What's The Difference Between Female Cannabis Seeds and Male Cannabis Seeds?
How can you differentiate between the sex of cannabis seeds?
Growing marijuana plants at home can be very tricky at times. An essential part of the process is to figure out the sex of a plant. This is because growers prefer investing in female plants since they produce a good quantity of THC-covered buds. Another benefit is that female plants can bring medical relief in the form of CBD strains.
When growing cannabis at home, you must know that there are mainly three types of seeds: female, male, and hermaphrodites. Where males produce small sacs of pollen around the base of the leaves, the females make resin-secreting flowers. With time, growers noticed that un-pollinated female plants produce flowers and resins that are not pollinated and are more likely to make high-potency cannabis. But for this to happen, you need to determine if the sex of the seed is female or not.
Knowing the difference between male, female, and hermaphrodite cannabis
You can determine if a cannabis plant is female, male, or hermaphrodite by noticing the following differences:
Identify female cannabis
Female cannabis is what all growers want since they produce buds with the most amount of THC. If there is only one male plant and a minimal amount of pollen, the plant may end up filling its flowers with seeds only. Moreover, if you grow the female and male plants in the same location, the buds produced by the female plant will only contain seeds that you cannot smoke.
So, to determine if it's female cannabis, you need to check if their flowers close entirely or not. They should be open and have a little “hair” called a pistil, which is not present in male plants.
Identify male cannabis
Male plants produce pollen that in turn helps the cannabis reproduce naturally. So if you want to make seeds, you will require a male plant. On the other hand, if you are growing plants to harvest flowers, we advise you to get rid of the male plant as soon as possible.
You won't be able to differentiate between the male and female plants until they begin to flower — this is when they start showing their sex. The male cannabis develops balls that open when they want to produce pollen, which looks like a tiny bunch of flowers.
It's best to get rid of them before this process happens because it will be too late otherwise. They take about three weeks to burst, which is enough time to identify the male. However, if you still cannot differentiate them, then the best way is to look for pistils. Male flowers do not have any pistils.
Identify hermaphrodite cannabis
They are a type of cannabis plant that contains both female and male flowers. They not only produce buds but also pollinate them and the plant itself. If you are wondering how they are formed, they either occur naturally or eventually turn into one due to “stress.” Any plant — both male and female — can turn into a hermaphrodite when stressed enough, but those that contain Thai strains are more likely to do so.
The stress conditions that lead a plant to turn include extra light exposure at the time of their night cycle, certain pathogens or insects, too much or too little water, or a bad transplant. It is not safe to keep this type of plant around, as they risk pollinating all your plants. We recommend getting rid of these too.
Feminized vs. regular seeds
You don't need to determine the sex of the cannabis plants if you are planning on growing feminized seeds. Even though there is no guarantee, there is a high chance that a feminized seed will not produce a male plant. In fact, there is only a 1% chance that they will grow a male plant.
Most growers prefer using feminized seeds, but others believe that they are unnatural and go for regular seeds. If you also choose the latter, then learning how to sex plants becomes a necessity.
How can cannabis seeds be feminized?
Feminized seeds are usually created by treating and altering the seeds to inhibit the male chromosomes. The most popular way of doing this is spraying the plant with colloidal silver daily and repetitively. You can use some other chemicals too, but they are not easily accessible. Even though colloidal silver is non-toxic, it is unfit to smoke, meaning that you have to sacrifice some plants to produce seeds and pollens.
When colloidal silver is sprayed regularly, it causes the plants to repress ethylene. This is the compound that helps the plant produce male flowers. The colloidal silver ensures that the plant will only grow pollens full of female chromosomes (XX instead of XY chromosomes). As a result, growers can use this pollen to produce more female flowers, further developing all-female seeds.
Besides this, another way to produce feminized seeds is called Rodelization. This process is more natural but less reliable and less popular. At the end of a season, the female cannabis plants that are still un-pollinated become “desperate” enough to pollinate themselves. As a result, they start producing pollen sacks. These pollens can be used to create feminized seeds, but since they still have ethylene, there is a chance that it may result in male seeds.
Why is sexing so important?
Most growers want female cannabis only, so it is very useful to determine the sex of the plants. The female ones produce the most resinous, biggest, and potent buds. In contrast, male cannabis plants are undesirable and interfere with the production and quality of the female plants.
Male plants produce pollen to pollinate the females, and when the latter get pollinated, they shift their energies into making seeds. While the females will still have a decent bud size, they will be low in quality and contain comparatively less THC. Not to mention that they will be full of seeds.
On the other hand, if the female cannabis plants are left un-pollinated, they swell up, become more resinous and develop an increased amount of trichomes.
FAQs
How can I turn a male weed plant into a female? You can use colloidal silver to enable a female to produce pollen sacs like the male plant. The pollen produced by this method will not have male genetics. In other words, the seeds produced as a result of female pollination by female pollen will develop female plants only. These seeds are called feminized seeds.
Is it possible to differentiate between male and female cannabis?
Differentiating between male and female cannabis can be tricky. However, it's possible to tell them apart by looking at their hereditary features. When female plants mature, they produce flowers that turn into cannabis upon drying and are finally ready to harvest. On the contrary, male plants do not create flowers; they produce pollen fertilizing female plants.
Can I change the sex of a plant from male to female by keeping it in the dark environment?
Stressing a plant can make it turn into a hermaphrodite, but the offspring you will get from these plants will also be hermaphroditic. The best way to turn the sex of a plant is by using an ethylene blocker like colloidal silver. When you use this blocker, the offspring of the hermaphrodite's plant will not have the same trait.
What happens if I don't get rid of male plants?
If you don't get rid of male plants, they will fertilize the female plants. Once they get fertilized, they shift all their energy from growing buds to growing seeds, which reduces their potential to produce THC.
Do male plants also have some amount of THC?
Yes, they have some amount of THC in their seeds, stems, and leaves. However, the THC levels are so low that you may need a soxhlet extractor to make it worthwhile and around 100 kg of seeds. As such, it is better to stick with female flowers. They produce a good amount of THC and have better quality.