Regular seed offers unlimited possibilities for growers to experiment. This is especially true for cultivators that enjoy creating new strains or maintaining the health of their existing varieties.
Unlike feminized seeds which are designed to produce only female plants, regular seed produces both male and female flowers. This gives the gardener the opportunity to collect seeds from both the male and female plants to make more seeds in the future.
Stable Genetics
Regular seeds have a much wider range of potential phenotypes than their engineered counterparts. They allow growers to breed plants that display the traits they desire most such as potency, flavour and colour. Regular seed also allows for cloning which can produce exact genetic copies of specific specimens. The downside is that they can sometimes be unreliable, particularly if you purchase cheap/inexperienced seeds. These types of seeds tend to produce up to 50% males which can pollinate your female plants lowering their final yield levels.
Stable seeds are produced through a lengthy process of crossing and backcrossing brothers and sisters from the same parents to select for desired characteristics. This process can take years to stabilise a strain and can be impacted by the health of the maintained parents, the growing conditions and environmental factors. Once a stable strain is achieved it can be passed down through generations. This can be done in regular and feminized seeds.
Less Expensive
When it comes to choosing between feminized, autoflower or regular seed, many growers have a lot on their plate already. They may want to minimize their light schedule changes, or they may not have the space for male plants and would rather avoid wasting time and space sexing out the guys.
In contrast, regular seeds function exactly how nature intended and have a 50% chance of producing male or female plants, allowing growers to harvest a larger crop and create quality clones. These clones can be used to produce more seeds or even new cultivars.
While feminized seeds have their place for those who don’t mind sexing out the boys, many growers prefer to work with natural selection. The stability that results from the use of regular seeds is hard to beat and makes it a popular choice for breeders, cloners and growers. In addition, the cost of a regular seed is typically less than that of a feminized plant.
Easier to Breed
Regular seed operates just like nature intended – there’s an equal chance of male or female plants developing. This makes it easy to breed your own cultivars, which in turn produces superior clones.
This is especially useful for small-scale indoor growers or those who are legally capped at a certain number of plants. If you’re interested in breeding your own strains, check out our tips on how to get started with breeding cannabis seeds.
Another benefit of regular seeds is that they are not tampered with by humans. This gives them the advantage of being genetically more stable, which is particularly important for those who want to keep traditional landrace varieties such as Afghan and Durban Poison. This means the phenotypes you cultivate will be as close to the original plant as possible. To a true gene purist, this is the only way to go. This is also good news for those who are concerned about pests or diseases spreading to their crop.
Less Risk of Producing Males
One of the biggest reasons that many growers prefer regular seed is that they are more stable genetically than feminized seeds. With feminized seeds there is a much bigger risk of a plant becoming hermaphrodite (producing both male and female flowers) during the growing process, which can lead to a waste of time and money for the cultivator.
With regular seeds there is no such problem. They operate exactly how nature intended, with a 50% chance of germinating as either a male or a female flower. This is why they are so popular with breeders, as it allows them to create new strains and provide superior clones.
Plus, if you are an experienced gardener then producing your own seeds can be very rewarding. With a little bit of practice you can separate your male plants and pollinate them with females. This can produce a variety of different seeds that you can then grow again next year.
