Cultivating cannabis before the 1990s meant that you had to separate the male from the female plants to avoid pollination and seed formation. However, the practice was too complicated, and that led to feminized cannabis seeds without their male counterparts. Most of the classic strains like the rockstar strain were feminized, and today, most winemakers use only this type of seed.
If you’ve ever tried growing cannabis, chances are it’s been feminized, but do you know where it comes from? Let’s see how these seeds look and how you can feminize your plants at home.
Benefits of feminized seeds
It is clear that feminized seeds provide some real benefits because they have completely transformed the cannabis industry. Growers do not have to worry about their plants pollinating and growing seeds. This means that they do not even need to find the male plants and remove them before the crops are destroyed. Here are some of the benefits of growing feminized strains:
Save space and resources
Since you don’t need to grow male plants that will be removed later, you have more space for female plants, which means bigger yields and more produce.
Incredible reliability
The chances of something going wrong are almost non-existent. Since all plants are only female chromosomes, and produce only female plants, the chances of successful growth are between 99 and 100%.
Sinsemilla plants
Again, since there are no male plants involved in the growth process, your female plants will not be pollinated, which means that your bombs will not have seeds inside. Until a few decades ago, it was something that all growers and growers dreamed of achieving.
As feminized cannabis seeds became available, they replaced most of the classic seeds on the market. Female plants, also known as clones, can be used to produce new seeds and make new roots and stems.
Male plants are completely eliminated from the growth process and gene pool. You can use any female plant to pollinate the rest of the growth, which will also lead to new strains. So, it is one of those win-win situations for growers all over the planet.
There are a few more benefits you will get from growing feminized plants, but there is also a major downside. Feminized seeds cannot produce new seeds, which means you need to buy lots of fresh seeds every time you want to start the process all over again. Also try the Rockstar variety from trusted online cannabis dispensaries
Method to feminize your plants
There are a few different methods you can use to create feminized seeds. You will need a few chemicals that must be sprayed on the plant during the flowering photoperiod. Your plants will bloom the same way as always, but instead of creating the male pollen, they will remain female. You can use this plant to pollinate the rest of your plants. Here are the most popular techniques:
Rodelization
Rodelization is one of the first methods used to feminize plants. You need to provide stress to the plant to ensure that it grows male flowers. This can be done with special nutrients, temperature parameters, pH and photoperiod. Some growers say that delaying the harvest by about three weeks is enough for the plant to develop a few male flowers.
The result is a plant with lower levels of pollen than you would use other techniques, but still enough to produce a few domestic feminized crucifers. Another plus that you have to use this method is that it is completely natural, and there is no use of toxic chemicals.
While you may not be able to pollinate an entire field, get enough pollen to get a few feminized seeds. One important thing to know is that this method can produce plants with hermaphroditic elements.
Silver thiosulfate solution
STS is one of the most popular methods for feminizing cannabis plants. It requires the use of distilled water, sodium thiosulfate and silver nitrate. When you spray the plants with this solution, it inhibits its action of ethylene, which produces male flowers during the flowering period. You can prepare the solution in a few minutes, but you should use it in a few days.
It’s important to know that you can’t consume any of the plants you’ve spayed with the solution. By the time you spray them, the plants will become male and will not produce goats.
Colloidal Silver
Colloidal silver can help change the sex of plants by spraying on a few female plants. You can find colloidal silver in every pharmacy, and you have to mix it with distilled water. Apply the mixture to your plants and wait a few days until the male flowers begin to form. Spray the plants daily until you see the male flowers.
Like the previous method, you have to remove the male plants after pollination so that the colloidal silver stays in their tissues.
Become a Pro Grower in no time
As you can see, creating your own feminized cannabis plant is not that difficult. You have to follow some basic rules, and you can turn each female plant into a male counterpart that you can use to fertilize the rest of your batch. Just remember to cut out the plants you sprayed, and enjoy your bombs!
