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

[Miraculous Meds]

Spraying should be done with the lights off. I treat everything the day I induce flower so it's a good 10-12 hrs before lights on. Full strength SST fries my plants bad every time.

Amazing. I havent fried one completely. My friend who shared the concetration tip with me has reversed hundreds this way without fail. Not sure what the differences are that cause you burn and us not too.

 

[Hammerhead]

I've never seen plants not burn or damage using full strength STS, not just myself. It's why I mentioned it as it's not normal to see no damage/Burn. Even using 1:5 will burn plants on some leaves every time. This is why the recipe requires dilution. If this works for you that's great.. It doesn't work for us.

 

[Miraculous Meds]

I've never seen plants not burn or damage using full strength STS, not just myself. It's why I mentioned it as it's not normal to see no damage/Burn. Even using 1:5 will burn plants on some leaves every time. This is why the recipe requires dilution. If this works for you that's great.. It doesn't work for us.

Look at my pics. Now you have. I really haven't a clue why your getting burn and we aren't having much trouble. Are you running high par? Im only pushing 500 to 700 par in flower. I dont think its a genetic issue as I have done multiple strains. My buddy has done 100 plus. I get some leaf burn damage, but as you can see I get full reversal and tons of viable pollen off a small plant.

 

[Miraculous Meds]

Here is the leftovers from my little reversal plant. Don't judge, the girls are partying before they get pregnant.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Perhaps the issue is anhydrous/pentahydrate related? Or possibly the cleanliness of the water or the surfactant?

 

[Hammerhead]

Look at my pics. Now you have. I really haven't a clue why your getting burn and we aren't having much trouble. Are you running high par? Im only pushing 500 to 700 par in flower. I dont think its a genetic issue as I have done multiple strains. My buddy has done 100 plus. I get some leaf burn damage, but as you can see I get full reversal and tons of viable pollen off a small plant.

As I said its not just me. This is a well known problem if your mix is too strong. I've seen it happen countless times by many. It was never intended to be used at full strength as it will damage plants. It's why for the last 40+ years dilution is always required. If your using the standard STS mix it should be diluted to prevent damage. This hasn't changed since STS has been used to make fem pollen. I can't say it any other way.

The standard STS Recipe is 1:9. Only the dilution ratio gets adjusted. The closer we get to full strength the more damage there will be.

.5g Silver 500mls RO

2.5g Sodium Anhydrous 500mls RO ---or ...3.9g Pentahydrate

7:1 mix.... 100mls Stock solution into 700mls RO..

Good luck
HHG

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

What are you using at full strength? Pentahydrate or Anhydrous?

Is there 'bad' silver nitrate or sodium thiosulfate being purchased?

 

[Miraculous Meds]

As I said its not just me. This is a well known problem if your mix is too strong. I've seen it happen countless times by many. It was never intended to be used at full strength as it will damage plants. It's why for the last 40+ years dilution is always required. If your using the standard STS mix it should be diluted to prevent damage. This hasn't changed since STS has been used to make fem pollen. I can't say it any other way.

The standard STS Recipe is 1:9. Only the dilution ratio gets adjusted. The closer we get to full strength the more damage there will be.

.5g Silver 500mls RO

2.5g Sodium Anhydrous 500mls RO ---or ...3.9g Pentahydrate

7:1 mix.... 100mls Stock solution into 700mls RO..

Good luck
HHG

I'm just sharing my experience. You have seen my results. I have seen my peers results with it. It works extremely well, plain and simple. My friend and I use pentahydrate, possibly thats a factor. Honestly, I personally don't need to know the scientific reason this is happening to appreciate the positive results, except for being able to help others achieve the same results. But if I can share it and it helps others have the same positive result, I am happy to have helped a little. I'm not trying to say it works for everybody, but it works well for us. Thats the reason I'm taking time out of my day to share.

I understand many others report burns, but also at many different concentrations. If you want, try the full strength solution, making sure the plants dry and aren't in extreme light intensity. My plants dropped tons of pollen from small solo cup to 1/2 gal pots. I made thousands of fem seeds from small plants. Seed set was completely full on most varieties.

 

[hambre]

Hi, for all those who get burnt leaves, remember every time you do a foliar app of anything, the plant must have been irrigated.

 

[Miraculous Meds]

Hi, for all those who get burnt leaves, remember every time you do a foliar app of anything, the plant must have been irrigated.

Thats a great tip that I forgot to mention.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

So.....

Healthy plant and:

• Irrigated and not needing water
• Maybe Pentahydrate related
• Non-intense lighting till dry

Yes?

 

[hambre]

So.....

Healthy plant and:

• Irrigated and not needing water
• Maybe Pentahydrate related
• Non-intense lighting till dry

Yes?

Hi, I am not that experienced on STS, I know when you apply foliar treatments should be with lights off (the main ones, obviously), plants irrigated and the pentahydrate don`t have a clue. What happens usually is people don`t irrigate before lights off because they think it will rot the roots (bear with my english, please), but, I, to mae an example, grow in full coco and it is almost impossible to over irrigate, and definitely NEED to irrigate before lights off to not let the coco dry over "night", so I don`t have that problem. If you run rockwool it will be the same case, in my opinion, but peat isn`t. Peat retains more water than coco coir and rockwool, same with soil, and you only have to take care it is enough humidity.
Remember, this is opinion based on my experience, but I know for a fact that if the plant doesn`t have enough water on the root zone and you spray ont he leaves, the plant will absorb the water along with the product you are applying, and definitely you don`t want that with STS or acaricides/funguicides etc which action is by contact, slowly. I don`t remember exactly the mechanism, if I found the study I will let it drop here, if someone can bring some light on this would be great.

Sorry for the testament.

 

[hambre]

So.....

Healthy plant and:

• Irrigated and not needing water
• Maybe Pentahydrate related
• Non-intense lighting till dry

Yes?

I forgot to mention, I now dish soap works fine as surfactant, but they are cationic, you may want to use a non-ionic surfactant to spray leaves, cationic surfactants can be phytotoxic. Just to add a tip.

 

[hambre]

I found this study on my favorites https://jsas.journals.ekb.eg/article_3058_d483bf6f9f781ecbf2492da05416fa9d.pdf in which they study foliar apps of salicylic and ascorbic acid, having on mind the irrigation intervals. It is very short, but opening, it talks about the water stress and how can affect the outcome of our grows. I love it because there is a good remark on synthetic and organic fertilizers, and I quote: "Photosynthesis and the acquisition of mineral ions from the soil are so interdependent, however, that this distinction between organic and inorganic nutrition is more a matter of convenience than real."
So it covers a lot of topics, I love those ind of studies, even if I can`t understand them fully. Once again, I apologize for the extent of my words and maybe it is a little off-topic on this thread, I just felt it has something to do with the things we were discussing.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

I forgot to mention, I now dish soap works fine as surfactant, but they are cationic, you may want to use a non-ionic surfactant to spray leaves, cationic surfactants can be phytotoxic. Just to add a tip.

Sounds like a very likely explanation, ty so much for that observation.

Those who burned their plants with full strength, not through intense light before completely dry, what surfactant did you use?

 

[krosskingg]

Successfully reversed my plant using full strength (3 mM) solution. I sprayed day of switching to 12/12 and sprayed every 4 days thereafter. Full strength solution with a non-ionic surfactant (link to one I used removed, even though it was not an affiliate link) did not burn my plants. I also sprayed right at lights out so the plants would not be exposed to light after spraying. After about 12 days, I started to see sacs forming.

Note from admin: Please stop with the affiliate links.

 

[Miraculous Meds]

Perhaps the issue is anhydrous/pentahydrate related? Or possibly the cleanliness of the water or the surfactant?

Im not using a surfacant at all. And I want to clarify from my comments earlier that i make sure the root zone is wet/saturated before I spray. And I spray lights off and make sure the plant is completely dry from the spray before turning lights on.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

I sprayed some femmed autos once this year with full strength and also moistened the soil at the base of them while doing so. Full on male expression, lots of pollen, even though I forgot to spray them again later. (Even forgot I had done it the first time until I found my notes here in this thread and elsewhere. lol)

Oh yeah, no burning with full strength and no surfactant. This was outdoor though, so not sure if it makes a difference. I'll look for the photos I *know* I took at some point.

Edit: FYI, this was fresh mixed with 4 year old stock solutions kept in my fridge.

 

[Ibechillin]

First attempt to reverse a plant. Auto Ultimate sprayed daily/every other over 3 weeks after pistils showed. First picture 13 days after first spray second picture first pollen drop 28 days after first spray.

Used the recipe:

Stock A:

500ml water
0.5g silver nitrate

Stock B:
500ml water
2.5g sodium thiosulfate anhydrous
or
3.9g sodium thiosulfate pentahydrate
(mine is pentahydrate)

STS spray:
900ml water
50ml A
50ml B

Will know if pollen was viable soon, pollinated by hand.

 

[Pawtz]

I'm just now coming across this thread and not sure if I will have success. I see pistils forming. This plant has been vegged for around 8 weeks. So it was very mature when I started spraying. I sprayed -5, 1, and tomorrow will be when I will spray again (5 days after switch) @ lights off (until it's dripping off). I also have a clone that I've been spraying and it's not showing any pistils (no pics below of that one).
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~MEASUREMENTS
SILVER NITRATE: .05g into 50ml of water
SODIUM (Pentahydrate): .25g into 50ml of water
+ added around 30ml of water (seems not enough dilution)

I'm working with only 5 or so branches and 1 small clone. Had to fit the solution in my 8oz spray bottle so I divided the ingredients by 10 (except of extra water for dilution).

My pentahydrate measurement is off by .14g because I read it wrong somewhere else initially, but I'm going to make a new batch w/ .05g silver nitrate(+50ml water), .39g of sodium pentahydrate(+50ml water), and 90ml of water for dilution as it seems it may have been too strong. I've been storing it in the fridge.
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I'm reading that some people have had pistils show on plants/branches they're trying to reverse. So I'm hoping for the best. I started noticing pistils forming on day 2 of flower on most of the branches.
Temps are around 79-85degrees as I just increased light output to 100% during flower. I've noticed no signs of burning except for the clone. It has a few marks on the leaves, but nothing other than that.
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Tomorrow(11/27) will be day 5 after flower. It will get a new batch made and another soak on those branches and the clone.
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Thanks to everyone that's contributed to the thread and the OP. Hoping for the best.