What is the earliest you can tell the sex of a plant?
- Thread starter jokerlola
- Start date
Her Joker, just my 2 cents.
You don't necessarily have to wait for pistils or pollen balls to appear in order to determine gender. If you are familiar with the gender structures and you can view your's closeup and very clearly, then you may be able to spot the likely gender well before the appearance of pistils or pollen balls.
- Thread starter
- #3
So are you saying that if I take close up pictures o the gender structures at the nodes, you could tell what the likely sex is?
There is a good chance, yes. I have done that with my own plants when grown from regular seeds, like I did on my recently completed grow where I showed closeup pictures in my journal of the developing gender structures before they showed pistils and pollen balls, but I feel most people don't get closeup pictures that are clear enough to be able to tell.
And I've always known sexual maturity to begin when they start growing with alternate, rather than opposite nodes around node 5 or 6, but recently @bluter indicated he has grown many a flowering plant that well exceeded 6 nodes and still grew with opposite node structure.
Now I top and he doesn't so maybe the topping after node 4 helps to drive the alternating nodes, but don't really know.
Now I top and he doesn't so maybe the topping after node 4 helps to drive the alternating nodes, but don't really know.
- Thread starter
- #6
Unfortunately they are too lacking in clarity to tell.
Here is a post from my journal showing 2 plants of my recent grow, Mulanje #1, and Mulanje #2. The #1 showed the tell tale sign of a 'crab claw' appearance of a male, and later grew pollen balls. The #2, was female and even shows the slight eruption of the tips of 2 pistils. If you can't obtain sharp pictures, then perhaps consider getting a loupe magnifier to view the nodes close up. Post showing early gender structures.
Emeraldo
Well-Known Member
Hi Joker,
R. Clarke in Marijuana Botany discusses and has illustrations of how to spot sex early. As in Stunger's photos last year, there sometimes are telltale signs. One of those was apparent in Stunger's clear closeup photos of the developing gender structures at the nodes.
R. Clarke in Marijuana Botany discusses and has illustrations of how to spot sex early. As in Stunger's photos last year, there sometimes are telltale signs. One of those was apparent in Stunger's clear closeup photos of the developing gender structures at the nodes.
Emeraldo
Well-Known Member
One other way to tell sex is to flower the young plants with 12+ hours of darkness for two weeks, at the end of which time you should see clearly either pistils or balls. You can then let them go back into veg.
- Thread starter
- #10
My damn USB microscope suddenly went out or I could have really clear close up pictures. I do have a 20X loop that I could try to put on the lens of my phone. I will try that later in the day. At least your pictures show me what to look for! Thanks!
HappyHazmat88
Inhale Confidence, Exhale Doubt
Hey seems like you have a good group here helping you along .. so I'll keep input to a minimum, another early sign of female is crossed stipules....it's not %100 accurate but does give clue to sex... Males never cross but females can cross or be straight.
I've noticed the crossing stipules on my female plants and wondered if it was a "thing." Thanks for confirming my observation.Hey seems like you have a good group here helping you along .. so I'll keep input to a minimum, another early sign of female is crossed stipules....it's not %100 accurate but does give clue to sex... Males never cross but females can cross or be straight.
HappyHazmat88
Inhale Confidence, Exhale Doubt
Yes good morning @Azimuth I've done some reading on it here and a few other places... Seems to be a common first tell... Not accurate but the cross commonly shows in females ONLY...
Hi Happy, the crossing or not of the stipules seems to be a good sign for many, but I have found in my own grows that as a rule it was often not dependable. In my journal post linked above, it shows a pic of my Mulanje #1, a male, with crossed stipules. As a rule, it has failed me a few times so I don't have any confidence in this as a gender predictor, but if it works for others then great, it just doesn't seem to for me!
Emeraldo
Well-Known Member
Stipules sometimes are a sign of a female. I had a female last year who showed those on June 19. Another way to spot a male is to look at plant structure. Males often are taller than females of the same strain, with longer internodal spaces. Here some photos from last year showing what turned out to be a female and a male of the same strain. The first photo is the female. In the second photo, the female is on the left and the male is on the right.
- Thread starter
- #16
I wound up getting tied up today but one of the plants is a little taller than the other so maybe the tall one is male.
Emeraldo
Well-Known Member
Hi Joker
So are the internodal spaces (length of mainstem between the nodes) also longer?
But since you cannot tell just now what the sex is, just give them time. Now that you know several of the signs to look for, you'll be able to tell. Watch for a male above all, males will start emitting pollen quite early, even before the females start to flower.
All the best
So are the internodal spaces (length of mainstem between the nodes) also longer?
But since you cannot tell just now what the sex is, just give them time. Now that you know several of the signs to look for, you'll be able to tell. Watch for a male above all, males will start emitting pollen quite early, even before the females start to flower.
All the best
- Thread starter
- #18
Internodal spacing is longer on the taller plant.
- Thread starter
- #19
HappyHazmat88
Inhale Confidence, Exhale Doubt
Congrats those are pistilsDoes this look like female parts?
Similar threads
