Marijuana seeds have been engineered over the years to produce only female plants. This is so that profitable yields can be increased. Before this, seeds would grow into either male or female plants- the results were usually just a luck of the draw and growers would wait with bated breath to see which gender emerged from the soil.
How have Marijuana Seeds been Engineered?
Whether a seed becomes male or female is dictated by its X and Y chromosomes. The technique of "feminizing" seeds encompasses treating female plants to obtain male pollen. This pollination step is necessary for initiating seed production.
Ordinarily, cannabis seeds carry a combination of both X and Y chromosomes, elevating the likelihood of developing into a male plant. Yet, if a plant possesses two X chromosomes, the outcome tends to be a female plant. This condition results in a 99% likelihood of feminization and a mere 1% chance of yielding a male plant.
Initially, breeders would use two female plants to make feminized marijuana seeds, although one of the females would have been selected due to a previous display of hermaphroditic tendencies. This means the plant would tend to produce male flowers after being exposed to stress such as an interruption in the light cycle or even a disruption in water. The female becomes a hermaphrodite as a survival response, because when the environment is not conducive to growth the transformation into a male gives the plant the ability to pollinate itself without needing to rely on external pollination. The breeders would then proceed to purposefully stress the plant, in order to encourage the development of male flowers. The pollen from these flowers would then be gathered and used on the female plant that did not have intersexual tendencies, known as the ‘true’ female plant. In this way, two ‘female’ plants are used to pollinate and produce seeds which further increases the chances for the seeds to sprout in profitable female plants.
However, this method meant the passing on one of the very gene expression breeders were attempting to eliminate; the expression of male tendencies when under stress. Although the seeds would have come from two female plants, one plant carried the male expression and this could have been passed onto the seeds.
Using Silver to Encourage Male Flowers
To prevent new plants from inheriting intersexual traits, cultivators can utilize silver to stimulate the development of male flowers. This approach entails utilizing a "true" female plant, or one with minimal inclination to turn hermaphroditic under stress. This way, a more robust female gene can be inherited, ensuring a more stable lineage.
The silver used is generally a silver thiosulphate solution, or colloidal silver, and the result is as close as breeders can get without using genetic modification.
Will all plants from Feminized Seeds Be Female?
Genetically speaking, all seeds would be female and the chances of feminized seeds bearing hermaphrodites are becoming increasingly rarer because using hermaphrodites as a pollinator is phasing out and being replaced with new breeding programs and techniques.
The Advantages of Using Feminized Seeds
Utilizing feminized seeds offers numerous benefits, chiefly eliminating risks and uncertainties. When employing regular seeds, there's a 50% likelihood of plants maturing into males. However, by germinating feminized seeds, the chance of obtaining male plants is essentially eradicated. Moreover, the cultivation journey becomes more efficient, ultimately saving time and money.
Growers who plant regular seeds need to cultivate the plants into their mature phases before knowing whether or not the plant is a male or a female. Therefore, using feminized seeds from the starting point can save time, space and resources.
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