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What is with all the hermie seeds these days?

GrowbagUK

Member
I seem to find many more seeds are hermaphrodite these days.
Is this due to the rise of feminisation? or is it just sloppy breeding?

There is absolutely no excuse for seed companies to push out these unstable strains.
I will no longer entertain a company which supplies hermaphrodite seeds and will make every effort to warn others of their crap products.....I hope others have a similar attitude.

Bah humbug. lol
 

Happy Times

Well-known member
Specifics on what strains have been problematic?

I think part of it could be that a lot of modern strains have come into existence due to some strains hermying and creating some bagseeds that people grow out and find nice phenos of
 

MJPassion

Observer
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Sounds like somebody needs better environmental controls if they're seeing so many hermies.


I've grown many seeds that were the result of herm pollinations and they dont herm.


The herm pollination was the result of a light leak in my pvc grow tent many moons ago.
 

Ready4

Active member
Veteran
Where does everybody think all these "OG" strains came from ? lol
Many of the "hermie" problems can be eliminated by trimming away the crappy little branches in the portion of plants - doing some "lollypopping" will eliminate these male flowers typically. You will notice when you have a nanner, usually it is in these lower branches which yield so little and are a huge pain in the ass to trim.

Many of these strains that are prone to kick out a few nanners in the lowers, will throw no nanners outdoors.
And if it is only a few seeds, enjoy your S1's !
 

hush

Señor Member
Veteran
Most common reasons for hermies, other than genetics, are light leaks and stress training during flowering. You might look for light leaks, and make sure you are gentle with plants after they've transitioned into flowering.

Otherwise, stop buying cheap seeds from questionable sources?
 
Like mentioned by Ready4 and Happy Times, the fact that many modern strains are based on bagseeds of uncertain origin which probably were the result of hermaphroditism might explain what you are experiencing.


Of course, the climate should be kept at an optimum in your growing environment, but that is not always possible (especially outdoors). If a plant starts to hermaphrodite because it is a little out of its temperature or humidity comfort zone, that does not speak in favour of the quality of the strain.
 

Som 2

Active member
In my experience, the bagseed I grew from Latin American commercial weed in the late '80s and early '90s was less hermie prone than a lot of modern strains, despite the reputation of landrace seeds.

I think a lot of modern weed has its roots in growers finding one or two seeds in amazing weed that was meant to be sinsemilla. Back then the quality gap between good weed (kind bud) and commercial was so big that if you ran across seeds of kind bud you would save them even if they were hermie prone. Modern weed was built out of that. The process has passively selected for hermaphroditic tendencies even if individuals are actively trying to select against it.
 

fvasquez

Member
Where does everybody think all these "OG" strains came from ? lol
Many of the "hermie" problems can be eliminated by trimming away the crappy little branches in the portion of plants - doing some "lollypopping" will eliminate these male flowers typically. You will notice when you have a nanner, usually it is in these lower branches which yield so little and are a huge pain in the ass to trim.

Many of these strains that are prone to kick out a few nanners in the lowers, will throw no nanners outdoors.
And if it is only a few seeds, enjoy your S1's !

Yep, you want to trim your lower foliage to prevent herms in a lot of modern strains. The original Glue #4 has this problem for example.
 

pumpkinpie eyes

Member
Veteran
usin fem seeds can do it with environ factors like otherz have said. best not to breed with fems as they'll hermie later- found that out. arg!
bet hemp plants in area will show herm traits on outdoor grown photoz down the pipeline.
 

J-Icky

Active member
Bubba, OG(supposedly), Sour D , Chem are all the results of hermies.
Now go look at what’s in most “strains” these days. There’s your answer. When the major building blocks of a strain are hermie prone and crossed and recrossed with other hermie prone strains it just further concentrates those genes responsible.

Sadly true breeding is a lost art and there is not enough money in it. People aren’t gonna go 10+ generations to stabilize and properly remove problem genes just so they can sell a few packs and then have their work stolen and reused without compensation.

Until the cannabis community comes together and forms a non-profit, open source, community funded breeding club we will continue to see “breeders” simply crossing and femming elite clones once or twice and then selling those seeds as a new “strain”. This will just further the already bottlenecked gene pool and further the hermie issues.
 

JohnnyChicago

Well-known member
I'm using a feminized Panama in my Panama x Original Haze cross, and I haven't seen a single nanner in all the plants I have tested since 2014. And this long flowering strains get much more stressed during their life than commercial 7-10weekers where I often see a male flowers.
 
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Lost in a SOG

GrassSnakeGenetics
Buy better genetics but more than anything check what your grow environment is doing.. like VPD ?
Are you making them drink too fast in too small a pot size?

Most people getting herms are fucking their transpiration rate and root binding their plants..

Just expecting them to be machines and all perform the same aint right.
 

mack 10

Active member
Veteran
No one knows chem came from a Hermie.
There was male found in the First seeds popped
But he chucked it.
 

igrowone

Well-known member
Veteran
this would be an interesting poll
i see the complaints, hard to get a sense if it's worse now
some will say if the femme's are properly bred, no problem
apparently not all femme seeds are properly bred
 

J-Icky

Active member
No one knows chem came from a Hermie.
There was male found in the First seeds popped
But he chucked it.

I stand corrected, you are right, I completely blanked the fact that chemdog said he did get a male and tossed it cause he didnt realize what he had at the time.

But on that same note it’s not unheard of to find males in fem seeds either and it’s said that chemdog has a tendency to herm if not properly grown, which is how sour d and rumored that OG were created.

Sadly that whole group that make up a large percentage of today’s “strains” are from unknown sources with unknown heritage.
 

mack 10

Active member
Veteran
Yep, I'd agree.
OG Kush came from a strain called
"Superknot"
Probly from the golf ball mug structure?

If I remember properly it was from Florida.
 

TychoMonolyth

Boreal Curing
Yep, you want to trim your lower foliage to prevent herms in a lot of modern strains. The original Glue #4 has this problem for example.

I grew lot of Nirvana's Original Glue outdoor this year and didn't see one hermie.

It did however display Rodelization at the end of October on a left over popcorn bud. (end of life. as it should)
picture.php
 

DrDee

Member
Hi Guys,
I'm an old fart and have grown many bag seeds over the years. I loved Thai stick but every grow from those seeds hermed. How many strains out there include those genetics? Many...
JD
 

therevverend

Well-known member
Veteran
I seem to find many more seeds are hermaphrodite these days.

I haven't seen a true hermaphrodite from seed in my last 10 years of growing. I've seen some that throw nanners in their last week of flowering but I haven't had any that pollinated the other plants. And I'm an outdoor grower and start all my plants from seed.

This is in stark contrast to the 90s when I'd get nasty hermaphrodites all the time. This is because breeders have access to better stock that's had the hermaphrodite traits culled. Which is actually too bad the old hermie strains were a bitch but I feel like great phenotypes have been lost. A lot of the nasty stinky skunky stuff would hermie.

I'm also much more selective about who's seeds I sprout. I hardly ever buy feminized seeds and when I do it's from a breeder I trust knows what they're doing. I don't grow from bag seed, use seeds from reputable breeders with good reputations or friends who have their shit together. Or my own breeding. If you stick to these sources you probably won't come across hermie lines.

Every hermaphrodite I've had has been from clones. I've seen outdoor plants cloned and brought indoors reverse sex. These plants were straight females without a single male flower that didn't like moving indoors. It's not common but I've seen it happen.

I've bought name brand clones from strangers in the medical clone market and had them go hermaphrodite. Gorilla Glue #4 and Cookies and Cream were the culprits and I'm not surprised. The GG#4 probably had sterile pollen. As soon as it showed male I moved it outdoors in late April and it finished flowering without self pollinating. It's probably not a coincidence that the guy I got some of the clones from was an asshole.
 

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