Photoperiod Sensitivity in Male Plants

[PDX Dopesmoker]

Does anyone know what the range of dark times are that will trigger flowering in males? Somewhere or other I read that females will start with 9-11.5 hours of night time, but I've never seen a similar statistics for male plants.

 

[DuskrayTroubador]

Does anyone know what the range of dark times are that will trigger flowering in males? Somewhere or other I read that females will start with 9-11.5 hours of night time, but I've never seen a similar statistics for male plants.

I believe you'll see variance across the board depending on the origins of the genetics.

I grow northern strains that are bred to be early finishers (mostly stock from KC Brains). With these strains, one will start seeing pistils about 1 week after daylength is down to 14.3 hours. But, of course, your mileage will vary depending on genetics.

I was unaware that there was a difference between male and female plants in this regard (although I'm not yet a breeder and, as a guerrilla for every grow under my belt, have always used feminized seeds).

 

[troutman]

Most males show sex earlier than females of the same variety in my experience.

 

[PDX Dopesmoker]

I believe you'll see variance across the board depending on the origins of the genetics.

I grow northern strains that are bred to be early finishers (mostly stock from KC Brains). With these strains, one will start seeing pistils about 1 week after daylength is down to 14.3 hours. But, of course, your mileage will vary depending on genetics.

I was unaware that there was a difference between male and female plants in this regard (although I'm not yet a breeder and, as a guerrilla for every grow under my belt, have always used feminized seeds).

At my latitude it's barely far enough north to tell the difference, but earliest flowering males will start in the 1st/2nd week of July while the earliest female I've seen has been the 4th week of July. I've seen as much as a 6 week spread between the start of male and female flowering in plants from the same seedpack.
They don't flower in May, when the length of daylight is similar to July, I wonder about that too.

 

[Rox]

They don't flower in May, when the length of daylight is similar to July, I wonder about that too.

Daylight hours in may are longer than in July...the days shorten after the summer solstice in june...

 

[DuskrayTroubador]

At my latitude it's barely far enough north to tell the difference, but earliest flowering males will start in the 1st/2nd week of July while the earliest female I've seen has been the 4th week of July. I've seen as much as a 6 week spread between the start of male and female flowering in plants from the same seedpack.
They don't flower in May, when the length of daylight is similar to July, I wonder about that too.

The plants, if they are young, do not flower in May because they have to be old enough to have gone through puberty, basically. That is why if someone starts seeds outside in late April, by the time those plants become mature enough to flower the daylength is sufficient for them to continue growing and vegging. Meanwhile, if someone puts, say, a vegging mom plant that is several months old outside in April, they might experience issues.

 

[Rox]

The plants, if they are young, do not flower in May because they have to be old enough to have gone through puberty, basically. That is why if someone starts seeds outside in late April, by the time those plants become mature enough to flower the daylength is sufficient for them to continue growing and vegging. Meanwhile, if someone puts, say, a vegging mom plant that is several months old outside in April, they might experience issues.

Both the seed plant and mature clone/mom will continue to veg until daylight hours start reducing from June 21st...

The seed plant may veg longer until it matures and the mature clone/mom will start flowering and finish before the seed plant.

Up until summer solstice the daylight hours are still increasing so flowering will not be triggered before this date unless its an auto..

 

[GuerillaMonster]

As someone has already said its strain dependent. I am working with some
Strains that will flower outside or inside no matter what if the light is less than 22 hours, once the plant is sexually mature of course. Clones flower soon as they go outside.

 

[PDX Dopesmoker]

The plants, if they are young, do not flower in May because they have to be old enough to have gone through puberty, basically. That is why if someone starts seeds outside in late April, by the time those plants become mature enough to flower the daylength is sufficient for them to continue growing and vegging. Meanwhile, if someone puts, say, a vegging mom plant that is several months old outside in April, they might experience issues.

Fall of 2015 I flowered a plant outdoors then revenged it for an indoor flowering in February 2016. In March I put this same girl outdoor for another revegging & it had no issues at all and it vegged until mid August when it started flowering again. This is a female of course, but it seems to me that maybe the plant was affected by decreasing daylight differently that it was by increasing daylight.

 

[DuskrayTroubador]

Both the seed plant and mature clone/mom will continue to veg until daylight hours start reducing from June 21st...

The seed plant may veg longer until it matures and the mature clone/mom will start flowering and finish before the seed plant.

Up until summer solstice the daylight hours are still increasing so flowering will not be triggered before this date unless its an auto..

That isn't the experience that many people have had. Yes, while the fact that daylight hours are increasing does serve to prevent plants from flowering, it is not a 100% be all end all determining factor.

Take a vegging mother plant and put it outside in very early in the year. If you've only got 12-14 hours of daylight (and even more, probably) that bitch is gonna start to flower. While hours of daylight increasing counts for something, a mature, vegging plant that goes outside too early in the Spring without supplemental lighting is going to flower.

Fall of 2015 I flowered a plant outdoors then revenged it for an indoor flowering in February 2016. In March I put this same girl outdoor for another revegging & it had no issues at all and it vegged until mid August when it started flowering again. This is a female of course, but it seems to me that maybe the plant was affected by decreasing daylight differently that it was by increasing daylight.

That's a really peculiar case because not only it is a plant that has already re-vegged (which I would bet tweaks its hormone responses somewhat from typical plants), but you also started flowering indoors and then put it outside in March, for a presumably huge, sudden increase in daylight hours. That is the opposite of what typically happens, where a vegging plant is put outside too early and, despite the increasing daylight, starts flowering.

Outta curiosity, how did that plant and its bud turn out? I've thought about the possibility of overwintering plants before, but never seriously.

 

[PDX Dopesmoker]

That isn't the experience that many people have had. Yes, while the fact that daylight hours are increasing does serve to prevent plants from flowering, it is not a 100% be all end all determining factor.

Take a vegging mother plant and put it outside in very early in the year. If you've only got 12-14 hours of daylight (and even more, probably) that bitch is gonna start to flower. While hours of daylight increasing counts for something, a mature, vegging plant that goes outside too early in the Spring without supplemental lighting is going to flower.



That's a really peculiar case because not only it is a plant that has already re-vegged (which I would bet tweaks its hormone responses somewhat from typical plants), but you also started flowering indoors and then put it outside in March, for a presumably huge, sudden increase in daylight hours. That is the opposite of what typically happens, where a vegging plant is put outside too early and, despite the increasing daylight, starts flowering.

Outta curiosity, how did that plant and its bud turn out? I've thought about the possibility of overwintering plants before, but never seriously.

It did great the 2nd summer, I grew it next to a couple of it's clones & the mother & the clones performed pretty much the same. The mother plant was massively branchy too, very productive. I've read various things about revegged bud being lesser quality, but I didn't see it. I revegged it by accident the first time around, lucky mistake.
I didn't give a completely accurate assessment of what I did with it last spring though, I was taking it in & giving it proper veg light on the days that it was too nasty outside. That plant was probably inside for about half the days in April if my memory of last spring's weather is accurate.