Please Help on how to keep a mother plant!!!

[DitBaMay]

Hello there, yea i was wondering if you guys can give me some tips on how i can tell wut seedling are females or males i know da process of puttin it in 12/12 but how can I keep a mother plant. I don't want to put all my seedlings plant right in to flower to determin the sex i want to keep a mother plant

 

[NiteTiger]

Only reliable way to sex the plants is to put them in flower.

So, drop 'em into flower, see who's who, and take cuts of the females. Set these aside and let them veg. After harvest, see which one was the best by your standard.

Keep the cut from that one (which by this point is a good size mom itself) in Veg, take clones from it.

Boom, you've got yourself a mom!

 

[JJScorpio]

Nite Tiger gave you the correct scoop. The only other choice is once you see you have a female, put her back to 18/6 or 24/0, but you are gambling on how good she will flower.....

 

[T-type]

Some strains will throw preflower after a long veg......

 

[Guest]

I agree most seedplants I've grown has shown sex before I've switched to a 12/12 schedule,the trick is to get a good magnifying glass.Another way is to pull a cutting just as soon as possible and throw it under a 14 dark 10 light photoperiod,its faster than 12/12 by a couple days normally.A cut doesnt have to root to show you its sex.One thing I wouldnt do is take the mother into a 12/12 photoperiod to determine sex,then throw it back into veg once its determined.I know a lot of people will do it this way,but once the "change" has occured that happens when you switch to 12/12,that plant is no longer a viable mom or candidate for perpetual cloning.I've just had too many problems,and seen it too many times throughout the years when people go 12/12 for any reason,then use the plant as a mom.Most times your going to end up with a pistilly plant with somwhat rounded leaves with single and 3 bladed fans,vegging till the cows come home will not make it any better either.It may appear to go back into veg normally,then when you plant the cuttings you have that same funky pistilly leaf problem,its best to just avoid the scenario completely.Take all cuttings before 12/12,take you mom bvefore 12/12,dont go 12/12 with a plant you want to keep as a mom.I wouldnt keep the seedplant as amom either,I'd use a cutting from it.I dont keep moms just do perpetual grows with a couple pheno's,blockhead has been around close to 3 years now.Only because I took all cuts in veg starting with the original seedplant and never went 12/12 unless I planeed on flowering the plant all the way

 

[Dan42nepa]

what i did was with 6 plants I took 3 cuttings each, put the originals into flower after i knew the cuttings were rooted. Then when they showed sex, I dumped the males and the cuttings. This saved me a step. Actually i kept the two male plants in another room so i can collect pollen.

 

[Dan42nepa]

oh my point was, i have 3 cuttings for each female, two i will flower in the next batch, and one i will save of each plant as a mother for future clones.

 

[NiteTiger]

Wow ballastman, it's interesting that you've had such a differing experience than mine and the majority of advice I've heard from more experienced growers (I mean more experienced than me, not you ).

I've never had a problem with cuts taken up to about two weeks into 12/12. Sure, after that it gets a bit tougher and odd things can happen. I guess I'll get to put this to a serious test, as I've recently taken cuttings from the new growth from a plant that was harvested and re-vegged.

I'll keep a close eye on the one I keep for a mom , and see if I notice any problems.

 

[Guest]

If it just happened once.,I may think it was a strain sensitive thing,but its happened to me more than once.Finally str8jacket on OG explained it to me a long time ago,I havent taken a cutting after 12/12 since.Some strains may degrade worse/faster than others,some it may not have a negative effect I dont know,I just know I'm never going to find out because I'm just going to make it easy on myself and take cuttings before 12/12 has commenced.I'm surprised you havent experienced the rounded single and 3 bladed fans and all the pistils in veg when you've taken cuts after 12/12.If I remember correctly,someone told me Jorge Cervantes said the best time to take cuts is a couple weeks into 12/12.If he actually said this,I sure dont understand.Everything I've said is true,its caused problems for me in the past with perpetual grows.I'm sure there would be no problem taking a cut a couple weeks into flower,flowering her out and smoking her,but if you continue taking cuttings from the plant you are going to see what I'm talking about.EDOT O yea what Dan did was perfect,the cuts have never seen a 12/12 photoperiod and a cut will make a better mom than a seedplant if its true what people say.I dont keep mom,I just keepum goin lol

 

[NiteTiger]

Oh, no, I have seen the weird one and 3 bladed leaves, and the pistils everywhere. But it seems the plant has grown out of it. The pistils have wilted and fallen off though. Still has those three bladed leaves though, that's why my ears perked up when you mentioned the troubles.

I'll definately keep an eye out for problems. 5 of the clones are earmarked for immediate flowering, if I notice any problems, I'll just keep 'em rotating instead of keeping a mum.

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[darrinjefferson]

my plants all show sex after about a month or more of veg...i just wait

 

[NiteTiger]

What I'm talking about here guys is his specific situation. He's a first time grower, what are the odds he's going to accurately ID each preflower until he gets the opportunity to see what each preflower matures to on his own.

Lord knows, looking back, I culled more than a coupla females outta my garden and left a coupla males trying to ID preflowers. Sure, I can tell now by preflowers, but that's after experience.

 

[darrinjefferson]

indeed Nitetiger, fine point. i believe that for the first couple times you grow your should wait till 12/12 to determine their final sex. i too remember how hard it was when i first started to tell what the preflowers were saying.


late

 

[Guest]

........this is almost comical! My first post here too by the way.... I 've been an outside grower for years and I remember my first grow( in between a whole patch of tomatoe plants) in So OR.... the first sight of "flower" I killed 13 0f 20.......... only to find out I saved all of the males.......

You do learn what to look for......

Great luck to you all------I am mostly on WF and have diarys there(of the inside type)....though I always look at this great sight toooooooo and would like to do more posting here as well


growinman

 

[Guest]

There are great pics here of preflowers,with a good mag galss I dont see why anyone would have much of a problem identifying sex,I like to think pot smokers are intelligent folks though lol

 

[NiteTiger]

Pictures are not firsthand experience.

You're an electrician, do you think you could take pictures enough to walk someone with no electrical experience through how to wire a house from the box in?

Experience is priceless, as you well know.

 

[Guest]

Are you in the right thread bro lol?Wouldnt surprise me I've done it more than once.Are you talking to me?I am an electrician but no I couldnt and wouldnt even try to do something like that.I want to help when I can,but confusion can be real dangerous when it comes to electricity,one misunderstanding could be a real bummer lol!What exactly is it you are trying to wire?

 

[NiteTiger]

Yeah man, I'm in the right thread

You made it sound like any idiot could do it with good pictures.

I was making the point that pictures are no substitute for experience. :smile:


And no, I don't need wiring help. IBEW for life! Sittin' at the hall waitin' for a call :wink:

 

[Guest]

Thats the problem with the IBEW,at least down here in Fla definately.I came through the aprenticeship program in the 80s in WASH D.C.,local 26.Now there would be nobody sittin on the bench in that union unless you were a lazy fuck and nody wanted you lol.IBEW is great in some areas of the country,not so good in others

 

[NiteTiger]

Actually, we don't have a real problem with that up here. Like you say, the only guys hawking at the hall are ones that don't really want to work, actually turning down assignments. Hell, travellers will be out on a job within a week.