24 to 12-12 then back to 24 - - Is is possible?

I have 14 plants from seed that I want get a few good mothers from. Can I go from veg to flower just long enough to determine sex, then go back to veg after disposing of males?

I don't want to flower these soil grown seeds since I plan to make some mothers to supply a hydro setup.

Don't do this, very stressful.

I gotta scoot, but I'll be back and tell you how to do it stress free.

How far from sprout are you?

Wet

I would take cuttings and flower them instead.

im no expert, but that seems like it would be impossible not to stress/confuse your plants with this method.

First, a little basic botany. MJ will not show sex until the plant is sexually mature. This happens ~5-8 weeks from germination and evidenced by alternating nodes and pre flowers. It will show regardless of the light cycle, so it's best just to keep them on whatever you use for vegging.

If you get to the alternating nodes and still no pre flowers, here is a quick and easy trick:

Take a clone sized cutting from each plant, label carefully so you know who belongs to who. Put each cutting in a glass of water (cut the stem again underwater), then put these glasses in a 12/12 cycle/room/box/whatever.

The cuttings will survive long enough to show sex and that's all you need for them to do. They probably won't root (I've never tried and toss them after the sex is shown), but you will know the sex of the plants they came from, which is the whole point.

Then you can do whatever you have planned with the plants you now know the sex of and with no stress to them.

Wet

Thanks Wetdog . . . I will try this method and get things going.

TokinSince'95 said:

I have 14 plants from seed that I want get a few good mothers from. Can I go from veg to flower just long enough to determine sex, then go back to veg after disposing of males?

I don't want to flower these soil grown seeds since I plan to make some mothers to supply a hydro setup.

Click to expand...

id probably take the others advice but ive done a round before started them 12/12 from seed grew them for 5 weeks they sexed started to flower then took the female out but it under 24 hours for a month then put it back under 12/12 and it was fine but take the others advice

TokinSince'95 said:

Thanks Wetdog . . . I will try this method and get things going.

Click to expand...

How far from seed are you?

Wet

Seeds popped about 5 weeks ago and plants are about 5" tall. They are in a fairly cold location (50F), and under a general CFL, so I think growth is slowed a bit. They are past the cotyledon and half have the first real pair of leaves while the other half are beginning into the second pair. I am not really worried about the overall growth/size of these since I want to keep them small to make a few (3 or 4) good mothers. The seeds were placed in the top 1/4" of potting mix and roots are definitely formed, but the stems are weak at the crown. I am going to place the peat pots they are in deeper into a larger pot with more potting mix a little higher on the stem to add some support. Does MJ tolerate soil above the crown, or will this cause stem rot?

50F is way too cold and growth will pretty much stop. You need 70F at least.

The crown is the very top of the plant where the new growth is. I don't think that is what you are talking about burying. You can bury the stem up to the first set of leaves.

Wet

In general gardening terms the crown is where the base of the stem meets the roots. I am an experienced general gardener with much success in ornamental and vegetable horticulture, but this is my first and long awaited venture into MJ. I will work on higher temps, but my basement is cold right now and there isn't much I can do about it short of a heat mat.

My closet is just for mother plant maintenance, so the conditions aren't as important. The actual grow room is at a buddies house (who is single with no kids), so the conditions there will be optimal. I just need to get some clones ready to put in our ebb/flow system. Thanks for the input.

I will post a few pics as soon as I have a chance to snap some.

BTW, I stuck the thermometer in the closet and registered close to a 60F temp. When this damn unseasonably cold weather goes away there won't be any problem with temps.

If you're a gardener/ornamentals, MJ is easy. I do the same growing.

Learning indoors is a bit of a learning curve. LOL

Is your closet in the basement? What I mean is, can you get the seedlings into where it's the 60F? My basement is right at 52F. I know what you're dealing with.

I have my host plants and cuttings in a walk in closet that pretty much stays at 70F. Yeah, host or cuttings don't need much.

Crown:Gotcha.

Show the pics.

Wet

Yes . . . I have been using closet/basement interchangeably. Closet is under the basement stairs.

Never grown anything indoors, so that is the main learning curve.

I'll get pics soon.

I think I would be concerned more about the time it takes to revert back to veg, ive had up to 3-4 weeks. some say thats a good way to sex, stressful indeed. Try this, just keep the seedlings that dont shoot up higher than the majority, especially if itts the same strain. You have more than plenty to set into flowering and once you see hairs or balls you can eliminate occordinally.

Got the pics done.

First I would suggest painting the sides of that cloning room a flat white, this will throw around the light better. If you can lower your light a little that would keep them from stretching more. Other than that I still agree with my last post. Good start. Hard to tell just yet though.

Thanks for the input. I am working on the minor details of the closet, but the main Q is sex determination methods w/o irreparably throwing these into flower.

I'm going to get these into pots with soil up to the cotyledon then bonsai them after determining sex. I only want 3 or 4 different mothers out of these 14 plants . . . the rest will be discarded. BTW, they are not the same strain. These were the 14 bag seeds I found over the last year out of anything I would want to duplicate. I will eventually buy some seeds, but would rather trial and error on the freebies I already have.

How long before I can figure out which ones are female? Would closer pics help, or is it still too soon?

I love getting seeds from buds I like....but seeds at regular price? It happens unfortunately.