Regular seed is a natural cannabis variety, bred from both male and female parents. It can be a great option for beginners who wish to start breeding their own strains or finding genetically stable female plants.
These seeds are also more resilient than feminized ones, which means that they’re less likely to turn into hermaphrodites (developing both male and female flowers). This makes them the best choice for breeders and experienced growers who are looking to increase their yield or improve the quality of their buds.
Breeding
Breeding is a process that allows a plant to develop new traits. These new traits can include yield, resistance to pests and diseases and time to maturity.
A breeder creates thousands of “sister lines” from a single cross of two parent plants. These lines can be pure or inbred.
They can also be mixed, or hybridized, to add a desirable trait to the offspring. The result is called an F1 hybrid seed and can be used in breeding for many different crops.
Feminized seeds can be a bit tricky to grow, however, as they can go ‘herma’ after a lot of stress. This is particularly true for weed strains, as they can be susceptible to pruning and other techniques that put stress on the plants.
The benefits of feminized seeds can be significant, but they’re not for everyone. If you’re a beginner, or you’re looking to improve your cultivation skills, consider getting some regular seed so that you can practise growing and develop your own strains.
Cloning
Typically, the cloning process involves taking an immature egg (called an oocyte) from a female animal and adding the nucleus from another donor animal with desirable traits the farmer wants to copy. This is called somatic cell nuclear transfer, or SCNT.
While the process is generally a safe and effective way to reproduce animals, it can be accompanied by high levels of animal suffering, including pregnancy losses, sickness or death in neonates, low-level abnormalities in surviving young, and distress from disease in the animals produced as disease models. These effects are often mitigated by the use of other methods of animal production, such as in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer.
The resulting genetic features are virtually identical to those of the original animal, making it a successful basis for food production. It is also widely used in research and scientific advancement.
Genetics
Regular seed production is a long process that can take over three years to successfully develop a stable genetic line. This is often done to achieve a desired trait such as better flowering or high yields, but some seed companies hold breeding experiments for more generic reasons.
The study of genetics can be traced back to Gregor Mendel in the middle of the 19th century when he was able to identify genes as the fundamental units that control heredity and how they act within an organism. Those genes are made up of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and are passed down from parents to their offspring through a chemical mechanism called heredity.
Depending on the plant species, the genetics involved in seed quality and performance vary but likely share common biological underpinnings. Hence, genome-derived knowledge can provide insights on how seeds can be improved to increase crop productivity. This includes the study of how traits such as germination, vigor, size, longevity, and dormancy affect seed quality and the ability to be stored for later use.
Price
The price of regular seed is influenced by a number of factors, including legality, supply and demand, production costs, and the THC content of strains. Expensive seeds often feature the highest-quality genetics, which undergo a more extensive development and research process.
Some online cannabis seed banks offer discounts during special holidays, such as 420 and Christmas. To save money, be sure to compare prices before buying.
Another factor that affects the price of regular seed is the chance of producing male plants. Although these are cheaper than feminized seeds, the price is still higher than autoflowering or hybrid seeds, which produce female plants.
The best way to get the most for your money is to buy regular seeds from a reputable seed bank. Some of the most popular regular seed banks include Dutch Passion, which offers a collection of original cannabis genetics dating back to the 1980s and early 1990s. This line of seed features some of the finest old-school terpene-rich marijuana strains available.
