Good morning everyone. These last couple of days ive been geeking out on some Hermaphrodite info, on Overgrow.
Anyways, I thought id share something rather interesting with all of you. All of my reading (articles, studies, etc) have made me aware of something really interesting. A hermaphrodite is basically a plant with a hormonal problem. Wether it produces male parts, is dependent on the production of ethylene. Having said that, the system within the plant that produces ethylene is believed to be genetic, similar concept to a human that produces more of one hormone genetically. However, there is also a belief that environmental factors play an important role on how well the hormonal system functions.
So... I got to thinking.
If the production of ethylene is one of the main issues, why not force feed the plant more ethylene?
Well, thats when I went down the rabbit hole. Ethephon is used to reverse males, it penetrates plant cuticles and stomata, then the ethephon breaks down into ethylene. It would make sense for it to work as a substrate drench, since plant roots have cuticles also. So I did some digging, and found a study where they are experimenting with ethephon drenching at different stages with different ppm levels.
6/29/2015 Christopher J. Currey, Kenneth G. McCabe & Kellie J. Walters
www.growertalks.com
Ethephon affects on plants: Reduces plant height at flowering, Delays flowering, Decreases shoot and root mass, Influences flower bud number, and Inhibits stem extension.
Anyways, my hypothesis is that hermaphrodites can be completely prevented by simply incorporating an effective ethephon substrate drench! So, I will be running an experiment on my next crop. Drenching on day one of flower, then repeat drench once a week until week 6-7. I have two perfect candidates. One plant that throws sterile bananas, and one dioecious hermie Malawi.
I also suspect it will help reduce stretch in flower, and possibly have a negative impact on overall yield.
Ps. I will be starting a new thread for this topic. It could be valuable.
