How to Make Feminized Seeds
What are feminized seeds?
Feminized seeds are becoming increasingly popular among home growers and commercial cultivators because they are guaranteed to produce female plants. In order to make feminized seeds, growers must first understand the basics of plant reproduction.
The standard process of reproduction in dioecious plants involves the transfer of pollen from a “male” or donor plant to a female or mother plant. Generally speaking, in cannabis plants, the male plants produce pollen and the female plants produce calyxes that contain ovules. When pollen, which contains the donor’s genetic material, lands on a pistil and fertilizes the mother’s ovules, a seed begins to form. When producing feminized seeds however, a female is forced to produce pollen in the place of a male. The pollen, because it was produced by a female, has no genetic material for males. Thus, it can be used to pollinate a non-reversed female to produce feminized seeds.
How to make feminized seeds.
To create feminized seeds, growers must first identify two healthy, female plant grown from seed or from clone. It doesn’t matter if the original was grown from regular seed stock (male and female individuals) or from feminized seed stock (all female individuals). They can even be clones of the same female plant, a method called selfing. What’s important is that the females are healthy and have the traits that you are looking for. Take one of the clones and flip it to a flower. Apply a Silver Thiosulfate (STS) spray starting on day 1 of flower and repeat the application every 5 days for the first 20 – 30 days of flower. Find a video tutorial of the Spray process here: Spray Tutorial.
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Next, on day 14 of flower for the STS treated plant, move the second female plant into flower with the STS treated plant. Allow the two plants to flower for an additional 14 – 28 days, then pollinate.
There are two common ways to pollinate: Selective Pollination and Open Pollination. Selective pollination is when a breeder collects pollen from a pollen donor and selectively pollinates specific flowers, usually by hand. Open pollination is when a breeder allows a pollen donor to openly pollinate the females around it.
To do selective pollination, collect the pollen from mature flowers of male or sex-reversed female. Once the pollen has been collected, use a paint brush or q-tip to pollinate another healthy non-reversed female plant that is at least 3 weeks into its flowering stage.
To do open pollination, simply shake the pollen donor around the non-reversed mother plants. Find a video tutorial of the pollination process here: Pollinate Tutorial
Once the plant is pollinated, it will begin to produce seed. Allow the seeds to mature for at least 45 days to ensure high viability. Once the seeds are mature cut the plants and dry thoroughly. Then shuck and separate the seeds from the plant material. The seeds can be used immediately or store the seeds in a clean dry container in a cool dark location.
Feminized seeds are often preferred by growers because they eliminate the need to identify and separate male and female plants. This can save a significant amount of time and effort for the grower. Additionally, feminized seeds allow for more efficient use of space and resources, as all of the plants grown from feminized seeds will be able to produce usable flowers.
Making feminized seeds is a process that requires a decent understanding of plant reproduction, as well as patience and attention to detail. However, feminized seed sprays like Cannabinology Silver Thiosulfate Spray Kits make the process much easier and break down the process into simple and easy to understand steps. Find out more here: www.cbgyscientific.com/shop
The benefits of using feminized seeds, such as increased efficiency and the guarantee of female plants, make the effort well worth it for many cannabis growers.
