There are three major types of cannabis seeds, feminized seeds, regular and Auto-flowering. Every kind of seed is grown for different reasons and purposes. However, the choice of seeds you choose to propagate depends on your intentions. Here are different types of cannabis seeds, how they are attained, and their advantages.
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1. Feminized Cannabis Seeds
Feminized cannabis seeds are those seeds that only produce female plants. Feminized marijuana seeds are created by breeding two female plants together. Due to the lack of male parents, the results are bud-bearing female plants. Most growers prefer growing the seeds because they produce buds. So when you buy pure feminized seeds, you do not have to worry about them being pollinated. Most commercial growers do not prefer using feminized seeds because they only have one set of genes and are never adequate for breeding. However, for novice growers, feminized seeds are easy to grow since they do not have to deal with male plants.
How to Make Feminized Seeds
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Use colloidal silver
You can choose to buy or make colloidal silver at home. Colloidal silver is a silver solution suspended in water. Spraying your plant with silver colloidal daily until it reaches the flowering stage will produce pollen sacs that will later develop into seeds. However, buds formed by this method are unsafe for human use. However, some of these practices are better left to the experts, such as Homegrown Cannabis Co.
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Harvest feminized pollen
When the pollen sacs are mature enough for harvest, they start swelling like a balloon and start to open up. Ensure you have been spraying your plant up to this point so that you don’t end up with empty sacs. When the seeds are ready for harvest, the leaves protecting them start to crack, leaving the pollen sacs exposed. You can now collect your feminized seeds and dry them for a week, ready to propagate.
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Wait for six weeks before harvesting
The natural way of attaining feminized seeds is by allowing them to stay in the flowering stage for a little longer before harvesting. It takes approximately six weeks for female seeds to develop ultimately. Some plans even start drying up as the seeds get ready to allow you to get the most viable seeds. After six weeks, the buds’ calyxes start swelling, which is how you know that your sources are ready for harvest.
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Stressing the plant
Most feminized seeds in the market today were attained by stressing female plants to produce male pollen flowers. This method, however, has its shortcomings since the plant can transmit this trait to its offspring. Please make sure the plants you are feminizing are not hermaphrodites since this may not work on them.
The most common technique used in making feminized seeds is called light poisoning. This involves introducing your cannabis plant to irregular photoperiods or interrupting their lighting irregularly.
Rodelization is also another method of stressing your cannabis plant to attain feminized cannabis seeds.
2. Regular Cannabis Seeds
Regular cannabis seeds produce roughly 50% male and 50% female plants. Cannabis is a dioecious plant, which means that it makes male and female plants separately. The male plants produce pollen sacs, while the female plants produce buds. Regular seeds are completely natural since no one has altered their natural composition. Growing regular cannabis is sometimes viewed as old school, but it is beneficial to producing hybrid and crosses.
Regular seeds are attained when pollen from the male plant fertilizes a mature female. The fertilization process allows the seed to form. The resulting seeds will be regular cannabis seeds with half female and half male seeds. Regular cannabis seeds deliver genetics in a natural way that nature intends.
Why Use Regular Seeds
Regular seeds are also used in making crosses and hybrids. If a grower finds a plant that did exceptionally well, they harvest it separately and use it to make their hybrids in the future. All you need are male pollen and sprinkle them over to a mature female, and seeds will be formed.
Another primary reason for using regular seeds is that you give both sexes of plants to grow. Without regular seeds, there would be no breeding. Stable sources allow you to choose the best male plant and female plant and pollinate them to attain a plant with solid traits.
Regular cannabis produces high-quality clones that are capable of rooting and growing fast. Plants from regular seeds are vigorous and offer a high yield. Cloning a cannabis plant allows you to get the exact genetic composition of the mother plant. If you like certain traits in a plant, you can duplicate them by propagating its clone. Propagating cuttings allow you to produce plants within a short period. Regular cannabis plants are more suitable than feminized plants. Their clones are healthier and have less likelihood of becoming hermaphrodites.
By growing regular cannabis, you can create your strain. For instance, if you have a Sativa-dominated plant and an indica dominated one, you can breed the two plants to attain a more balanced strain. You can also play around with terpenes. Some plants have high terpenes profile while others do not; using pure seeds will allow you to breed these two plants to attain a more balanced terpenes level.
Auto Flowering Seeds
This type of cannabis can be feminized or regular, but most of the time, it is marketed as feminized seeds. Auto-flower seeds produce fast-growing plants which mature within 2-3 months. These seeds are attained by crossbreeding between cannabis Sativa and cannabis indica. The species achieved from this breeding is a superior breed that is weather tolerant and produces a good yield.
When growers realized about auto-flowering, it becomes of high interest to several breeders. The breeders focus on producing ruderalis hybrid that contains high THC and CBD and matures very fast. Some Auto flowering plants contain up to 26%THC and have substantial psychoactive effects that are well embraced by cannabis growers doing it for recreational purposes.
When choosing cannabis seeds, ensure that you research which type does well in your location and what you plan to attain. There are also many sellers claiming to sell high-quality seeds but instead provide low-quality seeds. When buying cannabis seeds, ensure that you get them from reputable sellers.
