# Are Feminized Seeds Worth It?



## MrIntricate (May 9, 2007)

I am planning my second grow. Unfortunately during my first grow I had a disappointing amount of females. To avoid this bummer in the future, would feminized seeds be the solution? I've heard that feminized seeds often turn out herm. and that yield is decreased. Can anybody shed light on these rumors for me?


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## babygro (May 9, 2007)

MrIntricate said:


> I've heard that feminized seeds often turn out herm. and that yield is decreased. Can anybody shed light on these rumors for me?


Feminised seeds are produced from a genetic female plant that has had one or more of it's branches treated with hormones, this forces the plant to produce some male flowers. The pollen is used from these male flowers to pollinate the rest of the female flowers thus producing seeds that do not contain a male chromosome. Whilst that means they cannot be male, it also means that they carry a hermaphrodite chromosome alongside the female one, so they can be female or genetic hermaphrodites. 

Fortunately, and this is where feminised seeds become marketable, the ratio of females to genetic hermpahrodites is much larger than for standard seeds ratio of males to females. The feminised seeds on average should produce a 0-20% hermaphrodite to female ratio wheras the standard seeds male to female ratio is 50%. 

That also means that by growing feminised seeds you have up to a 20% chance out of 10 seeds to get a genetic hermphrodite as well as the same risk of standard seeds of plants turning hermaphrodite via environmental influences. 

The bottom line therefore is, that you have a much greater chance of getting hermaphrodites with feminised seeds than standard seeds but you're also virtually guaranteed some pure genetic females if you grow out enough seeds which you aren't with standard seeds. This simply means that if you go down the feminised route, keep a very watchful eye out for any hermaphrodite plants that if not spotted can pollinate all your other females.

The reason that yield is decreased is because in plants that hermie, some of their yield is taken up with male flowers and if allowed to heavily pollinate the other females their energy will switch to seed making and not bud and flower making. Lightly pollinated plants simply carry on making flowers and lose little if any yield because of it.


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## mogie (May 9, 2007)

Interesting article shows that different people experiement with different ways to achieve the same goal.

Henk admits that when Dutch Passion first released feminized seeds in November 1998, many people were skeptical.

"It was very difficult to make these seeds," he explained. "There were several years of experiments that went into this. At first, we relied on the fact that if you let females flower a long time without getting pollen, near the end of their life cycle some will try to pollinate themselves. But this did not produce a reliable amount of pollen. Then, we tried hormone and chemical agents. The hormone produced pollen, but it also affected the plants in other ways that we didn't like. We tried other applications, and found some that could change basic female plants into plants that produced pollen, which we then used to fertilize other 100&#37; female plants to produce what we used to call &#8216;female seeds.'

"A lot of people think we have created hermaphrodites, but we take 100% female clones, and apply a safe chemical so the clones produce abundant male flowers. Then we take that pollen and fertilize other females with it. Seeds from this method will usually grow out female.

"In the beginning, some people were telling us that the seeds weren't producing all females, but we've discovered some strains don't work well with this process, and some of the success depends on the way they're grown. Now, we aren't getting those complaints. I sell a guy 300 seeds, and 298 of them grow out female. We are seeing that level of reliability."

*Research and improvement*

As with any new technology, Dutch Passion's feminized strains have experienced growing pains. Some varieties have not adapted well to the feminizing procedure and are no longer sold. Henk no longer calls his special seeds female, either.

"They are not female seeds," he explains. "They are seeds that have been created a certain way to produce female plants, but it is not accurate to call them female seeds. We call them feminized seeds &#8211; there is a difference."





[SIZE=-2]_An luscious female Green Spirit on display at the Cannabis Cup._[/SIZE]Henk says it's a lot harder to produce feminized seeds than regular seeds, and he has to be careful about feminizer technology and its resultant pollen. As with Terminator Seed technology utilized by greedy corporations like Monsanto (the company has designed food crops that produce sterile seeds, forcing farmers to buy new seeds from Monsanto every year), plants grown from feminized seeds cannot reproduce naturally; at best, they can be cloned.

If you are growing marijuana so you can produce your own seeds, Dutch Passion's feminized varieties are not for you. For most other growers, feminized seeds offer obvious advantages. Outdoor growers can plant in remote locations knowing they will not have to return during early autumn and remove male plants. All growers can count on increased yields: instead of the average sixty to forty percent female to male ratio, virtually every seed planted will result in a female producing harvestable buds.

*Feminine recipe*

Dutch Passion's feminizer testing program revealed that grow room factors can be manipulated to produce better female to male ratios. The female-inducing recipe, to be implemented during the first month of growth, involves providing: 1) more nitrogen, less potassium; 2) more halide (blue spectrum) and less high pressure sodium (red spectrum) lighting; 3) shorter light cycles; 4) a grow medium of 6.6 to 6.8 pH; 5) lower temperatures and higher humidity, plus higher soil moisture; 6) minimized stress (cloning and other stressors can destabilize plants, causing them to go male or hermaphrodite).

Henk is constantly running experiments to fine-tune his feminizer technology. He removed Purple Star from his feminized line because of poor results. Some feminized varieties produce between 80 and 90% females rather than 100%, and a few hermaphrodites have occurred in isolated test crops. Henk has found that Green Spirit, Mazar, Masterkush, Oasis, Blueberry, Buddha, Voodoo, Purple #1 and Trance are the most reliable feminized seeds; he's working to increase the range and dependability of Dutch Passion feminized offerings.

"The difference with Dutch Passion is that we are keeping the trust of our customers by making sure our seeds give them what they expect," Henk says. "We concentrate on ripeness, freshness, and size, and we strive to make strains grow out true. Our goal is to maximize the yield our customers get. I wish I had had Dutch Passion seed company to buy from when I was 18."


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## DoobsDay (May 9, 2007)

nice find mogie


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## MrIntricate (May 10, 2007)

Great research! Thanks for the input!


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## ljjr (May 10, 2007)

feminized seed are ok to use, i use them on my outdoor grows it helps not having to cull out males, altho you can end up with hermies, i would choose a good breeder to buy fem. seeds from, i get mine from female seeds.nl, paradise and soma also sells quality feminized seeds. keep stress to a minimum and you will be fine, but if you are growing inside i'd use regular seeds and find a pheno you like and clone the hell out of her that way you don't need seeds unless you want another strain, also you can take a clone of the mom and make your own seeds and crosses etc. either way good luck!

LJ

GROW ON!


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## mogie (May 10, 2007)

I agree ljjr you just clone and you don't need any more seeds unless you want another strain. That is the only way you are sure of getting a female 100&#37; of the time.


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## VirginHarvester (May 11, 2007)

Mogie, thanks for the article. A good friend of mine recently checked the package of some feminized seeds he brought back from the Dam and they are Dutch Passion brand, Skunk #11. I think he plans to grow some. So it sounds like Dutch Passion is reliable and has done their homework and that if you plant one or two the chances are pretty good that you'll have females that do not "hermi". At least that's what I got from the article.


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## VirginHarvester (May 11, 2007)

Another question I have is whether or not most seeds available online are feminized or not? Nirvana has good prices compared to Dutch Passion but I don't want 10 random seeds that I have to sex or keep an eye on. I want to plant and forget or plant and have the high expectation of a female.


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## babygro (May 11, 2007)

VirginHarvester said:


> Another question I have is whether or not most seeds available online are feminized or not? Nirvana has good prices compared to Dutch Passion but I don't want 10 random seeds that I have to sex or keep an eye on. I want to plant and forget or plant and have the high expectation of a female.


Not all seeds online are feminised - they usually say if they are, and they're usually twice the price of standard seeds.

"I want to plant and forget"

If this is what you want to do, don't grow Cannabis.


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## VirginHarvester (May 11, 2007)

babygro said:


> If this is what you want to do, don't grow Cannabis.


Weed is supposed to be pretty hearty by nature. "Plant and forget" is probably not exactly what I mean. With good soil that I prepare in advance and enough water I am hoping that the plants do well on their own. I don't want to go to the outdoor grow site twice a week to water because I will give the site away. When they start to bud I would get out there more and water with some nutes if that will help. But otherwise I really cannot manage them on a daily basis and have to be careful visiting even once a week. Even then I will do so in the cover of darkness for the most part.


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## Iowasmoke (May 14, 2007)

Don't take it personally You grow how you want to grow You admitted taht this is a new thing do it at your own pace! I don't think that you should be discouraged by other people that are more advanced in this subject I am not. Good Luck and let us know what turns up


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## 420101 (May 14, 2007)

babygro said:


> Feminised seeds are produced from a genetic female plant that has had one or more of it's branches treated with hormones, this forces the plant to produce some male flowers. The pollen is used from these male flowers to pollinate the rest of the female flowers thus producing seeds that do not contain a male chromosome. Whilst that means they cannot be male, it also means that they carry a hermaphrodite chromosome alongside the female one, so they can be female or genetic hermaphrodites.
> 
> Fortunately, and this is where feminised seeds become marketable, the ratio of females to genetic hermpahrodites is much larger than for standard seeds ratio of males to females. The feminised seeds on average should produce a 0-20% hermaphrodite to female ratio wheras the standard seeds male to female ratio is 50%.
> 
> ...


now wouldn't seed companys be smart enough to convert a male instead of a female and get true feminized seeds


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## babygro (May 14, 2007)

420101 said:


> now wouldn't seed companys be smart enough to convert a male instead of a female and get true feminized seeds


Oh that's great. Then you'd get male or hermaphrodite seeds - nice thinking.


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## 420101 (May 14, 2007)

not from wat i read in another thread


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## spontcumb (Nov 2, 2007)

Please forgive me if I'm posting incorrectly. I'm new here, (and enjoying a nice buzz). I just read that Purple Star was taken off the market. I recently ordered a packet of 5 feminised Purple Star seeds! I'm growing indoors, (not recommended), but they germinated overnight and popped up 2 days later. They're less than 2 weeks old but they're looking really good. I just harvested my 5 Twilight, (all feminised), and it kicks butt. My hat's off to Dutch Passion! Peace!


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## big_boss (Nov 5, 2007)

feminized seeds are bullshit hermofrondite shit, every time i buy feminized seeds 3-4 of 10 are hermofrondite, buy "standard" seeds.


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## Maxyeild (Nov 5, 2007)

from what i understand, Green House guarantee's that if you buy Fem seeds they will all be Fem with no Hermy's........


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## big_boss (Nov 6, 2007)

from what i understand, Green House guarantee's that if you buy Fem seeds they will all be Fem with no Hermy's. the church i got was 3 of 5 hermy, bigbang 1 of 5 was not hermy, and powerplant was also hermy, but when i by standard i get my ladies and no hermy. i hurd that fem seeds come from hermy plants, but i dont know if its true,


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## InvaderMark (Nov 6, 2007)

yeah.. i believe its taking a female, stress it hermy, and pollinate its own flowers.... just what i heard.


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## Sweet Mattness (Nov 6, 2007)

xclnt thread! i purchased feminized seed. 8 out of 10 germinated. 3 females, 5 hermies. checkout new pix of my girls. threw hermies away immediately.


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## Maxyeild (Nov 6, 2007)

where did you get your seeds from?


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## Weedhound (Nov 6, 2007)

Reverse by DutchMaster - 1 liter | Plant Nutrient Enhancers - General=

This will take care of 99.5 of your hermie problems. Follow directions EXACTLY and do use the penetrator. This stuff WORKS!


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## the1dillinger2escape3plan (Nov 7, 2007)

my mate did fem seeds 'early girl' i think well the whole crop was full of seeds, maybe had he been magically able to pick out every single male flower from the buds then it would have been better. But from what i saw, you get hermies, and when you get hermies, you cant just castrate them to make girls caus theres too much male hidden throo the buds.
\


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## Weedhound (Nov 7, 2007)

Maxyield asked me where I got all my female seeds and I told him the same I'll tell you here.

A friend of mine grows feminized plants His seeds ALWAYS hermie. He gives me his female hermied seeds. I grow them and because I use Reverse I dont have a problem with hermies. EVER. The stuff works. I'm sure that somewhere, somehow you can get your plant to hermie even using the Reverse but I have yet to see it happen.


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## Amys3977 (Nov 7, 2007)

Ive just about completed my first grow. I started with feminized seeds that I bought from a dispensary in San Fransisco. They said it was guaranteed 80% female~I got 20 seeds. So far planted 9 total and had 5 males. I can say Im not impressed.


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## Weedhound (Nov 7, 2007)

Wow Amy that SUCKS! I can honestly say that every female seed I ever bought or had given to me turned out female. Never had a male sneak in and I've grown a few.

Makes me wonder if perhaps you are a little quick on calling them males......are you seeing cluster of male pods together? I never toss my plants until I'm absolutely positive....there's one point where they are pretty impossible to tell apart.


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## Amys3977 (Nov 8, 2007)

Weedhound said:


> Wow Amy that SUCKS! I can honestly say that every female seed I ever bought or had given to me turned out female. Never had a male sneak in and I've grown a few.
> 
> Makes me wonder if perhaps you are a little quick on calling them males......are you seeing cluster of male pods together? I never toss my plants until I'm absolutely positive....there's one point where they are pretty impossible to tell apart.


 
At first I wasnt sure. I let them go until I knew for damn sure, and having a couple people who know the difference also helped. One of the 5 I do believe was turned male due to stress but the rest were definate males.


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## spontcumb (Nov 8, 2007)

I've almost always order my seed through HES. I've completed 2 indoor grows and working on a third as we speak. All of the strains/seeds I bought were Dutch Passion feminised,( the 5 seed packs). All 15 seeds germinated in less than 24 hours and each resulting plant was a female. Maybe I'm just lucky. 

Peace!


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## Weedhound (Nov 8, 2007)

Amys3977 said:


> At first I wasnt sure. I let them go until I knew for damn sure, and having a couple people who know the difference also helped. One of the 5 I do believe was turned male due to stress but the rest were definate males.


Damn thats REALLY a shame.....that's a TERRIBLE percentage of females. Sounds like those seeds weren't feminized at all.....that's about the percentage you'd get from unsexed beans imo. I've always had very good results but perhaps like Spon I've been lucky too. Amy don't let that place turn you off feminized seeds.....but I sure wouldn't buy from them again either.


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## Charlie Green (Mar 10, 2009)

Should i buy from nirvana those seeds? im planning to buy 20 x Supergirl feminized... any1 have exp of that?


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## vapedg13 (Mar 10, 2009)

I like this article....It explains how "feminized" seeds are made, why the plants are more likely to turn males, and how to use normal seeds to get a large all-female crop.






> The idea of &#8220;feminized&#8221; seeds is heralded as a new wave of breeding enabling you to grow only females, but in reality it is a less reliable and less effective method than simply cloning your favorite plant. Feminizing seeds is nothing new; in fact, it&#8217;s done from a process that used to be called &#8220;hermaphroditic breeding&#8221; or &#8220;Breeding with Herman&#8221;.
> Even a leaf can root!
> 
> During the 1970s and &#8216;80s it was often the case that the seeds you grew came from a bag of good bud. The bud usually had a name, but it was often made up by the local dealer trying to make his stash sound more exotic. In truth, you knew nothing about the parentage of the seeds that your bag contained. Sure, the female was great smoke &#8211; but you knew nothing of her size, shape, yield or genetics. The male involved was a total mystery; there was no way you could guess what the genetics of the pollen donor was. These seeds generally resulted in a range of plant genetics, which made one believe that there were a variety of males around when the female was budding.
> ...


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## petrushka (Apr 2, 2009)

^^^ Excellent article. Thank you!


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## odbsmydog (Apr 2, 2009)

can i cut all the buds off my skunk #1 and leave a couple on and let it flower another month to make it go hermie naturally? cause i would love to pollinate my purple kush clone and bubblegum clone and get some feminized bubbleskunk and purple skunk. then i could have a grip and save them and give a bunch to the club here. would that work?


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## charlesweedmore (Apr 23, 2009)

great article dude!


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## charlesweedmore (Apr 23, 2009)

and i bought 10 fem seeds from seedsman genetic .10/10 germinated .they are 20 days old now and they are growing very well.i hope they wont go hermie


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## Bodders (May 5, 2009)

babygro said:


> Not all seeds online are feminised - they usually say if they are, and they're usually twice the price of standard seeds.
> 
> "I want to plant and forget"
> 
> If this is what you want to do, don't grow Cannabis.


I agree unless you are blessed with someone else looking after them for you.People who grow canna like to grow it otherwise there would be no point?.kiss-assFemmed seeds are the way forward for me out of 5 femmed seeds i know i will get at least 3 very good femmed plants.2 hermies is nothing just like having 2 hermies in a pack of regular wich does happen like myself.I have had hermies with REGULAR so whats the damn difference.(apart from the odd chromasone)You still get a shit hot smoke??.


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## Bodders (May 5, 2009)

Expect a few at least but nothing to worry about.Wich strain is it that you are growing?


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## Bodders (May 5, 2009)

Breeding yourself with hermies is not that strait forward.I also have tried this and ended up with mostley MALE HERMIES?.iTS TRICKY BUISINESS FOR ME i would leave it to the pros.Unless you do some REGULAR breeding wich is supposed to be straight forward only done it once and never got chance to out grow the seeds.


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## kremnon (May 22, 2009)

i always make fem seeds (since 2000) and never have a problem with a hermie because i use this thechnique to make em. peace

RODELIZATION: SOMA'S WAY TO FEMALE SEEDS

Here&#8217;s an easy, environmentally friendly method for breeding feminized seeds.

by SOMA
Wed, Jul 30, 2003 12:00 am
more: grow articles, soma, breeding, seed company, strains


Story by Soma

Creating feminized cannabis seeds is an art. Just like art, there are a few different methods of application. I have written about some of my different methods of making seeds in previous HIGH TIMES articles. I have used gibberellic acid, pH stress, light stress, and fertilizer stress to force my female plants to make seeds. All of these methods are harsh on the plants, and some, like the gibberellic acid, are not organic. In my search for cleaner, more earth-friendly ways of working with the cannabis plant, I have found a new way to make feminized seeds. Feminized seeds occur as a result of stress, rather than genetics. All cannabis plants can and will make male flowers under stress. Certain strains like a higher pH, some a lower one. Some like a lot of food, some like much less. There is quite a lot of variety in marijuana genetics, and you can&#8217;t treat every plant the same way.

It takes many harvests before you really get to know a particular strain. Just like getting to know human friends, it takes time. I have grown the same strains for close to a decade, and am truly getting to know every nuance the different plants exhibit. I can recognize them from a distance. I must say that I get a lot of help from my friends, both in making seeds and in learning new and better ways of working with this sacred plant.

I named this new method "Rodelization," after a friend who helped me realize and make use of this way of creating female seeds. After growing crop after crop of the same plants in the same conditions, I noticed that if I flowered the plants 10-14 days longer than usual, they would develop male "bananas." A male banana is a very slight male flower on a female marijuana plant that is formed because of stress. Usually they do not let out any pollen early enough to make seeds, but they sometimes do. They are a built-in safety factor so that in case of severe conditions, the plant can make sure the species is furthered.

To me, a male banana is quite a beautiful thing. It has the potential of making all female seeds. Many growers out there have male-banana phobia. They see one and have heart palpitations, they want to cut down the entire crop, or at the very least take tweezers and pluck the little yellow emergency devices out. I call them "emergency devices" because they emerge at times of stress.

In the Rodelization method, the male banana is very valuable. After growing your female plants 10-14 days longer than usual, hang them up to dry, then carefully take them off the drying lines and inspect for bananas. Each and every banana should be removed, and placed in a small bag labeled very accurately. These sealed bags can be placed in the fridge for one or two months and still remain potent.

For the next phase, you need to have a separate crop that&#8217;s already 2 1/2 weeks into flowering. Take your sealed bags of pollen out of the fridge, and proceed to impregnate your new crop of females. To do this, you must first match the female plant and the pollen from the same strain in the previous crop. Shut all the fans in the growroom down. Then take a very fine paintbrush, dip it in the bag of pollen, and paint it on the female flower. Do this to each different strain you have growing together. I have done it with up to 10 different kinds in the same room with great success.

I use the lower flowers to make seeds, leaving the top colas seedless for smoking. This method takes time (two crops), but is completely organic, and lets you have great-quality smoke at the same time you make your female seeds. If you&#8217;re one of those growers who&#8217;s never grown seeds for fear of not having something good to smoke, you will love this method.

You can also use this pollen to make new female crosses by cross-pollinating. The older females with the male bananas can be brought into the room with the younger, unpollinated females after they are three weeks into flowering. Turn all of the circulation fans on high, and the little bits of pollen will proceed to make it around the room. Do this for several days. Six to seven weeks later, you will have ripe 100% feminized seeds; not nearly as many as a male plant would make, but enough to start over somewhere else with the same genetics.

As a farmer who has been forced to move his genetics far away from where they started, I know very well the value of seeds. My friend Adam from ThSeeds in Amsterdam has a motto that I love to borrow these days: Drop seeds not bombs.


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## caliboy80 (May 22, 2009)

yes they are worth it


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## growpro16 (Jun 17, 2010)

lol last comment, just kinda simple but funny


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## cindysid (Apr 24, 2012)

kremnon said:


> i always make fem seeds (since 2000) and never have a problem with a hermie because i use this thechnique to make em. peace
> 
> RODELIZATION: SOMA'S WAY TO FEMALE SEEDS
> 
> ...


 This is a very informative post! I know that it's an old one, but it explains "making feminized seed in a way that I can understand it, so I thought it deserved a bump and +rep for you Kremnon!


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## jimdandy (Apr 24, 2012)

Ive grown nothing but fems since 2008. ive had great success and some killer genetics and not to many herm issues. Nirvana NL 2 of 5 hermed on me. Thats it!


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## Mazar1 (May 17, 2014)

So I've taken clones from my best females of the bohdi lucky charms 

Crossed them with the apothecary ghost OG male 
Great results an many seeds 


Though when I crossed the ghost OG male with the herijuana feminized seeds from sannies 
There were very few mature seeds only 15-20%

That's my results so far
Running them now 
So I will be culling the males from the lucky OG & looking for males & Hermies from the herijuana OG 
Sound correct?


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## Red1966 (May 17, 2014)

MrIntricate said:


> I am planning my second grow. Unfortunately during my first grow I had a disappointing amount of females. To avoid this bummer in the future, would feminized seeds be the solution? I've heard that feminized seeds often turn out herm. and that yield is decreased. Can anybody shed light on these rumors for me?


Perhaps I've been lucky, but out of 24 seeds, I had not one hermie. The most reliable method to get all female plants is to clone a known female.


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## Red1966 (May 17, 2014)

VirginHarvester said:


> Weed is supposed to be pretty hearty by nature. "Plant and forget" is probably not exactly what I mean. With good soil that I prepare in advance and enough water I am hoping that the plants do well on their own. I don't want to go to the outdoor grow site twice a week to water because I will give the site away. When they start to bud I would get out there more and water with some nutes if that will help. But otherwise I really cannot manage them on a daily basis and have to be careful visiting even once a week. Even then I will do so in the cover of darkness for the most part.


I grew about 140 plants outdoors once. The local sheriff dept found them and confiscated them. But they missed 4. The 4 they left behind grew over 12ft and were all female. I never made any effort to tend to the plants after that. Come late summer, I walked thru the area and to my surprise discovered the remaining plants. I eventually harvested the plants and got the biggest harvest I ever had. So you can "plant and forget" successfully.


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## Red1966 (May 17, 2014)

babygro said:


> Oh that's great. Then you'd get male or hermaphrodite seeds - nice thinking.


Males don't produce seeds


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## Red1966 (May 17, 2014)

odbsmydog said:


> can i cut all the buds off my skunk #1 and leave a couple on and let it flower another month to make it go hermie naturally? cause i would love to pollinate my purple kush clone and bubblegum clone and get some feminized bubbleskunk and purple skunk. then i could have a grip and save them and give a bunch to the club here. would that work?


That could work, but there's no guarantee. What if all the flowers turn male? What if it doesn't hermie at all?


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## no clue (May 17, 2014)

A bunch of people quoting others and reposting articles. Relatively few have grown any number of femmed seeds. Here is truth; Pay attention to things like light leaks and other fuck -ups that stress your plants and buy femmed seeds from a reputable breeder of them and you won't see much for hermies. Femmed seeds IMO are the best way to grow some dank in a smaller set up.


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## OGEvilgenius (May 17, 2014)

I hope no one reading this actually thinks the 2nd post is even somewhat accurate.

Typical dumb shit MJ mythology.


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## SupraSPL (May 18, 2014)

The first fem I ever grew was Durban Poison by G13 Labs. It was a very impressive plant and 100% female. It would not hermy no matter the level of stress. Most of my keepers are from fems. I have started to suspect that breeders do a better job making elite fem crosses because it is easy to select winners for crossing and simple to test. When selecting males it requires a lot of guessing and testing.


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## tampee (May 18, 2014)

SupraSPL said:


> The first fem I ever grew was Durban Poison by G13 Labs. It was a very femsssive plant and 100% female. It would not hermy no matter the level of stress. Most of my keepers are from fems. I have started to suspect that breeders do a better job making elite fem crosses because it is easy to select winners for crossing and simple to test. When selecting males it requires a lot of guessing and testing.


It is much easier too find good females anyone can but good males takes a lot more skill and time mostly why I don't buy fems . Also cause of like the third post Dutch Passion states " If you are looking too breed these are not for you" I even seen Franco say it as well as Shantibaba and a few other reputable breeders but of course the forum warriors with no or very little experience breeding say otherwise.


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## kindnug (May 18, 2014)

SupraSPL said:


> The first fem I ever grew was Durban Poison by G13 Labs. It was a very impressive plant and 100% female. It would not hermy no matter the level of stress. Most of my keepers are from fems. I have started to suspect that breeders do a better job making elite fem crosses because it is easy to select winners for crossing and simple to test. When selecting males it requires a lot of guessing and testing.


Males are treasure chests...
If you know what to look for then there is less guessing, but always require testing of offspring.

Fem. are great if you don't have much space + don't want to find any special males.


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## althor (May 18, 2014)

tampee said:


> It is much easier too find good females anyone can but good males takes a lot more skill and time mostly why I don't buy fems . Also cause of like the third post Dutch Passion states " If you are looking too breed these are not for you" I even seen Franco say it as well as Shantibaba and a few other reputable breeders but of course the forum warriors with no or very little experience breeding say otherwise.


 I took that as meaning they aren't good for breeding because you will have no males to produce pollen to breed with. Not that feminized females are unworthy to accept pollen. If you want to breed you need regular seeds that will have both male and females so you can collect pollen.


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## OGEvilgenius (May 18, 2014)

tampee said:


> It is much easier too find good females anyone can but good males takes a lot more skill and time mostly why I don't buy fems . Also cause of like the third post Dutch Passion states " If you are looking too breed these are not for you" I even seen Franco say it as well as Shantibaba and a few other reputable breeders but of course the forum warriors with no or very little experience breeding say otherwise.


People with actual degrees in genetics will tell you they are dead wrong. You can't explain why, they can't explain why. They just say "because". Sorry, it doesn't work that way.


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## OGEvilgenius (May 18, 2014)

althor said:


> I took that as meaning they aren't good for breeding because you will have no males to produce pollen to breed with. Not that feminized females are unworthy to accept pollen. If you want to breed you need regular seeds that will have both male and females so you can collect pollen.


You don't need males to breed. Not to say they should be avoided, quite the opposite. They are not vital for breeding at all though.


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## tampee (May 19, 2014)

OGEvilgenius said:


> People with actual degrees in genetics will tell you they are dead wrong. You can't explain why, they can't explain why. They just say "because". Sorry, it doesn't work that way.


Yeah a bit like GMO's we know their bad but the experts say they are good..... Why oh why would someone ever lie for money? Cause it don't matter if you hustle the street corner or Wall Street they are hustling.


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## jimdandy (May 20, 2014)

no clue said:


> A bunch of people quoting others and reposting articles. Relatively few have grown any number of femmed seeds. Here is truth; Pay attention to things like light leaks and other fuck -ups that stress your plants and buy femmed seeds from a reputable breeder of them and you won't see much for hermies. Femmed seeds IMO are the best way to grow some dank in a smaller set up.


Absolutely! I have a 2x4x5 grow tent inside a walk in closet that is carbon filtered and vented through the closet ceiling, into the attic and out the roof vents. Stealthy enough that when guest are over, no on knows! That small space does not allow me to grow a lot of plants and cull out the males. I can grow 2 plants in there, but lately I prefer just one with lots of training that produces just as well as 2. Last harvest, 1 Kosher Kush under 400mh/hps gave me over 5.5 oz's of PRIMO smoke!! I grow for personal medical reasons. No selling and very little sharing. I have a HSO emdog 3 weeks from harvest that is 2 x 2.5 wide with about 17 tops going now. Not one sign of hermie on her!

I have a feeling that the people who specialize in femming seeds have gotten it down to a science now. The market is saturated with them to meet the demand. Guys like Subcool and many others voice their dislike over them, but I tell you what, Many like myself and other personal growers have found them as a Godsend!! A few years back I saw a video where the DNA boys were speaking against them! Now it appears that's most of their business! I have shitloads of regular and fem seeds. As long as I'm a closet cultivator, I will choose fems. I live in the Midwest USA and do not have access to elite clones. Of the few I mentioned that I share with, they have let me know on many occasions that they have never had better! Not bragging on my skills but stating that I have grow FIRE from them femmed seeds!


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## Mr.Head (May 20, 2014)

tampee said:


> Yeah a bit like GMO's we know their bad but the experts say they are good..... Why oh why would someone ever lie for money? Cause it don't matter if you hustle the street corner or Wall Street they are hustling.


If you use any sort of plastic eating/drinking product you really shouldn't be too worried about GMO's. Just sayin.

Only seed I have had hermie thus far is a Regular seed.


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## Amos Otis (May 20, 2014)

jimdandy said:


> Guys like Subcool and many others voice their dislike over them, but I tell you what, Many like myself and other personal growers have found them as a Godsend!!


I've found two companies that market femmed crosses of Subcool strains. Bought 'em both. Have had great plants/smoke from FoS CheeseDom, and a Sin City Tangerine Power is a very happy girl coming up on 4 wks 12 / 12. I'm running a couple of Ace of Spades regs, but if I'd found fem versions that's what I'd have gotten. I have no interest in breeding. Grow/chop/smoke/ - next!


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## jimdandy (May 20, 2014)

Amos Otis said:


> I've found two companies that market femmed crosses of Subcool strains. Bought 'em both. Have had great plants/smoke from FoS CheeseDom, and a Sin City Tangerine Power is a very happy girl coming up on 4 wks 12 / 12. I'm running a couple of Ace of Spades regs, but if I'd found fem versions that's what I'd have gotten. I have no interest in breeding. Grow/chop/smoke/ - next!


That's what I'm talkin bout!


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## Squidbilly (May 20, 2014)

Could all the hermies possibly be from all these exotic crosses that we are all sold? I hate to say it but seed companies are in the bussiness of making money-not to mention the fact that seedbanks might not even be selling you the strain they claim. I think alot of the hermie issues are just from unstable crosses being rushed onto the market, not the process of making the seeds feminized-or it's the double wammy of both. 

I have been growing out feminized seeds for years and the only problems I ever had were the occasional male. The only time I ever saw pollen or male flowers is when I experimented with later harvest times. 

I also stick to tried and true strains from breeders-never a big seedbank.


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## Squidbilly (May 20, 2014)

no clue said:


> A bunch of people quoting others and reposting articles. Relatively few have grown any number of femmed seeds. Here is truth; Pay attention to things like light leaks and other fuck -ups that stress your plants and buy femmed seeds from a reputable breeder of them and you won't see much for hermies. Femmed seeds IMO are the best way to grow some dank in a smaller set up.


THIS EXACTLY! I think user error/bad genetics accounts for many hermie issues


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## OGEvilgenius (May 20, 2014)

tampee said:


> Yeah a bit like GMO's we know their bad but the experts say they are good..... Why oh why would someone ever lie for money? Cause it don't matter if you hustle the street corner or Wall Street they are hustling.


Not all experts agree on the safety or goodness of GMO's. You're not raising a very good point here IMO. Feminized seeds are not in the same ballpark as GMO's. They don't inhibit anything. They do allow for lazy guys to make S1's because folks seem to believe S1's are like clones because of misleading articles posted when they first came around. But people confuse really shit breeding practices with problems supposedly caused by feminization.


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## tampee (May 20, 2014)

OGEvilgenius said:


> Not all experts agree on the safety or goodness of GMO's. You're not raising a very good point here IMO. Feminized seeds are not in the same ballpark as GMO's. They don't inhibit anything. They do allow for lazy guys to make S1's because folks seem to believe S1's are like clones because of misleading articles posted when they first came around. But people confuse really shit breeding practices with problems supposedly caused by feminization.


Well some believe the male is important I have no problem with a closet grower doing fems as it would suck only having 1 light I would have been fucked on a pack. But when it comes to breeding I got money says in 5 generations fems inbred you will be working with something like landrace Thai. 

But they are great for some just not my thing I'd prefer a bred strain as fems of polly hybrid elites will be nothing like the mother as it's full of recessive traits.


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## Eye of Horus (May 21, 2014)

I think popping seeds is a gamble, always going to be a gamble.


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## Blazin Purps (May 21, 2014)

Mr.Head said:


> Only seed I have had hermie thus far is a Regular seed.


Same here, I have yet to have a Fem herm on me and I have popped plenty of both. It has really been strain / breeder specific for me more than Fem vs Regs


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## duudical (May 23, 2014)

I have had only a single hermie in probably two dozen different feminized seeds. A lot of them from HSO due to giveaways and such. The Blue Dream from them is the only one that hermie'd, but in all honesty, I think that was more environmental stress than genetic as I grew only a single seed and only had one plant out of maybe 8 clones I grew out grow male flowers, and that particular plant for sure was subject to some stress as I had to tune my environment during some particularly cold winter weeks. I kept the seeds that came from it pollinating itself just to see what they would grow. Have one growing now. She does kind of look like "you've got a pretty mouth" weed for sure. Definitely different than the other plants around her, ha ha. I am just now getting ready to try my hand at regular seeds and hoping to find a male of a strain I like that I can begin hobby-breeding with for fun. 

Anyway, my experience with fem seeds has been pretty solid. Grown seeds from G13, Barney's Farm, Dinafem, THSeeds, HSO, Delicious. No problems with any of them germinating or turning out to be females.


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