Hello,

I have a very small Northern Lights male that I want to use to pollinate my 'Bagseed Beauty' (very nice unknown strain that I've been cloning since my first grow). My question is what exactly does a maturing male look like? Previously, I've just killed them off early - and all of the pictures I've found online are also of very young males.

I know that the pollen sacks will burst at some point, do they turn brown before this, or are there any other signs of when it is just about "ripe"?

I tried to get pollen once before. That plant, I separated out and shoved in a closet with a single CFL and placed a 5 gallon bucket over it during it's dark period (didn't have a second timer handy). Unfortunately, it quickly turned hermie and then died..... ooops.

This time, I'm leaving it in my bloom chamber for now, but would like to know when it is just about ready so that I can pull it out before it spews TOO much pollen at random - I'd like to paint a bud or two thoroughly rather than having the whole crop affected.

As of this morning, a couple lower leaves have begun turning yellow as nitrogen is sucked from them - does this mean I'm getting close? I still haven't found a picture of mature pollen sacks or any written description, more and more are forming each day and continuing to swell, but I am wondering what exactly they look like when they are ready to burst.

I've seen many forum posts in which someone says that they found a male that looked like it was just about ready to release pollen - unfortunately there are no pictures, and they don't describe what exactly this 'almost ready' point looks like.

I guess I could just wait and check daily until the first sacks begin to split open and then isolate the plant so that I can do a more controlled collection from that point. Does anyone know if they will change color as they mature or will they still be light green?

In the mean time, I have shut off my circulating fan to avoid spreading pollen at random, leaving just the exhaust fan running as I want to do a controlled pollination of a couple of buds. I know that the males should finish earlier than the females so that there can be enough time for seeds to mature after pollination, but I don't know at this point just how much earlier.

Everything that I know about the subject is in this thread. Sorry, no pics.

...Breeding for Seeds

ps...I loved "vanishing point"......drive on, rock on.

Thanks Dutch Pimp!

That definitely helps, I'm just itching to see what I can get with some Sativa genes crossed into this lovely mystery strain! If all goes well, I might have a new Mom and some seeds on the shelf in case something goes wrong with my currently clone-only setup.

PS. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend the movie Grindhouse :-)