Explain "open pollination" to me??

[RookieBuds]

Hey guys, just a quick query about a phrase I've seen used a lot, some seeds I have been given were also labeled as such

"OPEN POLLINATION", now does this typically mean multiple males just openly dusted multiple females? This just seems so haphazard, like there's no way to know which male banged which female so to speak? Does this just lend to more genetic diversity? Is this type of pollination NOT done on plants that are being inbred or "stabilized" in some way?

Please school me on this

 

[pepperpicante]

It seems to be a newer term to describe the breeding practice of multiple males and sometimes multiple males and females. This should result in diverse results in the progeny. And allow for multiple expressions from one seed stock vs multiple runs.

 

[ASecretSquirrel]

I have always taken Open Pollination as Open Pool just getting a wide range of diversity. Less on locking down traits more on seeing what’s in there. That’s just my two cents.

 

[Southside112]

Open pollination to me means that you let pollination naturally occur with no human intervention. Basically pop a pack or packs of seeds. Let them all grow out and do their thing. No culling plants or selective pollination.

 

[Frosty78]

Great way to preserve genetics, used from dawn of time till now. See landraces, the building blocks of everything around nowadays. Obviously applicable indoors but in Asia you see entire paddocks, fields, areas planted out with cannabis and left to do its thing.

 

[LoboGrow]

I agree with what's already said here, multiple males and multiple females to allow for a more diverse set of seeds. You'll also hear the term Natural Selection as well which is the same...

 

[Willie]

Open pollination to preserve something existing. Controlled pollination to create something new.

As Frosty said, open pollination is since the dawn of time, not new.

 

[HydroRed]

I consider an "open pollination" when you just let mother nature take the wheel with zero selection or interference. This method is often used for preservation purposes. Ive done what I call a "controlled open population" which means I'll collect equal parts pollen from each boy when they are ready (seperately from the females) and then mix it all together, then apply that to all the females. This way I can pretty much guarantee that each male gets a proper chance at seeding all the females equally. Often when you do open pollinations, you'll find that one boy (who may be the least desireable out of the males) will develop pollen first then dump on the whole crop seeding up all the females before the other males even have a chance to drop their pollen. Now you have a pollenated crop that has been dominated by one particularly undesireable male. When you do a "controlled pollination", thats when you are usually working specific plants that were selected to achieve a desired end result/hybrid/cross.

 

[rkymtnman]

like there's no way to know which male banged which female so to speak?

any Denver peeps? made me think of Mon Chalet on Colfax. swingers club for non-natives. lol. Made me chuckle @RookieBuds

 

[RookieBuds]

LMAO reading that back, that was a poor poor choice of words lol! Sorry, folks

Welp, can't go back now. Can't be edited AND it was tagged.

 

[rkymtnman]

LMAO reading that back, that was a poor poor choice of words lol! Sorry, folks

Welp, can't go back now. Can't be edited AND it was tagged.

i've just come to the realization my mind is and will always be in the gutter!!! lmao!!

 

[RookieBuds]

I consider an "open pollination" when you just let mother nature take the wheel with zero selection or interference. This method is often used for preservation purposes. Ive done what I call a "controlled open population" which means I'll collect equal parts pollen from each boy when they are ready (seperately from the females) and then mix it all together, then apply that to all the females. This way I can pretty much guarantee that each male gets a proper chance at seeding all the females equally. Often when you do open pollinations, you'll find that one boy (who may be the least desireable out of the males) will develop pollen first then dump on the whole crop seeding up all the females before the other males even have a chance to drop their pollen. Now you have a pollenated crop that has been dominated by one particularly undesireable male. When you do a "controlled pollination", thats when you are usually working specific plants that were selected to achieve a desired end result/hybrid/cross.

OH, OK this definitely dumbs it down for me a bit.

I was about to ask "but how does open pollination lend to preservation if it's all mixed and you don't know what's what?" --by kinda rereading your response, I think I'm gathering how it works. Let's say 4 males & 4 females, that's what, 16 possible combinations? --open pol makes sure all those combinations happen

Pheno hunt = finding what's what

 

[RookieBuds]

Great way to preserve genetics, used from dawn of time till now. See landraces, the building blocks of everything around nowadays. Obviously applicable indoors but in Asia you see entire paddocks, fields, areas planted out with cannabis and left to do its thing.

Yeah I think it's all sinking in now. Rereading Red's post a couple times cleared things up for me, I was gonna respond to this too "how does mixing 'preserve' anything?" but now I understand it better

Thanks, you guys

 

[Frosty78]

I consider an "open pollination" when you just let mother nature take the wheel with zero selection or interference. This method is often used for preservation purposes. Ive done what I call a "controlled open population" which means I'll collect equal parts pollen from each boy when they are ready (seperately from the females) and then mix it all together, then apply that to all the females. This way I can pretty much guarantee that each male gets a proper chance at seeding all the females equally. Often when you do open pollinations, you'll find that one boy (who may be the least desireable out of the males) will develop pollen first then dump on the whole crop seeding up all the females before the other males even have a chance to drop their pollen. Now you have a pollenated crop that has been dominated by one particularly undesireable male. When you do a "controlled pollination", thats when you are usually working specific plants that were selected to achieve a desired end result/hybrid/cross.

Red is pretty bang on with his surmisation,
I will add to open poll as opposed to controlled, using landrace as an example:
They let their crops go and go till they can get around to harvest all of it. A field of several acres would take a while to harvest compared to 20 plants.


Afghanistan, Pakistan etc generally use cannabis for hash, fibre etc generally nkt flower as compared to Laos, Thai etc. So they aren't particularly fussy about different peak flower harvest times.

You have early mid and late males and females getting their chance on pistils that are available at that point in time.

What has already been pollinated can't be repollinated, like a baby in your wives womb. Once its growing you cant change. So you new pistils and male pollen consistently coming through at various stages of flower. The flower window is obviously larger with pure sativas compared to indicas.
Good question thread.

 

[pepperpicante]

I consider an "open pollination" when you just let mother nature take the wheel with zero selection or interference. This method is often used for preservation purposes. Ive done what I call a "controlled open population" which means I'll collect equal parts pollen from each boy when they are ready (seperately from the females) and then mix it all together, then apply that to all the females. This way I can pretty much guarantee that each male gets a proper chance at seeding all the females equally. Often when you do open pollinations, you'll find that one boy (who may be the least desireable out of the males) will develop pollen first then dump on the whole crop seeding up all the females before the other males even have a chance to drop their pollen. Now you have a pollenated crop that has been dominated by one particularly undesireable male. When you do a "controlled pollination", thats when you are usually working specific plants that were selected to achieve a desired end result/hybrid/cross.

Well said. And good call out for controlled vs non controlled.

 

[tony76]

So yes, in that process, many different male plants can pollinate female ones, which leads to a lot of genetic diversity. This is different from controlled breeding where you try to keep track of which plants are crossing.