I topped two of the plants this week. This is my first experience and test with topping. We'll see how they turn out.
The other plant is expressing an interesting pheno where the main stem turned into two leaves, and the offshoots have become the new main shoots without topping. (This is the one in the smallest bucket, and the youngest)
I'm really looking forward to see how that one grows without me doing anything to it. These are regular seeds so I'm expecting at least one male, and I'm hoping for all females. I've been unlucky with that lately, been getting too many males.
I included some pictures of the roots as well. These three have been fed more nutrient than I've given in the past, I've always been afraid of overfeeding because I burnt my very first plant. (it recovered well though) I think this is the best any of my grows have looked at this stage. Which is surprising since I'm only getting about 11 hours of light right now.
What I'm really hoping is that these three stay veg for another 2 or 3 weeks. However, that's very unlikely with the daylight hours, they'll probably start transition this week or next.
@KratkyGrow, good observation. I'll keep this in mind next time that I'll pop seeds. Was actually thinking about starting the new lot in one set and pick survivors for individual nursing.
Again, good to know. Thanks for sharing.
@Med_in_Tropic,
I know! That was pretty disappointing.
In that batch I don't think I had any stressor conditions that would have made them more likely to be males. (I've read that red light, high heat, fluxing heat, or nutrient overload can all lead to higher rates of males)
I did plant them all out of one tote bin, so the roots got all tangled, not sure if that would do anything or not. But that did help me learn when 7 of the 8 get pulled, and the roots are too tangled to seperate, they just rotted in the bin and created extra worry on my end for the one female. I also think the female developed slowest, and was the smallest plant, maybe because her roots were getting choked out by the males. I wouldn't try planting more than one in a single tote again unless I knew they were all females.
Low vpd - humid low temp - There will be less transpiration. I agree with you that more leaves are better for the plants . Then the can pump more water and nutrients to grow.