Flowering Quandary...

[gypsycookie]

I have been flowering now for 17 days. I am using a recirculating hydroponic system to grow. Out of 8 plants, I have 2 males, 5 females, and 1 hermie. I love them all equally. The females seem to only be developing white hairs at the top of the plants and the hairs are not very big yet. The male plants and the hermie are already popping with pollen. I've been trying to remember how my previous gardens grew, but I can't remember. Am I doing something wrong, or is this how it's supposed to be?

 

[Bubonic Chronic]

why are you keeping those males around your females?


or why are you keeping the males?

 

[gypsycookie]

I'm keeping the males to harvest the pollen and harvest them for cooking.

 

[GanjaGuru]

If you grow females with males/herm's, you'll end up with way seedy buds and not much smoke.
Much better to toss the males and keep the girls cherry. You'll end up with way more bud and you can cook with that.

 

[Mutt]

I agree with everyone. Why??

When a male pollenates the female all of the females energy goes to making seeds. This will decrease yeild and potency(plus everyone hates to accidently smoke a seed). Males aren't worth it. If you want to keep it. Get it out of the grow area. Put it under a cheapo florou or something. then you can still use it (for what other than sexing I don't know, I only cook with my female leftover trimming. Even then I would rather make hash ).
Females get the bud. Virgin females even more.

As far as pollenating. You can just pluck a pollen sac off the male and brush it on one bud. and have the bud get seeds and not the others if you do it right. Careful with the pollen it can get mold very easily.

 

[gypsycookie]

The males are a good distance from the females, so I'm not worried about pollination. I've brushed pollen on females before, so I'm familiar with that. I'm thinking that I've trimmed off the big fan leaves (the ones shadowing the undergrowth). They're big and bushy. I'm worried that white hairs are only showing up at the tips of the plants and not all over. I can't remember the previous gardens, and I don't know if I'm freaking out prematurely that the females aren't covered in white hairs. The ones at the top are small, and it's only been 18 days into flowering now. When I look at the girls, the tips sticking out of the bushy parts are starting to form flowers. I remember previous girls having white hairs where the branch meets the stem. Pretty much, am I freaking out prematurely, or are my fears well founded?

 

[Mutt]

18 days, don't worry they'll be packing on some weight for ya.
Don't trim off fan leaves. Those big fan leaves gather a lot of light, cutting them off will only cause unnecessary stress. IMHO

 

[gypsycookie]

Thanks for the info! I thought that might have been the case, but when it comes to my girls, I feel that I can't be too careful.

 

[Stoney Bud]

Thanks for the info! I thought that might have been the case, but when it comes to my girls, I feel that I can't be too careful.

Gypsycookie, if you've got access to a digital camera, some pics would help us figure out where you're at. ??

 

[skunk]

the fan leaves also store nutrients for the bud when flowering .