At What Point Is Sex Obvious?

[goingtoguano]

So, I looked again right before lights out last night. Still couldn't tell for sure. On three of the plants, I did find I single little oval (or at least elliptical) shaped right where everything is supposed to be. However, it is still way too small for me to see if there are going to be those two white hairs coming out of them, or if there are going to be more of those sacs coming up.

So, I guess the question I have this morning is do you usually see and know the sex of the plant before making use of SCRoG? I assume so because that would be a pain to find out it is all male and have to unweave everything to get it out. Just wanted to ask to cover all bases.

I went over some of my notes, and I am estimating that I germinated these seeds on 27 JUL, so I am guessing I am in the fifth week (since germination and put into soil). Maybe I'm just right at that cusp of things starting to become visible?

Um, July 27 was like- last week. Surely you mean June?
Yes it is normal to have to wait up to 8 weeks to see the preflowers. Every strain is different, some show early and some don't. I always wait until it is very obvious because sometimes what I thought was male turns out female so, now I just wait.
This is the problem with Scrog and starting from seed. If you were running clones you would already know that they are all female and you could get set up scrog-ing early on.
I plan on running a Scrog on my next grow and I will be starting from seed. I plan on having to wait it out (up to 2 months) to know for sure the sex. In the mean time, I can do some LST training on them when they are young.

 

[somethingwit]

Throwing this in here, watch the stipules, those littlespikes at the crotch of a branch. Females crossover while the spikes on males point out.

Awesome. I'll take a look using that here in an hour or two. Honestly, this is the first that I have heard about using the stipules to gauge what sex the plant might be.

Um, July 27 was like- last week. Surely you mean June?
Yes it is normal to have to wait up to 8 weeks to see the preflowers. Every strain is different, some show early and some don't. I always wait until it is very obvious because sometimes what I thought was male turns out female so, now I just wait.
This is the problem with Scrog and starting from seed. If you were running clones you would already know that they are all female and you could get set up scrog-ing early on.
I plan on running a Scrog on my next grow and I will be starting from seed. I plan on having to wait it out (up to 2 months) to know for sure the sex. In the mean time, I can do some LST training on them when they are young.

Hahah yes, I meant in June. I wasn't even planning this to happen really. Originally, I was going to wait until I got some feminized seeds of a known strain, but I had some random seeds laying around and just decided to toy around with germinating and stuff until I got all the stuff I needed. Then it just became this thing of keeping them alive lol. Once I get in some seeds, I'll be better taking care of recording things and noting the schedule. Lol it is a bit of a relief to hear that waiting till eight weeks sometimes happens lol.

And for the most part, I have decided to skip out on the SCRoG on this go around. I do want to see the anatomy of the plant take place so that I can visually see it happen instead of just reading in a book. Next one, I figure I will do SCRoG while I am getting things ready to move to more of a SOG type grow.

 

[str8smokn]

Shit , I usually see preflowers around week 3 -4 in veg. By 8 weeks my ladies are already into flower..

So for the initial question from the Op is that you should see preflowers by no later than 4 weeks into veg from seed. You will need to look around the 2-3 node /leaf sets from the top /down. Look at the split of the node by the main stalk and you will either see a pistol coming out or a bead/ teardrop shape sack. As it gets older is when it looks like a cluster of bananas.

If you flip the lights into bloom and do it that way , then you have to reveg them and that adds about 3 weeks of extra veg time.
STR8

 

[goingtoguano]

I think it matters the growing technique. With organic soil, It takes a while.

 

[somethingwit]

Throwing this in here, watch the stipules, those littlespikes at the crotch of a branch. Females crossover while the spikes on males point out.

So, just taking a quick look in the tent this evening, and using what you said about the stipules to look out for, I do see a pattern. The two or three plants that are taller than the rest, have the stipules either pointing out or straight up. Two of them also have these little bean looking things; just one on each side of the stem where I'm supposed to be looking. They are too small for me to see if they are Staminate Primordia or Pistillate Primordia.

Honestly, I am kind of thinking that those two or three are going to be males, but I should still have a little more time to be able to get a better idea, right?

 

[Madbud]

So, just taking a quick look in the tent this evening, and using what you said about the stipules to look out for, I do see a pattern. The two or three plants that are taller than the rest, have the stipules either pointing out or straight up. Two of them also have these little bean looking things; just one on each side of the stem where I'm supposed to be looking. They are too small for me to see if they are Staminate Primordia or Pistillate Primordia.

Honestly, I am kind of thinking that those two or three are going to be males, but I should still have a little more time to be able to get a better idea, right?

Plenty of time til the pollen pods develop, weeks

 

[somethingwit]

So for the initial question from the Op is that you should see preflowers by no later than 4 weeks into veg from seed. You will need to look around the 2-3 node /leaf sets from the top /down. Look at the split of the node by the main stalk and you will either see a pistol coming out or a bead/ teardrop shape sack. As it gets older is when it looks like a cluster of bananas.

If you flip the lights into bloom and do it that way , then you have to reveg them and that adds about 3 weeks of extra veg time.
STR8

I am kind of thinking that environmental conditions may have played a big role in delaying things so long. Heck, up until just over a week ago or so I had them under these little 15w LED grow light bars that I picked up from Walmart lol. Anyway, I'm pretty sure that I'm seeing a bead/teardrop shape sack on a couple of the plants... Oh well. Lol bound to happen, I guess.

I think it matters the growing technique. With organic soil, It takes a while.

Thanks for that because I am using organic soil. That probably has played a role in all of this as well.

 

[somethingwit]

Plenty of time til the pollen pods develop, weeks

Awesome lol

 

[Rcubed]

Here's male pre-flowers.

 

[somethingwit]

Here's male pre-flowers. View attachment 820766

Yea, that is pretty close to what I am seeing. Curious, what level of magnification are you using for that picture (if its your image)?

 

[Rcubed]

Here's male pre-flowers. View attachment 820766

It's just my Samsung phone camera. I cropped the photo. Didn't enhance it at all. These days you cant beat a good phone camera

 

[somethingwit]

It's just my Samsung phone camera. I cropped the photo. Didn't enhance it at all. These days you cant beat a good phone camera

Lol actually, while I was away from the computer for a while, I reached in the tent and tried taking pictures with my phone. I was actually very surprised at how magnified I could get it with detail. Tomorrow, I will go outside and get my USB cord and upload photos of three plants where I see the possible male pre-flowers.

 

[jumpincactus]

most indicas or indica doms will show sex 4-6 weeks into veg. Sativas can take longer.

 

[somethingwit]

So, just doing some reading and thinking on some future grow plans. Would it be possible to go ahead and throw in the SCRoG before ever knowing for sure what the sex is? And then have time to eliminate the plant before it has time to spread the pollen?