Last 6 crops have hermed, but why?

[Jay87]

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This is my water sample test.

 

[chemistry]

I've popped my last Critical Kush this run (Barney's), and it looks like its not going to make the grade, think by next week it will be pulled, or dead, haven't a clue why. I just don't do any good with this strain.

 

[dieselgirl]

It’s exactly the same for me. I have over half of my plants doing it. But weird hermies. No pollen sacks. They still look female but do some weird like single finger splitting off. The ones that are ok are great. Exactly what I’m used to getting. Big nugs.

what nutrients are you using? Are you hard water? I’m narrowing everything down. I’m now switching to hard water nutrients. I’m using a company where I send a water sample and they tailor make to suit my water. I am also going to run led for my next run.

are you getting deficiency’s? Because I was due to the hard water which caused a lot of stress, which im putting down to causing the hermies.

I grow in coco with 1000 de's...I have always used AN 3 part with some other supplements but nothing too crazy, a lil botanicare calmg, silicate and some light bloom boosters, sweet, and hydroguard...ppm's are 1100 to 1300 through flower... have co2 at around 1200-1500 during bulky weeks of flower, temps are mid to low 80's, RO is 55 to 60%, plants are super healthy, no deficiencies, spray weekly with a rotation of dr Zymes and plant therapy...no pests or mildew (pm once in while) and no light leaks. Been looking several times during each cycle. plants look super healthy! Roots are strong...Can't find anything off. I was frustrated so I switched to House & Garden nutes for awhile which were fine but I had better quality with advance and still had some hermies here and there so I switched back. I have been using switch (optic foliar) just really lightly which definitely works so I don't panic anymore like I used to but I am just dumbfounded why this keeps happening. Some cycles are worse than others but in general every round has at least a few ball sacks showing up. It's always balls sack thrown in here and there. Some have no pollen, but i catch early with the switch....and honestly i am not even sure if its viable pollen....My suspicion is genetics. I have been using the same clone farm for YEARS! never had issues until a couple years back and now it's just something I expect every cycle. If anything I feel like I had less hermies a few years back with WAY MORE ISSUES in my environment than I do now. Light leaks, high temps, high humidity.....I've learned to deal with them. They have great strains and very clean clones. Granted I am doing chem dawg and GG crosses but still which do this sometimes, but it's frustrating cause I know I am a way better farmer now than I was 5 or 10 years ago. Reading about water intrigued me. I use city water has a ph or about 7 and low ppm's around 200. Its hetch hetchy which is supposed to be great and i doubt its this but i just really would love to solve this issue and know what is causing the ball sacks.

 

[dieselgirl]

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I don't have hard water where I am at now but I wonder if there something in my pipes (colloidal silver) or something they using in the water supply that is affecting the plants in some way. I lived in the desert for a while and had major issues there with the water. I used a RO filter when living in Nevada which made a huge difference but damn it took forever to fill up my rezies. I am not sure wtf is causing my hermies but unlike you i get ball sacks. They show up about three weeks into flower some times just a few sometimes a lot. I use optic foliar switch spray which works well but can be kinda taxing on deficient plants. I wouldn't use it if your plants are already showing a deficiency or a lot of stress. I do a super light spray as soon as I spot a male sack and it seems to take care of them but it does cause some leaf burn/damage.

 

[iggy097]

Ever get this figured out? I just started growing, last two grows have thrown nanners and seeded my tent. I'm pretty sure I had a light leak in the tent that I didn't notice.

 

[CannaGranny]

Checked again today for light leaks, and nothing. Not a single thing. I can't even see my hand in front of my face, it's 100% pitch black. Door is solid, nothing coming through vent holes, no de/humidifer in there, no lights on the heater/fans, all the switches for everything are located outside of the room.

However as I'm typing this up, I've just had a thought... Can light leaks during the 12-12 seedling stage cause plants to herm later on when they get to 18-6 flower stage (i.e. weeks later)?

Seems you have that backwards. 18-6 is a veg stage and 12-12 is flower stage. Are you really doing that or was that a mistake?

 

[Buzzzz]

Hi guys, I'm hoping to get some help as to why my crops keep herming.

I've been growing for around 10 years, aside from the first couple of grows I have never faced any herm issues until 6 crops ago where they all hermed. I've always bought my seeds from Royal Queen which have been amazing, until issues arised and I had to buy seeds elsewhere. Anyway, they turned out shit and all hermed. Next crop, same seeds, another load of herms. Assumed it was down to shitty genetics, so I trashed the remaining seeds and bought from RQ again. Started a new crop with the RQ seeds, majority of which turned hermy. Crop 4, from Barneys Farm, majority also hermed. Crop 5 (RQ again), yeah you guessed it, almost all of them hermed. Current crop (Barneys), 12/16 plants have just started to herm 2 weeks into flowering. Each crop has always been around 16 plants over the past 10 years. Strain used is usually Critical.

Routine is as follows:

• Seeds into root riot cubes, then into a grow tent with the temperature at around 25C.
  
  
• After germination, they go into 4" pots with Biobizz light mix under a 250cfl light. Temperature 24-25C (20-21C with lights off) humidity at 68%. They are topped (once) when they get their 5th set of leaves. They are fed water (pH @ 6.0, checked every single time) for around a week when needed. 18-6 light schedule.
  
  
• After around 4-5 weeks, they're moved into 22 litre pots with more Biobizz light mix and put into a tent with 4x 600W HPS lights (only 2 are switched on at this point). Temperature at 26C (20-21C with lights off), humidity at 50%. Stay on an 18-6 schedule until the plants reach around 35 centimetres. Fan circling air around, but not touching the plants directly.
  
  
• After getting to that size, they're spread out more and the other 2 lights turned on (4 plants per light). Switch to a 12-12 schedule. Humidity at 50%, temperature at 26-27C (20-21C with lights off). Fan circling air around, but not touching the plants directly.

Feed schedule:
I use this schedule from BioBizz. Exceptions being I don't bother with the Heaven, and I use Grow instead of Fish-Mix. Calcium additive added as per the dosage on the bottle. pH is at 6.2 (using pH up or down to achieve this) and is checked every single feed religiously. They have around 10 litres between them all, sometimes a little more if necessary. If they don't need feeding, they're left to be checked the following day. I don't feed until there's runoff (as is stated on the feed schedule I linked, and tbh it's something I've never done anyway).

I've checked for light leaks many many times and there's nothing at all, it's 100% pitch black. Air circulating via a 6" inlet and outlet. They have never shown any symptoms of light/heat stress. The temperature/humidity is checked multiple times a day. The temp/humid sensor is positioned at the canopy of the tallest plant, and there is one at either end of the room.

Sorry, this was long af, I just wanted to get as much detail in as possible and hopefully saved from another miserable, stressful crop.

Thanks, T3ddy

Get a stable regular seed and if it hermies it's you.