What would happen if you used hermie pollen on a normal female plant? Is there any advantages or would the seeds be normal/bad?
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What would happen if you used hermie pollen on a normal female plant? Is there any advantages or would the seeds be normal/bad?
The biggest question is "Why did the plant hermie?" If it was horribly stressed to the point of going hermie- why then, my child, you have feminized seeds. If it went hermie when it was un-stressed and well cared for, then you have seeds that will give you a high percentage of hermies and females. Lots of females either way.
What to do about hermies? Most folks kill them on sight. Some pick off the male flowers. A few (usually with one plant) grow them out. It kinda depends on your opinion of seeded pot- you get a bit less pot when you have seeds, seeds explode when you smoke them and when smoked, they can give you a headache. On the other hand, use a sifter and you can seed the whole county or make your parakeet very happy! - Granny:hippy:
I haven't actually done this but have read a lot about it and do plan attempting it. What Granny said was very true. A forced hermied plant will yield better quality pollen than just the weak plant that just went hermie for no apparent reason. The pollen from a plant that hermied for no apparent reason should not be used. You don't want to pass on already real weak genetics. That being said, you will get a higher percentage of females from a normal plant that was pollinated using pollen from a hermied plant but it is also possible you'll get another hermie from those seeds and you'd be weakening genetics overall. And that's why a lot of purist growers will just up and kill any hermied plant at first sign. Just be sure any seeds produced in this manner are labeled clearly and are for your use only not to be crossed with anything.
The reason I asked is that an old timer around here has been working his strain for the past 30 yrs. He was very low on seeds most of which were very old. Do to the age of the seeds a large amount became male, so he killed all but one that he brought inside to collect pollen. When inside it hermied. He had no choice but to pollenat some of his girls outside with the hermie. Did he ruin his strain? What seeds would be the best to work with(hermied or the seeds from other females that were pollenated from the hermie)?