Should I Force Flower My Plants To Determine Sex, Then Revert To Veg

SmokeyMacPot

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Should I Force Flower my Plants to Determine Sex, then Revert them to Complete Vegetative Growth Once the Sex is Known?

No, forcing flowering to determine sex, then reverting to vegetative growth stresses the plant, delays the eventual harvest and causes the plant to stretch unnecessarily.

The better course is to either flower numbered clones or to observe preflowers in vegetative growth.

Author: Bongaloid
 
Should I Force Flower my Plants to Determine Sex, then Revert them to Complete Vegetative Growth Once the Sex is Known?

No, forcing flowering to determine sex, then reverting to vegetative growth stresses the plant, delays the eventual harvest and causes the plant to stretch unnecessarily.

The better course is to either flower numbered clones or to observe preflowers in vegetative growth.

Author: Bongaloid

im in my 1st grow 1st timer here and i didnt think it would matter much i think i have gone in and out of flowring like 3 times

im now doing what i should be and thier on ad 10am and off at 10pm everyday is a nice schedule thats been working out very well with maybe 1-2 hrs in diff if any every other day

2 compact floures and 1 20watt cool tube is my setup in a 4ft or smaller square closet that actully has alot of draft in from the closet and outside the house so i dont even use a fan
but i do open the doors sometimes for then and when im stuck i will sit there and breath on them for awhile lol

my 1st investment by far is going to be a timer for my power

i would sayt his one thing alone will screw any 1st timer over thats not aware of the flowering cycle

explains the 1st time i saw a bush and was like hey weres the buds at cuz i knew that bush had been there for months and months and never made any buds long ass days in the summer and it was puled b4 winter too bad but i did get a trash bag of leaves from the homie witch i stupidly tryed to smoke and dry out in a toaster oven aghhh good times good times lmao i meber smoking like 20 grams of leave sat a time till my friends car just smelled like shit and i myself just smelled like shit lol
 
the first ones a learning experience after that you will be able to know earlier and earlier till as soon as a tiny hair or seed forms you know .



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Whether you need to know sex right away or not is question only you can really answer.

I have switched lighting early to determine sex and I have also put brown paper bags on a single branch for 12 hours per day to determine sex before I was ready to switch the photo-period. Both methods have worked for me. Although I have never had a problem doing it that does not mean you will not have a problem. Some strains are more sensitive than others.

If you Need to know sex right away for a reason you may be forced to do something like this. A lot depends on you and your needs. If you have a space problem you may need to know sooner than the next guy. It only takes about 2 weeks or less to determine sex for me. I am not that good at reading pre-flowers and do not trust myself.

I think the ideal thing if you start from seed is to grow them all out. Take clones from them all. Once you find the females you are part of the way there. In any pack of seeds there is going to be one winner that shines above the others in growth and potency. You are going to want to have that to use in the future. So determining sex is only part of the deal to me. Once you have a winner you can clone the heck out of it. Not only is it female and the winner of the batch, you will have better canopy control since they will all be as close to identical as you can get.

One more thing. It takes about 6 weeks for a plant to reach sexual maturity. I do not know how long you plan to veg, but many people only veg a couple weeks past that. If you want to veg monsters you may want to do that with clones instead of seeds. Growing seeds out is just the beginning process of determining your future with that strain. Better to grow monsters from clones than seeds for the sake of space management.
 
Whether you need to know sex right away or not is question only you can really answer.

I have switched lighting early to determine sex and I have also put brown paper bags on a single branch for 12 hours per day to determine sex before I was ready to switch the photo-period. Both methods have worked for me. Although I have never had a problem doing it that does not mean you will not have a problem. Some strains are more sensitive than others.

If you Need to know sex right away for a reason you may be forced to do something like this. A lot depends on you and your needs. If you have a space problem you may need to know sooner than the next guy. It only takes about 2 weeks or less to determine sex for me. I am not that good at reading pre-flowers and do not trust myself.

I think the ideal thing if you start from seed is to grow them all out. Take clones from them all. Once you find the females you are part of the way there. In any pack of seeds there is going to be one winner that shines above the others in growth and potency. You are going to want to have that to use in the future. So determining sex is only part of the deal to me. Once you have a winner you can clone the heck out of it. Not only is it female and the winner of the batch, you will have better canopy control since they will all be as close to identical as you can get.

One more thing. It takes about 6 weeks for a plant to reach sexual maturity. I do not know how long you plan to veg, but many people only veg a couple weeks past that. If you want to veg monsters you may want to do that with clones instead of seeds. Growing seeds out is just the beginning process of determining your future with that strain. Better to grow monsters from clones than seeds for the sake of space management.

Thanks for the advise, I appreciate it very much. have invested in the lights the nutes, etc.. and when the arrive i should start cloning. I have put the plant through 12on-12off for going on two weeks and im starting to little hairs and not pollen sacks, which is good news for now(fingers crossed). I was planning on putting back on 18-6 so it can grow more once I know its a female and then clone. Is this a good idea or what should I try?

Thanks again everyone for your advise and taking the time out of your busy lives!!

Thank you ALL!
 
Diego, I have done exactly what you are doing before and it worked out perfectly. It cost you a lot of time, going into flower and then veg and then flower again, but it works. I do not know of any stories where they hermi'd from this, but maybe someone else had a different experience. Some strains and some pheonos of certain strains are more sensitive than others. I did what you did with some big bud and some bag seeds. They both come out of it okay. I grew those out to about 4 feet before flowering the final time.
 
Thanks again... Do you think should just start cloning now that i know its a female?and veg them untill my 400w lights get here 2/3 weeks i suppose. or keep them under 12/12 if yes for how long, or should i just go back to 24hrs..what do you think?
 
Thanks again... Do you think should just start cloning now that i know its a female?and veg them untill my 400w lights get here 2/3 weeks i suppose. or keep them under 12/12 if yes for how long, or should i just go back to 24hrs..what do you think?


That is a tough one for me. Flowering plants are not really ready to clone. You could take some cuts and start them and see if anything happens and then when you go back to veg if your clones are not working out you can take some more from the vegging plants.

I always take about 3 times more clones than I need to just be safe. You can always give them away or throw them away if they all root up for you. Better safe than sorry.
 
I grow outside, guerrilla grow every summer. I germinate seeds in January. I put all my seeds in solo cups with pro mix. After they veg for two weeks I put them under 12/12 HPS. It takes about two or three weeks to sex. After they show sex I put them back in veg 18/6. In April I put two foot females in the ground also using pro mix and mycorrhizae. Since I guerrilla grow I also use terra sorb. Terra sorb is basically water crystals with different kinds of mycorrhizae. I only water them if it hasn't rained in two weeks. I used stored rain water. This has always worked for me. I never have problems with males. I do get a few hermied seed. I only had four hermied seeds out of six pounds.
 
Should I Force Flower my Plants to Determine Sex, then Revert them to Complete Vegetative Growth Once the Sex is Known?

No, forcing flowering to determine sex, then reverting to vegetative growth stresses the plant, delays the eventual harvest and causes the plant to stretch unnecessarily.

The better course is to either flower numbered clones or to observe preflowers in vegetative growth.

Author: Bongaloid
No it's hard on the plant and unessisarry to boot.
 
Should I Force Flower my Plants to Determine Sex, then Revert them to Complete Vegetative Growth Once the Sex is Known?

No, forcing flowering to determine sex, then reverting to vegetative growth stresses the plant, delays the eventual harvest and causes the plant to stretch unnecessarily.

The better course is to either flower numbered clones or to observe preflowers in vegetative growth.

Author: Bongaloid
Here's a pre flower on an vegetative female.
IMG_20210622_183039__01.jpg
 
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