Male Flowers Showing.... Again

[Redbuddz]

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This is my third indoor run and all 3 times I have had male flowers show on female plants. Is this normal for indoor growing? is there something I am not doing right that's causing this to happen? let me explain my 3 runs and maybe someone might have an idea or maybe it's just a coincidence? My first run was some 15 years ago and at that time I needed to learn a lot about indoor growing. I was growing the plants too tall and they were finishing too close to the 1000w lights I was using. I was also dealing with high temps cause I was not aircooling back then either so I was likely seeing the male flowers due to excess heat. My second run was some 5 years after my first run. I started in soil but quickly turned to a recirculating hydro setup growing my plants about 18" high. I was using 600w lights and had air cooling of the hoods but still had some temp issues because it was in a closet. My now 3rd run is underway and my first crop is about to be harvested and sure enough I have about 4 out of 24 plants showing a few male flowers up on top. I'm growing in ProMix now under 1000w lights. I have a great working air cooling system in place and heat is not an issue this time and I have plenty of spacing from the light to my tops. So what gives? Are these 3 times just a coincidence? or is this kind of normal for indoor growing? I have used mothers/clones for all three runs, could it be how I'm feeding and growing my mother plant?

I'm sure most of ya'll have had similar issues so I'm sure to get some good feedback


Keeping on Growing

Redbuddz

 

[Midnight Tokar]

You don't say how late in flower you are but I'm thinking very near the end. It's not uncommon for a few plants to throw a few nanners late in flower. Survival of the species thing. You also don't say anything about the genetics but I'm going to assume that being as this was 3 grows over 15 years they are not the same strain. If they are turning hermie earlier in flowering it may be the genetics, light leaks, timer working incorrectly.
BTW, if there are just a few nanners right before harvest it won't hurt anything (pluck all you see, though) as they likely won't mature before the chop and if they did spew some pollen the seeds wouldn't have time to grow.

 

[wookiestomper]

Do they look like this?

 

[Redbuddz]

You don't say how late in flower you are but I'm thinking very near the end. It's not uncommon for a few plants to throw a few nanners late in flower. Survival of the species thing. You also don't say anything about the genetics but I'm going to assume that being as this was 3 grows over 15 years they are not the same strain. If they are turning hermie earlier in flowering it may be the genetics, light leaks, timer working incorrectly.
BTW, if there are just a few nanners right before harvest it won't hurt anything (pluck all you see, though) as they likely won't mature before the chop and if they did spew some pollen the seeds wouldn't have time to grow.

My current crop is ready for harvest and they have only shown in the past couple of weeks. Same thing with my other grows, male flowers near harvest. Yes three grows and three different strains. I'm not concerned about it ruining my crop but just want to know why and if it's something I am doing wrong. I guess it has been a combo of heat and survival and coincidence.

 

[Redbuddz]

Do they look like this?
[URL="https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=52719&pictureid=1230216&thumb=1"]View Image[/URL]

That's not a real good pic. They are male flowers. I know what they are. I'm just wanting to know why? or is this a somewhat normal occurrence with indoor growing?

 

[DJXX]

i say light leak...maybe if they are rootbound too...do you have any pics...many sour diesels throw an occasional nanner...on the first two runs i think the heat played a part..turn off the surrounding lights and look from the outside when the lights go on...you will see the leaks....hope this helps..dj

 

[gobyebye]

your mother is huge and in that 5 gal bucket.. she might be rootbound and stressed.. also clean her up a little try prunning her.. clonning from a stressed plant is never good..Not only that try spraying her with water every morning a week before cloning to wash away excess nitrogen

 

[gobyebye]

you can either put the mom in a smartpot so the roots prune by themselves or spray the lining of that bucket with copper hydroxide

 

[wookiestomper]

That's not a real good pic. They are male flowers. I know what they are. I'm just wanting to know why? or is this a somewhat normal occurrence with indoor growing?

well the reason I ask and tried to provide a reference image since you didn't include a pic is because the answer to your question can depend on what you are calling male flowers.

A single roque nanner originating from a female calyx = intersexed flowers with male staminate present as well as pistils, usually found on top colas or buds. While not "normal" or desired these can be common in certain strains very late i flower and does not neccesarily mean its a hermi and can be stress induced.


Full on male flowers, meaning pollen sack that matures into cluster of "manners" which develop earlier in flower and on lower branches or at nodes typically indicate a hermit and bad genetics. Not normal and would never stay in my stable.

 

[Redbuddz]

well the reason I ask and tried to provide a reference image since you didn't include a pic is because the answer to your question can depend on what you are calling male flowers.

A single roque nanner originating from a female calyx = intersexed flowers with male staminate present as well as pistils, usually found on top colas or buds. While not "normal" or desired these can be common in certain strains very late i flower and does not neccesarily mean its a hermi and can be stress induced.


Full on male flowers, meaning pollen sack that matures into cluster of "manners" which develop earlier in flower and on lower branches or at nodes typically indicate a hermit and bad genetics. Not normal and would never stay in my stable.

I never did see any forming of pollen sacks, just a bright yellow flower emerging from the tops/near tops of buds

 

[Redbuddz]

your mother is huge and in that 5 gal bucket.. she might be rootbound and stressed.. also clean her up a little try prunning her.. clonning from a stressed plant is never good..Not only that try spraying her with water every morning a week before cloning to wash away excess nitrogen

Mom was gifted to me so I had no control over her size. I'm not even sure just how old she is either. I will surely need to give her roots some attention soon if I'm going to keep her.

I'm familiar with spraying before taking cuttings but aside from genetics I doubt that mom's health would really have anything to do with the male flowers I am seeing late in the flowering stage

 

[Redbuddz]

Possibly overfertilizing? I know I did in my first and 2nd runs. I know I did a much better job with my nutes this time but I did still have some plants that were yellow tipped, likely from overferting. The plants looked very healthy except for the very ends of the larger leaves that were yellow but the yellow tip plants did not have the male flowers. so go figure?

 

[wookiestomper]

So to summarize the male flowers are appearing within the last two weeks of flowering and on multiple plants on top buds? How long did you flower for and is it possible that you let them go a little too long? Sounds like a stress trigger to me though and in my experience light leaks/timer issues, heat, nutes/pH issues in that order are the most likely causes. Otherwise it could be that you happened to have hermi prone genetics on all your grows over the years. I would also say that health of the mom you take cuts from, as well as any stress in veg can actually come out in flower. For example less the perfect cuts, maybe with a wilting event in veg followed by aggressive thinning in early flower = more likely to throw male flowers than a plant that dis not accumulate any stress over its life. This is the main reason I always toss vegging plants if they have any issues...

 

[Granger2]

I would take 2 cuttings from your mother, and start at least one new mother, then get rid of the overgrown one.

It's nothing you did. Many plants will, out of frustration, pop a few nanners near the end. Just pick out any seeds, and keep them because they'll be females. Good luck. -granger

 

[Coconutz]

Maybe the wrong place to ask but, can a pollinated plant still throw male flowers at the end to survive, or whatever?
So take a plant known to throw some end of lifers, but pollinate it... Would it still throw end of lifers?
Shit that makes me go hmmm

 

[Budley Doright]

well the reason I ask and tried to provide a reference image since you didn't include a pic is because the answer to your question can depend on what you are calling male flowers.

A single roque nanner originating from a female calyx = intersexed flowers with male staminate present as well as pistils, usually found on top colas or buds. While not "normal" or desired these can be common in certain strains very late i flower and does not neccesarily mean its a hermi and can be stress induced.


Full on male flowers, meaning pollen sack that matures into cluster of "manners" which develop earlier in flower and on lower branches or at nodes typically indicate a hermit and bad genetics. Not normal and would never stay in my stable.

There are in fact two distinct types of male flowers as is discussed here....


biologically speaking they are called perfect and imperfect flowers...


However we tend to call the perfect flowers.... nanners....


and the imperfect flowers balls.....


Perfect flowers have male and female parts....

while imperfect ones have both male and female flowers on the plant

but they are separately on the plant....


I have one plant that commonly produces nanners but produces no seeds...


If I had a plant which produces balls..... it would be killed instantly...