Regular seeds are a great option for growers who prefer to produce their own seeds. It’s also a good choice for those who want to experiment and preserve phenotypes that have not been feminized.
Just like how nature intended, regular seeds have a 50% chance of producing male or female offspring. This is ideal for breeding and producing superior clones.
Breeding
Many growers choose to use regular seeds to preserve a strain’s genetics or create their own cultivars. Since these seeds have not been altered, they will produce both male and female plants. This can be an advantage for some growers who are looking to achieve a certain ratio of male to female plants for breeding and cloning purposes.
Breeders need to work with plants that show both sex in order to pollinate them and create new hybrids. Using regular seeds will give the grower access to more genetic variation and allow them to discover unique phenotypes that may not be possible with feminized seeds alone.
Occasionally, growers will also plant regular seeds in the wild with the intention of re-establishing cannabis’ natural habitat. This allows the plants to be pollinated by male flowers and to produce their own seeds – thereby re-establishing a small pockets of natural cannabis in the wild. It is an intriguing and somewhat counterintuitive process that can yield some interesting results.
Cloning
For gardeners who want to take it a step further than merely breeding their own strains, cloning regular seeds is an important aspect of the growing process. Cloning allows gardeners to keep their best and most robust female plants as mother plants and produce a large crop of buds without the risk of pollination.
Unlike seeds, clones do not need to go through the germination and seedling stage, which can add three weeks to the overall grow time. As a result, clones are more able to withstand stress throughout the growing process and can be more easily taken care of.
Clones must be carefully disinfected before being cut to ensure that they are free of pathogens and other potential contaminants. It is also recommended that clones be cut from the lower and healthier branches to encourage root growth. Once a clone has roots, it can be transplanted into a new pot or growing medium. It is essential to feed clones regularly with a balanced nutrient solution.
Pollination
Typically, plants are hermaphrodites, producing male and female flowers. To produce seeds, a flower needs to be fertilized with pollen from another flower of the same species. This can happen when pollen from a flower’s stamen (anthers) falls on the stigma of another flower, forming a pollen tube that will later carry sperm cells to the ovary of the flower. Fertilization is completed when the sperm cells reach the egg cells inside the ovule, creating a seed. This process is aided by a variety of biotic and abiotic agents, such as wind, water, birds, insects, hummingbirds, bats and other mammals. These are known as pollinators.
Unlike feminized seeds that can be grown without the need to separate male and female plants early into flowering, regular seeds must be separated in order to prevent the production of pollinated buds, which will have minimal cannabinoids and will produce harsh smoke. This process is referred to as sexing.
Genetics
The majority of seed banks only stock feminized seeds nowadays, but regular seeds are still available. Feminized seeds are a better choice for commercial growers, as they produce only female plants and can save a lot of space and money from not having to remove 40% of their crop after sexing.
However, for beginner growers it can be an interesting option to work with regular seeds. The genetics of regular weed plants can be more varied, which gives the grower a wider range of options to experiment with and create their own unique strains.
Regular plants also have a lower chance of going hermaphrodite. This can be beneficial for the grower, as it means that there is a greater possibility of achieving more clones and making more crosses with their plants. However, if the plant is stressed by techniques such as topping, fimming, lollypopping or defoliation it may go hermaphrodite and start producing male flowers.
