Regular seeds are a firm favourite for old-school growers and beginners alike. They offer unadulterated, pure genetics produced through breeding both male & female parents.
Regular seeds have a natural proportion of male and female plants, producing approximately 50/50 offspring. They are therefore the perfect choice for growing, breeding and hybridisation experiments.
Cheaper
Many growers prefer to use regular seed rather than feminized, because they’re cheaper. Feminized seeds, on the other hand, are typically expensive because they’re genetically modified to only produce female marijuana plants.
They’re also more difficult to breed, and they don’t produce the resinous flowers that male plants produce, which is why many growers like to keep some males around to breed new strains.
However, if you’re looking to become a better cultivator and want to experiment with breeding your own strains, then regular seeds are a great way to go. They’re affordable and allow you to practise your growing skills, which will eventually lead to better results. In the end, you’ll be able to explore different genotypes and phenotypes and see what works best for your crop.
More Stable Genetics
In the world of plant breeding, stable genetics are considered the holy grail. To achieve this, a breeder must cross parents that share similar genetic information over a period of many generations.
A typical genetic breeding technique is called backcrossing. This involves crossing a male and a female together, producing F1 seeds which are then crossed with another parent (or recurrent parent) to produce an F2 generation of seed that is more stable than an F1.
Stable genetics are also the foundation for a variety being able to reproduce itself and its offspring reliably. Creating stable strains requires a significant investment in time, capital, and patience.
Less Risk of Hermaphroditism
If you buy regular seeds, there is a more or less a 50/50 chance that you will end up with males or females. This randomness can make your plants more prone to hermaphroditism.
Hermaphroditism is one of the most common symptoms that cannabis plants show when they are under stress. It is the result of a combination of genetic and environmental factors, including a small interruption in the normal 12-hour light cycle and high or low temperatures.
To reduce the risk of hermaphroditism, maintain good environmental conditions in your grow space, perfect hygiene and check your plants regularly for insects and mites. Also, water your plants frequently with a balanced nutrient solution and at the end of flowering, carefully check your trichomes to avoid missing the harvest deadline.
Better Yields
Despite the fact that only half of regular seeds end up being female, it’s generally easier to get high yields from them than feminized ones. This is because female plants will have a higher chance of producing healthy buds when they’re exposed to the right amount of sunlight and water, as well as nutrients and nutrient solutions.
In addition to this, regular seeds are a good source of genetic material for breeders who want to create a new strain. They can also be used as a source of mother plants for taking cuttings/clones, which are another way to reproduce strains.
Ultimately, the choice between regular and feminized seeds is up to each grower. It’s important to understand what you’re looking for and to consider all your options carefully.
More Diversity
Unlike monocultures, regular seed contains more diversity, making it better suited to building resilience in food systems. More species also mean more varieties of foods and more opportunities for cross-pollination, so that more plants have the chance to survive and thrive.
While these benefits can be valuable, the broader issue is that more emphasis on soil-based factors can come at the expense of other important aspects that also matter for seed’s ability to flourish. For example, organizations that prioritize soil-related factors over other dimensions and competencies that matter for seed’s success can miss out on opportunities to better support the needs of people of color and women, whose presence and contributions are critical in shaping a diverse and resilient global workforce.
Therefore, it is essential that organizations pay attention to the needs of the “seed” and remove barriers to success that might be blocking them from reaching their full potential. This can be done by redoubling efforts to till and tend their fields, focusing on systemic biases and improving systems, processes and organizational practices that help create a more inclusive and equal workplace.
