Hi, I am growing the old-fashioned way without artificial lighting so far. And I am growing regular seed. So, I want to find out ASAP which ones are females. For that purpose, I tried shading plants after 12 hours last year. Did not work, because I could not pull the large bags over them at the right time each and every day.
So, this year I need to use an indoor grow tent for that purpose with artificial lighting this year.
My question: I want to take cuttings from each plant. Ideally just cut the top but how soon would you do that at the earliest possible? 4 sets of real leaves or more? And then, how long should the cutting be under more than 12 hours before getting it to flower? Can I do this immediately after the cutting rooted? (It is not necessary that these cuttings will develop to full beauty, they should just show the gender of the mother plant)
Thanks for any helpful recommendations. (In the old days I just grew them until autumn but nowadays I don’t have that kind of space any more).
I did all that stuff for years, but last year I started paying 15 bucks each to get them tested. Just snip off a bottom leaf, stuff it envelope, stick the coded plant marker, send it off, and in a couple days you KNOW.
Totally worth it for a few plants. Leaf Works is who I use.
Yes, but no. First of all, I live in Central Europe. Besides, I like to do stuff like that myself. Learning a lot about plants that way. I know, it is probably not cheaper either, considering the cost of lighting and all. But I enjoy doing stuff the old-fashioned way with my own hands.
OK. And when would you take cuttings - 3rd, 4th or 5th set of real leaves? I want the mother to grow nicely. Probably cutting off a single set of leaves, like the 4th or 5th set should do?
I would keep two or three sets of leaves on the plant so it has a good chance of development after being cut. Ideally a few more but that’s the minimum
You don’t need to root cuts to see gender. You can take snips and put them in a cup of water in 12|12 lighting and they should show gender. I haven’t found a “fast” way myself though. It seems waiting for maturity takes time. And females tend to show later than males do.
I agree with that statement but the last couple of regs I grew showed early females and the males took longer. Prob a rare occurrence but annoyed me because I was excited to have a couple of females haha. Waited and waited after flipping then finally pollen sacks galore
No need to be sorry. Thanks. It is just me trying to do things the old-fashioned way. Others might find your recommendation helpful. Thanks for answering here.
@SeniorGrower > I’m going through the same process right now. I’ve started three seeds each of the four strains I want to grow.
I have doubled the size of my solo cups to 6" x 6" to take into account a late transplant. They are under 18/6 of light and depending on their size plan to go to 12/12 at day 30.
I had planned to do the 12/12 right from the start but I have older seeds that took forever to germinate and emerge from the soil, they are now 9 days apart in age and growing slowly so I changed my plan and went 18/6 to speed things up
Once sexed hopefully I can transplant four females and return to 18/6…
