Year: 2023

Whether you are growing your own vegetables or flowers, seeds are a great way to get a head start. They contain all of the starting materials necessary to produce a healthy and nutritious plant.

Seeds serve a variety of functions in plants, including nourishment of the embryo, dispersal, and dormancy during unfavorable conditions. Understanding the biology behind seeds will help you choose the best seeds for your garden.

What is a seed?

Seeds are the way certain plants reproduce. They have an embryo and a protective covering called the seed coat. They are produced in both angiosperms (flowering plants) and gymnosperms (conifers and ginkgoes).

Angiosperm seeds are produced in a hard or fleshy structure called a fruit that encloses the seeds for protection in order to secure healthy growth. In gymnosperms, the seeds begin development “naked” on the bracts of cones.

Seeds contain a source of stored food for the developing embryo, called endosperm. This food storage tissue is usually triploid, and is rich in oil or starch and protein.

How do seeds grow?

Seeds are tiny, but they contain everything a plant needs to grow into a new one. That includes water, the right temperature and a whole bunch of food for the embryo that grows inside.

When a seed is planted it begins to send out roots that search for water. Once the seed has a root it can absorb more water to help it grow bigger and stronger.

Once the seed has a root it starts to get bigger and produce enzymes that ramp up the metabolism of the embryo, breaking down the food stored in the endosperm for energy. This helps the small plant begin photosynthesis, or turning light into food for itself.

Eventually, the radicle (first root) and then the shoot start to emerge from the seed. These are the two parts that will grow into leaves, and start the process of photosynthesis again. Watching seeds sprout is a great way to learn about how plants grow!

How do seeds germinate?

The germination process is the beginning of plant growth from a seed. It involves a series of steps that are triggered by environmental factors such as water, temperature, light exposure, and oxygen availability.

First, the dry seed takes up water. This results in swelling of the seed and a rupture of its seed coat. Then, a root grows downwards to access underground water and a shoot grows upwards towards sunlight.

Step 1: The uptake of water triggers a series of enzymes that initiate growth. These include the formation of the radicle (primary root) and plumule (shoot), and cotyledons, which unfold to begin photosynthesis.

The optimum water level is critical for the seed to germinate. Too much water inhibits germination, while too little water stops it. Temperature is also an important factor, with some seeds requiring cool winter temperatures to break dormancy. Others need to experience alternations between warm and cool conditions. Oxygen is also important, as germinating seeds respire vigorously to release energy for their growth.

How do seeds grow into plants?

Seeds need water, the right temperature and a bit of light to grow into plants. But there’s a lot more to it than that, and some seeds have requirements that are quite strange!

First of all, they need to survive a long period of dormancy. Dormancy is a time when a seed’s cells remain active but don’t release energy for growth.

The next step is called germination. This involves the reactivation of the metabolic pathways that lead to plant growth and the emergence of the radicle or seed root and plumule or shoot.

Most seeds are surrounded by a protective covering called the seed coat. The seed coat helps the seed survive long periods of heat, drought and cold. It also protects the embryo from microorganisms that destroy the seed.

With the growing interest in feminized seeds, regular cannabis seeds may seem less exciting. But don’t be fooled, regular seeds offer plenty of possibilities for growers to experiment with their cultivation skills.

The biggest benefit of regular seed is that they provide more stable plant genetics than feminized seeds. This is especially important for new growers who are still learning their craft.

Breeding

Breeding is a process in which cannabis cultivators combine different strains to produce new genetics. It is a highly technical process that can take several generations to perfect, but the rewards are well worth it.

Typically, breeders use feminized seeds to produce crops with a specific ratio of female to male plants. This is ideal for commercial growers, as it makes it easier to manage the crop and reduces risk of unwanted pollination.

Regular seeds, on the other hand, are less predictable and may produce both male and female plants. This is why they are not as popular as feminized seeds, but it is still an important part of the seed market.

For breeders who are passionate about preserving cannabis traditions and are keen to re-establish natural cannabis plants in their areas, regular seeds are a good option. They are free from tampering, which means they have an even chance of emerging as female or male. They also provide superior clones.

Cloning

Cloning regular seeds is a great way to create new plants. But it does have its challenges, especially when trying to clone a strain that you already have in your garden.

For starters, you should select your mother plant carefully and ensure it is healthy and sturdy enough to withstand the stress of the cloning process. Also, try to choose a plant that has been in its vegetative stage for at least two months before you take your cuttings.

Lastly, make sure that your cut stems are straight. Branches that are crooked will not grow well in starter trays and may cause your clones to fail.

Once your cuttings have rooted, it’s time to transplant them into their new home. Before you do, dip the bottom of each clipping into a rooting hormone. This will help the clone to become more resistant to diseases, pests and pathogens that might have already attacked it in its mother plant’s soil medium.

Creating your own unique strains

Using regular seeds to create new strains is a great way to explore the genetic potential of cannabis. You can take older heirloom strains and make them into something even more powerful than they ever were before, and you can also use landrace strains to create new terpene and effect combinations.

As a result, these strains can be much more complex than the hybrid strains you can buy in the store. They can be blended to create a unique experience that is customized for your specific needs and preferences.

To get started, select two parent strains with desirable traits that you want to combine. Next, back-cross (or cross) them with each other and keep repeating the process until you’ve created a stable set of plants that consistently grow in the same way.

Then, you can start testing the offspring to see how they perform and what traits show up. This is called breeding and it’s one of the most effective ways to make new strains.

Old school genetics

Old school cannabis genetics are some of the most sought after strains in the industry. These strains have been around for a long time and they are often more robust than their feminized counterparts.

Some of these strains are only available as regular seeds. These seeds are unaltered, and they ensure that the genetics of a particular variety remain stable for generations to come.

Another benefit of regular seeds is that they make it possible to breed new strains without compromising the genetic integrity of the plant. Feminized seeds, on the other hand, only produce female plants 99% of the time, which can make it difficult to breed and create new varieties.

Old School Genetics is a European cannabis seed company formed from a collective of leading breeders. The company is based in Barcelona and has an extensive library of rare cannabis cuts from iconic seedbanks and growing collectives that they cross with contemporary strains from modern European seedbanks to produce unique hybrids.

Regular seeds are cannabis seeds that have not been genetically engineered. They are a natural and pure form of cannabis seed that can be used to produce new strains or hybridize existing cultivars.

While feminized seeds are the most popular type of cannabis seed, regular seeds still remain a popular choice for many growers. They can yield new phenotypes and cultivars that are not available in feminized seeds.

They are cheaper than feminized seeds

If you’re looking for seeds that are cheaper than feminized seed, regular seed is the way to go. However, you should also be aware that they have a 50% chance of producing male plants and a third of them will produce female plants.

Feminized seeds are a good choice for growers who want to achieve higher yields and a more consistent crop. They’re also ideal for commercial growers who need to stick to a certain number of plants.

Autoflowering cannabis strains are an excellent choice for small indoor spaces, as they are easy to grow and require little to no lighting schedule adjustments. They are also highly resistant to pests and fungi, making them an ideal choice for growers with limited space.

The type of seed you choose depends on your personal preferences and cultivation experience. In most cases, it comes down to what you want from your harvest and your time or space constraints.

They are easier to grow

Regular seeds are a great option for novice growers. They’re much easier to clone than feminized seed, and are also more stable genetically.

Feminized seed is ideal for commercial growers who want a crop that is predominately female. With a predominantly female crop, there’s no risk of male plants appearing and ruining your harvest.

However, they can also be a disadvantage for beginners who don’t have the skill to handle sexing. Moreover, it’s a good idea to plant a few regular seeds with your feminized ones to account for the possibility of male plants popping up.

It’s also possible to cross regular seeds with autoflowering seeds to create hybrids with better flowering times or a more balanced terpene profile. It’s a good way to keep your cannabis gene pool diverse, as well as develop new strain phenotypes. You can do this by using a regular male and a regular female to produce a strain that flowers faster, or by breeding two strains with different terpene profiles.

They are more resistant to pests and diseases

Regular seeds are generally more resistant to pests and diseases than feminized ones. This is due to their genetic stability.

Moreover, they also tend to be more vigorous, so they will better handle stress and provide a greater chance of survival in the long run. This is a great advantage in vegetable production, especially in the field or in greenhouses.

A major goal when breeding new varieties is disease resistance. It plays an important role in vegetable crop production and integrated pest management practices.

In addition, a number of studies have shown that some plant cultivars are resistant to several types of insect pests. This is because they have glandular trichomes that help to suppress pests.

Insect-resistant cultivars are an IPM direct control tactic that is compatible with insecticide use and biological control tactics, although they can also be used alone. They synergize the effects of other direct control tactics to reduce insect pest abundance and damage below that which would have occurred if the other methods were not used.

They are more genetically stable

Regular seed is a genetically stable type of cannabis strain that produces resilient plants that produce the desired characteristics. It allows breeders to brew strains with desired phenotypes and traits that growers love.

Unlike feminized seeds, regular seed does not require genetic tampering to make it sexually stable. In fact, they are generally more sexually stable than feminized seeds.

Feminized seed is often given a bad rap because of the technique used by some breeders to make them sexually stable. This method is known as Rodelization and it involves using pollen from hermaphrodites to produce feminized seeds.

However, most professional cannabis breeders do not use this method anymore and instead rely on colloidal silver (CS) or silver thiosulfate (STS). As a result, regular seeds are much more sexually stable than feminized ones. They also have a better chance of producing robust descendants, and they can be easily cloned without the same problem as feminized varieties.