Connection between 24hr lights & males

babygro said:

This is precisely the reason that people growing feminised seeds get more hermaphrodite plants than people growing from standard or regular seeds, this is a statistical fact and not my opinion.

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And since I am growing mostly from feminised I am trying to get a handle on what to expect. I've read Dutch Passion's literature and an 8% hermie rate with no seed hardening would be fine with me since I'm growing around 3 plants of each feminised version I have. If those statistics held, I would not likely end up with any herms and if I did it wouldn't be a disaster. But I have a feeling Dutch Passion publishes the best possible and most companies provide nothing at all. I hear the horror stories on the boards but I also realize that we don't hear of the many happy customers that grow fem'd seeds and have no problems.

I have two small grow sites and will have at least one of each strain at each site. There are a lot of reasons I'm doing this but redundancy is the biggest. If my secondary site gets a serious herm it's probably going to destroy the site because I only get there once every few weeks or so. We will see.

Just because feminised seeds *can* produce more herms than standard seeds, doesn't automatically mean you'll get some. For these reasons, anyone growing feminised seeds should watch their plants extremely carefully for signs of male flowers, because they can pop up quite easily without you noticing and I've heard many stories of annoyed growers picking seeds out of their 'supposed' sensi bud because they missed a male flower growing half way down.

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If they occur I just hope I can spot them in time. I've heard different opinions anywhere from a couple pollen sacks will fertilize an entire crop to a couple pollen sacks might only "damage" a branch or two. I don't know obviously.

Don't be scared of feminised seeds, they have an important part to play in producing mostly female plants for people who simply do not have the space, resources or environment to grow out lots of plants and throw up to 50% of them away that turn out male. You just need to watch plants grown from feminised seeds much more closely for male flowers than standard or regular ones - that's the price you pay.

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Which is exactly my situation and why I'm ordering fem'd.

I have one strain that is not available feminised so I'm starting 6 seeds(if they germ) and hoping to end up with two two females and at least one that makes it to harvest seedless. But you're right about how much more there is to using regular seeds and now it doesn't work for most people. For that one strain I'm having to fill six smaller pots with soil, transport to my site, etc and wait til they show sex then I'll transplant females to large pots... It's work.

I'll be looking forward to reporting back on my success, or whatever it is, about my fem'd seeds.

Dear Friends:

Hi !!! to all of you, I have just joined and after reading most of this pages
I like to tell you about a shocking experience with my grow. I hope you can give me your opinions on this because to me is a real mystery.

I have grown Mary Jane for some years outside and inside with hydro.

My latest atempt was using Nirvana seeds of the following strains: White Widow, AK-43 and White Rhino all from Nirvana.

About 10 or 11 seeds germinated and ALL OF THEM ENDED UP BEING MALES, this goes against the laws of probability.

As I can gather from your posts enviromental conditions can reverse the sex of our dear plants but not to this degree. I can not understand what can be wrong (I can not get a single female, and after waisting about 3 months, I do not have any dope to smoke) as I have been using the same technique that I always do, that is: 18/6 for growth and 12/12 for Bloom. I use a 400W lamp as always, flood and drain, ph=6
for medium I use clay (a pain in the arse to clean), the only thing different that I'm using is Reverse Osmosis water that is suppose to be better than tap water.

Any opinions will be welcomed

Thanking you

Pancho Villa

the funny thing is that my first grow had all the right things apply and they all turned out female!

What an interesting thread, but now you have me paranoid. This is my first grow and I am currently growing using a 4 foot, 8 bulb T5 flourescent going 24/7...But now I am having my doubts with all of this talk about roots. The roots are kept in complete darkness an today is day 20 of veggie growth...I saw some where in this thread a few pages back that tomorrow would be a great day to switch to 18/6? I am using an ebb and flow system with clay pellets, and the seeds started in paper towels and moved to plugs...below is a pic of one of my medium sized plants root structure...do they seem to have enough mass?

what if you were to do 18/6 then go to 16/8 then move into 12/12

wouldnt moving gradually into flowering be better for the plants?

they also root much better in darkness

I wasnt planning to go from 24/7 straight to 18/6, doing it gradually would be the approach, but the question is if the roots looks good or not. If they look fine, I will stick with the 24 and gradually move to 12/12 in a few more weeks, start at week 7 and by the end of week 8 be into the 12/12 cycle, at the same time moving the T5 up and start moving the HPS down. But since this is my first hydro grow, I dont know what the roots should look like at this point. They are super white, Using foxfarm, flooding once every 2 hours and they stay fairly wet, with no signs of over watering, moved up from watering every 3 hours just a few days ago.

Hi Got,

As long as all your plants have at least 4 nodes, I would switch to 12/12.... fook the transition...

And why are you going to raise the t-5? Can't you use both the t-5 and the HPS? Maybe you can put the t5 on the side for "side lighting...

what kind of system is that?

cheers and thanks for the picture... pictures are yummy

Thanks GK...that ebb and flow system is something that I found at Hydroponics Online! made out of PVC and 2 liter bottles. Its actually two seperate 16 plant systems...I wrapped the 2 liters in foil as oppsed to painting them...that way I could check them out by peeling back the foil...figured if they were painted I would take a chance in damaging the roots pulling them out once the got bigger...I'm really amazed by the whole process and like to look at everything, alot! Currently I am a stay-at-home dad...she got the first 2 1/2 years and I got the second (I got the better end of the deal for sure) so I have time to spend with the garden, 3 hours every day during nap and from 9Pm on after the little goes to sleep...I was going to transition from the T5 to the HPS because the pic that you see is actually where I will be flowering and need to move the T5 over to the mother and the clones, which is directly behind where I was standing when I took the pic...still putting the finishing touches on everything...In the process of building my aero cloning setup and installing the portable A/C as well as the carbon filter and in line fans...I swear if i could build my own light bulbs I would!! thanks for the response....gotta pack a bong hit or 9 now peace

Thanks Got.. Ilove the link.. very cool set up.. You shoudl start your own thread....

how much was the entire syetem... DO you think an effective 4 site system could be built? With fewer BOTTLES (sites) would you use a smaller pump?

cheers

videoman40 said:

It is important to start these changes at the three-pairs-of-leaves stage and continue for two or three weeks, before reverting to standard conditions.

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Does this include the small seedling leaves, the circular ones?

HashPlant said:

Does this include the small seedling leaves, the circular ones?

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It doesn't include anything... the article is a load of bullshit.

Seeds are predisposed to be one sex or the other. Males will grow taller and mature faster than females... basic cultivation.

Garden Knowm said:

Grrow 18/6 and hen switch to 12/12 whem appropriate ...

if you are usibng a 1000 watt bulb that will be when your plant is 24 inches tall..

if you are using a 1000 watt bulb and are growing 30 plants then 12/12 when they are 4-6 nodes tall..

if you are growing... with CFL's flower (12/12) when your plants have 4-5 nodes...



different situations call for different scenarios...

THE MAIN FACTOR IS LLIIGGHHTTIINNGG..

can the "light" provide enough penetration/lumens for THE GROW/PLANT...?


Most lights can not penetrate and create quality buds through even the smallest amount of foliage..

iloveyou

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I'm using cfls and was going to try LST.. does this mean that you can't do it with cfls? or that's fine?

am i the only one who couldnt see the picture of the 48oz producing plant??? can anyone repost it i really wanna see it!

mr_issues said:

So if I use the 16/8 light setting untill they flower, then drop them down to 12/12 I should get some pretty damn good buds right? Im still a little new to the way im doing this. Never used seeds before untill now.

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Are you using a contactor with your timer? I got burnt by this a twice before I find out your timers always blow unless you use a contactor
search flea bay for "hydroponics contactor".

I heard that your plants grow bigger on 24 in veg but i may be wrong. you'd need to do the same test using the same seeds and conditions etc a few times over to really test the theory I guess.

you should use 18/6 for veg they live like we do and everything living needs rest

videoman40 said:

I just made a post, and it got me to thinking after I posted it. I was posting in a thread where he was bitching about getting all males, and rightfully so. I'd be pissed if that happened to me too.
My post included a quote from dutch passion seed company that says:

From literature and our own findings it appears that the growth of a male or female plant from seed, except for the predisposition in the gender chromosomes, also depends on various environmental factors. The environmental factors that influence gender are:

* a higher nitrogen concentration will give more females.
* a higher potassium concentration will give more males.
* a higher humidity will give more females.
* a lower temperature will give more females.
* more blue light will give more females.
* Fewer hours of light will give more females.

It is important to start these changes at the three-pairs-of-leaves stage and continue for two or three weeks, before reverting to standard conditions.

What got me to thinking was the line that said: Fewer hours of light will give more females. The reason I point this out is, I've seen a few debates recently about 18/6 lighting vs 24/0 lighting.

If the above paragraph is correct and true, wouldn't 24/0 produce more males?

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I also posted this information a month ago...seems no1 seems to believe it. I decided to go with a schedule of 16/8 this go around as according to High Times would be the best light time for female plants. So far all my plants are females, and NO sign of hermies...YET!!

skunkushybrid said:

It doesn't include anything... the article is a load of bullshit.

Seeds are predisposed to be one sex or the other. Males will grow taller and mature faster than females... basic cultivation.

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It's the fact of the females turning hermie. The information is useful for not letting that happen to your females.

i switched from 24/0 to 18/6 and i noticed when i would turn off the lights i had to inches above the plant. i wake up in the morning and they are touching my plants. ive been told plants grow at night as they use night time to take the light they absorbed and turn it into their energy plus if you got a 24/0 your gonna be posting a thread three months from now something like my plant wont stay in the ground??????? i agree with everyone 18/6

I started w/ 6 plants Vegging 24/0 for 5 weeks. I'm now into my 5th week of flowering 4 ladies. So 4/6 coming out of 24/0 Vegging cycle.

I tried 27-7 with my first grow right from seeds(12). I ended up with 10 males, including my W.W.
My 2nd grow, I switched to 18-6 with 19 seeds. I ended up with 6 males.
My 3rd grow was under 18-6, and I am now sexing them(31)(will post the results)
I'm now germinating 9 more seeds. If the results come out like I think they will for the 3rd grow,I will start these off at 18-6.

I see no reason to go 24-7 until AFTER the plants have been sexed(I also think the extended light will help drive them back to vegitation state). I grow inside and want my plants at least 2ft tall before flowering.