How do you keep a mother, if you don't know the sex before flowering?

How do I go about keeping a mother to get clones off of if I don't know the sex of the plant. You can't tell the sex before flowering but then it's to late to keep a mother... true?

So how do I get to keep a mother with unknown sex prior to flowering?

Thanks

K you have 2 options here. You take a cutting and flower it once its rooted to determine the sex of your mother, or you can put your mother on 12/12 and flower her to find out the sex. If you flower your mother after the first signs of sex revert her back to the vegetative state by turning the lights back to 18 hours plus a day. Personally I like my lights on 20 hours and 4 hours off.

BongFiend420 said:

K you have 2 options here. You take a cutting and flower it once its rooted to determine the sex of your mother, or you can put your mother on 12/12 and flower her to find out the sex. If you flower your mother after the first signs of sex revert her back to the vegetative state by turning the lights back to 18 hours plus a day. Personally I like my lights on 20 hours and 4 hours off.

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or you can save all that stress and just keep it vegging until its mature enough to show sex in veg,

My space is limited so I think I'll have to flower them and when the sex first shows pull the best one out back to veg or should I just pull a couple cones off of her and let her flower. Use the clone as a mother eventually.

H.R. Shove N Stuff said:

My space is limited so I think I'll have to flower them and when the sex first shows pull the best one out back to veg or should I just pull a couple cones off of her and let her flower. Use the clone as a mother eventually.

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Well reverting will take a little longer, but I think its better in the long run. You will get a strong mother. If you wanna just flower that mother and take clones, then take the clones before you sex her.

speedyseedz said:

or you can save all that stress and just keep it vegging until its mature enough to show sex in veg,

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Speedy please explain to me, I dont know about this.

why not just take a cutting of a female and turn your lights on 18/6 and theres your mother ..

smallclosetgrowr said:

why not just take a cutting of a female and turn your lights on 18/6 and theres your mother ..

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Because He's saying he doesnt yet know the sex of his plant. If it was female obviously thats the practical thing to do.

BongFiend420 said:

Speedy please explain to me, I dont know about this.

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plants will show preflowers when they reach maturity in VEG

BongFiend420 said:

Speedy please explain to me, I dont know about this.

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Most plants when vegged long enough will show preflowers, this is when they are mature. By waiting to flower until this time, you actually increase potency in the plant and realize its potential.

In hydro on 24/0 I know someone who could achieve that in around 4 weeks veg, in soil it can take a lil bit longer, 18/6 sets it back a bit too. so it could be 6-8 weeks veg.

speedyseedz said:

Most plants when vegged long enough will show preflowers, this is when they are mature. By waiting to flower until this time, you actually increase potency in the plant and realize its potential.

In hydro on 24/0 I know someone who could achieve that in around 4 weeks veg, in soil it can take a lil bit longer, 18/6 sets it back a bit too. so it could be 6-8 weeks veg.

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Nice, thanks for the information Speedy. I always open to new information and I love learning. I am just curious to how some people keep a 5 year old mother if she starts to show preflowers. Can you explain please or private message me. Are you just saying they show preflowers or they start to autoflower ?

Ideal way to do it is take one or two cuttings from each plant(two in case one dies)..keep track of which is which..root the clones and once the main plants get rid of the male plants/cuttings..then I'd wait as long as resources allow to pull the rest so you can see which plant is most vigorous/pungent/potent(if you can wait til finish)

Good luck

BongFiend420 said:

Nice, thanks for the information Speedy. I always open to new information and I love learning. I am just curious to how some people keep a 5 year old mother if she starts to show preflowers. Can you explain please or private message me. Are you just saying they show preflowers or they start to autoflower ?

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No they will just show preflowers, they won't actually go into the bloom phase until you alter the lights.

When you grow a plant and force flower it early, until you actually see preflowers it is still vegging, just on 12 hours of light, its trying to get its self to a position where it can flower.

It's 24/0 light. They are about 11'' - 12'' high and look great. Mostly wide dark green leaves so I believe Indica dominant(good bagseed, unkown). 400w MH. They are exactly 3 weeks old in hydro hempy buckets. I don't think I have the height(5ft+) to veg for 8 weeks.

What will flowering and pulling back a female as soon as possible do to her health?

H.R. Shove N Stuff said:

It's 24/0 light. They are about 11'' - 12'' high and look great. Mostly wide dark green leaves so I believe Indica dominant(good bagseed, unkown). 400w MH. They are exactly 3 weeks old in hydro hempy buckets. I don't think I have the height(5ft+) to veg for 8 weeks.

What will flowering and pulling back a female as soon as possible do to her health?

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It's not going to be ideal for her, if you wait another 2 weeks i'd say you should see sex

bobsgreen said:

Ideal way to do it is take one or two cuttings from each plant(two in case one dies)..keep track of which is which..root the clones and once the main plants get rid of the male plants/cuttings..then I'd wait as long as resources allow to pull the rest so you can see which plant is most vigorous/pungent/potent(if you can wait til finish)

Good luck

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by time he's took the cuttings and got them to root, the plant will most likely be showing sex anyway.

speedyseedz said:

by time he's took the cuttings and got them to root, the plant will most likely be showing sex anyway.

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probably should have explained a little more..this is to preserve the best genetics not just keep a random female as there will be differences between the sisters..and why not keep genetics from the best of the lot if youve got the resources

you should let it veg unti lit matures as suggested. Its not a good idea to take a cutting from an immature or child plant just to see the sex. This is like taking a 6 year old girl and asking her to show her tits and that's just rude and sick. Kidding aside you will not be getting the full genetics of the plant because its a child. This maturity is no different that puberty for humans in many ways, afterward the plant will show "pre flowers" this word confuses people because it is not a flower and is just the same girl showing sex plainly because the plant is actually old enough and has passed puberty, sometimes the branch nodes start alternating as well but normally you see the sack forming or the tiny hairs. At this point you can tell the sex of the plant without stressing it and it takes about the same amount of time as stressing the plant into showing sex before its even able to afterward as long as you keep the lights at least 15+ hours of light the mother plant will not flower unless it has some ruderalis in it. The main point is you would not want to establish a mother plant from a stressed immature plant as this is what you are multiplying plus it takes about the same amount of time to get it reveging. Take the time and do it right and you will be able to see which female has the best values as far as looks and growth rates, stem thickness. Later you will be able to tell if the smoke is kick ass and keep it going but trust me once you start taking cuttings you are in essence topping branches with growth spots and normally this splits into two so after two weeks you have twice the amount of cuttings to take and it very quicky turns into 24-36 clones every two weeks. I end up tossing the mother plant into flower room after a few cuttings as I have not been able to stunt the growth enough to hold it back. Good luck and be weary of the advice you get before actually trying things when it comes to "tricks" also take a look at the how many posts someone has made also is a clue sometimes (not always I have seen some excellent advice from people with very few posts) Again good luck

bobsgreen said:

probably should have explained a little more..this is to preserve the best genetics not just keep a random female as there will be differences between the sisters..and why not keep genetics from the best of the lot if youve got the resources

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how is it a fair test without the cuttings being mature enough to flower also?

speedyseedz said:

how is it a fair test without the cuttings being mature enough to flower also?

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I would like to find out how my girl is going to act as an adult. I hate growing whores and like ladies with class, nice lips and wide in the hips. Big boobs are nice too, lol sorry the hash has made me a bit giggly this morning. ITS FRIDAY!!!!