Q&A for How to Identify Female and Male Marijuana Plants

In general it's not a good idea, because you can bring bugs and other things into your house, but as long as it's not being kept around indoor plants, it should work. Just make sure to keep an eye on the plant and give it plenty of fresh air, as that is likely what it is used to. Keep in mind that the sun is the best grow light, though, so you should leave it outdoors if you can!

It needs a light cycle with a minimum of 12 hours of uninterrupted, complete darkness every day to trigger and maintain flowering.

Be grateful, because you probably have female plants. Female plants are the only plants that produce buds.

Plants usually need around 12 hours of darkness to bud. That is why they bud at the end of the summer. If you have these indoors where they get light for more than 12 hours, that is your problem.

Cut the smallest branch and make sure it's one of the young ones that will be flowering. This is called cloning.

A plant with 3 leaves is ruderalis, a wild outdoor variety. There are 5 types: indica, sativa, ruderalis, Australian bastard weed, and duck's foot.

All males have pollen sacks at all leaf branchings.

Many advise metal halide for vegetation and high pressure sodium for flowering. If your want to use blue light for vegetation, use 6500 k (cool white) CFL because you can keep them close and avoid stretch. HPS is fine for the entire grow because the lack of blue keeps them short.

Let the soil dry out before watering again. Cannabis plants are resilient and will usually recuperate from over-watering.

Yes, that usually starts with the end of vegetation and the beginning (July to August) of flowering.

Outdoors they start after June 20, when days start shortening. Indoors, once you reduce the light cycle to 12 on, 12 off, you will usually see flowers forming within 2 to 3 weeks of the shorter light cycle. Outdoors, it sometimes takes longer depending on your location. If you live somewhere that gets 14+ hours light in July, it may take longer depending on the strain.

It depends on a lot of factors, from the spectrum of the light used, the wattage used, and of course the strain and species. Indicas will grow a lot shorter in general, and will be about 1.5x as large as they were when finished, compared to how tall they were at the start of flower. For sativas it's more complicated, as they can end up being anywhere from 3x-5x the height when finished compared to the height at the start of flower. Read grow reports of the strain you want to grow, and make sure in the report they are using similar lighting to what you plan to use.

It is said that UV-B light causes the flowering buds to form a protective coating of THC crystals when exposed to it. Black lights are more UV-A which differs and doesn't stimulate the plant as much, but I'd do it within the first week of switching to 12-12. Consider buying a full spectrum LED light. They are cheap and offer a lot more for plants.

I notice the pistils tend to not be fully developed on the first 3-4 nodes, often they dry up and fall off.

Simply put, no, you cannot. There is no way to tell by the leaves; you have to look at the calyxes and decide whether they are staminate or pistillate.

Smell, taste, seed shape and striping are common ways of determining. With the wide variety of strains available, it's unlikely that you could accurately pinpoint specifically which unless you're an expert, but you could definitely narrow it down by characteristics.

Use lots of water to rinse them. It will be fine as long as you water them well.

If you harvest the whole plant and don’t pick a mother plant to take clone cuttings from, no it’s not salvageable. You have to take the mother plant, which is the healthiest, biggest and strongest female plant in your garden and put it in a separate area. You then revert it back to vegetative, which is changing the lighting from 12/12 to 24/0 or 18/6 on/off -- that is the key to prolong the cloning process -- but only once it’s reached maturity. Then you take clone cuttings from this plant and you have instant ready-to-flower clones.

You should check to ensure that it is legal to purchase one.

We came up with this idea long time ago when humans started experimenting with agriculture: stakes. Of course, in hydroponics there's no way to stick one to the ground, so you may have to find some other sort of support. A net stretched over the plants and fastened so they can grow through it is a good option. If you only need to support one or two plants, even just a couple of strings holding each plant straight will provide enough support.

It usually depends on what strain of marijuana you have. Sativa plants grow very tall, while indica is much shorter and ruderalis grows the size of your forearm.

Its likely that they are caused by caterpillars. I use an organic insecticide made by Dr. Earth. It has natural oils used in killing various unwanted pests, including caterpillars. They eat the leaf and not the veins of the leaf, that's why there are holes.

The flowering period takes between a month and a half-3 months depending on whether it is a sativa-dominant or an indica-dominant. Give the plant at least 12 hours of complete darkness each day (no light can be leaking in). And harvest when the crystals turn from clear to milky and then finally to amber. Depends on preference (I recommend researching this) whether you want more of a productive high, or more of a couch-lock high. Be patient. It will take at least 45 days.

Could be, but there's no way to tell for sure without a picture. If the plant is over six weeks old and there are no male calyxes, then what your referring to is likely either the female calyxes (not likely if there are no white hairs coming out of them) or they are stipules, which can be found on any plant whether or not it is a female.

Males wont have the hairs on the nodes at all. Only the females have the hairs on them.

No. Too much light can make a young plant sick-looking, tired or dried out. Yes, you can regenerate a plant after taking the best looking buds off.

Let them get older then take a cutting and put it under a 12/12 light cycle.

Wait until pistils are more ember before you harvest. White pistils have more THC. Ember pistils or brown one have more CBD.

Yes. Dark green is indica, usually, and light green is sativa, but to get more detail you need to check the aroma and flavor of the buds.

Topping a plant will create two new tips that can grow into two new bud heads. It stresses the plant, but some think it gives you a higher yield if done well. The cut tip can be used as a new clone that is planted and it should root and grow another plant.