How to Tell if Cannabis Seeds are Feminized

Introduction

Every cannabis grower should know how to tell if cannabis seeds are feminized or not.

The gender of your cannabis seed will determine how fruitful your cannabis plant will be during harvest.

This article is especially for cannabis growers who need to make the best of their cannabis growing era.

As soon as you know how to tell if cannabis seeds are feminized, you stand a chance of growing cannabis efficiently.

Growing Cannabis (An Overview)

Knowing how to tell if cannabis seeds are feminized begins with growing cannabis.

Only cannabis growers can tell if cannabis seeds are feminized or not, hence, growing cannabis should be a your next priority.

If you have ever thought or you are thinking of growing marijuana, you may be wondering how or where to start.

You can actually grow plants either by seeds or growing a part of the plant from cutting it.

Growing from the cutting of an already existing plant helps in the aspect of creating duplicates of the plant.

This is beneficial in the sense that you are certain of the fact that when propagate a female plant from stem cuttings, you also get a female plant.

Although technically you can clone a continuous flowering strain, it usually isn't worth the trouble because the clone wouldn't produce almost the same yield.

Propagating or growing by seed, is another great way for multiplying your plants.

Buying seeds will help you grow auto flowering plants.

But you cant really tell if a seed is male or female just by looking at it.

However, knowing the feminine seed is an essential factor you must consider to growing more feminine plants.

Finally if you want to know the feminine seed amongst others planted, you have to allow them grow for a while then remove the male ones.

You cannot also tell the strain of a plant by just looking at the seed.

So until you know which strain of plant the seed came from, you have no idea what strain the seed will produce.

Cannabis From Seed Vs Cannabis from Stem cuttings

Plants from seeds generally are more active and strong.

In fact, sometimes farmers grow cuttings and allow them to go to seed to revitalize the plant’s genes.

This therefore insinuates that:

If you are in an area where Cannabis is prohibited, growing it there too is prohibited.

Bringing in seeds to that location too can very well be a crime and traders of cannabis have a contraband injunction.

You can of course buy or purchase cannabis seeds which possesses the particular effects or ability you desire.

Sometimes, the best way to be cleared is to ask questions from the sellers because some have high level THC.

While some have low and each of them has different effects on use.

So your buying of seeds with a mindset of a particular result might be affected and can yeild the opposite if you dont ask questions.

How To Aquire Seeds For Cutting

The first thing to note is that, cannabis seeds are readily available in an area where Cannabis is legal.

This therefore means that acquiring cannabis seeds for planting, is easier in Cannabis legal zones.

You should also note that your "how to tell if cannabis seeds are feminized" journey begins with acquiring the seeds.

Even though cuttings from cannabis plants can be for sale with price tags, it is not advisable to purchase just any cannabis stem cutting.

You need to properly read the label and know what you are purchasing for growing.

As a cannabis grower, it is necessary you always have your mitte with you, for the collection of readily available cannabis seeds.

The most important factors to consider before acquiring cannabis seeds include:

Feminized Seeds

Majority of seeds sold by reputable companies and local traders are feminized, but you shouldn't take our word for it.

Ensure the cannabis seeds you are purchasing is feminized.

You can inquire from the lady at the counter or the consulting botanist at the firm.

Although, most of the seeds are treated specifically to become female plants.

Reflowering Tendencies

Feminized cannabis Plants are easier to grow because it has an advantage of growing rapidly to yield flowers.

This advantage is regardless of uncondusive growing environments like an absence of light and other stuffs.

Morover, growing with auto flowering plants helps you to harvest faster.

Blend

Blend is a family word that refers to the specie of cannabis you are cultivating.

The blend is a representation of the percentage of the three species which are sativa, indica, and ruderalis.

All auto-flowering strains of cannabis seeds, contain some percentage of ruderalis.

Ruderalis is responsible for the auto-flowering nature of the cannabis plant.

Ability to Yield indoors

This relates to the number of grams of bud per square meter that your purchased cannabis seed can produce when grown indoors.

The higher the percentage, the more profitable for you, Incase you wish to grow indoors

Ability to Yield Outdoors

This relates to the number of grams of bud per square meter that your purchased cannabis seed can produce when grown outdoors.

The higher the percentage, the more profitable for you, Incase you wish to grow indoors

Height of Plants Indoors

You should consider what height you wish your cannabis plant to be.

Usually, plants are shorter when grown indoors due the absence of natural sunlight.

So, you need to purchase seeds that have the genetic height trait you desire.

Height of plants outdoors

You should consider how tall you want your outdoor grown cannabis plant to be.

Usually, plants are taller when grown outdoors due the absence of natural sunlight.

So, you need to purchase seeds that have the genetic height trait you desire.

Time to harvest

Your cannabis plant has a specific length of time before it is ready for harvest.

Some might take longer than others, depending on the gentic traits of the plant.

If you need a quick growing cannabis plant, you should state so, to the botanist you're purchasing from.

Potency

we all have various expectations for taking cannabis.

For some of us, we need an escape from reality, for others, we just need something to give us a high.

Different seeds have different THC levels, therefore you should tailor your expectations into the seeds you're purchasing.

HOW To Tell If Cannabis Seeds are Feminized

Every Cannabis Seed fall under three broad sexual categories: male, female or hermaphrodite.

The feature of a female cannabis plant is seen in their ability to produce the resin-secreting flower.

On the other hand, males can be detected by their ability to make small sacs of pollen near the base of the leaves.

Studies of cannabis through the years have revealed that female cannabis plants that never go unpollinated continue to produce resin.

Also, the unpollinated female plants grow to produce cannabis plants that are more potent and contains higher CBD.

This discovery has been the basis of all modern medical and recreational growing of cannabis.

So, it is important that you determine the sex of your seed before planting.

But how can you tell a male cannabis seed from a female cannabis seed?

The answer to the quest is that, if you are presented with a handful of unmarked seeds, it is virtually impossible to tell which is which.

The only true way to tell the plant’s gender is to plant a seed, then wait for it to mature.

The Waiting Stage

After planting the seed, you have to wait several weeks before the plant will begin to pre-flower, or form a small bud in the crux of a branch.

The first sign to know that your cannabis plant is feminized, is the appearance of pistillates that are wispy and generally white in color.

Male plants do not have these features.

They instead produce pollen sacs that look rounded with distinct splits running lengthwise.

It looks a bit like a tiny crab claw.

If you need a more precise, science-based method the gender of your cannabis seed, we can recommend several labs that can test for the sex of your plant right after germination.

These labs help you eliminate the about six weeks lengthy wait.

Portland, Oregon start-up Phylos Bioscience is one of those labs.

They are basically concerned with testing cannabis genetics.

Portland, Oregon start-up phylos bioscience also has a “plant sex kit” that’s pretty simple to set up and use.

The sex kit is made easy for even folks that aren’t scientifically inclined.

All you need to do is to simply press a cotyledon, or embryonic leaf, onto the kit’s filter paper and send it to their lab.

At the lab, the leaf is tested to determine its sex just like it is done on humans.

How To Feminize Cannabis Seeds

Unless you grow from clones, you should know that cannabis is wired to produce about 50% male seeds and 50% females.

This is just the nature of the beast and if you're not cloning, it would be difficult to get an all female seeds.

But, imagine the possibility of growing female cannabis from seeds alone.

Imagine the rich harvest of potent cannabis. Imagine the strong THC in your garden.

Well, that is where the feminizing technique comes into play.

There are two methods of engineering the cannabis plant to produce only females from seed, every-time.

You should note that this method does not guarantee you complete feminization every time, but you can be sure of a 99% score.

The general practice behind feminization is to chemically force female plants to produce pollen, which is used to pollinate other female plants.

The outcome?

Resulting seeds will be feminized, with no risk of further pollination.

You already know by now that male and female cannabis seeds look the same when young.

Only female cannabis plants make buds.

Male cannabis plants are only good at breeding non-potent pollen sacs.

This therefore lower yields and cause seedy buds if they’re left among your female plants for too long.

Because male plants don’t make buds and their presence reduces the quality of buds, most growers toss male plants the moment they see pollen sacs forming.

However, it is certain that fifty percent of your regular cannabis, will end up being male, you will end up tossing half your plants once they start flowering.

This is a quick overview of the process you can employ to feminize your cannabis.

Step By Step Process

Buy or Make Colloidal Silver.

It’s basically a solution of silver suspended in water and is available online and in health stores as a dietary supplement.

Spray the Bud Sites.

You need to spray the Bud sides of your known female plant daily during the first 3-4 weeks of the flowering.

Do not stop spray until pollen sacs form and start splitting open

Also switch to a 12/12 light schedule to initiate the flowering stage.

Choose bud sites on your known female plant, and spray/drench them daily with colloidal silver.

As the treated flowers develop, they will form into male pollen sacs instead of regular buds.

Untreated bud sites on the plant will form into female buds as usual;

Do not immerse your buds in colloidal silver.

This is because it toxifies the cannabis plant and makes unsafe for smoking.

Harvest “Feminized” Pollen

When pollen sacs are ready to be harvested they swell like a balloon and start to open up.

Ensure you do not harvest early!

Keep spraying the bud sites daily until pollen sacs open or you might end up with empty pollen sacs.

When the pollen sacs are ready, the leaf section protecting the pollen will start to crack.

At this point, it’s time to collect the feminized pollen. One of the easiest ways to do this is to collect the pollen sacs directly and let them dry for a week.

At that point, they can be placed in a bag and shaken to collect all the pollen.

Conclusion

Wait ~6 Weeks After Pollination to Harvest Seeds –

After about 6 weeks from pollination, the calyxes on the buds of your female plant will be swollen and fat.

You know it’s time to harvest your seeds when they start bursting out.

At this point, it’s time to congratulate yourself because you’ve got feminized seed!

We hope you now know how to tell if your cannabis seeds are feminized.