Intersex or "Hermaphroditic" plants

[josh223]

I am currently on my fourth indoor grow. 4 for 4 having hermies. That's with four different strains.

While I know some breeds are more inclined to throw nanners than others, this is getting frustrating. I am currently using feminized seeds. I am aware of the fact that femmed seeds can produce nanners.

I'm also aware that nearly any plant can turn hermie if stressed. My temps vary from around 75F with lights off to 85F with lights on. Humidity is around 50% at any given time. I water every 2-3 days at the same time with room temperature water, always PHed. There's no light contamination during lights off.

I know the tent environment isn't ideal, but I think it is in the realm of "decent". What am I doing wrong here? Any insight would be most helpful.

 

[GreatLife4All]

Re: Intersex or "Hermaphroditic" plants.

Have you grown successfully (without hermies) in this setup before? Is this an anomaly or what you have come to expect?

If it is 100% of the plants 100% of the time - then you have some environmental problem. And there are several environmental factors that can produce hermies - but basically it comes down to light and heat.

The most obvious guess is that you have a major light leak in your tent. Maybe light coming in through your duct work? Maybe an overhead light that is left on all the time? Maybe you have two tents and light is leaking from one into the other?

Temperatures of 85 with lights on is borderline. You might want to purchase one of those CO2 generation bags and add it to the system. Higher levels of CO2 will allow the plant to be healthy at higher temperatures.

There are some other things which are more speculative - too much N during early veg, for example. But the most likely are related to heat and light.

 

[josh223]

Re: Intersex or "Hermaphroditic" plants.

Have you grown successfully (without hermies) in this setup before? Is this an anomaly or what you have come to expect?

If it is 100% of the plants 100% of the time - then you have some environmental problem. And there are several environmental factors that can produce hermies - but basically it comes down to light and heat.

The most obvious guess is that you have a major light leak in your tent. Maybe light coming in through your duct work? Maybe an overhead light that is left on all the time? Maybe you have two tents and light is leaking from one into the other?

Temperatures of 85 with lights on is borderline. You might want to purchase one of those CO2 generation bags and add it to the system. Higher levels of CO2 will allow the plant to be healthy at higher temperatures.

There are some other things which are more speculative - too much N during early veg, for example. But the most likely are related to heat and light.

In four grows I've flowered around 200 plants in this set up. Of those, maybe a dozen or so plants have produced male flowers. The worst were A Train strain which were bag seed procured from a collective. My thought was they were hermied to begin with.

The next grow featured Northern Light Blue clones from three different mothers. One of those mothers produced hermie clones and she in turn hermied when she was flowered out.

Now I have the last NLB mother flowering in addition to clones of THC Bomb, Holy Grail Kush, and a Land Race Afghan Kush. I was entertaining last night and lights are off at the moment, so I have yet to really see the damage. May just be one stamen, but all the plants, up to 2 lbs dry weight when done, seem to be seeded.

I can't do too much about the temps. The tents are in a root cellar. The house has no insulation. I live in a high desert climate. 120F in the summer and -40F in the winter. The root cellar will fluctuate from around 50F in the winter and 76F in the summer. The flowering tent is 4'x4'x6'. I use a 600 watt air cooled reflector with 6" exhaust with passive intake. I also have four T5 lights wired vertically in the corners for added light.

I'm going to check for light leaks again tonight. I do have a smaller veg tent next to the flowering tent. I have the veg tents vents duct taped shut. The root cellars light is always off unless I am working on the plants. There hasn't been a power outage or any mistakes on my part with the light cycle.

If I had it my way, the flowering tent would be in our huge bedroom where the temps could be easier controlled. I'm not in the financial situation to invest another cent, just have to make the best out of what I have. I'd love to have a huge house with a huge grow room, but that's not reality.

Thank you for the input GreatLife4All.

 

[GreatLife4All]

Re: Intersex or "Hermaphroditic" plants.

If a mother shows a tendency towards hermie - definitely get rid of her.

It sounds like you have everything together. 10 to 12 out of 200 plants means that you have a rate of 5% hermie - that does seem a little bit high to me for feminized seeds.

It could just be that you are going through so many seeds that you are hitting the law of averages. I have grown 50 to 60 plants from seed this past year... and have not had a single hermaphrodite. But I also know that conditions are perfect - 75 to 78 during the lights on cycle and 70 during the night. I have not had any issues with lighting either (though I did just lose power for a whole day due to a drunk taking out the power line leading to my house).

I wish you luck in figuring this one out...

 

[josh223]

Re: Intersex or "Hermaphroditic" plants.

GreatLife4All, I've spent around six hours today reading everything I could find on the subject. I want to thank you as your answer seems to be spot on.

I haven't had a large number of seeds...

4 A Trains that I established as mothers and took clones from. One "mother" was actually a father. Once the first batch of clones showed balls on day 89 of flower I chopped them immediately. They bred the rest of the tent.

3 Northern Light Blue Mothers from seed. Had one throw hermied clones so I flowered her and her sister, saving one mother at that point. The last NLB mother is about 2/3 through flowering at this point and time.

1 each of THC Bomb, Holy Grail Kush, and I believe its World of Seeds Afghan Kush. I have clones from all three of those in addition to the former NLB mother.

I've in-a-nutshell been establishing mothers, taking clones, then flowering out the mothers when they outgrow my veg tent.

Last night I could only be down stairs for a moment. What I saw and removed for closer examination were pollinated calyxes. It may be just one male flower in there somewhere. I have 12 hours to find and fix the cause.

My girl is out of town for a few days. Heck with it, I'm going to relocate the veg tent to the bedroom. Then, even if the flowering tent were open, there'd be no source of light. My cloner is getting to warm and could benefit from the bedroom AC.

If then I can't solve the problem, I don't know. I may end up having to buy a new tent or construct a "closet". It may come down to getting new seed stock. I kept the mothers as small as possible. They got a tad root bound. Maybe they're stressed out.

 

[GreatLife4All]

Re: Intersex or "Hermaphroditic" plants.

The really bad thing is that a single male flower can truly make a mess out of a grow tent.

I believe that I would try new genetics as well. There are so many good plants out there today that it is not even funny.

A tendency towards hermaphrodite can be a genetic condition as well. Most modern breeders will breed this out of the seeds - but it is never really gone.

I have some THC Bomb seeds that I was going to try soon. Hope that isn't the one that is going hermie on you...

 

[josh223]

Re: Intersex or "Hermaphroditic" plants.

I'll try and document what I find in my current grow journal.

My girl took the new camera with her on her mini-holiday so any pics would be via my cracked IPOD.

I have my fingers crossed that the veg tent (24 hr light cycle) is leaking light into the flowering tent. Only time will tell. Unfortunately it's going to be around two months before I know. (One month max to finish this grow and another month before the next clones end the "stretch" phase.)

Thank you again for your assistance. Much love.

 

[GreatLife4All]

Re: Intersex or "Hermaphroditic" plants.

A great test for light leaks is to enter your flowering tent during the dark cycle - seal everything back up and then wait ten minutes for your eyes to adjust... you will be able to quickly see any and all light leaks.

If your tent is bright enough for you to see things after ten minutes - you have too much light leaking in and will need to fix it.

 

[josh223]

Re: Intersex or "Hermaphroditic" plants.

My girl just got her card so I have carte blanche to do some "remodeling".

 

[GreatLife4All]

Re: Intersex or "Hermaphroditic" plants.

Good luck with the remodel!

+reps.