hermmies in garden of fems

fourtwentychat

Well-Known Member
Hey guys, if you have a garden that came from all fem seeds, and you get a couple hermmies (definitely due to stress), can these herm. plants affect the rest of the garden, which are fem. females?

That is, can these hermies pollunate the rest of the fem. garden and cause every plant to produce seed?

Hermies = remove asap? or leave them alone because they are not a problem?
 

mikegolfer

Active Member
hermies can and will pollinate females, and also self pollinate. I believe any females pollinated by a hermie will produce feminized seeds. Do you want the seeds is the question. Most will say get rid of the hermies. Depends on if you need seeds for future grows I guess. I would separate them and let them grow out and maybe pollinate one or two of the flowers if it's some killer bud.
 

Johnnyorganic

Well-Known Member
Hey guys, if you have a garden that came from all fem seeds, and you get a couple hermmies (definitely due to stress), can these herm. plants affect the rest of the garden, which are fem. females?

That is, can these hermies pollunate the rest of the fem. garden and cause every plant to produce seed?

Hermies = remove asap? or leave them alone because they are not a problem?
Definitely get rid of the hermies immediately.

Why do you say categorically that stress is the reason?
hermies can and will pollinate females, and also self pollinate. I believe any females pollinated by a hermie will produce feminized seeds. Do you want the seeds is the question. Most will say get rid of the hermies. Depends on if you need seeds for future grows I guess. I would separate them and let them grow out and maybe pollinate one or two of the flowers if it's some killer bud.
The Self-pollinated feminized hermaphrodites should produce feminized seed. A female pollinated with another plant that happens to be hermie will produce regular seeds with a high probability to go hermaphrodite. Very much like schwag bagseed.

Unless the OP wishes to observe the growth cycle or experiment with self-pollinated hermie seed the plants should be eliminated. You are correct in that they should be segregated should he elect to keep them.
 

jeebuscheebus

Active Member
Check out a product from Dutch Master called Reverse. Turn those hermies back to ladies. Either that or kill the hermies before flower.
 

fourtwentychat

Well-Known Member
Thanks guys. I say stress because from what I understand, the same garden has been under 12/12 for a month too long already, but finally it's just starting to show results....guessing extra time was due to large ph fluctuations that they were having, and from what I understand constant interruptions during sleep time (supposedly a huge no-no).

About hermies: So, now this is what I understand after reading the posts:

1. Self Pollinuated Hermies are a good thing, because they produce true feminized seeds.

Question: Would they be of the same genetics as their parent (these new fem seeds)?

Question: About how many fem seeds could be produced from one self polunated herm?

Question: What about Hermies pollunated by another herm?


2. Females polunated by Hermies will produce crappy regular seed with a high tendency to turn herm. Also, the Bud will be lower in THC because of the seed production?


3. Isolate the herm plant(s)and let them produce true free fem. seeds by letting them self-pollunate?

Question: Do the hermmies (I think they may have a couple) need to be separated from one another?),

Question: Is it easy to get the plant to actually self-pollunate? Just simply leave it in a secluded 12-12 spot and let it do its thing?

And finally: What would happen if a clone was taken from the herm. plant that has about 1 month left to flower? Would this clone be then a herm. also, which could be self polunated at a later time to produce those fem seeds?
 

fourtwentychat

Well-Known Member
Is it possible to tell if any pollen has been released from sacs before the onset of seed production?

Now, I'm wondering if their entire room will need to be wiped down and restart if that's the case?
 

Johnnyorganic

Well-Known Member
Thanks guys. I say stress because from what I understand, the same garden has been under 12/12 for a month too long already, but finally it's just starting to show results....guessing extra time was due to large ph fluctuations that they were having, and from what I understand constant interruptions during sleep time (supposedly a huge no-no).

About hermies: So, now this is what I understand after reading the posts:

1. Self Pollinuated Hermies are a good thing, because they produce true feminized seeds.

Question: Would they be of the same genetics as their parent (these new fem seeds)?

Question: About how many fem seeds could be produced from one self polunated herm?

Question: What about Hermies pollunated by another herm?
Question 1: This is a guess, but assuming the hermie seed is self-pollinated I would say yes.

Question 2: Difficult, if not impossible, to determine based on the information provided.

Question 3: A herm pollinated by another herm would not be self-pollinated, therefore it would be the same as a female being pollinated by a herm.
2. Females polunated by Hermies will produce crappy regular seed with a high tendency to turn herm.


3. Isolate the herm plant(s)and let them produce true free fem. seeds by letting them self-pollunate?

Question: Do the hermmies (I think they may have a couple) need to be separated from one another?),

Question: Is it easy to get the plant to actually self-pollunate? Just simply leave it in a secluded 12-12 spot and let it do its thing?
Question 1: Yes, segregate the herms. In fact, should you decide to go forward with the experiment, I would make things easy on myself and only deal with one of the hermies and eliminate the other.

Question 2: Yes. Separate the herm and let nature take its course.
4. Females polunated by the hermmies will not only produce crappy seed, but also lower the THC of the now-seeded bud? Is this correct?

And finally: What would happen if a clone was taken from the herm. plant that has about 1 month left to flower? Would this clone be then a herm. also, which could be self polunated at a later time to produce those fem seeds?
The clone would be genetically identical to the mother. However cloning during flowering is problematic and not worth the effort IMHO.
Is it possible to tell if any pollen has been released from sacs before the onset of seed production?

Now, I'm wondering if their entire room will need to be wiped down and restart if that's the case?
When a male pod bursts it is unmistakable. You will see very fine yellow powder (pollen) spilled out all over and below the near vicinity of the pod.

Definitely disinfect the grow space just in case.

Good luck and good growing.
 

mikegolfer

Active Member
females pollinated by a stressed hermie will produce feminized seeds. This is a technique breeders have used. Self pollinated hermie seeds are a crapshoot. I grew three off a self pollinated hermie and got a male, a hermie and a female. You'll know if pollen gets spilled, it will be everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE.
 

Johnnyorganic

Well-Known Member
http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/articles/3215.html

If a plant has male pods and fertilizes itself will the seeds be female seeds only?
Ed Rosenthal says:
It depends on why the plants are hermaphroditic. If the plant produced male flowers as a result of stress there is a good chance that most of the progeny of the self-cross will be female. If the hermaphrodism is a hereditary trait some of the plants will be female and some hermaphrodite.

Unless you have had experience with the particular plants you are growing, there are few indications whether the plant is naturally hermaphroditic or is as the result of stress.
According to the OP. The seeds were feminized.
 

mikegolfer

Active Member
Part of an article on why cloning is better than feminized seeds from cannabis culture magazine.

We also found that after all that trouble of removing males, we sometimes ended up with females that switched sexes when they were stressed, resulting in accidental cross breeding – female plants were pollinated by females that developed male sex organs (hermaphrodites). We decided to grow out those seeds and, to our joy, we discovered that the ratio of females to males was skewed to a greater number of females. This was our discovery of hermaphroditic breeding.
 

Johnnyorganic

Well-Known Member
Part of an article on why cloning is better than feminized seeds from cannabis culture magazine.

We also found that after all that trouble of removing males, we sometimes ended up with females that switched sexes when they were stressed, resulting in accidental cross breeding – female plants were pollinated by females that developed male sex organs (hermaphrodites). We decided to grow out those seeds and, to our joy, we discovered that the ratio of females to males was skewed to a greater number of females. This was our discovery of hermaphroditic breeding.
Very interesting. I'd like to read that article. Link?

EDIT: Nevermind. I found it.

http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/node/394
 

Johnnyorganic

Well-Known Member
Okay. I read it. Very good article that reinforces why I prefer cloning standard plants. In fact, the only way I would grow feminized plants is if the seeds came as freebies. And I avoid those freebie offers if feminized seed is involved.

One problem....

You neglected to include the preceding sentence to the quote you selected. "We took two clones from one female plant, stressed one of the clones until it developed male sex organs, and then bred it with the other female clone. To our delight it worked – we ended up with seeds that grew into females 85-90 percent of the time and were consistent with the original female plant’s characteristics. We could now plant around 30 to 40 seeds and end up with 30 female plants the same size with the same genetics. We were ecstatic."

The stressed Herman (LOL!) and the fertilized female were both clones of the same plant. In other words, the female was self-pollinated. ;-)
 

fourtwentychat

Well-Known Member
Awesome information.

The Hermi came from the same mother that about 20 other non-herms came from (only that 1 is herm., while all the other clones now look to have good sensimilla incoming).

So, this would probably mean that it was in fact stressed (and not so much hereditary?)?

Which seems to be a good thing according to the article?
 

mikegolfer

Active Member
Okay. I read it. Very good article that reinforces why I prefer cloning standard plants. In fact, the only way I would grow feminized plants is if the seeds came as freebies. And I avoid those freebie offers if feminized seed is involved.

One problem....

You neglected to include the preceding sentence to the quote you selected. "We took two clones from one female plant, stressed one of the clones until it developed male sex organs, and then bred it with the other female clone. To our delight it worked – we ended up with seeds that grew into females 85-90 percent of the time and were consistent with the original female plant’s characteristics. We could now plant around 30 to 40 seeds and end up with 30 female plants the same size with the same genetics. We were ecstatic."

The stressed Herman (LOL!) and the fertilized female were both clones of the same plant. In other words, the female was self-pollinated. ;-)
your quote is three paragraphs down below. It was a later experiment. Self-pollination is a form of pollination that can occur when a flower has both stamen and a carpel(pistil) --- Wikipedia. Genetically the same, but not self pollinated. Not trying to split hairs.
 

Johnnyorganic

Well-Known Member
My mistake. Same article, not same quote. And your quote did precede mine in the same article. Mea culpa.

Makes no difference to my point, however.
your quote is three paragraphs down below. It was a later experiment. Self-pollination is a form of pollination that can occur when a flower has both stamen and a carpel(pistil) --- Wikipedia. Genetically the same, but not self pollinated. Not trying to split hairs.
No trying about it. You are splitting hairs. Each clone is genetically identical to the mother. Stress one clone to herm and pollinate the other and you are self-pollinating.

And your paragraph states that the resulting seeds skew female, not that they were feminized. This discovery led to the stressed, self-pollinated clone experiments which produced feminized seeds.
I'd say just remove the hermies or isolate one and let it finish out.
I agree.

Fourtwentychat, Ed R. says that if you know the pedigree, which you do, you have a good chance of producing feminized seeds. A feminizing experiment is intriguing, but only if you have the space and time.
 

fourtwentychat

Well-Known Member
I'm a bit confused. The guy is saying that his buddy (who supposedly is *very* experienced) told him that he doesn't care what anyone says anywhere...that there is no way that a hermie will pollunate other fems (only itself).

Can there be any truth to this? If you have several different strains (a combo of sativa, indica, and hybrids), and if the sativa is the hermmie, is there a chance that *only* the hermie gets pollunated?

From what I understand from them, the hermie is already showing tiny seeds, but none of the others are showing any.

Only time will tell? Or are they completely wrong?
 

Johnnyorganic

Well-Known Member
I'm a bit confused. The guy is saying that his buddy (who supposedly is *very* experienced) told him that he doesn't care what anyone says anywhere...that there is no way that a hermie will pollunate other fems (only itself).

Can there be any truth to this? If you have several different strains (a combo of sativa, indica, and hybrids), and if the sativa is the hermmie, is there a chance that *only* the hermie gets pollunated?

From what I understand from them, the hermie is already showing tiny seeds, but none of the others are showing any.

Only time will tell? Or are they completely wrong?
And I am confused as to why you are asking a question again which was answered the first time by mikegolfer.
hermies can and will pollinate females, and also self pollinate.
Either the *very* experienced buddy is full of shit, or the guy who related his information to you did not know what he was talking about.

Herman pollen has the potential to fertilize every female flower it comes in contact with.
 
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