There are two primary ways to start cannabis plants. You could either begin from seeds or clones.
When it comes to marijuana seeds, there are also two options to pick from – regular and feminized.
Feminized seeds provide numerous advantages over their regular counterparts. The seeds are particularly noted for their higher yield volume, making them ideal for large-scale growers.
What Are Feminized Cannabis Seeds?
Feminized seeds are seeds developed specifically to produce female plants.
As you shall discover, sex plays a critical role in determining marijuana’s yield volume.
When you cultivate feminized weed seeds, most of the trees in your plantation will be female. You can get up to 100% female plants, depending on the quality of the seeds you purchase.
This reduces the time and effort you’d invest in removing male cannabis plants from your farm.
How Are Feminized Cannabis Seeds Developed?
The process of breeding feminized weed seeds is straightforward. It typically involves spraying a concentrated solution of colloidal silver on targeted female marijuana plants during their early flowering phase.
Colloidal silver activates certain biological processes that allow female weed plants to produce pollen sacs that are rich in viable pollen grains. The pollen is then used to pollinate the rest of the female plants.
Like most organisms, a female cannabis genome contains only female sex chromosomes. That includes their chemically induced pollen grains.
So, when you pollinate female weed plants with the pollen produced by another female plant, you get all-female descendants.
Why Consider Feminized Cannabis Seeds?
- Eliminates the Need for Plant Sexing
Sexing involves determining the gender of individual trees in a plantation. It’s one of the most painstaking processes for new cannabis growers.
For inexperienced weed farmers, the ideal sexing time is when the plants begin to flower. However, all the male trees will have taken root by this time, making them exceedingly difficult to remove.
Investing in feminized cannabis seeds eliminates the need for gender-sorting your plants. Knowing that every tree on your farm is female provides peace of mind.
- Guarantees Richer Buds
Male cannabis plants are highly undesirable as they don’t produce the rich buds associated with marijuana’s medicinal and recreational benefits.
Buds are petalless flowers that contain hair-like appendages called trichomes. It’s the trichomes where most of the weed’s cannabinoids and terpenes are concentrated.
Cannabinoids are therapeutic compounds in marijuana, while terpenes are chemicals that account for the plant’s flavor and aroma. There are over 100 cannabinoids in weed, including tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD).
Terpenes also number in the dozens. Popular ones are myrcene, caryophyllene, limonene, and pinene.
Planting feminized seeds guarantees richer buds, which are high in both cannabinoids and terpenes.
- No Need to Remove Male Plants
Since male cannabis plants are generally unwanted, it makes no sense to cultivate regular seeds.
Regular seeds can result in a 50/50 chance of male and female trees. That means you’ll have to remove most of the male plants at some point.
Remember that the ideal time to gender-sort cannabis is when it starts to flower, which can take 4 – 8 months. You can only imagine the resources you’d have wasted tending to the male plants.
Planting feminized seeds eliminates the time and effort needed to manually sort and remove male plants.
- Improves Productivity
The time and effort saved when cultivating female cannabis can go into improving the plants’ overall productivity. You’ll be happier tending to your garden when you know you expect every tree to produce dense buds.
Feminized plants also tend to grow faster due to the reduced competition for nutrients. Simply space the plants at least 3 – 5 feet apart for optimal growth.
To further optimize productivity, you must regularly water your female weed plants (once or twice a week during dry seasons).
Remember to maintain the other ideal growing conditions, too. These include a temperature range of 70-85°F (21-29°C), relative humidity of around 70%, and at least 8 hours of light daily.
- Optimizes Grow Space
When you know how your seeds will turn out, it becomes easy to optimize the growing space.
Planting feminized seeds means you’re assured of female plants. You can utilize the grow space 100%, knowing you’ll never have to remove any male trees.
It’s also worth noting that feminized seeds grow uniformly, especially if derived from a common parent. Therefore, you can predict how large the plants will get even before germinating their seeds.
That information can be particularly important if cultivating weed in a restricted space, such as indoors.
- You Still Get To Produce Seeds and Clones
One of the fundamental differences between male and female cannabis plants is that males are typically grown for seed production and females for bud production.
However, growing female plants ensures you get both flowers and seeds.
As indicated, you can self-pollinate female cannabis trees to produce feminized seeds. Feminized seeds also make cloning possible. Simply identify a desirable female plant and develop your clone cuttings from it.
Summary
Feminized cannabis seeds have an undeniable edge over regular seeds. However, their efficacy depends on their quality and viability. The surest way to get the most from feminized seeds is to purchase them from reputable cannabis stores.
Research a marijuana shop thoroughly before ordering any products from them. Insist on outlets that specialize in organically developed, lab-tested feminized seeds.
