Month: July 2023

When it comes to cultivating cannabis, the type of seed you choose depends on your growing experience and goals. Depending on the type of strain, you can choose either regular or feminized seeds.

Feminized seeds require sexing to produce only female plants. However, regular seeds have their own advantages.

It’s cheaper

Before feminized seeds, regular cannabis seeds were the only option. Feminized seeds are created when breeders select the best phenotype from their plants and use it to fertilize other female flowers. While this process has its benefits, it also removes the natural selection process. This can cause the clones to be less vigorous, which is why some growers prefer to choose regular seeds for their cultivation needs.

The best part about regular seeds is that they are cheaper than feminized seeds. However, this type of seed requires some experience to cultivate. It’s essential to sift out the males from the females early into the flowering stage to avoid accidental fertilization.

For the most part, sifting out the males and discarding them is the only way to guarantee that your crop will be entirely female. This type of seed is great for new growers who want to save money but still want a high-quality harvest. It’s also the best choice for growers who want to create their own bespoke strains.

It’s better for breeding

Choosing the right seeds for your next grow is an important decision. Feminized strains are popular and have their advantages, but regular seeds are also worth considering. Fortunately, MGS has both in stock!

The genetic stability of regular seed is vital for breeders. It allows them to create new strains by crossing different phenotypes, leading to unique and diverse cannabis varieties. It also means that the original traits of a strain are preserved over multiple generations, making it easier to develop clones.

As a result, many growers choose to cultivate regular seeds because they are cheaper than feminized ones. They also save on growing space and products such as substrate, fertilizers and insecticides. In addition, they don’t have to deal with the hassle of removing male plants. However, some growers prefer feminized seeds because they are more practical and easy to manage.

It’s more stable

Many growers enjoy growing regular seed because it’s a natural way to grow and they can watch the plants develop into mature male and female plants. This means that they can select the best ones to keep and cull the rest, which can lead to a high-quality crop. However, if the grower doesn’t want to deal with male plants or wants to harvest buds in a shorter amount of time, feminized seeds may be a better choice.

Another advantage of regular seed is that it is more stable than feminized seed. This is because feminized seeds are created by stressing female plants, which can cause instability. However, regular seed is produced naturally, so it’s much more stable against environmental stresses. This is especially important for breeders who need to produce new strains with consistent genetics. In addition, regular seed offers more variation in phenotypes, which can result in different tastes, aromas, and effects. These variations can also help to create new strains that offer unique benefits.

It’s better for cloning

When growing clones, it’s best to work with mature plants that have a solid stem and visible leaves. This gives the plant a better chance of producing robust offspring that are ready to grow and flower. This is a much better option than working with seedlings, which can be very fragile. Moreover, clones grown from regular seeds are known to have a longer shelf life than feminized seeds.

With cloning, you can get an exact genetic copy of a plant. This is especially helpful for those who are looking to replicate a certain strain because of its potency, morphology or specific colorations. However, cloning can be tricky and requires a lot of experience to master. This is why many home-growers prefer to use regular seeds. They’re the original seeds, after all, so they have the potential to produce a larger number of male plants than female ones. However, this shouldn’t be a huge problem as long as you have a reliable source of quality clones.

Before feminized seeds came along, growers used to experiment with regular cannabis strains. They could often find phenotypes that they enjoyed and wanted to cultivate again in the future.

Regular seed grows into female plants 99.9% of the time, but it can also produce male plants if you use stress techniques like topping, fimming and lollypopping. This can be annoying, but it is not a deal-breaker.

Stable Genetics

In cannabis, stable genetics refer to a strain that produces consistent offspring with predictable phenotypes. Stabilising strains involves a long process of crossing and back-crossing, which can take several generations to complete.

The first step in stabilising a strain involves selecting two parents that are healthy and display desirable traits. Next, breeders cross the siblings of these stable parents. The result is a hybrid offspring with varying degrees of predictability, depending on the stability of each parent.

Different versions of a gene are known as alleles and determine what traits a plant develops, or its phenotype. This is why two children born of the same parents may have different eye colour – they each inherit different alleles from their parents.

By crossing and back-crossing for several generations, breeders can gradually eliminate unwanted genes and introduce desired ones. The goal is to stabilise the strain and make it reproducible under a wide range of conditions. This makes stable seeds more valuable, and it opens up opportunities for agtech companies that can patent these genetics and license them to cultivators.

Organic

Growing organically means that a farmer has to be vigilant about tracking all seed and planting stock used. It also means that he or she must be careful about the source of their seeds, as not all conventional farmers follow the rules when it comes to organic farming.

Regular cannabis seeds operate exactly as nature intended — they have an equal chance of germinating as male or female plants. Using regular seeds is ideal for breeders who want to create new cultivars and make better-quality clones.

However, unlike feminized seeds that guarantee only female plants, a grower using regular seeds must carefully identify and remove hermaphroditic plants to prevent unwanted pollination. This can be time consuming and requires expertise and careful observation. Most growers prefer to use a combination of feminized and regular seeds, allowing for more experimentation and the potential for phenotype variation. This variation can lead to cannabis varieties that produce unique flavors, aromas and effects.

Breeding

Whether you grow for the first harvest or to cultivate the next, regular seeds are an excellent choice. They produce a large yield and retain their potency, meaning they can be used for multiple harvests.

If you’re an experienced grower, breeding in regular seed can be a rewarding experience. The process involves selecting a male and female plant and crossing them to produce more desirable strains. While this requires expertise, it’s possible for hobbyists with a little research and effort.

Unlike feminized plants, which guarantee a certain percentage of female plants, growing regular cannabis seeds requires careful monitoring and sexing to ensure the majority of your crop is female. This can be a challenge, but it’s important to prevent unwanted pollination and ensure your crops achieve the desired quality and yield. This is especially crucial if you’re hoping to produce flowers at a specific time of year. It’s also a lot easier to manage your crop when you don’t have to worry about male plants ruining it.

Cloning

Clones offer a great benefit, offering growers an exact replica of their mother plants in terms of genetics and phenotype. But there are a few catches with clones, including hidden flaws that may not show up until months into flowering, as well as the fact that they’re more susceptible to diseases and pests carried over from their mothers.

It’s important to inspect clones for signs of disease or pests before picking them up. Look for spots, webbing, and trace bite marks on the leaves, as well as a lack of vigor. Clones also require a nutrient-rich growing medium and rooting hormone to help them develop faster. They must be sexed to remove male plants promptly, and they must be given the same careful care as regular seeds in order to prevent hermaphrodites. These limitations can make working with clones a little tricky for novice growers. However, experienced growers know that clones can be worth the extra effort.

Cannabis seeds contain the genetic code for a new plant. They also contain four other parts, known as radicles, hypocotyls and cotyledons.

ILGM offers 24/7 customer support and a germination guarantee. It has a wide range of feminized and regular seeds from different breeders.

Seed Supreme is another great seed bank that has a variety of strains and a good price point. It also has email and phone customer support.

How to Germinate Cannabis Seeds

Seeds need a perfect combination of high relative humidity and water for this critical stage. This period of growth is called germination, and once it’s over you have a young seedling that can use its resources to develop and grow into a healthy cannabis plant.

Germination in water is slightly faster than in soil. This is because seeds get all the moisture they need straight away, and their shells are softer and easier to dislodge once wet.

Put your seed(s) in a plastic bag with a paper napkin and put it into a dark, warm place (a kitchen drawer works). The darkness and warmth are important as they mimic the conditions a seed would find in the ground in late spring. Check the bag(s) regularly and re-moisten the paper towel as needed. You should start to see a white stem poking out of the top of the napkin in a few days. Plant the seed with the stem pointing down into your medium of choice, such as soil, coco, or rock wool.

Paper Towel Method

If you’re new to growing Cannabis or simply need a low-risk way of germinating your seeds, the paper towel method is an easy option. The only downside to this method is that it may take a few days for your seeds to sprout. The reason for this could be a number of factors, including improper storage or environmental conditions.

Fill a container with damp paper towels or coffee filters (just enough to cover the seeds) and sprinkle the seeds on top. Next, cover the container to create a greenhouse effect and store it in a warm location. Check the seeds and paper towels regularly, making sure that they’re consistently damp but not soaked.

Too much moisture can cause seeds to fail to sprout, while too little moisture can lead to mold and fungal growth. If your seeds do not sprout within a reasonable time frame, it’s likely that they are old or unviable and should be removed from the growing medium.

Stone Wool Blocks

Using rock wool blocks to germinate cannabis seeds provides growers with a more controlled growing environment that can result in high yields. The inert, highly consistent material retains water and fertilizers longer than coco coir or soil, and allows for precise cultivation of the root zone throughout vegetative growth. This is particularly important in a cultivator’s ability to use data-driven crop steering techniques to maintain optimal hydration and nutrient uptake into the generative (flowering) phase of the plant.

Grodan stone wool substrates are molded into a variety of shapes and sizes, from small starter plugs and seed cubes to larger Gro-Blocks and Gro-Slabs. They are wrapped in protective plastic that limits algae growth and keeps the rock wool moist.

A key tip when using rock wool cubes is to keep the pH of your nutrient solution below 5.5. This will help offset the natural high pH of the rock wool, which can interfere with proper nutrient uptake by your plants.

Soil Method

The seeds used to grow cannabis plants contain more than 70 different chemicals, including the psychoactive cannabinoid delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinal (THC). The germination process produces 50% male (staminate) and 50% female (feminized) seeds. This allows growers to select the best plants for the next harvest.

You know a seed has sprouted when a tiny white tendril emerges from it. This is called a root, and it will become the main nutrient uptake conduit for the whole plant.

Fill a tray with premium-quality soil that has been soaked and laced with root stimulator. Dig holes in the soil and place a seed into each hole. Lightly cover the seed and mist with water to keep the soil moist. It may take a week to see if your seed has sprouted. Some growers mist the soil with a solution of hydrogen peroxide to sterilize the growing medium. This helps to prevent bacterial infections. The peroxide also removes any residual chemical residue from the seed’s previous growing environment.