la9
Well-Known Member
I was reading up on the subject and was always curious about it. There are all kinds of theory on whether you can influence the plant to be male or female but from what I've read here it seems that the plant already knows what sex it will be before it even sprouts.
Sex is an inherited trait in Cannabis, and can be explained in much the same terms as human sexuality can. Like a human being, Cannabis is a diploid organism: its chromosomes come in pairs. Chromosomes are microscopic structures within the cells on which the genes are aligned. Cannabis has 10 pairs of chromosomes (n=10), for a total of 20 chromosomes (2m=20).
One pair of chromosomes carries the primary genes that determine sex. These chromosomes are labelled either X or Y. Male plants have an XY pair of sex chromosomes. Females have XX. Each parent contribute one set of 10 chromosomes, which includes one sex chromosome, to the embryo. The sex chromosome carried by the female ovule can only be X. The one carried by pollen of the male plant may be either X or Y. From the pollen, the embryo has a 50/50 chance of receiving an X, likewise for Y; hance, male and female progeny appear in equal numbers (in humans, the sperm carries either an X or a Y chromosome.)
It did go onto say that the photoperiod can cause male plants to do a reversal and grow female flowers if the photoperiod is cut to 10 hours during flower. I would guess this is just causing natural survival tendencies to appear and you would have what most call a hermie plant, which in my opinion wouldn't be much good because their would still be pollen in you flower room along with a plant that is not pure Sinsemilla.
Guess that sums up all the debates about doing different things to influence sex on your plant
Sex is an inherited trait in Cannabis, and can be explained in much the same terms as human sexuality can. Like a human being, Cannabis is a diploid organism: its chromosomes come in pairs. Chromosomes are microscopic structures within the cells on which the genes are aligned. Cannabis has 10 pairs of chromosomes (n=10), for a total of 20 chromosomes (2m=20).
One pair of chromosomes carries the primary genes that determine sex. These chromosomes are labelled either X or Y. Male plants have an XY pair of sex chromosomes. Females have XX. Each parent contribute one set of 10 chromosomes, which includes one sex chromosome, to the embryo. The sex chromosome carried by the female ovule can only be X. The one carried by pollen of the male plant may be either X or Y. From the pollen, the embryo has a 50/50 chance of receiving an X, likewise for Y; hance, male and female progeny appear in equal numbers (in humans, the sperm carries either an X or a Y chromosome.)
It did go onto say that the photoperiod can cause male plants to do a reversal and grow female flowers if the photoperiod is cut to 10 hours during flower. I would guess this is just causing natural survival tendencies to appear and you would have what most call a hermie plant, which in my opinion wouldn't be much good because their would still be pollen in you flower room along with a plant that is not pure Sinsemilla.
Guess that sums up all the debates about doing different things to influence sex on your plant
