Cannabis Breeding: Durban Violette x Apricot Kush pollination + Orange Apricot seed started

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mraggaj1.9 K2 years agoPeakD3 min read

I pollinated a lower branch of the budding Durban Violette cannabis plant, with pollen from the blooming male Apricot Kush, to produce seeds. I've also started an Orange Apricot seed from a previous Orange Barb and Pink Apricot cross breeding.

male Apricot Kush

This Apricot Kush plant was found to be a pollen producing male a couple weeks ago. Some pollen was collected and stored in the freezer for later use, some was recently harvested to cross breed with the Durban Violette plant.

The Apricot Kush male plant was trimmed down to the main stalk when it was found to be male, so the pollen would be easier to manage. Many little flowers opening to release pollen.

Bloom Week 3

A rice fiber rolling paper was placed under the flowers before they were tapped to release pollen. These flowers were more than ready, many of them dropped onto the paper along with the pollen. The flower heads were removed from the pollen.

Flowers	Pollen_

Durban Violette female

This Durban Violette is three or four weeks into bloom. With many weeks of vegetative growth, the maturity is producing large structure buds, the upper buds are already merging to form colas.

The two tallest colas are from the main stalk being topped and split into two.

In the picture below you can see the lower branch on the left, this is the branch to have it's top bud pollinated.

The pollinating below gets a little out of control with that little dust plume, but those top bud pistils have been pollinated.

Durban Violette x Apricot Kush pollination

The pod of each pistil that came into contact with pollen will grow into a seed, these pistils will turn red or orange before the others. Seven more weeks until harvest for these Durban Violette buds and cross bred seeds.

Orange Apricot seeds

Back at the end of February this year, I harvested pollen from a male Pink Apricot cannabis plant.

Bloom Week 1	Bloom Week 2

The pollen was collected on a hemp fiber rolling paper, placed in a ziplock bag, then saved in the freezer for later use.

Pink Apricot male Bloom Week 3

Orange Barb x Pink Apricot

Early April this year, I had an Orange Barb harvest that had a small cola pollinated with the Pink Apricot pollen, to produce cross-bred seeds. Both strains were vigorous growers with tasty flavors and smooth buzzes, quality strains to cross breed.

More than fifty cross-bred seeds were harvested from this grow - mystery seeds, each one widely varying between the mother and father's traits. Breeders would grow the seeds and select the plants with the preferred traits to breed together until seeds are produced that consistently have the desired traits, this seed would be considered stable.

Orange Apricot seed start

I'm growing one of the Orange Barb x Pink Apricot seeds, soaking it in water to get the seed to pop open. I'll call this new strain Orange Apricot, a combination of it's parents names.