Seamaiden
Living dead girl
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It can be a big concern, yes, but if you're diligent you will see when the male flowers emerge. Opening and release of pollen takes a little while post-emergence, so you likely will catch them long before they do that.Thanks for all the help.
I have 5 IFO's (Identififed Female Objects!). I moved them over to the female side of my GH and am keeping a steady watch on the others. I am betting they are males.
Finding hermaphodites must be a huge bummer. I have seen a few pictures of what they look like, (ie fuzzy pistils and ball sacs) but is there a sepcific time period in which they show up or can it be anytime. My reason for asking is that I'd like to keep a steady look out for them so they do not spermiate my ladies. Is this a big concern?
I just pulled a male that hermied on me. His ball sacs were a bit widely spaced, but I was waiting for a friend to come over and give me his impressions on scent profile (my own scentses are lacking due to a snake bite coming on 10 years ago). Then, checking through them after transplanting and moving to the other side of the house but hidden right in plain sight, I see PISTILS popping out from between this one guy's sacks. All have been releasing pollen (I've got close to a dozen males right now, this is the first time I'm not going to do an open pollination, I'm going to try to choose best males... (FUCK! the cat just caught something he's doing that meow, yesterday it was a bird and I was moments too late. Fucking cat!) (HA! All he has is the lizard's tail. I hate it when he catches birds and lizards instead of rats, moles, squirrels and mice)
What was I saying? Oh yeah, I now feel almost confident enough to do selective breeding this year, so am using techniques shared by a friend who manages to make some INCREDIBLE crosses. He manages to not get ladies pollinated, and what he does is put the males on the other side of the house, according to wind direction. I've found that pollination rates are affected to a great degree on wind direction and proximity to females. Hopefully I didn't wait too late this year!
Hermies can show at any time. The only 'acceptable' ones (this is for me) are those that express at the very end of flower. A male that hermies early on in the season is to be tossed, again IMO, because I don't know what traits are sex-linked, and I don't know how recessive or not the hermy trait is, etc. Same thing with a female plant, I wouldn't breed with it if it hermies early on, because I've found via direct experience that those girls that hermy early on, not making bananas but full on male flowers (they're actually very delicate and pretty), that it's not worth the water it takes to keep it alive. It won't serve well for bud AT ALL, because bud production stops completely and you can't keep up with plucking the sacks.
Native-stylee, like the yards and fields that I've seen pix of in Afghanistan, Pakistan. I like it. Or, label the males, collect the pollen, wash yourself, then go selectively pollinate the lowest branches of your girls, and be sure to label those. Suddenly, et voila, you've kept yourself in seeds. Clones are great for quick, but seeds are best for future.I will dislike killing the males. I am thinking about planting them off far away(guerilla style) and sacrifice a female to be planted by them and just let them go off on their own.
Any high P/K product or combination of products, but right now is I think too late to use most rock dusts. I'd have to look at the numbers, but kelp meal and bat guanos could (should?) do you in this regard. Top-dress, and with specific regard to manures and guanos BE ABSOLUTELY SURE to not let it become caked, especially up near the plant stalk. Make certain it's well mixed into the soil above the roots to avoid this. Otherwise you risk rotting problems.My clones are looking good, getting lots of hairs and branching out everywhere. My new females are looking super healthy as well and catching up to the clones. I have used no liquid nutes. I just planted all of them (clones and seeds) in Happy Frog soil and water with my well water. I want to stay organic and avoid all synthetic chemicals.
What would be a good organic flowering additive should I need it?
I'll post some pics tonight.
Also, what about your native dirt? What's it comprised of? Do you have an ag extension that discusses general soil profiles in your locality? I ask because I often use my native "dirt" (it's actually rocks and clay posing as dirt, but damn if plants don't grow in it) to help add minerals and local soil microbes back into the medium. I know it doesn't add much in the way of calcium, but it does have a lot of iron.