Sexing regular seeds: flip to 12/12 then flip back to veg?

budrock61

Active Member
I've never grown regs, but now have a bunch that were gifted to me.

SO, can I flip them at maybe 2 weeks veg, and then flip them back to veg 2 weeks later (or whenever they show female pistils)?

Downsides? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
 

FollowAroma

Member
Flipping them to 12/12 that young can cause problems. Most of the time it stunts them and they have to mature a few more weeks before they will show sex . That being said some strains will take off on you and start stretching and showing sex in a few days.
 

Mak'er Grow

Well-Known Member
It might be easier to take a clone from each plant...label the plant and its clone as you go...once the clones root you can put them into flower...keep them going or toss them once you determined the sex(es).
This way the main plant keeps vegging and won't take weeks to re-veg if its put into flower.
 

FollowAroma

Member
That's one way to do it. I know that space quickly becomes an issue in my grows. So I veg in 64oz plastic cups from the gas stations. I had a partner sprout 120 seeds in solo cups one time of different bag seeds and some store bought seeds mixed in there. We had our hands full but it was a great learning experience. When it was time to re-pot them I had to take a bunch of them and just flowered out about 30 of them and most of them didn't respond well to going 12/12. But there was a few that would be great for a sog grow. All in all it was a pain in the ass and clones and fem seeds are definitely the way to go.
When it comes to re/veg some strains will go back and forth easily and some strains never really recover. Its really not worth messing with if time is of the essence.
 

curious2garden

Well-Known Mod
Staff member
I've never grown regs, but now have a bunch that were gifted to me.

SO, can I flip them at maybe 2 weeks veg, and then flip them back to veg 2 weeks later (or whenever they show female pistils)?

Downsides? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
They won't show sex until they are mature. So switching and switching back gives you no information if the plants aren't mature enough. Just keep an eye on them for pre-sex.
 

Kalebaiden

Well-Known Member
Easiest way that I've found is grow the plants, clone and lable both clone and mother. Flip the clones and trash the males after sex shows.

I was told told to do a 4 day flip but only after sexual maturity and then toss the males and reveg the rest.

Lots of solutions to an age old issue.
 

curious2garden

Well-Known Mod
Staff member
Easiest way that I've found is grow the plants, clone and lable both clone and mother. Flip the clones and trash the males after sex shows.

I was told told to do a 4 day flip but only after sexual maturity and then toss the males and reveg the rest.

Lots of solutions to an age old issue.
Why would you bother to do a flip if they demonstrated sexual maturity? Further 4 days won't give you the auxin shift you need for sex determination.
 

CarolinaPotheadsNew

Well-Known Member
Why would you bother to do a flip if they demonstrated sexual maturity? Further 4 days won't give you the auxin shift you need for sex determination.
I'm teaching myself how to tell sex by looking through the jeweler's loupe and checking for sign. I think I'm starting to get it. We shall see. I did wonder about flipping to check but research is telling me that they will likely show sex by week 6. Often by week 4. I'm thinking I see a ball on 1 and a pistil on the other. If they're showing at a month then why flip? Id hate to f up these beans. Gift from a friend. :)
 

pegboy

Well-Known Member
I've never grown regs, but now have a bunch that were gifted to me.

SO, can I flip them at maybe 2 weeks veg, and then flip them back to veg 2 weeks later (or whenever they show female pistils)?

Downsides? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
There are testing services you can send samples to and have results within a few days. I pretty much do this every time I grow regs nowadays. Saves a lot of time and aggravation.
 

CarolinaPotheadsNew

Well-Known Member
There are testing services you can send samples to and have results within a few days. I pretty much do this every time I grow regs nowadays. Saves a lot of time and aggravation.
How much does that cost? I'm one of those that don't sell and I don't grow many at once. I'd like to know early but not if it's too expensive. Plus, we don't all live in legal states. It'll be great when technology progresses to the cheap home test kits.
 

pegboy

Well-Known Member
How much does that cost? I'm one of those that don't sell and I don't grow many at once. I'd like to know early but not if it's too expensive. Plus, we don't all live in legal states. It'll be great when technology progresses to the cheap home test kits.
The service I use starts at $15 each and goes down a bit the more you buy. You send samples and they email you results within a few days. Very discrete. Great service. I always keep some on hand. Here's a link to the one I use.

 

CarolinaPotheadsNew

Well-Known Member
The service I use starts at $15 each and goes down a bit the more you buy. You send samples and they email you results within a few days. Very discrete. Great service. I always keep some on hand. Here's a link to the one I use.

Hey that's pretty cool and reasonable. A bag of soil costs double that. I have a small space so it would be efficient and just nice to be sure. Thanks for the link.
 

mark3513

Well-Known Member
I've never grown regs, but now have a bunch that were gifted to me.

SO, can I flip them at maybe 2 weeks veg, and then flip them back to veg 2 weeks later (or whenever they show female pistils)?

Downsides? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
I just tried this I thought it might be a good idea to get a headstart and now I regret it. Put my plants in 12/12 when they were around 7 or 8 inches. I noticed a stretch on a few of them and when they showed sex I put them outside. This was about a month ago and a lot of them don't want to go back to veg. Went from 5 leafs to 3, 2, 1 leaf still they are still growing but you can see the bottom have 5 leaves and they haven't gone back. That's a mistake I won't make again and it didn't save me anytime they show sex early enough didn't need to do it. I could take some pics
 

Star Dog

Well-Known Member
Ime flipping at 2 weeks and less = cracking plants without flipping back, as mentioned above plants won't start flowering until they're mature enough so your really you're vegging on 12-12 but flowering at the 1st opportunity, 12-12 from seed you've around 6/7wks growth counting pre flowering and stretch.
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Looking back at what I've grown in the last two years 5/12 days vegging is more the norm, if you're interested check out my grows there's more @12-12 and 11-13.

For uninterrupted growth on a vegging plant I'd only take a shoot and put the shoot into 12-12, that way you get the sex and uninterrupted vegging growth on the main plant.

Good luck
 
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