Sexing seeds

[HorseBadoritz]

So this has been floating around since I started using pot boards.

@Bob Loblaw how many seeds have you successfully sexed this way?

When you are talking about "round" are you talking about the crater, or the actual seed?

 

[Bob Loblaw]

Yes I did mention that this is copy & paste info, not mine at all.
How many? not very many at all as I've said earlier.... probably 12 - 20? I did mention in my 2nd post that I was told by an American specialist that it is possible to get bulk seed as in 1200 lb bulk totes that would be all female seeds by... I am assuming that he was thinking about this method. I'm sure he said they could be sorted out by machine. Sorted by machine rules out colloidal silver and those other methods IMO. I'm not sure on how many methods there are to be honest.

So this has been floating around since I started using pot boards.

@Bob Loblaw how many seeds have you successfully sexed this way?

When you are talking about "round" are you talking about the crater, or the actual seed?

 

[Bob Loblaw]

Seed sorting technology is quite advanced...I ain't gonna go look for a machine that can do this but I think it's silly to just pass things up as not possible.

The original info says that usually 1 in 10 seeds are female, please take that into consideration and be picky... very picky. Don't expect that half your seeds will be female.

 

[Scottsquatch]

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[Dwight Monk]

The original info says that usually 1 in 10 seeds are female, please take that into consideration and be picky... very picky. Don't expect that half your seeds will be female.

I don't think anyone here that grows Regs has had that crappy of luck, by what they saying you would be throwing away 4-7 perfectly good seeds. As more like 5-7 ladies out of 10 is typical as one male can pollinate a lot of ladies and nature knows that.

 

[Chris Scorpio]

I may try it soon...have done regs I'll be growing next grow...may compare to some fem seeds for shits and giggles

 

[HorseBadoritz]

Yes I did mention that this is copy & paste info, not mine at all.
How many? not very many at all as I've said earlier.... probably 12 - 20? I did mention in my 2nd post that I was told by an American specialist that it is possible to get bulk seed as in 1200 lb bulk totes that would be all female seeds by... I am assuming that he was thinking about this method. I'm sure he said they could be sorted out by machine. Sorted by machine rules out colloidal silver and those other methods IMO. I'm not sure on how many methods there are to be honest.

wasn't dissing it, just wanted to hear some actual experience.

You didn't answer if the seed is supposed to be round, or the crater. I've seen very few round seeds.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

wasn't dissing it, just wanted to hear some actual experience.

You didn't answer if the seed is supposed to be round, or the crater. I've seen very few round seeds.

If you would read the other posts you would see that i said that the roundness of the seed is not the determining factor but rather the roundness of the volcano is what we are looking for. This info is also in the original document.

Again it's the roundness of the crater that we are looking at. In my limited experiance I find that the little round seeds are typically immature seeds and this is indeed the second time I am mentioning this as well.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

I don't think anyone here that grows Regs has had that crappy of luck, by what they saying you would be throwing away 4-7 perfectly good seeds. As more like 5-7 ladies out of 10 is typical as one male can pollinate a lot of ladies and nature knows that.

I agree. Perhaps that has something to do with bulk sorting although I doubt that too. Think of it this way if I was farmer and was willing to pay the price for an all female crop... I want to order 4000 lbs of female seeds, throwing away 90% of the seeds is still a viable prospect. You must remember that that 90% waste is not wasted at all, it is still good for feed or oil or whatever you want.

Last I worked my farmer was paying $655 for 60 lbs of canola seeds after selling it for $8/60 lbs. Crazy world - I quit.
*Correction canola seed is 50 lbs/ bushel.
Damn it man you are a seed grower WTF is going on?

 

[HorseBadoritz]

If you would read the other posts you would see that i said that the roundness of the seed is not the determining factor but rather the roundness of the volcano is what we are looking for. This info is also in the original document.

Again it's the roundness of the crater that we are looking at. In my limited experiance I find that the little round seeds are typically immature seeds and this is indeed the second time I am mentioning this as well.

Sorry to inconvenience you.

 

[Stunger]

Hi Bob,

I for one appreciate you relating your experience on this particular concept of sexing the seeds. And I take that in measure with you stating clearly, as you've said twice now, that your results are from limited experience, and there is nothing wrong that!

My grows are usually limited to using regular seeds, so any experimenting with this is of interest to me. I don't mind at all if nothing comes of it, but I can't see any loss in giving it a try if one fancies doing so, or ignoring it if one doesn't.

I tried this for my current grow, which as stated turned out 50/50 on only 4 seeds, so I was unable to draw any conclusions from that, and even if I got 100% success with 4 seeds it still wouldn't be enough to draw conclusions, only encouragement if it was successful, my friend who grew out half a dozen regular seeds I had selected and given to him got a better result, but similarly, it wasn't conclusive, i.e. it wasn't 100%.

However, thanks to Bob for sharing his approach in doing this, I realize from his experience that I hadn't been keeping closely enough to the guidelines, that firstly the crater has to well formed and round, and secondly the seed should ideally be as round as can be. But the roundness of the crater is what has been stated as the original observed criteria for success here. In hindsight I realize I hadn't been as selective as I could have been on this.

In the advice on using this method, it's stated that it is likely that as few as only 1 seed in 10 may be found that meets the criteria. If one grew out 10 seeds very possibly/probably the result would average out to 5 girls and 5 boys. But I don't see that as meaning anyone has to throw away the remaining 9/10 of seeds that didn't meet the criteria. It just means they didn't meet the criteria but would still likely contain female seeds amongst them. I see this approach as a method that some people have found to work for them, no one is saying it is guaranteed, only it has worked for them in their limited personal experience. Bob's posting of his experience has allowed me to realize that I hadn't selected using this method as clearly as I could have done, never mind, I am happy to adjust and try again next time, it's no loss for me to do so.

Besides, if using this approach one only gets a clear signal from 10% of seeds that is fine for me, as over the years I have 'pollen chucked' on selective colas that have given me loads of seeds, so for me, there is no loss in selecting based on this criteria. Selecting on this criteria doesn't mean I have throw out what fails to make it, I'd only do that if repeated selection and growing out gave me repeated great results, like close to 100%, then I might chuck out the seeds that don't make it. But in the mean time, I am not doubting Bob's sincerity so cheers to him for relating his experience.

 

[SugarSun]

wasn't dissing it, just wanted to hear some actual experience.

You didn't answer if the seed is supposed to be round, or the crater. I've seen very few round seeds.

Just read the original message and you can answer the question yourself. Without putting in any effort how do you hope to achieve anything let alone cultivating?

 

[Ghostwriter31]

I'll have to give it a try. Seems like fems would not be worth the process of making it this works. Thanks it's interesting

Not necessarily, it will be tough buying regular seeds if this is true , I’m gonna check out 10 seeds I paid a shit load of money for and haven’t opened yet the pack . I’m curious to see the ration. They all are big enough I should be able to do with magnifying instrument

 

[Stoneface Jack]

Not necessarily, it will be tough buying regular seeds if this is true , I’m gonna check out 10 seeds I paid a shit load of money for and haven’t opened yet the pack . I’m curious to see the ration. They all are big enough I should be able to do with magnifying instrument

My first grow, my brother brought me a copy of that chart. His friend used it and swore it was right.
I had bought reg seeds, and only wanted females, so I was interested. I checked the seeds, germed the ones I thought were female, then after they were done, I germed the one that I thought was male because I was raised by a Scot, and I'm not about to waste a seed I paid for.
Results? 3 females including the one I thought was a male. I set the chart aside until my second grow which was feminized seeds. It predicted 4 males out of 10 seeds. All female.
I'm not going to say this proves that chart wrong. But I have never bothered with it since.
Please, anyone reading this thread, don't throw out seeds based on this chart alone.

 

[Stunger]

My first grow, my brother brought me a copy of that chart. His friend used it and swore it was right.
I had bought reg seeds, and only wanted females, so I was interested. I checked the seeds, germed the ones I thought were female, then after they were done, I germed the one that I thought was male because I was raised by a Scot, and I'm not about to waste a seed I paid for.
Results? 3 females including the one I thought was a male. I set the chart aside until my second grow which was feminized seeds. It predicted 4 males out of 10 seeds. All female.
I'm not going to say this proves that chart wrong. But I have never bothered with it since.
Please, anyone reading this thread, don't throw out seeds based on this chart alone.

Hey Stoneface, that was a good result. There is a lot of controversy about this as it does seem miraculous and totally against expectations. But if I understood correctly @Bob Loblaw 's attempt to check this out, he was clear that one had to be very meticulous to the point that many seeds would fail the selection criteria, those failures may still be female but their features didn't pass muster when it came to roundness and an even crater. So I'd say from your results that you applied the selection criteria very well. For anyone with a big load of regular seeds it makes some sense to reduce the plantable number by using this method, as it seems no loss to do - you just need good magnification!

I tried doing this last grow but I only got 2f and 2m from my resulting 4 seed selection, so my own attempt failed and if anything I would say the roundness I chose was probably not round enough for all 4 seeds. I read of old timers who would simply roll their regular seeds down a slope, and choose the ones that rolled straight to be female (no magnification needed!). So to me there does seem to be something to this. Screw the selection up and it seems to show the theory to be wrong, but those folk who rigorously apply it seem to get the results predicted by the theory.

This year I grew females seeds but I have selectively pollinated several stems with regular pollen of uncertain viability so if I successfully get seeds I will look closely and be even more selective.

 

[Stoneface Jack]

Hey Stoneface, that was a good result. There is a lot of controversy about this as it does seem miraculous and totally against expectations. But if I understood correctly @Bob Loblaw 's attempt to check this out, he was clear that one had to be very meticulous to the point that many seeds would fail the selection criteria, those failures may still be female but their features didn't pass muster when it came to roundness and an even crater. So I'd say from your results that you applied the selection criteria very well. For anyone with a big load of regular seeds it makes some sense to reduce the plantable number by using this method, as it seems no loss to do - you just need good magnification!

I tried doing this last grow but I only got 2f and 2m from my resulting 4 seed selection, so my own attempt failed and if anything I would say the roundness I chose was probably not round enough for all 4 seeds. I read of old timers who would simply roll their regular seeds down a slope, and choose the ones that rolled straight to be female (no magnification needed!). So to me there does seem to be something to this. Screw the selection up and it seems to show the theory to be wrong, but those folk who rigorously apply it seem to get the results predicted by the theory.

This year I grew females seeds but I have selectively pollinated several stems with regular pollen of uncertain viability so if I successfully get seeds I will look closely and be even more selective.

Hey, if you feel it works for you, great.
I was taught how to grow by an old hippy, and I learned to take the oldtimer's stories with a grain of salt, and trust my own results.
That said, I don't have anything to do with huge numbers of seeds, so I'm only coming from a small rec/med grow perspective. I'm not going to say that it doesn't work, just that it didn't for me.
My method for sexing is to take a clone as soon as they're old enough to top, pop it in a glass of water, and flip it.
100% certain of sex, no waste of resources as I can toss the males in the compost with the soil they're in, and they're food for next year.
I would encourage you to do the same, just to double check for yourself whether or not it'll work for you.

 

[Dankman_420]

Not necessarily, it will be tough buying regular seeds if this is true , I’m gonna check out 10 seeds I paid a shit load of money for and haven’t opened yet the pack . I’m curious to see the ration. They all are big enough I should be able to do with magnifying instrument

I tried this few times. Not reliable. I don't bother with it anymore.
I also prefer regs. I don't mind sexing them

 

[Stunger]

Hey, if you feel it works for you, great.
I was taught how to grow by an old hippy, and I learned to take the oldtimer's stories with a grain of salt, and trust my own results.
That said, I don't have anything to do with huge numbers of seeds, so I'm only coming from a small rec/med grow perspective. I'm not going to say that it doesn't work, just that it didn't for me.
My method for sexing is to take a clone as soon as they're old enough to top, pop it in a glass of water, and flip it.
100% certain of sex, no waste of resources as I can toss the males in the compost with the soil they're in, and they're food for next year.
I would encourage you to do the same, just to double check for yourself whether or not it'll work for you.

Your approach to take a clone and flip is fine for indoor growing, but I grow outdoors so I don't think that is relevant for me unfortunately.

I tried this few times. Not reliable. I don't bother with it anymore.
I also prefer regs. I don't mind sexing them

As I said I was interested it this but my own results were only 50/50. But next time I grow some regulars I will inspect the seeds first and give it another go and see whether being more stringent on the roundness helps.

 

[Stoneface Jack]

Your approach to take a clone and flip is fine for indoor growing, but I grow outdoors so I don't think that is relevant for me unfortunately.

As I said I was interested it this but my own results were only 50/50. But next time I grow some regulars I will inspect the seeds first and give it another go and see whether being more stringent on the roundness helps.

I grow outdoors. I start them indoors earlier than most other people do so that my plants are in full growth when they go outdoors. I also only do that when I'm using regular seeds, and not feminized.

 

[SmokingWings]

As if sexing seeds is not enough there are several web pages out there about encouraging female plants to sprout from un-sexed seeds by controlling the environment.