Month: September 2023

Regular seeds operate as nature intended. They have a 50/50 chance of germinating into female plants that produce buds and male plants that produce pollen. They also have a much higher rate of genetic stability.

If you are a breeder or want genetically sturdy clones, then regular seeds should be your choice. However, they can be difficult to grow and require more effort.

Breeding

Many growers choose to use regular seeds for breeding, as they produce a higher proportion of female plants than feminized seeds. This makes them ideal for commercial growers who want a specific ratio of male and female plants in their crop.

The most common use of regular seeds is to breed them into clones, which are small replicas of the parent plant down to their chromosomes. These clones can then be used to produce new seeds, or grown as mature plants with their own set of unique genetic traits.

In order to make a successful breeding experiment, the seeds should be planted in a location that is conducive to the desired plant type. For example, if a grower wants to produce a hybrid strain that produces a lot of resin, the seeds should be planted in a climate with lots of humidity and cool temperatures. They should also be planted in rows to facilitate outcrossing.

Cloning

Cloning is a process that reproduces plants as if they were seedlings. Many trees, shrubs, and vines produce clones of themselves naturally. The offspring of a cloned plant are genetically identical to the original mother plant. This is known as apomixis. Clones are also a great option for home growers who need to ensure consistency in their medication. Compared to seeds, clones are less likely to suffer from genetic issues or pests.

A clone will develop to the same age as its mother at the time it was cut. It is therefore a good idea to cut clones in the vegetative stage. Trying to clone plants in the flowering stage can lead to a lot of stress for the clone. It may even revert to its vegetative state and fail to produce buds. When making clones, it is important to use a nutrient-rich growing medium. Rockwool is a popular choice, but you can also use soil if you prefer.

Genetic purity

The genetic purity of a variety is crucial for seed production. Varieties are bred to perform in specific environmental conditions, and if they’re grown in different areas, it’s possible that developmental shifts will occur in the form of dissimilar plant phenotypes. These shifts can reduce the performance of the crop.

To maintain genetic purity, breeder seed is grown in isolation and rogued thoroughly at various stages. It’s also critical to ensure that the seed is free from physical contaminants, such as soil particles, plant debris, and weed seeds. This is achieved through careful adherence to a number of quality assurance protocols, including isolation distances and inspections of growing fields at critical stages.

Genetic purity is especially important for wind-pollinated crops, such as maize. During the conditioning process, contaminating pollen can mix with the variety’s own pollen, leading to off-types and poor vigour. This can lead to serious deterioration in the variety’s performance. Fortunately, new DNA-based methods such as restriction fragment length polymorphisms can be used to check seed-lot genetic purity more accurately than traditional isozymes.

Price

Regular marijuana seeds produce a mixed batch of male and female plants, and are the best choice for growers looking to create their own hybrids. They’re also less expensive than feminized seeds, and offer a better return on investment per harvest.

Herbies Seeds offers a great selection of regular cannabis strains, and their prices are lower than those of other seed banks. They also have a top germination rate and include free seeds and useful branded gifts with every pack.

SSSC regular seeds were produced in the 1980s before feminized cannabis was available, and they still hold up to today’s standards. This collection contains THC-rich, potent cultivars that are perfect for intermediate growers. They take ten weeks to flower, and produce heavy colas that require attention to detail. The flavor profiles of these strains are rich and complex, with citrusy and earthy notes. A favorite among old-school smokers, Bruce Banner regular has THC levels of up to 29%, making it one of the most powerful indicas in the SSSC regular collection.

While both feminized and regular seeds have their merits, the decision which to choose depends on a grower’s experience and aims. Using regular seeds allows you to enjoy a natural ratio of male and female plants.

Male plants also produce pollen that breeders use to fertilise female flowers and create new strains. This makes regular seeds very popular amongst breeding enthusiasts.

Breeding

For growers who enjoy the challenge of breeding their own strains regular seed can be a great option. They can be used to create new cultivars or cross existing strains. The process works by pollinating male cannabis plants with female cannabis plants. Male cannabis plants produce ripe pollen sacs which are then blown by the wind or carried by careful hand to the stigmas of female flowers where they can be pollinated and seeds will form.

This is how nature intended the process to work and it is important for breeders to have access to both male and female cannabis plants to make their own hybrids. However, it can also be problematic for growers who don’t want to risk their entire crop of buds on the possibility that all their plants will become hermaphrodites and need to be pulled up. This is one of the reasons why feminized cannabis seeds were created – to eliminate this risk.

Cloning

Some growers like to create new strains of cannabis by crossbreeding two existing plants. To do this, they need male and female plants—and seeds are the only way to get them.

Seeds also require more attention to germinate and get growing, so you’ll need a larger grow space than clones. And you’ll need to discard roughly half of your seedlings once they’re sexed, which can put you over any legal plant count limits or leave you with fewer plants than expected or desired.

Clones are generally more difficult to take than seeds, but with proper technique they can be easier than you might expect. It’s important to start with a healthy “mother” plant and to follow the correct procedures for cutting. For example, you’ll need to revert the mother plant back to its vegetative state before taking the cuttings, and it’s best to delay fertilizing until leaves appear. These steps can make your cloning experience much more successful.

Genetics

The breeding process of regular seed produces offspring that inherit the characteristics of their parent strains. This genetic stability is especially important for breeders who wish to create new strains with desired traits. Regular seeds also allow for phenotype variation, which creates unique and diverse cannabis varieties that offer distinctive flavors, aromas, and effects.

The majority of growers who choose to cultivate regular seeds prefer to collect pollen from their male plants and apply it to female seedlings or clones. This is an involved process that requires patience and attention to detail, but it can be very rewarding.

Cloning regular seed produces robust descendants that resemble their mother plant, while feminized seeds produce weaker, less vigorous descendants. This is largely because feminized seeds endure a great deal of genetic tampering that makes them more unstable than their non-feminized counterparts.

Yield

If you’re looking for a big harvest, regular seeds may not be your best bet. They tend to produce fewer male plants than feminized seeds, which makes them less likely to have male flowers that fertilize your entire garden.

That said, rookie growers should take care not to stress their crops. Techniques like topping, fimming, lollypopping, and defoliation all put your crops at risk of going hermaphrodite, and that can reduce the yield.

Despite their challenges, some people love growing regular seeds. It’s a way to preserve traditions, and to make the cannabis of your dreams. The key is to separate the male and female plants early into flowering so you can harvest smokable buds, as well as new seeds. This requires a bit more effort than feminized seeds, but it’s worth the reward. If you do the work, you can create a strain that’s uniquely yours. The only limit is your imagination! Luckily, our selection of regular seeds includes some of the most potent cultivars.

As the name suggests, regular seeds produce both male and female plants. They’re more unpredictable than feminized seeds and require care from the grower to eliminate male plants before they pollinate other plants.

Regular seeds are essential for breeding new cannabis strains. They enable cultivators to create specimens that display their desired traits, such as increased potency or greater yield.

Breeding

While feminized seeds are ideal for growers who want to produce a crop of only female plants, regular seeds can still produce male plants. These male plants can pollinate your entire crop, resulting in a lower yield and less quality. Regular seeds are more expensive than feminized seeds, but they offer the flexibility of producing a crop with a mix of male and female plants.

Seeds can be bred using either the LND or GDD methods. Both methods require a synchronization between the parental plants. To ensure that the plant’s sex is determined, staggered seeding should be used on the R line, and the earlier-developing parent should be fed with quick-releasing nitrogen fertilizer (2% urea). The flowering site should also be free from rain for 10 days during peak flowering.

The highest MGT values for EA and GSL were observed in genotypes with the allele T at Bn-A01-p26914512. However, these results cannot be interpreted as direct genetic effects on germination performance or seed quality.

Cloning

As the name suggests, cloning is the process of taking cuttings from your current plants to create an exact genetic copy. This can be a blessing or a curse, but the benefits are considerable:

Growers can skip the seed germination and seedling stage when working with clones, making them a little faster to get into the ground. However, they need to be careful as clones are delicate and may die if handled too roughly or aren’t given a proper start in life.

Clones also have the added advantage of being guaranteed to be female, unlike regular seeds which often produce a mixed batch of male and female plants. Unfortunately, clones will still carry flaws that their mother plant may have, including hidden genes for disease or pest vulnerability. These issues can cause problems months down the line during flowering, when these genetic weaknesses can manifest themselves as disease or pests in your garden. Thankfully, high-quality feminized seeds are available, which eliminate this risk completely.

Organic

Organic production emphasizes preventative on-farm practices that limit the need for external chemical inputs, such as crop rotation, techniques to build soil organic matter, weed management and disease scouting. Organic growers are encouraged to save their own seed for crops that produce more than a few seeds, such as tomatoes, peas and beans. They use good sanitation, visually different varieties and other systems to maintain separation between organic and conventional cropping and animal production.

A structural equation model suggests that farmers’ perceived conditions and social norms are the strongest influences on organic seed use. Organic seed use is higher on farms that sell directly to consumers, but lower on those that sell to supermarkets and among smaller farms. Within the European regions, it is significantly higher in Northern and Central Europe than in Southern Europe. The effect of PO is also significant, with a higher use of organic seed in the vegetable sector than in the fruit sector.

Security

Seed systems have the ability to adapt and transform with change. This is especially important for farmers whose production is dependent on rain and often subject to rapid, wide-scale climate change.

As a result, farmers’ seed systems are complex and highly context specific. They are a mix of formal seed sector operations and local informal or farmers’ seed systems that operate within their communities. The latter may also incorporate scientifically bred varieties from the formal sector into their seeds through natural crosses or admixture.

Regular seeds operate exactly how nature intended – about half of them will grow to become male plants, allowing breeders to create new cultivars and produce better-quality clones. Because of this, they are prized by experienced growers who enjoy cooking up unique crossbreeds and strains from scratch. In addition, they offer more genetic variation than feminized seeds, which are created by chemically altering the chromosomes of a preferred female plant phenotype.