Journal: Re-starting to grow... 17 years later

I’d consider starting to flower the males a bit after the ladies( 2 weeks maybe) so the females are a bit developed before pollen interrupts flower formation. Females make flowers to reproduce, and if there is no hanky panky, they react by improving their odds…which means making more flowers to catch pollen. Once pollination is occurring, the plant starts concentrating on growing seed( to an extent) rather than 100% of its energy going towards floral production. This is why I allow the females a head start. Bigger flowers at the start of pollination means more seed ime. I like pollinating pinky nail size flowers. If you fully pollinate too late( thumbnail size flowers) the plant will be trying to make too many seeds at once. And the result will be that it will abort some, or make small seeds.
What you don’t want is your males petering out before the females are properly flowering. If you flower males early I’d plan to collect pollen for later…just in case.
Of course, there’s lots of ways to do this and there are no wrong answers.

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