When is a female old enough/too old for pollination?

[Hemphine]

Hey there, I've got some males lying around, having some more weeks to open their pollen capsules. but right now I have female plants which are in different weeks of flowering and I was wondering, at what point a plant can get starting produce seeds and when it can't anymore?



So I would think that maybe with the first female hairs it can also be pollinated?



And OTOH maybe in the 8th week of flowering a plant may be still able to produce seeds?

any help with this? thanks a lot <3

 

[Cantharellus]

The seeds need at least 4 and sometimes 6 weeks to fully mature after pollinating . Yes you can pollinate early but generally week 4 or 5 is ideal. This has been my experience.

 

[rolandomota]

You need the hairs to be white or else it's too mature to produce a seed in a orange hair calyx you can pollinate anything with a white pistil even preflowers. Dump some pollen in water then wet those small bottom buds fully with this pollen and water mix not much water just enough to wet those buds enough liquid for one drink of water and you will get full 100% seeds in those buds and you can ripen some extra weeks at least 4 after pollen to get mature seed
Water won't kill pollen right away and when the flower dries after wetting the seeds will grow this is a way to get many many seeds without too much stray pollen like it happens when you use dry pollen that dry stuff floats and gets all over the place

 

[Fitzera]

I found this super helpful, here

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

I'll confirm what's been said, and add a couple things which might be useful.

- You must have at least 4 weeks of life left in your plant before harvest, some take up to 6 weeks to mature.


- Thick white pistils are the easiest to pollinate.

- I've not heard of the water technique, but kudos as it sounds like a great way to pollinate and control stray pollen. Ty

- I've used toasted flour to dilute my pollen for similar 'even pollination'


- It's possible to over-pollinate a plant, when the resources or environment are limiting. Lots and lots of tiny seeds.

- Nutrient/pH/Environmental shock can halt seed formation, which leaves tiny immature seeds all throughout the flowers.

 

[Dropped Cat]

I have female plants which are in different weeks of flowering and I was wondering, at what point a plant can get starting produce seeds and when it can't anymore?
any help with this? thanks a lot <3

My limited pollination attempts are based on the
importance of seed maturation. I don't anticipate
high quality bud yield when making seeds as that is
counter productive.

Estimate the cultivar's ideal chop window,
and add two weeks time to that.

Subtract 6-8 weeks from that time you calculated
for ideal pollination window.

Given that, if your cultivar finished at 8 weeks,
add two weeks to get a base line seeded finish at 10 weeks.

Subtract, say the minimum 6 weeks, and pollinate at 4 weeks from flip +/-.

 

[JetLife175]

I always drop pollen at day 20-24 and day 30-34. Get tons of seeds this way in my experience.

 

[Dropped Cat]

I always drop pollen at day 20-24 and day 30-34. Get tons of seeds this way in my experience.

It's been said that over pollination gets lots of small seeds.

I take my male plants and shake it over my females,
smashing them together like brushing with a feather duster.

Most of my seed size yield are small compared to others.

Hoping those who do precision pollination with a small brush
on a single bud or two chime in on the size of their seeds from
such a practice.

 

[JetLife175]

It's been said that over pollination gets lots of small seeds.

I take my male plants and shake it over my females,
smashing them together like brushing with a feather duster.

Most of my seed size yield are small compared to others.

Hoping those who do precision pollination with a small brush
on a single bud or two chime in on the size of their seeds from
such a practice.

I wouldn’t say I am over pollinating at all. Banging a male/reversed plant over the head in a room twice in flower isn’t over pollination in my experience.

 

[gmanwho]

TBH, Not sure over pollination would be a thing. think about a male in the wild left to do its thing, it would pollinate a nearby female over an over again for a couple weeks straight.


Would think the smaller seeds comes from any of the following. a late pollination. Poor mother health. Low light/improper nutrient an environment not allowing mother to properly produce. The grower not allowing time for the seeds to mature. Or any combos from above.


I have heard of weak or semi viable pollen, its happened to me before. some pollen seems to barely pollinate an produce while the same paint on pollen practice produced way more weeds in similar pollinating situations. and or was so viable it spread very easily to nearby branches not selected for pollination

 

[romanoweed]

Oha, theat waterpollination is too good. I hope i can get my outdoor-Projects done better now.


Are you shure this works problemless, if done quickly Rolandmota?


I wanna add one Problem, just for growers wich grow Equatorials to much North. First it says longflowering take the same time... But if you grow them into the cold, too cold Winter, they become vverrry slow. My Seeds took about 5 to 8 weeks to barely finish, but thats only cause you grow in wrong Climate, i guess.