Month: June 2023

In a grow room, it’s important that the ratio of female to male plants is balanced. This is achieved by growing regular seed.

Seeds are germinated in a medium such as potting soil that is free of nematodes, insects, and other disease organisms. The medium should also be fine, uniform, and loose and well-aerated.

Stability

Regular seed is produced by brushing pollen from male plants against female plants. This will cause fertilisation and seeds to begin to form. The process is then repeated to produce more seeds. As such, it can take quite a while to produce a full batch of regular seeds.

While feminized seeds are more reliable, regular seeds can be used to produce a variety of different phenotypes. This is important for those that wish to create their own unique strains.

Many growers prefer to use regular seeds because of the genetic stability they offer. They also have a lower cost than feminized seeds. However, growing regular seeds does require a little more work as you’ll need to separate the males from the females. This can take up to 50% of your growing space and can result in a lower yield per crop. It is also not recommended for beginner growers as it can be a bit tricky to identify and remove the males from the females.

Genetics

Many old school strains were never feminized and still exist today in regular seed form. These seeds are often used to produce new generations of cultivars, as they can be back crossed or bred with the original parent in order to fix traits and improve phenotypes.

Despite the high heritability of both seed size and number, genetic variation explains only a small proportion of total variance for these traits. This is unlike other life-history trade-offs, where correlations between traits are much larger.

The low r2 value for the seed size/number correlation suggests that a single gene may explain a large part of this variation. To identify such a gene, we performed candidate gene analyses in the 200 earliest and latest MAGIC lines for seed size and number. Candidate genes found in these analyses included two with a nonsynonymous substitution unique to Bur-0, and located 250 kb from the largest seed size QTL on chromosome 1.

Cost

Regular seed is popular amongst seasoned growers who prefer to cultivate a variety of different plants, and for whom the ability to produce heavy yields for multiple harvests is a necessity. When working with regular seed, it is possible to ‘fuse’ strains that have different characteristics, creating new strains of cannabis with a wide range of potency and flavor profiles.

Regular seeds are also cheaper than feminized seeds. However, this advantage is offset by the fact that regular seed has a 50% chance of producing hermaphrodite plants – hermaphrodites are those that produce male flowers.

Sexing regular seeds correctly and at the correct time is a time-consuming and labour intensive process. As a result, many growers choose to plant feminized seeds instead if they require a specific ratio of female to male plants. This is mainly because the plants produced by feminized seed tend to be more resistant to stress, such as topping, fimming, and lollypopping.

Availability

Many growers are under the impression that feminized seeds produce a higher percentage of female plants than regular seed, but this is untrue. Feminized seeds have a 50% chance of going hermaphrodite and producing male flowers, especially when subjected to stress from techniques like topping, fimming, lollypopping, or defoliation. The fact is, most growers end up throwing away half of their weed plants after germination because they are not the desired sex.

Growing with regular seeds is a more natural process that operates how nature intended. Depending on the strain, there is an equal chance of germinating flowering females or pollen-producing males. This is ideal for breeders who want to create a new cultivar, as it offers them the opportunity to work with a large selection of phenos.

In addition, using regular sex seed is much cheaper than buying feminized seeds from the outset. This is because it allows you to use 100% of your growing space, and it also saves money on wasted nutrients and growing medium.

Regular seeds grow in a photoperiod schedule, shifting from vegetative to flowering depending on how many light hours they get. This means they can be sexed quickly and easily by simply removing the male plants as soon as they’re detected.

This can be time consuming, but the pleasure of creating a new strain that’s never been seen before is worth it. This is why Sensi Seeds still stocks regular seeds!

They’re cheaper

When it comes to growing marijuana, you have many options, including regular and feminized seeds. Although feminized seeds make cultivation easier, they can also be more expensive. This is because feminized seeds produce female plants 99.9% of the time, resulting in a large harvest that can be used for cloning.

Growing regular seeds can be a more affordable option because they produce a mix of male and female plants. While this can be frustrating, it is still worth the effort to weed out the male plants and save the seed for breeding.

Additionally, growing regular seeds can help you develop your own cannabis strains. You can use clones from your regular plants to breed new cultivars and create hybrids that exhibit the best traits of both parent strains. This can be a great way to experiment with phenotypes and genotypes and could lead to the next big innovation in marijuana cultivation. If you’re an experienced grower, consider buying a few regular seeds to explore the possibilities.

They’re more stable

Regular seeds are more stable than other types of seeds. Their stability is especially important if you are looking to cultivate multiple harvests or clones. Cloning is a great way to keep your favourite strain and cultivate it over time, whether you’re looking for extreme potency or specific flavour profiles. This requires a female plant, and you’ll need regular seeds to create that.

While feminized seeds may produce more female plants than regular, it is still a gamble to get the best phenotype for your clone. This is why many growers opt for regular seeds to ensure that they have a good crop of high quality plants to take cuttings from.

They’re easier to grow

Choosing regular seeds is the best option for experienced growers. You’ll save time and effort by not having to sex your plants. In addition, you won’t have to waste substrate, nutrients, and pesticides on hermaphrodite plants.

Moreover, by removing male plants early in the growing process, you can focus on your female plant’s health and achieve a better yield than would be possible with feminized seeds. Feminized seeds may produce a higher number of females per pack, but they are less resilient and can be more prone to stress during the growing process.

When selecting regular seeds, consider your goals and environment. Choose a seed vendor that offers top-quality strains and provides plenty of growing information. This can help you find a strain that’s perfect for your environment and style of growing. Lastly, don’t be afraid to experiment with different phenotypes and create your own hybrids. This is a rewarding journey that will improve your growing skills over time.

They’re easier to breed

If you’re a grower looking to cultivate your own strains, regular seeds may be the way to go. They are more stable and can be used to breed plants with a wide range of phenotypes. This is important for creating new strains and ensuring that future crops are consistent.

Feminized seeds can be more difficult to breed. This is because they produce a higher percentage of male plants, so you’ll need to spend more time removing them and preventing pollination. This can be frustrating, especially if you’re working in a limited amount of growing space or are legally capped at a specific number of plants.

Feminized seeds are also great for beginner growers, as they’re more predictable and can help you hone your growing skills. However, once you’ve gotten your grow down to a science, regular seeds are the best choice for breeding and developing your own unique strains. They’ll give you the genetic diversity you need to create your own masterpieces.

Seed is the characteristic reproductive organ of flowering plants and of gymnosperms (conifers, cycads). It is a mature ovule containing an embryonic plant with stored food and enclosed in a protective outer covering.

Seeds give a seedling a much faster start than spores. They usually have larger food reserves than spores.

Origin

Seed (from the Latin samen) is the characteristic reproductive body of flowering plants and gymnosperms, consisting of an embryo or miniature undeveloped plant plus food reserves enclosed within a protective coat or coats. Seeds are ideally adapted for many functions, which may not always be directly related: multiplication, perennation (surviving periods of stress such as winter), dormancy and dispersal.

Cecilia and her team are beginning to understand one of the complex gene networks that govern ovule and seed evolution. They are investigating genes affecting the formation of seed-related structures, notably integuments and embryo sacs.

Seeds are the most common way that a plant reproduces, and it is possible to grow a new plant from any seed. If seeds are open pollinated, they will produce the same type of plant as the parent plant. This is called growing true to seed. Seeds are also used in the manufacture of medicine, such as castor oil and the quack cancer drug laetrile.

Functions

Seeds protect and nourish a plant embryo and carry food that supports it as it begins to grow. They also function as a means of reproduction, remixing genetic material and introducing new phenotype variability to the parent species.

They are the source of many important plants and foods including cereals, legumes, nuts, vegetable oils and spices. They are dispersed by birds, mammals, reptiles and fish that consume them and sometimes carry them to new locations where they germinate and grow into seedlings that produce more seeds.

The seed’s ability to withstand environmental conditions and start growing is dependent on the interactions of its three main components: the embryo, the endosperm and the seed coat. The embryo is protected by the outer seed coat, which has different protein-based structures that vary between dicot and monocot seeds. The nutrient supply to the embryo and endosperm is controlled by specialized tissues in the seed coat that direct a flow of assimilates from the vascular system of the mother plant.

Parts

Seeds are a structure that contains the embryo of a flowering plant. When grown under favorable conditions, seeds develop into a full-grown plant. Seeds are found in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors.

The seed coat is a protective covering that is hard, thick and brown in color. It is made from the outer layer of the ovule, called the integument. It contains two layers; the outer layer is known as testa and the inner one is called tegmen.

During germination, some parts of the embryo break out of the seed coat. These parts grow downward and become the rudimentary roots, while other parts grow upward and become the stem and leaves. The radicle is a small embryonic root while the cotyledons are specialized seed leaves.

The cotyledons store food in the form of starch and proteins. This stored food provides nourishment to the embryo during seed germination. The embryo is fertilized by sperm and becomes the seedling of the new plant.

Varieties

A variety of a kind of seed has a different set of characteristics from other varieties of that same kind. A variety name is the legal term used to identify a particular kind of seed, and a person who maintains a particular variety can be legally called a “maintainer” for it.

Only pedigreed seed that has been grown, sampled, tested, and graded according to regulations can be labelled, advertised, or sold with a variety name. Seeds that have been genetically modified are referred to as GMO.

Master Gardener volunteers across Minnesota test vegetable and flower varieties each year in their home gardens, seeking out varieties with exceptional taste, productivity, ease of growing, space savings and other qualities. The top performers are referred to as Minnesota Winners and are often available from local retailers or online. Other seed types include open-pollinated, hybrid and heirloom. Seeds of all these types are needed to help sustain agriculture and bring the joy of gardening to more people.