Year: 2023

Regular seeds function exactly how nature intended, with an even chance of emerging as either male or female plants. They offer unique advantages that feminized seeds can’t, such as the ability to create and grow cuttings.

They also preserve genetic stability for breeding purposes and provide phenotype variation. Regular seed cultivation requires a little more work than feminized, but can be highly rewarding for those looking to explore and cultivate new strains.

Breeding

While feminized seeds offer the convenience of an all-female harvest, regular seed can be valuable for breeders looking to produce new varieties. They can also help preserve the genetics of a particular plant phenotype. Nonetheless, it takes more effort to grow regular seeds because you must sex your plants to remove any males that are produced, or risk losing out on a potential harvest.

In industrialized countries, the nature of breeding is shifting away from farm-saved and community seed systems based on sharing and exchange, supporting local adapted landraces and food sovereignty, to highly commercial and scientifically controlled activities carried out by large multinational corporations. Consequently, it is important to develop models that address social justice and equity within the corporate seed business (such as paying contract farmers a fair price for their seeds). The current model of exclusive control of seeds by a few corporate companies threatens agro-biodiversity, ecosystem services, climate robustness, food security, safety, and quality, and food and seed sovereignty.

Cloning

Seeds give you the ability to crossbreed and create new strains. However, seeds have a genetic code of their own that can affect how they grow. This means that your crop of sibling plants won’t be identical.

Clones are easier to work with than seeds because they’re exact duplicates of the mother plant. But they’re still delicate and require a carefully regulated environment with the proper lighting and humidity. If you don’t have the right conditions, a clone can die before it roots.

Clones can also inherit any flaws from their mother, including diseases and vulnerabilities to pests and fungus. This makes vetting your sources of clones a must. Also, clones require a specific rooting medium that’s often expensive to purchase and difficult to find in stores and dispensaries. In addition, clones take longer to flower than seeds because they haven’t developed the same amount of genetic potential. This is especially true for autoflowering clones.

Genetics

Genetics is the process of transferring genes from one organism to another. The process of genetics can be influenced by environmental factors that can affect the outcome of gene expression. For example, two plants may be genetically identical, but one plant may grow taller than the other because of the environment it is in. This is referred to as nature versus nurture.

Seed production involves isolation of fields for avoiding cross pollination from neighboring fields and careful sowing, harvesting, threshing and handling to avoid mechanical mixtures. It also involves testing of seeds to ensure high genetic purity and uniformity.

We used MAGIC lines to study the genetic variation in both seed size and number per fruit, and their interaction with flowering time. We found that field selfing rate influenced progeny inbreeding, but this increase could not be explained by genetically determined trade-offs between seed size and number. Moreover, the average phenotypic mean and broad sense heritability for seed weight and number were not significantly different, and a low correlation between these traits was observed.

Organic

Organic farming focuses on preventative practices that minimize external inputs and upstream pollution. This includes crop rotation, cover crops, organic fertilizers and pest control techniques, minimizing ground water pollution by avoiding synthetic chemical inputs, and encouraging biodiversity on farms.

In order to sell seed as organic, it must be grown from certified organic seed and handled under organic conditions. All organic growers, food processors and handlers must meet national organic standards, keep careful records and be certified by a USDA-accredited organization with on-site inspections.

While organic growers must use organic seed, they may be exempt from using it if the organic variety they need is not commercially available. This exemption is intended to allow organic producers to continue growing until the supply of organic varieties catches up to demand. However, the exemption does not require that organic breeders develop new varieties for the market, and consolidation challenges in the seed industry are reducing choice for growers.

A cannabis seed contains the genetic code for the plant it will grow. It also has a center called the radicle, hypocotyl and cotyledons, which is where the roots come from.

Once the seeds have germinated, move them carefully from the paper towel into soil pots filled with premium quality seed starting mix. This soil includes mycorrhizae, kelp, lobster compost and peat.

Reputable Seed Banks

There are plenty of reputable seed banks that offer seeds for sale, but finding the right one can be tricky. A good place to start is Rocket Seeds. This seed bank partners with several top breeders and carries 4000+ strains. Their lineup includes popular varieties like Banana Punch (Banana Kush crossed with Purple Punch) and 710 Cheese, both of which are renowned for their high THC content and heavy Indica effects.

Another excellent seed bank is ILGM, which sells high-quality cannabis strains and offers 24/7 growth support assistance. They also have a comprehensive FAQ page that can help new growers avoid common mistakes. Moreover, they stand by their products with a 100% germination guarantee, which is great for beginners.

Lastly, there’s Beaver Seeds, which has a huge variety of cannabis strains to choose from. They also sell auto-flowering and feminized seeds. Moreover, they’re known for providing fast, 7-day shipping in Canada and the US. They also provide free seeds on every order and use stealth packaging to protect their shipments.

Feminized Seeds

Feminized seeds are those that are guaranteed to produce only female cannabis plants. This is accomplished by repressing the hermaphrodite genes in the plant. This can be done by spritzing the plant with gibberellic acid or colloidal silver to change the development of the phytohormone ethylene. The hermaphrodite genes are also reduced by breeding two female plants together.

When choosing feminized seeds, you can be confident that you will grow quality buds with rich cannabinoid profiles in your garden. You can also save time and effort by not having to look for male flowers or pollen sacs, which will pollinate other plants and contaminate the harvest.

Whether you choose to feminize your own seeds or purchase pre-made feminized seeds, it is important that you keep a close eye on your plants. If you see any male flowers or pollen sacs, you must remove them immediately to avoid accidentally pollinating other female plants in your grow room.

Male Plants

If you find a strain you really like and would love to cultivate more of, cloning can help. A clone produces buds that have exactly the same characteristics as the mother plant, including flavor, cannabinoid profile, and yield.

Male cannabis plants produce pollen, which fertilizes female plants and causes them to develop seeds in their bud. This reduces the potency of the harvested flower and depletes a grower’s yield, as they devote energy to developing seeds instead of producing cannabinoid- and terpene-rich bud.

Cultivators need to screen for males to avoid ruining a neighbor’s garden, especially when they cultivate outdoors. Winds can carry the pollen over long distances. A good way to identify a male plant is by checking the joints for small, translucent hairs. You can also look at the bud for small buds that resemble pistils, as well as a fuller body of leaves than a mature female plant. These are all signs that you have a male plant.

Pollination

Like all flora, cannabis plants produce seeds in order to create the next generation. Seeds that are given the proper conditions will germinate, or sprout, and start growing into young plants. These young plants are called seedlings.

In the wild, male plants create pollen sacs that release pollen into the air. The wind then takes this pollen to nearby female plants, causing fertilization and the production of seeds. Cultivators, however, keep male and female plants separate because they do not want their plants to become pollinated.

The seeds of the cannabis plant are full of healthy fats, protein, Vitamin A, iron, potassium, zinc and magnesium. You can use hemp seeds to make a variety of products, including granola, smoothies and salad dressings. You can also grind them up and make a shelf-stable, high-protein powder that is known as hemp hearts. Hemp hearts can be sprinkled over yogurt, salads, and other foods for a nutritional boost.

Choosing the seed type to grow is a personal choice that depends on your goals, experience level and resources. But there are a few things to consider when deciding between regular and feminized seed.

Regular seeds produce both male and female plants, and require sexing to remove the males early into flowering to avoid pollinating colas. This makes them better suited for experienced cultivators.

Breeding

Regular cannabis seeds preserve genetic stability, which is critical for breeders who are looking to develop new strains or maintain consistency in existing ones. They also offer the potential for phenotype variation, which is a genetic expression of the parent strain that may impact appearance, aroma, taste and effect.

Regular seeds are often the preferred choice for growers who are interested in breeding their own strains because they produce both male and female plants. However, this requires sexing the plants to remove any males as they enter the pre-flowering stage. This is a process that requires cultivation experience and can be difficult for beginners.

Another reason to choose regular seeds is for growers who prefer to work with organic cultivation methods. Feminized seeds are hermie prone, so if you’re interested in keeping your garden completely natural, then regular seed may be the best option for you. However, if you’re growing feminized seeds, be sure to follow the instructions carefully to avoid producing hermies.

Cloning

Cloning allows growers to duplicate an exact genetic copy of a plant. This is useful for those who like a particular morphology, colour or flavour profile of a specific specimen and wish to cultivate a similar plant in future grows.

Taking a clone is as simple as cutting off a stem from the mother plant, using a sharp blade (sterilised with rubbing alcohol) to cut at a 45 degree angle, about five to eight inches down from the top of the mother plant. Ideally, the cutting should have three to four additional nodes (brancheching stems) above the cut.

Place the clone in a propagator or greenhouse that is kept at high humidity with lots of fresh air. Once the clone roots, it can be transplanted to a flowerpot of soil, coco coir or rockwool, depending on your grow set up. Young clones should receive no nutrient solution until they have fully rooted, then use a mild solution with a low dosage recommended on the bottle.

Genetic Stability

For a regular seed to be of commercial value, it needs to remain stable through the growing process. Inbreeding plants over many generations allows desirable traits to become dominant and consistent, whereas unwanted characteristics may be eliminated from the line.

Regular seeds have a small chance of producing hermaphroditic plants, which contain both male and female reproductive organs, and require careful monitoring to remove them. Feminized seed, on the other hand, is guaranteed to produce only female plants.

Genetic stability can also be affected by storage conditions, as epigenetic changes have been reported in stored seeds and their derived seedlings. These changes can be caused by oxidative stress, which may be triggered by the activation of different repair pathways after imbibition.

Phenotype Variation

Regular seeds offer the possibility of phenotype variation, allowing growers to highlight desirable traits in their offspring. The genetic expression of each seed is unique, and the resulting plants have their own distinctive differences that add to the enjoyment of cultivation.

Seed length and width and seed oil content were significantly differentiated by latitude, while saturated fatty acid (palmitic and stearic) concentrations showed no clear geographic trend. The broad sense heritability for these traits was low, suggesting that environmental factors contribute more to the variation than genotypic ones.

Regular seeds have the potential to produce male and female plants, which must be sexed and removed from the cultivation area to prevent cross-pollination. This requires more monitoring and effort than feminized seeds, but can work in the favor of growers who prioritize genetic stability and exploration of phenotypes. Moreover, regular seeds are more resilient than feminized varieties and less prone to hermaphroditism in the face of stress or unfavorable weather conditions.