Everything You Need to Know About Feminizing Cannabis Seeds

Ever since the health benefits of cannabis have manifested, many states have legalized its cultivation, and stores have filled up with CBD products. It has also triggered a trend of people growing their weeds. 
 

Those taking to it must have heard about feminizing cannabis seeds, but many are confused about it. Here we share all vital insights about it. Stay touted.

What is feminizing cannabis seeds?

It is a process of special agronomic techniques by which the male chromosomes are eliminated from the cannabis seeds to breed only female plants.

Need for the feminizing process

The feminizing process to grow exclusively female cannabis plants is required for the following reasons:

• It is the female buds that have a high concentration of CBD and THC compounds. Hence, you need the female buds and not the male buds to vape or enjoy medicinal benefits. The male buds have plenty of seeds, making them unsuitable for vaping. 
   
• One male plant can effortlessly fertilize an entire grow-room of female cannabis plants, thereby making their requirement negligible.
   
• The government has imposed a limit on the number of cannabis plants you can grow at home. Regular seeds would mean 50% of male yield and wastage of precious resources like water and nutrients. Feminized seeds give you over 99% female plants, making the entire process more efficient and cost-effective. 

Benefits of feminizing seeds
 

While the process of feminizing is not new and exclusive to cannabis, it offers several benefits for weed growers like:

• Stress-free gardening

Using feminized seeds frees you from the hassle of pruning and weeding out the male plants to prevent them from pollinating the female plants. It also means lower labor costs and minimal maintenance. 

• Better genetics

Feminized seeds are crafted with precision to have the most defining characteristics. Their better genetics make them more powerful, attractive, aromatic, and productive with infinite choices of flavors, aromas, and cannabinoids. 

• Higher yield

Growing only the female plants helps you maximize your yields by saving your space and resources on otherwise useless male plants. You get a higher yield of female buds, CBD, and THC for professional or personal use. 

• Higher returns

It is especially true if you are growing cannabis for commercial purposes. If you use high-quality seeds and adhere to the right cultivation tactics, you will get a high yield that implies higher returns on investment. 

• Facilitates plant training

Plants from such seeds allow the usage of different training methods for enhanced plant canopy and harvest. 

• Superior quality

The feminized seeds give you a superior quality weed as the entire lot is free from hermaphrodites.

Ways to feminize seeds  

You can purchase feminized cannabis seeds online or from any reputable store. You can also employ a few techniques to produce them in your backyard or cultivation space. Check them out.

1. Rodelization

While this is a more natural and accessible option, it is time-consuming and not too efficient or reliable. In this process, the female plant is stressed by keeping it in the flowering stage for much longer and beyond the ideal harvest time. It is achieved by interrupting the light cycles during flowering. The plant gets stressed, and to survive, it turns male and creates pollen sacs with pollen. You can harvest this pollen.  

You can now pollinate any female plant with these hermie pollens to produce seeds without any male chromosomes. You will always get only female plants. A challenge here is that not all cannabis plants react to stress identically and may or may not develop pollen sacs. The method works best for marijuana strains with a proven track record of developing the sacs. You might also obtain hermaphrodite seeds as you are selecting hermaphrodite plants.

2. Colloidal silver solution spray

It is one of the most popular methods as it does not entail any genetic modification or any fear of intersex traits being carried over. You can purchase a readymade solution of colloidal silver or make a DIY solution at home. 

Preparing colloidal solution:

Foremost, collect the materials like pure silver (a silver coin or a wire works best), distilled water, a 9-volt battery, alligator clips, soldering iron, and a ppm meter.

Connect the battery and the connector by soldering the alligator clips to the red and black wires individually. Then connect each end with a silver coin or wire using alligator clips. Now dip the silver coins in a glass or beaker filled 3/4th with distilled water. Ensure that the two silver coins do not touch each other and the wires or alligator clips are not touching the water. Because of distilled water, the silver ions will not connect with other ions and just float.

After about seven hours, the solution will be ready for use when its silver concentration is 30ppm on measuring with a ppm meter.

Using the solution:
 

Colloidal silver solution hinders the production of ethylene in the cannabis plant. It is a hormone supporting the flowering of the plant. You need to spray it onto the plant’s bud sites or branches until they get completely drenched. It must be done every day for the initial three to four weeks of the plant’s flowering stage until the pollen sacs appear and start opening. 

You can harvest the pollen sacs when they are swollen and starting to split. Air-dry the pollen sacs completely and shake them in a bag to collect the feminized pollen. Use it to pollinate other female plants that are two to three weeks in their flowering stage. Collect the seeds when the calyxes of the pollinated plants are swollen, and the seeds become visible, usually in about six weeks.

You need to note that only that plant will produce a feminized seed on which you have sprayed the colloidal solution. Moreover, you must not vape the buds of the sprayed plants as they are covered with the solution and can cause health complications. 

3. Other chemicals

Instead of colloidal silver, you can also use a solution of 

• gibberellic acid
• silver nitrate 
• silver thiosulfate

These solutions can also inhibit ethylene production in the cannabis plant. Additionally, each has a localized action and would affect only the sprayed branch. The rest of the plant will grow female flowers and not male flowers. 

These solutions are not used too widely because they adversely impact the plant if not used in the right concentration and at the right time. For instance, a low dose of gibberellic acid would yield fewer male flowers, while a higher amount would trigger an inhibitory effect. 

Wrapping Up

The increasing demand for cannabis makes using their feminized seeds the best choice. It is available in several strains and varieties. You can buy feminized seeds from an accredited vendor or create them by strictly following the rules.