.If you want to cross say a sativa and indica you open up more variables to consider and possibly more time (generations) to achieve or isolate the desired result. Doing this type of breeding you are going to encounter many different phenos and then your are going to be cloning males and females until you have obtained a male and female with the growth charactistics you are looking for.
I must say that I enjoy both ways and experiment continually doing both. I am attaching a link that you should find interesting that explains this process much better than I am able to. The main consideration to remember is that if your genetics are good in the beginning then even mistakes have there reward in the pipe. Happy Growing and the Best of Luck

http://www.mellowgold.com/grow/mjbotany-removed/marijuanabotany3.html

NicFX said:

Also, do carbon filters filter out pollen? I was going to get a small grow tent to do breeding in but it will probably need to be ventilated and I don't want to spread pollen all over the rest of the room.

Click to expand...

I don't think a carbon filter will trap pollen. It might catch some or even most of it, but unless you have a HEPA filter in there somewhere, the pollen can go through a carbon filter.

Right on cane and mike. Thx for the answers. I'd rep you both but I have no clue how To work a fourm. I was hoping that there would be a magic shortcut but I guess trial and error, repitition, backcrossing, punnett squares and a whole lot of time and work are the only way to go with this stuff. I was thinking about getting a pack of those cannalyse chromatography kits to try and analyse my male plants to get a relative cannabinoid profile. Anyone think this is a good idea/waste of $500? I figure even the males produce a bit of thc, cbd, etc. So say I test 4 males and get thc % of 1.2%, 1.4%, 2.6% and 2.1%; all other factors (growth structure, vigor, etc.) being the same, I should keep the higher thc% male for breeding (assuming high thc content is what I am trying to breed for). Anyone had any experience with the cannalyse test kits and do you think this could work?

I just popped a tenpack each of soma's lavender, bog sour bubble bx3, bc god bud, kc brains mango, reservoir chemdog x sour diesel, thseeds bubblegum, and Tom hill x18 so if you can imagine, I am totally stoked and I don't want any of these fine genetics to go to waste

Oh, and tga dairy queen too. My memory must be slipping

I always pick a male that is healthy, and usaually one of the first ones to flower. Good luck.

Thanks for the link also canefan. I actually already bought that book on amazon because it is so useful. Everyone should read it. The actual book has lots of helpful illustrations so I would definitely purchase it if you are planning on doing some breeding and crossing. I also have Greg green's breeders bible which is also an excellent resourse but needs to be edited better because I found a few typos in his punnett squares that kind of confuse the issue. IMO the Cornell-Clarke book is better if anyone was trying to decide between the two.