Month: July 2023

Unlike feminized seeds that produce only female plants, regular cannabis seeds have a 50/50 chance of producing male and female plants. Consequently, growers will need to eliminate male plants or breed them with female plants.

Breeding allows growers to select the best plants for morphology and colour, or to create new strains with exceptional potency, flavour profiles or colours. Without regular seed, growers cannot do this.

Stable Genetics

Stable strains offer growers consistency in terms of the final product. To stabilize a strain, breeders must undergo a process of backcrossing over generations, selecting and fixing specific traits that are desirable for their particular strain. This takes a lot of time, effort and patience, but it is a critical process that can provide consistent cannabis.

To stabilise a strain, breeders select a stable mother and father and then cross them to produce hybrid offspring. Depending on the stability of the parent, Mendelian inheritance dictates that offspring will express three phenotypes: 50% will resemble the mother, 25% will resemble the father and 10% will be a combination of both.

To ensure that only desirable phenotypes are expressed, breeders will backcross these F1 hybrids, producing S1, S2, S3 and so on. This helps prevent inbreeding depression, which can happen more quickly when you are crossing plants with very similar genetics. This is why stable seeds are highly valued by breeders.

Cheaper to Buy

When it comes to choosing a seed variety, many cultivators are confronted with options like autoflower, feminized, and photoperiod (regular). While each offers advantages to specific cultivation situations, regular seeds offer some great benefits for growers on a budget.

While the number of male plants in a normal pack may vary, you can expect a higher percentage of females with each plant grown from regular seed. This means you won’t have to spend time and space culling males, making them ideal for small-scale indoor operations or growers capped by legal plant counts.

The price of a regular pack is also much cheaper than the prices of feminized or autoflower options, giving growers an excellent return on investment for their purchase. You can also find deals on multiple packs of regular seeds on Seedsman, including popular strains like Larry Lemon and Fuel D.OG.

More Resistant

As you peruse the seed catalogs, look for varieties with resistance to diseases that have plagued your vegetable garden in the past. It is important to remember that resistant varieties are not immune to disease, and that tasks such as crop rotation, weeding and judicious use of sprays will still be needed to protect your plants and avoid productivity loss.

Plant breeders use disease-resistant varieties for several reasons. The most important is the fact that these varieties produce higher yields than susceptible varieties, even with the same management practices.

The European seed companies have established a network, MATREF, to harmonize reference material (controls, differential hosts and pathogens) used for testing resistance in variety registration trials of vegetable crops such as brassicas/root vegetables, cucurbits, large-seeded and leafy vegetables and solanaceae. Naktuinbouw has contributed to the collection with disease isolates for use in testing resistance against fungi, viruses and bacteria. The MATREF reference collection is available in GRIN and can be ordered by plant pathologists.

Easier to Breed

Whether it’s extreme potency, a specific flavour profile or a unique morphology that appeals to you, breeding is the key. Regular seed is ideal for those interested in cannabis breeding, as it allows you to select male plants that display exceptional traits and collect their pollen for cloning.

This is the same process that feminised seeds undergo, but with the added benefit that you don’t need to use synthetic chemicals or colloidal silver to create female plants. Many growers that breed choose to work with regular seeds as it makes the process a lot easier and avoids wasting growing space, nutrients and light on male plants.

Tropic Thunder regular: Sit back and relax with this mellow indica that offers fruity tones reminiscent of a cocktail at sunset. It’s a strain more suitable for veteran cultivators as it grows tall and requires experienced training. Flowering lasts for around ten weeks, delivering a harvest of up to 35 oz in October.

Cannabis seeds are rich in essential nutrients like Omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins and minerals. They are also a great source of plant-based protein and can boost your weight loss efforts.

Many beginner growers ask if you can tell the sex of a seed by its appearance. Sadly, this is not true.

How do they work?

Cannabis seeds are extremely nutritious and can be incorporated into many different diets. They contain a ton of protein, minerals, and healthy fats. They are popular with athletes and bodybuilders because of their high nutritional value and ease to digest. They are also a great source of Omegas 3 and 6 which help boost cognitive function, lower blood pressure, and reduce inflammation.

After germinating, seedlings will enter the vegetative stage of growth where the plant will focus on leaf production and not produce flowers. The vegetative phase can last up to 16 weeks. The plant will need plenty of water and the nutrients nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, and magnesium to grow well.

At this point, the plants will be ready to enter the flowering phase. The plant will be triggered to begin producing flowers by lowering the hours of light it receives each day. If growing outdoors, this is done naturally by the change in seasons, but when growing indoors, this can be triggered at any time.

How long do they last?

Cannabis seeds remain viable for a long time, even decades, if they are stored in dry, dark, and cool conditions. They can also be preserved by freezing or airing out. Viable seeds are firm, have an external dark coloring and a waxy coating, and they should not crumble when gently squeezed.

Seeds should never be exposed to direct sunlight as the sun’s UV rays will cause them to dry out and spoil. They are best kept in a dark container, such as a cupboard or drawer.

Cannabis seeds can also be stored in a peat pellet that will help them germinate and grow. When the seed sprouts, it will grow right out of the peat pellet, and you can then directly transfer it into a pot. Never take the size or shape of a seed into consideration as a sign of its quality. Even the same strain will produce seeds of different sizes and shapes.

How do they germinate?

Cannabis seeds require water, heat, and air to break dormancy and germinate. Strong, viable seeds typically sprout within 2 to 7 days. During germination, the seed’s outer shell splits and a white sprout (the radicle) pops out. The radicle grows a stem and tiny leaves, known as cotyledons.

The cotyledons are the seed’s first attempt at growing roots and foliage, and they are incredibly fragile during this stage of growth. Disturbing them or trying to reposition them can damage them and slow down the plant’s development.

To germinate your seeds, place them on or between a paper towel that’s moistened with water. Ensure the soaked paper towel doesn’t dry out, and keep it at room temperature. Then, a few times a day, mist the paper towel with water to keep it evenly moist. Over-watering can suffocate the delicate sprout and delay growth. Do not use hydrogen peroxide for this purpose as it can kill the seed.

How do they grow?

Cannabis seeds require the perfect environmental conditions to germinate. Storing them properly, keeping them wet and exposing them to the right light is the key to success.

They are ovular in shape and have a ridge on one side, which opens up during germination. A seed’s color is usually light to dark brown and can be shiny or matte.

Seeds contain a high percentage of magnesium which aids in muscle relaxation and widening the blood vessels to allow easy flow. They are also rich in Omega- 3 fatty acids which reduce the risk of heart diseases.

If you’re growing from seed, it’s important to get feminized seeds because only female plants produce buds. You’ll need male plants to pollinate them and this can be tricky. Feminized seeds will ensure that you’re getting all-female plants and avoid waste of resources like fertilizers and space. This is why most growers opt to buy feminized marijuana seeds instead of regular ones.

While many seedbanks only carry feminized seeds, Sensi Seeds continues to produce and stock regular seeds. For those unfamiliar, regular seeds grow into plants that are theoreticlly 50% male and 50% female.

This means that growers will need to identify and get rid of the male plants, or they will end up with fewer buds. This extra work can be an inconvenience, but it is worth it for the benefits regular seeds provide.

Stable Genetics

As the name suggests, regular seeds produce both male and female plants. This means extra care is required to avoid unwanted pollination, which could cut your harvest by 80-90%.

In contrast, feminized seeds are guaranteed to produce only female plants. This saves growers time and money on a massive scale.

To create a feminized strain, breeders first produce a stable mother plant by selecting healthy specimens that display desirable traits. These are then crossed with other healthy strains to produce hybrid offspring. Over a number of generations, this process is repeated until the desired trait has been stabilised. This can be done through back crossing, which essentially fixes the genetics of an existing parent line to ensure that all offspring will express the same desired characteristics. The process is very similar to that used to stabilise human DNA. This ensures that offspring will express certain traits with a high degree of predictability. This enables researchers to work with genetics that may not otherwise be available.

Unaltered Genetics

Choosing the right type of seeds depends on cultivation goals and personal preferences. Many growers prefer the simplicity and predictability of autoflower or feminized seeds, but others want to experiment with breeding and guaranteed rigorous growth. Regular photoperiod cannabis seeds allow for more natural genetics as they haven’t been altered.

Our collection of regular seed contains high-quality, original 1980’s strains. These regular seeds were bred before feminized seed was invented, and produce approximately 50% male and female plants. This is ideal for growers looking to experiment with cross-breeding or back crossing. Since they don’t undergo any chemical or genetic tampering, they retain a stronger likeness to their parents and offer more stability than feminized varieties. They are also cheaper to buy and require less space in your grow tent as you don’t have to waste valuable space culling males. However, they will require a certain amount of time and effort in identification and separation of males from female plants.

Unaltered Cultivars

Using regular seeds gives growers the opportunity to work with the genetics that they want to preserve and cultivate. They can create a cultivar of their own through crossbreeding, retaining the flavour, potency and terpene profiles that they like best.

Theoretically, a batch of regular seeds will produce an even balance between male and female plants. In reality, this isn’t always the case, with some batches producing 50% male plants and others a lower proportion.

This doesn’t mean that growers can’t select a few of the strongest female plants and use them as ‘mothers’ to create clones that will retain their robust characteristics. This is a popular cultivation method that allows growers to reproduce their favourite plant and preserve their genetics.

It also avoids wasting growing space and nutrients by having to remove the male plants. This is an especially valuable asset for those who are working with limited growing spaces or are legally capped at a set number of cannabis plants.

Cheaper

If you’re looking for cheap cannabis seeds, then the selection at Seed City is worth checking out. This online seed bank has a ton of options, including the classic strains and rare varieties. Plus, the site offers a ton of sales and discounts, including BOGO deals.

Herbies Seeds also has a ton of cheap marijuana seeds to choose from. This company has a ton of different options, including high THC and low CBD strains. In addition, Herbies has a ton of mixed seed packs that give you a great deal on quality marijuana seeds.

For example, you can get a pack of 5 Rocket exclusives for just $25. Other options include 5 feminized or photoperiod seeds for $50 and 10 feminized or regular seeds for $75. These options are excellent for any grower. They’re the perfect way to try a lot of different strains and find your favorites. The price of weed seeds can fluctuate depending on supply and demand.