A customer has a question and I hope we can get some opinions on it, thanks
I purchased 20 White Widow and 10 Girl Scout Cookies Extreme feminized seeds from you last fall. I started 9 plants indoors under first florescent lights (4 weeks) then moved to bigger pots to veg under 300 w LED lights (4 weeks). I wanted to keep the plants in vegetative state for another 2 weeks but I needed to have hip surgery and therefore moved the plants outdoors at age 8 weeks. I reduced the hours of light from 18 to 14 over their last week under the lights as the amount of daylight in December here in Hawaii is about 11 hours. The plants flowered outside and I harvested them 7 weeks later. After drying the buds, I found them full of seeds.
Before we go there, no one is growing cannabis or hemp nearby. And I’ve been growing for the last 30+ years and know what a male plant looks like. My license allows me to grow 10 plants but I do 9 because that is the number that fits in my nursery. Also, I grow organic, feeding the ladies a light mix of compost tea, seaweed and fish emulsion — like a teaspoon per gallon every 3 days then only rain water — about 2 quarts every other day. And the winters in Hawaii are 75 degrees in the day dropping to 60 at night. Certainly warm enough. And we get frequent gentle misting rains. In other words, I try to keep the plants stress free.
We call the winters here in Hawaii “the short season” because the plants rarely get bigger than 2 1/2 to 3 feet tall and only produce a few ounces of bud each. Daylight ranges from 11 to 12 hours in the short season where it ranges from 12-14 in the summer. Tropics and all that.
So why did these plants go to seed? I can only think of three possibilities. First is that I probably waited a week too long to harvest. I was waiting for the main colas to get bigger. The second was maybe I should have gradually reduced the amount of light over a longer period before putting the plants outside — like maybe subtracting 1/2 hour every other day over a period of 2 weeks. The third possibility is the seeds themselves. Maybe one of these strains has a tendency to go hermaphrodite. I didn’t see any signs of “cannabis balls” but with my hip slowly knitting itself back together, I couldn’t get in close enough to inspect all of the girl’s flowers.
I’ve just moved my next crop of 9 (2 GSCE, 3 WW & 4 BB) into bigger pots under 16 hours of LED light. They are just over 4 weeks old and doing nicely. I plan to move them outdoors around the middle of March when there should be 12 hours of daylight each day for the flowering period. Should be a stress-free grow. I am concerned about the new girls turning into hermaphrodites. Do you have any suggestions?
I would think some sort of stress at the end of the run but its only a guess
And its possible for pollen to travel miles outdoors are you sure theirs no possible way that someone else is growing near by it doesn’t take that many males just a thought
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Thanks. After thinking about this and reading everything I could find, I probably just waited too long. I’ve always harvested when the buds were full and frosty but I was recovering from an operation and just was not that mobile. Either that or the girls picked up on my stress… or they just wanted to have sex with each other when I was not looking.
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As to why I usually harvest a sample bud early.
Is this your first experience with feminized seeds versus female seeds? They can be a bit sensitive to an array of factors like abrupt light, a night light or a streetlight outside interrupting their cycle etc. Female plants are less susceptible to these triggers but can still happen.
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Yes it is the first time buying seeds. In the past I developed my own strain I called Buddha Bud. I grew the same strain for about a dozen years by letting a few plants from every other grow go to seed. I always did this by keeping a few males in my short season grow. The following grow would be all female. But eventually the strain grew small and weak. Then about two years ago, I switched to clones. That worked fine but I thought I’d try some new (to me) strains. I ordered some from this site and set up an indoor nursery then moved the plants outdoors when they were about 18-22 inches high (8 weeks old). That was December 20. I harvested on January 31. That is a 6 week flowering period.
The grow in progress is now 5 weeks and the girls are about 8-10 inches high. They are just beginning to have a smell. My plan is to move them to their outside pots around March 17 and harvest around April 15-22. That should give me 12 hours of daylight, 75-80 degree days and 65-70 degree nights. Should be ideal conditions.
There is not that much light pollution here. The closest street quiets down early. It is a head scratcher for me as I have never had a girl go to seed before unless I deliberately left a male or two in the grow in order to get seeds for the next crop. I guess I need to buy a big magnifying glass and keep a closer eye on the crop.
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You should expect a longer flowering period: 65 days for White Widow. I always plan on 9 weeks. Otherwise you miss out on most of the bud mass.
Just chopped a WW on Sunday and here’s an average cola. And I harvested at 7 weeks. Spider mites…
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Very nice! My Girl Scout Cookies Extreme grew close to that size but the White Widows were about 30% smaller.
Gota up my game.
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Hey there @beachhippie
I personally never use a calendar to determine harvest
I will use it as a gauge but always use visual indicators the plant is done and ready 
Anyway just wanted to say hello and welcome you to the forum
@Myfriendis410 is a knowledgeable dude he has you covered 
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65 days is just a guideline.
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Thanks. I just started trying out this approach. But the dates are not written in stone. I’m using timed plantings to try to get 4 + harvests a year and to know when to move the girls outside. In years past, I only did two plantings a year and just grew enough for myself and to have a little to share with friends. But now I grow for a brother and a few friends with cancer. That means I need to grow a few pounds every year. My medical license is for 10 plants at a time so unless I want to grow huge bushes, I need to grow more often. I also have space limitations. I can fit 9 plants into my rose garden where they do not attract attention. (Yeah, I know I’m legal but I don’t want neighborhood kids helping themselves.)
The plan is to start a new crop of seeds soaking whenever I move the last crop outdoors. In the future I may switch back to clones once I find the 3 perfect varieties that grow well here in the tropics. This last (Dec 31) harvest was the first one from purchased seeds so it is like going back to school for me. I’m finding what worked in the past is just not good enough for the present. There was precious little information available when I started growing, so I just put a few seeds of unknown heritage (but probably Maui Wowie) in a pot and hoped for the best. Growing today is a science and this old dog is willing to learn new tricks.
This is just a follow-up on this post. I planted a new crop from feminized seeds and no hermaphrodites. The 3rd crop is from the seeds saved from the first crop and 9 out of 10 are just now flowering. They seem to be a cross between GSC and WW. So far so good.
BTW: as I write this a green harvest helicopter is circling above. Good thing I’m legal.
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