When it comes to cannabis, most growers don’t focus on breeding and fertilizing their plants. It is common practice to only grow what you smoke, however, breeding your weed is also an essential and exciting part of the process.
Whether you’re new to growing or want to branch out into breeding, here’s everything you need to know about how to find seeds in weed.
Why Grow Cannabis Seeds?
The first step to understanding weed seeds is to know why they’re important. Cannabis plants, just like many flowers and crops, come in both male and female varieties. Female plants get pollinated and grow buds for consumption, while male plants produce seeds and pollen.
These seeds are essential for creating new plants, through which you can continue to grow your own. Since regular plants have a 50/50 chance of being male or female, by continuing the pollination of only a few plants you still gain new buds to smoke. So the constant growth will be beneficial for avid smokers.
Oftentimes, however, non-pollinated weed is considered best since the plant will have more cannabinoids in each bud. Because of this, most growers toss male plants once they’re identified.
“So if you are growing to smoke why keep male plants?” You may ask yourself. Well, the answer is quite simple: so you can continue to grow your own supply at home. Additionally, breeding creates new strains, and as any weed enthusiast will tell you, new strains are awesome.
Breeding can be an engaging process from start to finish, allowing you to have full control over what strains you grow and how many seeds you have to begin your production. Male plants also allow you to continue enhancing your grow, rather than waiting for your new seeds to ship.
How To Find Seeds in Your Marijuana: A Step by Step Guide
Step One: Identify Your Plants
Male plants grow the pollen while the females grow the buds. Despite what some people may say online, it’s impossible to tell whether a seed will be a male or female until a few weeks after sprouting. Once your plants are growing, look for these indicators:
- Stalk Width – Males have longer, thicker stalks than females since these plants grow taller.
- Leaf Density – Male plants pretty much only exist to pollinate the females. So, less energy and resources are spent on creating leaves and buds. As a result, female plants will have thicker leaves and more of them.
- Pollen Balls – A quick way to determine the sex of your plant is to look at the joint between branches. Males will have pollen sacs, and females will have tiny white hairs growing in the same spot.
If you’re using feminized seeds, most of your plants will be female. However, some of them may become hermaphrodites, meaning they can self-pollinate. In this case, you’ll notice both sex organs on the plant. If you are growing solely for consumption, this can become a problem. Luckily, you can read up on hermies and how to prevent them from creating seeds here.
Step Two: Allow for Pollination
There are two ways you can do this, depending on what you’re trying to achieve. You can take a surgical or a natural approach to pollination. The surgical option means:
- Isolating your males
- Harvesting pollen
- Fertilizing specific female plants
This process works well to test a few new strains before committing to a new crop. Most high-end growers will recommend this method because it offers so much control over the situation.
The natural option means just letting your marijuana do its thing. Male plants produce a lot of pollen, and if you have fans blowing (or grow outdoors), a single male can pollinate many females. This method requires far less effort but may mean that your entire crop will wind up with seeds, so plan accordingly.
Step Three: Check the Buds
Males only produce pollen, while females create the seeds. The bud is where you’ll find the seed, and it takes about two to six weeks after pollination to develop. You can look at your buds to see if seeds are growing inside.
Step Four: Harvest the Seeds
If you are a grower, you should already know how to harvest and dry buds, so that process is still the same. Simply crack open each bud and take out the seeds inside. They should be ready to grow within a month after drying.
However, if you are new to growing marijuana plants, this step-by-step guide can help you understand the entire process of harvesting and drying buds.
Tips and Tricks for Getting Seeds From Your Cannabis
Once you start making new strains, it’s easy to grow more and see which combinations you can create. Also, as you go through different crops, you may discover some that you want to cross-pollinate with others. So, here are some tips to keep in mind when trying to get seeds:
- Use One or Two Males – Fortunately, you don’t need a whole crop of males to pollinate your plants. In fact, you don’t even need a complete specimen. Males are easy to clone, and you don’t need a large stalk to get lots of pollen.
- Keep Meticulous Records – As you start breeding your plants, you’ll want to keep track of different strains and seeds. Detailed records help ensure you never lose a golden opportunity for a new strain.
- Start Small – Pollinate and collect seeds from a few plants first. Once you see how the process goes, you can expand to a larger crop if necessary.
- Avoid Accidental Pollination – Cannabis pollen is tiny and floats in the air easily. Even something as simple as handling males before females can lead to accidental fertilization. Also, be sure to turn off all fans before pollinating.
- Use Regular Cannabis Seeds – When growing for cannabinoids, you might want to use autoflowering or feminized seeds. In this case, regular Cannabis Seeds ensure you’ll get both male and female plants to continue the pollination process.