At what point do you suggest pulling the males?
I have never left a male with females. I use a paint brush and knock up the ladies twice a few days apart when buds are about the size of a babys pinky.
-I would pull them when the females are that big.Pollen will still be viablea nd contaminating the tent for a while.
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I let the second to last go 4 weeks but the males were a reversal. The one I am pulling now have been in there a couple weeks.
I will use these two to see how long for next time. If the females are in full flower and the males are shooting great. If I still get a ton on white seeds I will cut back to one week. I am trying to get the most mature seeds with the least immature. As some just pollenate manually I would think only a few days would be needed or less.
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This is in my limited experience also the case.
Plant stress is a big factor too.
You don’t want a pregnant woman or animal to have stress either…
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Here’s a scenario:
I’ve dusted an entire room of mostly different strains. The same soil was used for all of the plants, they were on the same watering schedule and in the same sized pots. The male used was the same for all of them, and they were all dusted at the same time. The only difference in the room was the different cultivars.
When I shucked the seeds there were differences with the number of white seeds that each plant made. Some had 50% white seeds (actually there was only one plant that did this), while others had only like 10-15% white seeds.
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As they were different cultivars it’s maybe no surprise their seed maturity ratios are different, each specimens having a different maturation/life span.
In this case, I guess to optimize the amount of nice seeds on each specimens, you would have to enter them into flower at different times, to sync their peak of readiness to produce them, when the male is itself at its peak of production (cause I guess they have one too, why wouldn’t they?). Almost like staging their entrance to their level of NLD blood/harvest date. If you’re using multiple males, you’d probably have to do the same dance with them in an ideal world. 
@Magu DD spread that here and there but it’s summed up here Freaker’s Ball Preservation Project 2021: Arakku Valley - #232 by DougDawson
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Thanks @funkyfunk . I believe to be sure of seed maturity you should leave the plant to die from old age. But my set up is different. I can have multiple old plants hidden in the weeds, in the woods or sitting under my camper. I cant believe you guys dont smoke your seeded buds. I smoke everything! 
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I deseed it and then make hash with the plant material.
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Good plan. 🫣
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Waste not want not. I actually have a plant in there I didn’t bother to deseed. Just didn’t like it so into the hash pile seeds and all.
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The good seed falls all around the planter and you gotta pick em one by one
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Did you ever pollinate them with the DBHP or vise versa
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@Jhamersburg, hmmm 
, I never thought to cross them but now ya got my 
’s turning… so im going to try to breed them-more than likely.
How does…Bloody Freak sound?
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Nice 
I hope it works for you
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Welcome to OG @Mta1968!
Remember to give your pregnant plants extra phosphorus for optimal seed production. Seeds are a major phosphorous sink and plants require more phosphorus when creating viable seeds.
If you pollinated only a branch or two of a flowering plant for seeds, then a little more P is necessary to keep the seeded branches from robbing P from the rest of the plant.
If you are flowering plants and not making seeds, then your phosphorous levels should be kept low.
Also, seed viability has no correlation to seed color. Seed color is an indication shell hardness.
Instead of smashing seeds between your fingers, put them in a glass of water and wait for a few minutes, the seeds that float are likely hollow and non-viable, the seeds that sank are viable seeds.
Take your viable seeds out of the water, dry them off and do what you will with them.
There’s nothing to worry about, putting seeds in water for a few minutes is safe and won’t cause them to germinate.
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That is interesting. I keep my seeds in the freezer and I have often wondered what would happen if I had to thaw them for some reason. I am worried about condensation from the temperature change. I was thinking that opening the vials would allow the miosture to dissipate. Probably could not freeze them again though.
Basically a plant of a certain size is only really capable of making a certain quantity of seeds, and if you make fewer seeds on a plant they are likely to be of a higher quality… if you try and push the plant to make too many seeds they will be smaller and of less quality with more empty ones.
So the lighter the pollination, the fewer the seeds… but the better the quality. If you are trying to get as many as possible then you need to get that balance right or your seed quality will drop.
In my experience longer times over 5 week make no difference. that is plenty of time for the seeds to be well cooked. i sent some 12 year old seeds i’d made to someone the other day and he got 100% germination (of course they had been kept in the freezer)
i pollinate at about 4 weeks, i control the pollination (collect it from the separated males and apply it myself lightly with a finger or paintbrush) then make sure they have at least 4 weeks to form… then i feed the plant well for the rest of flowering…
VG
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Bloody freak sounds Awesome… 
Great info. Will explore this.
This seems accurate and I will test it. Thank you.
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Yes it’s similar to fruit trees etc… (fruits are only to carry seeds)
If you have an apple tree, it will only yield a certain weight of fruit each year… so if you thin the baby fruits by removing half… the apples you get at the end of the season should be twice the size! -and for flower shows, people will remove most of the buds and sideshoots from their Dahlias or sweet peas or whatever to get big, quality flowers because more of the plant’s energy will go into what is left.
obviously you can’t remove half the seeds forming in a cannabis plant… but by the same principle a lighter pollination will do the same job.
VG
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