Increasing Percentage of Females

[WhiteWiDoW]

Ok well unluckily my first grow I get 2 males from 2 plants :mellow: I have 3 seedlings though about 2 weeks old. I'm getting ready to translplant them from the little cups I have em in now. I don't want the same shit I got on my first grow so I got a couple of questions.

 

1. If I let the males keep growing (might as well not waste em and get some seeds out of it) will they affect the seedlings at all?

 

2. What are some ways of increasing the percent of females when growing? List some specific nutes if possible. I'm growing in soil and obviously the nutes I used first time didn't work too well :angry:

 

3. Don't know if this is true but I "heard" that when you transplant you need to cut the roots. I've never translplanted so I'm kinda worried I'm gonna fuck up my seedlings...Do I cut the roots?

[white_cluster]

there is nothing you can do mate, a seed is either male or female before you've planted its a risk you take.

 

there is 2 ways to increase the percentage of female seed.

 

#1. buy more seed in the first place.

#2. buy feminised seeds.

 

Nutrients and chemicals will not make a difference.

 

and no do not keep growing males, kill them now, they are the enemy of the grower and you don't want seed from them.

 

and definately don't cut the roots when you transplant, with other plants its sometimes a good idea to trim them at the top when they get root bound to keep the top and bottom masses even, but not with cannabis.

 

The best way of all to transplant with cannabis is to double-pot, which means cutting off the bottom few inches of your original pot (but not affecting the soil or bottom root mass, and then plant that pot in a bigger pot. Other than that you should remove the pot very carefully and not tease the roots at all, thats for more hardwood plants man, don't do it with vegies either. try to keep the general root shape as it is.

[wade ounce]

hey w.c. how do they feminise seeds?

 

i remember years ago, i don't know if they still sell it, there used to be this seed soak stuff which apparantly if you soak your seeds in this chemical you would get a 95% rate of seeds being female.

i never tried it, always thought it sounded like crap.

i too always thought the sex was pre determined,like sperm.

[white_cluster]

feminising seeds is more a genetic thing than a chemical thing as only very special plants can be feminised known as Xx females, like almost all female plants still have the male gene, but the female gene is dominant over the male gene. basically a plant that still has the male gene is a plant that will go hermy under conditions that aren't ideal.

 

So to obtain a Xx female 1000's of different female clones of same strain are started and then they are all stressed under wacky light cycles, like 24 on 24off 6on 24off, etc(whatever you want reall).... and the plants that grow male flowers picked out of the bunch and hopefully a pure female plant still remains in the lot, I don't know the probability of these plants, but I'd say the more pressure that has been put on the strain in regards to pure sex than the more chance you would have of getting a pure female. So indicas are more ideal over sativas for doing this with. as most sativas are known for higher hermy populations, with skunk #1 being a big exception.

 

then those plants which cannot turn hermaphrodite under environmental conditions are sprayed with chemicals, the main known chemical used is Gibberellic acid but I don't think it is used commercially by the companies such as dutch passion. anyway the acid almost kills the clones of the special Xx female but those that survive from some mutant male pods and can develop seeds with themselves, or female clones of themselves that will hopefully turn out 100% female.

 

But that is just how its "meant" to be done, I'll think you'll find alot of feminised seeds will be a line bred of natural hermies self pollination, thats been progeny tested to watch for males, but these seeds are finicky seeds prone to early hermies and the female rate will never be 100%. This is done by companies like Soma I believe, some people love the seeds and some people think they are the biggest rippoff in the world, its probably due to environmental conditions.

 

Be careful of any small companies claiming to have feminised seeds, it will almost definately be a self pollinated hermy, as producing pure female seeds would cost millions and could only be done by the big guys.

 

I must say though I've never bought any feminised seeds, dont seem worth it to me unless your a rich guy who grows outdoors.

 

The chemical soak you speak of is total crap, products like sensa soak still exist, I wouldn't be suprised if the rumours of these products was started by Dutch Passions poor english or just western people not totally understanding the concept of how the seeds are feminised.

[wade ounce]

thanks w.c. very imformative as usual. yeah, i dont think i'll ever worry about the feminised seeds.

yeah sounds a bit dodgey hey.

 

thanks again

[Luke Skywalker]

Good post there WC.

[LuvBuds]

i never knew that white cluster thanks very interesting and imformative,

Ive never and nevr will buy feminised seeds waste of cash when th same results can be acheived with a dcent mother plant.

PEACE

[BULLET]

What are some ways of increasing the percent of females when growing? 

if the conditions that a seedling finds itself in are conducive to a healthy plant then the the seedling with fulfill their natural destiny to be either male or female; roughly 50-50 with slightly more males if anything.

 

if those conditions are adverse, poor soil, the tap root meets rock etc., then the plants have a built in defence mecanism that helps them to survive.

more of the plants will turn male; that way they mature earlier and release their pollen thus having a better chance of spreading their genes before the adverse conditions can kill them

 

therefore, keep the seedlings happy,

try not to let the tap-root touch bottom for as long as possible

ph 5.5 to 6.0,

temp. no more than 80f

nuits cf 10

hydrogarden no.1 yellow up

DON'T OVERWATER just keep moist

a friend says he has got up to 75% females this way

just another opinion!