My first PC grow - A hermie! - Er, partial hermie? - Help me, please

[snakeize]

Thanks in advance for your help. I have just harvested my first (ever!) grow. It was a small PC grow. It was a ton of fun and a big challenege and I think I did pretty good. Except...

When I harvested her, I noticed one little group of small dense budsleaves at the bottom of one of my branches was hiding about three of or four seeds! (at least that's as many as I've found so far) Some looked very young, still soft and green. The oldest one was light brown, though didn't look fully mature. I didn't discover any more (yet) on any other branches, so I'm wondering...is it normal that a small cluster of seeds may pop up in one small part of the plant, but not elsewhere? Should I expect to find more seeds?

Right now she is drying. I didn't see anything else that looked worrisome, but like I said. This is my first grow.

If you look at the image of the full plant, the bottom area on the left-most branch is the area where I found the seeds.

I hope there are no more! Not sure what I did wrong. Thanks for looking!

 

[Weaselcracker]

It's pretty common. If the pollen which pollinated that part of your plant didn't come drifting in from the outside world somewhere, then it came from hermie flowers on your plant. These take a couple forms, but most likely they were what are usually called ' nanners'. They are little yellow flowers- very skinny and about 1/8" long. They often come in clusters and look somewhat like tiny banana bunches, hence the name. The reason the plant popped out a few nanners is basically a genetic disposition towards those hermie traits, and/or some stresses during the grow. Light leaks or cold temperatures are common reasons. But the hermie thing is a little mysterious too. If the plant pollinated itself the seeds should be feminized, though they may have that hermie tendency too.

 

[snakeize]

Weasel, thanks for the reply. I failed to mention that the seed was a feminized seed, so it definitely hermied. I was careful to avoid any light leaks, I was pretty diligent. I didn't notice any nanners (have seen pics) but I will keep my eyes peeled once I get a better look when they're dry. Just found a few seeds and that was really it. Cold temps may have played a part. The last week or two the temps were colder and some of the leaves went purple. That was one thought I had. Would taking off fan leaves do it? I took off maybe three or four fan leaves at each watering in the last two weeks probably. Thanks again!

 

[Weaselcracker]

I don't think feminized seed is necessarily more prone to being hermie. But a plant that pollinates itself from nanners should be feminized and produce only female plants, because there is no male genetics present.
I kind of really doubt if removing some leaves could do it. Light leaks and cold temps have been directly linked to plants going hermie. But I do feel it's mostly genetic. I think some plants are more prone to going hermie, and may do it with or without the extra stress. I had one strain I grew for years and it always had a few nanners. They appear about 2/3 or 3/4 of the way into bud. I go around and pick them out when I see them. Now I've got a plant I just discovered a few days ago has nanners and seeds. I'm not sure in this last case if I may have accidently exposed it to a glimmer of light or two. I'll know if the clones of it grow nanners as well. The nanners don't produce huge amounts of pollen so they're not as huge a threat as real male flowers ('balls') which can also appear on a hermie plant, but in my experience appear early when it shows sex.
In my mind there are two types of hermie plant- ones with balls and ones with nanners. (Or with both ha ha). It's just a distinction I invented though so maybe it's crap I don't know

 

[Weaselcracker]

I took a couple pics for you just now of an example of nanners on the plant I mentioned.

They can be smaller and harder to spot. Sometimes they're in little clumps

 

[tucker99]

Bringing this to the top with questions. Just how much of a light leak are we talking about?? I'm reading that "on" lights on dehumidifiers are too much light. My grow area is a 1-plant grow cabinet; that's why I bought feminized seeds. All the work and have the plant go hermie is catastrophic and I'm real conscious of plant stress. Is the temp you're referring to reservoir temp or temps in the grow area? Snake, how low did your temp go to get purple leaves?? So worst case is you have a few seeds to contend with correct? Are the THC levels are the same a female?

 

[Weaselcracker]

Hi. Here is my experience/2 cents.

I aim for zero light leaks during flowering. You should be able to put a very bright light inside your grow box, close the door, view the box inside a pitch black room and see no glimmers of light escaping from any angle. Yes I think it was the tiny little dehum indicator light which was to blame for my hermies last time. No hermies since I covered it up.
Cannabis plants know how to count, in some sense. They count the days by light/dark periods and if they're sleeping and I open the door for 5 seconds and let light in- that's a five second day. So they get confused easily. I think it's probable that there are situations where plants can start flowering in places with some light pollution, and as long as the light leaks are consistent and stable - they accept them and flower normally. But my experiences with any sort of random glimmers of light is that hermies develop.
But really- do yourself a favor and seal it up completely.
Having seeds in your bud actually isn't always going to drastically affect the quality of the smoke. They take up a lot of room sometimes and I don't like seeing nanners appear all over my buds. I just don't like having nanners and seeds if I can easily avoid it.
I haven't had nanners from cold temps. My temps sometimes dip at night to the low 60s and high 50s. One guy who got nanners from low temps I remember was down into the 40s at night.

 

[tucker99]

Thanks Weasel, when is the plant most susceptible to hermi? I can definitely see light coming FROM my cabinet. BUT, I've been inside my cabinet and cannot see light coming INTO the cabinet. I have a metal cabinet and based on your experience I think I should drape a tarp over the doors to play it safe.

 

[Weaselcracker]

During veg the light leaks don't matter. During flower they do. I suspect that in very early flowering you could also get away with a few leaks - as the plant is still transitioning. About 2/3 of the way through flowering is when nanners first start to appear for me.
If you can see light coming out- then it's going in- unless the outside room is dark during lights off.
If it was me I would seal up the gaps in the box, using caulking- the opaque, water based kind. Some types of tape can also work quite well. The aluminium foil type tape used to seal vents and ducting sticks very well and is opaque. Duct tape not so much.
If the leaks are around your door- possibly some weather stripping and a couple latches could do the job. That's how I made the door to my flowering room- a plywood door with a light wooden frame- closes against a lip with weatherstripping on it, and has three sliding latches to press it closed snugly.