Delvite : Difference between male, female and hermaphrodites

delvite

Well-Known Member
Marijuana plants are either male or female or occasionally hermaphrodite. The male marijuana plants produce pollen which pollinates the flowers of the female cannabis plant, which once pollenized, produce seeds . If the female marijuana plant isn't pollenized [if there are no male marijuana plants nearby producing pollen], the flower or buds continue to develop and produce THC. Female marijuana plants which are not pollenized are referred to as sinsemilia [without seeds]. Usually 30 to 50% of the marijuana plants are male.





Male marijuana plants

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Male marijuana plants are often, but not always, tall with stout stems, sporadic branching and few leaves. Males are usually harvested except those used for breeding, after their sex has been determined, but before the pollen is shed. When harvesting, especially if close to females, cut the marijuana plant off at the base, taking care to shake the male as little as possible. This helps prevent any accidental pollination by an unnoticed, open male flower. When a male enters the stage of flower development, the tips of the branches where a bud would develop will start to grow what looks like a little bud [little balls] but it will have no white hairs coming out of it. Outdoor male cannabis plants will begin to produce their flowers and pollen as early as mid- July for varieties acclimated to cold to mid- warm climates. Marijuana plant varieties from more southern [near the equator] climates, may not start until mid- September. This difference depends on the budding cycle of your marijuana variety, some marijuana plants start to bud earlier than others, so the exact time to cut the male marijuana plants will vary with the marijuana strain.

If you are using a variety of different marijuana seeds it may be necessary to visit once a week from July the 21st through September the 15th. The timely identification of a male cannabis plant is crucial to the success of the harvest. If the weather is exceptional during the time a male marijuana plant starts producing it's marijuana flowers and you missed seeing the first signs during your last visit, you could wind up with a lot of marijuana seeds and little of the fine herb.






Female marijuana plants


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Female marijuana plants will have no balls and will have small white hairs. marijuana in temperate climates begin to show his sexual identity by the end of July [end of January in the southern hemisphere] in different dates according to the varieties, marijuana being the resinous flower of female marijuana plants intended for seed production, in absence of pollen buds turns out pure sinsemilia weed and is gentle and sweet to smoke. It is very important to get rid of male plants on time, as they are unwanted pollen carriers. By the early flowering stage male cannabis, if compared to female's, shows quite a different structure but the characteristic excrescences would be the sex indicator this are called primordia and will emerge by the side of the third or fourth internodes in the main stem. Female marijuana are completely revealed when the characteristic "V" shaped pistils become visible, all this to a close observation. Outdoors males will uncover themselves approximately three weeks before the females, indoors sexing of both males and females happens within a week to ten days according to the variety. We've heard of urban legends about environmental conditions, age of seeds, added chemicals and even lunar stages having an influence on sexual differentiation of marijuana; you might take note of those suggestions as personal communications, but a good handbook or an internet surf works the best if you lack in experience when sexing.





Hermaphrodite marijuana plants

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Hermaphrodite marijuana plant, or hermie, is a marijuana plant of one sex that develops the sexual organs of the other sex. Most commonly, a flowering female marijuana plant will develop staminate flowers, though the reverse is also true. Primarily male hermaphrodites are not as well recognized only because few growers let their males reach a point of flowering where the pistillate would be expressed. Hermaphrodite cannabis plants are generally viewed with disfavor. First, they will release pollen and ruin a sinsemilia crop, pollinating themselves and all of the other females in the room. Second, the resulting seeds are worthless, because hermaphrodite parents tend to pass on the tendency to their offspring. [note: that occasionally specious staminate flowers will appear in the last days of flowering of a female marijuana plant. These do not drop pollen and their appearance is not considered evidence of deleterious hermaphroditism.


Hope this answers some frequently asked questions...........:)




 

Trousers

Well-Known Member
There is a difference between an actual hermaphrodite and a plant that shows both male and female flowers.
Intersex plants are not necessarily hermaphrodites even though they fit the definition.

A real hermaphrodite will have both an X and a Y chromosome.

You can have a female (XX) plant that can be stressed into producing male flowers. That pollen does not have a Y chromosome and therefore can not produce a male plant.

The resulting plants will be just as likely to show male flowers (for what ever reason) as the parents.

If you take two clones from a female mother plant they are going to be identical genetically.
You can use many techniques to force one of the plants to produce male flowers. The pollen from that clone could be used to make feminized seeds. If you put that pollen on the genetically identical plant, the resulting seeds will be feminized and produce 100% female plants.
If the mother is stable and not prone to showing male flowers because of stress, the resulting seeds will produce female plants very similar to the mother and just as unlikely to produce male flowers. the resulting seeds will not be identical to the mother, but very close.

Feminized seeds got a bad reputation because growers lacking skill stressed them into producing male flowers. Better growers know that feminized seeds are not more prone to "hermie"
 
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