My sexing was depressing; questions...

[dutchpassion84]

So, I did more research on sexing since I am over a week into flowering and had preflowers I wasn't quite sure about. I now have positive ID's on all six of my plants: 5 male and 1 female. Obviously, I am disappointed and was hoping for 2-4 females. Now my 'only child' is all by herself under a 400W HPS (vegetated w/ MH...switchable ballast). This is my first experimental grow with seeds from somewhat varying qualities of unknown strains (about half the seeds germinated were the same kind of very high quality and the rest should have all been at least fairly high quality but were simply the most useable seeds picked from a random batch of older seeds). I have been investing in this grow as I have gone along, and it has certainly all added up. I was also just about to install an inline fan and make my own carbon air scrubber. I guess I still will, but I certainly won't have as MUCH of an odor issue as I thought I would.

I will definitely be showering my attention on this girl, as she's my only hope. All I can say is that she better put out well. One question I have is about the two plants that I topped in the later part of vegetation. They both ended up male, and I guess their initial growth above the rest was probably just a result of their sex. However, I was also wondering if high-stress training like this could cause back-sexing. I'm just trying to understand how 5 of 6 plants could be male.

Also, does anyone have any suggestions of what to do with the males? Are they usable for cooking or anything like that if I let them continue for a while with a bit of fluorescent light in another room. I just hate for them to go to waste if there is anyway at all to make use of them, considering I've put so much into them.

BTW, I am positive on the sexing. The males all had small clusters of 2-5 pods at their tops, and I know females never have clusters. And the female is certain, thank goodness, as I spotted a few small pistils.

 

[dutchpassion84]

One more question... I was going to make the DIY srubber that you fill with carbon. Should I just opt for making the cheaper/easier fiber one (using the activated carbon replacement filter for an air purifier) instead since it's just one plant? I am in an efficiency apartment in a house, and my grow space is half of my only closet (up to the shelf above my hanging rod, which my internally (and switchable) ballasted system hangs from) in my front room (bed/living room). It will exhaust through a plywood board even with that shelf completing the top barrier, and I will make intake openings at the bottom of the black-and-white poly that divides the closet. I was also going to do the DIY ONA bucket with fan in there too if it becomes necessary.

 

[allgrownup]

i would make the carbon filter personally. As far as hoping for great yield on one plant.....why not be patient and wait a month. If you can do that you may be able to clone more gals out of that "mother". You'll have females from that one on out man.

it may be used to the higher output of the 400W. so clone lots then move it under a flourecent or quad cfl and hope it keeps. then grow out your clones. you may have to grow out a clone for new mother but if your stressin over needing more plants this may be how you want to do it.

peace

 

[allgrownup]

oh, for that small of space, just get an ONA block and set outside grow room but next to it. i like the "fresh linen" smell.

 

[dutchpassion84]

Here are some pics of the girl and a group shot of the males now in my kitchen. My camera phone gets those black lines in HID lighting. Anyway, that gives you an idea of what I'm working with. BTW, are you suggesting that I clone now and vegetate those all over, or just clone at harvest time? I'm not really stressing that bad, probably not enough to clone her now if that's what you mean. I just want to get to my first harvest. I was kind of thinking I'd get ahold of some really good local clones or buy known strain seeds for the next time around anyway. As far as the space, it is about 3' long, 22" deep/wide, and 6' high. I've got a very small fan moving air from the floor upward (with no cover on top of the space right now). I think I'm about 2 wks into the flowering light cycle now. Any guestimate of how much this plant might put out? It's around 2 ft. tall right now.

 

[MrPuffAlot]

Get rid of the Males ASAP.


They are worthless. NOT even worth making has out of. How do I know?
Beacause I tried. Was waste of time and effort.

Last thing you want is your males to bust open a pollen sack and
get your ONLY Female pregnant and full of SEEDS.

As ALLGROWNUP has stated. SInce you got positive ID on female.
and you are early in your flowering. Take some CLONES and put
your whole grow back into VEG. wait 2/3 weeks go 12/12 and.
BINGO.. now you got 6 females to BUD..

 

[dutchpassion84]

Actually, I'm starting to consider your suggestion more. Unlike the males, she is basically still just preflowering, not into full-blown flower mode yet, so maybe I should just clone now. I could get four from the bottom shoots that already have their own tops. None of the middle branches have long enough stems to clone, but could I also top the mother plant down a ways and use her top as another (and quite sizeable) clone? If I do that, I assume I should just put the topped mother back into MH vegetative cycle. So would the clones do fine in there with her under the MH if they are a good distance from the bulb? Also, take note that I am growing in soil (Fox Farm Planting Mix) and using the Sunleaves line of guanos (started with plant food I already had for most of veg but wasn't really satisfied and definitely wanted to do things right for flowering). Would this add a lot of time, or should she and her clones have no problem vegging again quickly since she's barely started to flower?

 

[dutchpassion84]

Oh, I was working on this post while you had already posted PuffALot. Cool, I think I will get started on that tonight. I'll try to get to the grow store and pick some rooting cubes or something and pick up a bag of their guano that's better for vegging too. I'll switch bulbs back to MH of course, and I'll want to do the full 24 hrs. of light, right? Do you recommend the topping for a fifth clone? And will the clones indeed be fine under MH at a safe distance, or should I CFL those (have 4x 15W CFLs)? Thanks for your help, guys.

 

[Pot Belly]

Dutch - Hey man, ya got a female. Yahoo! Averages aren't always perfect with small batches. Give her all ya got, but don't overdo it - that'll send her packing for sure...........

Yea man, clone her and get some cuttings. Read on the clonings if your not sure the best way, there's a lot of good info in the archives here. In no time you'll have little sisters jumping all over the furniture and a jungle out of control. LOL! Patience is what you need now, but it's not going to take as long as long as ya think.

If you can, get your clones to veg ASAP before the flowering hormone really sets back root development for cloning...........Moist environment, root hormone in good medium with no nutes, you'll have roots starting in 10 to 14 days.........

Good luck

 

[dutchpassion84]

Please check out my urgent question about my topping job on the mother.
http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?p=165867&posted=1#post165867

I took 4 clones from lower branches and 1 off the top. So I just topped the mother at the next node down from where I cut off the top clone, but I cut into one of the two shoots there and then just cut them both off. I need to know if any shoots will grow from that node now.

Also, my clones are drooping, especially the top one since its heavier. I used twist ties on that and another one to support them. Right now, I have 3-15W CFL's on them through an upside-down tupperware container, but it just covers the top. Air can still circulate from the sides at the bottom (as the tupperware is elevated resting on stuff). Should I get them more enclosed? It seems people disagree on that detail a lot. BTW, I have them in little Sunleaves starter plugs in a plastic tray made to fit those plugs, and I used ROOTECH gel for rooting. I gave the plugs and the clones an initial misting. How often should I be misting them?

 

[dutchpassion84]

Well, my clones are starting to perk up. I put them in a little white trash can with clear plastic wrap on top. It's cheap wrap and doesn't really stick to itself, so I attached a few big rubber bands and hooked them around the rim with a paperclip (to make it easy to remove). I also filled the bottom with about an inch of water and set the little starter tray in there with the water being approx. half the height of the tray/plugs also mixed a little more rooting gel into the water (weak solution). They've been in there since yesterday and had the water reservoir and rubber band seal since early this afternoon. They're all standing pretty well with most leaves finally lifting up. Ah, success . . . so now I have 5 clones looking like they're going to be 100%. Oh, yeah, and I got my 4th 15W on them now too (kinda ghetto, just using a 3-socket alternating tree lamp leaning over it and another directed lamp resting on that. I'll have pics soon so you can see how pathetic yet sufficient it is. I think I'll start a journal of this (my first) grow with the pics I have going all the way back to the beginning (quite a humble one) so that you all can see how far I've come and keep up with it if you want. Peace