P
Oh, and we're happy to help you determine the sex of your cannabis plants if you want to send us close up pics like the ones in the OP. Email them to us at info@planthumboldt.com
That'll be easier than trying to look at DM'd pics here.
We can also help with some basic growing advice for growing cannabis outdoors.
A last note from the nursery. Because we plant in phased small batches, our plants become ready for sale in phases. The popular ones often sell out before they actually show their sex (see images in OP).
This is mostly not a problem, since virtually all of the plants we sell are from feminized seeds. But, as I said above, there will be the occasional male in that mix.
We always try to make sure that anyone who buys our plants understands that they have to keep an eye out for male plants, but this is even more important when buying them before we can identify the plant's sex definitively. We'll replace any males, but it's no fun if you don't find it until after we close in late July. (We'll credit for next season.)
Note that *any* cannabis plant can produce a few male flowers or become "hermaphrodite" and produce a full mix of male and female flowers during flowering phase.
This is caused by a mix of genetics and culture. Even a "clone" — a cutting taken from a female plant — can become "hermie" under certain stresses.
Back in 2008, here in Southern Humboldt, we were socked in with wildfire smoke for 6 weeks. Many growers reported that varieties they'd been growing for years started producing male flowers (and had to be cut down). This could have been due to reduced light, particulate pollution, the chemical composition of the atmosphere or some combination of factors. But only some cannabis varieties did this and not others.
This is why we always emphasize to everyone that a necessary part of cannabis horticulture and your regular scouting routine is to look for male flowers throughout the plant's entire life cycle.
A little clarification on "feminized" seeds. In the simplest terms, these are made by treating a genetically female plant with colloidal silver (though I'm told that there are other chemicals that are sometimes used as well). This causes the female plant to produce morphologically male flowers. These flowers produce pollen like any male plant, but because the plant is genetically female, so is the pollen. That pollen can be used to pollinate a genetically female plant, producing *almost* all female seeds.
Cannabis is a really amazing plant!
But, like all of nature, it's imperfect, so there are sometimes a small percentage of male seeds in the mix.
At the nursery, we guarantee it'll be less than 1%, but breeders tell us it's more like less than 0.1% or 1-in-1000 feminized seeds will be male.
So, if you're growing from feminized seeds, be aware that you still have to look for males! See the images in the OP to help you if you're new to this.
One thing to keep in mind is that even if one of these tiny male buds opens and sheds pollen during the plant's vegetative phase, it's no big deal. The worst that would happen is that you'd get a seed or two on a female plant at the leaf node, like those shown in the photo. Until the female plant begins full flowering phase, there is no risk of seeding your crop.
What that means is that if you're unsure if a plant is a male, especially this early in the season, keep it! Let it grow a little more and keep a close watch.
There's really no risk, even if a few tiny flowers open.
Hi all, it's that time of year, especially if you're growing your own plants from seed. The earlier you can get rid of male plants, or isolate them if you're going to do some seed production or breeding experiments, the better.
I'll put a little more info about sexing cannabis in the next couple comments. Feel free to ask about any of it!
