please help, strain hermied on me for 2nd grow in a row

[DemonTrich]

im not sure wtf is going on, but my barneys farm Laughing Buddah has hermied on me for the 2nd time in a row. these were grown from seed, since march 2013. im on week 7 of this flower cycle and I just noticed them starting to herm on me. I have no idea why. my pineapple chunk, gorilla glue#4, and a ValentineX cbd have not hermied on me...yet (fingers crossed), nor the other 7 plants I have in the tent. I doubt its a light leak as the PC would be shooting nanners also.

im wondering if I have ran this genetic out of its normal hermie-free cycle or what? my patients all love this strain, and id hate to lose it. but she/its shooting nanners, so the bish has got to go in the bin.

ive never seen her shoot nanners in all the months ive grown her, minus the last harvest and this current cycle.

anyone have any ideas?






thanks

 

[BoldAsLove]

Have you made any grow changes in the past two runs with her?

There are many reasons a plant could herm, but if nothing has changed, it sounds a little strange. If you grow in soil, the soil being too hot or the pH being too out of whack can cause hermies.

Are the nanners sterile? Did you get seeds in the last run?

 

[RonSmooth]

Are the plants growing full male flowers or just "naners"?

You have grown this strain out before and never noticed any single anthers or seeds in the bud? Or are you saying that this is the first time since the plant has been growing?

Isolated anthers among female flower clusters are common late in flowering. I'm not convinced that stress is the cause, at least not stess like overwatering or pH imbalance.

Stress is a female that has been flowering for 7 weeks and hasn't been pollinated at all. I'm sure it is aware of this on some level. The naners are probably a reaction to this stress.

Some strains are prone to early male flowers. Sometimes you can pluck them off and they never come back. Cuttings are a crap shoot. Some cuttings from hermd plants grow out without a problem. I wouldn't chance it though.

I wouldn't keep anything as a mother that had issues unless it was superb in every other regard.

 

[BoldAsLove]

Stress is a female that has been flowering for 7 weeks and hasn't been pollinated at all.

Agreed. But it would be odd that the plant only started to do this in the last two cycles wouldn't it? Are you saying that clones of clones of the same genetic material, over time, realize their age?

I wouldn't keep anything as a mother that had issues unless it was superb in every other regard.

If the nanners are sterile, I would. As the OP says, it's helpful medicine to his patients. If it doesn't seed your crop, no harm done. And if you're willing to pluck a few viable nanners for your patients sake, good on you.

 

[Sam_Skunkman]

Are the plants growing full male flowers or just "naners"?

You have grown this strain out before and never noticed any single anthers or seeds in the bud? Or are you saying that this is the first time since the plant has been growing?

Isolated anthers among female flower clusters are common late in flowering. I'm not convinced that stress is the cause, at least not stess like overwatering or pH imbalance.

Stress is a female that has been flowering for 7 weeks and hasn't been pollinated at all. I'm sure it is aware of this on some level. The naners are probably a reaction to this stress.

I do not believe that not pollinating causes any stress at all. Why don't all sinsemilla do this if it is true?

Some strains are prone to early male flowers. Sometimes you can pluck them off and they never come back. Cuttings are a crap shoot. Some cuttings from hermd plants grow out without a problem. I wouldn't chance it though.

I bet any plant that shows intersex has genes that allow it to do so.
That said if you only use it for making a product and do not breed with it ever, who cares unless it is dropping pollen and screwing up sinsemilla production on itself or the other plants around it.
-SamS
.

I wouldn't keep anything as a mother that had issues unless it was superb in every other regard.

.

 

[DemonTrich]

the strain in general is from seed from march 2013 (fem seeds). only started doing this last run about week 7, maby 6. last run I has a couple small immature seeds at harvest time. I did change up my feed/water regimen this run, I went from a feed/water/feed leaving run-off in trays and this way was taking 10-12days to complete (waiting for pot to dry enough for next watering). now im doing feed/feed/water and vacuuming all overflow in drip trays. I can do a feed/feed/water is 8/9 days. the plants responded well to the new change. I did make this change mid cycle this run about week 4. yes, the strain is a clone of a clone of a clone, ect. all my strains are like this (laughing buddah, pineapple chunk, strawberry cream, gorilla glue #4, OG ghost, Valentine X.

no constants have changed in my grow. same ffof soil, same dolomite lime added to soil as a buffer, same mychoraizha (sp), same pots, same tent, same lighting, same time schedule, same a/c running.

I now put some 5ml black contractors plastic covering the grow tent and removed the "green" light about 4' away from the tent. if it were a light leak, it was from the green incandescent bulb I had in there. I also did a full "hazmat style" clean out of the flower tent to rid any pollen (basically washed the room 5x, soaked top to bottom)

last run only the PC and LB strains got nanners. last night I checked and it spread to my strawberry cream strain (my prized strain next to my GG#4 strain). ill be harvesting in 4 days or so, so im not too worried about hermies in this run. but want to find a fix for next run.

 

[morningdewd]

I heard issues of fem seed hermies after a period of time supposedly due to the process of reversing .I know several growers who only use reg seeds and one in particular that had a great RP sour kush from fem seed that after 2 years mysteriously hermied in the same controlled environment .Just a shot but maybe you should hop in it turn off the lights and sit for like 10 minutes.I did that once and was shocked how much light that I didn't see at all after a couple of minutes I could see after a really extended time in there.good luck

 

[DemonTrich]

when I am in my grow area with the lights off (outside grow tent), and my hps lights are on (2x600hps), I do see light penetrating thru the freakin zippers. if light can get out, means light can get in. but I only turned on the "green" incandescent light on anytime im in my grow area (lights on and lights off I ise the green light). so I am thinking its a light issue like you guys mentioned. and the strains that hermied on me are places at the main tent entrance I use, and the green light so happens to be above the tent entrance I use.

back to the pollen being viable. imo, it is viable and spread to a strain at the back of the tent about 4' away from the tent opening where NO light (not even the green light) would be leaking on it. so the hermied plants have spread their evil pollen on that plant as well.

the ONLY other explanation besides stress or light leak would be I never cleaned off my scope from last harvest. I then used said scope on this harvest to check tricks for amber, then they hermied on me from any residual pollen on the scope when I checked this harvest. but I read pollen (not properly stored) is only viable for 3-5 days. I cleaned the scope off last night after I thought about it. shooting from the hip on this one, but just another thought.

thanks again everyone for all the help. much appreciated.

 

[BoldAsLove]

Sam's post inspired me to do some more digging on the hermaphrodite subject. Sure enough, I found more current info from Sam

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=282090

 

[DemonTrich]

much appreciated!!!

im going to pick up some dutch masters reverse and hit my room I flipped 15 days ago as a preventive measure. that tent sits next (3' away) to my clone room (24/7 t8s), but this tent is my expensive, well built tent. no light leaks thru the zippers like my elcheapo flower tent.

im thinking I may just build a damn room to fully seal out any unwanted light leaks.

 

[RonSmooth]

the ONLY other explanation besides stress or light leak would be I never cleaned off my scope from last harvest. I then used said scope on this harvest to check tricks for amber, then they hermied on me from any residual pollen on the scope when I checked this harvest. but I read pollen (not properly stored) is only viable for 3-5 days. I cleaned the scope off last night after I thought about it. shooting from the hip on this one, but just another thought.

thanks again everyone for all the help. much appreciated.

Stress/light leaks aren't really an explanation in the first place. I have never seen anything but conjecture as far as light leaks causing male flowers. I have had light leaks and no pollen and vice versa. Same thing with over/underwatering, high EC, etc.

Some strains just do it. If a strain is very prone to the trait, it might happen often. I have had male flowers on 4/6 Sour Kush plants. The only constant there is the strain.

Individual anthers (naners) are different than full male flowers. Refering to an otherwise all female plant with a few anthers in the buds as a hermaphrodite in wrong. Herm. plants will show full flowers of the opposite sex at different points on the plant. They show earlier in flowering as well.

If you let any mj plant flower indefinitely without pollinating, I would bet a good portion would throw at least one naner.

I have never used Reverse but from the sound of it, doesnt sound like it would work as a preventative. How does it work exactly?

 

[DemonTrich]

well, my new flower cycle fakin hermied on me. im at week 6 in flower, same time as the last 2 cycles i noticed hermies. laughing buddah and strawberry cream strains ALL throwing nanners. ive been cutting off the effected colas, and I removed the LB from the room. I have an og ghost and 1 gorilla glue in the same room as the hermies. only the buddah and straw have popped nanners, the ghost and glue have not (yet anyways) until they get dusted. the only thing I can think of is a very minor light leak (I recently cut off the flower room from everything else in my grow area. Im also going back to the way I used to grow before I started having issues. going back to a feed/water/water/feed cycle, ditching the budswel (guano) additive, ditching the Apple additive. and adding pre-tek silica.

my strawberry cream strain is my most important strain, even more than the GG#4. I have a rare form of rheumatoid arthritis, and have been medicating with the straw for 1.5 yrs. I haven't had any major r/a flare-ups since then. all my patients like this strain as well. so this is a very important strain for me to save. Ive been in touch with Kyle Kushman to see what advise he can give me.

Im gonna give it one more flower cycle and see what happens with the straw. I would hate to throw away my pineapple chunk, laughing buddah and straw cream strains due to hermies. i don't know, but im really frustrated at everything at the moment.

 

[Granger2]

I wouldn't worry about a couple of immature seed if the weed is useful otherwise. Good luck. -granger

 

[RonSmooth]

.

My point was that if stress" like overwatering once or twice is enough to cause herms, then the "stress" involved in producing seedless plants would surely cause it as well.

It doesn't and that is why I am inclined to question the assertions that stress causes hermaphroditism.


To me, "naners" are a different story.

 

[DemonTrich]

well I spent 3 hrs combing thru 7 large (6'+) and 2 medium sized plants last night. I pulled about 15 nanners total. ill be checking the plants daily until I harvest at the end of the month.

ive been brainstorming all day yesterday, this is what im thinking. I hope I don't sound off my rocker. here it goes. just brainstorming some possibilities.

if you pull a clone from a clone from a clone and all the past flips have been nanner free, then the strain is good and its most likely environmental.

i did add a clone tent about 15' away from my flower tent. the intake for the clone tent has minimal light shining out the intake fan (2x4' daylight bulbs). this "could" have tossed enough light to enter thru my flower intake fan hole. this is a big "IF", as its really dim light. but a possibility.

overfeeding. i went from a feed/water/water/feed to a feed/feed/water (technaflora recipe for success nutes), and added budswel organic bat guano and Apple. now if it were overfeeding wouldn't my gorilla glue and og ghost also hermie on me? ALL plants get the same feeding/strength cycle. with the exception of a plant that shows signs of something else needed.

i did have an "ooopppsss" moment about week 5. i forgot to lower my plastic sheeting/cover and once again, minimal light shined on my tent. i do have light leaks on my tent, so i built a wall of 5ml black contractors plastic to keep the light out.

i still believe its a light leak issue coming in thru the air intake and not a feed issue. ive totally sealed off the flower room from the rest of my grow area. after this cycle is harvested, ill hazmat clean the room again (for the 4th time) for any pollen, and try again. ill run 4 SC plants (currently hermieing) along with 4 glues, 1 ghost, 1 valentine X. week 6 is the magic hermie week.