# How to alter the % of females



## HippyInEngland (Feb 2, 2008)

*HOW TO ALTER THE PERCENTAGE OF FEMALES*

*From literature 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. For growers who are well experienced, percentage of female plants is 60% - 90% female, but less experienced growers can end up with 100% male plants. The environmental factors that, according to literature, influence gender are:

- a higher nitrogen concentration will give more females (at the three-pairs-of-leaves stage and continue for two or three weeks).*

*- a higher potassium concentration will give more males (at the three-pairs-of-leaves stage and continue for two or three weeks).*

*- a higher humidity will give more females (at the three-pairs-of-leaves stage and continue for two or three weeks).*

*- a lower temperature will give more females (at the three-pairs-of-leaves stage and continue for two or three weeks).*

*- more blue light will give more females (at the three-pairs-of-leaves stage and continue for two or three weeks).*

*- Fewer hours of light will give more females (at the three-pairs-of-leaves stage and continue for two or three weeks).*

*- In later stage, as you increase the light, the plants grow faster and show more females/less males. *

*Sixteen hours of light per day seems to be the best combination, beyond this makes little or no appreciable difference in the plant quality. *

*- Another idea is to interrupt the night cycle with about one hour of light, This gives you more females.*

*- Spray dilute Fish Emulsion ( 1 tablespoon per gallon ). When the plants have three sets of true leaves, plus the top sprout, give them a wetting spray of Fish Emulsion. Do it once a day for three of four days. Top and bottom of the leaves.*

*- To achieve 100% female plants is to expose young seedlings for several hours to an atmosphere of Carbon Monoxide. It doesn't hurt the plants, but it could kill you.*

*- Treatment of hempseed with ethylene gas will increase the resulting number of female plants by about 50%. Ethylene is produced by certain plants (i.e., bananas, cucumbers and melons), and these can be used to treat hempseed in a simple manner. About two weeks before you plan to sprout the seeds, place them in a paper bag or envelope and put that in a plastic bag with the peels of a ripening banana or cucumber. *

*Replace the peels after a couple of days, and change the bags to prevent mold.*

*- When hempseed is treated with the female hormone estrogen, percentage of females that are produced will increase by about 10%.*

*Dissolve a birth control pill in water and soak the seeds overnight in the solution. After the initial soaking, continue to treat the seeds by sprouting them on a paper towel soaked in the solution.*

courtesy of cannabis-seed-banks.com


----------



## snuggles (Feb 2, 2008)

* - a higher nitrogen concentration will give more females (at the three-pairs-of-leaves stage and continue for two or three weeks).*

*- a higher potassium concentration will give more males (at the three-pairs-of-leaves stage and continue for two or three weeks).*

*- a higher humidity will give more females (at the three-pairs-of-leaves stage and continue for two or three weeks).*

*- a lower temperature will give more females (at the three-pairs-of-leaves stage and continue for two or three weeks).*

*- more blue light will give more females (at the three-pairs-of-leaves stage and continue for two or three weeks).*

*- Fewer hours of light will give more females (at the three-pairs-of-leaves stage and continue for two or three weeks).


The above I have read before and even tried to follow those "rules" a couple of times, I have a difficult time getting males so I believe the temp and humidity part...honestly this past year I have had 4 males in total maybe five...LOL. And I tend to grow quite a bit. But who the hell knows for certain. It's one of those things that I have heard a million times and never had verified by anyone who knows for sure. The birth control seems a bit much considering, and so does the CO.
*


----------



## Puffin Afatty (Feb 2, 2008)

another anecdotal suggestion I've seen is to keep air flow off the seedlings until sexing, as more males grew on the windward as opposed to the leeward side of the grow.


----------



## Kupunakane (Feb 2, 2008)

Yo Ho Hippy,

  I have read this with rapt attention, and I think it is seriously misleading at best. I am a breeder of exotic plants, and I assure you that the DNA program that determines the sex of a plant is in place shortly after fertilization. If you are trying to alter an existing male or female then this might help.

Galoch (1978) indicated that gibberellic acid (GA3) promoted stamen production while indoleacetic acid (IAA), ethrel, and kinetin promoted pistil production in prefloral dioecious Marijuana. Sex alteration has several useful applications. Most importantly, if only one parent expressing a desirable trait can be found, it is difficult to perform a cross unless it happens to be a hermaphrodite plant. Hormones might be used to change the sex of a cutting from the desirable plant, and this cutting used to mate with it. This is most easily accomplished by changing a pistillate cutting to a staminate (pollen) parent, using a spray of 100 ppm gibberellic acid in water each day for five consecutive days. Within two weeks staminate flowers may appear. Pollen can then be collected for selfing with the original pistillate parent. Offspring from the cross should also be mostly pistillate since the breeder is selfing for pistillate sexuality. Staminate parents reversed to pistillate floral production make inferior seed-parents since few pistillate flowers and seeds are formed.


If entire crops could be manipulated early in life to produce all pistillate or staminate plants, seed production and seedless drug Marijuana production would be greatly facilitated.


Sex reversal for breeding can also be accomplished by mutilation and by photoperiod alteration. A well-rooted, flourishing cutting from the parent plant is pruned back to 25% of its original size and stripped of all its remaining flowers. New growth will appear within a few days, and several flowers of reversed sexual type often appear. Flowers of the unwanted sex are removed until the cutting is needed for fertilization. Extremely short light cycles (6-8 hour photoperiod) can also cause sex reversal. How ever, this process takes longer and is much more difficult to perform in the field.


smoke in peace
KingKahuuna


----------



## HippyInEngland (Feb 2, 2008)

Yo KK

Salutations

Ive read where you got your info from and yes its interesting, i find this quite fascinating, dna structure is changeable and who knows what one of us may stumble on 1 day.


----------



## Kupunakane (Feb 2, 2008)

Hey there Hippy,
  Yeppers, I couldn't agree more. It is rough trying to figuere out who knows what they are talking about, who is a wanna be scholar as far as MJ is concerned, 
 Some day one of us WILL stumble upon something great growing, and it will change everything.
 By the way, thank you for the salutations. You received what I had to say in a very gentlemanly fashion, even if I am wrong it's fun to have someone that you can toss it all back and forth with. The persuit of learning is where it all boils down to. I can handle someone saying, "naw-naw, wait dude your wrong",  or even "off in left field somewhere",  BUT what I admire the most is when two or more heads, (fruedian slip,LOL), can get together even though they disagree, and they put their collective brains together in search of the right answer. 
Oh , yes you are right about the DNA being able to be altered, BUT not after it has combined with another set of DNA from a pollination. You have to wait untill you can breed again to do that. Forcing a plant into a sex change (hermie) does NOT alter its DNA. I cannot begin to describe how badly I would love to do this genetic remodeling work.

Thanks for your being cool dude
smoke in peace
KingKahuuna


----------



## mal_crane (Feb 3, 2008)

First, I'd just like to say that most of this information came from a falsely reported post taken from Dutch Passions to Overgrow, which was when I first started doing research on these issues. The report was originally done on feminised seeds.

Second, I'd also like to say that, I am partially responsible for a recent revival in those DP beliefs simply because I can cut and paste the information without having to write such a long answer like this because until finding this thread and a thread on another forum I belong to, I thought that everyone was in general agreement about this issue. Apparently I was severely mistaken.

Third, I want you all to know I'm not trying to start an argument, nor am I declaring what I say is fact because it isn't, only opinions based on my own personal grows and research. Over the course of the last 10 or 15 grows that I experimented these 'myths' on, I have discovered _*on my own semi-controlled grows*_ that certain environmental factors do have an affect on the gender of the plant. I say semi-controlled because I have never had ph problems with my plants, therefore I use no ph meter. I am not disclosing scientific research, so please don't send an attack my way as if I am. Unless I am just a lucky guy and manage to get only 5-10% predetermined male seeds, then these are environmental factors I have noticed that seemed to have some sort of affect on the gender of my plants and only have an affect up until about 1 month of growth: 


24/0 lighting seems to give me more males, which is why I no longer use it.


18/6 lighting seems to give me more females.


Using 12/12 from sprout doesn't seem to give any higher of a concentration of females than 18/6.


Constant temps between 65-75f seems to produce more females, while any constant above 80 gives me a higher concentration of males.


A humidity above 40% seems to produce more females, while a humidity below 25% somehow has shown more males to develop.

I regret to inform all of you that I can't produce any information about different nutrient levels affecting the sex of the plant. And please remember, I am not submitting any of this as fact, only factors that have changed my grows. I'd also like to say that a Jorge Cervantes book was where DP got there information. Can anybody guess which one? I'll give +rep for that answer! :smoke1:


----------



## Mutt (Feb 3, 2008)

http://www.natureinstitute.org/txt/ch/details/GENETICS.pdf


----------



## mal_crane (Feb 3, 2008)

Interesting, I only got to flip through the pages, but I definately want to take the time to read this later on.


----------



## Mutt (Feb 3, 2008)

KingKahuuna said:
			
		

> Oh , yes you are right about the DNA being able to be altered, BUT not after it has combined with another set of DNA from a pollination. You have to wait untill you can breed again to do that. Forcing a plant into a sex change (hermie) does NOT alter its DNA. I cannot begin to describe how badly I would love to do this genetic remodeling work.


 
Something isn't adding up for me in this post. 
Reversing the plant then self pollentaing is changing the genetic traits for that offspring. Otherwise feminization would not occur.
Environmental factors such as lighting and medium will have an effect on offspring.


----------



## snuggles (Feb 3, 2008)

mal_crane said:
			
		

> First, I'd just like to say that most of this information came from a falsely reported post taken from Dutch Passions to Overgrow, which was when I first started doing research on these issues. The report was originally done on feminised seeds.
> 
> Second, I'd also like to say that, I am partially responsible for a recent revival in those DP beliefs simply because I can cut and paste the information without having to write such a long answer like this because until finding this thread and a thread on another forum I belong to, I thought that everyone was in general agreement about this issue. Apparently I was severely mistaken.
> 
> ...



I only have one of his books, the "how to grow MJ". I also have it in a book that he didn't write......

This is an interesting thread though, I would like to see if anyone could verify this one way or another...like I said I see this pop up on numerous forums at least weekly, but no one has ever said "it works". Some of the factors might very well be true but some aren't for sure. Like CO, a plant needs O2 and CO2, I would think carbon monoxide would also be harmful to a plant, as it is to any organism that needs O2 to survive. And the birth control pills are hormonal (I might be wrong just a guess) somehow how I don't think this would work either.


----------



## Mutt (Feb 3, 2008)

snuggles said:
			
		

> I only have one of his books, the "how to grow MJ". I also have it in a book that he didn't write......
> 
> This is an interesting thread though, I would like to see if anyone could verify this one way or another...like I said I see this pop up on numerous forums at least weekly, but no one has ever said "it works". Some of the factors might very well be true but some aren't for sure. Like CO, a plant needs O2 and CO2, I would think carbon monoxide would also be harmful to a plant, as it is to any organism that needs O2 to survive. And the birth control pills are hormonal (I might be wrong just a guess) somehow how I don't think this would work either.


 
I will contest that my ratios have gone up as well by following the method. The entire article is posted up in the advanced section as a sticky. Spectrum seemed to be the most beneficial aspect of what was printed. I watched my ratios drop when vegging under HPS but get up to 90% using mixed flos. Just what I "experienced" for myself.


----------



## snuggles (Feb 3, 2008)

OK twice I tried the lower temps. and higher humidity, N strong foods, and blue light. First time was 8/9 female the second time I was 8/8 female. These numbers are too small for me to come to a conclusion, and I'm no plant scientist so who knows.


----------



## Kupunakane (Feb 3, 2008)

Hey there Mutt,
  Like I was saying to Hippy, I think the idea here is to learn one way or the other, with no attacks. To me that is cool. You should also know that I am a breeder of exotic plants, not MJ, (yet). I can certainly be wrong,  and if so will humbly admit my error. Heck I'm not too proud to admit my goofs.
 Based on what I was reading from the posts in here, it sounded as if some folks were under the impression that you can take a seed, germ it, then once you have growth established you can subject the plant to different things, and increase the odds that you will have a female develope. All I stated was that when the seed is still in your hand, the sex at that point has already been determined. 
  I agree that you can dink with the plant after growth has been established, and bring about a change, ie. a hermie, or you can chemically cause a change. 
  I am still studying this in great depth, because obviously if something could alter that seeds sex then I would like to know as would all the rest of us to be sure.
 Carefull breeding has developed the feminized seed, but that is different, that's breeding, not what is being said here. this is just my $0.02

smoke in peace
KingKahuuna


----------



## Mutt (Feb 3, 2008)

Oh not at all attacking KK. Just saying I didn't see that one. Still a very interesting subject. All of it is debatable when it comes to breeding, traits environment, I love discussing it. There is so many ways to look at this herb. 

(but I got my outlook on femd seeds...Never will agree with it)


----------



## papabeach1 (Oct 11, 2008)

uhhh.. I do like these methods..  what do you think of pez's boot camp light methods 12/12 for 10 days, 24 then 12/12 for 5 days then 24, then 12/12 for couple of week?  along with high N, and estrogen, also go for that b.c. to dilute with water for the watering... all that to promote more females?


----------



## st00ner (Oct 11, 2008)

If I am growing Feminized seeds, should I worry about running my lights 24/7?

My seeds are about a week into life, is it to late to change the lighting cycle?


----------



## papabeach1 (Oct 11, 2008)

st00ner said:
			
		

> If I am growing Feminized seeds, should I worry about running my lights 24/7?
> 
> My seeds are about a week into life, is it to late to change the lighting cycle?



IMO...seed banks whoever says  you can get little chance to have males...
that where I'm little concern about that.. if they say I'm gonna have 50/50 chance with female, I ll just hang up...

the more we learn to get more ratio of females,    and we all will be fine..


----------



## THCPezDispenser (Oct 11, 2008)

Mutt said:
			
		

> I will contest that my ratios have gone up as well by following the method. The entire article is posted up in the advanced section as a sticky. Spectrum seemed to be the most beneficial aspect of what was printed. I watched my ratios drop when vegging under HPS but get up to 90% using mixed flos. Just what I "experienced" for myself.


 
I think if someone is willing to use a pack of feminized seeds and do a converse experiment, the results can add a lot of value to this question.  The feminized seeds are "XX" due to how they are made.  They are not super females, just guarateed to have been passed the "XX" chromosomes.  The test seeds must be from a reputable feminizer who uses GA3 and not hermies.  If, by using all the "wrong" environmental factors you can get a significant amount of males out of this pack of seeds, this should prove the point that environment can change sex.  Anyone have the space and the wherewithal to take this on ?


----------



## papabeach1 (Oct 11, 2008)

hey mutt?   did you do these with bagseeds? 


we would like to know  please...  sound like pez saying you did it with femmine seeds..


----------



## Mutt (Oct 11, 2008)

I don't use or will EVER use femd seeds. I don't wanna get into this debate again tho. This was on all the seeds i've grown bagseed and known lineage. but I AM NOT saying that i think enviro factors will "change sex" unless envrio stress causing hermies.
I do think that plant with both XY that the enviro could sorta help dictate which way it may lean.
I just tried both and seen what happened on more than 4-5 ocasions and medium/nutrients/and spectrum by following the "suggestions" they made i can't say there concept isn't too far out there.


----------



## papabeach1 (Oct 11, 2008)

THCPezDispenser said:
			
		

> I think if someone is willing to use a pack of feminized seeds and do a converse experiment, the results can add a lot of value to this question.  The feminized seeds are "XX" due to how they are made.  They are not super females, just guarateed to have been passed the "XX" chromosomes.  The test seeds must be from a reputable feminizer who uses GA3 and not hermies.  If, by using all the "wrong" environmental factors you can get a significant amount of males out of this pack of seeds, this should prove the point that environment can change sex.  Anyone have the space and the wherewithal to take this on ?



well.. mutt has used bag seeds which is not feminized seeds..

how can you explain it?   its bag of X and Y   maybe XY   therefore should we keep male around to get other plants to recognize themselves as female?


----------



## THCPezDispenser (Oct 12, 2008)

I didn't suggest or imply Mutt had used anything, Papa.  I said if someone out there tried using feminized seeds and doing some environmental experiments to get males, it would add value to this discussion.  This has nothing to do with a feminization discussion, simply knowing what the sex of the seeds should be before you start an experiment to see if you can get them to turn into something else.


----------



## papabeach1 (Oct 12, 2008)

I have 10 mothers... I do not want them to "feel" the urges to be hermie!

how do I avoid to get that happen?  any good suggestion ?  I have use "boot camp" of lights, it works.. what else to prevent them to go as hermie...as far I do not see any nuts/balls while white pistols is showing  but I ain't smiling yet cuz I'm tired see hermies!


----------



## darksideofoz (Oct 14, 2008)

How effective is ethylene stored next to seeds to create a higher % of female? 
(i.e green bananas placed next to seeds a minimum of 2 weeks before germination.)

and does this affect the germination rates?


----------



## Mutt (Oct 14, 2008)

> - Another idea is to interrupt the night cycle with about one hour of light, This gives you more females.



:holysheep::bolt:
just say no to hermies.

but no i haven't tried all the wierd stuff they recommend.
this is what i did and got more females with standard seeds (and used a mix of 280K and 650K Flos)


> * 24/0 lighting seems to give me more males, which is why I no longer use it.
> 
> * 18/6 lighting seems to give me more females.
> 
> ...


----------



## DomsChron (Oct 17, 2008)

> - a higher potassium concentration will give more males (at the three-pairs-of-leaves stage and continue for two or three weeks).


*Potassium (usually high in alot of bloom formulas) is recommended in light doses by good breeders like DJ short in the seedling stage.*



> Sixteen hours of light per day seems to be the best combination, beyond this makes little or no appreciable difference in the plant quality.


*I read from many sources 18/6 if anything. This is because the plant takes in total exactly 18 hrs. of sunlight max. So giving this, AND a whole 6 hrs dark seems fine for root growth.*



> - Another idea is to interrupt the night cycle with about one hour of light, This gives you more females.


*As mutt says, JUST SAY NO TO HERMIES 
I say this only because literally ANY light will be sensed by plants in the dark cycle and will halt the dark processes to start photosynthesizing. Then it needs to revert BACK to doing the dark processes. I just guess it's diffrent with outdoor plants, because there is constantly light from the moon right?*



> Dissolve a birth control pill in water and soak the seeds overnight in the solution. After the initial soaking, continue to treat the seeds by sprouting them on a paper towel soaked in the solution.


*I'm sorry but that would just be plain dumb to try!
*


> - To achieve 100% female plants is to expose young seedlings for several hours to an atmosphere of Carbon Monoxide. It doesn't hurt the plants, but it could kill you.


*:holysheep:  

Thats a little harsh. LOL!

Hmm, yea I guess I'll take a human sacrifice to acheive a full female harvest.

P.s. Not tryin to argue you know that hippy I'm just sayin. I don't want anyone to read this and pass it on. Someone might get hurt :hubba:  *



			
				papabeach1 said:
			
		

> well.. mutt has used bag seeds which is not feminized seeds..
> 
> how can you explain it? its bag of X and Y maybe XY therefore should we keep male around to get other plants to recognize themselves as female?



*LOLOL P.s. PapaBeach brother. Unless you don't want sesamilla (seedless weed),I recommend still killing the males. It wont help the fem ratio, it'll only allow pollen sacks to mature and pop spreadin pollen in your grow room. You love males don't you haha hate killin em' wanna grow em' out.*


----------



## papabeach1 (Oct 17, 2008)

so its best way to deal with only females only..

and to make feminized seeds is by using the GA3 , spraying on every branches to get the female to have male pollens and breed with female
POSSIBLE keep mothers and have plenty of clones..  correct?


----------



## darksideofoz (Oct 17, 2008)

DomsChron said:
			
		

> *Potassium (usually high in alot of bloom formulas) is recommended in light doses by good breeders like DJ short in the seedling stage.
> 
> *not sure about this, what works is P during early growth is a 10-52-10 for example then follow through with the veg formulas...
> 
> ...



   my 2cents


----------



## jrobertson (Oct 19, 2008)

getting tired of having to kill male plants, very small operation, more or less two old folks medicine, out of 6 plants 3 went bally, chopped them down, second grow Plants only a month old and there is one with two little sacks, must chop...Meanwhile we think femine seeds, any input on who has good female seeds. Anyone that has grown good female seeds? thanks jr


----------



## docfishwrinkle (Oct 19, 2008)

jrobertson said:
			
		

> getting tired of having to kill male plants, very small operation, more or less two old folks medicine, out of 6 plants 3 went bally, chopped them down, second grow Plants only a month old and there is one with two little sacks, must chop...Meanwhile we think femine seeds, any input on who has good female seeds. Anyone that has grown good female seeds? thanks jr


id just germ normal seeds & weed out males. feminized are not a gaurantee & you only get 5 for price of 10 normally...jmo though. it does suck but why don't you find your fav. strain & keep best fem for mother.


----------



## Hick (Oct 19, 2008)

> The moon only produces 0.02 light candles which is nothing. The sun will produce 10,000 during its peak times. Most of the time when outdoor plants reveg it is because of bad weather or lack of sunlight. My climate here was **** this year, colas were forming in june and it reverted back to veg in july/august...didn't start to flower until beginning of september @45 latitude. The plants require a certain amount of sun or else they will begin to flower even in june/july, doesn't matter lol.



I'm with you up to the"The plants require a certain amount of sun or else they will begin to flower even in june/july, doesn't matter " comment. Darkness is what triggers flowering, not a lack of light intensity. 
  Let me take a guess at this .
 You started your plants early, indoors? Under 18 hours or more of light, then placed them outdoors after the fear of frost?? .."45 N".. about the final week of May maybe?


----------



## darksideofoz (Oct 20, 2008)

hick: I wasn't refering to light intensity. I was refering to the amount of sun recieved by plants. So for example, if you put a plant out in the middle of a field and then move it into a forest, it will probably start to flower and reveg later. Another contributing factor is the weather conditions. If you have several weeks of rainy, cloudy and overcast then it will slow down the veg growth a bit. 

Fairly accurate hypothesis. They were started late march and vegged until mid june. As the plant grew older, the flowering kicked in slowly even though it was on 19/5 for a while and eased down to 17/7 before putting outdoor. Couldn't place outdoor early because of **** pre-summer weather. The strain was the church, it ended up flowering about a week after it was hardened off.  I had to clear cut brush a bit to help it reveg, certainly helped alot. The only thing I regret is chosing that strain. Not very good for this latitude at all, only good thing was the mold resistance. Greenhouseseeds listed it as beginning of october above equator so I must have assumed that was northern hemisphere (wrong.) 

hick u have anything to add?


----------



## Hick (Oct 20, 2008)

http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8937


----------



## DomsChron (Oct 21, 2008)

*Hick is THE super moderator 
I remember reading this thread a while back. I explained it to my Dad and he was psyched!

Nice new avatar by the way.*


----------



## Hick (Oct 21, 2008)

DomsChron said:
			
		

> *
> 
> Nice new avatar by the way.*


Somebody was telling me that I was "representing".., but really, I just had a runny nose lately..


----------



## DomsChron (Oct 21, 2008)

Hick said:
			
		

> Somebody was telling me that I was "representing".., but really, I just had a runny nose lately..



*Hahaha! Representing? Like a "G" homie? :holysheep:
*


----------



## darksideofoz (Oct 22, 2008)

if you used peat pellets and soaked them in a light nutrient solution of 10-52-10 (5-15% recommended dose) do you think this would increase females among the seedlings?


----------



## ozman (Oct 24, 2008)

Well that would explain my current dilema,as I  think I have 5 males out of 5 seeds.I used 24 hour light,kept them at  room temps,bummer I think I was doing everything wrong.No wonder I have a male problem,well live and learn,now to start more seeds following this thread.I already put a timer on my seedlings hoping it isnt to late,which it prolly is but we will see,  Good Post hope it helps me :watchplant:


----------



## docfishwrinkle (Oct 24, 2008)

oz what kind of seeds did you use to get 5/5 males? bagseed? my current grow i ran 24/0 and had temps even hit mid nineties for almost a week. ran 24/0 til showed sex then went 18/6 & guess what 6/8 female! had multiple probs in veg b/c running no ac in a homemade tent. ended up transplanting 3-4 times in there also w/ ph shock & nute burn. now  though everything is going better than expected. so im still hung in the balance.


----------



## ozman (Oct 24, 2008)

Hey Doc,I planted northern lights from nirvana.I also have 5 white widows and 5 aurora indicas in seedling stage all from nirvana.


----------



## docfishwrinkle (Oct 24, 2008)

ozman said:
			
		

> Hey Doc,I planted northern lights from nirvana.I also have 5 white widows and 5 aurora indicas in seedling stage all from nirvana.


wow 5/5 nl male! im doing nirvana bubblelicious 6/8 female. sorry bout ur luck. green mojo & good luck also for ya ww & ai. heres link to what ive experienced by my own stupidity http://http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26436 & then i was converted to coco buckets & you can see pics up to testerday in mass' thread http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=30181 thought it might help to see why im lil leary of "do this, do that then they will be female" theory. i think you just had some real bad luck.


----------



## trillions of atoms (Oct 25, 2008)

great thread.... love it!


----------



## DomsChron (Oct 25, 2008)

*Hell yea, I have learned so much from mass. I still continue to impress even the very arrogant elitist growers my buddies dad knows when I explain about organics and coco coir and stuff.*


----------



## cuy103 (Oct 28, 2008)

hippyinengland said:
			
		

> *For growers who are well experienced, percentage of female plants is 60% - 90% female, but less experienced growers can end up with 100% male plants.
> *courtesy of cannabis-seed-banks.com


i'm definately the less experienced grower.  4 of 4 plants turned out male.  and i think it's because of the temps (average 85), lack of humidity (10%-20%), and use of flowering light to veg.

Those three things (low temps, "higher" humidity, and lighting) are listed to environmentally promote female production.  My question is why?
*I get the lighting, why the other two?


----------



## cuy103 (Oct 28, 2008)

One more question.

what does the "three-pairs-of-leaves" stage mean?

Anyone know the answer to my previous question?​


----------



## Icex420 (Oct 30, 2008)

Hey guys. I know im pretty new but take this into thought. If you have 100 seeds. they all begin to grow in the same feild. same light every day, same rain fed.. im talking about NO human interaction. If what you guys are saying here is true about climate and weather and stress etc, wouldnt all these plants turn out to be exactly the same sex??? This is why i would have to agree with the other guy <sorry i forgot your name pal> on the fact that seeds have sex established when they are done growing in the pod.

What do you guys think about that educated guess?? Makes perfect sence to me really. 

I understand you can actually change the sex with stress, allthough all i am aware of is being able to change a female into a hermie, maybe vice versa. Not a complete sex change.

If weather and temperature had anything to do with anything, there would be very little marijuana at all because every plant in miles of eachother would have the same temperature and weather(rain availability).

Just an opinion.


----------



## Icex420 (Nov 1, 2008)

Any opinions guys?


----------



## massproducer (Nov 1, 2008)

The problem is that even under ideal conditions none of the seeds that you plant will require the exact same conditions to thrive, for example some will like full light, some will like partial cloud cover, some will want more water, while some will want less.

IMO, seeds have a genetic code that could go either way based on the conditions that exist... If enough of its basic requirements are met then it has a chance to thrive and become a female, IMO, if a plant senses that it is not in an ideal condition based on its genetic code then it will do everything it can to become a true blue male before ever showing sex, because that way it can still thrive but as a male and still undertake in preserving its genes.


----------



## TURKEYNECK (Nov 2, 2008)

massproducer said:
			
		

> The problem is that even under ideal conditions none of the seeds that you plant will require the exact same conditions to thrive, for example some will like full light, some will like partial cloud cover, some will want more water, while some will want less.
> 
> IMO, seeds have a genetic code that could go either way based on the conditions that exist... If enough of its basic requirements are met then it has a chance to thrive and become a female, IMO, if a plant senses that it is not in an ideal condition based on its genetic code then it will do everything it can to become a true blue male before ever showing sex, because that way it can still thrive but as a male and still undertake in preserving its genes.



thats deep mass.. good stuff though..


----------



## papabeach1 (Nov 2, 2008)

yes that is right mass prod.. I have see that in my eyes.. wow it turned males? all those time I gave the tenders and caring??..   at least I got more ratio of females plants and that does help... I followed the directions  18/6 straight

myself I grew lot outside when I was young.. the only mistakes I made was confusing the plants by moving them in different spots too often.. which does stress them to be hermie.. and did pass it along to other plants within 11,000 acres of swamp woods..  but again.. if ya wanna to decide to plant outside  a open wide area will be great idea.. and stick with that..  but  helicopters in usa  FLIR.. and all that.. oh well. good luck.. and it does take more time over indoor grow..   IMO  you can grow mom inside.. and do the cutting  and pass it to outside.. and let it grow.. but again  animals can eat it..


----------



## darksideofoz (Mar 29, 2009)

If you were to take a small black garbage back, place a bundle or two of banannas and some seeds in an envelope. Tie it up real tight, and vent it few times a day, would that work well as a method of applying ethylene to the seeds?

I know some people use bananna peals but in most cases, mold can be an issue (not sure if it would affect the seeds if mold did occur.)


----------



## winstonwolf (Mar 29, 2009)

Puffin Afatty said:
			
		

> another anecdotal suggestion I've seen is to keep air flow off the seedlings until sexing, as more males grew on the windward as opposed to the leeward side of the grow.



It would seem to me, though, that you'd be sacrificing a great deal of strength and robustness. In my experience, plants that don't have to resist a fan's air flow tend to be whimpy.


----------



## BuddyLuv (Mar 29, 2009)

If you want to increase your female:male ratio buy a rabbits foot and rub it all day.


----------

