Thanks for the kind words, keeko and Shermania.

Doco, I had the exact same worry about them going hermie, especially since these were grown from female seeds. I have kept a diligent eye on them with close daily inspections, and it has been 6 days now without a sign of balls. I have however seen a better plumping on the girls. Whether this is due to the clipping or just natural for this stage of development I'm not sure, but I'm inclined to think it's the clipping.

I was ping-ponging back and forth about clipping them, trying to digest all the conflicting therioes out there. My main worry was hermaphrodism, but I read a post by an experienced grower on another site that comforted my fears. His point was that all plants are designed to take loss of limb, especially at the bottom of the plant, because that is where the critters gnaw on them. So why not divert the energy away from the useless wisps at the bottom and toward the fattening colas at the top? Makes sense to me, but this is my first grow so I don't really know jack...