My cabinet is 4.8 w x 4 h x 2 d. Airflow: passive intake w/case fan for exhaust. This was my first grow.
I had four plants in the cabinet - Plant A through plant D. Plant B and C were male and removed. One plant (D) showed herm traits early. The other plant (A) showed female.
I decided I didn't care because I wanted something from my time and effort and if it meant seeds in my weed then so be it. I'ts not like I never had to pull some seeds before.
I examined the plants 3x a day with an eye out to snip anything that looked like balls. If I was unsure... snip anyway. Better safe then sorry. The balls weren't always in clusters. Sometimes, there was just one balloon looking thing. That balloon looking thing might not have been balls but it wasn't being tested to find out.
My plants matured top down since they had overhead lighting (2 T8 Flouros - added 4 CFL R20s 5 weeks into flowering) so monitoring them was fairly easy. Another important note is that the plant (D) wasn't 50/50 with male/female parts. It was probably 80/20 or maybe 90/10 in favor of female.
There seemed to be one small wave of balls early in flowering (week 3-4). I did find one or two ball looking things on A and snipped but nothing thereafter.
At about day 45 of flowering I spotted bananas below a bud site on A. This made me a little sad because I was hoping to avoid a headache with this one (A) too. However, after some research, I did find that some plants will fire off a few bananas as a survival thing and it might not indicate impending doom.
So, about those bananas. "What did they look like?".. you ask. Well... bananas. Trust me.. you will notice them when you see them and say to yourself.. 'they look like bananas'. They are just a really small bunch of bananas - 3 or more bananas a bunch and I only found single bunches not clusters.
So.. I see the bananas and am now on alert. "Whaaaaat theeeeee fuuuuuuck is that? I ask myself. I grab the swiss army knife and pull out the little scissors and snip. I catch the bananas on the blades and remove.
From day 45 to 55 of flowering I have found about 5 or 6 more bunches of bananas and removed each time. I find using an exacto blade, army knife scissors or tweezers useful - each with its own advantages depending on your access to the site.
I have cut them clean, butchered them while removing and pinched one with tweezers and saw pollen fall.
The results...
1) 3 or 4 seeds in one bud spot total on D (the original hermie).
2) 3 seeds on one bud on A
3) A good rip on some clippings taken 1 week prior to target harvest
Examining/Finding Bananas:
Finding bananas is easier if you...
1) View from as low level as possible, looking up from below bud sights. You will miss them easily if only looking from above. (Still scan from above or even levels too.)
2) Use a mag light or something similar with a light focal adjustment
3) Scan every day or as often as possible
4) Scan from every side/angle as possible (front, back, sides, 45 degree)
5) Don't go crazy looking for them. If you look often, you will eventually catch something you might have overlooked earlier.
6) Where a hat with a visor to shade your eyes from any overhead lights while looking up - trust me.
7) Make a mental note of where you find it before you go grab tools. It all looks the same when you come back.
You can make it work with some effort and luck.
