When is Sex determined?

When is the sex determined?

I thought that the sex was determined before germination but the only way to tell was to wait until flowering.

However I have a friend that's telling me that the plant is sexless until it flowers, and at that point it's sex is determined. So the only way to clone to be sure of getting a female is to wait til you start flowering, then clone.

In short, I say clone and flower the clone to determine the sex of the plant it came from, he says to flower to determine the sex of the plant (because it's sexless prior to this point), then clone from the plants you know are females.

or let it grow for 5 to 6 weeks and u will either see 2 white pre flowers or alot of pollen sack balls

Look at the base of the branches; you should see either a V shaped twin pistil set or a nutsack.

i just took 2 clones frm each plant and labled what plant they came frm and when i flower the plants i will find out which ones are female and keep those clones and destroy the rest so if plant a and c are female i will destroy clones b and e and keep the other clones for next grow

This isn't a question of how to identify the sex. This is a question of; at what point does the plant have a gender from a genetic stand point.

all of mine showed at apx 6 weeks the males a bit sooner

You're talking about 6 weeks into flowering you were able to see what sex they were correct?

What I'm asking is, does the plant have a sex before flowering? Not when is it visible.

u need to check with a plant biologist for that i would guess yes

Let me start by saying - I don't know. But hey! that never stopped me from offering an opinion before so why stop now?

Seed banks sell feminized seeds and I've heard hermie plants give hermie seeds so it seems that sex would be predetermined from seed. Given the right conditions, genetics could be the determining factor. But under duress, the plant could change sex or more likely become a hermaphrodite. I am dubious that sex can be determined from just looking at a seed though.

I don't know if this answers your question but I believe it addresses what you were asking.

zep867 said:

You're talking about 6 weeks into flowering you were able to see what sex they were correct?

What I'm asking is, does the plant have a sex before flowering? Not when is it visible.

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Put it this way......
If you have a Mama plant, then you take lets say 10 clones, you put them on veg, with me so far?
You then take another 10 clones a few weeks later from the same Mama and, put those on veg, this is what some peeps call SOG! With me still?
Eventually months later, you have a shit load of clones at various stages in growth, yes?

Ok, here comes the bit you'll be interested in.....If, and I say IF....you have to wait for 6 weeks into flowering to predict the gender then, there wouldn't be anyone growing SOG! You'll forever be inspecting every plant, every hour, every day, to check that you haven't got a MALE that will ruin your entire crop!

You clone plant first then, flower the clone to determine what sex it is, male bin it, female, well then you still have a Mama to take as many clones as you like
Sorry if this sounds patronizing but, it's the easiest way I can explain and, that you in turn can tell him about SOG! PEACE!

Yes! It does, at least to an extent. I too doubt any indicator of gender from a seed, simply question the matter of whether it in fact has one.

Yes, that's why you have to flower the clone to find out if it is a male or female. If it's a male visibly then it was a male seed, if it's a female then it was a female seed. The seeds don't change sex when they want to. When you buy seeds and they're gauranteed 99% female, it means that there might be a male seed that somehow got mixed up in the batch. Not that the seed might change sex. Does this help?

Yes. Thank you.

zep867 said:

Yes. Thank you.

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Glad to be of help my friend, again sorry for sounding patronizing....Peace

Okay, so here's my question.... How is a seed feminized?

Sorry if this was already answered, if it was, then I missed it.

Holddddddddddd on just one second
im sure ive read....
a plant can change sex...if it is stressed allot the plant can change to a hermie/male to keep its race (cant think of the right word) from dying out.
Clones will always be the same sex as the original plant, eg a hermie clone will have come of a hermie plant.


Im pretty sure sex is determined around 5-6 weeks into veg
but flowering will show clear signs of the plants sex
so if you flower a plant before the 5-6 week mark then you will be simply forcing the plant to sex before it is ready to choose naturally

i have learned most of this from this website

I've read it that a female can be stressed too much and turns into a hermie...

durban poison said:

I've read it that a female can be stressed too much and turns into a hermie...

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this is what i say, no?

What about giving your plants too much light; I've heard that it will produce more males if you go 24/7 too long.

Rocketgirl said:

Okay, so here's my question.... How is a seed feminized?

Sorry if this was already answered, if it was, then I missed it.

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Rocketgirl - this is a great question - did you ever get an answer? I've been doing some research but I've seen such a wide variety of answers (most of which smell of bullshit) I still don't know.