seeds without a male?

Randm

Active Member
First time I have seen this, maybe one of the experts can enlighten me.

I am currently harvesting a couple of C99 that I grew from clones of several of my mothers. While I was trimming one of the plants, I noticed a few almost fully developed seeds. These where very few and far between, and only on the central cola, not on any of the lower buds or on the popcorn buds.

This was only on one of the plants, not any of the others that I harvested.

I am maticulous in checking for hermi's as I certainly do not want any polination going on. There was none that I could find. Although I could have missed something as it is a little crouded in my flower room.

I should have mentioned that this is an indoor grow, under (4) 400 watt hps lamps. Temps are between 68 and 75 deg. The humidity was a little high, I could do nothing about that. Around 65% I think. ( I did loose a small amount to bud rot, I caught that in time thank goodness.) I grow in FF Ocean Forest in 5 gal pots.

The c99 was supposed to be a 45 to 50 day flower, but I had to go a full 2 + weeks past that to see the trichs start to amber. I thought they never would finish. I am wondering if maybe this one plant was a bit over ripe when I harvested? I heard somewhere that if left to go too long then the plant is capable of asexual reproduction. Kind of a last ditch effort at survival of the species. I don't know how much truth there is in that, however.

Thanks in advance for any info that I can get on this
 

TruenoAE86coupe

Moderator
You got a hermie that you did not see. If i am concerned about hermies i start at the bottom of the plant in the dark with a green light and check for yellow. I do this on every plant, very time consuming but i have seen gardens ruined from hermies. I then do the same thing in the light always focus on the bottom of the lower buds and anywhere on colas. The asexual reproduction that you speak of is actually hermieing, creating pollen so that the plant makes some seeds before the end of season, very common even on the strongest genetics this will happen if you let them go to late. Remember, not all plants turn the trichomes amber.
 

NoCeilings

Well-Known Member
Yeah bud, it looks like you missed a few male flowers. And if it was on one plant then it was probably deep within the cola.. But the good news is the seeds might be feminised

. If i am concerned about hermies i start at the bottom of the plant in the dark with a green light and check for yellow.
Are you saying male flowers appear yellow when a green light is put on them? why is this?
 

redivider

Well-Known Member
hermies can show they're hermies in a lot of ways.

there's the pollen sacs, ther's also banana looking things that grow on the buds themselves.... hard to spot without a magnifying glass...

what you should really look for is signs of pollination. pollen will typically fall, so the lower buds will be more affected.

look for red hairs recessing into they're calyxes. that's a sign of pollination. if you notice budsites that have red hairs early in flower, where no other hair is red, and you see the plant has still a while to go, you might have a hermie......
 

Randm

Active Member
You got a hermie that you did not see. If i am concerned about hermies i start at the bottom of the plant in the dark with a green light and check for yellow.

*** Can you give a little more detail? I never heard of the green light trick.

I do this on every plant, very time consuming but i have seen gardens ruined from hermies. I then do the same thing in the light always focus on the bottom of the lower buds and anywhere on colas. The asexual reproduction that you speak of is actually hermieing, creating pollen so that the plant makes some seeds before the end of season, very common even on the strongest genetics this will happen if you let them go to late. Remember, not all plants turn the trichomes amber.

*** Not all Plants turn Amber??? I've never heard of this either. It would explain the longer wait for them to mature.

I did decide to chop all of my c-99, regardless of the trich color. I guess my next question would be my concern over all the other plants in my flower room. Is there a danger of all the rest of them being pollinated now? Do I have to scrub down my flower room to get rid of any excess pollen that might be lingering or will this be just on this one plant, and maybe a bit on the ones right next to it?

As an aside, this C99 smokes great, I highly recomend it for anyone who likes a sativa high. The colas where so sticky that I had a hard time trimming them. All the cut leaves would stick to my scissors and my hand and anywhere else they touched... The smoke was very mild considering it hasn't been jar cured yet. I can't wait for the buds to cure out to their full potential. The high was fairly long lasting and very 'up'. A good 'get it done' daytime high.

thanks again for your help in this
 

TruenoAE86coupe

Moderator
This is really my trick, i have some really questionable seed stock i have run as to not waste my high quality seeds, so i had to learn how to find hermies. I know that (once opened) male sacks turn yellow, i have seen how well they stick out in the green light in the dark, so i used this as a basis to search my garden. I learned quickly the most producing hermies (other than ones that just have an entire male budsite) are ones that form on the lower part of lower buds, why i do not know, but thats where i found the bad ones, so i learned to start low and look every where. It is near impossible to see a male "ball" on a female flower before it opens, so i have learned looking for those is next to useless. I do the green light in the dark to find the ones that are really buried and hard to see with the hps on, then i do an entire search again with the lights on. Is this always needed? Hell no. Isn't it a pain in the ass? YES. This is just a worst case plan, which i have had to use. I never thought of looking too much for actual pollenation, as i believe at that point you are way late, but also didn't know about the red hairs receding.
Everyone on here is "wait for amber trichs" always when you ask about when to harvest, but few understand that the plant will really tell you when its done, and pushing it too far will almost always cause a hermie effect. I read so many posts about the amber trichs i bought into it, flowered several sativas for 14 1/2 weeks (101 days) still not turning amber, every leaf was yellowed and falling off but the trichs did not amber. Look at the buds, they will tell you when they are done, more experience will make this easier. (Not commenting on your experience but simply the number of plants you see grow start to finish will help you learn all plants are different.
 

Pureblood89

Well-Known Member
I had a couple seeds too, no males, no hermies... I think. last grow I found two pale white hollow seeds in 7.5 ounces of bud... Oh well, It didn't really affect anything.
 

Randm

Active Member
thanks for the info. I have never read anything on some sativa strains not having amber trichs. I appreciate the info very much. I did think they looked ripe, but.....now I know.

I really wanted to run this strain again, but if it was going to have hermi problems I thought I would have to go to another plan. Thanks for saving a very good smoke.
 
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