Tutorial DIY STS Mixing/Using Guide for Feminized Pollen/Seeds R.C.Clarke Method as Base

[Douglas.Curtis]

Douglas.Curtis,
Have you ever transformed a male to female? You can smoke the transformed Male to Female, no problems.
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=99597&highlight=males+transformed+female

No, but I'm keenly interested in doing so in the future. Appreciate the info on it. Also appreciate the tips you've dropped over the years, I did my best to include as many as I could find.

I like how you mentioned the importace of stress-testing a female clone before using her as parent, or to be transformed to a pollen source, if you do not you will get many more intersex progeny, if done correctly you seldom if ever see intersex progeny in all female seeds.

Thank you, I'm definitely tired of people getting poorly created seeds and inevitably blaming femming instead of the pollen chucker. Fortunately, it seems, I'm rather good at stressing plants on purpose. Let's hope the trend continues through the future. lol

To avoid burning the leaves, only spray the areas where the sexual parts will form, that is what we did.
-SamS

Ok, greatly appreciate this information. I do not remember reading it anywhere and it does make sense. What's your experience with using drops at the node site instead of spraying? Any?

 

[Cvh]

Hey all,

I'm currently doing my first STS experiment following the write-up by Douglas.Curtis.

I have only been spraying for 2 weeks now (every 5-7 days) and I already can see some very promising results. (I try to avoid the leaves as much as possible when I spray).
I can see now the beginning of 'male' flower formation on the selected branches that I sprayed.

I hope they pop open soon and pollinate the rest of the plant.

Strain: Power Plant
Current date: 18/05/2019
Start from seed: 10/04/2019 (broke the surface of the soil on this day)
12/12: 24/04/2019
STS (every 5-7 days): start from 04/05/2019, 2 weeks of spraying up until today.

Pictures of a single branch that I sprayed:

Full plant picture:
(The sprayed branch is the one in the bottom in the front under the side twisted leaf, I twisted that leaf to the side to make the pictures).

(My apologies for the blurry smartphone pics)

 

[TychoMonolyth]

Nice!

If they've started showing sex, stop spraying. You want the plant to focus on producing flowers now.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Beauty!! Congrats CVH and thanks for posting great photos.
I agree with Tycho, and would stop spraying a few if you want to test differences.

 

[Cvh]

If I stop spraying now will the plant continue to make male flowers on the sprayed branches?
The plant is just in early flowering stage. I need it to make male flowers for atleast a couple of weeks more, preferably a month.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Since you can get localized effects, can you mix different dilution rates and spray different branches with it? Chances are, at least one branch will continue making viable pollen.

 

[unregistered190]

Nice job Cvh

 

[Cvh]

Since you can get localized effects, can you mix different dilution rates and spray different branches with it? Chances are, at least one branch will continue making viable pollen.

You mean dilute it further? And not make a stronger mixture?

I have read several posts here and on other boards that the general idea is that to high of a STS concentration blocks pollen release and also might be the reason for infertile pollen.

My plant is reversing now -on the selected sprayed parts- using the standard 1:9 solution, so I don't think I would need a stronger mixture.

Better would be I guess to dilute it further to 1:9 -> 1:15 so I don't damage the pollen?

A maintenance type of STS spray. A spray for when the reversal already happened and you need it to have her continue making 'male' flowers and at the same reduce the risk of pollen infertility.

It would also be interesting to see what happens when I use these lesser concentrations on previously untreated parts and see if it would reverse as well. So I can guesstimate the concentration lowbar.

Here is what Country Mom had said about STS concentration and pollen fertility:

...
I have learned through countless trials since then that too concentrated a level of STS (stronger than 1:4) seems to somehow inhibit pollen formation or pollen release in some strains. The staminate blossoms still develop, though. I have seen the most beautiful all-male floral expression and then found it to be sterile; either no pollen at all or no apparent fertility.

For this reason I still begin with the 1:9 ratio and then work my way stronger to about 1:5 if there are problems, which are usually related to pistils still forming. There is a strong urge to want to hit the plant harder, and that urge to fix what isn't necessarily broken can work against you.
...

 

[TychoMonolyth]

If I stop spraying now will the plant continue to make male flowers on the sprayed branches?
The plant is just in early flowering stage. I need it to make male flowers for atleast a couple of weeks more, preferably a month.

Absolutely. I spray twice, then sit back and wait for pollen sacs.

But all strains react differently. Some strains are very hard to turn, and some turn with one spray. I've had a GG#4 that simply wouldn't turn, and a whole Swazi explode from top to bottom after spraying one branch twice.

 

[Cvh]

Absolutely. I spray twice, then sit back and wait for pollen sacs.

But all strains react differently. Some strains are very hard to turn, and some turn with one spray. I've had a GG#4 that simply wouldn't turn, and a whole Swazi explode from top to bottom after spraying one branch twice.

Allright! Thanks for the info!

I'm going to stop spraying (for now) and see how it turns out. I'll know soon enough I guess if she'll continue to make male flowers or not.

As for plan B I might do an experiment with lesser concentrations. Or do this experiment during a later grow one day.

Cheers.

 

[TychoMonolyth]

I forgot to mention, too much spraying and you'll get lots of pollen sacs with NO (zero) pollen.

 

[little-soldier]

Dont believe everything they tell you even if its someone like Robert C. Clark. sure you can make feminised seeds but they will all (99%) be hermi predominant. Ive ran multiple packs of feminised seeds from 3 reputable breeders who I am pretty sure tried this method and all turned out to be hermie proned garbage. no light leaks, did another run in the same room with regular and all turned out fine.

 

[little-soldier]

have fun experimenting though

 

[TychoMonolyth]

The only hermies i ever got were from regular landrace seed plants. The odd one pops up with a messed up lighting, rookie watering schedules and shit.

I have seen whole tents go hermie over and over for some unknown reason. And that was with an experienced grower.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Dont believe everything they tell you even if its someone like Robert C. Clark. sure you can make feminised seeds but they will all (99%) be hermi predominant. Ive ran multiple packs of feminised seeds from 3 reputable breeders who I am pretty sure tried this method and all turned out to be hermie proned garbage. no light leaks, did another run in the same room with regular and all turned out fine.

Genetics, pure and simple. Herms showing up has zero to do with feminized or regular seeds. Appreciate you sharing your experiences though.

 

[mr underhill]

Dont believe everything they tell you even if its someone like Robert C. Clark. sure you can make feminised seeds but they will all (99%) be hermi predominant. Ive ran multiple packs of feminised seeds from 3 reputable breeders who I am pretty sure tried this method and all turned out to be hermie proned garbage. no light leaks, did another run in the same room with regular and all turned out fine.

they can't be a reputable breeder if they didn't stress test their stock 10 ways from sunday before choosing it for reversing.
We see this time and time again from people trying to cash in on the latest elite.
Problem is most of those elites are from documented cases of bag seed and stray pollen. So if you go chasing that S1 seed from your reputable breeder who is reversing the elite cuts of today, an experienced grower will expect and watch for male flowers throughout their grow. Making an S1 isn't breeding but it can be a useful stepping stone to show what is in a certain female.
I too have found unstable plants in the S1 seeds I've tried but I've also found exceptional representations as well.

 

[THoC]

wow. Thanks for the write up and everyones feedback. Definitely de mystified a lot for me. Looking forward to giving this a shot.

 

[little-soldier]

douglas.curtis; you mentionned that hermie has nothing to do with feminised seeds yet you posted on another thread (There's no need for extra steps to ensure non-herm traits, the breeders will have culled those traits and fully tested their results) Gee, sounds like you have alot of faith in those supposably reputable breeders. would you say cali connections or Humbolt seed organisation even drgreenthumb to be reputable breeders? There is a reason why it is not recommended to breed with feminised seeds. Can you show me a thread where those properly feminised seeds have been succesfully grown? Sorry for being in denial its just that according to my experience including friends, feminised has always turned out to be garbage. And if theres one thing that life has tought me, its that no matter how many books you can read about cannabis or anything else. doing it is a different ball game

 

[AVOH]

Dr green thumb ecsd s1 seeds are fucking fire
20 seeds popped and all were hard to toss away to narrow down a keeper
A few heads on here still have some of those cuts actually lol
where are the grow journals and pics from you and your friends- friend?
Do you like cookie strains? Umm fem.
Do you like gg4 ummmmmm fem
Hey hey how about sour diesel wait for itttttt FEM
Just saying man open mind leaves room for growth

 

[Mohadib]

douglas.curtis; you mentionned that hermie has nothing to do with feminised seeds yet you posted on another thread (There's no need for extra steps to ensure non-herm traits, the breeders will have culled those traits and fully tested their results) Gee, sounds like you have alot of faith in those supposably reputable breeders. would you say cali connections or Humbolt seed organisation even drgreenthumb to be reputable breeders? There is a reason why it is not recommended to breed with feminised seeds. Can you show me a thread where those properly feminised seeds have been succesfully grown? Sorry for being in denial its just that according to my experience including friends, feminised has always turned out to be garbage. And if theres one thing that life has tought me, its that no matter how many books you can read about cannabis or anything else. doing it is a different ball game

There's no valid reason for believing / claiming femenized seeds are generally (i.e. genetically) more prone to hermaphrodism than regular seeds! Hermaphrodism is a genetic trait that's inherited from the parent plants and therefor can occur in regular seeds just as well. In fact, especially South East Asian equatorial Sativas are very well known to carry a strong hermie tendency!

In the early days of feminized seed production, the doner plants were forced to produce pollen by stressing them. Plants that did not produce pollen or even male flowers, even when stressed heavily, could not be used to produce such seeds. Therefor, many - if not most - of the plants that were used as pollen doners, were the ones that reacted the most to the applied stress factors: the plants most prone to hermaphrodism. In consequence, a great number of plants from those seeds inherited the hermie trait from the doner plants. This has given feminized seeds a bad reputation that is still prevalent today, although unjustly so.

Today, things are being done differently: There's no need to use hermie-prone plants for the production of fem seeds anymore. As a matter of fact, reputable breeders / seed producers stress test potential parent-plants before using them in a cross or breeding project, spcifically to ensure hermaphrodism isn't an issue! That doesn't mean it's impossible for hermies to show up in these genetics, but it's not an issue of feminized VS. regular - it's just genetics.

There is, however, one thing to consider when dealing with fem seeds and that's the use of specific cultivars, so called 'elite cuts', as parent plants, many of which are known to be rather prone to hermaphrodism. For example, the Sour Diesel line carries a clear hermie-tendency, simply because it's the (unintentional) result of the combination of hermie-prone parents.
And in fact, Cali Connection is infamous for slapping together such cultivars and throwing them on the market without any further testing. Hence their bad reputation for selling hermie-prone genetics. But that doesn't mean it's the same with the other breeders / seed producers!

Most of the vendors that are listed on this site also produce and sell feminized seeds, some even exclusively, and many people (including myself) are very happy with them.

If you haven't been able to find a single thread with successful grows from feminized seeds, you should rethink your researching methods - the whole board is full of them!