Secret Recipe Hermied On Me

[phenotyper]

Hey guys, I just wanted to give a heads up that I popped three SRs, kept two females. Flowered the stinkier looking female and originally she looked beautiful. Great stretch, open structure, then I noticed the dreaded ball sacks. I killed her immediately, and it was so heartbreaking. If it isn't obvious from my threads and photographs, I know how to grow, this isn't my first rodeo.

I have been waiting to flower this lady for months, and I was ridiculously sad to have to kill her. I don't keep hermi-prone genes in my garden, and I just thought I'd post this to save others the same space. Especially those who don't have any to waste. All said, this lady probably spent 4 months in my garden. Ugh.

This lady was in a light proof tent, with several other plants (indicas & sativas) and they are all running like champs. Had two other plants, sativa dom and indica dom started the same day with no problems at all.

Heartbreaking.

 

[true grit]

Not sure if you read what the genetic make up was on these, but there is a daywrecker/od type on the momma side i believe which explains that. I wouldn't put it negatively against the beans or resist from popping more IMO. I will still get some going shortly, as to be honest though its not talked about I pull hermies outta of about everyones gear using chem/diesel genes (usually go thru about 3-4 fems per pop), have even had the real cuts throw nans late if pestered, and also why ive started to flower my testers out at smaller sizes to avoid the long veg and such issues...just my .02.

 

[phenotyper]

Thanks. I know I shouldn't have counted on it not having herm issues, but I saw 420King's grow, and I wanted to go big. I should flower my testers at smaller sizes. Lesson learned.

 

[true grit]

Yeah trust me the oh so wonderful Swerve taught me that lesson when i was running his whole lineup- in a full room with massive bushes that hermed. since then its been small testers for me and less space dedicated to testing. not near as fun, but def safer in the bigger picture. Hope you still pop some more of these though cuz ive heard lots of good about them and genetic makeup is sick

 

[phenotyper]

Thanks TG. Appreciate the input a lot. I just think Alias AO and myself were super stoked to see how these ladies turned out. The genotypes of the parents were super elite, but perhaps, when I have more space, I'll pheno hunt these.

 

[mal]

I've got some of these I need to give a try, sorry to hear about your confused girl. Hope all is well with you and yours, gotta agree with TG go small if you don't know them unless your outdoors


mal

 

[cannarado]

Not sure if you read what the genetic make up was on these, but there is a daywrecker/od type on the momma side i believe which explains that. I wouldn't put it negatively against the beans or resist from popping more IMO. I will still get some going shortly, as to be honest though its not talked about I pull hermies outta of about everyones gear using chem/diesel genes (usually go thru about 3-4 fems per pop), have even had the real cuts throw nans late if pestered, and also why ive started to flower my testers out at smaller sizes to avoid the long veg and such issues...just my .02.

You got it brudah.

 

[squiggly]

When we're having trouble like this it's important to keep the following in mind, and it may help to address it in this order. :

1. Stress can cause hermies (as, of course, you know and allude to above)

2. Genes can predispose to hermaphrodites under ideal conditions.

3. The genes that control the above are not always "sex genes". Sometimes we have a gene which can cause stress, and thereby show a hermie, so a bit of a hybrid of #1 and #2 if you will.

It's important to identify which of the above you are dealing with before assuming a strain is pre-determined to have hermie tendencies.

Most times you will hear geneticists/breeders refer to "hermaphroditic tendencies" and there is a reason they are so vague many times. It's because it's not well understood what is behind this in all cases.

In the cases where you find a huge proportion of female offspring throwing nanners and you've done a few different grows under various conditions you can be pretty well assured it's not worth the trouble. However--under the circumstances you outline above, I'd think the strain is still worth a shot.

You may have been dealing with a mutated gene present in only one sibling rather than a big problem with the strain. This doesn't always have to be genetically communicable to offspring, either. I think while there has probably been more good done for cannabis (in terms of quality) by breeding out hermie traits, there is no question we've fixed a few things that weren't broken and perhaps lost access to a few desirable phenotypes along the way.

Plant science is weird. You can't ever be sure you've done the right thing, because the damn things are just too complex to nail down. There is no ceteris paribus for botany. If they could talk it may be a little easier, but alas we can only look and test.

I digress. Because everything in an organism can be connected together in a metabolic chains all it takes in some cases is the addition or deletion of one amino acid (one DNA base pair in billions is changed, a normal event) to any protein in such a chain in the organism which effects its sexual characteristics to see a huge result from the plant.

Also tiny deficiencies which may easily go unnoticed even to the trained eye (one innumerably more trained than my own--a novice by my own admission) can cause sweeping changes in a metabolic cycle. Missing cofactors, acute deficiencies during developmental periods (which for these plants is ALWAYS) can set about a chain of events by which the plant will inevitably become a hermaphrodite. When a cell is differentiating itself it is doing it now--it doesn't wait to be fed. A deficiency such as this need not be one that we or anyone is aware of. The story behind scurvy being cured comes to mind.

Plants do this hermie crap (in part) for a pretty cool reason, at least it was explained to me thusly:

Let's say cannabis has taken over an entire field but at the edge it has found nutrients and proper medium lacking so it cannot spread further except by seed travel through organisms. It appears as though the weed knows it will eventually deplete the field and it needs to move or conquer more land to preserve itself.

Plants in such condition often become hermaphrodites and "feminize" at least themselves and many times large amounts of neighboring plants. This does a few things.

1. Ensures larger biomass production in future cycles.

2. Expands the usable medium on the edges of the field (over many cycles). It does so by providing more material to rot essentially (as female fruit bearing plants tend to have significantly more biomass). There are also things to consider like more attracted animals, more organisms in general. TLDR: When plants don't have any more soil, they make more. Hence all the soil on a planet which used to be only rock and elements.

3. Pisses off people who grow weed.

That makes the whole thing seem much more simple than it ever was or will be--but I'm not botanist so forgive me.

I'd give it another go, bro--all it takes is one healthy non-hermie mother to be worth it.

 

[Dodge]

I am running ChemWreck right now and have some hermies... I was a little shocked at first. My first reaction was to kill them but the plants are so badass I decided to keep em. More importantly, I run a single 1k bloom room, so I gotta run the light with one plant or eight. Dealing with these pollen sacs is just an opportunity to learn more about the plant and it's reproductive method. Even with pollen control this grow will no longer be sin semilla, but that's about it. I was all freakin out but then I realized that it's really not so bad. It's not like my shit is the world's best anyway, It's my second grow, lol. Imma still have plenty good buds, from this strain and the other.

 

[philly kush]

Hey guys, I just wanted to give a heads up that I popped three SRs, kept two females. Flowered the stinkier looking female and originally she looked beautiful. Great stretch, open structure, then I noticed the dreaded ball sacks. I killed her immediately, and it was so heartbreaking. If it isn't obvious from my threads and photographs, I know how to grow, this isn't my first rodeo.

I have been waiting to flower this lady for months, and I was ridiculously sad to have to kill her. I don't keep hermi-prone genes in my garden, and I just thought I'd post this to save others the same space. Especially those who don't have any to waste. All said, this lady probably spent 4 months in my garden. Ugh.

This lady was in a light proof tent, with several other plants (indicas & sativas) and they are all running like champs. Had two other plants, sativa dom and indica dom started the same day with no problems at all.

Heartbreaking.

I feel u bro sorry 2 c u have 2 do that i had the same problem but it was from a light leak.I had 2 move my setup at last minute n set everything back up n i was rushing n didnt seal up my flowering room that good i had a sweet haze from dina fem that hermied n pollinated 2 of my purple kush i saved the seeds from the pk i dont know if im goin 2 pop them or not im curiuos how the smoke will b or will they go hermi on me ANY INPUT ON THAT WOULD B APPRECIATED THANX.