Sexing plants for outdoor

Basic Growing Info
#1

Ok I may have dropped the ball here and hoping you all can offer some advice. I have about 12 photo reg plants, only two of witch are remotely mature. The rest are seedlings just developing the first set of true leaves. I need to sex these plants. I should have started them earlier I’m guessing, I plan to plant by June and time is getting short.

So my question is when and how can I sex these plants before setting them outside? I don’t have enough pots, soil and space to run all of them and cut the males. Unless I can transplant them after they show sex but I feel like I would.be stunting them. I don’t think I have enough time to grow them out and take clones for sexing. Do I just chuck them in a tent on 12/12 and see what’s what then put them outside to reveg? Would that stress them out too much?

I’ve only grown once from clones so this is a new venture for me. I appreciate everyone advice in advance!

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#2

Farmer Freeman offers DNA sex testing for around 10-15 bucks a test. You can sex test leaves as soon as there’s enough leaves to remove one without harming the plant. Very fast turnaround times and they were accurate when I’ve used them in the past. Flipping to 12/12 for a few days to show pre flowers will only work if the plant is sexually mature which can take 4-6 weeks roughly.

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#3

An expensive option but an option non the less. Can’t afford that one at the moment. 4-6 weeks is already past my planting date and they’re only about 2 weeks along. Looks like I may have to find a way to run all of them and cull.

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#4

I would put them outside in like 7 gallons as soon as possible in your area.

Outside they should show pre flowers as soon as they are mature and you can reuse the soil from the males.

You can usually find free plastic pots from FB market, garden clubs or nursery stores.

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#5

Grow the plants as you would, when they get big enough take a clipping from each plant and put them into a jar of water and into 12-12 that gives you the sex and uninterrupted growing.

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#6

If you’re in a real hurry get the tests.

If you can wait 5-6 weeks they’ll show on their own.

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#7

You can purchase a sexing kit. Seems your options are limited. Theres no way to know without DNA testing or letting them grow out long enough to sex them or take cuttings to switch.

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#8

Yeah, it ain’t cheap that’s for sure. I’ve only done it twice when I really had to know if I had at least one female or was running on a tight schedule like you’re talking about. If they’re 2 weeks old you should be able to determine sex in 2-4 more weeks depending on the strain.

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#9

bro just do the sex test if it’s important. The option gives you an advantage many of us never had for decades.

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#10

100%. I have never flipped a plant to flower to show its sex, just grow them healthy and observe the nodes on the plants.

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#11

Maybe buy a pack of fem seeds… They have come a long way over the years.

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#12

I do the sex tests (Farmer Freeman) they save a lot of time. It’ll take about a week once you have the tests in-hand. If you are ordering them now, I’d plan on getting the results in about 2 weeks (3 business days to receive them, 5 business days to get results when you mail the samples back). So, in your case, not really saving much time.

I’m running bigger pots (25 gallons) they’ll all go outside and I’ll send my tests out for culling at the same time, but I have them laying around in my drawer.

Gotcha. Just put them out in smaller pots like recommended by @Sourpatch707

Out of curiosity how large are your destination containers? Can I ask why you are so worried about getting them out so soon? Are you high in lattitude/elevation?

I only ask that because I used to be super preoccupied with planting early, knowing sex before planting, etc., and it’s all gotten much more relaxed since I realized it’s pretty simple to get bigger plants than I want outside. I used to germinate early April, that’s shifted to early May. I’d be happy to get them in-ground by June. Whole thing has gotten much more chill as I’ve done it more. Just sayin’

You have quite an outdoor setup! I lost track of your outdoor thread about a month ago but just peeked again things are cooking right along. You are going to have more weed than you know what to do with, don’t stress about these reg plants. Throw em in some intermediate pots, wait until you can sex them, then into the final containers. Or, just put all of the same variety into their final pot, and cull the males and ones you don’t like as they reach puberty.

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#13

yes.

probably not. if one gets too bitchy just cull it

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#14

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They may show in 6 weeks indoors, but this patch of males was 10 weeks old and 6 ft tall before they started to show sex outdoors.

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#15

so my situation is I can only technically grow 5 at a time. But I can keep things out of view and Im not worried about the amount of plants until they begin to smell then people obviously know they are there. I was hoping to limit the amount of plants i had out at one time but seems i may have to just set them all out and hope for the best.

I have 20 gallon fabric pots that I planned on putting them in. Maybe one in my raised bed with my veggies. Last year they were in 10 gal fabric pots and ended up about half the size of the one in the raised bed, but i suspect that was due to cheap potting soil i put them in compared to the living soil in the raised bed. Im in zone 5b elevation is around 700ft.

ya know your absolutely right. Im getting too worried about it. K.I.S.S. keep it simple stupid! Im just unsure of what my windows of operation are here since ive never grown anything that I had to worry about the sex of the plants. Things in my personal life have kept me busy and stressed and im just now trying to sort things out now that things are starting to resemble normal again. In the end it is what it is, Ill end up with some great bud.

I think this is the way. Ill grab some cheap nursery pots that i can keep them in. Then transfer to the final container once i know what they are. Ive had good luck cutting those at the bottom and down the sides to up pot plants. These might be a bit more difficult due to size though.

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#16

I do have some fem seeds i plan on planting too. I have some white widow and honey cream from royal queen seeds

#17

I like this idea. Im for sure going to try this out. thank you for the idea!

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#18

Not that its super important. I just have a limit on what i can grow. Moneys been tight so the test is out of the question this time around.

#19

I always like to get a jump start on my growing season. at least as far as my veggie garden goes. Last year I planted clones the beginning of june and that seemed pretty optimal for my area. my largest plant was probably around 5 feet tall and produced somewhere around 220 grams not including what i saved for hash.

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#20

They will need to be mature but then you can flip them to flower for 3 days, and then back to veg and within a week the males should show themselves.