Pistils on 75% of plants during vegging? Anyone else having issues?

[Jimster]

I took a good look at my newest grow, with this being the first time I went with all clones (due to unforseen circumstances). I have had a Granddaddy Purple plant sprout pistils the entire vegg cycle, but 6 out of 8 plants are 6 weeks into vegging and showing pistils. No buds, just pistils. Two plants are free from them, but seem to be a different and more lanky strain. The ones with the pistils are pretty bushy but they are all around the same size.
Is this just somethin inherent in clones? The lights have gone 18/6 since sprouting and no signs of flowering.At least 5 different strains showing pistils. Since I don't think you can clone autos successfully, I don't know what to make of it.

 

[Thailord]

In my experience certain cuts will do that. Are they actually flowering or just throwing a few random pistils?

 

[Smoking Gun]

Jim, don't worry about it. I have a cut of Cindy 99 that loves to remind you she is a girl but throwing pre-flowers all through veg. I think its just a trait some plants take on. It could also be when the cut was taken, particularly if it was taken a week or two into flowering, though the length of time you have had them vegging says its just a natural trait of the plant.

I hope you are doing well through this weird period in human history and since your recent surgery.

 

[Rootbound]

I see preflowers/pistils in veg with clones most of the time. I also seed them on seed plants after they have matured enough. I run my veg lights at 21/3.

 

[Jimster]

I hope you are doing well through this weird period in human history and since your recent surgery.

Thank you. I now have 3 nozzles hanging out of me, although now I can brag that mine is longer than yours! Surgery went well and I had it given a test run yesterday. Some really creepy feelings!

 

[Formallyhap]

you can seed preflowers, it's likely an adaptation that makes them a superior plant in the wild, however many generations back that was. Males that shoot up and throw out pollen really early, and females full of preflowers can make sure they pass on their genes.

I always take it as a sign whatever it is I am growing has some landrace genes saying hello.

 

[Jimster]

I always take it as a sign whatever it is I am growing has some landrace genes saying hello.

In my years of growing, I can't say that I have ever seen as many pistils on a vegging plant. None of my old strain landrace plants do that other than a possible errant pistil , but these look like the plant is ready or beginning to flower... without the stretch, funky leaf growth, or bud building. If the plant's stems were highways, the pistils are as regular as street lights. I guess it's a combo of cloning traits, but also the gene pool getting overgrown with errant traits that keep getting re-introduced, like hip dysplasia in some dog breeds.

 

[MIGrampaUSA]

In my years of growing, I can't say that I have ever seen as many pistils on a vegging plant. None of my old strain landrace plants do that other than a possible errant pistil , but these look like the plant is ready or beginning to flower... without the stretch, funky leaf growth, or bud building. If the plant's stems were highways, the pistils are as regular as street lights. I guess it's a combo of cloning traits, but also the gene pool getting overgrown with errant traits that keep getting re-introduced, like hip dysplasia in some dog breeds.

My situation is a little different. I have 3 "banana punch" started from feminized seeds during my current grow. One of those plants was in full flower under 18/6 lighting. All 11 of my plants showed "female" preflowers prior to flip ... just this one took "pre-flower" to "full flower" before I flipped to 12/12. The way genetics can stack up, it's likely a genetic expression in this one plant. All of my plants seem happy. Just one didn't behave as expected.

I'm not sure how to explain this showing up in a clone though.

 

[dire wolf]

Hey j , if its any help , i have 2 blueberry dominant strains , blue amnesia and an older joey weed blueberry , both refuse to grow in any light schedeule without throwing off pistils , some times a lot...
They are old clones , i think its a blueberry trait , also for some weird reason the have massive root growth , bud is average , growth is slow , but constant pistils and massive roots, always...

 

[ru knuts]

Just one didn't behave as expected

That sounds like your talking about me.
They called me black sheep of the family too

 

[Jimster]

Hey j , if its any help , i have 2 blueberry dominant strains , blue amnesia and an older joey weed blueberry , both refuse to grow in any light schedeule without throwing off pistils , some times a lot...
They are old clones , i think its a blueberry trait , also for some weird reason the have massive root growth , bud is average , growth is slow , but constant pistils and massive roots, always...

One of the more notable plants that have the pistils IS a berry strain... maybe doubleberry (we call it dingleberry), but the Grandaddy Purp is pretty proficient as well at throwing them. The two that aren't showing any are an older looking strain, which is a bit more lanky... a trait that seems to be getting bred out of a lot of gene lines. The others, while different strains, are surprisingly similar looking overall. Shorter, bushier, similar growth patterns. Everything is a hybrid of a hybrid of a hybrid.

 

[Jimster]

Here are a few pics of the issue. I'm around 7 weeks of vegging, and the individual pictures show the pistils on the different plant, which are different strains. Unless the guy who gave these to me got things screwed up!

 

[Ryanngina]

Hey j , if its any help , i have 2 blueberry dominant strains , blue amnesia and an older joey weed blueberry , both refuse to grow in any light schedeule without throwing off pistils , some times a lot...
They are old clones , i think its a blueberry trait , also for some weird reason the have massive root growth , bud is average , growth is slow , but constant pistils and massive roots, always...

I also grow blue berry and the girls ALWAYS have pre flowers,nothing to worry about

 

[MIGrampaUSA]

I also grow blue berry and the girls ALWAYS have pre flowers,nothing to worry about

Those look more like a "pre-flower" than a full fledge flower anyway. All my last round of feminized seeds were showing preflowers prior to flip.

I also don't think there's anything to worry about ....

 

[Rootbound]

I mentioned earlier its normal to see preflowers in veg, and I have seen it in older and newer strains for the last 20 yrs.

 

[Jimster]

I mentioned earlier its normal to see preflowers in veg, and I have seen it in older and newer strains for the last 20 yrs.

I guess things have changed a little over the years. While I never had the luxury of being able to buy/purchase seeds when I started (it was just in it's infancy in Amsterdam), most if not all seeds were usually saved and coveted from bag seed. No clones were available except in very small groups, and I was fortunate to find one or two random pistils on a whole plant prior to flowering. I wouldn't call these as a few, but they aren't buds either. I guess it's akin to bananas. There used to be a bunch of different strains, but now 99% are the same and have traits that weren't original to the source plants. Similar to strains of today. Everything is a mutt. Not that mutts are bad, but after a while they look very similar.

 

[Smoking Gun]

@Jimster, I am with you, so much of today's varieties are very homogeneous. But I have also noticed that the best breeders out there are starting to go searching for new genetics once again and I am sure in the next 10 years we will once again have large variety in the Cannabis we choose to consume and grow.

To me that amount of pre-flowers showing on the plants is nothing to concern yourself with, the plant will not try and go into full flowering. I think I mentioned above that I have a Cindy99 cut that puts on a ton of pre-flowers in veg.

I was listening to The Potcast yesterday, the interview with One-eye (he created Dogwalker OG), he was suggesting something called the gas-lamp method where he breaks the dark period for an hour before going back to dark and this apparently helps keep pre-flowers down in varieties that tend to throw them in veg. He did however mention not all varieties, particularly equatorial varieties do not like this method. But it may be something for you to look into if you are concerned by those pre-flowers appearing on your plants.

 

[HeLLfiReZ]

That is completely normal. I get them even on fresh seeds. Once they get big enough most will start showing at some point in veg. I do big plants as my legal limit is 4.

 

[Jimster]

@Jimster, I am with you, so much of today's varieties are very homogeneous. But I have also noticed that the best breeders out there are starting to go searching for new genetics once again and I am sure in the next 10 years we will once again have large variety in the Cannabis we choose to consume and grow.

I'm not worried about the pistils at all since I have seen them before, but the comparison I was making was that you never heard of plants throwing pistils in such a regular fashion in the days prior to the great hybridization that we are going thru. I have been approached by several seed growers aboutmy old strain Matanuska that I managed to keep going for 30 some years... but the idea of someone making cash on something that has been very closely kept over the decades... it just bothers me, I guess.
Smoking used to be about getting together with friends and sharing seeds. Now it almost seems that the only thing that matters is cash.

 

[Vaqueros Verde]

Without pre-flowers how would you determine the sex of a plant from seed without going12/12? I have grown for many years and I still get excited to see female pre-flowers on my young ones.