This isn’t my Information, I found this off the internet,
Bananas are rarely round and they don’t look like a normal pollen sac. Instead, they’re often elongated and yellow, which is where they get the nickname “banana”. They also often grow together in bunches that can look like a bunch of bananas. Occasionally they appear more lime green than yellow.
Sometimes a banana appears lime green instead of yellow
These can be a lot more difficult to control than actual pollen sacs, since they may start pollinating everything in the area as soon as they appear. A few bananas won’t do much damage, but if you have a big banana problem it may be best to harvest the plants immediately and cut your losses. Seeds take some time to develop, so if a plant starts herming right around harvest time, it’s less likely you’ll end up with seeds.
What are they? Bananas are actually the exposed “male” parts of a 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 what looks like bananas (stamens) inside.
But 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.
It’s possible that the pollen is sterile, and won’t pollinate bud successfully…but don’t rely on that happening!
The yellow bunches in this bud are bananas/stamens and will “try” to pollinate everything they can – they don’t have to wait for a pollen sac to burst. It’s possible that the pollen is sterile, but often you may find seeds.
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 are ultimate the cause of whether a plant is capable of producing bananas and mixed-sex buds, environmental stress is often a big component in causing bananas to form. Luckily if you stick with high-quality genetics, you are much less likely to run into bananas even if you do accidentally stress your plants. Not all bananas are “fertile” and you may see them without ever getting seeds.
Male hermie banana growing among the beautiful buds
What type of stress can trigger bananas to form on cannabis buds?
- Inconsistent Light Schedules & Light Leaks – When plants don’t get light at the same time each day, or if they’re exposed to light during their dark period (light leak). For photoperiod plants, this might be the largest contributor to hermies.
- Temperature – When temps get too high, hermies and nanners often appear. Cold night temps, or just large temperature swings in general, are also known to trigger bananas for some strains.
- Too-Bright Light – Like too much heat, and/or light that is too bright can stress your plants and trigger hermies. This is most often caused by growers keeping their lights to close to their plants. You can light-burn your plants even when the temperature is under control.
- Major Plant Problems – Major plant problems like nutrient deficiencies, root rot, pH problems, light-burn and nutrient burncan all trigger hermies to start growing.
- Genetics – While stress plays a big role in the formation of bananas, the tendency to form them is genetic. This tendency is very common in the seeds of a plant that hermied. “Feminized” seeds, while always female, are much more likely to show the same herming traits as its parent. Growing seeds that were produced this way is naturally selecting to produce more buds that grow bananas. Only get feminized seeds from a trusted breeder.
What should the grower do? It is recommended that you remove plants showing bananas from your grow area immediately to prevent accidental pollination of buds. If the pollen being formed 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.
Of the different types of “uncertain sex” cannabis plants, plants with mixed-sex buds (especially hermies with bananas) are the least predictable and this can make them more likely to cause unwanted pollination. This is partially because bananas may be hidden in the buds, and they don’t have a pollen sac that needs to burst to pollinate buds – it will start pollinating almost immediately.
A grower who watches very closely can carefully pluck all bananas, but they are unlikely to be successful and will probably end up with at least a few seeds.
Trying to salvage a plant that has started producing tons of bananas is NOT recommended, because it’s hard to get them all and you’ll end up with seeds. Even worse, once a plant gets started, bananas can appear in huge bunches overnight especially when the plant is stressed. Harvest the plant as soon as you can, before seeds get a chance to start forming.
Weed and illicit liquor are often enough, for even the most hardened of gangsters.
