Rogue Pollen

Marijuana Horticulture

by Jorge Cervantes

Rogue pollen from commercial hemp farms and wild or cultivated males can threaten sinsemilla cannabis grown outdoors or in greenhouses. Undesired pollen can drift from a few feet to hundred of miles to pollinate flowering females and cause them to grow seeds.

Large clouds of pollen blow across the Mediterranean Sea from the Riff Mountains in Morocco dropping pollen on Spain and Portugal. In fact, local weather reports always include the cannabis pollen statistics. The reports are directed at people with allergies but are also used by marijuana growers.

Make inquiries into air quality including cannabis pollen. Some growers develop “allergies” in order to get the most information from officials. Researching wind direction relative to your crop and closet hemp plants will help you select sites less likely to be contaminated.

Wind-shadows (large divots in a hillside) protect plants from wind and anything it brings along.

If rogue pollen is a problem, plant early crops or late crops that flower before or after male plants. Usually June and July are the worst months for pollen, but it could also spill into August.

You may be able to grow indoors until the industrial hemp is done flowering and males are no longer releasing pollen, or plant out of the wind pattern. If pollen is severe, keep plants in a greenhouse. Cover the intake opening with a mist towel – humidity makes pollen unviable. Put one edge of the towel in a bucket of water to wick moisture. Wetting down the exterior of the greenhouse will also help incapacitate any wild pollen.