What Are Feminized Marijuana Seeds?
Posted by michbond422 in 06. Oct, 2009, under Uncategorized
Every web site that legally sells marijuana seeds offers a curious option to buy so called feminized seeds, customarily at 2 or three times the price for a similar quantity of normal seeds. But what are feminized marijuana seeds? And why do people buy them if they cost much more?
What are they?
Marijuana plants are either female or male – the male produces flowers that fertilize the female plant, which develops buds and seeds. A standard pack of inexpensive marijuana seeds will produce a mixture of masculine and feminine plants in a roughly 50/50 ratio.
Feminized marijuana seeds are produced by cloning and “shocking” female plants by spraying them with a silver solution. This forestalls them from developing as males. The seeds from plants that have been treated in this manner will only produce female plants – hence they are called feminized marijuana seeds.
Why do people buy them?
There are range of reasons why many experienced growers choose to buy feminized marijuana seeds. Most male plants have awfully low levels of THC, so they can not be cropped for marijuana. Similarly, if a crop has a mixture of sexes it’s a necessity to identify and separate the male plants as soon as possible to be certain they don’t fertilize the females – unfertilized female plants produce bigger, riper buds, while fertilized females produce smaller buds that are crammed with marijuana seeds. Good growing can still be done with standard seeds and mixed sex plants, but it can take a ton more effort, and yields can vary greatly.
Feminized marijuana seeds will produce all female plants. This saves this bother of identifying and separating the male plants in a crop before they can fertilize the females, and it also suggests that out of a pack of 10 seeds it is possible to produce 10 plants that can be harvested for marijuana instead of ( on average ) 5 plants. Most growers will naturally have a small amount of space, and an assured all female crop can help to make the maximum of a smaller growing space.
Of course, growers want to produce more plants without having to frequently buy marijuana seeds, but it is possible to try this without breeding plants – more experienced growers like to clone their plants by taking a good cutting from a grown up plant and then replanting it. Not only does this let them maintain unfertilized females and maintain a high yield from all their plants, the clone will maintain all the characteristics of its “parent”, implying that the best quality plants can be reproduced precisely.
They cost buyers more. Cheap marijuana seeds can be produced very easily, but it takes some heavy effort and time to supply feminized marijuana seeds. Since these seeds produce more valuable plants, they’re accordingly more expensive. But they remain popular among growers. They save growers the trouble of identifying and separating the male plants, and also give a guaranteed female from each marijuana seed that is purchased, leading to more buds and higher yields.
