If you’re looking to grow a cannabis plant with its original genetics and don’t mind the extra work of removing male plants during flowering, regular seeds are for you. This is also a great option for experienced growers who enjoy experimenting with different phenotypes.
For breeders, regular seeds provide a genetic stability that can’t be found in feminized seeds. This can lead to more successful breeding experiments and a wide variety of cannabis strains.
Stable Genetics
Once breeders have perfected a strain, they must then stabilize the genetics of that cultivar. They do this by backcrossing the clone as many times as necessary to create seeds that produce offspring similar to the original phenotype.
Stabilized seeds are consistent plants that will display desirable traits across a range of environments and breeding conditions. This is a critical step in ensuring that consumers experience the same effects with every harvest.
The process of stabilizing a strain is long and complicated, requiring years of patience and a large growing space. Despite this, the end result is well worth the effort. Having stable cannabis seeds allows breeders to make better-quality clones and develop new cultivars. This ultimately gives growers the best of both worlds: stability and variety.
High-Quality Genetics
The genetics of a cannabis plant determine which cannabinoids it will produce, how big it will grow and other vital characteristics. Different marijuana genetics have varying effects on users, from calming indicas to energizing sativas.
Seed companies use a variety of techniques to create their regular seeds, including backcrossing and selection. They may also use clone only selection, which involves selecting a clone and crossing it with itself, as many times as necessary to produce seeds that are as similar to the original clone as possible.
Quebec Cannabis Seeds is a reputable seed company that sells regular and feminized seeds. They offer a germination guarantee of 80% and free shipping on orders over $200. They also have a great range of promos. Check out their website for the latest deals.
Variety of Genetics
Regular seeds don’t undergo the same genetic tampering that feminized seeds do, making them far more likely to produce robust descendants. Since they operate as nature intended, these seeds are a great choice for growers seeking to cultivate a wide range of phenotypes.
They’re also an excellent choice for growers who want to clone their plants. Feminized plants can only be cloned from other feminized plants, but a regular plant’s seed will produce both male and female flowers.
Furthermore, a regular seed can be used to pollinate a group of hermaphrodite plants to create new seeds, lowering the cost of buying feminized seeds. This is also useful for growers who want to experiment with different growing conditions. However, this method requires more patience than feminized seeds.
Female Plants
Regular seeds do produce hermaphrodite plants, but the percentage of male plants in a pack is far lower than in feminized varieties. The hermaphrodite plants grow far more quickly than females, so they are often pulled early, and their thorny stems can interfere with training techniques like topping, fimming, lollypopping or SCROG.
Feminized cannabis seeds are a popular choice for growers, as they eliminate the need to sex the plants before flowering. This saves valuable space, water and nutrients, and allows growers to focus on maximizing their yields. However, the process of making feminized seeds takes time and effort, so they are usually more expensive than their non-feminized counterparts. This is a key consideration when choosing which seeds to purchase for your next grow.
Sexing Plants
Although it’s less common, some photoperiodic non-feminized plants can develop both male and female flowers. This is called hermaphroditism and can occur due to stress during the flowering period or because of a genetic predisposition. Hermies are best kept separate from the rest of the crop to avoid pollination and increase the chances of getting a large harvest.
Typically, cannabis plants reveal their sex about 7-10 days (indoor) or 3 weeks (outdoor) after completing the vegetative stage. You’ll need to check every plant regularly and keep an eye out for any signs of sexiness. This is particularly important if you’re growing photoperiodic seeds, as one rogue male can ruin the entire crop. By checking your plants regularly, you can prevent any hermies from developing.
