How many seeds do you pop?

[Mark]

I was wondering what is the average number of seeds that different people plant when they're trying a new strain.

Vote the number you would normally plant - where the number varies, just vote the average number.

[JessE]

Hi Mark,
I would wager it would ultimately depend on what my goal was? If I was searching for a nice mother plant, I would be germinating as many seeds as possible. If I was looking to just try a variety out, I would likely pop 2.5x as many seeds as I have room for females. This will enable me to suss out males, potential plants which are dwarfs or do not germinate etc.

[The Grey Man]

As many as possible.
If you plant 18 seeds - could it be the 19th that is the Holy Grail?

Also, in a pack of, say, Mango Haze, there is only 1 keeper. If you don't plant the whole pack you may not find it...sometimes you need 2 packs to find exactly what you want...

I always plant the whole pack. With Shanti that means 17,18 or 19 seedlings and I have had up to 12 females from that. Even there, there has always been just 1 plant that stands out from all the others...

[Gert Lush]

Depends on the circumstances, but I can say its definitely between 1 and 50.
Although more is possible, too, if its a homebrew cross.

[leadplant]

It can be more than 50 too - if an elite level keeper is desired.

Take nevils Haze for example. The legendary potency haze is known for does not breed true so only 5% maximum are going to be special.
IME that 5% is actually more like 1-2%.
Nevil says 5%. Sam the Skunkman says 1% Tom Hill says 5%

Dont get me wrong, I love haze even though I havent yet found an elite quality mom. I love the cedary woody smell it often has.
And even if elite level wasnt found, at least half of the seeds produced good to very good smoke.

I'm glad this subject is brought up again. For a given MNS strain, how many seeds does it take to find A)keeper B) elite keeper.

For nevils haze I'm gonna say 1 pack for a keeper and 6 packs for an elite level keeper.

[godislove]

if its a strain with consistently good reviews then i would pop 18 as i always shoot for 9 females...if its new or doesn't have many reviews i usually only pop 8-10 incase the strain ain't worth the space or produces an effect that i'm not really seeking

*It's more a matter of space imho and your goals

[Hemphrey Bogart]

I usually try to start at least 5-7 seeds of each new strain. I like to have room for other varieties so space is probably the main deciding factor for me. I always try to mix up my varieties so I end up with different types of smoke.

Of course, this means that some varieties get fed differently during the same cycle, which can make things a bit more complicated. The reward is that you end up with a nice mix of herb come harvest time (day time smoke, night time smoke, any time smoke, herb for hash making, etc).

HB.

[Dr. Purpur]

Depends on the strain. Some have better odds for finding a keeper. If you are growing stash, a few of each might be ok. If you are breeding, around 100 might be in order, or more if you can get away with it.

[badrabbit]

Depends, to me, on how many keepers you have going ..... when I'm willing to replace any/all current cuts, run the whole pack. If I have limited space devoted to flowering out proven keepers, I don't mind popping 1 or 2 seeds out of a pack .... I'll get to them all in good time.

[MJPassion]

I pop a minimum of 5 or 6 beans just as a "get to know her" type of thing. And since variety is the spice of life I get it.

I am interested in folks's experiences like what leadplant mentions, for breeding purposes. I'm particularly interested in Ortega, Black Widow, Super Silver Haze, G13/Haze, NL5/Haze and Shit.

Thank you leadplant for your lil synopsis.