Debut

I'm about to embark on my first grow. I have no prior experience, but I've had vegetable gardens and I have a basic knowledge of what nutrients and conditions a plant needs to survive in general. So I guess that's a start. I just hope the learning curve isn't too intense. I have a couple questions though. So I am about to start germinating my seeds with a damp cloth. Is there anything special I could do to them at this stage that would increase the probability of females?
second question: Once they sprout I'm putting them into their respective pots, buckets when they get bigger, etc. How important is it to have the buckets drain? And how is that done, I just drill a bunch of little holes and have it sitting in something?

hi, welcome to RIU.

There is nothing u can do to a germinating seed to make it more likely to be female.

Drainage holes are very important, so like u said just drill some holes through the bottom and leave it sitting in something where the runoff can escape.

GL