Ratio of Males to females and when to spray CS for optimum seed yeild

[Reaper]

Hey guy,

Long time grower, but first time seed grower.

I'm currently building a setup for a large AF seed run for our farm.

Here are the specs:

4ft x 8ft (32 sqft)
1x600w HPS
20 fem'ed AF seeds in 3 gallon smart pots
(I will be using CS or STS to reverse F>M)

1. How many females should I reverse to male for optimum seed yeild?

2. Is my lighting adequate or do I need another light? One is enough for vegging my mothers for clones. Does seed production require more light?

3. How long after germination (seedling breaking dirt) should I wait to start spraying the CS?
Someone on here wrote that he started to see ball sacks three weeks after starting to spray. (4) But how long for those balls to start dropping pollen?

Thanks for any pointers.

 

[gorilla ganja]

You only need to reverse 1 female to male to get plenty of pollen to hit the others.
I would reverse the plant first and collect pollen to be hand-applied.
That way you can apply to the others when they are ready, about the 3rd week of flower for good seed set. Leave at least 5 weeks to ripen.

600w is plenty of light.

I would apply at 2 weeks and again at 3 weeks of age.

Peace GG

 

[Reaper]

You only need to reverse 1 female to male to get plenty of pollen to hit the others.
I would reverse the plant first and collect pollen to be hand-applied.
That way you can apply to the others when they are ready, about the 3rd week of flower for good seed set. Leave at least 5 weeks to ripen.

600w is plenty of light.

I would apply at 2 weeks and again at 3 weeks of age.

Peace GG

Thank you for the advice. So better to collect and apply manually rather than let them do their thing naturally? Is this so the females do not get pollinated too early? To get more seeds?

 

[gorilla ganja]

You can do it either way but the timing is hard on some strains if you have not reversed them before.
Yes, I prefer manually so you can apply at the right time for max seeds. Also sometimes the pollen sacs do not open on their own and need a little help.

 

[aridbud]

You can do it either way but the timing is hard on some strains if you have not reversed them before.
Yes, I prefer manually so you can apply at the right time for max seeds. Also sometimes the pollen sacs do not open on their own and need a little help.

Also sometimes the pollen sacs do not open on their own and need a little help. Yep.

 

[The_Skunkist]

1. How many females should I reverse to male for optimum seed yeild?

2. Is my lighting adequate or do I need another light? One is enough for vegging my mothers for clones. Does seed production require more light?

3. How long after germination (seedling breaking dirt) should I wait to start spraying the CS?
Someone on here wrote that he started to see ball sacks three weeks after starting to spray.

4. But how long for those balls to start dropping pollen?

One reversed female can be enough if it's well fed . Reversion will be full, total male looking after spraying . But for optimum seeds yield you have also to have healthy big females , so the bigger pots the bigger seeds crop too .

Your bulb is perfect for seeds . Seeds production does not requires more light but clearly more FOOD for sure . But the more enlighted ones will be the first to be mature .

Start spraying CS 30 ppm 2/3 times a day when your plant shows first signs of sexing . Around 2/3 weeks . Depending on strains . Better to start it earlier than late .
( All humans don't get pubes at same age ... )
You will see bananas after 3 weeks spraying that's quite right .

Isolate the plant to reverse before spraying of course ... Let it dry before to put her in box . No need other plants to be in contact with any silver particules .

That's a good point to ask , sometime pollen is long to show . That's why it can be strategic to start the plant to reverse 1 week/10 days later than female to pollenize . To get a better pollination gate .

And like gorilla ganja said, sometime you have to force pollen sacs to open .
Some people take the balls, dry them and get the pollen, it needs also few days .
But hopefully it 's not majority of the cases .

You can also use CS on regular males to re inforce pollen . ( more supa pollen & less weak one )

Don't hesitate to give extra time for full seed maturity .
Check them regulary . Better to waste 1 seed at checking than 1000 while harvesting too early .

I think it helps !

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

I strongly recommend reversing a few females first and preserving their pollen. Properly dried and stored, it will last for over a decade in a freezer. You can pull pollen from a freezer, and have it warmed and ready to use in a few minutes.

The key is to dessicate the pollen to a very low moisture content. Personally I use heated/dried rice as the final dessicant, since gel packs do not dessicate as completely.

I've a nice link in my sig to a post on making/using STS, in case you'd rather spray once a week instead. STS is also non-toxic like CS, yet a mild irritant when inhaled or exposed to your skin.

 

[The_Skunkist]

STS is also non-toxic like CS, yet a mild irritant when inhaled or exposed to your skin.

It is irresponsible to say that .

You are not afraid of STS toxicity , but polysorbate 80 is devil ....

While CS is medicinal and you can drink some .

Ok it is not very harmfull as spray . But it is toxic .

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

It is irresponsible to say that .

You are not afraid of STS toxicity , but polysorbate 80 is devil ....

While CS is medicinal and you can drink some .

Ok it is not very harmfull as spray . But it is toxic .

lol, sorry but sodium thiosulfate is safe enough to use medically. In LARGE amounts it's very uncomfortable, but nobody's going to be drinking a pint or more of this. Adding nitrated silver does nothing to make sodium thiosulfate *toxic*. If it was toxic and harmful, the MSDS sheets for sodium thiosulfate would specifically state this.

Polysorbate-80 is a *completely* different molecule which greatly facilitates neurotoxicity. Not even in the same realm, chemically or physiologically speaking.

You seriously need an education on what's *harmful* and what's not. Ty for sharing.

 

[The_Skunkist]

NO COMMENT

NO COMMENT

You seriously need an education on how to behave on such a forum .

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

The devil is in the dosage.

We're surrounded by molecules (from the lowly potato to your wife's custom hair shampoo) which are all deadly when used in the right concentration. Having actually worked with STS, and having a first hand knowledge of just how insignificant an amount of silver nitrate we're talking about, I'll stand by my previous statement.

The fact remains, there IS an extremely small chance you could hurt yourself or someone else. Thank you for pointing this out. Anyone who really needs a nerfed world to be safe, I recommend you stick to root pruning or CS.

 

[Reaper]

Hey guys
Thanks for all the tips and advice in this new growing endeavor. So, i’ll deffinately be reversing two females before and collecting their pollen for application.

So i start spraying the females to be reversed approx 2 weeks after germination.
How many weeks after germination of the females to be polinated do i apply the pollen?


Lets not debate cs vs sts here.

 

[gorilla ganja]

I would apply pollen 3rd week of flower, maybe twice a few days apart. Then leave them for 5-6 weeks to ripen. Don't be afraid to leave the autos well past there normal harvest window.
Best of luck

Peace GG

 

[Reaper]

I would apply pollen 3rd week of flower, maybe twice a few days apart. Then leave them for 5-6 weeks to ripen. Don't be afraid to leave the autos well past there normal harvest window.
Best of luck

Peace GG

Thanks for that. But you say three weeks after flower. But since these are autos that will always be on 20/4 light schedule, its not possible to know exatly when flowering begun (or is it??).
So how many weeks after germination should the females be inseminated?

 

[gorilla ganja]

Wait till the ends of the buds are about the size of your thumb. If you are running a 10-week auto, and you need 5 weeks or so for seeds to ripen, then I would hit them about 5-6 weeks in. Like I said above, don't be afraid to let a 10-week strain go 12-14 if you need to.
It depends on the strain, but basically just hit them when you have a decent amount of flower and you will get plenty of seeds.

 

[marmarb]

How soon after using sts are we seeing pollen from reversed females?

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

How soon after using sts are we seeing pollen from reversed females?

The thread linked in my sig has discussions about this, but the general concensus is around 2-3 weeks minimum for most strains (regardless of method used to stop ethylene).

 

[Reaper]

Im going to order my CS. I have found some that has 20ppm concentration. Is this strong enough to do the job of reversing some females ?

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Though I have no personal experience with CS, all my reading suggests at least 30ppm, and as high as 50ppm is what works.

 

[Klompen]

Can just one branch be reversed?