If you’re growing cannabis for breeding, experimenting with hybrids, or just creating your own strains, regular seeds are the way to go. This allows you to work with a larger percentage of female plants instead of having to spend time and effort culling males out of your grow.
Growers and breeders also find that it’s easier to identify and remove hermaphrodite plants when working with regular seed.
Variety
When it comes to regular marijuana seeds, there’s plenty of variety to choose from. Some growers prefer these types because they are genetically stable and will produce a mix of male and female plants. They also work better with hybridizing techniques like back crossing and cross pollination.
If you’re looking for a new strain to grow, there are many regular cannabis seeds available that have high germination rates and proven phenotypes. Our carefully curated selection includes classics such as Chemdawg, Stardawg, and Granddaddy Purple.
Growing regular seeds requires that you remove male plants from your garden around the pre-flowering stage, which can be a difficult process for new growers to master. However, experienced growers know that it’s worth it for the chance to create hermaphrodite and intersex plants with unique traits. These types of plants can yield some amazing buds. Plus, they often have high THC levels of up to 29%. They can also be more robust and tolerate stresses better than feminized seed varieties.
Genetic Stability
During the genetic engineering process, plant breeders use stable parents to produce predictable homozygous offspring. This crosses (called f1 hybrids) are then crossed with each other to produce the next generation of seeds and plants. When genetically unstable parent plants are used, the resulting f2 offspring may express a range of unpredictable traits that do not correspond to the expected Mendelian segregation ratios.
This genetic instability may be caused by structural alterations that change the normal number of chromosomes in the cell. It may also be due to mutations that break the DNA into fragments and get stuck back together haphazardly, leading to errors in the sequence of the genome.
Demonstration of the stability of genetically inserted genes in commercial biotech crops is an important part of the safety assessment required to obtain regulatory approvals that enable their commercial exploitation. Regulatory authorities typically request that the stability of gene insertions be demonstrated at the DNA, mRNA and protein levels.
Genetic Diversity
Genetic diversity describes the total number of distinct genetic characteristics within a population. Small populations lose genetic diversity through the combined effects of random genetic drift, increased inbreeding and the accumulation of deleterious mutations. Larger populations maintain more genetic variation because they have the potential to breed with many different individuals from which new mutations can be inherited.
During reproduction, alleles (genetic characteristics) from a mother and father are randomly reshuffled in each sperm or egg cell, which results in unique combinations of genes and mutations that form each baby. This genetic diversity is the source of a species’ adaptive potential and resilience.
To ensure genetic diversity in restoration projects, there is increasing emphasis on mixing seed from multiple sources during production and planting. However, it remains unclear how these mixes shift over time and between site conditions when used for restoration. This study examined genetic diversity in aboveground and seed bank cohorts of Viola elatior in meadow and woodland habitats.
Easier to Breed
Regular seed offers more options for a grower who wants to experiment and create new genetics. Using regular seeds, you can make crosses between different strains to cultivate new phenotypes that exhibit desirable traits, such as yield, potency, flowering times and resistance to pests.
However, growing from regular seeds does require careful monitoring to identify and remove hermaphroditic plants in order to prevent unwanted pollination. This can be time consuming, but it’s worth the effort to preserve and enhance desirable traits in future generations.
If you’re a fan of breeding your own cannabis strains, then choosing regular seed is the best choice for you. This will allow you to create your own hybrids with the perfect blend of indica and sativa genetics that you’ve been searching for. You can use a dedicated breeding tent or room to isolate male plants and collect their pollen for the perfect cross. This can take some practice, but most breeders agree that it’s well worth the effort!
