Nowadays, growers tend to prefer feminized seeds. They offer consistency, less wasted space and a higher return on investment.
However, regular seed is still a viable option for those who are interested in working with specific genetics.
Male plants give rise to bud-capable offspring in a natural way, allowing for some very interesting crossbreeds.
Breeding
Breeding is the process of transferring desirable traits to offspring. It’s a crucial step in creating new strains and can help increase yield, aroma, potency, and growth rate.
Genetically, breeding is a complex process that can be influenced by many factors including environment and genetics. For example, environmental influences can cause plants to develop phenotypes that are not desirable or can interfere with other desired phenotypes.
When breeding cannabis, it is important to choose a male specimen that possesses the characteristics you desire in your offspring. A good way to identify a suitable male is by looking for plants that have large and abundant anthers and pollen sacs. Once you have located a suitable male, cross it with your desired female to produce seeds. The offspring produced from this crossing are known as F1 seeds. You can then germinate the F1 seeds and select the most promising plants to continue your breeding program. Good breeding requires a keen eye for positive traits and an accurate record-keeping system.
Cloning
Cloning is an asexual reproduction technique used by plants, fungi and some animals. In plants, clones are exact copies of their mother plant and thus inherit all its characteristics. Clones take less time to root than seeds because they are already grown and have a head start on growth. However, this can also mean that they have lower yields.
For a clone to be successful it needs to grow a taproot. This allows it to dig deeper into the soil and get access to water not available closer to the surface.
Clones are very sensitive to their environment and require a high level of humidity. You will need to open your propagator and give the clones fresh air regularly to prevent the clones from drying out. They will also need to be fed, but only with a light fertilizer. This is because clones need to retain water and nutrients for growth. You can use liquid fertilizers, a tissue culture gel or even make your own rooting hormones.
Pollination
From the familiar potted plant to the row crop, every seed-producing botanical species requires pollination for its survival. Pollination is the transfer of pollen grains from a flower’s anthers (male parts) to the stigma (female part). This allows plants to create seeds, which contain their genetic information for future generations. This process is carried out by a variety of biotic and abiotic agents including animals, birds, bees, wind, insects, water, etc.
Each flower has male and female reproductive organs (anthers and carpels). The sepals, which look like leaves and surround the unopened bud, often mimic the color of petals or are a similar shape. The pollen grain lands on the stigma and germinates to become a pollen tube, which extends down the style and into the ovary. There, it fertilizes the ovary and produces a seed.
In some cases, a single successful fertilization can produce an entire fruit cluster or a pod with multiple seeds. However, the pollination process is complex and can be greatly impacted by environmental factors such as drought or extreme temperature shifts.
Genetics
Genetics is the process by which an organism inherits or acquires certain traits, including growth and flowering patterns. The genes that are expressed within an individual cannabis plant influence the phenotype of that particular strain, which can have a wide range of effects on the grower and consumer.
Unlike feminized seeds, which are subjected to a scientific process that forces female plants to produce pollen sacs and pollinate their sister plants in order to eliminate male plants and create sensimilla (cannabis without seeds), regular seeds operate the way nature intended. This means that there’s a 50% chance that any germinating seed will turn out to be either a flowering female or a pollen-producing male.
Growing regular seeds allows you to select the best plants for breeding, or simply enjoy growing strong hermaphrodites that are stress-resistant and able to thrive in any growing environment. The hermaphroditic characteristics of regular seeds also make them perfect for creating clones, which are exact replicas of a chosen specimen.
