Female Seeds Made Easy ?

[Stash]

First let me say I wanted to put this post in another thread but I don't have the 50 post needed. Rather than not post this great info I am putting it here. I have been at this a long time but not much of a poster. With that said here ya go.
I'm Stash and I am an older grower. Not to long ago I was helping a fellow grower that was having trouble starting seeds. I have seen his grows before and it seemed that he did pretty good. So I got my seeds growing and after a few weeks when I thought that they were old enough that he would be OK with them, I took the young plants over to his house for him to take over the growing. A few weeks later I was talking to this guy and he told me " did you know every one of those plants that you brang over were males". As it turns out he was one of these new age growers that only grew clones. He didn't know enough to put these plants under 6/18 until they got older. He had only used clones for a few years now, he put them right under 12/12 and turned every one of the girls into male plants. Thats also why he could not start his own seeds. These plants should have been mostly female.
This mistake tells me something. What if you were to take a seed that you already know is female (say an S-1) and put it under 12/12 at just a few weeks old and it turns male. We maybe able to make female seeds the easy way. What do ya say, worth a try?

 

[budelight]

Try it again and let us know.

Why don't you do a side by side with the same seed stock and different light/dark cycles

 

[fungzyme]

I don't think that's going to be a reliable way to induce male pollen.
Plenty of people grow 12/12 from seed and seem to get normal male/female ratios - I think your friend just had some bad luck, or maybe there was some other factor (?)

 

[hush]

he put them right under 12/12 and turned every one of the girls into male plants.

Hey Stash. Sorry I gotta disagree with you on that. There is an entire legion of people who do what is called "12/12 from seed" and I've never heard any of these people complaining about all their plants being male. So the problem is certainly not due to him putting them directly under 12/12.

That being said, he sounds like quite a noob, based on what you've said about him, and I'm guessing that there are probably several factors at play here. I've heard people report that certain environmental conditions cause a higher percentage of males, and that these tend to have to do with temperature, humidity, and/or nutrient availability. Something tells me this guy's setup is not ideal, based on what you've said about him, and other factors are causing this.

My first thought, actually, is that if this guy is as noobish as you are implying, that maybe they are NOT all males, and rather they are all hermaphrodites. Since the male flowers tend to show first, it wouldn't surprise me that someone who didn't know better might just call them males. This could still boil down to an environmental problem, or grower error, though. There isn't enough info listed in your post to speculate. He might have light leaks, he might be using a product that is messing up his garden, he might have temperature or humidity spikes, he might have stress-inducing pests or parasites. There are many possibilities.

But this was not the result of him putting the seedlings under 12/12 lighting schedule.

 

[Stash]

I've got little idea how this may have happened but I sure would like to know how. The seeds were of 4 different strains (not Fems). These seeds were from my seed stash. I started these seeds under 18/6. I am old school, I always age my plants at 18/6 for 3 months before going to 12/12. Maybe he used some plant food that stressed out the plants. I just don't know. I do know that you can stress a female and turn her. I'll work on it myself in the future but for now my plate is full. I have a scientific mind and I love a good challenge. As you should see from my other post I've at it for some time.
Hush, I agree there maybe more info that would be good to know. Also the plants were started on 18/6 and put on 12/12 at just a few weeks old. Not started on 12/12.
Later, Stash

 

[sourpuss]

I find male to female ratios quite high with reg seeds. Whereas back in the 90s it was quite opposite. Just my experience.