Just wondering if anyone has hear of this treatment for seeds? The winter crocus bulb contains a chemical that will split the chromosomes of the plant. I used this technique in the 80s to improve the strength of the plant. Take a garlic press or similar device and squeeze the juice out of the winter crocus bulb. Then soak seeds in the resultant liquid for 24 hours then plant. The first set of leaves will have more than one leaflet. Worked well back in the 80s to improve the THC levels in the plant. Not sure how well it would work on these new seeds that are feminized and autoflower. Anyone ever heard of this?
I have heard of it many years ago, though never tried it myself.
Here is more information on it:
Colchicine Information
Posted by PAXCO on March 21, 1999 at 11:41:04:
Polyploidy (favorable traits in Cannabis) has not been shown to occur naturally in Cannabis; however, it may be induced artificially with colchicine treatments. Colchicine is a poi- sonous compound extracted from the roots of certain Colchicum species; it inhibits chromosome segregation to daughter cells and cell wall formation, resulting in larger than average daughter cells with multiple chromosome sets. The studies of H. E. Warmke et al. (1942-1944) seem to indicate that colchicine raised drug levels in Cannabis. It is unfortunate that Warmke was unaware of the actual psychoactive ingredients of Cannabis and was therefore unable to extract THC. His crude acetone extract and archaic techniques of bioassay using killifish and small freshwater crustaceans are far from conclusive. He was, however, able to produce both triploid and tetraploid strains of Cannabis with up to twice the potency of dip- bid strains (in their ability to kill small aquatic organisms). The aim of his research was to “produce a strain of hemp with materially reduced marijuana content” and his results indicated that polyploidy raised the potency of Cannabis without any apparent increase in fiber quality or yield. Warmke’s work with polyploids shed light on the nature of sexual determination in Cannabis. He also illustrated that potency is genetically determined by creating a lower potency strain of hemp through selective breeding with low potency parents. More recent research by A. I. Zhatov (1979) with fiber Cannabis showed that some economically valuable traits such as fiber quantity may be improved through polyploidy.
Polyploids require more water and are usually more sensitive to changes in environment. Vegetative growth cycles are extended by up to 30-40% in polyploids. An extended vegetative period could delay the flowering of polyploid drug strains and interfere with the formation of floral clusters. It would be difficult to determine if cannabinoid levels had been raised by polyploidy if polyploid plants were not able to mature fully in the favorable part of the season when cannabinoid production is promoted by plentiful light and warm temperatures. Greenhouses and artificial lighting can be used to extend the season and test polyploid strains. The height of tetraploid (4n) Cannabis in these exper- iments often exceeded the height of the original diploid plants by 25-30%. Tetraploids were intensely colored, with dark green leaves and stems and a well developed gross phenotype. Increased height and vigorous growth, as a rule, vanish in subsequent generations. Tetraploid plants often revert back to the diploid condition, making it diffi- cult to support tetraploid populations. Frequent tests are performed to determine if ploidy is changing. Triploid (3n) strains were formed with great difficulty by crossing artificially created tetraploids (4n) with dip- bids (2n). Triploids proved to be inferior to both diploids and tetraploids in many cases. De Pasquale et al. (1979) conducted experiments with Cannabis which was treated with 0.25% and 0.50% solutions of colchicine at the primary meristem seven days after generation. Treated plants were slightly taller and possessed slightly larger leaves than the controls, Anomalies in leaf growth occurred in 20% and 39%, respectively, of the surviving treated plants. In the first group (0.25%) cannabinoid levels were highest in the plants without anomalies, and in the second group (0.50%) cannabinoid levels were highest in plants with anomalies, overall, treated plants showed a 166-250% increase in THC with respect to controls and a decrease of CBD (30-33%) and CBN (39-65%). CBD (cannabidiol) and CBN (cannabinol) are cannabinoids involved in the biosynthesis and degrada- tion of THC. THC levels in the control plants were very low (less than 1%). Possibly colchicine or the resulting polyploidy interferes with cannabinoid biogenesis to favor THC. In treated plants with deformed leaf lamina, 90% of the cells are tetraploid (4n 40) and 10% diploid (2n 20). In treated plants without deformed lamina a few cells are tetraploid and the remainder are triploid or diploid. The transformation of diploid plants to the tetraploid level inevitably results in the formation of a few plants with an unbalanced set of chromosomes (2n + 1, 2n - 1, etc.). These plants are called aneuploids. Aneuploids are inferior to polyploids in every economic respect. Aneuploid Cannabis is characterized by extremely small seeds. The weight of 1,000 seeds ranges from 7 to 9 grams (1/4 to 1/3 ounce). Under natural conditions diploid plants do not have such small seeds and average 14-19 grams (1/2- 2/3 ounce) per 1,000 (Zhatov 1979). Once again, little emphasis has been placed on the relationship between flower or resin production and poly- ploidy. Further research to determine the effect of polyploidy on these and other economically valuable traits of Cannabis is needed.
Colchicine is sold by laboratory supply houses, and breeders have used it to induce polyploldy in Cannabis. However, colchicine is poisonous, so special care is exercised by the breeder in any use of it. Many clandestine cultivators have started polyploid strains with colchicine. Except for changes in leaf shape and phyllotaxy, no out- standing characteristics have developed in these strains and potency seems unaffected. However, none of the strains have been examined to determine if they are actually poly ploid or if they were merely treated with colchicine to no effect. Seed treatment is the most effective and safest way to apply colchicine. * In this way, the entire plant growing from a colchicine-treated seed could be polyploid and if any colchicine exists at the end of the growing season the amount would be infinitesimal. Colchicine is nearly always lethal to Cannabis seeds, and in the treatment there is a very fine line between polyploidy and death. In other words, if 100 viable seeds are treated with colchicine and 40 of them germinate it is unlikely that the treatment induced polyploidy in any of the survivors. On the other hand, if 1,000 viable treated seeds give rise to 3 seedlings, the chances are better that they are polyploid since the treatment killed all of the seeds but those three. It is still necessary to determine if the offspring are actually poly- ploid by microscopic examination. The work of Menzel (1964) presents us with a crude map of the chromosomes of Cannabis, Chromosomes 2-6 and 9 are distinguished by the length of each arm. Chromosome 1 is distinguished by a large knob on one end and a dark chromomere 1 micron from the knob. Chromosome 7 is extremely short and dense, and chromosome 8 is assumed to be the sex chromosome. In the future, chromosome *The word “safest” is used here as a relative term.
Coichicine has received recent media attention as a dangerous poison and while these accounts are probably a bit too lurid, the real dangers of exposure to coichicine have not been fully researched. The possibility of bodily harm exists and this is multiplied when breeders inexperienced in handling toxins use colchicine. Seed treatment might be safer than spraying a grown plant but the safest method of all is to not use colchicine. mapping will enable us to picture the location of the genes influencing the phenotype of Cannabis. This will enable geneticists to determine and manipulate the important characteristics contained in the gene pool. For each trait the number of genes in control will be known, which chromosomes carry them, and where they are located along those chromosomes.
See more of the article and comments from other readers, get the URL from the pic below
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I flowered a polyploid last year. It was a struggle to keep her alive. I got a decent harvest, but the weed, imo, was unsmokable. I gave it all away. Some people seemed to have enjoyed it. It was just a different buzz that I didn’t care for.
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Yeah I’ve had a few natural polyploids over the years. My last one was like 3-4 years ago with this Sour Diesel, it smoked fine, though it went thru a very long cure, kept the top in a jar for over a year just to show other growers and friends before breaking down and smoking it.
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That swirling is definitely a polyploid. The things damn near choke themselves to death with so much growth coming out of everywhere.
The stem structure was interesting. Branches growing randomly out of the stalk. Super dense plant. The split you see here wasn’t the result of topping. She did that naturally.
There were actually 3 stalks. I had to chop down one of them because it was choking itself.
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Very nice reply and it reminded me of all the terms I have forgotten. The crocus bulb does contain colchicine. The polyploid plants do exhibit very strange growth patterns. I enjoined reading your reply. It laid out the science of polyploid plants to the tee. I will check the URL. Thanks a million
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Sounds like something I don’t want to do to an autoflower seed. What do you think about using colchicine on an autoflower seed? Would you do that?
Not sure if I would want to do this to an autoflower seed. What do you think.?
Yes, strange growth patterns do happen. Do you think it would increase the THC and CBD in a plant? Not sure if I would want to do this for an autoflower seed.
I could see trying it as an experiment but could turn out bad so I’d have some non-treated seeds/plants as well to get some bud to harvest.
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Nice reply @Hellraiser
After reading that I think I wouldn’t do it unless I had extra space and was just wanting to mess around.
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Same here.
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Hi guys, sorry for jumping on this thread, but im doing some research on polyploids…
I have this plant thats growing 3 (or more) branches out of each node…
She eats and drinks way more than her 2 sisters and grows way quicker.
Already topped her, doing some bending lst for now…
Still don’t know if its a good or a bad thing…
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I used to think trifoliates were bad luck and just toss them but I’ve grown many of them over the years and they grow and produce buds just fine.
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The thing is growing so quickly, i have high hopes for her…
This is today, 2 days after the other pic
Need to tie her down today
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That’s how my two GSCs the Olsen Twins were getting to be VERY quickly. I LST’d them and they’re STILL bushing out even trying to flip them, lol. I accidently broke one of the two main tops that formed after topping them young when LST’ing them and that one DIDN’T come back like previous (and seemingly more) major breaks on another plant outside. That’s a beautiful and HEALTHY growing plant.
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This is how that same plants look like yesterday
They picked up the pace hard
Just started to decrease light hours to get to 12/12 this weekend…
Hopefully there’s at least 1 female there​:crossed_fingers:
(hopefully the big one)
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that’s amazing
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