Male and light cycle

[Gfol]

Hi - question.

As was expected, a couple males popped up in the DJ short BB seeds I recently planted. The pollen sacs are already forming even under 18h light - that is, I hadn't started my plants on bloom sched yet. This is good.

Wondering if males will produce pollen under 18 hours. The reason being is I have separated them from the girls in the bloom room and have out them w my starter plants and clones which I have on the veg light cycle. Very keen to produce pollen but don't want to set up a new room.

Will males go to pollination under 18 hours of light?

 

[Dwight Monk]

In short yes, they will bust their nuts whatever your light schedule, hence why folks remove/cull them as soon as it shows signs of it. They will also pollinate any of the preflowers of your girls in Veg.

 

[Gfol]

In short yes, they will bust their nuts whatever your light schedule, hence why folks remove/cull them as soon as it shows signs of it. They will also pollinate any of the preflowers of your girls in Veg.

Hi Dwight - thank you for this, much appreciated. Yes, I would like the pollen for future breeding / seed production so this is a welcome development. I removed the male plant from the bloom room (girls in there still on 18 hour sched but will transition soon) and put it in the clone / germination room which is 18 but all plants in there are immature. Want to avoid setting up a new grow room for the male so am hoping I can let him grow there and produce pollen. Glad it will happen under 18 hours and I can't imagine the starters in there would be subject to fertilization. Would spray down w water all the same to remove all pollen.

Now just to make sure I can tell the difference between male and female. The one is clearly male as the sacs appear like coconuts. However, I seem to have a hard time distinguishing between pollen sacs and calyxs. I presume this will become much clearer when I start the 13h cycle.

 

[Dwight Monk]

Distinguishing the two is more practice I think than anything, as I'm slightly better at spotting a male earlier now (but I still have to wait to be sure, as first plant I would have culled a lady ). That stuff can travel as it does in nature, get on your clothes/hands just like it does with animals/bugs in the wild along with traveling on the wind. The only time I made seeds I had the two I was mating in my house in a Cabinet and all the others were outside in my Shed setup, managed to not mess up the girls in Flower, but that may have just been luck along with trying to be careful as have heard plants can get pollinated from literally many miles away in nature. Make sure to come back and let us all know how it went, so we can learn along with you learning from experience

 

[Jackalope]

I understand not wanting to set up another room. What I ended up doing is to purchase a 250wt. compact fluorescent. That way I can sequester it to a small space anywhere there is room. This way you can flower it and collect pollen. After I have collected as much as I need I just cut the male down. A female plant can store pollen. Though I have no idea of how or when they could start doing it. So it is best to avoid pollen even in a veg room.

 

[Gfol]

Good point Jack.

 

[Gfol]

I'm seeing one plant showing very clearly pollen sacs - like grapes - the others have similar structures but could be calyxs. Ugh.

 

[Gfol]

Ok - I have three males and one gal. Pollen sacs on stems was defining feature. Well at least I wil have an abundance of DJ Short Blueberry pollen. Going to put them in a back room in a small makeshift plastic tent to contain it.

 

[Jackalope]

Maybe find a couple clean glass vials and keep separate pollen samples. One of those males will probably show you something special. Some of the best male traits start showing up after they have already put out pollen. Bud size and resin production show up later in life.

 

[Gfol]

Maybe find a couple clean glass vials and keep separate pollen samples. One of those males will probably show you something special. Some of the best male traits start showing up after they have already put out pollen. Bud size and resin production show up later in life.

Ah and this is the next big question for me - selection. These males are from seed so at this point I have no idea of whether they will express desirable traits or not. I kinda get this with females but how does this work w males?

Re glass vials - do you just plunk pods and all for freezer storage or is the pollen separated out?

 

[Jackalope]

Not sure what pluck pods are. I just use small glass containers for sterol reasons. Not sure it matters but better safe then sorry. Male plants will show a lot of the same traits as females. Of course they don't produce as much crystal as the females but good males will produce notable crystal. They also have similar terpins so keep a eye out for strong smelling males. Good branching and close internodes are also good traits to look for. As with females good males will make themselves noticed.

 

[Gfol]

Not sure what pluck pods are. I just use small glass containers for sterol reasons. Not sure it matters but better safe then sorry. Male plants will show a lot of the same traits as females. Of course they don't produce as much crystal as the females but good males will produce notable crystal. They also have similar terpins so keep a eye out for strong smelling males. Good branching and close internodes are also good traits to look for. As with females good males will make themselves noticed.

Pluck pods - I guess what I was saying is do you cut the whole eg tip of a plant with a cluster of male flowers and put in jar or carefully extract and store the pollen only?

 

[Jackalope]

Oh ok I get what you mean. To harvest the pollen. I wait tell you start to see large piles of pollen on the leaves. Then I use a piece of new aluminum foil. I hold it under the branches and cola and shake them lightly. Catching the falling pollen and floral material. Then I carefully remove all plant matter from the pollen. Then pour it carefully into a clean dry container. Any plant matter in the pollen will add moisture content that can spoil pollen. I use a large needle to extract the plant matter. Just a light poke and most will stick to the needle. Not positive if it does spoil pollen but better safe then sorry. I try always to have clean dry pollen.