Question 4th year cannot get away from Hermies

[Stomper1963]

Hello all. Wishing everyone a successful harvest this year. I purchased from a different accredited seed seller this year feminized seeds and planted them early this year. Tried my best to prevent the 4 plants from Hermaphing but yet again for the 4th consecutive year I see them again. One of the plants of the 4 was very different with stems brownish to purple and was much taller than the others so I separated it a while back. The other 3 seemed to start budding nicely and was checking them daily. However I did notice some nodes that had these small elongated nodules which to me looked like pollen sacks. Today I plucked a few of them off the nodes to get a closer look and I am pretty sure that's what they are. The buds seem to look nice and there is a lot of trichomes and pistils exactly what you want to see in females. Can anyone have a look at these sacks and confirm what they are? They still produce pretty good smoke but for once I would love to have a harvest of females only. I know there are many factors that can cause stress to cause this and have tried my best to prevent them however not good enough is evident. In one of the pics you can clearly see those sacks. They do not have appeared to open yet. Each one of thoses sacks were taken from separate nodes none were bunched. Thank you very much for any thoughts or advise you have. Cheers

 

[Tracker]

Those are not male parts. They are the very first female preflowers the plant makes on the upper nodes. They will swell I little like in your pics, but if they are not pollinated, they will be empty/hollow.

Male structures will be similar in size to those, but they stick off of the node on a thin stem, and when they open it looks like a tiny bunch of bananas.

Also, male parts can stick straight out of a female flower cluster, but those usually look just like a tiny banana sticking out between pistils. Sometimes growers call those ones "nanners".

Also, your plants look hungry.

Good luck!

 

[Joheim]

@Tracker is spot on. Those are pre-flowers, and all female. Let me see if I can find a shot of the last herm I had.

 

[Joheim]

Found them
Note the lack of a point on the male flowers.

 

[Stomper1963]

Oh wow yes I do see that is quite a difference. Is there a chance that these are in fact females only. Also if the buds do produce seeds then it is in fact a hermie right? Last year those elongated things were there but there were also very big seeds in the buds enclosed in soft green flesh. There were not a lot of seeds but still present. Thank you very much for your reply. If I see any seeds I will peel back the flesh to expose them and will post a few pics. Cheers

 

[Stomper1963]

Those are not male parts. They are the very first female preflowers the plant makes on the upper nodes. They will swell I little like in your pics, but if they are not pollinated, they will be empty/hollow.

Male structures will be similar in size to those, but they stick off of the node on a thin stem, and when they open it looks like a tiny bunch of bananas.

Also, male parts can stick straight out of a female flower cluster, but those usually look just like a tiny banana sticking out between pistils. Sometimes growers call those ones "nanners".

Also, your plants look hungry.

Good luck!

Hello thank you for replying. Yes they are in fact hollow as were the ones last year but still found large seeds in the buds last year and the year before even though the buds looked really nice. I have been feeding the plants the recommended amount of Flora Bloom and making sure to water them effectively. The weather has been very bad a times and have had to get them into the garage several times using LED lighting to compensate for lack of sunlight. The plants are showing signs of dying fan leaves and my guess within 3 to 4 weeks of harvest. I usually use a scope to look at the Trichomes before harvesting them. If you are referring to the yellowing leaves those are the ones that are starting to die off. I will update some pictures to give a better view of entire plants. Cheers

 

[Tracker]

Oh wow yes I do see that is quite a difference. Is there a chance that these are in fact females only. Also if the buds do produce seeds then it is in fact a hermie right? Last year those elongated things were there but there were also very big seeds in the buds enclosed in soft green flesh. There were not a lot of seeds but still present. Thank you very much for your reply. If I see any seeds I will peel back the flesh to expose them and will post a few pics. Cheers

There is a chance that you did have a hermie or nanner somewhere on the plant. If that is the case, the seeds will be feminized, but they might have a genetic propensity to carry the herm trait.

Also, if you are outdoor, there is a chance that someone has a male plant within a few hundred yards of you. If the male is within 100ft, you'll have a lot of seeds. If it's a few hundred yards away, depending on size, you might only have a few seeds. Even if it's a mile away, the wind can carry the pollen to your females. If a neighbor is applying pollen to their plants and not taking steps to prevent spillage, that could also pollinate your females. If you have hemp farms with males within a few miles of you, those make a ton of pollen. Could also be plants escaped into the wild growing in a ditch within a few hundred yards of you.

If it's pollen from a male, you will have both sexes on the seeds.

 

[Tracker]

Hello thank you for replying. Yes they are in fact hollow as were the ones last year but still found large seeds in the buds last year and the year before even though the buds looked really nice. I have been feeding the plants the recommended amount of Flora Bloom and making sure to water them effectively. The weather has been very bad a times and have had to get them into the garage several times using LED lighting to compensate for lack of sunlight. The plants are showing signs of dying fan leaves and my guess within 3 to 4 weeks of harvest. I usually use a scope to look at the Trichomes before harvesting them. If you are referring to the yellowing leaves those are the ones that are starting to die off. I will update some pictures to give a better view of entire plants. Cheers

The plants in the original post look like they have 5 weeks or more to harvest. My suspicion is that the nutrients you are using are low in Nitrogen and high in Phosphorous. Most bloom nutrients have higher P and lower N than the plant needs. Since the plant is hungry for N, it steals N from older growth to reuse on new growth. That's what causes the leaves to turn yellow.

 

[Joheim]

I can only advise from an indoor Grower's point of view and again I agree with @Tracker at least 5 weeks, if your lighting schedule allows. It's awful early for the fade to start, so I would consider some sort of nitrogen shot. I think you should have carried on with your: veg nutes into flower week 3,4, or even longer for those equatorial sativas. 13+weeks in flower I'm taking veg feeding into flowering week 7 then going to bloom the last 5 or 6 weeks. They need the nitrogen all through their life just maybe not so much when they're only building flower.

 

[Stomper1963]

Hello thank you for replying. Yes they are in fact hollow as were the ones last year but still found large seeds in the buds last year and the year before even though the buds looked really nice. I have been feeding the plants the recommended amount of Flora Bloom and making sure to water them effectively. The weather has been very bad a times and have had to get them into the garage several times using LED lighting to compensate for lack of sunlight. The plants are showing signs of dying fan leaves and my guess within 3 to 4 weeks of harvest. I usually use a scope to look at the Trichomes before harvesting them. If you are referring to the yellowing leaves those are the ones that are starting to die off. I will update some pictures to give a better view of entire plants. Cheers

Hello here's an update. Sadly on one of the plants well into budding one of those

Those are not male parts. They are the very first female preflowers the plant makes on the upper nodes. They will swell I little like in your pics, but if they are not pollinated, they will be empty/hollow.

Male structures will be similar in size to those, but they stick off of the node on a thin stem, and when they open it looks like a tiny bunch of bananas.

Also, male parts can stick straight out of a female flower cluster, but those usually look just like a tiny banana sticking out between pistils. Sometimes growers call those ones "nanners".

Also, your plants look hungry.

Good luck!

Hello here's an update. Sadly on one of the plants well into budding one of those larger sacks above the nodes had a large seed as you can see in the pics. My neighborhood is pretty small, know most people here. Nobody grows weed anywhere near me so it has to be stress related. Obviously my fault somewhere down the line. I was using Floragrow until they got well into bloom then switched to Florabloom using recommended amounts. I am by no means equipped to monitor nutrient values or any other values other than humidity in the soil and react to what the leaves try to tell me but I did not think it was this hard to harvest good female buds. I'm at the end of my rope feeling pretty crappy. The smaller plant that is most budding does not seem to have any seeds but I guess in time they will be there. The weed is not garbage still gives a good buz however just knocks the pleasure and excitement from you. Happy harvesting in about 3 to 4 weeks for most I assume. Cheers

 

[Tracker]

Keep spirits up. Don't give up. If you need more beans to try with, just say so. I seed some branches on my plants every grow I do. The unseeded branches come out great, even if they have a few stray seeds in them.

 

[Reznfingeez]

Those look like nice plants

 

[Joheim]

Without a sealed and purified environment (think "lab" conditions) there is always a chance of wild pollen. Yeah, that's a seed, and for it to have formed a seed, means it is a girl. Still pretty sure your girls, are just girls. More bud pics, just to be sure! Haha! I don't have anything in flower right now so I'm enjoying other people's bud shots.

 

[Stomper1963]

Without a sealed and purified environment (think "lab" conditions) there is always a chance of wild pollen. Yeah, that's a seed, and for it to have formed a seed, means it is a girl. Still pretty sure your girls, are just girls. More bud pics, just to be sure! Haha! I don't have anything in flower right now so I'm enjoying other people's bud shots.

Hello so even though there may be a few seeds in those sacks and one or 2 in the buds themselves (which look like those same sacks), these can still be female. Confusing to me as I thought once you see a seed it is either hermied or it's a male. The buds do look really nice and smell strong and sweet. I will post more pics as they develop further. For next year I will have to plan a whole new approach. Gotta have one pure lady crop to experience, just gotta learn how to prevent them from been pollinated. Cheers

 

[Joheim]

Still a girl. All the seed indicates is that a female flower(your whole plant) got some viable pollen (male) somehow, and made a seed your plant is still a girl, and baring any major stressors, shall remain that way. Will she have seeds, apparently. In my area everybody is in flower so I would expect seed in any outdoor grow.

 

[Stomper1963]

Still a girl. All the seed indicates is that a female flower(your whole plant) got some viable pollen (male) somehow, and made a seed your plant is still a girl, and baring any major stressors, shall remain that way. Will she have seeds, apparently. In my area everybody is in flower so I would expect seed in any outdoor grow.

So the fact that my plant(s) may have had flowers pollenated means that the buds are still good to smoke? Will every single bud have seeds or just the ones that got pollinated? At least it's not all bad news. I thought as soon as you see a seed it is hermie and therefore waste. Will the seeds be any good and still have the female gene? Thank you for your experience and knowledge you have no idea how you have made me feel so much happier.

 

[Tracker]

So the fact that my plant(s) may have had flowers pollenated means that the buds are still good to smoke? Will every single bud have seeds or just the ones that got pollinated? At least it's not all bad news. I thought as soon as you see a seed it is hermie and therefore waste. Will the seeds be any good and still have the female gene? Thank you for your experience and knowledge you have no idea how you have made me feel so much happier.

Each bud is made up of many many small flowers. Each flower has a calyx/ovule with a pistil or two sticking out. The interaction between pollen and flower is 1:1. Generally, one grain of pollen pollinated one flower to make one seed. Every now and then there are twins.

Every seed you find on your plant was made by one grain of pollen pollinating one flower.

The buds are definitely still good for consumption.

 

[Joheim]

The buds will be fine, just have to watch out for seeds. There will more than likely be a few seeds in each "bud" especially since your pre flowers are getting pollinated already. I don't know what to advise to try to avoid pollen outside, I don't think it can be done. Weed has been seedy for eons, only recently has there been a surge in sinsemilla (without seed) growing. I've never noticed a difference between seeded and unseeded bud from the same plant. Maybe I don't have a gangier's palette, but I still got high!

 

[swapsmokeseed]

Each bud is made up of many many small flowers. Each flower has a calyx/ovule with a pistil or two sticking out. The interaction between pollen and flower is 1:1. Generally, one grain of pollen pollinated one flower to make one seed. Every now and then there are twins.

Every seed you find on your plant was made by one grain of pollen pollinating one flower.

The buds are definitely still good for consumption.

A couple pics were showing immature seeds and those were out of calxs inside swollen bracts.


I predominantly breed using natural males.
Forcing female to make pollen (IMO), will encourage some of the same, some more so than others.


I trick into flower my three inch (regular) seedlings back in February or March then either place in my veg tent or outdoors in the greenhouse once sex (female pistils) are established.

So far not a hermie anywhere

I will continue this practice, (until/unless I feel helpless enough to change my mind and rely on fems......

I also am such a seed enthusiast that I make a couple seeds from the quick couple pistils (and company) as they mature in the veg tent. Pollenated as a two/three inch sprout.
I often pollenated using auto flower males for some crosses inside and outside the last two years.

This way if one female doesn't reveg from this technique, I (using male auto pollen) have not wasted the original (auto) seed, by making more auto seeds. Because I don't waste time using large amounts of soil mediums for the young sexing. So sometimes an auto seed finds its way into this line up.

Happy growing.

 

[Rasterman]

So the fact that my plant(s) may have had flowers pollenated means that the buds are still good to smoke? Will every single bud have seeds or just the ones that got pollinated? At least it's not all bad news. I thought as soon as you see a seed it is hermie and therefore waste. Will the seeds be any good and still have the female gene? Thank you for your experience and knowledge you have no idea how you have made me feel so much happier.

I had a herm that lightly seeded a few of my plants. Aside from the POP that I get occasionally when a seed gets left in what I'm smoking, it's still good bud. I usually make RHO from fully-seeded buds though.