Sexing

There are lots of questions and massive confusion on this issue, so I thought I would write a thread.

MJ is unusual amongst plants, but not unique, in that the plants have two sexes. (Most plants are not like this, they have both male and female organs in the one flower.)

Also, unlike most plants, MJ is pollinated by wind, not insects, and does not then have a brightly coloured flower to attract insects.

The male flower is a sac of pollen, which bursts open to release the pollen to the wind. The female flower is what we call a bud, covered with thousands of pistils, fine hairs coated with trichomes containing sticky THC which catches pollen grains.

When the plant is 6 to 8 weeks old it develops pre-flowers, at the nodes of the plant, that is, where the branches meet the main stem. At this stage, which is long before actual flowering begins, we can identify the sex of the plant.

The male pre-flower is like a ball on a stick, often occurring in groups of two or three.
see top pic.

The female pre-flower can be recognised by the presence of pistils. see bottom pic

Both these are initially very small, and a magnifier is used to identify them. I have a watchmaker´s 9X eyeglass, but the standard lens from a 35mm SLR camera works very well.

good post, excellent pics. One of the best examples and explanations I've seen around. Good job man. +rep

good post, excellent pics. One of the best examples and explanations I've seen around. Good job man. +rep

Thank you for your kind comments.

Wonderful TUT!

i got 2 little green hairs and 2 tiny serrated leaves commin out are those the preflowers? oh and +Rep for you man.

Where are the mods when you need a sticky. +Rep

I'm 100% serious when I say this, you are a true asset to the growing section of these forums, I have no idea why you have such little rep. Neg rep from people who don't appreciate your sarcasm I assume. Anyway +Rep, thanks alot.

EDIT: God damnit, I must spread some rep around. I'll get you eventually, not many other people worth + repping.

Where are the mods when you need a sticky. +Rep

I'm 100% serious when I say this, you are a true asset to the growing section of these forums, I have no idea why you have such little rep. Neg rep from people who don't appreciate your sarcasm I assume. Anyway +Rep, thanks alot.

EDIT: God damnit, I must spread some rep around. I'll get you eventually, not many other people worth + repping.

I am not here for rep, and you are right, I don´t suffer fools gladly. Thanks for the kind comments.

I have to say those are some of the best preflower pics I've seen. When I was first trying to sex my plant a few grows ago, I looked all over and those are much better than any I found. Did you take those pics yourself?

Plant the seed if you have it.
Throw a few toward the local creek.


NOBODY rules the green.

Y eould like yo add to this.

If you plant 10 seed and they all emerge and all live and are alll male plants..........................at leasxt onr of them will convert to female.

LOL ok dude It didnt turn female it always was you were just wrong in guessing what it was

I have to say those are some of the best preflower pics I've seen. When I was first trying to sex my plant a few grows ago, I looked all over and those are much better than any I found. Did you take those pics yourself?

Of course.

I am not here for rep, and you are right, I don´t suffer fools gladly. Thanks for the kind comments.

Have some fun with it man, it's just a forum . . .

LOL ok dude It didnt turn female it always was you were just wrong in guessing what it was

I've seen some hermies go the other way, from female to hermaphrodite, due to an extra long flowering cycle. I'm assuming it's the plants defense mechanism in order to get polinated. If it's just been flowering for a while without being polinated it grows male organs to ensure survival of the species. (That's how you get feminized seeds, with all females you just flower them extra long They grow balls and the resulting seeds have mostly female genetics.) I've got no clue if it can go the other way though, man, someone would have to clue me in.

You don't need a magnifying glass lol..

You don't need a magnifying glass lol..

Newbies find it easier, and so do I although I have been growing for years.

Cheers for that!
It's my first post here and I'm in the middle of growing my first lot at the moment.
Being new here, and new to the growing scene that's really helped,
Thanks!
Joe

Very well done on this thread Spanish.

Do you mind if I advertise it in my Sig also?

.[/quote] thank you soo much for those pics i am learning alot from you i appreciate them very much!! had no clue which was female and wich was male and that was cool when i saw that man....

Feel free to do whatever, glad it is of some use.