Why do i always get Hermies?

[Douglas.Curtis]

Low pH, light leaks, large temp swings, root bound, light leaks, femmed pollen created from stressed females (ya get femmed and hermie pollen), hermie prone genetics, light leaks, pH stress. Yeah, I repeated some of the main ones. lol

Keep at it, you'll figure it out.

 

[MrBungle]

I have light leaks all over too... and no hermies as well, but none of the light leaks are projected right onto the plants....

I had a window adjacent to the room of my old place, that I covered but made an air intake from the window vent... the light traveled through the intake similar to how was described earlier in this thread... at any rate.. my SSH would get patches of herm spots at the old place, but not even a little bit here at the new place...

maybe synthetic light sources don't affect the plant the same way as natural sunlight might.. even in low light conditions? I dunno...

All I do know is that light leaks, and timer errors played a role in my hermie problems, when I was less experienced

 

[Budley Doright]

Sometimes I say to myself in these sorts of things..... how hard would it be to prove the point about light leaks....

Take two clones from the same mom and put them in different circumstances.....

one might get hermie flowers and one might not...

Really easy experiment.....

The fact that an easy experiment would prove the point says a great deal to me.....

 

[Loc Dog]

I had them from just the red lights on power strips. The only color light that can be used during dark period is green.

 

[soil margin]

As others have mentioned I'd say 1. Genetics, 2. Light, 3. Stress. Those have always been most likely for me, in that order.

 

[Irael]

Hey Guys, thanks for this amazing feedback

pollen does not cause hermies, dirt doesnt cause hermies.

as said, check for light leaks, and double checl your light cycle, make sure it goes off and on when you think it is, make sure lights arent coming on during dark cycle.

get some clones or stable genetics that you know are unlikely to hermie.

VG

@VerdantGreen: I know that dirt cannot cause hermies, but i just wanted to point out how good i cleaned my growroom because the last run hermies as well. Otherwise i would not have cleaned it this well

But Pollen cannot cause Hermies is new to me?
So when the pistils of a female come in contact with male pollen they will not become a hermaphrodite, but pure male or what? (i´m not this well informed about Pollination^^)

Low pH, light leaks, large temp swings, root bound, light leaks, femmed pollen created from stressed females (ya get femmed and hermie pollen), hermie prone genetics, light leaks, pH stress. Yeah, I repeated some of the main ones. lol
Keep at it, you'll figure it out.

Ok now i am a bit confused, there is a difference between "femmed Pollen" and "hermie pollen"? Can you tell me some more about that?

hey Irael, that sucks. light leaks, poor genetics, environmental issues are the main cause. go into your grow room 1hour after lights out and 4-5 hrs into lights out to check for light leaks. you must check 2-3 times during lights out to exclude light as issue. you can try dutchmasters "reverse" or "optic" but i'd use them soon.

I also heard about that Reverse stuff, but does it really work? Can it really turn a hermie into a pure female back again? I think i also read somewhere that Dutch Masters went out of business so the "Reverse" product does not exist anymore. Alternatives are Optic Foliar "Switch" but i never used both of the products.


Let´s also dicsuss everything you have suggested me in your answers:

1)Bad Genetics:
I do not think that genetics are the real problem on this hermie-thing, i work with clones since years.
The clones come from the most trusted clone shop here in my country which sells millions of clones a year with a nice strain selection and clean plants.
Many of my friends and friends of them also buy their genetics since years from there and never had issues with hermies, not even on the same Strains that hermied on me.

2) Checking Light Cycle:

As i said before i bought myself a new Timer for the lightning cycle before starting this grow. The lights go out at 11pm at Night and then again on at 11 am. Everytime i checked at that times, the light went out or on excatly as the timer has been set.

3) The good old Light Leaks: I was thinking about this topic a long time too before i started this grow..My box stands in a small room with one window in it. The window is covered with 3 layers of curtains so pretty much no light come trough.
Then before the Box there stands a large storage box which should hide the box a bit, so this huge storage box also makes it even darker in front of the growbox. And then the plants stand in the growtent..so the Plants got curtains, a dark room, the backside of the storage box and the Grow Tent Walls between them and a light source (window).
I also cannot see my hand before my eyes when i stand in the room and the lights are out. Not even after closing my eyes for a minute.

I got some pictures for you so you can imagine my room better:



First is the covered window, second the Grow Tent behind the Storage Box and last one a picture with light out.

I really like where this discussion is heading to, i think we can figure out the problem soon!


Greetz

 

[Ready4]

I have read for years how people blame "light leaks" for hermies/seeds. I now think it is total nonsense as I have had some careless light leaking for years with no/few problems.
I have a strain that would get a few seeds, I had figured it was probably "light leaks" from power bars, etc. But I noticed the same plant was very sensitive to being rootbound, replanting in larger pots was beneficial. As a test, I took the same strain and put it in a much larger pot to flower & gave it a few intentional light leaks. No seeds at all in that test. I reasoned that the rootbound plant was causing the small seed/hermie due to the same cut, which a good friend runs outdoor, gets no seeds at all - and he has a security light nearby which casts some light at night over that plant.
I really believe the long veg times, in relatively small pots, for scrog or otherwise, gets plants rootbound, causing stress which produces male flowers.
Some will disagree, but try a plant that has some hermie problems, in a larger pot, and test it.
No way should somebody like the OP run 3 sets of seeds and have these problems, something is causing stress that creates the flowers. Many strains love their root space.

 

[ganjygav]

I have read for years how people blame "light leaks" for hermies/seeds. I now think it is total nonsense as I have had some careless light leaking for years with no/few problems.
I have a strain that would get a few seeds, I had figured it was probably "light leaks" from power bars, etc. But I noticed the same plant was very sensitive to being rootbound, replanting in larger pots was beneficial. As a test, I took the same strain and put it in a much larger pot to flower & gave it a few intentional light leaks. No seeds at all in that test. I reasoned that the rootbound plant was causing the small seed/hermie due to the same cut, which a good friend runs outdoor, gets no seeds at all - and he has a security light nearby which casts some light at night over that plant.
I really believe the long veg times, in relatively small pots, for scrog or otherwise, gets plants rootbound, causing stress which produces male flowers.
Some will disagree, but try a plant that has some hermie problems, in a larger pot, and test it.
No way should somebody like the OP run 3 sets of seeds and have these problems, something is causing stress that creates the flowers. Many strains love their root space.

I too disagree with it being light leaks. I've grown plants in my backyard, my backyard has a bright white L.E.D street light just on other side of fence.
Our garden and one of the next door neighbours have security lights which get set off everytime a cat goes through our backyards.

Then without that you have moonlight and stars.
Ive never had hermies outdoors.
Also I grow in the same 10litr pots as I do indoors but they're in them for a longer period of time.
So I also disagree with pot size having any correlation with hermies. Go speak the guys who grow plants in the yogurt cup competition on this site.
See how many hermies they get.

 

[Ringodoggie]

That doesn't leave much, other than genetics.

 

[Wendull C.]

I can tell you personally light leaks cause hermies on unstable or poly hybrid genetics. True females may never produce male flowers under stress, but some genetics do it w regularity when treared to a nice dose of stress.

 

[MrBungle]

I believe the best way to tell if its genetic or from light stress is to observe the entire plant..
is it in spots or is it through out the entire plant? if its just a spot or 2 then its probably light leak or some other type of stress... if the plant is covered in hermie growth through out the plant.. then its probably genetics...

 

[ganjygav]

I can tell you personally light leaks cause hermies on unstable or poly hybrid genetics. True females may never produce male flowers under stress, but some genetics do it w regularity when treared to a nice dose of stress.

I grew some last year indoors. Feminised c99xblueberry. The 6 I had grew big indoors.
So I donated 2 to a friend to grow in his back yard.
Meanwhile 3 out of 4 of mine hermed and dropped pollen. The plants were really healthy looking. So I slipped and didn't inspect them properly to find the hermies in time.
This was around 3 weeks of flower which seems to be the time I get hermies with most fem seeds I've grown.
Across the road a couple of months later my friend is harvesting the 2 plants I gave him to grow in his backyard. Even with all them light leaks I mentioned earlier.

When you experience things like this it does make you question some of the old theories that everyone spreads as gospel.
With this hobby everyone has their own experiences and that's what makes it so hard to pin point causes of problems.
Fun, fun, fun

 

[VerdantGreen]

Hey Guys, thanks for this amazing feedback



@VerdantGreen: I know that dirt cannot cause hermies, but i just wanted to point out how good i cleaned my growroom because the last run hermies as well. Otherwise i would not have cleaned it this well

But Pollen cannot cause Hermies is new to me?
So when the pistils of a female come in contact with male pollen they will not become a hermaphrodite, but pure male or what? (i´m not this well informed about Pollination^^)


Greetz

hey there,
when the pistils of a female come into contact with pollen, you will get a seed. the pollinated pistils will wither and over a few weeks you will get a seed forming.
the pollen will NOT cause the female to become hermaphrodite. it will NOT make male flowers grow on your female plant.

the only thing that pollen from a previous grow would cause is some seeds in your plants, NOT male flowers. (obviously if you get male flowers growing on a hermie plant, they might produce pollen and you will get seeds for that reason too)

more about your timer switch... you have checked that the lights come on and go off at the same time - good. now go and slowly turn the timer wheel through the full 24 hour cycle whilst watching the lights and make sure that the lights are not somehow coming on at some point during the dark cycle. it is possible that one of the little levers on a segmental timer can be pushed the wrong way and make this happen.

as for light leaks, unless they are very bad they should not cause hermies in stable genetics. plants are evolved to not be disturbed during night cycle by moonlight so they are not that sensitive.

hope that helps

VG

 

[Pinball Wizard]

.. then its probably genetics...

probably California genetics


.. ..

 

[KONY]

Yep check for light leaks... like above.... sit in your flower room with lights out and eyes closed for at least 5 minutes this will give you optimal night vision... when you open your eyes the light source will be obvious...

also check timer to see if there is any schedule disruptions....

if all of that is in check, and you're still getting hermies its your genetics... I would try something different anyways if you can...

Change that 5 minutes to 15 minutes and you should be good to go. The other thing that people forget is you need to check during the dark cycle of the plants multiple separate times throughout the dark cycle.

For example recently I checked a room that runs from 5pm-5am. So mostly during the day that room should be pitch black. I checked once around 9am and found a few light leaks coming thru cracks in the ceiling. I fixed those, waited another 10-15 minutes and didnt see anything. I thought all was well.

ECSD hermied again.... so now I go back in there at 2pm and check for light leaks, and there is another light leak from above that didnt show up at 9am because the light in that room above is off from 8am-1pm.

This same sorta concept happens with outside light as well. Not as much of an issue now as the summer time, but still good to be mindful of.

 

[ganjygav]

probably California genetics


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That's exactly what my hermes looked like. Moved the pot and you could see the pollen chuck out like a cloud of dust.

 

[Irael]

I believe the best way to tell if its genetic or from light stress is to observe the entire plant..
is it in spots or is it through out the entire plant? if its just a spot or 2 then its probably light leak or some other type of stress... if the plant is covered in hermie growth through out the plant.. then its probably genetics...

Thats interesting! I observed all the plants right now and it seems like that the top branches of the plants grow all bananas out while the lower branches do not really have nanners or brown stigmas at all.

So does that mean we can exclude genetics as a problem and the light leaks or stress come back to talk?

probably California genetics

Nice pics Pinball! But my hermie looks completely different..there are only some nanners growing between the white pistils. But there are no open bursting pollen sacks or something like in your pictures, only nanners and some brown hairs. Some braches look like they havent been pollinated at all..only white pistils and no nanners.
And no it´s not an californian genetic, its the good old sensi star

Change that 5 minutes to 15 minutes and you should be good to go. The other thing that people forget is you need to check during the dark cycle of the plants multiple separate times throughout the dark cycle.

Thanks for that advise, i will check the dark period multiple times now and see if there is any light leaking trough.

hey there,
when the pistils of a female come into contact with pollen, you will get a seed. the pollinated pistils will wither and over a few weeks you will get a seed forming.
the pollen will NOT cause the female to become hermaphrodite. it will NOT make male flowers grow on your female plant.

the only thing that pollen from a previous grow would cause is some seeds in your plants, NOT male flowers. (obviously if you get male flowers growing on a hermie plant, they might produce pollen and you will get seeds for that reason too)

more about your timer switch... you have checked that the lights come on and go off at the same time - good. now go and slowly turn the timer wheel through the full 24 hour cycle whilst watching the lights and make sure that the lights are not somehow coming on at some point during the dark cycle. it is possible that one of the little levers on a segmental timer can be pushed the wrong way and make this happen.

as for light leaks, unless they are very bad they should not cause hermies in stable genetics. plants are evolved to not be disturbed during night cycle by moonlight so they are not that sensitive.

Alright thats really helping me out! Thanks alot for that reply.
So my biggest fear after the last grow was that some pollen will get stuck in some places of the growbox and will immediately pollinate the new ones.
But if in this scenario the plants will only grow seeds in the buds and do not get hermie with all the nanners like they did on me that means that it cannot come from pollen of the last grow am i right?
That would also mean that it has to come from light leaks or some sort of stress.
That is really a good piece of knowledge there

I will check the complete cycle of the lighning stage like you told me, maybe i can find a problem there.


So i also read that some people say that light leaks cannot cause hermies. I also thought of that moonlight theory, because when the moon is really bright all the outdoor plants have to hermie if they were so sensitive to light leaks.
I like that the case of pollination from pollen of the last grow is now closed thanks to the info from VerdantGreen above. That means light leaks, genetics or stress but i cannot imagine that it is genetics..

as i told you there is a massive amount of people who buys their clones there since years..i know a few of them and no strain hermied.
In the german forums there also are some threads with feedback from people who tested clones from this shop, and it is overall positive feedback.

I just dont have the time so grow from seed everytime..i can make at least one run more per year when i start with clones from a trusted shop and let them flower after 2-3 weeks.


Greetz

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

So i also read that some people say that light leaks cannot cause hermies.

Mostly outdoor growers with zero inside cultivation experience. It's not the light, it's the difference in light strength. A pinhole will cause one tiny spot to hermie on a hermie prone plant. The same plant outside with a low glow from the moon evenly hitting the plant, will most likely be just fine.

Have the same growers (running hermie genetics outdoor and saying there isn't an issue) shine a tiny LED on one spot of the plant at night (one a lot more powerful than the moon). I'd very *very* surprised if they didn't get a hermie on the sites lit up by it.

 

[coconutcurry]

"Why do i always get Hermies?"

Haven't read the whole long thread, but...
my 2 cent

It's light during night (any leak in the tent/room), it's the genetic/strain or too high temperatures or all together. One could also say it's generally a broken genetic or massive stress which causes hermies. A broken genetic is often caused by growers who pollinated a feminized plant with pollen from a regular one.

 

[ganjygav]

Mostly outdoor growers with zero inside cultivation experience. It's not the light, it's the difference in light strength. A pinhole will cause one tiny spot to hermie on a hermie prone plant. The same plant outside with a low glow from the moon evenly hitting the plant, will most likely be just fine.

Have the same growers (running hermie genetics outdoor and saying there isn't an issue) shine a tiny LED on one spot of the plant at night (one a lot more powerful than the moon). I'd very *very* surprised if they didn't get a hermie on the sites lit up by it.

I just said me and friend did exactly that. I grew inside he grew outside. My plants completely dark. His in his backyard with bright white led street lights, house lights and security lights.
I got hermes and he didn't.
Same stain from same pack of seeds infact I grew the plants I gave him fir 4 weeks in veg in my tent.