For Sure Female?

[UrbZ]

So my Cherry Pie is finally showing multiple sets of pistils. She has been in flower since 12/29 at 1 a.m. est. So 12 days exactly at the time of the pictures taken 1 a.m. est today. She is a pretty large bush. I took the tape measure to her tonight. 39 inches wide, 37 inches deep and 20 inches tall. I lost count and got confused at around 30 exposed bud sites. I'm really hoping she's all girl and doesn't have both parts. LoL I've seen no sacs any where I've been checking meticulously. Shes like a miracle baby she came from bag seed, her 3 siblings did not make the initial journey. So her being female would be awesome. Especially for my first grow. She was my practice plant.

So my question is, is there a point when you can say female for sure.

[OzzieWizard]

not sure if hydro is different to outdoor ... doubt it ... but outdoors male flowers can show quite late. maybe 3/4 of the way thru the grow. this is not the

end of the world if the male flowers are spotted in time. the result might just be a few seeds scattered among your buds. but if you don't spot them ...

then too bad. seeds created this way are likely to make plants that sex-alter and so are not much use to the serious grower. in my opinion your

question cannot be answered definitively! just keep yr eyes peeled! cheers ...

[Cannabliss]

She looks like a hot little number to me. Telling from what I can see in the pics you provided, I see some true pistils forming. It's common for the stipules and even a young Calyx to be confused with a forming pollen sac. But in this case, you may have yourself a lady. However, keep checking up on her every day.... just in case lol. Just my 2 cents. Nice-looking plant btw.

[UrbZ]

Thank you my friend. That's what level I'm at I saw the real first pistils and I was getting excited.

[alltatup]

Urbz, she looks super-healthy and happy!! Why are you concerned about her being a hermie? If your light is on a tight schedule and you're not stressing her, she should be fine!!

[alltatup]

Stipules dont ALWAYS cross on females.

[UrbZ]

I think most of it is first time Growers jitters. Plus this plant had a rough start to her life. She was moved 4 times before she finally got set in her final environment. And I did the Epic first time Growers mistake and drowned her probably the first three weeks of her life. She is easily 5 times bigger in size at just over a month since joining the site and getting help with her.

[alltatup]

Haha, more like Grower's love and it looks like she loved you back!! A couple of survivors! It is amazing what our plants go thru at times, and still give us excellent buds.

[UrbZ]

Yeah she was put through the ringer. Any love she intends to return this way will be welcomed with open arms (or cleaned glass). I just want to enjoy tasting her fruits of my labor. lol

[UrbZ]

Yes everything we do to not stress them out metal probably wouldn't help. All I can picture now is a bunch of seedlings banging their top nodes. And it does seem like playing some soft jazz or classical to ease the ambiance would help

[D.A.A.S.69]

Pretty plant Urbz, my RedPoison plant likes to listen NeilYoung an CrazyHorse, Psychedelic Pill at full volume. lol.

[UrbZ]

Thank you sir. If it wasnt for you and a few other nice folks she wouldn't be where she is. You few got me on track. I just wish I could find a way to get you a fat nug when shes ready. A little compensation. 🤓

[UrbZ]

So I'm not really going to complain because a bigger plants only a good thing. But I'm starting to run into some serious size issues with her. Shes stayed short and bushy for whole life. Yesterday was a water-only day so I fed her and she seems to have grown over 2 inches in one night.

So here in lies my issue I'm already pushing the limits on my cob above the canopy. Minimum hanging distance is 3 foot 11 above canopy. I'm already running around 32 inches. With no way to go higher. I can take my drain pan off which Gaines me like 3 inches. But I can only do that on days that I don't water her. I didn't expect her to take off like this. I planned for the flowering stretch but nothing like what she's doing.

How long can I expect the flowering stretch to last? If she keeps going like this I'm going to be out of room in a couple days. And serious light bleaching will imminently follow

[Cannabliss]

UrbZ I believe the flowering stretch can last from a week to a couple of weeks. I ran into a similar predicament a couple of weeks ago during my plant's flowering stretch. Even after the slight LST I gave her she still managed to keep getting taller. In all honesty, this was my fault. I should've given her better LST during the veg cycle. I couldn't raise the light fixture anymore due to the light hangers' limit. So I literally had to remove the light hangers and attach the fixture without them. Was a bit of a hassle, but worth it. Gave me an extra 6" or so.

Note to self: Give better LST during Veg lol.

[UrbZ]

I think I might be okay if it ends in a few days she's like 14 days in to flowering. I'm hoping this was just the biggest part of her stretch. Pllus temps here in Michigan have jumped in the past couple days and I think the warm weather help her grow a little bit. I was fighting with some pretty cold Temps.

I've already been doing some manipulating with my cables on my lights as well I found if I cross them corner to corner instead of hanging them straight to the hooks I gained another 4 or 5 inches. I'm actually going to take the clip off that holds my hanger and attach the wires right over the post of the tent. That will give me another 2 inches. Plus I can gain 3 inches on all non watering days when I
take her drain tray out from under her.

And you're absolutely right note to self more LST during veg. I've already got another grow going behind this. They are a month and a half old but all under 16 inches. With completely flat canopies.

[UrbZ]

She has finally completely revealed her true colors. Its like this everywhere. These were the 3 sexiest ones though.

[Cannabliss]

Very cool! Pink cigars for everyone.

[D.A.A.S.69]

Nice, everything is looking great,keep it up.

[UrbZ]

Thanks man. Im super excited. Couldnt have been better results so far for a first grow. Especially from a rando bag seed. It was definitely a learning experience too. Now just about 2.5 to 3 months until I actually get to smoke some. lol

[UrbZ]

Cannabliss cigars for everyone!

[UrbZ]

So I'm gearing up to do week 3 of flower defoliating.

I would like to ask the opinions of everyone regarding how much chopping on her I should attempt.

The are a couple reasons Im asking.

1st she is a bush with a lot of leaves. Since she was stunted at a young age I never defoliated her once. I did not want to risk the health of a stunted plant. It now seems kinda daunting to me because of size and how much there is to chop.

2nd After doing much reading on growing cherry pie its come to my attention that it is actually a strain that doesn't respond well to heavy defoliations.

So if I dont do a full defoliating where should I focus most of my attention?

Also should I supercrop the 4 or 5 taller colas that you see now or wait until after defoliation in 5 days or so?

[alltatup]

Hey Urbz, we all in this together!! I'm doing something I hadn't done on previous grows, and that is to pinch off some of the lower new bud sites that are stretching away from the cola; I really want to see if I can concentrate all the energy into the 6 main colas I have for each plant in my big grow box, and not end up with dozens of other colas rearing their ugly heads. Like I said, it's an experiment; I sure hope I haven't taken too much.

[UrbZ]

Yes it definitely takes a Village. LOL!

I'm pushing the limits right now on one of my plants as to how much I can cut off of it without it dying. I figure practice the harder stuff earlier in the grows and have it mastered quicker than later.

Sometimes it takes pain to prosper

[alltatup]

Yes, I have to say that dealing with really bad root rot was extremely painful, but man did I learn!

[Mr.furley]

Urbz, if you are unsure how she will handle it just take the TOP, center, larger leaf down to your second level of tops. She how she response, after 3 or 4 days if she hasn't missed a beat remove somemore.
I would also suggest "tucking" down leaf in your center, you dont always have to cut.
as far as supercropping, my opinion is the flatter the canopy the larger All of the top buds will be. Bend them over, keep it flat as possible and if they are unruly and pinch them over.
Looking good.

[UrbZ]

@Mr.furley

I took your advice and ran with it. Earlier I supercropped the two tallest stems on the the plant. I also defoliated a little. Lights out is in 25 minutes Im gonna hit her with a stress relieving foliar spray consisting of a heavy dose of b1, seaweed and cal/mag. Im hoping any stress she gets this will help. The supercropping went 50/50 one bent cleanly the other snapped a little bit. I had to electrical tape bandaid it. It didnt seem bad though it still wanted to stand up on its own. First attempt ever I figured id break one. I hung a little weight on each stem to hold them down.

I ended up taking maybe 20-25 leaves off of her.

Thanks for the reply man.

[UrbZ]

[alltatup]

Look at all them bud sites!!

[UrbZ]

@Mr.furley

Thanks man
Little nervous at first but by the time I knew it I was hacking away. Actually had to stop myself from over doing it by the time I got going.

[UrbZ]

@alltatup

That was the first thing I said to myself when I finished. I am pretty happy with the results. Im starting to get the hang of this growing thing. lol Luckily my plants coming out behind this are much more manageable. All great learning experiences.

[UrbZ]

She seems perfectly fine this morning. Leaves all pointing up. Newly exposed shoots are already showing growth. Even the top I broke is back pointing straight up. Looks no worse for the wear.

[Campesino]

A beautiful healthy plant!
Keep up the good work

[UrbZ]

So this will be the last update for a while. Not much more I'm going to do to her. Just feeding and waiting. Just wanted to say thanks for everyone for helping.

@D.A.A.S.69

You were one of the first to reply to my original post seeking help. Since then your advice with others helped me get her from about 8 leaves to this bush. That was just over a month and a half ago. Thank you sir.

Thanks for the deflioating and training advice from everyone here. It helped immensely.

Last night I fed her with the largest dose of food I think she could handle. Full 3 part 16 Ml per gallon of each, 14 Ml of Big Bud, 15 ml of big swell, 8 ml of rhino skin.

I first fed with 2 gallons ph'd water at 5.5. Then I added my 1 gallon of nute mix at 5.8.

pH runoff was a bit higher than i want at 6.73. its not terrible though.

Then I tucked leaves for 20 minutes exposing every open top I could.

Next updates will most likely be near harvest. So heres some final pics.

Thanks again.

[UrbZ]

1 and a half months time frame

[alltatup]

UrbZ, you have grown big: you don't have to go home.