The ‘Green Revolution’ is going like a wildfire due to the legalization of medical and recreational marijuana. People from different walks of life depend on their consumption. It doesn’t only attract a specific group of people due to the array of benefits that was discovered.
It now came to the point that it’s possible to grow Cannabis plants on your own. If you do so, you should start from seeds.
Discoveries are not only limited to the effects of Cannabis but with the culture of cultivation. For a high yield of potent buds, feminized seeds were brought to the community.
What are Cannabis Seeds for the Growers?
Feminized seeds are suitable for growers with not enough growing space as they won’t need any male plants to cramp the grow room. The process of making feminized seeds extinguishes male chromosomes.
These seeds would then grow a female plant that would develop buds full of THC and CBD. So the yield is full of cannabinoids that make it excellent in consumption. The plants can be pruned easily as they have fewer leaves.
Even though feminized seeds may come from feminized plants, they may turn into hermaphrodites.
Get to Know Hermaphrodites
Cannabis plants are mainly dioecious plants with separate male and female plants. But at some point, it became a genus that has various genetics and a range of sexual traits.
There are monoecious strains. There’s a couple of male and female flowers within a single Cannabis plant to describe this kind of strain. Hermaphrodites can have both male and female parts in one plant so they can display the flowers of the opposite sex.
The difference between monoecious and hermaphrodite is something along with the characterization and your own decision. Some may show mixed-sex flowers, but it can be uncommon to some plants.
Hermaphrodites would tend to apply their energy in making seeds rather than just producing buds filled with cannabinoids.
Can Feminized Seeds Create Hermaphrodite Plants?
You may have heard that some growers believe that feminized seeds can create hermaphrodites. There’s some truth to it. When making feminized seeds, the female plant is being forced to develop pollen.
The pollen from a female plant will be used to pollinate another female, so feminized seeds are born. You can’t take out the part of its genetics that there was a part of male plants once.
There are various ways to feminize seeds, but only some methods would give you hermaphrodites.
Things that Can Cause the Formation of Hermaphrodite
1. Inheriting Bad Genetics
Some plants are inclined to grow hermaphrodite or hermie despite being under good condition.
2. The Effect of Stress
Various things can cause stress, such as inconsistent light schedule, light leak, and high temperature. If a healthy plant encounters these things, it will turn to be a hermie. But some would easily change due to genetics.
3. Over Mature Buds
It is also called ‘Rodelization.’ The buds have passed the maturity stage and remained in the status of not being pollinated.
The female plant will be obliged to create male pollen for the creation of seeds, so there will be the next generation.
4. Stimulation by Chemical
Colloidal spray and Gibberellic acid are substances that can be applied to female plants. It is done in the early period of the flowering stage. It is the method that is practiced by seed banks to acquire feminized seeds
Feminized seeds will turn out as a hermie when they are exposed in the similar conditions that their ‘father’ female plant has been through.
The method that uses chemicals can induce pollen without passing the tendency of hermaphrodite to come out in a natural environment. So it is considered the most efficient way of feminizing seeds.
Growers are particularly careful with feminized seeds with bad genetics. You can do it if you know the background of what you’re growing.
The Risks of Applying Forced Feminized Cannabis Seeds
1. Feminized seeds are more sensitive in terms of cultivation compared to the regular ones. They have been through intensive and detailed genetic manipulation. So it’s advisable not to touch them when they’re in the flowering stage. It should be practiced so it won’t destroy the quality of the flowers.
A mere touch may also hurt or affect the entire system of the plant. This action might stress the plants so it can alter the plant’s entire production. Leave as you should remember that stress can turn forced feminized Cannabis Seeds into a hermaphrodite.
2. It’s again an issue of sensitivity. Changes in temperature can stress the plants out. So you would be extra careful when you grow feminized seeds.
What you can do is to set up protection from any changes. You can choose to grow them indoors as you have control over the temperature.
3. Feminized seeds are incapable of growing seeds, although they undeniably have the best qualities. In the production of seeds, a male plant or part is an essential factor.
So there’s a risk of not continuing the outstanding genetics of feminized seeds.
What To Do with the Risks Posed by Cannabis Feminized Seeds
The main risk with forced feminized Cannabis Seeds is the case of hermaphrodite. Even regular seeds are not exempted from the condition.
So you should not use hermaphrodite like a feminized seed for a crop parent. You can use a plant from regular seeds if you know well that it would be difficult to reverse.
Work it out with the selection process. You don’t only need to put consideration on the phenotype, but you can put the feminized female plants into a series of stress tests. You can find out if it can easily give in to be a hermaphrodite.
If the plant is stress-proof, you can proceed in observing its progeny and conduct stress tests in every generation. It’s a lot of work, but it’s the most effective way of stabilizing feminized seeds in a breeding program.
Final Thoughts
Plants from feminized seeds are not a disappointment for consumers. The Cannabis community is in awe of the potency and benefits that they can get from them.
Although there’s a risk of the disappearance of feminized seeds, dedicated breeders have the patience to make progress by further study and research. It will continue to flourish due to the demand of the consumer.
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