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Friday, December 12, 2014

Colloidal Silver: The Do’s And The Don’ts -by Drew Dorr of Pure Michigan Genetics

       When trying to make a feminized strain I have found that the best method is to use colloidal silver to turn a clone of the strain into a male. Colloidal Silver when made properly and used properly can change the genetics of a female marijuana plant so that it will grow male pollen satchels instead of female bud calyxes. These pollen satchels do not contain the male Y chromosome because they are on a female marijuana plant and are made of female genetics and chromosomes XX. So when these genetics land on another female marijuana plant they produce female seeds. 
       So what exactly is colloidal silver?
Colloidal Silver is basically just partials of silver suspended in distilled water. Depending on the PPM (parts per million) of the silver concentrate it can have various results on each strain of marijuana. These results vary with strain because like how every person is different, every strain of marijuana reacts differently to different levels of colloidal silver. Typically what I have found works best to produce viable pollen is a PPM between 40 or 50. This allows enough levels of silver to change the genetics but not too much to burn the plants leaves. 
       In order to trigger a plant to grow male pollen satchels instead of buds is a fairly simple process but it does take a little trick and some manipulation depending on certain signs given off by the selected clone. First I take two clones of the same strain of marijuana. One of these plants I will save for a few days before I need her because she will be the plant I pollinate to produce my feminized seeds. The other plant I will spray with my mixture of colloidal silver for 3 to 4 days before I initiate the plant into the flowering stage of growth. This plant I spray typically twice the first day and once daily after that. When you spray the mixture on a new plant it is important to coat the entire plants canopy but do not drench the plant because the silver will be left on the leaves when the water dries leaving a silver residue on the leaves. If this residue builds up too much it will choke the plant inevitably ending in the plants demise.  
      On the 3rd or 4th day of spraying the mixture on the plant you will put the plant in the bloom stage of light cycle. You will continue spraying this plant daily when the lights come on. Over the next two weeks as the plant grows you will slowly see the buds transforming into what looks like a bunch of beads in a bunch. These are the pollen satchels forming. Once you see bunches forming instead of buds you can stop spraying the colloidal silver on the plant daily. By this point the plant usually will need 2 weeks before the pollen becomes viable for pollination. This would be when you introduce the other clone into the bloom phase. Usually a plant becomes ready for reproduction between weeks 2 and 3 of the bloom cycle. Males typically mature faster than females so that they will release their pollen while the female is ready for pollination and fully mature and producing buds. The reason you start the male plant first is because the pollen will take longer to develop because you have to trick the plant with the silver into thinking she is a male and needs to produce pollen.  
      Most plants naturally pose the ability to self pollinate. Light leaks in your grow room will typically result in a banana sack forming on a bud burdened with the light leak. This banana can release enough pollen to produce a few random seeds across the entire garden. It takes two individual specks of pollen to land on a single calyx to produce one seed. This helps limit the production of seeds allowing only the strongest of genetics to prevail because the weak pollen satchels that produce low amounts of pollen stand a small chance of reproducing than the large healthy satchels that produce unspeakably countless specks of pollen. 
       Natural selection is an important process in producing stable genetics and understanding the ration of phenol potential will help in selecting which phenols you select for further genetic stabilization. When creating feminized seeds this is also an important step and understanding dominant recessive traits will help in selecting plants for feminization. Obviously unstable or hermaphrodite genetics are not wanted because of the chance for accidental pollination or other technical problems but sometimes their traits are desirable such as smell, taste, yield, or potency. You can create stable seeds from a hermaphrodite strain and a stable genetic, though these practices are rarely used due to the already hindered state of one of the strains.  
      It is important to learn all the steps and processes to growing, cultivating, and breeding so that as a consumer, grower, patient, or enthusiast or connoisseur you can understand and appreciate the true depth and beauty that goes into creating and growing some of the scientifically most outstanding and beneficial medicine known to man. Breeding can create strains with chemical levels in resigns we have not studied a lot about but what we do know is that these rare strains produce almost healing properties for many cancer or epileptic patients with almost zero harmful side effects. The reason I write about breeding so patiently is because I have seen marijuana’s true healing power and first hand have witnessed it help countless people whom have come into my life. I always am looking for that new strain or new breeder who can create something worth talking about. Something Michigan made.