sexing seedlings

[ramigaicinda]

This is my first time growing from seed. I have 2 week old plants with there 4 or 5 set of true leaves. I have been reading different opinions on sexing and would like to know what works best.

I have been told to take a cutting of a few notes and clone it then put it on 12 and 12 or to put the plant on 12 and 12 then revert it back to veg once its been sexed.

What works best. I am leaning toward taking a clone. Other option would be great as well

I was also told the the sex will be apparent in 4 weeks from germination, Is this true? If so why would you bother with the other options?

 

[blancolighter]

4 weeks is pretty soon to show sex, usually more around 6. IMO, the best way to sex is to take a few clones, then put the plant in 12/12 to see what happens. If you're new to cloning, you might want to make sure your clones root before you throw the parent plant in 12/12, and I would def. take more than one clone. After this you can either take the parent plant out to reveg, or just leave it in flowering and get some buds going, I always go for the latter...

 

[ramigaicinda]

How old or big should the parent plant be before you take the clones?
I was told to sex the clones not the parent, does it matter?

 

[blancolighter]

Either way is fine, up to you. Personally I take the clones then put the parent plant in, because my flowering box isn't that big and I don't like keeping a mother plant around too long cause I use peat moss as my medium, which starts compacting and breaking down after a while. You'll run into many opinions here, like some people preferr to keep the plant grown from seed around as the mother plant, so they like to wait for the clones to root then sex them. It's all a matter of circumstance.

If you're beginning with clones though, I would clone the plant, then sex the clones, so if you run into any problems, you have the parent plant standing by in veg so you can try again.

Also, pulling plants from flowering back into veg stresses them, so it's not a great way to sex em (the cloning way discussed is best), but it doesn't look like you're going that route, its just good info to know tho.

 

[blancolighter]

Also, the parent plant doesn't have to be any age, just has to be big enough to have a clone taken from it. Check out the cloning stickies the the propegation section of this forum, they'll give ya all the info ya need. I usually wait till my plants are around a foot high... Just remember to label your clones to the corresponding parent plants carefully, wont help ya any if ya take a bunch of clones from two plants, and they aren't labeled, you won't know which parent is which if some clones turn out to be male...

 

[ramigaicinda]

I'm still trying to get this all clear.At what point should I expect to see sex if I don't do either of these? 6 weeks? if its that soon why would you bother to sex in another way. won't the plants be actually showing sex by the time I root clones and then put them under 12 and 12 for two weeks?

 

[POTUS]

Let me see if I can simplify this technique for you:

At 6 weeks or so, you'll see what are known as "Pre-Flowers" on your plant. The male and female Pre-Flowers are distinctive enough to tell the difference.

IF you wait until you can safely take a cutting from a host plant using the "30% rule", then you can isolate the cutting and flower it by adjusting the day length and the entire cutting will flower just as it would if full grown.

The latest "rush-rush-hurry-hurry-flower at 3 inches tall" methodology being used by the impatient growers today won't allow for taking cuttings and using that method.

You have to wait until the plant has THREE TIMES the amount of branching that you will take as a 3 inch long cutting. This takes only 30% of the available growth and will not cause any harmful stress to the plant.

Put the cutting into a simple glass of water and place it into a strictly restricted lighting regimen of 10 hours of light, 14 hours of absolute darkness. Continue this, and observe the cutting in the time when the light is on ONLY. Absolutely NO LIGHT LEAKS can be present for this method to work fast.

Within a couple of weeks, the cutting will flower. It will then be obvious what sex the plant is.

At that point, you take the little cutting and throw it in the trash can. It's pointless to keep it. It's done it's job.

Meanwhile, the host plant has been growing happily with no interruptions and is now two weeks older and still under full time light.

Now you know with NO DOUBT what sex your plant is.

This is for people who have the patience to grow a full size marijuana plant that is 5 feet tall or more when harvested.

If you're one of the people who flower your plants when they're 3 inches tall, then just look at them after they've started flowering and remove the males.

It's that simple.

 

[ramigaicinda]

is there any benefit in taking cutting verus waiting till 6 weeks? I am looking to sex these plants and hopefully clone a few to be planted outside early june.

Is there a benefit to getting rid of the males earlier. At this time I really don't want to take cutting as my plants are about 8 to 10 inches and only have a single stem not side shoots

Any advise

 

[POTUS]

is there any benefit in taking cutting versus waiting till 6 weeks? I am looking to sex these plants and hopefully clone a few to be planted outside early June.

Is there a benefit to getting rid of the males earlier. At this time I really don't want to take cutting as my plants are about 8 to 10 inches and only have a single stem not side shoots

Any advice?

Preflowers are not nearly as accurate as flowering cuttings.

People find males all the time after proofing them with Preflowers.

One of the most important parts of a successful grow is Planning Your Grow and Learning How To Do Things Before Doing Them.

You're finding that out now.

The best way to do it is with cuttings. Wait until your plants are large enough to take cuttings from safely, flower the cuttings and go from there. Next time, you'll know how to plan ahead and do it right with the proper timing.

Let this crop be a lesson while you learn WHILE growing.

Plants do as plants will do. Human timing doesn't mean much to them.

Your problem reminds me of the guy saying; "I only have a 6 inch tall area to grow in. How can I make my plants stay that size and have full size buds?"

The answer of course was; "You can't". You have to have a plan when you grow. You have to already know what to expect.

Jumping in a car for the first time, going on the freeway at 90 mph at rush hour isn't the way to learn how to drive. If you use that method, you're almost certain to be doomed to failure.

Starting a grow without knowing how to grow is much the same.

You'll learn the hard way.

Let your plants get large enough to take cuttings from, flower the cuttings and be sure what you have.

Or

Look at the preflowers, guess what they are, plant them outside and hope you were right.

Start your next grow three months sooner and do it the easy way.

Good luck man.

 

[ramigaicinda]

This is definitely a learning experience. But I guess you have to learn so how!!!! Do I have to wait until I have side branching or can I clone from the main stem? Thanks for all the help!!!!

 

[POTUS]

This is definitely a learning experience. But I guess you have to learn so how!!!! Do I have to wait until I have side branching or can I clone from the main stem? Thanks for all the help!!!!

To gain side branching, you can pinch the top node from your plant. Two branches will sprout from that point. Later, if you want to, you can also pinch those two to create two from each of them.