Any tips/tricks for spotting hermie nanners?

Hey guys,
I'm 8 weeks into bloom in a 4kw room. I've been picking nanners 1-2x a week for a couple weeks, usually finding 2-3 a week (fuck cookies). I have 99 plants with 3-5 colas each. Its hard to make sure I check every cola thoroughly.

With the yellow glow from the HPS lights, it makes it slightly harder to find the definitive bright yellow nanner poking out of a bud somewhere along the cola.

Is there any secret to make it easier?

I've tried turning the sodiums off, turning some daylight CFL's on or my MH on, and using a flashlight to shine up and down each cola looking for any specks of yellow. This definitely makes it easier for me to spot them quickly as theres much less intense light in the room.

Any other tips or tricks?

I'm fine being lightly seeded, but I'm still gonna pick every damn nanner the first chance I get. Buds are looking incredible and I'd HATE to have to chop early.

Soon as I spotted them the first time, I fogged the entire room with pure RO water, let it sit 30ish minutes, then turned the fans back on.

I've sprayed pure water another 2 times since then, just in case I miss some nanners that already threw some pollen. Supposedly once water hits the pollen, it becomes sterile.

I don't like spraying my plants with any water this late into bloom, so I barely do it. Just in case I find a large open nanner or a scary lookin situation.

Buy hps light blocking goggles and run a better cut

give a UV black light a try. they should glow.
Lrus007

one trick is to lie down under the plant and look up
you will see some more this way with the different angle
and use a eye dropper of water(or some such) to water down individual ripe nanners
spraying can cause ripe nanners to spew their pollen

@tess - definitely need a better cut lol. this is my first round with the thin mint cut, I have 2 tables full of her. My sativa dominant strains have never nannered on me. Got sour d going strong right now.

I'll look into the HPS proof glasses. I typically just use a good pair of sunglasses, but I know I needa upgrade soon enough.

edit: just ordered a pair on amazon :]

@lrus - I love the blacklight idea. I'll definitely give it a shot, if they glow, it'd make it a much quicker process.


@igrow- good advice. I have slightly raised tables with 25 plants per 4x4, makes it harder to lie down, but I've definitely been looking up their skirts every chance I get.

So far, I've been soaking tweezers in iso, picking the nanner, and dropping it into the iso. After I removed all visible nanners, I fogged the room.

If your going to fog the room why not do it before handling your plants? Wet pistils are like condoms.

Didn't really think of it at the time. I'll keep it in mind next time though. I havent fogged in 10ish days, and it was a light fogging just through the 2 cookie tables.

I just tbought about it because moving nanners around a room then spraying seems almost backward. I'd definitely spray the nanners before even touching them. Those lil dust bombs are dangerous around virgin pistils. Hehehe

Good luck with the harvest.

You did not ask but I just had my morning meds and am answering anyway.
Serendipity, finding one thing while looking for another.

Far Red was being tested for use as a night time extender, allowing more time under the lights and less time dark while still getting strong flowering.
That part gave an extra hour, debatable by some on whether or not the benefits are worth the effort.
But...

When the far red was overlapping the on/off times with a half hour of far red and the overheads were still 12/12, it caused reaction in my hybrid plants. Normally they would show an occasional seed or sprout a male flower in the middle of a bud.
When the far red was engaged the plants became stable and no longer hermied nor did the lower buds contain seeds.

http://plantphys.info/plant_physiology/photoperiodism.shtml
The link shows how the far red affects night length, it does this by giving a firm signal at night and again in the morning. Same as we use an alarm clock. The two hour wait while the plant decides "is it really night or is it a big cloud?" no longer keeps the plant awake.

Not having this signal seems to be the single largest cause of stress on indoor plants, causing many strains to produce seeds even with every other parameter perfect. And almost every strain out there will hermie under very little added stress.

The far red signal eliminates stress from day/night confusion and hermies become rare.

13 to 15 watt far red floodlights are available from several manufacturers. Mars Hydro (ICmag sponsor) has 47 and 94 watt bars.
The 4k budroom here uses 250 watts far red, these are tall plants. SOG should be able to get good coverage with half that.

Labor should not be free, all the time spent on search and destroy adds up. Give the far red a shot and see if it does not clear up the nanners.

Phaeton, I love it. I'll look up some lights and put it on the list

handwater.

I've been having a tough time finding any decent far red LEDs. The only easy to find one is a 15w for $55. I figure I could get somewhat decent coverage with 2 of these of opposite corners of my room? Inside diameter of room is about 11x11, with 9x9 of canopy in the middle.

Any suggestions phaeton?

And chunky. This is my first run with full irrigation. I'm running 25 small 5" pots per 4x4 table, 100% coco, gets watered 5x a day. Handwatering is not really an option for me.

I'd rather have them water themselves, while I'm focused in on hunting the motherfuckers down

Here's a few pix with what I'm workin with (everything pictured is supposedly thin min cookies, and the table it the far back is sour d) :