High Male Ratio - Bad luck, strain or enviornment?

I am growing out Nirvana Bubblicious after a little time off. I started a 10 pack, grew out 8 plants. After 16 days 12/12,

- I have 6 males and 2 that have not shown sex.

I have the same setup as in the past, except I flowered very early - 14 days of 18/6 when they were 6" tall and I am going very light on the nutes. I think the early flowering explains the lateness in showing sex but it should not have an adverse impact on ratio of males

No light leaks, stress - plants are really healthy and vigorous. Never had so many males show - yet not a single female.

What do you guys think? Bad luck? Any similar experiences?

so maybe if you popped the hole pack you maybe would have 6 males 4 females, which wouldn't be bad. I think the 8 you decided to pop is where it went wrong. Although, I am not experienced with Nirvana seeds and I am not sure if this is something commonly found.

I would guess, Luck!

ENVIROMENT. the sex of the plant is not in its genes.. the plant decides for its self if it wants to be male or female.. week 4 is crucial.

dont remeber but u want to make sure ur soil stay semi moist, that u have descent humidity in ur room.. ur temps are around 78.. there are a lot of other ways to make sure u have guranteed fems but those are just a few.. Using blue spectrum light like 6500k flourescents significantly improves ur ratio. so use MH or 6500k lights.

as a matter of fact I can gurantee the main reason u had this happen is that u are using a yellow light instead of a blue spectrum light.. use 6500k daylight flourescents.. I get 70% fems

You can get as high as 90%

Humidity has been 30-50%, Temps are 68-70 with light on, 59 off. Always used HPS - never heard that MH would increase female ratio - interesting. I have a switchable ballast - a MH bulb would only be $40 bucks.

Watering has been perfect.

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ur temps need to be higher as well as ur humidity. go for 70 percent humidity and yes MH is imperative.. plus plants stretch way more with hps..

Im a special case tho. if i had to use only one light.. it would be MH. Scientificly.. there is more usable light for u plants.. HPS is more powerfull tho and does produce better yeilds.

Homemade Nirvana WW's seeds: 4 out of 4 male. I have never fell below 55% female before...my luck ran out.......400 watt CMH

Good info guys. I used nothing but FFOF soil for the first four weeks. Per Moondog - higher N would help as well. I believe FFOF would have plenty of N - but not adding nutes the first 4 weeks was a change for this grow.

it is a bit of luck also.. but u can have a major influence on the ratio with some basic environment control.

only practical way I can get the # females I need:...plant twice as many seeds I need and throw out the excess after sexing

that's one advantage of homemade seeds

yes rgr what he said ^. =D.

however. IM on a tight budget. I order as few as 3 seeds some times.. i still get a fem. i got 2 out of 3 fem. Ive had 2 seeds and had them both fem. think about it.. if u have 3 seeds and ur ratio is normaly 50% with 10 seeds.. u will have more of a chance to either get 66% fem or 66%male. so its more luck with fewer seeds.. if u are having a prob geting more males than fems then u should plant more seeds than u need.

or improve ur enviroment so u dont have to buy so many seeds. i order 3 seeds often and I always get a fem. never had a prob.

Why don't you use feminized seeds or clones, a must for a high density grower IMO,

Here's what Chimera said about the subject:

Chimera said:

I find this thread amusing.

This 'theory' (maybe stoner desire would be a more appropriate term?!) has been proven FALSE. Multiple scientific references have proved it- I have posted links multiple times over the past 10 years in various forums.

Can I ask the so called experts here that fail to look at the science, what statistical test was run on the numbers to confirm the validity of their results.... saying %80 of my seeds were female is MEANINGLESS.... 4/5 is meaningless, and NOT STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT.

Sex is genetic, plain and simple. Cannabis gender is determined by heteromorphic chromosomes- and yes males ARE the heterogametic sex (ie XY).

The sex of your seeds is determined well before they arrive at your doorstep. There is NOTHING you can do to influence the outcome of the sex of your seeds, period. All else is stoner wishful thinking, and does NOT stand up to the science, which is available to all of you sitting in front of a computer.

If you are so lazy or blissful in your ignorance that you choose to avoid searching out the science that proves this, and believe the very ill-informed wannabe that originally authored this thread @ overgrow it is YOUR OWN FAULT, and nobody else's.

Wishes don't change facts, and the fact remains that cannabis sex (gender) is genetically determined.

Ciao!

-Chimera

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I believe him. Of course you might be able to push a hermie either way with the environment...

Genetics - makes sense.

Based on studies of sex reversal in hemp, it was first reported by K. Hirata in 1924 that an XY sex-determination system is present.[61] At the time, the XY system was the only known system of sex determination. The X:A system was first described in Drosophila spp in 1925.[64] Soon thereafter, Schaffner disputed Hirata's interpretation,[65] and published results from his own studies of sex reversal in hemp, concluding that an X:A system was in use and that furthermore sex was strongly influenced by environmental conditions.[62]

suprisingly. from wikipedia.

The first time I sexed plants was under an HPS, three males out of four plants. The last time I flowered regular seeds, it was under cool CFL tubes and had very high female %'s.

Unless your looking for pollen, stay away from HPS during the stretch. I have wondered if someone took clones off of an unsexed plant then put some under warm bulbs and some under cool bulbs what would happen.

It works out anyways that outdoors are strongly blue, I really don't believe that HPS bulbs are more like fall light. It's why outdoor buds have more leaf, so much more blue spectrum.

here is the whole part about sex in wikipedia..
basicly we are both right. depends on the strain.. but if a plant can go male because of the environment.. than surley if the environment is optimal u will have more female.

concluding that an X:A system was in use and that furthermore sex was strongly influenced by environmental conditions.[62]
Since then, many different types of sex determination systems have been discovered, particularly in plants.[56] Dioecy is relatively uncommon in the plant kingdom, and a very low percentage of dioecious plant species have been determined to use the XY system. In most cases where the XY system is found it is believed to have evolved recently and independently.[66]
Since the 1920s, a number of sex determination models have been proposed for Cannabis. Ainsworth describes sex determination in the genus as using "an X/autosome dosage type".[56]


A male hemp plant.


Dense raceme of carpellate flowers typical of drug-type varieties of Cannabis.
The question of whether heteromorphic sex chromosomes are indeed present is most conveniently answered if such chromosomes were clearly visible in a karyotype. Cannabis was one of the first plant species to be karyotyped; however, this was in a period when karyotype preparation was primitive by modern standards (see History of Cytogenetics). Heteromorphic sex chromosomes were reported to occur in staminate individuals of dioecious "Kentucky" hemp, but were not found in pistillate individuals of the same variety. Dioecious "Kentucky" hemp was assumed to use an XY mechanism. Heterosomes were not observed in analyzed individuals of monoecious "Kentucky" hemp, nor in an unidentified German cultivar. These varieties were assumed to have sex chromosome composition XX.[67] According to other researchers, no modern karyotype of Cannabis had been published as of 1996.[68] Proponents of the XY system state that Y chromosome is slightly larger than the X, but difficult to differentiate cytologically.[69]
More recently, Sakamoto and various co-authors[70][71] have used RAPD to isolate several genetic marker sequences that they name Male-Associated DNA in Cannabis (MADC), and which they interpret as indirect evidence of a male chromosome. Several other research groups have reported identification of male-associated markers using RAPD and AFLP.[24][48][72] Ainsworth commented on these findings, stating,
"It is not surprising that male-associated markers are relatively abundant. In dioecious plants where sex chromosomes have not been identified, markers for maleness indicate either the presence of sex chromosomes which have not been distinguished by cytological methods or that the marker is tightly linked to a gene involved in sex determination.[56]"
Environmental sex determination is known to occur in a variety of species.[73] Many researchers have suggested that sex in Cannabis is determined or strongly influenced by environmental factors.[62] Ainsworth reviews that treatment with auxin and ethylene have feminizing effects, and that treatment with cytokinins and gibberellins have masculinizing effects.[56] It has been reported that sex can be reversed in Cannabis using chemical treatment.[74] A PCR-based method for the detection of female-associated DNA polymorphisms by genotyping has been developed.[75]

More good info. Definitely will use an MH during veg next time as I have a switchable ballast - even though I have only used an HPS for over 20 years with no issues with high males ever.

ENVIROMENT. the sex of the plant is not in its genes.. the plant decides for its self if it wants to be male or female.. week 4 is crucial.

dont remeber but u want to make sure ur soil stay semi moist, that u have descent humidity in ur room.. ur temps are around 78.. there are a lot of other ways to make sure u have guranteed fems but those are just a few.. Using blue spectrum light like 6500k flourescents significantly improves ur ratio. so use MH or 6500k lights.

Click to expand...

Utter shite plain and simple, things have moved on from K. Hirata... all you are doing is masquerading the sex ie its transient you havn't change it... just like when you reverse a plant etc.. bad info is bad info please do not spread it.

Kopite