When you get into growing weed, you must decide if you want to plant feminized seeds or regular ones; this isn’t only about how you set up your plants, it’s also going to affect how much bud you get and how well your growing goes.
Feminized seeds are made to grow into female plants — those are the ones that make the buds with a significant amount of cannabinoids that people who need them for health or for fun are looking for–but if you go with regular seeds, you’ll get about the same number of boy and girl plants. That means you have to do things the antiquated way when you grow them.
This article is going to explain the big things that make feminized and normal weed seeds different. I’ll give you the data you need to choose the right kind for what you want to do with your plants. If you’re new to growing your own plants or you know a lot about it and are thinking about what seeds to get, it’s really important to understand these things so you can grow your plants well.
What are Feminized Cannabis Seeds?
Feminized cannabis seeds are specifically bred to eliminate male chromosomes, ensuring that nearly every plant grown from them will flower as a female. The process of creating feminized seeds involves inducing a female plant to produce pollen, which is then used to fertilize another female. Since no male chromosomes are involved in the process, the resulting seeds carry only female genetics.
This method really cuts down the danger and hard work that goes with raising weed plants. Normally, you must watch your plants extremely careful when they flower to yank out the boy plants if you grow from the usual seeds.
People who grow plants for fun and those who do it for their business find that using feminized seeds saves a lot of room and resources like water and soil, because with these seeds, they don’t end up having to remove useless plants. Now, several places that sell seeds are stocking up on feminized weed seeds, besides the normal ones, to help out these growers.
Advantages of Feminized Seeds
Feminized seeds offer several compelling advantages for both novice and experienced cannabis cultivators.
- Maximized Yield: Every plant from feminized seeds will grow into a flowering female, ensuring no plant space is wasted on non-bud-producing males.
- No Male Pollination: Feminized seeds nearly eliminate the risk of male plants pollinating females, which can result in a lower-quality, seeded harvest.
- Space Efficiency: Particularly beneficial for indoor and limited-space grows, allowing for precise planning of space and resources.
- Simplified Cultivation: Reduces the complexity of the grow process, making it easier for new growers to manage their crops.
- Advanced Growing Techniques: Growers can implement SOG or SCROG methods more effectively with plants that are guaranteed to flower.
- Consistent Quality: It makes sure we get the same marvelous things from plants every time we grow them, so we always end up with items that are really great and don’t change much.
Drawbacks of Feminized Seeds
Even though seeds made to grow all female plants have a lot of good points, there are a few downsides you’ve also got to think about:
- Higher Cost: Feminized seeds usually cost more than normal seeds because they take more effort to make.
- Limited Genetic Pool: Feminized seeds usually cost more than normal seeds because they take more effort to make.
- Risk of Hermaphrodites: Under certain conditions, feminized seeds may develop into hermaphrodite plants, which can pollinate themselves and others, leading to seeded buds.
- Breeding Trouble: When you want to make new types of plants or mix different ones together, using feminized seeds isn’t a good idea; that’s because they don’t have the male parts that you normally need to do that.
- Not-Natural Seed Making: The ways they make seeds for female plants, by using chemicals, don’t seem right to some traditionalists and can look like a step away from the normal way of growing plants without affecting them.
What are Regular Cannabis Seeds?
Regular cannabis seeds are the most natural form of cannabis seeds, created by the simple pollination of female plants by males. They produce a roughly equal mix of male and female plants and are favored by traditionalists and breeders for their genetic purity and versatility. Regular seeds are essential for breeding new strains, as the presence of both male and female plants allows for a natural selection process of desirable traits.
Growing plain old weed seeds is seen by several people as the real deal when it comes to growing cannabis because you get to deal with how the plant normally grows and develops; this means figuring out if plants are male or female and then getting rid of the individual plants if you want to end up with buds that don’t have seeds in them. If you’re into potential that each seed brings to the table, sticking to these regular seeds gives you all the different weed traits you can think of. It basically sets you up to get better at growing and makes you more skilled at breeding the plants, too.
Advantages of Regular Seeds
There areseveral benefitsto using regular cannabis seeds as well:
- Genetic Variety: Normal seeds make an enormous mix of different traits– providing you more types of plants to pick from.
- Breeding Potential: They are essential for breeders who want to experiment with crossbreeding to create new strains.
- Genetic Variety: Normal seeds make an enormous mix of different traits– providing you more types of plants to pick from.
- Resilience: Plants grown from regular seeds are often considered hardier and more resilient to stress, disease, and fluctuations in growing conditions.
- Natural Cultivation: Growing regular seeds involves a traditional approach, whichcan be rewarding and educational for cultivators who enjoy the full horticultural experience.
- No Chemical Induction: Regular seeds are produced without the need for chemical intervention, making them ideal for organic growing practices.
Drawbacks of Regular Seeds
This type of seeds has some disadvantages to it as well, so be sure to take them into account:
- Sex Determination Required: Growers must identify and separate male plants to prevent pollination of females if seedless buds are desired.
- Variable Yield: Since roughly half of the plants are male, the usable yield for those looking for buds will effectively be halved.
- Time and Resource Intensive: Cultivating regular seeds may demand more time and resources, as growers must spend time sexing plants and potentially wasting nutrients on male plants.
- Space Considerations: Space that could be used for flowering females may be initially taken up by males, which are typically culled once identified.
- Not Beginner-Friendly: The need to identify plant sex and manage male plants may be daunting for new growers unfamiliar with the subtleties of cannabis cultivation.
- Unpredictable Harvests: The different genes in normal seeds can lead to various plant traits and strengths, which means you have to be careful and pay more attention when growing them.
What Type of Seeds Should You Choose?
Choosing between normal and feminized weed seeds is really about what you want to grow, how much you know about growing, and what you like. Feminized seeds are good for people who don’t want a lot of fuss; they help you not to worry about spotting and remove boy plants; these seeds are perfect if you want plants that make buds because every plant will bloom; that’s why people who grow a bit for themselves, those who don’t grow a lot, and those who don’t have much room to grow items where every bit of space counts, often go for feminized seeds.
Normal seeds are usually what people who like breeding plants choose, especially if they’re into the whole plant-growing science phenomena; they’re good for mixing different kinds of plants to make new types and they help keep the plant family tree varied, which is really important if you want to come up with new kinds of plants and make sure they don’t all turn out the same; these seeds are also usually tougher and cheaper than the special feminized seeds, which matters a lot if someone’s growing a whole lot of plants or doesn’t have much money to spend on seeds.
If you haven’t grown weed before, you’ll probably find it easier to start with feminized seeds because they’re less of a hassle. On the other hand, if you’ve got an experience, you might enjoy out of using regular seeds since they offer more variety and can be trickier to handle; think about the setup you’ve got for growing, how much you want to put into taking care of your plants, and what you’re aiming for with your harvest before you pick what seeds to go with.
