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Feminised

what are feminized seeds?

Feminized cannabis seeds have been modified to only produce female plants. Why? Because it’s the female plants that contain high levels of THC and make buds. Male plants are typically not grown, as they do not contain the buds needed to make weed (although they are still useful for other things such as breeding and making fibres for textiles, etc).

All our seeds at CG Australia are feminised!!

why should you choose feminized seeds?

When you buy regular seeds, there is a 50% chance the plant will be female. For the majority of cannabis plants, you can only really tell the sex of the plant after the vegetative stage, and it can also be very tricky to identify if the plant is male or female. For this reason, many growers buy feminized seeds, to ensure they know they will get a female plant. This can save a lot of time, money, and effort into growing a plant that turns out to be male.

You won’t need to keep checking your plants to check if they are male or female, nor will you need to waste space or money on those plants that will most likely have to be thrown away. You also know that all your plants will produce the buds needed to make your marijuana. 

hemp seeds

how are the seeds feminized?

Two female plants can be bred together. Plants that are flowering will be strayed by a solution (usually colloidal silver, gibberellic acid or silver thiosulphate), which will change how the flower develops. One of the female plants will then start to develop the pollen sacs, as a male plant does but it will only carry the female genetics. If this plant then pollinates another female plant which is untreated, the seeds will come out as female 99% of the time. This is one of the most successful ways to produce feminized cannabis seeds. 

pollinated-Hemp_flowers
A female plant that has been pollinated.

how to tell if your cannabis plant is male or female?

You can usually tell a male or female plant by looing at the nodes (the bit where the branches sprout out from the stalk). This can be tricky to spot in the pre flowering stage and you may find it helpful to have a magnifying glass on hand.

The male plant during the pre-flowering stage will produce tiny sacs in the node of the plant, whereas the female plant will develop pistils that comes out of the sac, along with fine white hairs. These are called ‘pre flowers’ and are smaller versions of the plants main flowers. They will show up in the vegetative stage, usually a male plant will develop these tiny pre flowers at around 3 to 4 weeks, and the female 4 to 6 weeks. Spotting these signs early and removing any male plants is better early on, to stop them pollinating the females.  

The female pre flowers are usually slightly thinner than the males, developing the fine, white pistils at the tips. These white hairs can take a few days to develop. The stalks on a female plant can also be a lot thinner than the male plant. This is because the males will grow taller than the female, in order to pollinate them, and therefore will take more weight. Female plants can also have much more dense leaves (particularly at the top) than the male plant. 

male cannabis pre-flowers

Cannabis_Male
Licence GFDL
Cannabis_male_flowers
(CC BY-SA 3.0)
-Male_hemp_flowers-2

female cannabis pre-flowers

Cannabis_female
Cannabis_female_flowers_close-up
Licence GFDL
FemaleCannabisCluster
Licence GFDL

what is a hermaphrodite cannabis plant?

A hermaphrodite plant is one that can develop into both sexes. These are generally considered a nuisance by growers and they can damage your other plants. This mostly happens when the plant has been exposed to stress, such as a lack of nutrients, too high temperatures, damage to the plant, or diseases. These plants can develop both the male pollen sacs, as well as buds, and sometimes long, thin anthers. If you see this plant growing then it’s better to remove it, to avoid it affecting your other crops. 

should you keep a male plant?

Most growers will simply throw out the male plant, as it’s pretty much unusable for making into marijuana. If you want to breed pants, then you should keep them. Make sure to keep them in a completely separate space from the female plants and make you do not transfer the pollen from the males to females. 

buy feminized seeds here

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About the Author

Our deep love of plants and fascination with Cannabis has enabled over 25 years of successful small scale Marijuana cultivation from indoor hydroponics, greenhouses and outdoor growing set-ups.

As Cannabis laws around the world change, *we support the movement toward freedom of choice for responsible, consenting adults who wish to experience the joy and wonder of growing a Cannabis plant.

*All info is for entertainment purposes only.  We do not condone illegal growing of Cannabis.   Consult your state laws accordingly. 

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