1978 seeds what to do

My dad went through his stash after I gave him my last harvest and informed me he has 3 sets of really old seeds.

About 100 from 1978 from Columbia
Roughly 50 from 1985 from Cambodia
And about 20 unknown but he assumes they from early 70’s to early 90’s

Now I assume we will never know the true genetics but the fact that he’s going to gift me most if not all of them is amazing and I feel that this is a great responsibility.
I’m not exactly sure the best way to go about this as I’ve never cloned or made seed but I would like to make some seed.

So I figure i will do one strain at a time, plant a bunch and then hopefully get the strongest male & female to create seed. Although a male really scares me as I don’t want it to wreck my females.
Should I just grow one of each first to see how they turn out?
My dad’s a big sativa guy so I’m almost positive these will be sativas and hopefully pure 100% sativas

Suggestions?
@PurpNGold74
@MattyBear
@Myfriendis410
@dbrn32
@hogmaster
@Sixpackdad
@garrigan62

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Pick as many seeds as you can safely grow. Do a close visual and use the ‘seed selection for female’ chart floating around. @Not2SureYet might have one handy. Germinate and grow out the most vigorous. As soon as they show their sex you can sequester a male and take pollen for later use. Females you would take a clone, and flower the original plant. Keep the clone in veg until you can determine if it’s worth making seeds. If so then you can either use colloidal silver to produce feminized seeds or you can pollinate any or all of the clone with the reserved pollen. This will produce both male and female seeds but will be more robust than feminized.

Hope that helps.

also: you will likely have a HARD time sprouting seeds that old FYI.

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This is what I use

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If you suspect you have landrace Columbian I would definitely take a crack at breeding them.

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They might be stubborn to sprout unless he kept them in the right conditions for all these years… that being said, I hope they sprout and grow for you! That will be the first battle tho with seeds that old :v::v:

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if your going to do it just do them in 1 gallon pots that way it gives you a good idea of what you got going and you won’t be so overwhelmed with what you have it will take up a lot less room

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My issue is I can only grow 4 full plants =(
Seeds were just stored in a paper envelope in his desk lol.

Very handy chart ty @Not2SureYet

@dbrn32 no idea… Totally possible my dad’s always been a well traveled personable individual so anything could have passed through his hands.

Suggested strategie?
Do I pop 3 females and 1 male?
Do I pop 20 or 30 seeds and just take the best male and female to make seed and then worry about growing product?
Should I just pop one / four seed and grow it to harvest to try it first?

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I would pop 20 of one strain and start thinning until you end up with 10. Once you determine sex you can then do your last culling. Being that they are old, maybe try to germ 30 assuming 30% won’t germinate.

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Another option is to get some of them into the hands of an experienced grower/breeder who has experience and can handle it for you. I’ll bet there are a bunch of folks would love to get their hands on some landrace strains.

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Can you grow a few more plants until they are large enough to sex them? Then you could at least assure you get what you need and move forward from there.

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I think I might be able to if I keep them in smaller pots, I’m just saying currently I only have one 4x2 by the time I do attempt this I will have two 4x2’s (plan to get another setup this winter).

I just want to plan this right.
@AAA yeah that’s sorta what I was thinking I’m just a bit nervous to be honest haha.

@Myfriendis410 I don’t know anyone maybe the local grow store guy, I’m thinking about talking to him when I’m home, he has alot more space maybe we can work something out…
But at the same time I sort of want to try this myself.

How many does everyone think I can grow in a 4x2 until I end up sexing them?

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Scuffing the seeds a little may be worth considering. I have never done it my self. But @Donaldj looks to have done it

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I always thought those male female seed charts were baloney?

@Nicky this could be amazing. With that many some are sure to pop.

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I would maybe try for 4 to sprout. Do the whole magilla: custard cup or distilled water with 1/2 tsp 3% peroxide, kept dark and warm and given enough time to decide or not to sprout. From there you can run some more until you get four.

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All great info, I’m loving the input from some of the best minds on this forum.
I just talked to my dad and he’s excited, he said he will send me the seeds when I’m ready. So I will probably get him to send them next month.
I currently already have a grow started but this is what I would like to do next so in January/February.

Get the seeds, sort them by male/female as seen in chart, select a couple and slightly sand tot hin the husk followed by soak a couple in distilled / hydrogen peroxide.
Then place in solo cups in a tent with a humidfior on high.

At what age should I start culling? What age do plants show their sex? I can’t recall off the top of my head I have been growing autos mostly.
This will also determine how many I can start because of space when at the stage I will cull.

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O.k. on old seeds i have found that sprouted barely seed soak work’s best
I have sprouted Scooby doo labled may of 73 got 8 out of 15 to go
Pink Cadillac from 1988 june got 12 of 20 and the rest sprouted a week later

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Im thoroughly intrigued! U could have a frigging goldmine! :joy::joy: best of luck.

And at around 5-6 weeks from seed most plants can flip qnd show sex

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Reguardless, enjoy the gift! How cool :sunglasses: I would take my time and dont forget to include Dad :wink:

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I’m having the same issue with 1975 pre paraquat mexican red hair seeds. I did get some to sprout about 20 years ago, I made seed by selecting a male from the same seeds and having sex with my best 15 foot tall female. Now those seeds don’t want to germinate! So I will try a test with GA3.

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Done this before with my mexicans. If you wish to stay legal here is what you do. Plant a bunch of seeds, make sure to indicate the strain if you do different kinds. If you want to prove the seed sex theory make notes on that associate with numbered seed. If any sprout, or lots sprout, cull all the least vigorous. Now if it was me I’d grow out 20 plants despite the law, but if you don’t want to do that find others that will raise some of your babies until they show sex. Then cull all but one good male and 3 females. If you plan to make seed grow these plants together. If the male does his business first, collect and store pollen to be used later. The deal here is you want to impregnate the widest selection of your best plants with ideally a male with good structure. You want to let these females go long into flower, remember this ain’t for smoke it’s for progeny! You want to make seed! The longer these plants go the better the seed!

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