Getting More Females From Your Seeds

[bigsteve]

I'm still a newby with 3 grows behind me but here is some info I have found helpful.

Question -- If I have to pay large money for seeds how can I increase the percentage of seeds that produce female plants (I pull the males as soon as I can tell the difference)?

Answer -- These are from the Castaneda Bible and have worked well for me:

*Temperature - females like lower temps.
*Humidity - females like higher humidity
*Moisture - females like more water
*Light - females prefer more blue-spectrum light
- females like fewer hours of light while germing
*Nutes - females like increased nitrogen
" " decreased potassium

I germinate my seeds in total darkness inside a baggie. I open the baggie every day and exhale a lungful of CO2 before sealing the bag. Last batch was 10 females and one hermie/male.

Good Luck, BigSteve.

 

[KP2]

well.... there are some things to consider here. there is a big debate as to whether seeds sex is predetermined, which i think is probably the case. i've almost always had good female ratios, but then again, i use mostly my seed stock. if these things hold true, i'd like to agree with which parts.....

cool temps = more females
blue spec = more females
high nitrogen = more females

warm temps = more males
warm spec = more males
high phosphorous (potassium matters not) = more males

hope this helps! do NOT follow dutch passion's advice on increased females.

 

[scoregreen]

wow, awesome post...

 

[Kriegs]

I've heard low pH (<6.0) in soil media will push plants to be male.. but that's just hearsay. I haven't experienced it.

 

[Monolonof]

at what point do you think sex is determined then?

I followed most of that advise during germ / seedling but things got a little warmer during veg.

Is it better to CFL during veg then (more Blues, less heat)?
I have a hps, would it be better to save it until flowering?

 

[KP2]

at what point do you think sex is determined then?

I followed most of that advise during germ / seedling but things got a little warmer during veg.

Is it better to CFL during veg then (more Blues, less heat)?
I have a hps, would it be better to save it until flowering?

that depends; if you want to veg 30 plants quickly, go hps. if you want to veg one plant slowly, use cfl's.

cfl's suk for growing applications

 

[kcbennie]

my understanding is that the sex is determined in the 2 weeks time that the seed sprouts until the vegetative stage. Once the plant goes from seedling (mostly root growth) to vegetative (plant growth), the sex has been determined. When the plant grows its 2nd or 3rd set of leaves, clone it and flower the clone. There is no sense in wasting time and taking the risk vegging out a male, am I right?

 

[homegrownboy]

The plants sex is predetermined in the embyro of the seed. You cannot make more females by doing the things you meantioned, they are mearly guidelines to follow to treat the female with the best care...the plant will be, what the plant will be.

The only thing you can do to a plant is make a female turn hermie by stressing the fuck outa it.

 

[KP2]

The plants sex is predetermined in the embyro of the seed. You cannot make more females by doing the things you meantioned, they are mearly guidelines to follow to treat the female with the best care...the plant will be, what the plant will be.

The only thing you can do to a plant is make a female turn hermie by stressing the fuck outa it.

i also lean to this side of the argument. as stated before, if any conditions play a part, they are the three i listed.

i have not been able to prove that seeds are predetermined though; i've done many tests of seeds from shape and size, none of which were flawless examples. i do not think that plants decide if they want to be female or not.

 

[KP2]

my understanding is that the sex is determined in the 2 weeks time that the seed sprouts until the vegetative stage. Once the plant goes from seedling (mostly root growth) to vegetative (plant growth), the sex has been determined. When the plant grows its 2nd or 3rd set of leaves, clone it and flower the clone. There is no sense in wasting time and taking the risk vegging out a male, am I right?

no, that actually takes longer. if you chop the top, you stress both parts, and both will show gender later. the best way to find sex is to veg until preflower, and clone your best girls.

as for sex being determined at 2 weeks in, that fits in the debate. the big question is if sex is predetermined or not, and the truth is no one really knows for sure.

 

[GlassFreak]

also is it true that if you give them like an hour more light durring veg (19/5) it helps with females? i have heard this one or two times.

 

[homegrownboy]

i also lean to this side of the argument. as stated before, if any conditions play a part, they are the three i listed.

i have not been able to prove that seeds are predetermined though; i've done many tests of seeds from shape and size, none of which were flawless examples. i do not think that plants decide if they want to be female or not.

Your exactly right. As I said before...plants sex is already predtermined...it doesn't decide to become male or female once it's already growing.

 

[homegrownboy]

also is it true that if you give them like an hour more light durring veg (19/5) it helps with females? i have heard this one or two times.

Females prefer shorter light cycles...like 16/8 which is what I do. Males like longer light cycles. But as I said...it's not gonna matter what you do....the plant is and will be what it will be, you CANNOT make the plant male or female.

 

[KP2]

according to dutch passion, 24 hour lighting in veg will produce more females.

and still, none of this is proven.

i have a few thousand seeds i can play with if anyone would like to go in on a joint experiment. i'd like to see some actual truth come from this....

 

[kcbennie]

no, that actually takes longer. if you chop the top, you stress both parts, and both will show gender later. the best way to find sex is to veg until preflower, and clone your best girls.

as for sex being determined at 2 weeks in, that fits in the debate. the big question is if sex is predetermined or not, and the truth is no one really knows for sure.

whatever. I'm speaking from first hand experience. You should start your seeds, clone them as soon as possible and labe the new clones to match the parent, and then flower the clones (seperate from the parents that are still in veg). It will take you 2 weeks to root the clones and two weeks to sex them. You can now eliminte the males and stop wasting your time with them and risking getting caught with worthless plants. You really don't even need to keep all of the females. you only need the healthiest of them and you can take as many clones as you want from those.

 

[KP2]

whatever. I'm speaking from first hand experience. You should start your seeds, clone them as soon as possible and labe the new clones to match the parent, and then flower the clones (seperate from the parents that are still in veg). It will take you 2 weeks to root the clones and two weeks to sex them. You can now eliminte the males and stop wasting your time with them and risking getting caught with worthless plants. You really don't even need to keep all of the females. you only need the healthiest of them and you can take as many clones as you want from those.

whatever; i'm one of those people who doesn't exist and pulls three pounds per 1k. not like i know what i'm talking about or anything....

hahahahahaha. i'm a breeder, btw. those females are important, every one of em. don't let post count rule your life.

 

[GlassFreak]

according to dutch passion, 24 hour lighting in veg will produce more females.

and still, none of this is proven.

i have a few thousand seeds i can play with if anyone would like to go in on a joint experiment. i'd like to see some actual truth come from this....

i wana know too man. because what about hermis? i have seen african methods of turning a plant that is showing male flowers into a female. i dont know why it works but if you notice your plant showing male sex or its starting to turn hermi you can pull on the stem at the base near the dirt just a little nudge every day and it will turn. dont hold me to it tho. just something i saw.

i would believe that the sex is predetermined, but i would also see how sex could be determined durring development. humans develope sex after they are already mostly developed why not plants? thats why guys have nipples, theyre useless to us but since our sex was determined after they developed they are just there. girls need them for milk for the babys...

just saying we develop nipples befor sex, why couldnt a plant develope through part of veging befor it determines its sex?

 

[GlassFreak]

this is on feminized seeds from duch passion

Info on "Feminized Seeds"
In an experiment done in 1999 we grew 15 varieties of "feminized" seeds. We started with 30 seeds per variety. The goals were: 1) to determine the percentages of female, male, and hermaphroditic plants. 2) to compare the uniformity (homogeneity) among plants from "feminized" seeds with those grown from "regular" seeds. 1. The results were excellent. Nine out of fifteen varieties had 100% female offspring. Percentages of female plants from the other 6 varieties were between 80 and 90%. These plants were all hermaphrodites, producing their male flowers at the end of their lifecycle. Seed-setting hardly took place. No males were found. 2. Approximately 70% of the plants of varieties grown from "feminized" seeds were far more uniform than plants grown from "regular" seeds of the same variety. About 20% of the varieties were a little more uniform, while in 10% of the varieties no difference in uniformity was seen. From literature and our own findings it appears that the growth of a male or female plant from seed, except for the predisposition in the gender chromosomes, also depends on various environmental factors. The environmental factors that influence gender are: a higher nitrogen concentration will give more females. a higher potassium concentration will give more males. a higher humidity will give more females. a lower temperature will give more females. more blue light will give more females. Fewer hours of light will give more females. It is important to start these changes at the three-pairs-of-leaves stage and continue for two or three weeks, before reverting to standard conditions. To produce our feminized seeds, we start with selected female clones. Under standard conditions these female clones do not produce any male flowers. By the method we found, we are able to have these female clones produce abundant male flowers and pollen (see photos). The pollen thus produced we use for the production of our "feminized" seeds
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