As we all know, only female cannabis plants make buds, and male plants not only make pollen sacs which can't be smoked, they can pollinate your female plants and give you seedy buds. Because of that, we try to identify males in the grow room and remove them immediately. This is also why many small-scale growers use feminized seeds - they know every seedling will end up being a female plant.
Unfortunately with regular (non-feminized) seeds, only half of all seedlings end up being female, and the other half ends up being male.
Or is that always true?
A grower named ManOGreen recently shared an article by Jorge Cervantes that mentions the variability of plant gender when a seedling is first born. Jorge talks about how it's important to make sure a plant has actually expressed its gender before taking cannabis clones.
This reminds me of an outdoor grower I talked to a few years ago who swore you could get more than 50% females from regular seeds if you control the environment during the first month of growth. He said the following things would dramatically increase the percentage of female plants if done during the first 4 weeks up to the point where you could get 70% females.
Ways to possibly increase percentage of female plants from regular seeds (more study is needed!)
From reading about other types of plants with dedicated male/females (dioecious plants), it seems like many species don't really have X and Y chromosomes, as much as sex-linked genetic markers that cause the plant to tend to be either "more" male or female on average. So if you breed two plants together that have already been determined to be female, the resulting seeds are nearly all female because it's getting lots of "female-ness" from both parents. But there are environmental factors that can "break" the natural tendency of a plant, which you theoretically could use with regular seeds to try to get more plants to grow buds.
Another example of variable gender expression is the fact that you can use colloidal silver or gibberellic acid to force known female plants to produce pollen sacs in the flowering stage, and you can use ethephon on male/hemie plants to force buds. This also goes along with the fact that you can get a female plant to produce male flowers (turn hermie) under environmental factors like stress.
Overall it seems like there's a lot of evidence supporting the idea that gender is at least somewhat variable with cannabis plants. So to me it makes sense there could be ways to help control a young seedling's gender expression.
For growers out there who've grown out big batches of seeds, what has been your experience? What are your tips for increasing the percentage of female plants with regular marijuana seeds?
Unfortunately with regular (non-feminized) seeds, only half of all seedlings end up being female, and the other half ends up being male.
Or is that always true?
A grower named ManOGreen recently shared an article by Jorge Cervantes that mentions the variability of plant gender when a seedling is first born. Jorge talks about how it's important to make sure a plant has actually expressed its gender before taking cannabis clones.
Take clones from mother plants that are at least 2 months old. If taking clones from seedlings, wait until male or female pre-flowers are easily visible with the naked eye. Clones taken from female plants cloned before they have expressed sex may dawn male flowers or develop poorly when induced to flower with a 12/12-hour day/night photo-period.
Ways to possibly increase percentage of female plants from regular seeds (more study is needed!)
- Cool temperatures (65-75°F day and night)
- High humidity (50-70% RH)
- Short but not too short days. Keep consistent day and night periods with no light interruptions at night, and days should be 14-18 hours long (between 14/10 and 18/6)
- Blue light. Always start seeds under a vegetative grow light (something with plenty of blue like a Metal Halide or a 6500k CFL/T5/fluorescent)
- Make sure to provide plenty of Nitrogen - don't let plants get nutrient starved or run into deficiencies
- Prevent stress, especially heat or light stress during first 4 weeks
- Avoid over and especially under watering
From reading about other types of plants with dedicated male/females (dioecious plants), it seems like many species don't really have X and Y chromosomes, as much as sex-linked genetic markers that cause the plant to tend to be either "more" male or female on average. So if you breed two plants together that have already been determined to be female, the resulting seeds are nearly all female because it's getting lots of "female-ness" from both parents. But there are environmental factors that can "break" the natural tendency of a plant, which you theoretically could use with regular seeds to try to get more plants to grow buds.
Another example of variable gender expression is the fact that you can use colloidal silver or gibberellic acid to force known female plants to produce pollen sacs in the flowering stage, and you can use ethephon on male/hemie plants to force buds. This also goes along with the fact that you can get a female plant to produce male flowers (turn hermie) under environmental factors like stress.
Overall it seems like there's a lot of evidence supporting the idea that gender is at least somewhat variable with cannabis plants. So to me it makes sense there could be ways to help control a young seedling's gender expression.
For growers out there who've grown out big batches of seeds, what has been your experience? What are your tips for increasing the percentage of female plants with regular marijuana seeds?
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