First Grow, Now Flowering and Getting Worried - Root bound? Hermie? Nut Burn? Pics!

I'm Down Under and have had these babies going outdoors since I sprouted them in late September. I've changed the pots at appropriate times, but haven't changed them in a while (I don't imagine I can change the pots now - too big and unwieldy, and they've started to flower).

Was hoping peeps could have a look and tell me if things are going well, or am I in trouble.

They started flowering about 2-3 weeks ago and I'm a bit worried they're going a bit slow - summer has just ended and I thought they'd be further along by now. Living Down Under, do I have much more time for these to mature? While the colas are starting to thicken up, I was hoping the forming buds would be bigger by now. Also, I found 5-10 pollen sacks on one of them the day before yesterday and picked them off - I'm watching it like a hawk now, but haven't found any signs of more popping up. Is there a chance it won't go full hermie, or once it show signs of being one is it all over?

Both plants are very close to being root-bound if they aren't already - is there anything I can do about this, and if not - anything I can do to help my girls cope with the condition?

I've attached some pics of damaged leaves - is this a sign of over-fertilising or is it a deficiency?

I flushed them out with some clean water today, cos i've been thinking the slow growth may have been caused by accumulation of salts and stuff - my mate's bringing over a pH test kit this arvo, so I should know if I have a problem in that regard soon.

Pretty much just wanting some advice and tips on how to end this all well - hope to hear from someone soon

your probably too late. Your plants will most likely all have seeds now. Pull the hermies immediately dude!

I'm pretty sure I got all the pollen sacs/flowers before they'd spewed their filth anywhere, and I reckon I can pick em off as they appear - but I haven't seen anymore yet. There wasn't many of them either. What do others think - should I pull the hermie, or is there a chance it might not show anymore male characteristics? What about the general prospects of the plants? Should the buds be bigger three weeks into flowering?

they look pretty healthy .. I wouldn't worry about transplanting this late in the game if was me , you almost always get signs of decay when they are flowering .. its just part of the natural process . I wouldn't feed them anything but water at this point if the soil is pre-fertalized just in case it is the start of nute burn ... as for the hermie ... myself ... I would cut it and get it far away from my babies .. but thats up to you . If you keep it make sure to check it often and carefully - but worse come to pass - nothing wrong with having some seed stock ... buds usually still good , just seedy : )

good luck and enjoy those sweet looking buds .......

Good evening Lewis, your pots look to be around 5 gallon, if this so, you aren't root bound. I figure on 2 feet per gallon in a normal out door grow. You didn't mention the strain, but they look sativa and they are notoriously slow flowering. Be patient my friend, good things take time.......BB

I don't think the leave tips are from over feeding..
I think I read somewhere that the leaves losing their color like that could be a nitrogen deficient.
but only if it starts at the bottom (oldest) leaves and works its way up draining the leaves for energy / N.

thanks for the encouragement guys ... not sure of the strain as it's pretty much just bag seed. they both look like different strains of sativa though. i took the pH levels and both are sitting at around 6 which from my understanding is on target. overnight there's been a lot more bud action which makes me happy and the weather has been quite warm and helpful. if this continues i'm thinking 4-6 weeks before i can harvest. getting quite excited