Question Outdoors: when can you tell a plants sex?

Gentlemancorpse

Cannabis Chaotician
Staff member
Moderator
So I have a question for the more experienced outdoor growers amongst us. It's in the title essentially, but when can you tell a plants sex outdoors?

Maybe this is a silly question, maybe it's a complicated answer...I genuinely have no idea. Can you still typically see presex signs at 6ish weeks like indoors? Or does it not show until later in the season? Is it dependent on the hours of light or anything?

I've always sexed plants indoors before then brought them outside so it's not something I've given any previous thought too
 
Solution
They usually show like indoor girls at about 6 weeks, around 8 or 9 nodes of growth. Mangospills were the latest showing plants I have personally seen with some not showing for 9--10 weeks and 13 nodes.

Frimpong

🔥Freak Genetics🔥
So I have a question for the more experienced outdoor growers amongst us. It's in the title essentially, but when can you tell a plants sex outdoors?

Maybe this is a silly question, maybe it's a complicated answer...I genuinely have no idea. Can you still typically see presex signs at 6ish weeks like indoors? Or does it not show until later in the season? Is it dependent on the hours of light or anything?

I've always sexed plants indoors before then brought them outside so it's not something I've given any previous thought too
If you start them early, I'd say around August 1st to the 15th ? Don't quote me on that, is when you'd start to see them. But sometimes they'll show just from the light change. When you put them out there I've noticed. Hope that helps brother ? I am no outdoor expert that's for sure .
 

Psychobilly

🧀Muenster
I've had it depend, but as already pointed out, usually by late summer there will be something showing. I've had plants reach like 5 feet before the balls dropped and I cut the main stem and popped him in the bon fire pit. Last year the biggest Blue Cheese plant ended up being Male and took a while to show. Sometimes though it's quick; the one Blue Cheese end up taking the longest bit the others were showing before that.
 

Willie

🍓 Crush Genetics 🍓
Thanks guys. I was hoping you'd see presex signs quicker than that! Maybe I'll look into a little light dep setup. I have some plants I'd like to run outside this season but I'd prefer culling the males sooner rather than later since I have limited space
I will put an unsexed plant out, then take some cuts and put in a glass of water and then put that into the flower tent........you will know in 10 days usually. There's still time to cull and replant. Bonus if they root but not required :)
 

MacGydro

Gum Wrapper Grows
I’d say Willie’s idea would be your quickest, safest route.
Otherwise, if you’re vegging indoors 18+hrs, and you set them out now, they might show you right away, but then they’d waste time trying to reveg.
Outside with a natural season, they usually trigger around August 1st, for me, and will show sex within 2 weeks, like Frim said.
My biggest compost volunteer last year was 9ft tall before he whipped his nuts out to party in August.
 

Psychobilly

🧀Muenster
The last part of that made me laugh Haha. I will say last year Blue Cheese started actually flowering on August 1st; the one I pulled clones from anyway. Other seedling took about a week. However Blue Cheese is generally the best strain for Michigan outside; Chem D was a great outdoor here too as it was done almost at the same time.

Either way you go, hope you have some green monsters!
 

Buzzer777

In Bloom
Thanks guys. I was hoping you'd see presex signs quicker than that! Maybe I'll look into a little light dep setup. I have some plants I'd like to run outside this season but I'd prefer culling the males sooner rather than later since I have limited space
@Gentlemancorpse
You can just take a small cutting in a solo cup of water, and put it into your indoor flower tent, or even light dep the cutting instead of the whole plant.
 

Gentlemancorpse

Cannabis Chaotician
Staff member
Moderator
You can get a lightproof bag or something and just light dep a single branch arm to determine sex.

Put the sack on at 7 pm take it off at 7 am...you will know a lot sooner ;)

Then let that branch reveg and see what happens

Paper bag would do it.
Yo, what??? This really works?? I've always assumed cannabis operates similar to other dioecious plants and flowering comes on from the plant wide production of the hormone auxins. It would never have occurred to me it could be triggered in just part of plant.

I want to try fully flowering one branch now just for shits and giggles!
 

HOGBACKMAGIC14

In Bloom
when i use to grow gorilla outside depending on what plant it was i noticed mine in july showing sex males are the first to show
most of the time in my experience and those was from seedlings we would plant a shit load and cull the ones we didn't want
that was such a long time ago damn i feel old i grew seeds every year back then those was good times ✌️ :stoned:
 

OldG

Elite Hobbyist
Yo, what??? This really works?? I've always assumed cannabis operates similar to other dioecious plants and flowering comes on from the plant wide production of the hormone auxins. It would never have occurred to me it could be triggered in just part of plant.

I want to try fully flowering one branch now just for shits and giggles!
I thought i read it somewhere...i will give it a go myself when i get an arm long enough :D
 

MacGydro

Gum Wrapper Grows
Yo, what??? This really works?? I've always assumed cannabis operates similar to other dioecious plants and flowering comes on from the plant wide production of the hormone auxins. It would never have occurred to me it could be triggered in just part of plant.

I want to try fully flowering one branch now just for shits and giggles!

Either at RIU or ICMag, probably RIU, there was a thread where a guy had 1 plant in a bisected tent with a soft wall of plastic, maybe.
He would use one half for veg, and one half bloom on that 1 plant, with the branches he wanted to flower coming through slits in the plastic.
I think when 1 side finished, he would reveg that side as he flowered the other half.
Pretty entertaining read, but I can't remember what the thread was called.
Covering one branch would be a decent option though. I'd cut it off after it shows sex, if you're not going to keep covering / uncovering every day, in case it gets confused and sprouts premature herms.
Or you could manually light dep that branch daily, and get an early preview of what she'll finish like, if you haven't tried that strain yet.
Whatcha running outside this year?
 

thenotsoesoteric

American Ninja
Thanks guys. I was hoping you'd see presex signs quicker than that! Maybe I'll look into a little light dep setup. I have some plants I'd like to run outside this season but I'd prefer culling the males sooner rather than later since I have limited space
Perhaps get some of those m/f sex tests. They're like $10-15 bucks a plant but you can have seedlings tested after a couple weeks of growth.
 
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