What are feminized seeds? Are feminized seeds USA or seeds from Canada potent? Feminized or female seeds are exactly what the word says; these seeds are all female. People who grow cannabis for their buds and concentrates need female marijuana seeds to make sure that all the plants they will grow are all female. There’s no need to wait for your plants to grow to find out if there’s a male in the group.
Female vs Male Plants
In nature. cannabis male and female plants grow side by side. As soon as the female and male parts are ready, the male fertilizes the female parts using pollen. These wild cannabis specimens don’t develop the delicious buds that every grower and consumer love but they grow seeds instead. However, these seeds are regular seeds which means these can either be male or female. Feminizing fixes this natural method to come up with all female seeds.
Why growers don’t use male plants at all? Male marijuana plants are good for breeding and creating new cannabis strains but in truth, these are usually discarded when they are first spotted. After sprouting regular seeds, these will grow into seedlings and then finally, these are ready to show their genders.
Female cannabis plants grow what is known as pistils or small wispy white flowers along its branches while males grow small sacs or balls which contain pollen. When these sacs ripen, pollen will be released and then the natural wind will help pollen reach the pistils to fertilize them. After a few short days, these flowers will start to develop seeds. A few more days and these are ready to be harvested.
Growers discard male plants as soon as they spot the sacs and balls. They don’t want any accidental pollination so that the buds or pistils on the female plants will develop into flowers which will grow resin and concentrates.
Expensive Feminized Cannabis Seeds!
The best solution to avoid the worries of growing male plants and to prevent wasting resources on plants that you won’t need is to buy feminized seeds. With feminized seeds, you can grow away and there’s no stress of accidentally pollinating your precious female plants.
The problem with feminized cannabis seeds is that these tend to be very expensive, so much that growers are now looking for ways to create their own versions of feminized strains. It is actually easy to make your own feminized seeds. All you need to do is to follow the different techniques we have here.
Different Feminizing Methods that you can Use
There are three different methods that you can use to feminize cannabis seeds: the colloidal silver method, the rodelization method and the use of silver thiosulfate method.
Using Colloidal Silver
Colloidal silver is the oldest and known as the most effective and more preferred technique among growers. This method uses pure silver mixed with water. Colloidal silver is applied to the branches of female plants. Doing so will stimulate the female plants to grow male parts.
- Take a healthy female plant that has already grown pistils. Make sure that there are no male plants in your growing area otherwise, you will only be growing regular seeds rather than feminized seeds.
- Apply the colloidal silver solution on the area in the junctions of the branches and stems. This is where sacs or balls develop in males. Use a small spray bottle to apply the colloidal silver.
- Do this daily even after seeing the growth of male parts.
- It won’t take long for the small balls and sacs to grow. These structures will be full of feminized pollen.
- The sacs will soon be ready to open. You can tell that these are ready when you see the wrinkling and drying of these structures.
- As the sacs begin to dry up, these will open and release feminized pollen. Collect the pollen in a small plastic container.
- Take a small paint brush and use this to brush the feminized pollen on the pistils. Continue applying pollen on the pistils for a few days and soon, your flowers will be ready with hundreds of feminized seeds
- Collect the feminized seeds when these are ready. Place these inside a jar or in a humidor to protect the viability of the seeds.
Using the Rodelization Technique
Another strategy to make feminized seeds is the rodelization technique or what growers call, the stress technique. This method relies on the natural reaction of female plants to stress.
Naturally, female cannabis plants respond to stress by developing male parts or they become hermaphrodites. The plants do this to survive in the sense that the flowers or pistils that they developed won’t go to waste and become fertilized using the male structures that they have grown on their own.
One way to do this is to postpone harvest of the female plants and this is how it’s done:
- You will only use female plants so discard all the male plants inside the growing area.
- Continue providing water and nutrients to your plants as always.
- When the plants are ready for harvest, you will notice that the pistils have turned darker while the trichomes have developed an opaque appearance.
- Leave the plants for a few days. After a few short days, you will notice the development of hermaphrodite characteristics like sacs and balls (similar to using colloidal silver). Some plants may even develop open structures similar to a small ripe banana. These open structures already have pollen on their surfaces so is no covering or skin to hold the pollen just like those found in sacs and balls.
- When the structures are ready, remove collect the pollen. Use a small plastic container to collect the pollen. You may simply cut the male structures and place these inside the container.
- Use a paintbrush to apply the feminized pollen to the female pistils. After continuously applying pollen, the flowers will start to develop seeds which will be ready for picking in just a few days.
Using the Silver Thiosulfate Method
The silver thiosulfate method is equally popular with the use of colloidal silver and is also effective. Instead of using water and silver, silver nitrate is used and sodium thiosulfate. The resulting solution is actually a hormonal stimulant for female plants and this stimulus is so strong that it can cause female plants to switch genders.
You can perform this on your own at home but you need to choose the right kind of cannabis plant. The right plant or plants are from a single strain and the plants should be almost mature. Just continuously spray the plant with the silver thiosulfate solution until the plant grows male parts.
And just like using colloidal silver, the plants will soon develop male parts which will soon have pollen ready for harvest. Apply the pollen to the female parts and wait for a few days. You’ll have flowers with feminized seeds in no time.
Is there Special Care for Feminized Plants?
Feminized cannabis plants don’t require special care. All you need to do is to take care of your plants according to their individual strain needs.
- Provide the best nutrition for feminized plants.
Use nitrogen-rich fertilizer mixes for plants that are still at their growing phase. Nitrogen will help enhance the growth of new leaves, stems, and branches. During the flowering phase, your plants will need phosphorous and potassium which will help develop larger buds and therefore more yields. At this stage, plants don’t need a lot of nitrogen anymore because these would have ceased growing.
- Protect your plants from molds and pests
As soon as your plants reach the flowering phase, it is more susceptible to mold growth and pests. Prevent these by monitoring the humidity inside your growing area. Molds can spread and eat your buds and precious seeds, therefore, you need to keep humidity levels low. You must also avoid watering when the soil is wet or moist but only when the soil is dry to avoid root rot.
Keep your plants free from pests by being diligent and checking each plant on a regular basis. Pests are usually introduced to a growing area because of new plants. To remove pests, do it as natural as possible. You may use natural pesticides like neem oil or simply spray the bug away with water.
- Keep your plants happy with good lighting
Even if plants during the flowering stage will not grow anymore, it’s important that your plants receive the best lighting as well. Light will make plants happier because it is used to make food for the plant. Use efficient and strong LED lamps. LEDs will burn brighter without costing too much. LEDs are also bright and will take many years before a bulb burns out. Aside from feminized seeds USA, you can also purchase growing equipment like LED lamps from reputable seedbanks, dispensaries, and shops online.