Issue #97 - Sunday, February 23, 2014
Dear Fellow Grower, In today's issue... - Learn what growers need to know about male plants, bananas & hermies!
- Learn about cannabis strains that are proven to be easy to grow, potent and smell great!
- This week's Trophy Pic features a beautiful plant picture featuring the famous S.A.G.E strain...
Happy Growing!
Nebula Haze & Sirius Fourside (founders of GrowWeedEasy.com)
"Cannabis has both male and female plants. When both female and male flowers are in bloom, pollen
from the male flower lands on the female flower, thereby fertilizing it. The male dies after producing and shedding all his pollen. Seeds form and grow within the female flowers. As the seeds are maturing, the female plant slowly dies. The mature seeds then fall to the ground and germinate naturally or are collected for planting the next spring. "Unpollinated, female cannabis flowers continue to swell and produce more
resin while waiting for male pollen to successfully complete their life cycle. After weeks of heavy flower and cannabinoid-laden resin production, THC production peaks out in the unfertilized, frustrated sinsemilla!" ~Jorge Cervantes in Indoor Marijuana Horticulture Male vs Female Cannabis Plants:
Introduction Cannabis Life Stages and Gender Did you know there are "male" and "female" cannabis plants? Yes, cannabis plants are "dioecious" plants, which means each plant shows a particular gender, just like humans and many animals. There will occasionally be plants that show mixed gender and these plants are often
referred to as hermaphrodites or "hermies", which I will explain in much greater detail below. The sex of a particular plant matters quite a bit to growers. That's because only female cannabis plants produce buds. In fact, the "buds" that we smoke
are actually the female flowers of the cannabis plant. The highest quality bud is considered to be "sensimilla" and refers to female cannabis buds that have not been pollinated by a male cannabis plant. The word "sensimilla" actually comes from
the spanish phrase "sin semilla" which roughly translates to "without seeds." Regular marijuana seeds will be about 50% male, and 50% female. That means half of the seeds will
be unusable as far as growing buds. Please note that some male cannabis plants (about 70% of male cannabis plants according to some tests) may produce a small amount of THC via trichomes growing on the outside of the plant. There is no way to know for sure if a particular male plant is going to produce THC, and even if it does it will be a much, much lower amount than a female cannabis plant producing buds. If you have a male plant and you are trying to grow bud, I strongly, strongly recommend throwing the male plant away immediately and starting another seed or focusing on your other plants. It's a waste of time to grow male plants for THC or other cannabinoids - they don't grow buds! Here's a picture of a male cannabis plant - no buds or trichomes, just pollen sacs! Quick
Tip: How do you make sure you only grow female plants so all your plants produce buds? One way around the issue of having 50% male and 50% female plants is to purchase
feminized seeds online. These seeds are available from all reputable online seedbanks, and the plants produced by these seeds are always female. Get your questions about buying seeds online answered! You can also make your own feminized seeds, but you have to start with two known female cannabis plants. More information on how to ensure you grow only female plants is located in the Grower Toolbox below the main article. It's impossible to look at a young cannabis plant and know its gender For the first part of your cannabis plant's life, it will be in the first stage of growth known as the "Vegetative Stage." In this stage your plant will only grow leaves and stems, but no buds or flowers. Think of this as the time when your plant is gaining size to prepare for the second stage of life. There is no way to inspect a vegetative cannabis plant (like the following) and know the gender Unfortunately, there
currently is no way to determine for sure what gender a plant will be when it's just a young seedling, and throughout most of the vegetative stage. In fact, scientists still don't fully understand exactly how gender is determined among gendered plants like cannabis. So far, no one has pinpointed a "male" chromosome or any other known factor that causes a plant to develop into a male or female. We do know that cuttings (clones) taken from a female plant almost always turn out to be female. We also know that when you breed two female plants together, you end up with feminized (all-female) seeds. While we know that these methods are effective for growers, the exact mechanism
of why and how this happens is not yet fully understood. So unless you start with a known female clone or feminized seeds, there's no way to know what gender your plant will turn out until it actually starts showing signs of sex organs. This
happens in the second stage of your plant's life, known as the "flowering stage." The first sex organs that appear are often called "pre-flowers." When do cannabis plants reveal their gender? Cannabis plants reveal their gender when they reach their second stage of life, known as the "Flowering Stage". The first sign of gender almost always appears at the "V" where new growth tips form from a stem, like this.... See the little growths
appearing at the "V" or "crotch" where the growth node meets the stem? These are the first sign of "pre-flowers". In this case, we can see the pre-flowers are forming, but it's not certain whether this plant is going to turn into a boy or a girl
quite yet. Sometimes, when a plant is 6 weeks or older, or if the plant is a clone, it will begin to show pre-flowers while still in the vegetative stage. This is normal and is just a sign that your plant is fully mature and ready to start
flowering. On the other hand, some plants never show pre-flowers no matter how long you wait, so you don't need to wait until your plant shows pre-flowers before you initiate flowering. Younger plants (that are less than 6 weeks old) tend to take
a few days longer to switch into the flowering stage compared to older, more mature plants that have been vegetating for a while. Other than that you can pretty much force a plant to flower no matter what the age, even immediately from seed. Read
the full article about male vs female cannabis plants (and learn how to use cloning to identify the gender of young plants while they're still in the vegetative stage - advanced only!): http://www.growweedeasy.com/marijuana-boy-girl When Gender Isn't As Certain... So now you know that most cannabis plants are normally considered to be either "male" and "female." Yet sometimes you will run into plants that show both male and female characteristics, and these plant can accidentally self-pollinate, or pollinate your other female plants. A cannabis plant that shows both male and female parts is often referred to by growers as a hermaphrodite or "hermie." There are a few different types of mixed-gender plants, and it's important for a grower to understand some of the biggest differences so they make the best decision possible when faced with hermies. Important: Never breed mixed gender plants to create seeds - their offspring are much more likely to display the same undesirable traits! There is a difference between plants that show male and female parts in separate places, and the ones that show them both on the same site. Although technically different, most growers will refer to both types as "hermies" and
don't make an effort to differentiate the two. Learn more about these two different types of "hermies" below. Hermaphrodite Plants A "monoecious" hermaphrodite cannabis plant will show fully formed pollen sacs on some parts of the plant, but will be growing buds on other parts of the plant. Generally, a monoecious hermaphrodite plant does not have both male and female parts growing from the same place (often referred to a "bisexual" flowers) -
they will have fully formed male parts in some places, and fully formed female parts in others. With a hermaphrodite plant, you will usually start seeing male pollen sacs forming early in the flowering stage, sometimes sooner than when female
pre-flowers begin to appear. Here is an examples of a hermie - notice how the plant has both female
pistils and male pollen sacs, but not in the same place at the same time What causes
it? It is not completely whether stress to the plant helps trigger this type of hermaphroditism. This type of mixed gender plant appears to be based a lot on the plant's genetics. A clone of a true hermaphrodite plant will often also turn into a hermaphrodite, and any offspring will often show the same traits. It is recommended to never breed a plant that shows hermaphrodite traits. A good "breeding stock" mother will
not show signs of hermaphroditism even when subjected to stress. What should the grower do? It is recommended that you remove hermaphrodite plants from your grow room
or grow area as soon as possible to prevent accidental pollination of the buds. If pollen from even a single pollen sac is allowed to make contact with your buds, those buds will stop focusing on making more buds and will turn all their "effort" into making seeds. Advanced Only! Of the two types of "uncertain gender" cannabis plants, monoecious hermaphrodite plants tend to be more predictable. A grower who watches very closely can carefully pluck all pollen sacs before they've burst and as long as the grower keeps close watch. Remember, while these start appearing early, they may continue to appear throughout the flowering stage so stay vigilant! While it is
possible to pick off all the pollen sacs, it is NOT recommended, and if you mess up or miss even one pollen sac, you will accidentally pollinate your female plants, which is not wanted. Bananas
("Nanners") and Mixed Gender Buds A cannabis plant with mixed gender buds will have sex organs that display both male and female parts on the same part of the plant. Sometimes you will see plants that grow a mix of pistils and pollen sacs, like this... Another very common
type of mixed gender buds produce "bananas" (sometimes called "nanners") grow from the middle of female buds. Bananas are rarely
round and they don't look like a normal pollen sac. Instead they're often elongated and yellow, giving them the nickname "banana". They also often grow together in bunches that can look like a bunch of bananas. What these bananas actually are is
the exposed "male" parts of the inner pollen sac, called the "stamen" which would normally be surrounded by a sac to hold all the pollen until it bursts open. If you open up a fully formed male pollen sac, you will see bananas (stamens) inside. When bananas appear on your plants, they don't need to "burst" in order to spread pollen, they will immediately start making pollen and often will seed the buds that are close by even if bananas are removed right away, and sometimes the pollen can drift to other plants and
pollinate them as well, too. In this pic, the yellow bunches are bananas/stamens If a female plant is
allowed to go too long without being harvested or pollinated (allowed to go past the point of optimal harvest), she will sometime produce a bunch of bananas in her buds as a last-ditch attempt to self-pollinate and create seeds for the next year. This is sometimes known as "rhodelization." This is not as destructive as other types of hermies since it only happens after plants are already past the point of optimal harvest. What causes it? While genetics does play a role in whether a plant is capable of producing bananas and mixed gender buds, environmental stress is often a main component in causing bananas to form. Luckily if you stick with high-quality
genetics, you are unlikely to run into bananas even if you do accidentally stress your plants. What type of stress can trigger bananas to form? Heat - Temps get too high - often seems to happen to the buds closest to the lights when there isn't adequate ventilation Light Leaks - Plants are exposed to light during their dark period in the flowering stage Nutrient Deficiencies & Growing
Problems - Major plant problems like nutrient deficiencies, root problems, major pH fluctuations, light burn and nutrient burn can sometimes trigger bananas to start growing Genetics - While stress plays a big role in the formation of bananas, the tendency to form them seems to be at least partially genetic. This tendency is more pronounced when the plant creates bananas and manages to pollinate itself - these "feminized" seeds are much more likely to show the same herming traits as the mother, since both it's mother and "father" are the same plant. Growing seeds that were produced this way is naturally selecting to produce more buds that grow
bananas
What should the grower do? It is recommended that you remove plants showing bananas from your grow room or grow area immediately to prevent
accidental pollination of buds. If the pollen being constantly formed in the open by bananas is allowed to make contact with your buds, those buds will stop focusing on making more buds and will turn all their "effort" into making seeds. If the plant self-pollinates, you will end up with a bunch of sub-par seeds that are likely to have the same problem. Advanced Only! Of the different types of "uncertain gender" cannabis plants, plants with mixed gender buds (especially hermies with bananas) are the least predictable and most likely to cause unwanted pollination. It is recommended you get rid of these plants as soon as
possible. How to Avoid Causing Hermies or Bananas This section will explain what you can do as a grower to reduce your chances of running into hermies or bananas in your grow room... 1.) Maintain Proper Temperature Through Flowering Stage Always use "hand-test" to make sure it doesn't feel too hot in the top canopy of buds under the light - Put one of your hands (palm facing down) under your grow lights where the top of your plants are located and wait 10 seconds - if it feels too hot for your hand it's too hot for the plants! Learn more about temperature here: http://www.growweedeasy.com/temperature-growing-cannabis 2.) Avoid Inconsistent Flowering Light Periods & Light Leaks Keep indoor lights on timer, and avoid changing the schedule if possible In flowering - At least 12 hours of uninterrupted darkness every dark period. Avoid short dark periods!
Do not interrupt the plant's 12-hour dark period with light for any reason. It is better to have a too-long light period (up to 36 hours) or a too-long dark period than a short dark period. If you must change the schedule, it's better to have a longer dark period than a shortened one. Why? During the dark period your plant is "counting" the hours until sunlight appears, and interrupting this process is one of the most common ways to stress the plant to produce bananas or hermies Along with the point above, make sure you do not have any light leaks in your tent, which would allow light to filter in during the dark
period 3.) Don't Light-Burn Your Plants While normally more light is better for your cannabis plants, very high power brightness can stress plants to hermie and cause unwanted bleaching. With high power LED grow lights and 1000W HID
lights, make sure to always follow the manufacturer's specifications as far as minimum distance from the top of the plants! Don't keep your lights too close because even if the heat is under control, too much brightness can cause stress
too. Light-burn is only common with high power LEDs (3W chipsets and bigger, x-lens technology, etc) and 1000W HIDs or perhaps multiple smaller HIDs (usually with an intense cooling system). It is almost impossible to "light-burn" your plants with fluorescent lights, CFLs, smaller HIDs, etc - with these lights you only need to worry about heat. 4.) Prevent Major Plant Problems A huge stress to the plant can cause the plant to react in unpredictable ways,
including producing bananas and male pollen sacs. Huge stresses include... Major nutrient deficiency Nutrient Burn - fed way too much nutrients Pest infestation Total leaf loss (usually as the result of overzealous defoliation or bugs) Any other huge stress to the plant
Want to read about a
real example? The plant pictured to the right was subjected to cold temperatures and then grew directly into the grow light, putting it under a lot of stress. From the grower Saberabre: "So I left this girl (or what I thought was a girl, notice the pistils at
the bottom calyx) over the weekend and came back to the plant up in the light getting burned. Yikes! I'm not too sure what happened here but it got pretty cold the last few days. I think it's a hermie..." A few days before this pic, the plant was
just showing a few white pistils and appeared to be female. After the stress that it went through, the grower came back to a plant that was completely covered in male pollen sacs, with the first few white pistils being the only sign of this plant
being female. 5.) Always Start With Trusted Genetics Hermaproditism and mixed gender buds seems to be more common when growing plants from bagseed (seeds that you find) or seeds from an unprofessional breeder. The reason this is so
is because seedy buds are worth less than sinsemilla (unseeded buds). Therefore, if you find a seed in your bud, it likely was the result of either bad growing practices (male plants weren't removed in time) or due to some type of negligence (plants were stressed and self-pollinated, which means the next generation is most likely to do so). When you're buying seeds from a trusted breeder, they go to great lengths to prevent unintended pollination, and they specifically select for plants that don't ever show mixed gender traits. See a list of trusted cannabis seed venders here: http://www.growweedeasy.com/seeds And remember... even if you do everything right, sometimes you will run into hermie plants - it's just a fact of growing. Sometimes these things just happen, for example... "I've always felt like seeded weed was not nearly as potent as sinsemilla and I do everything in my power to KILL ALL MALES! Cannabis is so sneaky, though - last summer we had such wild weather that even a couple of clones turned out some male sex parts."
~ Experienced outdoor grower Grower Toolbox In your toolbox, I will be sharing several tools you can use to ensure you only grow the gender of cannabis plants that you want. Click on the section that interests you to learn more!
| Who Runs This Newsletter?
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Nebula Haze:Marijuana has literally
saved my life, and I'm dedicated to showing you how easy it can be to grow.
I have made it my mission to build growing resources to help both new and advanced growers get bigger, better yields with less time and money.
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Sirius Fourside:Sirius Fourside is a hobbyist grower who has gained the bulk of his experience growing in water as a medium(deep water culture, bubbleponics). "Growing cannabis is a relaxing hobby in and of itself, but it also saves you money and keeps you from having to deal with shady characters. Cannabis is much easier to grow than people give it credit for, and growing in water doesn't increase the difficulty much, if any. But whether you want to grow in water, perlite, or a different medium, we'll show you how easy it can be!"
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Trusted Strains - Hand-Picked by Nebula Haze These strains have been hand-picked by me because they
are...
Indica Dominant Hybrid (good mix of both indica and sativa traits)
Sativa Dominant |
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"Strain is S.A.G.E. Indoor; below 600 Watt.
Flowering; Day No.49."
~ 207HeavyHeads |
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