Lets talk feminized seeds

I'd like to hear some opinions on feminized seeds in general. So far, I just don't like em. I've found them sensitive to stress (even the smallest amount of pruning tends to affect them), they have a strong tendancy to go hermie (this is what I hear, not my own experience. Hasn't happened to me yet), and they don't clone well.

That said, I don't have a whole lot of experience with seeds. Once I find a mother plant I like from a particular strain, I like to keep her going, and replace her with her own clones when she gets tired. Therefore, I don't do a lot of seeds, but I am starting to do more, since I want to add more strains to my collection, and I'm gaining enough experience that I am becoming more picky with the plants I keep.

I'd love to hear your experiences, both seasoned growers and new growers alike. Is there any tips for feminized seeds? Do you find they have common problems or is the success of a seed more dependant of the strain when it comes to fems? Is there different cloning techniques that you find work better with them?

For now, I am going to stay away from feminized seeds, but I never like to completely shut the door on things.

In my experience I have found truth in what you're saying. If i'm wanting solid genetics of a line I will buy regular seeds. On occasion i'll buy Fem. seeds if i'm looking to get a cycle or two out of a plant. But for breeding projects or if i'm looking to keep a mom for a long time it's regular.

The biggest problem i've run into with feminized seeds is they seem to want to auto in the mom room. The mom will only keep for a few months and then flowers. I'm not sure if it's because of the feminized seeds but it sure seems to be.

However, if I had more space I would by regular all of the time. Usually the mom room is so packed that I can't afford to waste the space on a potential male.

i am loving feminized for outdoor - this year i have 100% females it looks like.. other years i have had to rip half my garden because of males.. i have only seen maybe one hermie ever - a few dwarfs, but mostly i am a happy customer of feminized..

I really like feminized seeds, there I said it.

I look aft clones, but those fem beans save time in emergencies

Grewdat said:

The biggest problem i've run into with feminized seeds is they seem to want to auto in the mom room. The mom will only keep for a few months and then flowers. I'm

Click to expand...

Thats what I hear as well

Fem seeds & never look back. Perfect the art of cloning & be one happy camper. I shall never plant another seed/clone that is not certain female. To much heartbreak & anger when a male comes along.

feminized seeds have done me great for a while now, some strains do not clone well and being feminized or not has nothing to do with that, as far as herm? i have never had one herm on me...maybe you are buying from a bad breeder or bank

Thanks for the opinions guys. Perhaps I won't turn my back on feminized seeds just yet. I should be clear too; I have little experience with them. I didn't mean to imply that my experience is conclusive. There's a good chance I had a bad strain, or just got some shitty seeds. I do have a pretty good track record with my cloning technique, but there's always room to improve.

I've never done an outdoor grow (my licence only allows me to do indoor) but I'd really like to try one someday. I can definitely see fems being the way to go when doing a whole crop from seed. For me, seeds are just a way of getting a new strain going, then it's cloning from there on. So getting some males isn't too much of a heatbreak for me. I expect it, and really, I'm just looking to start a half dozen plants at a time, then select the best to clone for a full crop.

Keep up the info. It's much appreciated.

The last four feminized seeds I got, two had hermi tendencies. One, the Kandy Kush was chock full of seeds when I harvested. But it didn't infect plants right next to it, so the male pods must have been buried in the bud. Plus I never knew it was hermi until harvest. The other one, a Blueberry Gum, I caught early and tried to clip the balls. I also hit it with Dutch Master Reverse it. Not very many seeds in that one. Great producer too. The other two, Lemon Skunk and Pineapple Express, no hermi.

I've had bad hermis with non feminized seeds also. I grew a regular Northern Light that was a flaming hermi with huge balls which dropped massive pollen on the female flowers on the buds directly below.