Many factors determine whether a grower chooses to use regular or feminized seeds. Often, the decision comes down to cultivation experience and the primary goal of the harvest.
Moreover, growing with regular seeds allows you to cultivate plants that exhibit a variety of phenotypes. This is an incredibly exciting prospect for home growers, and one that can be rewarding in the long run.
Breeding
Before the advent of feminized seeds, many breeders started their breeding experiments with regular cannabis plants. This allowed them to create cultivars with unique characteristics such as resistance to high humidity, and the ability to produce interesting terpene profiles. These phenotypes are created by crossing two strains of marijuana with the full set of chromosomes. The best female plants are then selected to become mother plants.
These mother plants will show both male and female sex when pollinated. This is one of the main reasons why growers choose to use regular seeds rather than feminized seeds.
Feminized seeds, on the other hand, are able to produce only female plants because they do not require transitions in light cycles to trigger flowering. This makes them a better choice for beginner growers who don’t want to waste time or space on identifying and removing male plants from their harvests. Moreover, feminized seeds also produce much larger harvests than regular seeds.
Cloning
Clones are a great way to get started in cannabis growing. They’re usually easy to find at dispensaries, but you can also buy them online. Purchasing clones from a trustworthy grower will help ensure that your plants are healthy and that they’re free of pests and diseases. Look for clones with thick, wide stems that are full of vigor. You can use a humidity dome to keep them moist until they’ve established roots.
Clones take longer to mature than seeds. They have to go through the germination and seedling stages, which add three weeks to the overall grow time. However, clones are easier to maintain and have an advantage over seedlings because they’re exactly the same genetically. Seeds, on the other hand, develop phenotypic traits based on their external environment, which makes them more susceptible to environmental changes. This is why it’s important to quarantine clones before introducing them to your garden. This will allow you to spot problems like powdery mildew, mold spores, and harmful pesticide residues.
Genetics
Seed production requires strict attention to genetics in order to produce high-quality pedigree seed. This process involves cross-breeding two parental lines to create a crop of diverse offspring with desired traits. This can take a long time and may require multiple generations to stabilize the new breed. Traditionally, this breeding is done in a traditional greenhouse to maintain genetic purity.
The MAGIC lines were genotyped for seed size and number, as well as flowering time. While a significant negative correlation between seed size and number was observed, the heritability for this trait is low, suggesting that it is not controlled by the same gene in a pleiotropic manner.
The QTL analysis for seed size identified eight QTL located on chromosomes 1, 3, 4, and 5. The largest QTL explained 15% of the variation. The allele conferring the smallest seed size came from Bur-0, while the alleles causing larger or smaller fruit number per plant were from many different accessions.
Cost
When it comes to buying marijuana seeds, many new growers are confused by the jargon involved in choosing between feminized and regular cannabis seed varieties. There are a few circumstances in which one variety is more suitable than the other, and it all depends on your cultivation experience.
Feminized seeds are more convenient for beginner growers, as they eliminate the risk of hermaphrodite plants developing in your growing space. However, male plants have their advantages too; for example, they can be used to create unique crossbreeds.
Additionally, male plants can be bred with other strains to produce a new hybrid that will improve the potency of existing strains. This is an exciting prospect for breeders, but it requires patience and dedication to the process. It may also take a long time before you have a finished product to enjoy. As such, it’s important to choose a strain with high yield and good potency if you want to make the most of your growing time.
