Is my plant a hermie? She’s growing flowers, but also balls…. Can I still harvest her buds?

Question: This cannabis plant is growing both male and female parts/flowers. Is it a hermie? What do I do? Can I pluck the balls and grow her to harvest?

These two pictures come from a single plant that’s been in the flowering stage for about 2.5 weeks. She is showing beautiful white hairs / pistils up top.

However, on a single 10″ branch, I can see little ball formations (shown in the second plant). They look like male pollen sacs. Could this mean my plant’s a hermaphrodite? This is my first grow in a grow tent. The plant is under a 600w MH grow light. The growing medium is soil (Fox Farms Ocean Forest soil) and my nutrients are the Fox Farms Nutrient Trio for soil.

The balls are only growing on one branch. If she is a hermi, is there a way to amputate the bad branch to protect the rest of the plant?

Also, will she continue forming buds or is it a male plant at this point? Also, this plant is being grown in a grow tent with another female. Should I keep this one around or butcher it now to prevent from pollinating the other (apparently healthy) female plant?

~Cannabis Grower

Hermie plant is growing normal buds / flowers in most placesThe same plant is also growing balls / nuts / pollen sacs on the lower branches, which is how you can tell that this plant is a hermaphrodite. Whenever you have both male and female parts on a plant, the plant is a hermie

Answer: Yes, this plant is a hermie / hermaphrodite.

Learn everything you need to know about hermie cannabis plants

One of the biggest worries with a hermie (plant with both female and male parts) is that the pollen sacs will burst and pollinate your flowers. This will “seed” your buds. In other words, this causes your buds to to grow seeds and focus on producing seeds over fattening buds.

If you do keep her to harvest and she does produce seeds, I recommend against trying to grow these hermie seeds, as it’s very likely they’ll have the same problems as their mother.

The safest option is the pull the plant completely. This will ensure that pollen sacs accidentally pollinate either plant.

If you pull all the balls (plus keep an eye out for new ones), then you’ll probably be able to make it to harvest with mostly unseeded buds. If you miss even a single pollen sac and the buds grow seeds, then just know that seeded buds often have normal potency, but you will get much lower yields. This is why many growers pull down hermies on sight.

Yet if you’ve only got a couple of plants, and you’re willing to be vigilant while looking for new balls, then it’s possible to pull most the balls and let the rest of the buds continue developing.

Sometimes a plant will produce just a couple of these pollen sacs, you pull them off, and that’s it. However, if the plant is constantly popping up new balls or yellow hermie bananas (nanners), then you’re probably better off cutting your losses and just pulling down the plant to protect your other one.

Learn everything you need to know about hermie cannabis plants

Toss plants that keep making pollen sacs as you’ll likely miss one if you let it go too long.

When these male pollen sacs open up and spill their pollen, they will cause all the buds in the area to grow seeds.

Beautiful male marijuana plant with pollen sacs opening up like flowers and spilling pollen onto the leaf below

Another type of hermaphrodite is if you see yellow “bananas” growing in the hairs of the buds. These may be harder to control than the pollen sacs because they start spreading pollen everywhere as soon as they form. Also, if a plant starts producing bananas, it will typically keep growing them until harvest.

 

Learn more about hermaphrodites, pollen sacs, and hermie bananas

 


 

Jump to…

Is my plant a boy or a girl?

Why do I not want male marijuana plants?

Grow Weed Basics: How to Grow Marijuana Tutorial

How often do I water marijuana plants?

What causes cannabis leaves to get dry or crispy?

 

 

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