Guitar Man
Well-Known Member
I've read countless threads and comments about why an MJ plant will Herm. When I first started growing 11 years ago my first indoor grow went Herm wild on me. All 4 plants produced balls and seeds and I came here to find answers. The conclusion? Find those damn light leaks!!
So I go on a rampage, finding every single sliver of possible light that might sneak into my grow room. The conclusion? The plants still went Herm on me, even after making sure my plants went to sleep in total darkness.
Then I go to the next stage of my grow experience by growing outdoors, using the same seeds from my indoor grow. During the grow and at harvest I didn't find a single ball or seed on any of the plants. This puzzled me but became my here and now answer to this problem. After growing indoor and outdoor for a few more years the same situation prevailed; balls and seeds on my indoor, but not outdoor, unless, the outdoor plant went through a super stressful event, like intense heat. And even then, only a minute Herm event on the outdoor plant.
I also observed the light that would hit my outdoor plants during the evening hours when flowering was taking place. Our home windows are right next to the plants we grow and we never covered the windows to stop the light from tagging the plants. This is where I really began to put the pieces together. If my outdoor grow is just fine with being hit with an outside light source and NOT Herm, I began to realize that light leaks were not my problem.
Well, many years later, through trial and error, my conclusion is light leaks DO NOT cause a plant to Herm, indoor or outdoor. It's stress, period.
And the indoor stress that is wholly responsible for a plant throwing out some balls to pollinate itself is LIGHT. Not a light leak, but your grow lights. This unnatural enviroment where we use intense lights to produce fantastic buds is your Herm enemy.
Now, this part of my post doesn't have anything to do with my above reference, but I actually like when my indoor grow will throw out some balls to give me some seeds. Why? Because they are feminized and the exact same strain I'm growing. The more I grew, the better I got at using the Herm to give me more of the same for my next grow.
So I go on a rampage, finding every single sliver of possible light that might sneak into my grow room. The conclusion? The plants still went Herm on me, even after making sure my plants went to sleep in total darkness.
Then I go to the next stage of my grow experience by growing outdoors, using the same seeds from my indoor grow. During the grow and at harvest I didn't find a single ball or seed on any of the plants. This puzzled me but became my here and now answer to this problem. After growing indoor and outdoor for a few more years the same situation prevailed; balls and seeds on my indoor, but not outdoor, unless, the outdoor plant went through a super stressful event, like intense heat. And even then, only a minute Herm event on the outdoor plant.
I also observed the light that would hit my outdoor plants during the evening hours when flowering was taking place. Our home windows are right next to the plants we grow and we never covered the windows to stop the light from tagging the plants. This is where I really began to put the pieces together. If my outdoor grow is just fine with being hit with an outside light source and NOT Herm, I began to realize that light leaks were not my problem.
Well, many years later, through trial and error, my conclusion is light leaks DO NOT cause a plant to Herm, indoor or outdoor. It's stress, period.
And the indoor stress that is wholly responsible for a plant throwing out some balls to pollinate itself is LIGHT. Not a light leak, but your grow lights. This unnatural enviroment where we use intense lights to produce fantastic buds is your Herm enemy.
Now, this part of my post doesn't have anything to do with my above reference, but I actually like when my indoor grow will throw out some balls to give me some seeds. Why? Because they are feminized and the exact same strain I'm growing. The more I grew, the better I got at using the Herm to give me more of the same for my next grow.