Preflowers//New grower

Hello,

I have a question regarding pre flowers even thought the answer may lay somewhere in the forum already. Ok, i have 7 plants going on and i started to check for pre flowers after week 5( week 6 at the moment). Most of them(4) have ball on stick kind of look on the fourth node and no white hairs to be found on the other nodes. I was thinking to myself, well... maybe the white hairs would come out later since you know plants take time to develop and it's only pre flowers you know. Anyways, today i checked plant #5 and on the fourth nodes i can see white hairs coming out, a very clear sign of a female pre flower. Now I'm pretty disappointed as many of you have been before but what can you do right? It's my first grow anyways so it's been pretty interesting. My question would be... Are pre flowers 100% accurate indicators of sex? or have anyone run into plants that look male ( ball on stick ) and no white pistils to be found and later when turn into 12/12 cycle they turning into females. I can't upload any pictures since i don't have a good camera. Thanks

Just tape off a branch with a to roll tape the end so u can slide on and off ease and do 12/12 on that branch

Some of them can play tricks with you, but most of the time it is pretty evident which sex they are. On the ones with a "ball on a stick", look higher up on the plant if you can. The balls will tend to come in clusters on top of each other instead of a single one. The female preflower will look something like a single tiny fat blade of grass, and will shoot out 2 white hairs after a bit.

Do make sure you are positive about the sex before you throw them out, as sometimes its not so evident. But once you have seen both sexes go through development, you probably will never have this question again. Good luck, and sorry to hear that you may have a high male ratio.

Yes, on two of them it looks like there might be a couple little balls grouping together on the top nods.. it's really hard to tell but that's what it looks like. The other two is like a little ball shrouded by leaves(shell) or something like that. So far I'm betting males but at least 1 female so far confirmed... waiting for two more plants to show sex. I'm take them all to 12/12 just to make sure before they get hang by the nuts.

Yeah, the first four you described sound male. But you are safe to take them to 12/12 to be sure. It will take a few weeks before they will ripen and drop pollen, just keep your eyes on them. Typically the male flower will start hanging downwards soon before it opens. You can also read up on collecting pollen from your best male and using it to pollinate a bud or two and get you some free seeds.

Maybe your other ones will turn out female for you. Generally, the females are a little later to show sex, but again, that's not always the case.

Definitely take them all into 12/12 to be sure - once you are absolutely positive you can euthanize. As stated above, once you've seen males vs females in person you'll never have to ask again. So, definitely worthwhile to let them go a bit.

How much did ya pay for your seeds? Do you want some more?

No guessing here - males will have a 'ball on a stick', females will have calyx with 2 white pistils sticking out top.

Uncle Ben said:

No guessing here - males will have a 'ball on a stick', females will have calyx with 2 white pistils sticking out top.

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Thanks. I will get rid of the males today. Would you suggest cloning the female plant for more yield?

rawgit said:

How much did ya pay for your seeds? Do you want some more?

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No thanks. I have plenty seeds.

elkukupanda said:

Thanks. I will get rid of the males today. Would you suggest cloning the female plant for more yield?

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I don't know if Uncle ben will drop back in, but cloning is really a way to preserve genetics, not increase yield. Granted, if you have more room to flower and you want another plant or two in there, you can take a few clones and add them to the room. But you will have to wait for the clone to root and atleast get a good root system before you flower it. So you are typically looking at 3-4 weeks from the time you cut it to the time you can throw it in flower. Albeit, you can flower it as soon as it roots(6-12 days), but I wouldn't recommend it.

If you do want clones to veg them out or do whatever with, now is the time though. I like to get them right before I switch to flower, or as soon as preflowers show.

MyPetSkunk said:

I don't know if Uncle ben will drop back in, but cloning is really a way to preserve genetics, not increase yield. Granted, if you have more room to flower and you want another plant or two in there, you can take a few clones and add them to the room. But you will have to wait for the clone to root and atleast get a good root system before you flower it. So you are typically looking at 3-4 weeks from the time you cut it to the time you can throw it in flower. Albeit, you can flower it as soon as it roots(6-12 days), but I wouldn't recommend it.

If you do want clones to veg them out or do whatever with, now is the time though. I like to get them right before I switch to flower, or as soon as preflowers show.

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Oh ok!, thanks for the info man. So new seeds is also an option right...? hold back on flower for a little bit and start new sprouts. I do smoke, however, it doesn't really matter for me waiting another month or two. Also i got a couple different strains that i want to try and see how those turn out as well. What you think MyPetSkunk... Starting from seeds is not a bad idea right? The only thing might be the light fixture distance since i already moved my other plant into a 5 gal pot.