Despite the popularity of feminized seeds, regular seed is still a popular choice among many growers. They are more reliable than feminized seeds, and they are ideal for breeders who want to maintain the purity of their strains.
These seeds operate exactly how nature intended them to. They give rise to 50% male and 50% female plants.
They are cheaper than feminized seeds
Regular seeds are cheaper than feminized seeds because they have a greater chance of containing males. This makes them much more affordable for growers who do not want to waste time weeding out the boys.
They are also a great choice for breeders, as they can be used to create new strains with their favorite genetics. In fact, most marijuana breeders prefer regular seed over feminized or autoflowering varieties.
They are easier to clone and have stronger genetics. Furthermore, they are resistant to temperature and stress. This is important for growing in outdoor environments or indoors. These cannabis plants also have a wide variety of terpene profiles to choose from. Feminized seeds, however, are only suitable for a single harvest and tend to lose their strength when cloned.
They are easier to breed
Whether you’re new to growing or already have a wealth of experience, experimenting with regular seed is a fun and rewarding way to develop new strains. By crossing two different types of cannabis, you can create new hybrids that combine the best traits from both parents, and you can also play around with terpene profiles to create unique strains that suit your taste preferences.
The biggest benefit of regular seed is that they are easier to breed than feminized seeds. Feminized seeds are made by crossing two female plants, one of which is stressed and produces pollen sacs to fertilize the other female plant.
This process makes the offspring 100% female plants, eliminating the need to sex out males. This is ideal for beginner growers who are only growing a small number of plants and don’t have time to waste sexing out the males, or for those with space restrictions and a limited number of plants.
They are more resistant to pests
Many cultivars are resistant to specific pests, which may reduce the number of pests that attack them. This is important for growers who want to minimize the amount of time and money that they spend on pest control measures.
Often, pest resistance traits are provided by complex assemblages of genes that impart heritable, durable resistance. Such traits can be more difficult to transfer from one plant or variety to another than single-gene resistance, which is largely dependent on the ability of a gene to disassociate (remove) from its gene-containing parent.
The most commonly used examples of durable resistance are herbicide tolerance (HT) traits conferred by glyphosate-resistant genetically engineered crops or insect protection traits conferred by the Bt gene from Bacillus thuringiensis, an earthworm. Other durable traits are based on other antimicrobial agents and some have been developed by integrating the resistance trait into the host species itself.
The ability to enhance plant resistance through priming is a desirable trait that can help to increase the economic and environmental sustainability of production systems. It also facilitates the development of pest and disease management programs aimed at reducing pest populations and costs of chemical and other control measures.
They are easier to grow
Regular seed is a good choice for growers who want to experiment with different strains and phenotypes. This is especially true if you’re a beginner.
They are also a good option for breeders as they give rise to approximately equal numbers of male and female offspring. This allows them to create new cultivars and produce superior clones.
Feminized seeds, on the other hand, are a relatively recent development in cannabis cultivation. They’re essentially photoperiod seeds that change their growth cycle according to the amount of light they receive.
Their bloom phase takes around 9 weeks to complete, depending on the variety.
Autoflowering seeds are an excellent choice for growers who do not have time to adjust the light cycle as they automatically start flowering when exposed to the right amount of sunlight.
They are easier to grow indoors and can be grown outdoors. However, they are generally smaller in size than feminized seeds and tend to have lower yields.
