Foto von Matthew Brodeur auf Unsplash
In cannabis stores, in the product description, you can find two characteristics: regular and feminized cannabis seeds. In this Herbies guide, you’ll find out how they differ and which one is better.
Regular vs. Feminized: What Should You Know About Them?
Marijuana is dioecious, which means that male and female sex organs are found on different plants. A male one forms a pollen sac, and a female one forms a bud. The pollen pollinates (fertilizes) the flower, and it forms seeds. Seeds harvested from such flowers are called regular. They have a 50/50 chance of germinating into a plant of one of the sexes.
For smoking, only female marijuana flowers are suitable. They contain THC — the psychoactive substance that gets you high and causes euphoria. When growing weed from regular seeds, you have to remove the male plants because they have no value in terms of getting high.
It would be nice to be able to grow only female marijuana, right? But it’s impossible to just look at a regular seed and find out what kind of plant it will grow to be. The gender becomes clear when marijuana starts to form sex organs.
However, breeders have learned how to create seeds from which smokable female weed grows. They are called feminized seeds.
What Is the Feminized Cannabis Seed Creation Process?
Breeders create them by pollinating (fertilizing) a female bud with another female plant’s pollen.
This phenomenon is rare in nature. Sometimes, a female weed „realizes“ that it is not fertilized and grows a pollen sac. This helps it to self-pollinate and procreate.
Breeders take advantage of this phenomenon. They spray the marijuana with chemicals (usually colloidal silver), cause it to be stressed, and force it to grow a pollen sac. Then they collect the pollen, dry it, and fertilize another female marijuana with it. The seed formed during this process does not contain the male Y-chromosome and germinates into a female weed.
Why Are Feminized Seeds So Popular?
Here are some of their benefits:
- Only smokable plants grow from them;
- They produce high yields;
- They are easy to grow (since you don’t have to monitor and remove male plants);
- Their plants use space efficiently (while male ones take up space in the pot but are not smokable);
- They allow you to harvest at any time without worrying about pollination (flowers with seeds are not suitable for smoking).
Which Seeds Are Better?
The answer to this question depends on your goal. Breeding is only possible with regular seeds. It allows you to cross different species to create plants with specific properties. For example, you can take two types of your favorite cannabis and create a mix of them.
But if you just need buds for smoking, feminized seeds are better for you.
In the Herbies store, you will find both types of cannabis seeds from the best seedbanks. We guarantee that they germinate in almost 100% of cases. Pay attention to their characteristics, effects, and THC and CBD content. This will help you make an informed choice.