HOW TO TELL IF YOUR CANNABIS IS FEMINIZED
Knowing the sex of cannabis is very important. There is a difference between female and male cannabis. The features found in female cannabis differ from the features you can see in male cannabis, this is why you must ascertain the sex of your cannabis.
The physical appearance of cannabis can help you identify if it is feminized. However, spotting female cannabis by just looking at it might not be enough for you to tell if it is feminized or not. This is why you need to know how to differentiate between male and female cannabis.
For you to be able to easily tell if cannabis is feminized, you need to know the features of female cannabis, how to differentiate feminized cannabis, etc. Keep reading to learn how to identify female cannabis.
What Are Feminized Cannabis?
It is not easy for you to quickly identify feminized cannabis, more reason why understanding the myth of figuring out the sex of cannabis becomes very important. You don’t need to be anxious even if the concept behind identifying looks tricky, it is very easy to understand. Before buying your cannabis, you can come across some words or phrases that can confuse you if you are not yet familiar with them, these are words that can help you identify if cannabis is feminized or not.
A feminized cannabis plant contains buds that are very rich in cannabinoids. Cannabinoids are compounds that you can find in cannabis Sativa plants. The common examples you can find in them are CBD and THC. CBD is a short form for cannabidiol while THC stands for tetrahydrocannabinol.
Feminized cannabis is usually photoperiod in nature mainly because they are produced by female cannabis seeds. A cannabis plant that is photoperiod grows depending on the darkness/daylight hours. Female cannabis has a higher aroma and potency compared to male ones.
Cannabis can be feminized from its seed genetically and the success rate of this process is about 99.9 percent. This is why most growers feminize their cannabis so they can enjoy the numerous benefits of female cannabis. There are numerous feminized cannabis hybrids available all over the world. Some of them are Haze, Kush, Afghan, Cookies, Gelato, Banana, Skunk, Cheese, Purple, Blueberry, and so on. These feminized hybrids are based on their families and individual traits.
It might be tricky for you to differentiate female cannabis from male cannabis. Keep reading to learn more.
How To Tell If Your Cannabis Is Female Or male?
People who grow cannabis plants always have a mixture of female and male cannabis in the process. It is best to remove the male cannabis so that it will not end up pollinating the female cannabis. The main reason why breeders avoid male cannabis from pollinating the female ones is that they want to avoid filling the buds with seeds. You need to be very sure that the cannabis you are about to throw away is a male to avoid wastage.
In the early weeks of the growth of cannabis, it can be very difficult to differentiate between female and male cannabis. Within the first 28 days of growth, you can still be able to tell because the female cannabis will contain a “pre-flower” stigma while the male cannabis will contain pollen sacs. At this, stage you need to be very careful while trying to check them out because it is not visible. However, from 42 days of growth, these features will be very visible.
Female cannabis has some other physical attributes that differentiate it from male cannabis. They often have a slender stalk most times while the male cannabis stalk is very thick and sturdy. Most times, the male cannabis leaves are sparsely distributed on the plants while female cannabis will always have abundant leave distribution.
When you see two cannabis plants, you can also tell by their length. The female cannabis is always shorter than the female. It is easier to tell when the male and female cannabis are together. The female cannabis contains resinous buds. Their pistils are V-shaped containing protective layers too.
You can still differentiate them based on their growth rate. The male cannabis grows faster compared to the female cannabis. So if you have planted several cannabis plants, then you can easily tell when one is growing faster than the other.
How To Determine If A Cannabis Is Female Before Flowering?
When you plant a cannabis seed, you cannot tell if it is a male or female because it is unmarked. At that moment, the best you can do is to plant and check out the sex of the cannabis while growing. It is difficult to determine the sex at the beginning because what you have is just a lot of cannabis seeds ready to be planted. So the first sign for you to be able to determine the sex of the cannabis is to check out for some early features such as pre-flower stigma or a small bud that the cannabis plant will form.
You will also notice an early sign of pistillate that will appear which will be white in color and wispy. This is another way to determine if the cannabis plan is feminized while a pollen sac that is round in shape will be produced by the male cannabis during this growth stage.
The sex of cannabis can also be determined using scientific methods. However, this way of determining if the cannabis is female is not common generally because it has to do with going to the lab to scientifically test the sex of the cannabis. Nevertheless, it is a more accurate way to tell if your cannabis is feminized or not.
You can determine if a cannabis plant is feminized based on the amount of THC it produces. THC is often used for medicine, this is why female cannabis is more desirable. Male cannabis plants produce little THC.
How To Feminize Your Cannabis Plants?
There are different techniques you can use to feminize your cannabis plant. One of the top reasons why people want feminized cannabis plants is because of the benefits attached to female cannabis. Feminizing cannabis plants means they will end up producing female cannabis and very few male cannabis which will be easier for you to remove the male cannabis to avoid them pollinating the female ones close to them.
To get female cannabis, you will need to get a feminized cannabis seed which is easier. The easiest technique is to use a watercolor brush that is fresh to harvest the pollen. You can go ahead to preserve it in a small metal container or you can brush it directly on the flowers. It is very easy because you are directly rubbing the pollen that is harvested on the cannabis plants.
However, for large commercial producers and laboratories, the method above can be very stressful. It is not advisable to use such a method. These producers use chemicals to feminize cannabis plants. There are three common chemicals which are Silver Nitrate, Gibberellic Acid, and Silver Thiosulfate. These chemicals are used differently to feminize cannabis plants. The Gibberellic Acid comes in different types such as GA7, 5, 4, and 3. the GA3 is the most common chemical that is available in the market for commercial breeders to use. When using any of the chemicals, you must use them very carefully.
Another easier way to feminize the cannabis is to use distilled water that is mixed with pure silver, you will need to spray it on the female plants. You can use this method especially when the cannabis plants are flowering. The pollen sac will be produced but the seeds that will be produced will be female cannabis seeds.
What Are The Common Myths On Identifying The Sex of A Cannabis?
Cannabis breeders know the importance of sexing cannabis. Since it is very difficult to differentiate a female cannabis seed from a male. There are different ways to ensure you are planting female seeds. However, some myths surround the sexing of cannabis. These myths are based on the strains of cannabis, the amount of THC produced, how medicinal the sex of cannabis can be, and some arguments on the environmental effects in deciding the sex of the cannabis. It is still a debate if the environment determines the sex of cannabis or not.
Physical attribute
One of the common myths about the sex of cannabis is to observe the physicality of the cannabis seed. A female seed will always have a crater located at the bottom of the seed, then the female seed will have an oval depression. Most times, male cannabis seeds do not have a uniform crater shape. However, some believe that the crater of cannabis seeds does not determine the sex of the seed. This is why it is completely a myth. If this method of identifying the seed has proven to be effective, then it might be true.
Environment effect
Another myth believed to determine the sex of a cannabis plant is the environment. This debate has been on for years now. However, it is still not clear if environmental factors determine if cannabis can be male or female. Some research has been carried out to help know if this myth is true or not. Some research concluded in favor while others did not agree with this myth. One similar outcome from these investigations is that environment might not be able to determine the sex but it can change the sex of the cannabis.
For instance, when the environment makes the cannabis plant stress too much, the cannabis plant might think it is about to die. Because of this, the cannabis plant might turn into a hermaphrodite plant. It will be able to pollinate itself and survive the harsh environment. The environment caused the cannabis plant to change sex but did not determine the sex from the beginning.
Understanding the myth behind sexing cannabis helps the growers to be able to remove the male cannabis that is not needed and enjoy feminized cannabis harvest.
How To Tell If A Cannabis Is Feminized?
We have highlighted some possible ways you can easily tell if cannabis is feminized. Some of the simple ways to tell if your cannabis is feminized include
Knowing the feminized cannabis family strains
There are common family strains that indicate that cannabis is female. Some of these family strains are
- Haze family strain
- Kush family strain
- Gelato family strain
- Afghan family strain
- Blueberry family strain
- Cookies family strain
- Purple family strain
- Skunk family strain
- Banana family strain
- Cheese family strain
There are more than hundreds of feminized cannabis family strains. However, the ones listed above are the top and common ones you can easily find.
Production of THC
An easy way to tell that cannabis is feminized is through the amount of THC produced. Female cannabis produced THC in higher quantity. The male cannabis produces THC but in a very small quantity. The reason the female cannabis produces THC nugs is that it has not been fertilized. When a female cannabis plant has been fertilized, it will spend more time producing
Physical Features
When checking out the sex of the cannabis, the physical look of the cannabis can help you tell feminized cannabis. Some of the physical attributes are
- You can examine what is growing between the nodes. The female plants will grow stigma instead of pollen sacs. This is popularly known as the Pistils
- Check out for the Calyx. This simply means the female cannabis plant will grow light hairs which are normally two. These two light hair are in the shape of an antenna which can be green, purple, or white.
- You can look out for the Cola. The Colas are the leaves, branches, flowers, and stems. Usually, female cannabis has a slender stalk, the flowers are heavily distributed, unlike the male cannabis flowers that are sparsely distributed.
Conclusion
It is easier to tell if a cannabis plant is feminized when it is more than 6 weeks. However, there are others to know if cannabis is a female even before it is planted. The seed of cannabis can be examined to know if the seed is a female or a male. It is difficult to determine the sex of the cannabis from the beginning. Nevertheless, there are easy ways to feminize a cannabis plant when it is still growing. You don’t have to wait till the cannabis plant is matured before you begin to feminize it. You need to ascertain the sex of the cannabis as early as possible so that you will be able to get rid of the male cannabis since they are not desirable. There are methods to feminize cannabis. They are physical attributes that can make it easy to tell if cannabis is feminized.