If you are shopping for cannabis seeds, you may come across all kinds of strange phrases and expressions. You may read about feminized cannabis seeds, photoperiod plants, autoflowering, males, females, hybrids, hermaphrodites and much more. If you’re just starting out growing weed, there’s no doubt that it can all seem pretty confusing.
But don’t worry. These concepts may seem intimidating, but they are perfectly understandable once explained. Although we want to explain them all at once, we’ll go through them one at a time, focusing today on feminized cannabis seeds.
WHAT ARE FEMINIZED SEEDS?
Until not so long ago, if you grew cannabis from seed, there was always a 50% chance that each plant would be male. However, only female plants produce buds rich in cannabinoids such as THC and CBD.
Male plants produce seed pods and, if they remain long enough, will pollinate female plants and drastically reduce their yield. Therefore, growers of regular seeds had to identify the sex of their plants as soon as possible to eliminate the males.
Then, the creation of feminized cannabis seeds in the 1990s revolutionized cannabis cultivation. Feminized cannabis seeds are genetically engineered to only turn into female plants, and they almost always (99.9%) do. Eliminating the game of chance, this breakthrough made cannabis cultivation much easier, as well as more economical.
Feminized seeds are usually designed to produce photoperiod plants. Photoperiod cannabis flowers depending on the hours of light and dark. In nature, cannabis begins to flower at the end of summer, when the days get shorter. Indoors, photoperiod cannabis remains in the vegetative phase until the grower is ready to induce flowering by reducing the hours of light.
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FEMINIZED CANNABIS SEEDS AT A GLANCE
- High amount of cannabinoids compared to male cannabis. Strains are usually bred for maximum potency and aroma.
- Seeds are 99.9% feminized, so plants will almost always turn female.
- There is no need to check the sex of the plants, nor is it necessary to discard male plants.
- Feminized strains are usually photoperiod strains, which means they are dependent on the light cycle.
At Seeds Here Now, all feminized seeds are labeled and classified as such, so you won’t be confused when shopping.
WHO USES FEMINIZED STRAINS AND WHY?
High quality feminized seeds on the market today usually produce plants rich in THC. As the main psychotropic component of cannabis, all types of cannabis users enjoy this cannabinoid for the potent high it causes.
SATIVA, INDICA, HYBRID AND RUDERALIS STRAINS
There are several different types, or subspecies, of cannabis. The two main categories are sativa and indica, but there are also hybrid and ruderalis varieties to consider.
In the past, it was believed that the effects of cannabis depended on which family the strain belonged to, whether it was more indica or sativa. Indicas were thought to produce a strong “high” sensation, while sativas produced an energetic effect more suited to the daytime. Lately, however, it is being shown that the effect of a given strain has more to do with the terpene profile of the strain, rather than the subspecies to which it belongs.
In other words, some indicas can have a stimulating effect and some sativas can be relaxing, which means that things are not as simple as previously thought. To know the specific effects of a variety, it is recommended to read the descriptions of the varieties before buying them.
