early sexing of plants?

Y.R. Token

Y.R. Token

Member
Hi gang,

I had a friend years ago who gave me some started plants, they were one main kola on the stock of the plant and were not clones. He called them donkey dicks and said he would take a started plant when a few weeks old and put in flowering light to sex it and then later on return it to veg or place outside.

My friend is now past on and I can't ask him stuff, so I was wondering if any of you do this too or how young of a plant can you place into flowering only to sex it?

THX.
 
Ledhed

Ledhed

Well-Known Member
Some go 12/12 from seed just for that reason. Personally, I prefer mature plants that show sex naturally so for me a two or three month veg is normal. Some people will force flowering at 3-6 weeks, then either let it go or make it revert back to veg. It's all about personal preference, or it can be because of height or space restrictions.
 
Y.R. Token

Y.R. Token

Member
I see, never knew anyone did 12 -12 from seed... I have a one sativa the sprouted up (bag seed) and it is like a week to week 1/2 old and that thing is growing fast each day. I'm limited on space and height some, I read this strain is known for getting huge...

I was asking because I thought maybe I should place this into the flower room and sex it now so I wouldn't waste time and try to keep the size down.

Having never done this, I was not sure it would be ok to do or not.

Sativa 3.jpg
 
T

TheLastWood

Well-Known Member
I believe and so do many others that forcing a plant to flower before it is sexually mature will stress it out and you will not save any time had you have waited. When grown from seed a plant will show preflowers at 4-6 weeks of vegatative growth.

However clones will be the same age as the mother they came from so you can flower immediately.

Some strains will not show preflowers(I haven't seen one that doesn't preflower tho) and you can cut a clone from the plant in question and then flower it under 12/12 to find the sex of the mother.

Overall, when growing from seed, switching from veg to flower to veg then to flower again will be a long and stressful process so it is better in most cases to submit a clone to this treatment instead of a plant you intend to make many clones of or are on a schedule that doesn't allow months of reverting growth stages
 
T

TheLastWood

Well-Known Member
Something I forgot to mention, preflowers will form under18/6 or even 24/0. Its a sign of sexual maturity(like pubic hairs) and has nothing to do with the light cycle. As soon as you can determine sex by preflowers you can start flowering.

But to specifically answer your question you could start 12/12 as early as you want but my 2 posts are some reasons you might not want to.

Obviously there are always exceptions (in your case space) and more than one way to skin a cat.
 
darkdestruction420

darkdestruction420

Well-Known Member
TheLastWood said:
I believe and so do many others that forcing a plant to flower before it is sexually mature will stress it out and you will not save any time had you have waited. When grown from seed a plant will show preflowers at 4-6 weeks of vegatative growth.

However clones will be the same age as the mother they came from so you can flower immediately.

Some strains will not show preflowers(I haven't seen one that doesn't preflower tho) and you can cut a clone from the plant in question and then flower it under 12/12 to find the sex of the mother.

Overall, when growing from seed, switching from veg to flower to veg then to flower again will be a long and stressful process so it is better in most cases to submit a clone to this treatment instead of a plant you intend to make many clones of or are on a schedule that doesn't allow months of reverting growth stages
Click to expand...
I agree, waste of time.
 
Y.R. Token

Y.R. Token

Member
Thanks for the reply, it helps to understand better what is taking place. As for the new young plant, there is always topping or other means of trying to control height... In general I started my garden after checking out "buds for less" and have been following that as a guild, however in the book he changes light cycle on day 16 of the plants life. I waited for a couple reasons till day 30, ghetto grow, but had not seen pre flowers, now a seed I thought was not going to germ showed up and it's the one in the photo above, getting huge fast. Due to one other I think is going to be male, I will have room to let the sativa sexually mature.

Thanks everyone for your help and replies.
 
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