Do you like smoking, inhaling cannabis vapor, or eating weed edibles? You owe a great debt of thanks to the female cannabis plant if so. Only females have buds with haut amounts of cannabinoids such as THC that we can all enjoy. As a result, most growers seek for feminized seeds that only contain female genetics. Such seeds can be trusted to produce only lady plants.
Non-feminized cannabis seeds generate a yield in which about half of the plants are male and half are female. Male plants are preferable for developing a breeding program. However, it is extremely distressing to have to destroy 50% of the plants at the end! Furthermore, you’re losing time and space on plants that you’ll never use.
Male, female, and hermaphrodite plants are all covered in this thorough guide. It also explains how to feminize seeds and the advantages and disadvantages of doing so. Finally, it examines seven of the best alternatives on the market. Let’s get going!
Hermaphrodite Plants
There’s a lot of misinformation about feminized seeds and hermaphrodites (plants with intersexuality). While most complex organisms have a specific gender, marijuana does not always do so. Cannabis is an odd plant because it develops every year and produces male and female blooms on different plants. However, it can do so in certain instances.
This is precisely why cannabis has evolved in this manner. It serves as a survival mechanism by allowing cannabis to develop while being an annual growth plant and producing flowers of various genders on separate plants.
Cannabis plants may become ‘intersex’ as a result of various factors, including physical damage, light cycle, and temperature fluctuations.
In this case, because the plant is aware that it has a decreased chance of reproduction due to adverse growing conditions, intersexuality occurs. The chances of the plant finishing a growing season are decreased considerably as a result of poor growth conditions. It becomes less likely that a plant of the opposite gender will grow close enough to fertilize as a result of poor growing conditions.
When this happens, female plants may produce male “staminate” flowers to create pollen. They can also pollinate their own female “pistil” blooms and generate seeds for the following year.
How Early Feminized Seeds Were Created
In today’s world, producers use cutting-edge technologies to feminize seeds and achieve a success rate of almost 100%. It will come as no surprise that it was once quite different! When it came to feminizing marijuana seeds, early practitioners utilized two female plants. One of them had hermaphroditic tendencies; when stressed, it would produce male blossoms.
The hermaphrodite was pushed to the limit by pruning or exposure to a restricted light cycle. The objective was to encourage it to develop male cannabis flowers. Pollen from these flowers was sprinkled over the other female plant. The main drawback of this technique was that pollen-donating females frequently became intersexed. Any feminized seeds produced using this method will have this characteristic inherited with them.
Let’s have a look at the process for feminizing cannabis seeds first. To begin, consider the distinctions between male and female cannabis plants.
Male vs. Female Cannabis Plants
The disadvantage of marijuana plants that are naturally pollinated is that they generally produce male and female seeds at about the same rate. As a result, there’s only a 50% chance your plant will be female if you grow with natural crossbreeds. Finally, this implies an inefficient yield. You must take into account the likelihood that half of your plants are male.
A male plant is practically useless unless you are a breeder. If you grow too many of them, your efforts to cultivate marijuana will be ruined. You may sidestep the problem by growing twice as many seeds as usual. After all, you understand that half of the crop will have to be eliminated. If you take this path, you must figure out how to identify male cannabis plants as quickly as possible.
If you’re thinking about becoming a marijuana grower, you already know that the plant goes through two life stages: vegetative and flowering. You may think of the vegetative stage as a plant’s “childhood.” It simply focuses on growing bigger and stronger without regard for gender. For six weeks, you’re unlikely to have any idea of the plant’s gender. This is when plants exhibit “pre-flowers.”
As a result, you may determine a plant’s gender as soon as the flowering stage begins if you know what to look for. Your plants will begin developing buds and pollen sacs at this moment. Male and female plants produce different types of pre-flowers. You can quickly tell the difference once you’ve been growing for a while.
Male Plants
The male plant produces pollen in sacs formed from its ovaries. The pollen within these balls swells up, looking a little like grapes. You may observe these blobs within a fortnight of the flowering stage beginning. If you don’t notice the male plant in time, the sacs will burst, releasing pollen all around. Pollen will fill the surrounding area with
Female Plants
It might take a few weeks for you to notice a woman plant after the flowering stage begins. They’ll first reveal a wispy white hair or two where their buds will eventually emerge. These hairs may be seen near the junction of the main stem and nodes. If you maintain the plant in the vegetative state for an additional day, you may sometimes notice this initial indication.
There are numerous photographs on the internet that show the plant’s calyxes containing white pistils. Remember, female pistils are never green; they’re always white and feathery.
Female plants have a greater possibility of producing hermaphrodites, which will have both sex organs. You must get rid of such plants because they will pollinate and damage your crop. When you discover male and hermaphrodite vegetation, it is essential to eliminate the buds by hand rather than keeping them. Maintain just a few males for breeding purposes; otherwise, get rid of them!
Why You Should Grow from Feminized Cannabis Seeds
The simplest explanation for using feminized cannabis seeds is to eliminate the guesswork from growing. If you germinate normal seeds, half of them will be male plants that have to be destroyed. When you feminize marijuana seeds, you can budget for a full and successful garden. Remember, even in jurisdictions where marijuana is legal to grow, there are limits on how many plants you may cultivate. For example, all adults 21 years old and older in California may grow no more than six plants per household.
Male plants take up space, time, and resources.
When using ordinary seeds, you can’t tell a plant’s gender for weeks. As a result, you have to grow them until you figure out the gender of your plants. It’s typical to determine the sex of a plant by the time the flowering phase starts. This is when you shift to a 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark regimen. You’ve already spent a lot of energy and nutrients on plants that will be thrown away.
How to Feminize Cannabis Seeds
Feminized cannabis seeds can be found from trustworthy breeders. However, if you don’t have any in your region, or if you want to prove yourself tough, you may attempt to make them yourself. There’s a element of chance when attempting DIY feminization. As a result, don’t expect an amazing percentage of success. Let’s take a look at some of the most frequently used feminization techniques.
Rodelization
Although it is one of the more accessible choices, it is far from being the most successful. It’s a natural remedy, but you’re completely reliant on the marijuana plant to work. The goal is to keep the female plant in bloom for much longer than usual in order to induce pollen sacs. Once the sacs appear, you may harvest the pollen.
It isn’t very effective in the first place. Plants react differently to stress. While certain strains consistently generate pollen sacs under pressure, others do not. Rodelization works best when you choose a cannabis souche that develops the sacs frequently. The other issue is that you’re choosing plants that are naturally hermaphrodite. As a result, the seeds produced by those plants might also go that way.
Colloidal Silver
Colloidal silver is a chemical that inhibits or stops the development of pili on plants, resulting in male pollen sacs. It’s far more dependable than rodelization. Colloidal silver can be purchased or produced at home using:
- A soldering iron
- Alligator chips
- A 9-volt battery and a connector
- Pure silver; you can use a coin or some wire, for example
- Distilled water
It’s difficult to find 99.9% silver in the DIY method. As a result, it is recommended that you purchase a colloidal silver solution from an established vendor. The next stage is to choose a cannabis female plant, whether you buy or make the solution. After it blooms, mist it with silver every day until male pollination sacs appear. Continue this procedure for 10 to 14 days until male pollen sacs begin to form. This might take anywhere from 10 to 14 days on average.
Once it’s time to pick, the pollen sacs will inflate and begin to split open. Spray the bud sites on a daily basis until the sacs are ready. When the sacs begin to crack, collect the feminized pollen. Fertilize a female plant that has been in bloom for at least two weeks with it.
The female plant’s calyxes will become fat and bloated approximately six weeks after pollination. This is an indication that the seeds should be harvested once they begin to appear. You’ve done it! You’ve created feminized seeds.
Other Methods
Cloning a female marijuana plant is a cost-effective method that has a high success rate. You are not technically feminizing seeds, but you do get female plants and buds. Cloning is very beneficial because it allows you to produce only one strain repeatedly. That’s fantastic if you like the strain, but it restricts your ability to try new things.
It’s also good to try and figure out what the best cannabis strains are. If you want feminized seeds, you’ll be able to experiment with a wide variety of cannabis plants.
Final Thoughts
In several states in the United States, cannabis may be grown at home. However, please consult your state’s legislation for further information. Even in these locations, you can grow a limited amount of plants in your house. As a result, don’t squander your seed supply and garden space by risking germinated seeds.
Colloidal silver can be used as a feminization technique for home growers. You may create feminized cannabis seeds by utilizing colloidal silver. It just requires a little patience, and you might end up with a garden full of females.
You’ll end up with a garden full of plants you won’t consume if you don’t use feminized strains.
Don’t have the technical know-how, time, or materials to create feminized seeds? You may simply purchase them from a reputable provider like Kannabia if that’s the case. To practically ensure feminized seeds, they utilize state-of-the-art technology. The brand has introduced an outstanding collection of feminized genes with award-winning strains.
If you don’t use feminized strains in your garden, you’ll end up with a half-filled crop of plants that you won’t consume. That is a significant waste of time, resources, and space.