When does the male go into flower

[Honeybadgergrows]

Hello all- I am very close to flipping my current run which I plan to pollinate my females with my male I’ve selected to use. I have gotten different information from a few sources and am lookin for the most info I can get. I have been told both ways- my main question is who gets flipped first? Male or females - ?

 

[Pat Puffer]

They get flipped at the same time but males flower first. If you can, flower your makes outside the flower room, then bring them in once your females are about 2 weeks in to flower.

This increases the amount of seeds you can make. Sometimes it's not possible due to another flower room running. That pollen will get on your clothes and everything and transfer from room to room very easily.

Ideally you want to flip your females before hand. If you are running regular seeds it's difficult to tell who is who. Once flipped you can tell who the males are. Once they have been identified, pull them in to their own room. Allow females to develop larger buds, therefore more potential to develop seeds.

Once makes start to flower they really don't stop until they go caput.

 

[Honeybadgergrows]

They get flipped at the same time but males flower first. If you can, flower your makes outside the flower room, then bring them in once your females are about 2 weeks in to flower.

This increases the amount of seeds you can make. Sometimes it's not possible due to another flower room running. That pollen will get on your clothes and everything and transfer from room to room very easily.

Ideally you want to flip your females before hand. If you are running regular seeds it's difficult to tell who is who. Once flipped you can tell who the males are. Once they have been identified, pull them in to their own room. Allow females to develop larger buds, therefore more potential to develop seeds.

Once makes start to flower they really don't stop until they go caput.

I have identified the females and males, so you’re saying females go in 2 weeks ahead of male ?

 

[Emeraldo]

I would add one caveat. Allow your males time to ramp up pollen production. The pollen they give the first week or so may not produce the best results in terms of seed quality. About two weeks after the male flowers start to drop pollen, the pollen is fully developed and that's when to pollinate your girls.

 

[SmokingWings]

I have identified the females and males, so you’re saying females go in 2 weeks ahead of male ?

If I am understanding what @Pat Puffer is getting at correctly you should put both the male and the female plant into a flowering stage at the same time.

Then it reads like he is saying not to start any pollination until the female has been in flower for at least two weeks. My way of looking at it is 3 weeks after the time switch. Allow the first week for the transition to take place and then two weeks for the female to start showing a lot of stigma/pistils.

Then following what @Emeraldo brings up, the male starts flowering a couple of days earlier than the female but it still takes a couple of weeks to reach a male flower growth where it is going to be releasing enough healthy and mature pollen to pollinate the maximum number of stigma/pistils in the least amount of time.

 

[Honeybadgergrows]

If I am understanding what @Pat Puffer is getting at correctly you should put both the male and the female plant into a flowering stage at the same time.

Then it reads like he is saying not to start any pollination until the female has been in flower for at least two weeks. My way of looking at it is 3 weeks after the time switch. Allow the first week for the transition to take place and then two weeks for the female to start showing a lot of stigma/pistils.

Then following what @Emeraldo brings up, the male starts flowering a couple of days earlier than the female but it still takes a couple of weeks to reach a male flower growth where it is going to be releasing enough healthy and mature pollen to pollinate the maximum number of stigma/pistils in the least amount of time.

Well he does say ideally you want to flip the females first, so that kind of contradicts the starting them at the same time. Just looking for clarification.

 

[bluter]

when doing reg seed runs we ran both together in the same room, flipped at the same time. 1 male plant and 1 female. it's the super lazy way. male plant matures first, which makes sure the pollen is available when the female is ready.

its considered the dirty way of doing it, as you can spread pollen to other rooms.

otherwise we'd separate the male completely and collect pollen. then apply the pollen to the female ourselves. that's the preferred clean method. you can even store the pollen long term if you have a good strain you'd like to keep or cross.

it's astounding how much seed 1 female can make.

 

[SmokingWings]

Well he does say ideally you want to flip the females first, so that kind of contradicts the starting them at the same time. Just looking for clarification.

Ah, yes, went back and see what the confusion was. I automatically read his comment as being to put the possible female into a flowering condition if the sex is not known. But, if the plant is known to be a viable female then put both into flowering at the same time.

 

[Pat Puffer]

Sorry, sometimes my ideas don't come out clearly. It's a mess in my head.

 

[Icemud]

Hello all- I am very close to flipping my current run which I plan to pollinate my females with my male I’ve selected to use. I have gotten different information from a few sources and am lookin for the most info I can get. I have been told both ways- my main question is who gets flipped first? Male or females - ?

Some males flower based on their own clock/timeframe under 18/6 lighting.
Other males flower once put into 12/12 lighting

Generally when making seeds I put both my males and females in the flowering 12/12 at the same time. Males seem to start dropping pollen usually around day 7-14 (and sometimes even under 18/6 veg lighting) where females tend to show flowers anywhere from day 10 to day 15 flowering.

I've never had it where the females flower first, so by the time your males are dropping pollen the females will just start swinging into flowering and ready to accept pollen. Right around day 20-25 or so (males and females) you really will get a lot of pollen dropping and really see the females start to accept the pollen.

Not a wrong way really to do it, but its definitely not an issue starting them at the same time.

 

[Emeraldo]

Not a wrong way really to do it, but its definitely not an issue starting them at the same time.

Agree. Starting at the same time, males will start flowering first and dropping gobs of pollen about when the females are also ready. But one branch on one female can produce oodles of seeds. I prefer the "clean" method mentioned above. Uncontrolled pollination will not leave you any full-strength sinsemilla.

 

[Phytoplankton]

It also depends on how many seeds you want. If you just want a handful then I'd separate the male from the female, collect the pollen, and transfer it to the buds you want pollinated. If you want lots of seeds then flower them both in the same tent and let nature do it's thing. Back in my early growing days (waaay before feminized seeds), I'd keep one male outside the greenhouse (and down wind), when the females started to just show sex (single pistils at the nodes) I'd take the male into the greenhouse, tap it once and then throw it away. I'd end up with buds that were almost seedless, and a few dozen seeds that were almost all at the single nodes. The seeds would be done well before the main buds were ripe, really didn't affect the quality of the buds much.

 

[Emeraldo]

Ever notice that male cannabis plants, at the stage when the male flowers start to drop pollen, tend to be taller than females of the same strain at the beginning of flowering? There's a reason. A taller male offers a reproductive advantage (survival) for the whole species: The taller the male, the more likely its pollen will drift down from the male flower to fertilise a female flower.

I'm saying taller males evolved to be taller because tall males had more success in reproducing. Short males could not reproduce as well. The "tall male gene" won out and became the dominant gene for male size. (Hypothetically, if the females were taller, then wind pollination from shorter male plants would tend to miss the mark -- and that would be bad for reproduction.)

Cannabis evolution also perfected the timing element of pollination @Honeybadgergrows asked about in the OP. By the time the females are fully ready to produce seeds, the males are standing ready with their pollen at peak strength and have usually been producing pollen for 10 days or so. It's optimal for cannabis reproduction that fresh full-strength pollen be ready and waiting for the female flowers/pistils.

@Honeybadgergrows: So you really don't have to do anything like flip males first or females first. The plants have already figured out what they need and how to best do it. But you can control the pollination process by removing a male, collecting pollen, and applying it selectively to produce a manageable amount of high quality seeds. Or "let it all hang out" and get many hundreds -- even thousands -- of seeds off a single plant.

 

[Honeybadgergrows]

I seriously appreciate everybody’s input on this! I am going to do the dirty method - my goal is to be fully seeded, not looking for flower on this run.