What do you know about males?

[growclean]

Well, to get some more experience under my belt for future projects, I have cordoned off a closet to try to flower some males. Here is my specific questions, but feel free to chime in about anything else.

I am in a closet in a room that is 24/0. I have put a layer of poly inside of the door and standing in the closet it is about 97% light sealed. I am going to try to do a little more if I can. But will males hermie if there is a little bit of constant light? If so, why do I really care?

Can males be under less light? I mean I don't really want to spend alot of cash on these boys. They are going from vegging under 600MH. But I was going to throw about 4 plants under a total of 186 watts of CFLs. Is that good enough for them?

Along those lines, I wasn't going to bother to up pot them right now, even though I would definitely if they were females. They are rootbound. Again, do I really care for any reason?

Also, I will try to keep the pollen away from the other plants as much as possible, but can male pollen affect clones/seedling/vegging plants? If they only have preflowers?

Thanks!

 

[indifferent]

Males don't need a lot of light. A light leak and other stresses is actually a good idea, you want to try to force them to hermie, any that do, you throw away, you want the ones that won't hermie.

Any female flower, whether preflower or not can be pollinated.

Males in the same house as plants in flower is tricky, you need to be very careful, pollen can be carried on draughts, cats, dogs, your hair and clothes etc.

 

[growclean]

Males don't need a lot of light. A light leak and other stresses is actually a good idea, you want to try to force them to hermie, any that do, you throw away, you want the ones that won't hermie.

Any female flower, whether preflower or not can be pollinated.

Males in the same house as plants in flower is tricky, you need to be very careful, pollen can be carried on draughts, cats, dogs, your hair and clothes etc.

So even a preflower can be hit up eh? How long is this free pollen viable?

 

[Natagonnaworrie]

Males don't need a lot of light. A light leak and other stresses is actually a good idea, you want to try to force them to hermie, any that do, you throw away, you want the ones that won't hermie.

Any female flower, whether preflower or not can be pollinated.

Males in the same house as plants in flower is tricky, you need to be very careful, pollen can be carried on draughts, cats, dogs, your hair and clothes etc.

All good advice / facts.

if the females only have preflowers then you'll only get a seed or two... nothing to worry abt

i have a few males right now, they are a month old and still in 4" pots. i dont really take care of them. Once they start to flower i will take them out of the flower room and throw them outside where they can finish another 1 - 2 weeks to harvest some pollen. I wont leave them in the same house, even another room and another cab

 

[Clackamas Coot]

growclean

<opinion>If I have an old plant 5+ years then I would not want any male pollen in and around those rooted cuttings. Let's say that the small plant has only 3 or 4 pistols showing and they get hit with pollen. What happens then? The plant shifts from growing roots, leaves and branches and begins the process of making seeds which its been waiting to do for several years. Make sense?

Also remember this - male pollen has a 'life span' and I don't recall what that life span is but if it's up to 2 or 3 weeks then you're screwed 10 ways to Sunday because pollen is like powdery mildew - it's everywhere. Literally</opinion>

YMMV

CC

 

[tokinafaty420]

If you learn how to store pollen you can keep it for many months possibly even longer than a year.

The trick is to dry it out and freeze it. There are other threads though somewhere in this forum that explains the steps more precisely.

 

[indifferent]

pollinated preflowers isn't an issue, doesn't negatively affect the plant in my experience.

Not sure how long pollen can live 'in the wild' but any moisture and it's fucked, so given a dry low humidity environment, you could see pollen staying live for some time, if it's very humid, it won't last long.

Cannabis pollen is 80-85 microns in size so if you setup any kind of air filtration to prevent pollen getting at your flowerin ladies, it must have a hole size no larger than 75 microns.

 

[growclean]

Ok, thanks alot for all the responses. I think I am going to give it a shot in there and he how it goes. As far as the males themselves, it couldn't go any worse for them then hacking them down! I will take my chances with the clones and seedlings that are vegging. It is fairly humid and I will try to be extra cautious. I will take some pics and post them this weekend.

Thanks again! :yay:

 

[mad librettist]

I'm a bit puzzled by the claim that males don't need much light. Maybe there are limits to everything. I had one in a window barely making tiny flowers. Then I put it back in the cab and it exploded. then again it also went hermie.

 

[guest2012y]

Males remind me of the male Black Widow spider. They aren't around for long. I FEEL male plants are more tolerable to stressful conditions before they actually give up and die. They can handle crazy light schedules and other stresses well,the more stress,the more they kick off flowers...like they are a dying super hero,"MUST SPREAD POLLEN!!...AHHHH"
I have a male isolated now that I'm stressing the hell out of via neglect,odd ball light schedule, inconsistent watering,weak light source.....IT LIVES.

 

[Natagonnaworrie]

Also remember this - male pollen has a 'life span' and I don't recall what that life span is but if it's up to 2 or 3 weeks then you're screwed 10 ways to Sunday because pollen is like powdery mildew - it's everywhere. Literally</opinion>

but unlike powerery mildew a good spraying of clean water destroys it

I'm a bit puzzled by the claim that males don't need much light. Maybe there are limits to everything. I had one in a window barely making tiny flowers. Then I put it back in the cab and it exploded.

most people usually only need a little pollen (goes a long way) so little flowers, so little light..

GC, my saving grace has always been that after a few weeks of 12/12 you can throw males flowers outside where they will burst under any light conditions. (its still feb here anyway so the sun is < 12 / 12.) If its too cold i would just say a window sill

 

[Clackamas Coot]

but unlike powerery mildew a good spraying of clean water destroys it

And if a grower could locate and isolate each and every PM spore and hit it with potassium bicarbonate (GreenCure, Milstop, Remedy, Armicarb 100) then PM eradication wouldn't be a multi-million dollar a year industry in Western Washington & Western Oregon.

Trying to isolate each and every male pollen particle to hit it with water might prove just as challenging.

Or not.

CC

 

[mad librettist]

ok I think I get it... that male I showed was sterile, so I could have gotten pollen from even the small flowers.

ah well, it's for the best. I don't have space for breeding. Only gene collecting.

 

[indifferent]

Reason why I said males don't need much light is that you're not needing them to produce lots of flowers, just a few as one pollen sac can produce enough to make loads of seeds.

Water is the best way to prevent pollen getting in the wrong places, in commercial breeding ops they use 'curtains' of water vapour produced by misters to protect flowering plants from pollen contamination.

 

[Mr. Greengenes]

Chop the males in half, that way they'll be happier in the smaller pots and you'll reduce the amount of flowers, which will be easier to handle. In fact, if you prune off most of the flowers a day or two before they open, you can just harvest one or two flowers from each plant, with a precision method of some kind.

 

[Clackamas Coot]

Chop the males in half, that way they'll be happier in the smaller pots and you'll reduce the amount of flowers, which will be easier to handle. In fact, if you prune off most of the flowers a day or two before they open, you can just harvest one or two flowers from each plant, with a precision method of some kind.

Mr. Greengenes

In the past when I specifically wanted to collect pollen I did what you're suggesting with great results.

Cut the top 1/4 - 1/2 of the plant (depending on the height) and stick into a vase/jar/whatever. Within a few days you'll have all the male pollen you'll probably need for months/years as long as you mix it with flour (I prefer rice flour because it's finer) and stick it in the freezer.

HTH

CC

 

[guest2012y]

Mr. Greengenes

In the past when I specifically wanted to collect pollen I did what you're suggesting with great results.

Cut the top 1/4 - 1/2 of the plant (depending on the height) and stick into a vase/jar/whatever. Within a few days you'll have all the male pollen you'll probably need for months/years as long as you mix it with flour (I prefer rice flour because it's finer) and stick it in the freezer.

HTH

CC

I use a very similar method to both of yooz guys. I chop it in half and then strip off all but a couple leaves for photosynthesis and one flower cluster. It looks bad,but it isolates the flowers to one area and leaves the plant alive long enough to get a considerable amount of pollen from. I'll keep track of when a cluster is about to open and then that night go up and put a baggie with a twist tie around it. That way the sun doesn't sweat the pollen during the day,and typically the flowers open in early morning,not to say that they won't open ANYTIME.

 

[EvilTwin]

Hi Growclean,
I'll tell you what I do and hopefully it will provide some useful info.

I use small clones for mostly seed production and an occasional cross. Once they're 6" tall, I stick them in a kitchen cabinet that I have a light rigged up in. Nothing special regarding air filtration. Once they're fully polinated, I remove the male and mist the area. then move the pollinated female clone into the bloom room to finish off it's seed production. I don't get alot of seeds. I'd say 30 seeds per plant.

On the lifespan of pollen...around 2 weeks is what I've heard. less if humid. As has been pointed out, pollen lasts longer if dried and frozen. And pollen is a very cool way to share genetics. Easy to mail.
ET

 

[Kaneh]

You guys worry too much about pollen spreading to female-room! (IMHO)
(I'm talking about hobby pollen chucking and not pro-breeding btw)
I have males in basement, fems upstairs, and my "sexroom" is on first floor (living room). So it's kinda between males & females.
I collect pollen in basement and take it to first floor to meet the girls. Only one or two at the time so the girls are in sex room only as long as needed, then they go to stairway for a hour before I take them back to female-room with the virgins.

I just pollinated (2 weeks ago) lower branches of some plants, and they are pretty much only things that are making seeds now. Only couple exceptions. And I got pollen flying all over my living room!

Just take note where the air is going in your house. Turn of the exhaust fan in female-room so there isn't negative pressure sucking air (and pollen) from other parts of the house. I have fireplace in my living room so the pollen flying in air goes there.

If you wanna be sure. smoke a joint in the room you want to pollinate. If you can smell it in your female room half hour later, it's not gonna work. If you can't smell it, go for it!

I mean seriously guys, you have like one pollen particle in 10 cubic meters of air. If you get very unlucky you might find one extra seed in your sinsemilla.
...so fucking what! ;D

 

[Mr. Greengenes]

Hey CC, I meant to keep chopped bottom part, but your suggestion is even better. I'm a real 'hotdog' with males and leave 'em by the door of the ladies room 'till the last minute. I don't recommend it to others, because it means watching flowers on an hourly basis and you need considerable experience. If nothing else, it's fun to see the looks on growers faces when they see heavy hangin' males about to drop. I always announce, "just hang back a second while I check these boys, don't want any unneccessary air movement!" Of course, I collect only one flowers worth from each male. I use a bottle cap glued to the end of a chopstick to collect. Another chopstick held in the other hand 'pins' the open flower against the bottom of the cap so it can be pulled off in one piece. A little hard to describe the skill, come to my house to learn it right! Fresh pollin is a bit heavier when the flower first opens, so it's less likely to fly around with air currents. This method leaves virtually no extra pollin around, so no water cleanup is needed.