For practical reasons, feminized seeds are better for growers. They eliminate the possibility of male plants ruining an entire crop. They also make better use of cultivation space and cut down on waste of products like substrate, fertilisers and insecticides.
However, weed enthusiasts who want to work with plant genetics will still prefer regular seeds. This is because they are cheaper and produce more female plants, allowing you to keep mother plants for future clones.
They are natural
Regular seeds are popular for ‘experienced growers’ because they can be used to produce a high yield of clones or plants. These plants can then be ‘fused’ with other strains to create new hybrids, which can offer a more consistent potency and yield. This makes it easier to get a high yield from a single harvest.
Regular cannabis seeds are dioecious, meaning they produce both male and female plants. This is how the plant has naturally been reproduced for centuries. It’s also a less predictable way to grow, as male plants can occur randomly during cultivation. This can lead to a lot of time wasted on sexing plants.
However, working with regular sexed seeds can still be very rewarding for the experienced grower. It saves a huge amount of growing space and reduces the waste of nutrients and growing medium. It’s also a great way to identify phenotypes for future breeding projects.
They are easy to grow
Regular seeds are easy to grow, but require more attention and maintenance than feminized seeds. As a general rule, a pack of 10 regular seeds will produce about 50% female plants and 50% male plants. However, this figure may vary depending on environmental conditions. Female plants are the ones that will create buds, and they are usually larger and more potent than their male counterparts.
The easiest way to produce a large crop of high-quality buds is to grow a predominately female crop. This will eliminate the hassle of dealing with male plants, and it will also ensure that your plants are able to focus on producing flowers.
Additionally, regular seeds are a great choice for intermediate growers because they can be used to make cuttings or mother plants. This is important because it allows you to cultivate a strain that is tailored to your specific needs. For example, you can choose a phenotype that produces a certain aroma, terpene profile, or level of THC/CBD.
They are cheap
Typically, regular seeds cost significantly less than their feminized counterparts. This is because feminized seeds require more effort to produce, which results in higher production costs. However, it’s important to keep in mind that feminized seeds are not organic and have gone through a process called self rodelization or colloidal silver to create more female plants.
Besides being cheaper, regular seeds also offer higher yields than their feminized counterparts. The reason for this is that they’re naturally proportioned to grow 50% male and 50% female plants, whereas feminized seeds are only about 1 in 1,000 seeds.
Furthermore, growers can use regular cannabis seeds to breed their own strains. This is an exciting and rewarding voyage that requires a little bit of experimentation. Whether you want to create a new strain with a specific terpene profile or morphology, breeding is an essential step for the serious grower. Moreover, it can save you a lot of time and money by eliminating the need to sex your plants or dispose of their male pollen sacs.
They are easy to breed
Regular seeds are the traditional choice for growers who want to breed their own marijuana strains. They do not contain any hermaphrodite plants, which make them easier to work with. Feminized seeds are more complex to produce, but they are also ideal for commercial growers who need a certain ratio of female plants in their crop.
However, for the home breeder who wants to experiment with different genetics and phenotypes, it is often preferable to use regular seeds. Feminized seeds have a higher risk of becoming hermaphrodites if they are subjected to stress, such as topping, fimming, lollypopping, and defoliation. In contrast, a sample of regular seeds should give a 50% balance of male and female plants, although this can vary depending on the environment. Male plants can be very useful for growing out crossbreeds or developing new phenotypes of existing strains. However, many growers don’t want to deal with the extra hassle of weeding out the males.
