Cannabis Propagation

Seed Types

The search for genetics starts with a batch of seeds; the product of a cannabis bud on a female plant being fertilized with the pollen from a male specimen. Growing seedless marijuana comes from withholding male pollen by only growing female plants.

The are three "types" of seeds that are readily available on the internet; feminized, auto-flower and regular or classic.

Feminized seeds are the product of using the pollen from a hermaphrodite to fertilize a female. This results in seeds that are female.

Often, seed companies will chemically stress a female clone (of the variety they want to seed) into morphing male flowers which they will use to pollenate a healthy female clone.

Auto-flower plants are ones that do not require a change in light cycle in order to flower. This seed type is created by using the low THC sub species "cannabis ruderalis" (first described by Russian botanist D. E. Janischewsky in 1924) for its auto-flowering trait and interbred with strong indica and sativa hybrids. The varieties being created today, while being relatively modest on the yield and production scale, do compete quite impressively on the potency scale (a welcome change from a couple of decades ago). As soon as an auto-flower plant reaches a specific size (variety and strain dependent) they will flower. These seeds are also sold as mostly feminized.

Regular seeds are the classic ones that nature created back in the day... the good 'ol fashioned conservative religiously sanctioned male-female hook up! The same ones the hippies had to sift from their Mexican imports in the 60's and 70's. The genetics from the 21st century, however, are in another league compared to those historical relics.

There are advantages and distinct disadvantages of all three types.

1.) Feminized seeds have the advantage of being female, greatly reducing the work it takes to identify male plants to eradicate from the garden. However, these plants carry a genetic trauma from their past which tends to show itself towards the end of flowering in the form of male flowers. Often called “bananas” (or “nanners”) due to their deformed elongated appearance.

While this may happen on female plants from a "regular" seed, the hermaphrodite trait seems to be far more common to the genetics originating from feminized seeds. Even when you find a winner, it is usually a dog with some fleas.

2.) Auto-flower plants are well suited to growers on the mainland as they can be grown in the summer. Hawaii's summer and winter light cycles will flower plants of any variety rendering the use of auto-flowering genetics pointless. Furthermore, you cannot clone this plant type which is why I would only grow this species as a novelty project.

3.) The classic seed requires the most initial work and sorting to isolate your final genetics, however, that end product will most likely be far more suitable.

Also, learning how to identify males from females is a crucial skill needed when learning the art of growing cannabis. How would you ever be able to identify a hermaphrodite (which only has a few male parts) if you've never seen a male flower? For these reasons this is the only seed type I will sprout with serious intent. The winners you find in category tend to be flawless.

The First Crop

So, after scouring the internet searching for the perfect seeds now comes the moment of truth. Hawaii's plant limit per patient is ten plants. I would suggest starting with 5 seeds. If your seeds are fresh or have been stored correctly at least 4 of them should sprout, if not all. Half of those should be male and the other half female.

The goal would be to get at least two potential females. Bear in mind that we will need to clone each of the plants (males included) before "sexing" them so keeping the numbers manageable is the key to success. You can always start more seeds.