Before feminized seeds were developed, regular cannabis seeds gave rise to male and female plants. While the presence of males can be an inconvenience for some growers, there are a number of reasons why they can also provide unique benefits.
Learn more about the pros and cons of regular seeds in this article.
Increased Genetic Diversity
Genetic diversity, which is the amount of differences between individual organisms within a species, is essential to a population’s ability to adapt to changes in its environment. Without enough genetic variation, populations will become susceptible to diseases, pests and climate change.
Genetic variation allows plants to develop new characteristics that are better suited for their specific environments. It also makes it easier to identify particular species and strains based on their unique genetic profiles. It’s a critical natural resource for global sustainability efforts such as gene banks that save millions of seeds from around the world, botanical gardens that showcase dazzling plant collections and pastoralists who raise traditional livestock breeds.
Genetic diversity is also important for a species’ potential to expand its range. However, it’s often eroded by genetic drift when populations are isolated. This is why genetic diversity in plant populations needs to be maintained through regular seed and pollen exchange between different regions.
Stronger Plants
The plants produced by regular seeds tend to be stronger than feminized strains. Their robust quality means that they are able to withstand the stress of cultivation and still produce a heavy yield of high-quality buds. These cannabis plants can also serve as’mothers’ for the next generation, making clones that are identical in chromosomes and genetics to their mother.
Feminized seeds are much more susceptible to hermaphroditism than regular seeds, which is why it is important to cull male plants as soon as possible so that the females can thrive. This is not always easy to do with feminized plants and can lead to lower yields of inferior buds.
This is a big reason why some growers choose to grow feminized seeds instead of regular ones. Feminized seeds are also the best option for those who want to cultivate clones. Clones made from feminized seeds will not breed true, so they must be replanted with regular seeds in order to create more of the same cultivar.
More Stable Genetics
For breeders, working with regular seeds is paramount to creating unique and quality strains. This is because these seeds will produce both male and female plants (hermaphroditism) rather than feminized or autoflowering seeds that only produce female plants.
With a little work, you can separate the male plants from the females and use their pollen to create new seed stock. The process is more difficult, but the rewards can be great!
Stabilising a new strain with these regular seeds can be an extremely time-consuming and technical process, but it’s one of the best ways to ensure that the final product will display the desired characteristics. This includes potency, flavour profile and colouration. There are also some old-school varieties that never made it into the feminized market and have to be preserved with regular seeds in order for these genes to live on. Keeping this genetic legacy alive is incredibly important.
Less Expensive
Regular seeds are less expensive than other types of seeds. This is especially true if you are looking for older, tried-and-true strains that have been around for years.
Feminized seeds can be more expensive than regular seeds. This is due to the fact that they require a greater amount of resources to produce. This is because breeders have to stress out the female plants and apply pollen to them to turn them into feminized seeds.
This process can lead to stability issues, which are not always present with regular seeds. This is why some growers prefer to stick with the tried-and-true seeds when compared to feminized seeds.
Another advantage of regular seeds is that they make excellent mother plants for cloning. This is important because cloning allows you to reproduce a specific specimen, whether it be for a certain phenotype or particular colour. Moreover, with regular seeds, you can produce a crop of predominately female plants that will make for robust clones.
