Male plant in mid July

[Woodstock senior]

I was totally surprised and sorry to see that one of my plants was maturing into a male plant!
It's only mid July and never thought I would have a plant maturing so early!
This is an outside grow in the northeast. I'm sure it is what it is ,little balls growing in areas I wanted hairs,so it was pulled out.
Question is...is this normal?
My other plants are fine so far and not showing anything yet.
Was supposed to be feminized seeds.

 

[TorturedSoul]

A female plant produces pistillate flowers in order to capture pollen, so that it can produce seeds. That's its only purpose in life - to make more life. It produces flowers. Then it produces flowers. Then, it produces... Well, you get the picture. It continues to do this throughout its life, basically right up until it dies.

Male plant produces staminate flowers in order to produce and release pollen, so that a female plant can do the above. That's its only purpose in life.

Your female plants might have one or two flowers already, by this point. People call them "preflowers" because they occur earlier, during the vegetative/growth period. But they're... flowers, lol, and when they extend their pistils, they are ready to capture pollen and make seeds. Their purpose is NOT your purpose, remember.

Yes, it's normal. Or, at least, it's not abnormal. In the wild, there might already be some viable (pistilate/female) flowers nearby, ready to get with the program. If not, there might be some in the general region - and pollen does travel on the wind. Actually, that might be thought of as a positive trait, producing pollen earlier than that strain/variety/line generally produces female flowers. Increases the odds that any "connections" that do get made at that point in time will be with a different line - and then, that male plant has just gotten its genetics mixed with a line that is not closely related to it. Of course, it'll continue to produce flowers for a while, so it'll still be able to service the local harem (so to speak), too. Yeah, that's a win.

Feminized seeds are not guaranteed to produce female plants. Oh, the seller might (or might not) give some sort of performance guarantee to the customer, but that's not what I mean. What I mean is that you can approach a 100% likelihood of all female plants - but you'll never attain it. Even a 1 in 10,000 chance of a male equates to <100% females. So, while (quite) rare, it can and does happen. Occasionally.

Could be a shim, too, I suppose .

 

[Woodstock senior]

I believe there are some so called flowers now but nothing that looks like a bud...yet.
I have seen male before and got rid of it.
Had 5, now down to 4, but the rest look good!
Thanks for the reply.

 

[CanadianJim]

I think the odds are something like 1 in 3000 of getting a male from a feminized seed. I can't remember where I heard or read that, so take it with a grain of salt.
That's why I always check my plants as they're going into flower to make sure. And the chance of hermies is why I never 100% trust pre-flowers.

 

[Woodstock senior]

I think the odds are something like 1 in 3000 of getting a male from a feminized seed. I can't remember where I heard or read that, so take it with a grain of salt.
That's why I always check my plants as they're going into flower to make sure. And the chance of hermies is why I never 100% trust pre-flowers.

I reize

 

[Woodstock senior]

I reize

 

[Woodstock senior]

Hi Jim, I realize one slips by sometimes and you k ow "Murphys law".
What kind of surprised me is that we are only one month from 1st day of summer and still plenty of daylight so, why so early to mature?
Thankfully my other 4 are ok.
Thanks for the reply!

 

[CanadianJim]

Sorry, I guess that does come off as a bit condescending. I was just trying to reassure you that you probably did get feminized seeds and had the bad luck to be the rare grower who gets a male.
I have no idea why your plant went into flower early. Maybe there was a mix up and you got an auto? I don't think even the early flowering varieties are starting yet.
Most of PA is about the same latitude as here, so you should still be getting plenty of light.

 

[Woodstock senior]

It's a wait and see thing now,but only a small loss. My other girls are fine. Thanks again.