herm question

[sunakard2000]

alright so iv got 6 northern skunk growing right now and last night during my almost bed time walk though i noticed a few really fat calixs that upon closer inspection had a seed inside... >_< ... anywho i found a few male flowers on 3 of the plants... only 2 or 3 male flowers over each plant... iv basicaly got 2 questions... seeing as its week 6.5 in flower could this be a natural genetic herm or a possible herm from cold stress... it got pretty cold recently and my heat went out for a night and since then it took like 3 days or so to bring the room back up to temps, it was around 65for those 3 days... and 2nd question what would you all do? seeing as there are a few herm plants that in all honesty are the largest producing plants, and im at week 6.5 in flower and have about a week and a half to 2 weeks left till chop... should i just push on through and let these finish up for amber trichs, or just pull them now while the amount of seedage is down?

this kinda has me depressed to see seeds growing and only a few small male flowers... just dont know what to do... please and thank you for the help

 

[Dr. Green Fang]

Unfortunately I'm of no help to you. I am a noob and would say with less than 2 weeks left to chop, ride it out another week and chop. (unless each day you're seeing loads of seeds) .. surely a bummer to see seeds at that stage I'd imagine.

Curious, which seed bank did you purchase from? (Just a personal curiosity question)

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Since you have seeds forming already, the male flowers probably opened a week or 2 ago--it does take time for seeds to form. So, it is not really a late hermying plant, like happens sometimes. I do not believe that your temps caused the hermies--65 is not really that cold. So, probably bred into the plants. Were these grown from seed? If so, where did you get them?

What you do now is going to be a judgement call on your part. Even one male flower can result in hundreds, if not thousands of seeds--every single little tiny pollen particle has the capability of creating a seed. I would try and pinch any male flowers off that you see. If you are not in too humid an area, you might want to spritz them down with water as water kills pollen.

If you have any clones from these plants, you will want to destroy them and start over. You can end up with about 75% of your bud weight in seeds. However, given the choice between taking them 10-14 days early or letting them finish, I would let them finish, but pluck off those male flowers as you see them.

 

[sunakard2000]

yes all 6 of these were grown from seed and showed what i thought at the time was 100% female... its really wierd honestly its like the ones that do have a few male flowers on them are 99.99% female lol huge huge bud production, stupid heavy with resin and weight lol gotta tie em up for support. uhmm i got the seeds from a friend who also grows, well more from a bag i got from him but still even with a few seeds it was a heavy hitter in terms of high and flavor, very easy on the smoke harshness... im assuming that the whole bag seed thing screwed me didnt it... and i did have a few clones taken at about week 1.5 in flower when they showed sex, i also took one clone from a plant with 0 visable male flowers, its already in a pot i was gonna keep it as a mother, should i trash her too? also iv been veggin a vanilla kush in DWC, should i worry? or just do a few hours of lights out and spray with water to combat pollin... sorry for the run-on >_< just got so much going through my head... one last thing... letting them go till they ripen, yes more seeds/mature seeds but will that effect the potency anymore then it has now? i guess if i let the trich ripen up will the seeds basicaly negate the strength of the thc? or is it just going to be a minor annoyance having to pick seeds out? hahaha again sorry for the running on

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

This is exactly the reason that I do not use bagseed. What you are experiencing is "normal" hermie behavior. You have a plant that is female and a ways into flowering it starts throwing some male flowers. The trouble is that even the small number of male flowers can create thousands of (worthless) seeds. Expect the quality to be compromised some, but not as much as if you harvest this early. I personally would let them finish, plucking off nanners as you see them appear, and I would throw away all the clones that came from these plants--even the one you want to keep as a mother. Many times the male flowers hide in the buds and aren't readily visible. As far as the Vanilla Kush--where did it come from? Seed or clone?

 

[Dr. Green Fang]

THG Shortbus and MANY others informed me properly going into my first grow..

I just purchased seeds from Attitude seed bank after being told that GENETICS is number 1. And Attitude is a number 1 distributor... everyone that I've talked to that got fem seeds from there has NEVER had a herm or male come out of it. Quite nifty.

 

[HighBrixMMJ]

Also id would take that room down and clean it out as best as possible, pollen can remain viable and present in even the smallest little crevices. if it gets on a future crop you wil have a problem again!. i would recommend the attitude for some good genetics! like ellis d and THG said. thats the problem with bagseed, too unpredictable. thats why i say 50-60 dollars for good seed is worth not having what you just encountered, but we live and learn. just finish em up, chopem down, clean everything really super well, get some good genetics and start over, Whah Whah Whahhhhh! sorry man, i know that sucks bad! as far as the quality, it does diminish, but will still do the trick i promise, like you said it will be annoying having to deal with seeds, but no a total loss!

 

[sunakard2000]

yeah i took the gamble, sucks but what ever it is what it is... the VK was a bagseed as well... only seed in 1pound my buddy got, figured id take the gamble again >_> pry shouldnt... gonna look into good genetics, i guess my biggest concern when i was still starting off was getting a handful of plants without spending a ton on seeds, but i guess it pays off more in the end to get 1 or 2 fem'ed seeds and just mothering them off the bat or clone and mother a clone... live and learn huh... well thanks for all the help everyone, just spent about an hour checking over every inch of the plants... it seems that ALL the nanners were thrown in the lower 1/3 of the plant, none, well that i can see, above it in the fat tops, see alot of seeds starting but there are a few of the large kolas that look to be uneffected and dont have seed development yet... well gonna keep searching every day till they are ready about 2 saturdays from now... ill keep checking in here, im more then sure ill have more questions. thanks again THG

 

[HighBrixMMJ]

just fyi, when you find seed in a bag of good bud that is an indication that the genetics hold the possibility of herming, now 1 out of a pound isnt too bad, youre bound to find a herming plant from time to time even with good genetics, it all really depends on the amount of stress the plant goes through espeially the closer to final flowering. especially with femenized seeds. the sinsimilla condition, which literally translates to sin- without, similla-seed, is actually a form of stress in itself, In a frantic effort to reproduce before death the plant begins to pour on the trichome production, which is the sticky substance that she secretes to try and catch pollen and reproduce. this is the goal of sinsimilla we as growers are looking for, as we all know trichomes contain the beloved THC and CBD that were after. this stress can cause her to produce male flowers in a last ditch effort to reproduce. its important to limit the additional stress in these final days in order to help stop the plant from herming. hope this makes sense and good luck on the VK, id say shes probably okay to proceed with just make sure you wash her and everything down to make sure there is no more viable pollen present in the grow room, and you have this issue again. green mojo friend.