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Four or five times and no female? How many seeds total did you run? Which strains?
It'd definitely be a good idea to transplant them when entering into the flowering stage, because they'll stretch about two times their height, and you'll want to ensure the roots have space to grow in accordance with that (more root surface = greater yield). I don't know exactly what the volume of the pots you have right now are, but isn't it only like a half gallon? Usually you'll want your plants' final destination to be around three to five gallons, but if they are entering flowering now, I don't know how much further they'll develop to know if there is time to fill a pot that size, but I'd just suggest generally that you find three gallon pots for them.
I think the problem with transplanting into something like MGMC right after the flip into 12/12 is that, from what I've read (a coco man myself ), they can be pretty heavy on the nutrients already added to the soil, and this is nearly the time that you'd want to be cutting nitrogen out of the picture (the plants won't have much need for it once the stretching, that begins after the light switch, has stopped). If you were going to use it, it would be better, I think, to mix it in with a soil-less medium, like perlite. I wouldn't know specifically what ratio to mix it in, so hopefully someone who does will post, but since you're going into flowering now and the nutrients they cram in that soil might be too much, I'd think that it'd make up at least less than 40% of the mix.
A better alternative might be to drop the soil out altogether, going with a soil-less medium and simply using more nutrients, especially if finding a better alternative for soil is more difficult. On that note, given your situation, I'd suggest purchasing your supplies off the net. Probably will find better prices, or at least break even when shipping is included and spare the inconvenience/bypass the inability to go physically find the stuff yourself.
I'm sorry I can't be of more help, but soil isn't my forte.
Quote: coda said: At this stage in their life it would be a tricky move to go from soil to soiless. The root mass will be too big and it will suffer heavy shock most likely.
How would the roots suffer heavy shock as a result of transplanting into a soil-less mixture like that, and how would the size of the root mass have an effect on the matter?
Quote: coda said: because you can't just transplant into a soilless mixture, you have to wash off all of the soil.
Why would it be necessary to wash all the soil off the roots though? You couldn't, for example, transplant a one gallon container of soil into a three gallon container with coco? I just don't understand why the roots wouldn't be able to continuing growing into the new medium. The only problem would be with watering/feeding the plants, which i guess could become difficult.... I think, though, that if it was a half gallon pot of soil going into three/five gallon full of soil-less or a mix that had far less soil, one could simply concentrate watering more around the edges for awhile...
Either way, it certainly wouldn't be something I'd do. Maybe using more of the MG soil wouldn't be too bad of an idea, as long as no more nitrogen was added.
Quote: coda said: The whole point of soiless growing is using a mixture that's devoid of all nutes. By placing a block of soil you essentially defeat the purpose of planting in a soiless mixture. Not to mention you wont have the added bonus of a Ph balanced mixture, and im sure the water drainage would be a bit different as well.
Yes, but in this situation, his access to better soil is limited, and using that soil might present problems with too much nitrogen. The whole point of transplanting into a soil-less medium in this case is to counter-act the fact that the soil he is using is the opposite of being devoid of all nutrients. Clearly it isn't perfect, for the reasons you mention, but in this case, it might be better than using more MG, since he'll be able to give it a better formula of nutrients for flowering. Ultimately I don't really know though.
The best thing you can do is simply start more seeds in expectation of this. I'd suggest planting twice as many than the female plants you are planning on growing, but considering your luck, why not make it three.
Tell us more about the conditions they are being grown in. Temperatures, what you have for air exchange, pot size, anything pertinent at all. There's a wide debate on to which extent sex is determined by genetics and to which extent it is determined by the environment, and running by us the nature of your setup can at least help us make sure you're providing optimal conditions, just in case it is, to some degree, determined by environment.
If you collect and store your pollen right, it should be viable for months to even a couple years. Moisture makes pollen sterile, so make sure you keep it bone dry. Make an envelope of wax paper, throw some rice in there, or some other kind of desiccant, and put it in the freezer. Make sure its completely dry though!
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), they can be pretty heavy on the nutrients already added to the soil, and this is nearly the time that you'd want to be cutting nitrogen out of the picture (the plants won't have much need for it once the stretching, that begins after the light switch, has stopped). If you were going to use it, it would be better, I think, to mix it in with a soil-less medium, like perlite. I wouldn't know specifically what ratio to mix it in, so hopefully someone who does will post, but since you're going into flowering now and the nutrients they cram in that soil might be too much, I'd think that it'd make up at least less than 40% of the mix. 
Maybe using more of the MG soil wouldn't be too bad of an idea, as long as no more nitrogen was added. 
