Can a female plant "sense" the presence of a male plant?

I know this may sound funny, but I watched a show called "What Do Plants Talk About?" and it was like a NOVA thing on PBS or something….and it was basically presenting the possibility that plants DO communicate on some level -not only with each other, but also with other kinds of plants. The plant they focused on was the wild tobacco plant. They speculated that certain plants can send out chemical signals to each other. When the tobacco plant gets attacked by weevils, for example, it sends out a chemical signal that attracts bugs that prey on weevils. And when the plants are threatened by other predators, then they can send out different chemicals that deal with them, specifically.

Tomato plants were also studied in conjunction to being attacked by a "Daughter vine".

And some plants also produce pollinator-specific scents, too -made to attract (in some cases) VERY specific pollinators. -Example: The Hammer orchid….Google if you want.

Anyway….all these weird things that plants do that we never see is going on right now!

I was fascinated by the idea and was wondering if marijuana might interact with other plants that were around, too. And more specifically, the idea struck me that IF a female marijuana plant could sense a male plant in the vicinity, then would it begin to manufacture more trichomes and resins in order to prepare to catch the impending pollen?

In my experience with growing, it's pretty apparent that female marijuana is a rather "horny" plant and will do anything (including throwing out nanners) to try and get what it wants (seeds). So, what about the idea of putting an immature male plant into the vicinity of a ripening female to try and coax it into becoming stickier/stinkier?

Do you think there might be anything to this theory?

Watch "Botany of Desire"

Thanks! I just watched it and I am fascinated!

So, at least according to what that program suggests, it is indeed possible for plants to sense what's going on around them. So, back to my question, then….

Do you think that the presence of a male plant might trigger a female plant to produce more sexual attractants? Like, terpenes, for example. A female plant could sense the presence of a male plant, then it might "call out" to pollinators that are attracted to those fragrances…and, in turn, ultimately, create a more flavorful smoke/vapor as a result.

So, maybe…just maybe if you find out that you have a plant that his showing some "balls" in pre flower, you could put him to use! Like, say you have a juvenile male plant and you put him in with some late-flowering females that are maybe a couple weeks away from harvest….could stimulate more trichome/terpene production…?

of course you'd have to watch the situation closely so that the male doesn't nut off!

I breed, so I have males all the time and you're not far off with your ideas. But tis better to pollinate a branch than to simply have a male

Awesome! I would like to get into breeding someday, too!

My understanding is that the plant stops producing trichomes and resins once it becomes pollinated -and that all energy goes into seed production. So, if you pollinate a branch, are you saying that the rest of the plant remains unaffected by the branch that does get pollinated? if that's true, then is each branch like its own separate entity from the stalk? See what 'm asking? Because I thought that once ANY branch gets pollinated, then the whole plant goes into a chemical change.

??

tstick said:

Awesome! I would like to get into breeding someday, too!

My understanding is that the plant stops producing trichomes and resins once it becomes pollinated -and that all energy goes into seed production. So, if you pollinate a branch, are you saying that the rest of the plant remains unaffected by the branch that does get pollinated? if that's true, then is each branch like its own separate entity from the stalk? See what 'm asking? Because I thought that once ANY branch gets pollinated, then the whole plant goes into a chemical change.

??

Click to expand...

Take a look at are they done in my sig, those are pollinated buds, They do not stop makin trics, they make more to protect the seeds and yes the chemistry changes, I actually prefer smoking seeded plants because of that very difference

Interesting question. I'm so far out of my league in even speculating but having seen the vid and read even more on how plants can talk to each other specifically plants in the same forrest, my guess is I wouldn't be surprised at all if a female can spot a male through either chem signals or root convergence.
Mb in 10 years or less some young botonist will prove you right.

tstick said:

And more specifically, the idea struck me that IF a female marijuana plant could sense a male plant in the vicinity, then would it begin to manufacture more trichomes and resins in order to prepare to catch the impending pollen?

Click to expand...

I have always thought the opposite..... that being when the female can sense a nearby male, she knows getting knocked up will not an issue so continues as normal, but when they cannot sense any males in the neighbourhood, they start to get concerned thus produce even more trichrome & resins in the hope of catching any stray pollen that may happen to cross her path.

now this is just old school hippy talk....I have no way of validating

Could be! We're just a couple of old hippies talking!

It's just that I think nature, more often than not, makes females go into "heat" when there are males around. Maybe the same is true for female marijuana plants, too. Also….In my experience, a female plant will make its own male pollen (nanners) when all else fails, anyway….so I don't think it would be concerned if no males are around. But I do think that the female plant might, on some genetic level, prefer to find pollen from a separate male plant -so as to give its progeny more genetic diversity and, in turn, more potential for adaptability and other traits that it would not have by making its own pollen.

The interdependency is fascinating -- from the roots on up to the foliage. Most organic growers know about the soil food web by which the plant knows what particular food to secrete out of its roots to attract a particular group of organisms to break down a particular food that it requires at a particular time. The web doesn't end in the soil though -- I've also read material similar to what stick said that suggests plants are able to secrete a particular chemical into the air to attract a particular predator for a particular pest that's damaging the plant at a particular time -- and how the doddler can smell out the tomato plant each and every time. Interesting stuff.

A quick search yielded an interesting read...
The fascinating world of plant communication: Ferns "talk" to each other to determine their sex.

http://www.vox.com/2014/10/23/7047299/fern-plant-communication