Determine sex

[davbib]

Hi- I'm growing 4 plants from some bonus mystery seeds I got along with my regular order so I have no idea of the strains. I can tell these month old plants are definitely different. I'm keeping a close eye on them to see any signs of sex, but nothing just yet. My question for you is, so long as I keep the plants on theirn18-6 schedule is there any risk that a male plant(s) will release pollen messing up any females? I'm thinking odds are, two are male and two are female. I was thinking of cloning each and then putting those clones under 12/12 lighting but that seems like maybe unnecessary work and I don't have a lot of room for 4, let alone 8 plants. Besides, if I do that I might be asking for trouble if a male's pollen gets released. Thought?

thanks in advance.

[tyler_ hobbyist]

Yes a male could possiblely polinate at anytime once u see the round pollen sacks instead of hairs/pistils pull it and discard unless u wanna start breeding

[oldjarhead100]

well dav welcome I think doing the clone thing to sex the plant is your best bet You do not want a male plant in with the girls I had one and pulled it before any pollen was released or so I thought but I had seeds in all the other plants so I would sex them and get rid of the males

[bblv]

Is it ok if I tag onto this thread for a related question?

First attempt at seedling grow... bagseed, figured why not... but I do not have any experience in determining sex as my grows so far have all been purchased clones.

Is my little critter here a male?

[bblv]

Thanks Tyler!

[alltatup]

bblv It's funny what you wrote about changing your mind and not believing your eyes: that's exactly what happened to me on my last grow, when my Green Crack grew sacs. I didn't want it to be true, but after about 25 minutes, I had to admit to myself that it was true. I took him right out of my grow box.

[bblv]

LOL alltatup!

[tyler_ hobbyist]

If u put him in a seperate room u can collect the pollen and breed ur own seeds if u wanted to

[davbib]

Thanks Tyler and Jarhead. I guess the old saying anything anything worth doing is worth doing properly rings true. I'll take your advice! Glad to be part of this community.

[Zativa]

Davbib, welcome, I'm also new here, with a few grows worth of experience. Reading your post very literally..... you say these are one month old and currently on an '18-6' light cycle. If that isn't a typo, something doesn't make sense. Usual procedure is start with 16 hours on and 8 hours off so 18-6 does not really compute. If you had the lights on 18 hours per day, few strains should be flowering at the end of month one. If it is the other way around, 6 hours on and 18 hours off, male plants of any variety will be rushing to make flowers as fast as they can, putting every bit of energy into dumping pollen before winter starts (that's their view of the world). Even females with the slightest hermaphroditic tendencies will be making male flowers. So maybe a few more details would help diagnose the problem. How many hours on/off, and what kind of lights?

[OzBud]

I've never heard of 16/8.
18/6 20/4 and 24/0 are the common times for veg.

Also the picture of the male is from someone other than the original poster so who knows what lighting schedule they're using... That being said a male autoflower will flower under any lighting schedule, even 24/0

[Zativa]

OzBud, you are correct -- 18/6 is the official GWE recommendation. I started **long** ago, as in before the internet when advice on this subject was clandestine and mostly wrong. 16/8 was frequently recommended by some of the 'experts' back then. But either 16 or 18 hours is well into 'veg time'. In summer I still use 16/8 because it gets too hot where I live to run lights during daytime. It just takes a little longer. Like you, I noticed that the original post came without pictures and also considered that those random seeds may be auto-flower varieties. Pulling at threads I had to ask if the cycle time was inverted. It's just another theory that fits.

[alltatup]

Welcome to the forum, Zativa! I never knew that about 16/8 in a high heat area; that is useful information.

Check out the zativa growing topic: http://forum.growweedeasy.com/node/91681

[davbib]

I did mean 18/6. 18 hours on and 6 hours off. I've used that for several successful Northern Lights grows.

thanks for the thought that these could be auto flower. Hadn't considered that.

[davbib]

Pic