Monday 10 October 2011

Techniques to Grow Feminized Cannabis Seeds

Techniques to Grow Feminized Cannabis Seeds

I often get asked by many customers that what feminized cannabis seeds are and how are they grown. The everyday queries regarding feminized seeds inspired me to write this blog. Here in this blog I am going to tell you what feminized cannabis or serious seeds are and different techniques to grow them.

Feminized cannabis seeds are today so popular, that without any exception, all of the renowned seed banks feature a wide collection of these seeds. With such a huge assortment and choice, knowing which seeds are right for your needs can often be a challenge. Okay, now without much ado I would throw some light on what feminized seeds are.

Feminized marijuana seeds are probably one of the highest accomplishments in the marijuana farming community. Feminized serious seeds produce only female plants, hence eliminating the requirement to identify and eradicate male flowers before they have an opportunity to pollinate the females.

Methods to Grow Feminized Cannabis Seeds

Feminized seeds are produced from a selected cannabis female plant, which is then, subjected to climate stress that forces the female plant to form small number of male flowers From the rogue male flowers, pollen is collected. It is further utilized to fertilize the existing female plants, which in turn produces seeds that are devoid of male chromosomes. Without male chromosomes, the plant germinated from female seeds can only grow into feminized plants, with a little percentage turning out to be hermaphrodites.

Most commercial and large scale operations make use of chemicals in order to produce feminized marijuana seeds. Two main chemicals used are Gibberellic acid and colloidal silver. Gibberellic acid is usually considered the most effective while colloidal silver is cheaper and readily available and hence, more often used. There are numerous websites telling how you the ways to grow colloidal silver on your own.

When the procedure is carried out, instead of hermy the whole plant, the chemical is put at the points on the branches of the plant, hence causing stress sites that would then produce male pollen sacs. With shock techniques, the pollen is then accumulated and utilized to fertilize remaining female plants.

Another technique for feminizing serious seeds is 'rodelization'. This technique is based on the principle that buds, if left uncut and unfertilized beyond their normal harvesting time, tend to self pollinate via producing petite male flowers just before they die. Some growers make use of this technique in order to produce feminized seeds organically.

Here I would like to tell you that by utilizing feminized marijuana seeds you can ensure a much higher ratio of your seeds (around 80%) to turn out to be female plants.

The next thing that I would like to bring into lime light is what is the ideal grow room temperature to have feminized seeds.

Yes, grow room environment is a very important aspect for growing feminized seeds, as it is also known to highly effect the ratio of female to male seeds. The perfect environment to stimulate the production of seeds that would produce female plants should be provided throughout the plant’s life and is:

1. More blue spectrum light and less red spectrum light
2. More nitrogen, less potassium
3. Higher soil humidity
4. Higher humidity and lower temperature
5. A pH level of 6.6-6.8
6. Low stress conditions (no cloning, no humidity changes or sudden temperatures, etc)

I always tell my customers whatever feminization technique is used, it is impossible to evade some male plants and completely avoid having plants become hermaphroditic. Cloning is by far the simplest and most reliable method to ensure the gender of your cannabis plants. However, in case you have no access to clones or no clone nursery or place to keep a mother plant, then feminized cannabis seeds are undeniably for you.