Male becoming female???

OK, got one here that has me perplexed.

My plants are just over 2 weeks into flowering and in the last day my male plant has developed pistils. (And yes, I wanted the male plant to pollinate the females for this grow, otherwise it will be one generation only if they don't make me some seeds.)

But, back to my male. He's clearly a male (at least he was) however today the very top bloom only has about 5 or 6 pistillate flowers mixed in with the staminate flowers. There are none anywhere else on the plant except at the very top. And now I'm totally confused. Can a male plant suddenly turn hermie - I thought it went the other way around? Was he possibly genetically hermie all along and just developed his male parts first?

I can't get a good picture at all of the pistils, but there is no doubt that's what they are. The best pictures I could get are attached.

So, I guess my question at this point is does this in fact constitute a hermaphrodite, in which case I guess I need to remove it before it pollinates the other plants.

Thanks.

Yes, males can become hermaphrodite under the same sorts of stresses that females can.
How much stress was he exposed to? Basically, if he was REALLY stressed to produce pistils, it's less worry... I worry when any plant goes herm under close to normal stress free growing conditions

Well, by comparison his life has been relatively stress free. I say by comparison only because the tight housing hasn't been as hard on him (he's short and fits nicely in the cabinet) as it has been on the others (the others are all females). The females have either had to be topped or bent (all after starting to flower), and one even has a 90 degree kink in her main stem now. I've been watching them very closely expecting them to start developing staminate flowers any day, but none have.

However, they're growing in soil so of course the nutrient levels are always questionable (though none have any signs of nute problems), being watered when the soil is dry about 1 inch down so of course that's questionable, temperature occasionally hitting the mid 80's, humidity at times a bit on the high side (ranging from 40 to 60) - so none of them are really as stress free as I would like. But again, by comparison, this guy has had it easy since he hasn't had to have his head cut off or crammed down between his legs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jull7

this guy has had it easy since he hasn't had to have his head cut off or crammed down between his legs.

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Well there you go then.....that's why he turned into a wussy. You have to treat them like a MAN. ;) :stoned:

its quite possible that it is genetic and suspect it never was completly male to begin with, but probably wouldnt use for any breeding purposes, male pods usually develop faster than the female pistols so it would be normal to think it was a male to begin with.