Feminized Seeds vs Regular Marijuana Seeds: A Closer Look

When buying seeds, many seed banks don’t carry as many regular seeds as they do feminized because the demand for feminized is higher. Let’s learn more about the differences between feminized seeds vs regular marijuana seeds. 

What Are Regular Seeds?

Regular seeds carry both male and female parents, so it’s not possible to determine the sex of the plant until you have reached the flowering stage. When culminating marijuana with regular seeds, it’s best to germinate and transplant extra seeds to make up for the percentage that is going to grow as males.

You can identify whether or not your plant is male or female by looking at the pods. Males typically produce oval pods, while females produce a calyx shaped like a teardrop.

Pros:

Many “old-school” and experienced marijuana growers prefer using regular seeds because not only do they want to respect the natural growing process of the plant, but they also want to maximize the other benefits that come with using regular seeds. While the popularity of regular seeds has fallen, which lower the number of them sold in seed banks, they are still highly sought after by some due to the benefits that they have.

• Breeding: One of the most significant benefits of using regular seeds is the breeding process. Many experienced and old-school cultivators enjoy using the male and female chromosomes from their plants to build upon the marijuana strains that they already have. After time and experimenting, you can potentially create some of the best strains around by using your selected clones with the male plants.
• Old strains: Marijuana growers also like to purchase regular seeds to cultivate because there are just some fantastic strains that were never able to make it to the feminized seedling market. Since feminized seeds have become so popular, many of those strains have been forgotten, but they still exist. Remember to do your research on breeding and strains before you purchase your next package of seeds.
• Phenotypes: The benefit of phenotypes is most popular with botanists who research and thoroughly respect the cultivation and growth of all types of plants. When choosing regular seeds to grow with, you can always expand on a strain’s full lineage to learn more about it. Feminized seeds have a preferred phenotype, whereas, with regular seeds, you can find that one genetically untouched phenotype is different from the rest.

Con:

Although regular marijuana seeds have a lot of benefits, there is one significant drawback that you need to consider.

• Low Yield: One significant con that needs to get taken into consideration when growing from regular seeds is the yield. Since regular seeds have both male and female chromosomes, you have no control over the gender of the plant. After a month into the growing process, it’s possible to find that half of your crop is male, which reduces your yield by half. 

What Are Feminized Seeds?

Unlike regular seeds which carry both male and female chromosomes, feminized seeds have been bred to remove all traces of the male chromosome. This specific breeding technique ensures that each plant you cultivate is going to be a female. These seeds remove the need to put in the extra work of identifying whether or not the plant is male or female.

There is no need to germinate additional seeds when using feminized seeds because each one is going to be female. You only need to germinate the number of seeds that you require for the number of plants you want.

Pros:

The majority of people who grow marijuana both recreationally and commercially do it because they want the effects of the THC and CBD. Those specific effects come from the buds on the plant.

The buds that develop during the harvesting process only come from female plants. Since feminized seeds have been bred to eliminate all male chromosomes, it’s a guarantee that what you get is a female plant that you can harvest and use recreationally. This makes it an effortless way to cultivate cannabis.

• High yield: Using feminized seeds ensures that each plant you cultivate produces marijuana. The space that your plant has to grow in is used productively because there are no growing male chromosomes, which ensures a higher yield.
• Cost: Using feminized seeds is very cost-efficient because you’re guaranteed only to have female crops. This means that the cost you invest in growing your marijuana is worth it because no plants get thrown out.
• Mothering: Feminized seeds can also be used to make mother plants just like regular seeds can. This creates uniformity in the plant, even when produced on a larger scale.

Con:

As similar to regular seeds, using feminized seeds also has one significant disadvantage.

• Not ideal for breeding: As feminized seeds have no male chromosomes, they aren’t the choice that you need if you desire to produce and breed strains. 

Choosing Between the Two

Now that you understand the differences between feminized seeds vs regular marijuana seeds, you likely have enough information to purchase seeds that are going to suit your personal needs. Regardless if your seeds are regular or feminized, you can get high-quality marijuana as long as your seeds are high quality.

You just really need to keep in mind that it’s likely you are going to have to discard at least 50% of your crop when using regular seeds. However, if you are looking to breed, that isn’t going to be an issue.