Increasing your chance for female...

I dont know where i read this. it actullay may of been in the hortictural bible book thing. but, i believe it said to be, the more nitrogen you use in your soil the better chance your seed will become a female plant.


anyone else hear of this?

I've also heard it's effected by ph

I would think it just be the genectics. But i've also heard interuppting the night cycle with brief episodes of light can increase your chances of females. I have always been to scared to try it due to the fact it could cause hermies.

Hank.

there is an entire list of these theories; whether or not they are factual is a hotly debated topic

hank you just double negatived yourself there.

I think females are the 'default' sex for plants...if you stress it out it will turn male and create seeds but if you treat it right it will grow female and produce buds

Humans are 'default' to females....in order for a male to be born we need a pretty serious set of circumstances to take place...it's a miracle men are even born in the first place

There is only one way I know that is guaranteed for seeds to produce more females: plant more seeds.

But I've heard a lot of "theories" such as different chemicals applied to seed/soil - including more nitrogen (or less nitrogen) and even birth control pills. 18/6 lighting over 24/0, checking the dimple in the bottom of the seed, etc... maybe they work - maybe they don't. To be honest, I don't know and chances are good no one else knows for sure either (despite the cries to the contrary).

Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of reputable scientists studying and publishing research in this field so we are stuck with anecdote, testimonials and hearsay otherwise known as the hallmarks of bullshit.

Of course if anyone can point me to some studies done, i will both appreciate it and happily admit i am wrong!

From my understanding of genetics and college biology, the male plants determine the sex of the seeds when they pollinate. So any external influences do not determine the sex. I think it is just the luck of the drawl.

However, i have been wrong before.

google banana religion!!!

Or do what i do when planting the seeds..............Pray to the Ganja Gods for some fine looking ladies Let's be realistic though it's a 50/50 chance. And a hermie is just considered a freak.

Hank.

Hank said:

Or do what i do when planting the seeds..............Pray to the Ganja Gods for some fine looking ladies Let's be realistic though it's a 50/50 chance. And a hermie is just considered a freak.

Hank.

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I get and agree with your meaning but I heard the male/female ratio is not as good as 50/50 - i think it might be more like 80/20 or 70/30 in favor of males.

but again - some research to point to would be so very nice.

i think that the "increasing females" claims are bullshit also, but i do believe that more than just chance has an effect in determining plant sex, but i believe that it is concrete by the time the seed is mature. here is an example of what i am talking about...
Blackwell Synergy - Evolution, Volume 60 Issue 6 Page 1207-1214, June 2006 (Article Abstract)

gogrow said:

i think that the "increasing females" claims are bullshit also, but i do believe that more than just chance has an effect in determining plant sex, but i believe that it is concrete by the time the seed is mature. here is an example of what i am talking about...
Blackwell Synergy - Evolution, Volume 60 Issue 6 Page 1207-1214, June 2006 (Article Abstract)

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cool study - but i would like to see one done where the subject leans toward male-bias as seems to be the case with our special and beloved dioecious organism!

but thanks for the site link - never heard of this before

i am highly interested b/c it is my opinion that plants can sense their environment alot more than we give them credit for; i think that if under stress the plant can herm in order to insure survival, then it would make sense that it could also pass infomation about the current growing environment on to the seeds to compensate however the plant sees fit.

gogrow said:

i am highly interested b/c it is my opinion that plants can sense their environment alot more than we give them credit for; i think that if under stress the plant can herm in order to insure survival, then it would make sense that it could also pass infomation about the current growing environment on to the seeds to compensate however the plant sees fit.

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This is awesome! I am interested in this also. But to be honest, more from an evolutionary standpoint more so than growing.

So I have this straight, you are talking about a single organism responding to survival pressure in real time as opposed to genes adapting to pressure over long stretches of time? Or to put it another way, you are interested in plants doing what frogs famously do (change sex when survival pressure dictates)?

I am interested in both the phenotype adapting quickly to pressure as well as the genotype modifying over long periods of time.

email468 said:

This is awesome! I am interested in this also. But to be honest, more from an evolutionary standpoint more so than growing.

So I have this straight, you are talking about a single organism responding to survival pressure in real time as opposed to genes adapting to pressure over long stretches of time? Or to put it another way, you are interested in plants doing what frogs famously do (change sex when survival pressure dictates)?

I am interested in both the phenotype adapting quickly to pressure as well as the genotype modifying over long periods of time.

Click to expand...

check this out...

Summary Cannabis sativa L. is a dioecious species with sexual dimorphism occurring in a late stage of plant development. Sex is determined by heteromorphic chromosomes (X and Y): male is the heterogametic sex (XY) and female is the homogametic one (XX). The sexual phenotype of Cannabis often shows some flexibility leading to the differentiation of hermaphrodite flowers or bisexual inflorescences (monoecious phenotype). Sex is considered an important trait for hemp genetic improvement; therefore, the study of the mechanism of sexual differentiation is of paramount interest in hemp research. A morphological and molecular study of Cannabis sativa sexual differentiation has been carried out in the Italian dioecious cultivar Fibranova.
Microsreproductive commitment may occur as soon as the leaves of the fourth node emerge. copic analysis of male and female apices revealed that their ; the genetic expression of male and female apices at this stage has been compared by cDNA-AFLP. A rapid method for the early sex discrimination has been developed, based on the PCR amplification of a male-specific SCAR marker directly from a tissue fragment.

there may be something to this increasing females thing.

btw, this is from:
SpringerLink - Journal Article

Five of the several cDNA-AFLP polymorphic fragments identified have been confirmed to be differentially expressed in male and female apices at the fourth node. Cloning and sequencing revealed that they belong to nine different mRNAs that were all induced in the female apices at this stage. Four out of them showed a high degree of similarity with known sequences: a putative permease, a SMT3-like protein, a putative kinesin and a RAC-GTP binding protein

this states that there is a male bias in cannabis in more unfavorable environments;
check out 7.3

Gender and Sexual Dimorphism in ... - Google Book Search

Am I reading this correctly that sex change was accomplished after the 4th node?

gogrow said:

this states that there is a male bias in cannabis in more unfavorable environments;
check out 7.3

Gender and Sexual Dimorphism in ... - Google Book Search

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As if i needed more proof that anecdotal evidence (even my own) sucks.

email468 said:

Am I reading this correctly that sex change was accomplished after the 4th node?

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thats why i am still searching; im no biologist, so i could be interpreting some of this information wrong, but am now highly interested...