So the story starts at the seed. My buddy was growing some wonderful mango and some fire kush. The fire kush decided to hermaphrodite and pollinated the mango. Since there was a fan present and the fact that my buddy didn't catch on to the herm right away, you can only imagine what the seed production was. TONS of seeds! I had read somewhere of how hermaphrodites can produce pollen that will create "feminized" seeds. From what I can remember I think it said it the plants that start off female and pops male flowers near the end produce this special pollen. I figured what the hell I would save all of the seeds seeing how the bud was super mango flavored and the fire kush was a very potent strain. So I decided to try and germinate 5 of the Mango X Fire just as an experiment on Oct 31st 2013. I soaked the seeds in a shot glass for 24 hours and they sank to the bottom. I then transferred them to damp paper towel. All 5 germinated very well. We plant them and away we go. I lost 1 in the first week because it grew too tall and fell over while I slept. The remaining 4 grew very nice and I decided to start flowering them on December 26th because they filled the entire space. All 4 flowered very nice thru Jan & Feb. Even though I am very sure that all 4 seeds were the Mango X Fire, they all have taken their own identity and have very different budding structure. 2 of them have a very distinct smell of the mango but the buds look very different from each other. The other 2 do not smell like mango at all, but smell more like the fire kush did. Both of these plants developed a very strange looking flower structure at the tip of the main bud. It resembled cauliflower. I have Never seen anything like this in my 15+ years of growing. Not knowing what to do about it and hoping that it wouldn't produce male flowers, I decided to take the scissors to it and remove just the cauliflower looking stuff. March started and I noticed the tallest one started foxtailing a bit. I have seen this before but never to the extreme this plant is going. I have also started noticing more cauliflowering in the sides of the main bud. I have also started noticing that all 4 plants are producing what looks like a flower pod but not really looking like male flower pods. they are long and slender and do not open like a male flower does. Instead they open just at the tip and a white thing is protruding from the opening. I feel it is important to mention what I used for nutes, additives,soil, and water. From the very first moment that we planted the seedling into the Foxfarms Ocean Forest soil we also started giving them Stump Tea. I used the stump tea all the way thru the vegative state. I didn't give them any vegative nutes during the vegative state. The only nutes I used was Floranova Bloom. They received a total of 4 doses of the Floranova. The first dose was 1/2 tsp in a gallon of water. The 2nd, 3rd, and final dose was 1 tsp in a gallon of water. There was a couple of waterings between each feeding. My city tap water is not good so I use water from the machine at the local store. It is reverse osmosis and purified. It always PH's at 7.5. In previous grows I have reduced the PH to 6.5 because of the soil but history has shown that all my plants seem to respond better if I just leave the PH at 7.5. Here are the links to the products I used. http://www.amazon.com/General-Hydroponics-GH1632-FloraNova-Bloom/dp/B000W7C87Y http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-Stump-Tea http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-FoxFarm's-Ocean-Forest-Potting-Mix-1.5-Cubic-Feet I have included pictures but couldn't get a very clear picture of the cauliflower looking stuff. I do have a clear picture of the flower pods. 1 opened with the white thing protruding and the other not opened. I am really interested in hearing what people have to say about the little elongated flowers, cauliflowering, and the foxtailing. Please keep the comments positive and constructive.
I'm seeing something similar, I did some looking around that thing in the second pic is on mine so i did a bit of research and from what I read is the banana thing that hermies get. Im not 100% sure but foxtailing seems to be something different and your buds are so huge I wouldn't doubt that happened on yours, is that the understanding? I think i may have flowered too long and it switched hermie as a last ditch effort to reproduce. Wish i could get some educated input as well. A lot of confusing info out there.
I can't help but I can commiserate. I think the cauliflower things are the beginnings of another foxtail and it'll grow out of the side of the bud. My Gigabuds are at about day 50 and they started foxtailing about 10 days ago. Like you I figured I stressed them somewhere along the line (100% humidity for a few weeks, temps down to 42F, and too hot for about 2 weeks) and after reading up on foxtailing I conclude it's mainly genetic and influenced by stress, like heat and humidity, although my problems were fixed before the 2nd week of bloom. The reviews on foxtailing are mixed, some think it's fine and a trait in common with Sativa's, some say too many stems. Although the colas are good sized I'd like to let them go until I get 10% amber and there are still too many clear, and there's only a few brown pistils. I may go ahead and take them before it gets way out of hand but they are still putting on mad weight. How about wrapping each foxtail with a thread and call them Tai Sticks? https://www.google.com/search?q=thai+stick&rlz=1T4GGHP_enUS422US422&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=vOcxU6n8H6GK2gXImYAo&ved=0CDsQ7Ak&biw=1280&bih=536#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=VwUAVXRaaXhLcM%253A%3B8yxPmS_cJKq2wM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.thailawforum.com%252Fimages%252FThai%2520stick.JPG%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.thailawforum.com%252Fhistory-of-marijuana-cannabis-thailand-2.html%3B640%3B354
Wats your temps like? I believe heat and poor circulation is the culprit to the foxtailing. Look and see wat part of room/tent/box the plant that was foxtailing was in and check if there is good circulation if not heat stress can occur. Usually a far corner will do it
What is your humidity like? Very low humidity can do that to your leaves. The thing popping out of your bud is a banana. That's a normal part of their cycle. Doesn't always produce them but you will often be able to find one or two if you take it a little past the peak. Those are what produces the female pollen. It doesn't mean the plant is a hermie. A hermie will have real clusters of pollen sacks like a male plant. If they bother you, pluck em off. If not, save them for making other crosses! Chances are you won't breed a cannabis cup winner, but still fun to experiment!
Foxtailing is real common in sativas, I actually enjoy nice foxtail genetics. Some of the most intoxicating smoke I've ever had were foxtail buds. knives heated dull red release sweet smoky nectar I am lifted high
Here is the final photos of the foxtailing plant. I have never seen foxtailing this extreme before. The rest of the plant was ready to harvest while the tips of these foxtails are still green with white hairs and clear trichs. Very weird.