pruning, FIMMING, topping....cause of seed production?

theguyintheshadows

Well-Known Member
FYI, this is a long winded post and I have searched and cannot find any concrete answers, hence, the post. Bottom line is I have had seeds my last two crops and this last one was bad (out of 4lbs after drying on my rack, I gathered and entire sandwich size ziplock bag of seeds....the bag was FULL).

I have had a total 6 harvests and the first four were awesome. I harvested 12 plants and yielded just over 6lbs (growing in soil, 10 gallon pots). Due to the seeds my quality and quantity is shit. Now that I have this current problem here are some bullet points that might allow you to help me.

-NOTHING in the environment has changed as far as lights, temperature, humidity,
-NOTHING nutrient wise has changed, I am using the same regimen.
-NOTHING strain wise has changed, they are all still the same strains....

Something is stressing them out and causing them to hermy since all if the original seeds were feminized and I have had 4 crops with these same strains with NO SEEDS

questions I have that I need help/input with:

- These plants have been perpetually cloned, meaning I don't use a mother plant. I just keep taking clones in the veg state before they are thrown into bloom. They have been cloned at least 6-7 generations. The seeds are not apparent in all strains. I grow Apollo, Chemdog, G-13, Blue Cheese, White Widow, Danny Trevino, Lemon Haze, Citrus Skunk #1, Purple OG, Chocolope, Sour Diesel, and Blueberry. I am only finding seeds in the Apollo, Chemdog and G13. Could it be a genetic thing? Are they loosing their "genetic strength"...if thats even such a thing..

- I did start to mess around with FIMMING, topping and pruning (when they are about 3.5 feet tall I start to cut the lower outer branches that wont produce anything but bistro/popcorn buds anyway. I cut them off in an attempt to channel energy to the top of the plant. Can this cause them enough stress during veg to start to hermy during bloom?

- I am thinking that even i they were stressed during the veg state due to my trimming/pruning that it would not translate into bloom as I do this a good three weeks before switching to bloom giving them ample time to bounce back. The seeds I am gettnig are immature and appear towards the last 3-4 weeks of bllom. Does this indicate something is going on specifically during the bloom phase?

-lastly, I have two rooms divided by a sliding door. I use a flipbox to switch between room A and B during their off and on cycles. This allows me to run 8 lamps and only use 4 ballasts. when I go in and out to water them, I have to open the sliding door for 2-3 seconds and this shines light in on the dark room. I might go in and out 20 times per watering up to a total of 2 times per week (so 40 times in and out of the door per week opened for 2-3 seconds each time). I thought the intermittent light exposure might be the culprit but I did this same thing with the other previous 4 crops and had no seeds so it doesnt make sense that all of the sudden it is causing the seeds when the other four crops were great and they are cloned from the same plants. Do you think the intermittent light exposure is messing them up some how?
 

skunkd0c

Well-Known Member
seems like you have good experience and have thought about this in great detail
personally from my own experience i do not believe in light leaks causing problems, unless the leaks are bright and fairly constant like an hour a few times per week over and over
other folk would totally disagree with me believing that the tiny amount of light coming out of a extension socket / power cord
will hemmi plants

i will interrupt my plants for small amounts of time, with maybe a flashlight or house light for a few mins if i need to check on them
hemmies have never been an issue for me

but i have experenced what you are going through on just one occasion, and i still do not know what caused it for certain
i had grown an afghani #1 from seedsman it grew perfectly as a seed plant, i cloned it 3 times, each harvest again no seeds
on the 4th harvest it seeded quite badly, so much so that most of the flavor of the finished bud seemed to have vanished, although the potency was still ok

the only diffirence i can think of is during the harvest that seeded it was in the height of summer outside, my indoor temps were 85f
the colas had grown quite tall and were only 8 inch from a 600w light, although they did not burn, most of the colas i moved to the side away from the heat of the light
but warm air was around the colas , other than that i have no real idea what made them seed, i just got rid of the plant and started new plants

i do not believe you cloning them over and over did any harm or the chopping and thinning out, all of this stuff you do, i also do to my plants and do not see hemmis
for me my best answer is heat problems but still its no easy answer

peace
 

Bublonichronic

Well-Known Member
IMO hermi is mostly genetic, iv got strains that are abused during veg, light leaks in flower, low humidity, just horrible conditions, still never hermi...and also have strains that hermi for no reason, generally around the same time 12/12 every cycle too...
 

theguyintheshadows

Well-Known Member
IMO hermi is mostly genetic, iv got strains that are abused during veg, light leaks in flower, low humidity, just horrible conditions, still never hermi...and also have strains that hermi for no reason, generally around the same time 12/12 every cycle too...
Then how do you explain the previous 4 crops being fine when they are all cloned from the original strains?
 
Top