predicting sex in early veg?

Setting Sun

Setting Sun

Well-Known Member
2 Member of the Month
April 2010
Does anyone think that a grower can become so familiar with a strain that they can fairly accurately predict sex in early veg?

I've grown the same strain now several times and have noticed that the ones I though would turn out male did indeed turn out male with almost 100% accuracy.
 
Now that's pretty cool, if you ask me.. :cool:

If I may inquire, what supporting details led you to such accuracy? Was it (?) smaller plants, or seeds? Thinner plants? Slower growing? Darker seeds? I'm merely wondering what was it that you saw repeatedly that helped you know.

Thanks man I appreciate your experience.. :thanks:
 
Badbackguy said:
Now that's pretty cool, if you ask me.. :cool:

If I may inquire, what supporting details led you to such accuracy? Was it (?) smaller plants, or seeds? Thinner plants? Slower growing? Darker seeds? I'm merely wondering what was it that you saw repeatedly that helped you know.

Thanks man I appreciate your experience.. :thanks:
Click to expand...


What I've noticed is that with this strain, after about one week, some of the plants grow taller and lankier, with about twice the internode spacing as the ones that stay shorter. The shorter ones grow more laterally and bushy and almost always turn out female.

It's the same sexual pattern than you see at the end of veg in most strains, but this strain shows it very early, if you're watching.

Then, after that window of opportunity, they balance out more in how they look and are a bit harder to differentiate until flowering starts.

It would be fun to start a grow journal with regular seed, predict sex at 2 weeks or so, get rid of the ones I think will turn out male, and see how many girls I wind up with.

I'm thinking I could do better than 50/50.
 
Many other folks have stated similar observations. Your words are much more decriptive and informative... most folks just say the males are "lankier".

I'm not really all that experienced with males. Usually go the clone route or fem'd seeds when I buy 'em.

How much experience do you have with this strain? You seem to know it's ins and outs quite well. Been growin it for years?

Cheers!
 
tead said:
Many other folks have stated similar observations. Your words are much more decriptive and informative... most folks just say the males are "lankier".

I'm not really all that experienced with males. Usually go the clone route or fem'd seeds when I buy 'em.

How much experience do you have with this strain? You seem to know it's ins and outs quite well. Been growin it for years?

Cheers!
Click to expand...

I've been messing around with this strain for about one year now, but I have hundreds of seeds, so I've experimented with them quite a bit outside of what I've posted here. I've probably sprouted a hundred or so plants that I never grew to maturity. Most of these were outdoors and I killed them off before they got too big and became noticeable.

So, to answer your question more directly, no, I haven't been growing them for years, but I have sprouted hundreds of them, grown them through early veg, and observed them carefully for any consistent early signs of sex.

My batting average on the two grows I've taken to harvest, and on my current grow that is just now beginning to flower is surprisingly good.



tead said:
Sorry CT.. but I gotta do it...

Oh dude... I tried to sex in my early veg cycle... often I was unsuccessful.

Again... sorry, but I had to click into "That '70s Show" mode for a moment.

Cheers
Click to expand...

Don't be sorry.

In *any* thread I start, humor is most welcome ;)
 
setting sun said:
Does anyone think that a grower can become so familiar with a strain that they can fairly accurately predict sex in early veg?

I've grown the same strain now several times and have noticed that the ones I though would turn out male did indeed turn out male with almost 100% accuracy.
Click to expand...

Dunno how u define early veg but I've read it can be consistently done after about 4 weeks in veg. The more familiar I am with a strain the better the results, it like raising pups or kids. U get out what U put in but they kinda do their own thing within the given parameters, but there's always the occasional "bad seed". U LOOK FOR PREFLOWERS AT THE INTERNODES. Look for calyxes and pistils=fem, Banana shapes and/or balls = boys (in flower dunno bout veg. I'ma ladies man).
 
BWC BayArea said:
Dunno how u define early veg but I've read it can be consistently done after about 4 weeks in veg. The more familiar I am with a strain the better the results, it like raising pups or kids. U get out what U put in but they kinda do their own thing within the given parameters, but there's always the occasional "bad seed". U LOOK FOR PREFLOWERS AT THE INTERNODES. Look for calyxes and pistils=fem, Banana shapes and/or balls = boys (in flower dunno bout veg. I'ma ladies man).
Click to expand...


Yes, you look for preflowers at the internodes, but what if you could tell a week or two earlier, cull the ones you think are males, and give the ones you think are girls more light and space? If you're growing in a small space, that would be pretty cool.

I'm sure some plants wouldn't fit into my neat little plan, and mistakes would be made, but any advantage as far as increasing my percentage of females, and of giving prospective females better growing conditions, would be a good thing.

If I'm wrong and it's just a complete crapshoot until preflowers show, then culling the ones I think are males wouldn't make any difference to the ratio anyway, so nothing lost but my pride, and that's OK too, fatheads like me can use a dose of humble pie occasionally, lol.
 
tead said:
Perhaps some scientific data is in order.... grow a set of 2 strains and roll the numbers on your guesses.... see if your acuracy is better on the strain you're familiar with vs the strain that you're not familair with.

just a thought

Cheers!
Click to expand...

You'd have to roll some pretty big numbers to make it valid and draw any firm conclusions, but it would be fun to do!

If there's a harvest of any strain when it's over, it's a win-win proposition ;).
 
setting sun said:
You'd have to roll some pretty big numbers to make it valid and draw any firm conclusions, but it would be fun to do!

If there's a harvest of any strain when it's over, it's a win-win proposition ;).
Click to expand...

I guess that depends... whadda think.... 20 plants? You going to loose roughly half to maleness (hmmmmm maleness.... I suspect I'm inventing words again). How big's your garden? I just might have to test this theory too.

I'm just amazed how often (so very often) I find thru statistical testing that what I belive to be absolutely true simply has no basis in fact. I think alot of newbie growers fall into this scenario with over-watering. Hmmmm.... does a sentance that starts with "I think" belong in a paragraph about statistical testing? Or, for that matter, is it a gramatical faux pas to discuss a paragraph whilst still penning it? Hmmmmm... have I been sampling too much this evening?

Anyway... Your words are uber-true.... It's all win baby!

Cheers!
 
tead said:
I guess that depends... whadda think.... 20 plants? You going to loose roughly half to maleness (hmmmmm maleness.... I suspect I'm inventing words again). How big's your garden? I just might have to test this theory too.

I'm just amazed how often (so very often) I find thru statistical testing that what I belive to be absolutely true simply has no basis in fact. I think alot of newbie growers fall into this scenario with over-watering. Hmmmm.... does a sentance that starts with "I think" belong in a paragraph about statistical testing? Or, for that matter, is it a gramatical faux pas to discuss a paragraph whilst still penning it? Hmmmmm... have I been sampling too much this evening?

Anyway... Your words are uber-true.... It's all win baby!

Cheers!
Click to expand...

There are several ways to approach this.

It could be done without introducing another strain. Start 20 seeds, cull out the suspected males, and see what percentage of the remaining plants are females. I think that's the simplest approach, but I'm open to suggestions.

It would be nice to actually be able to grow all 20 plants to maturity to see what percentage of the suspected males actually turned out male. Statistically, that would be a much better way to do it.

That would be a fun grow.
 
tead said:
That would tell you your percentage of hits with this strain, but if you tested vs another strain, you could differentiate between familiarity with this strain or just a general understanding of natural plant cycles.

To me, that would be a more telling piece of info. Am I just babbleing? I see it as the control group in the test.

Cheers
Click to expand...


That would be important to know, you're right.
 

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