i am having the same thing in the back of my head, and i was just planning on twisting the pollen sacs off gently until they ripped off, i have seen my first pre-flowers yesterday, but the day before mistook them for string and almost pulled them off, but i saw a little growth next to the pistil. I am pretty sure that it is a branch where the fan leaf meets the main stem. its too small to tell but the pistils are definite.