”Feminized” or “Regular” seeds....and why?

I’m just now getting back into growing after 25+ years and I’m wondering about the difference between regular seeds and feminized, aside from the obvious? There weren’t any “feminized” or “auto- flower” seeds when I last grew. I’ve read a couple of articles claiming that plants from feminized seeds are more susceptible to stress/shock and could become hermaphroditic or even male after being stressed. Is this the case or BS?

I’ll be growing exclusively outside (besides possibly setting up indoors to start seeds and/or clones) and I’m wondering whether I’d be better off buying regular seeds and sexing them or are the feminized seeds just fine. We get some pretty extreme heat in the summer (it’s been 100-104° every day for 3 weeks) and I don’t want the stress to effect my girls detrimentally and unnecessarily.

Which seed type do you prefer and why

Fem...because you know its a female. No starting 10 to have 5 females to end up with 3 strong ones.
Plant 10 have 10 females.

I haven't had a Fem seed stress and throw balls. Not saying it couldn't happen but bad breeding is bad breeding regardless of reg or fem.

DarkStar420307 said:

I’m just now getting back into growing after 25+ years and I’m wondering about the difference between regular seeds and feminized, aside from the obvious? There weren’t any “feminized” or “auto- flower” seeds when I last grew. I’ve read a couple of articles claiming that plants from feminized seeds are more susceptible to stress/shock and could become hermaphroditic or even male after being stressed. Is this the case or BS?

I’ll be growing exclusively outside (besides possibly setting up indoors to start seeds and/or clones) and I’m wondering whether I’d be better off buying regular seeds and sexing them or are the feminized seeds just fine. We get some pretty extreme heat in the summer (it’s been 100-104° every day for 3 weeks) and I don’t want the stress to effect my girls detrimentally and unnecessarily.

Which seed type do you prefer and why

Click to expand...

G'day DarkStar,

Way i see it, is ultimately it comes down to practicality.
Want seeds to grow plants to choose male, and female phenotypes to set seed. Then you're absolutely mad not to choose regular seeds in my opinion.
Want females every time, with very little variation. Or growing in a National Park. Choose feminized seeds.

One thing i will say, is feminized seeds don't sit very well with my own morals at all. It's GMO marijuana imo. The forced self pollenated plant isn't GMO. But the seeds that come from the parent female of the same plant are. Because all the chromosomes come from a single parent. Instead of mother and father. We're physically altering the plants own dna.

I like to say no to GMO food. For various reasons.
I personally like to say no to GMO marijuana as well.



Edit: Yes, hermaphodite cannabis plants exist naturally. But this is true hermaphrodism.
Also these hermaphodites are usually pollenated by other resident males as well.
The way feminized seeds are made, the gene pool is so much smaller. For every 'Fwhatever' batch of seeds the gene pool is becoming more inbred every time.
If there were F100 feminized seeds by now. Then exactly the same plant is essentially breeding with itself 100 times over.
A good analogy for me is to compare it to human beings, and Dolly the sheep clone. I'll try to make this as politically correct as i can lol. So here we go.
Imagine for a second that human females could have a functioning penis as well. With viable semen to produce their own offspring. Who would the dad be? Now hold that question in your mind for a second.
Imagine if Dolly the sheep was a marijuana plant, and we could force Dolly to grow a penis too. So before we force hermaphodite Dolly, we clone her. So we have 2 Dolly's.
Then we force hermaphodite one Dolly. Collect a sperm sample, and shoot Dolly 1 in the head.
Then take Dolly 2 and fertilize her ovaries with Dolly 1's semen.
Dolly 2 has babies. They're all females, and so genetically similar to Dolly, and each other.
Now we repeat this process with the new Dollys'. Once the new Dollys' are deemed "stable" Dolly 2 gets the bullet in the head.

Hahaha.
Thats so messed up. But hopefully it explains it a little.

Hi DarkStar,

Yes, feminized seeds used to be more prone to hermaphroditism but that was only because some breeders would use hermaphrodites to pollinate their female thus getting mostly female plant with a high risk of turning hermie.

If the feminized seeds are made by reversing a pure female by spraying colloidal silver for instance, then the offspring will be 100% female too. Nowaday it is what most breeders do, so I would say, unless you want to make reg seeds yourself, go for it!

Feminized seeds are not GMO at all! Their DNA has not been altered!

Ps: Plants that are prone to hermaphroditism usually throw more pollen sacs indoors than outdoors since flipping them to 12/12 isn't natural and causes more stress..

Cheers,

if your out fem 4 sure & the golden rule is Sativa for sun just remember S for sun, good luck

Thanks y’all. That’s pretty much what I suspected but wanted to confirm because you what they say about ass-uming things. What threw me was the pricing, by some companies where “regular” seeds are, somtetines as expensive or even more expensive than the feminized seeds that are far mire labor-intensive to produce.

Regular seeds are great to. Surprisingly popular. A lot wont use anything else. Allot of strains are not available as fems. Its also surprising how many people chuck or breed as well.

I've always used feminized seeds from ILGM and never had a problem.

I just had a re read of your OP. Stuff you probably already know but ill say a couple things anyways.
The modern era of seed choice is downright amazing. Spend allot of time researching whats what.
Lots of strains grow fantastic in the outside heat.
Couple of the growers do grow in 40c plus outside with no problems at all. @ruby fruit is one of those. @bobqp has fairly warm weather all year round so grows all year round.

DarkStar420307 said:

Thanks y’all. That’s pretty much what I suspected but wanted to confirm because you what they say about ass-uming things. What threw me was the pricing, by some companies where “regular” seeds are, somtetines as expensive or even more expensive than the feminized seeds that are far mire labor-intensive to produce.

Click to expand...

Feminized seeds are usually much easier to produce because it is simpler to just pick 2 great looking females when doing your selection and then regenerate or make seeds with their clones.

However, it is very difficult to know what traits a male plant will pass down to the female offspring. The only way to know is to make a cross with all the good looking/smelling males and to test the female offspring. It is thus much more labor intensive.

Aladdin.khalifa said:

Hi DarkStar,

Yes, feminized seeds used to be more prone to hermaphroditism but that was only because some breeders would use hermaphrodites to pollinate their female thus getting mostly female plant with a high risk of turning hermie.

If the feminized seeds are made by reversing a pure female by spraying colloidal silver for instance, then the offspring will be 100% female too. Nowaday it is what most breeders do, so I would say, unless you want to make reg seeds yourself, go for it!

Feminized seeds are not GMO at all! Their DNA has not been altered!

Ps: Plants that are prone to hermaphroditism usually throw more pollen sacs indoors than outdoors since flipping them to 12/12 isn't natural and causes more stress..

Cheers,

Click to expand...

A.K.

My question to you is. How do we get 2 different sets of matching chromosomes, to produce feminized seed?
If only using one selfied plant, like a true hermaphrodite. HOW is it biologically possible to have 2 seperate sets of parent chromosomes in 1 plant?
Where from?

Edit: This process is physically impossible for mother nature to replicate. Its GMO.

Aladdin.khalifa said:

Feminized seeds are usually much easier to produce because it is simpler to just pick 2 great looking females when doing your selection and then regenerate or make seeds with their clones.

However, it is very difficult to know what traits a male plant will pass down to the female offspring. The only way to know is to make a cross with all the good looking/smelling males and to test the female offspring. It is thus much more labor intensive.

Click to expand...

That explains a lot. Thanks so much!

Tim1987 said:

A.K.

My question to you is. How do we get 2 different sets of matching chromosomes, to produce feminized seed?
If only using one selfied plant, like a true hermaphrodite. HOW is it biologically possible to have 2 seperate sets of parent chromosomes in 1 plant?
Where from?

Edit: This process is physically impossible for mother nature to replicate. Its GMO.

Click to expand...

Feminized seeds can be produced in nature through rhodelization. So, using colloidal silver to inspire a female to prove that special pollen isn’t modifying the genes of the plant in the same way as labs splicing in perticular genes and messing with DNA. If simple breeding to produce plants that could (hypothetically/theoretically) come about in nature (just don’t) is classified as GMO, then their isn’t a seed in production that isn’t GMO; unless you can find an original and totally unaltered landrace strain seed. In which case, the effects are unlikely to be what you’re looking for. Until MJ is legal everywhere in the US and folks like Monsanto get into the MJ game, we don’t have much to worry about in terms of genetic modification the way we do with production crops. JMO

DarkStar420307 said:

That explains a lot. Thanks so much!




Feminized seeds can be produced in nature through rhodelization. So, using colloidal silver to inspire a female to prove that special pollen isn’t modifying the genes of the plant in the same way as labs splicing in perticular genes and messing with DNA. If simple breeding to produce plants that could (hypothetically/theoretically) come about in nature (just don’t) is classified as GMO, then their isn’t a seed in production that isn’t GMO; unless you can find an original and totally unaltered landrace strain seed. In which case, the effects are unlikely to be what you’re looking for. Until MJ is legal everywhere in the US and folks like Monsanto get into the MJ game, we don’t have much to worry about in terms of genetic modification the way we do with production crops. JMO

Click to expand...

DarkStar,

Sorry, but I respectfully disagree.

I have to say biological theory doesn't agree either.
People interpret what is stated incorrectly.
Cannabis plants exist BOTH "sexually" (like we do), and "asexually" (true hermaphrodites).
Its much, much different in nature.

Firstly, in the wild an asexual plant could potentially catch pollen from thousands of different fathers. It only takes a single speck of pollen, and 1 ovule to create a seed. As we know a single plant is capable of producing thousands of viable seeds.

Secondly, with all "sexual" plants, they NEED a sexual partner to reproduce. Just like we do.

Thirdly, a genetic profile of an organism cannot be undone. An organism has a set number of chromosomes. Without this exact number, an organism simply can't exist or reproduce.

Now please explain to me some things,

1. HOW is it possible for an organism to exist both sexually, and asexually, simultaneously? An organism is either born sexual or asexual. This can't be changed, and they definitely can't change it on the fly.

2. If an asexual plant pollenates itself in an enclosed space, with no other plants around. HOW is it this plant will produce only female seeds?
How would this help the plants survival in the wild?
On the other hand if we had 2 unstable clones growing. One showed, and pollenated itself. BUT simultaneously pollenated the other clone as well. You tell me if its physically possible for the seed from each parent will be exactly the same.

3. I've NEVER had a male plant turn hermaphrodite on me before. Have you? Besides being impractical biologically, how would it even be possible? Males seem pretty damn sexually reproductive to me.

Why do you think feminized plants were notoriously hermaphrodite in the beginning? Why do you think it wasn't some freak accident? (Hint.....#2)
How can an organism exist sexually and asexually simultaneously? There are only so many chromosomes per organism, and this number is EXACTLY the same from plant to plant. Clone, female, male, or hermaphrodite (asexual).
Why do you think almost every breeder will avoid seeded bud, sold as sensimilla like the plague? (bag seed)

I said i would try to be politically correct. But biology doesn't care about being PC. Hermaphrodite human beings simply don't exist. Not biologically speaking. There isn't a single human being on earth who can mate with itself, and produce offspring. (unless Mother Mary was a hermaphrodite).

Also cannabis is an annual plant, as you're aware. Not only would the clones have to exist simultaneously during the same season. But mother nature would have to turn a fallen branch into a rooted clone. How likely do you believe this to be? Let alone forcing a sexually female plant to express its male genes. (the ones from its father) Im not suggesting clones are GMO. That is silly.

It's a great big industry myth. Monsanto style at its finest.
I don't know if any consumer laws exist for marijuana regarding lying about this kind of thing. Do you?
I don't know if there are any GMO laws to regulate smoke able products do you? Vegetables, and animals yes. Tobacco, and cannabis? Not so sure.

Take it from a guy who's had dozens, upon dozens of hermaphrodites for years, and had to learn the hard way.
Give me a male over a hermaphrodite plant, any single day of the week.

Please give me some scientific biological data from a university or the likes, to support the cannabis industry theory.
I challenge you to do so.

Peace,

Tim.

Admittedly my posts have been off the top of my head.
So if any member on RIU can pick me up on anything I've missed, please correct me on what I have said.
It's a great topic for a thread, and I genuinely believe a lot of growers are blind sighted to what is actually going on.

I just searched google on reproduction.

Anyone believe this theory to be untrue?

https://www.ck12.org/biology/reproduction/lesson/Asexual-vs.-Sexual-Reproduction-BIO/

Tim1987 said:

Thirdly, a genetic profile of an organism cannot be undone. An organism has a set number of chromosomes. Without this exact number, an organism simply can't exist or reproduce

Click to expand...

Not exactly true

Miyagismokes said:

Not exactly true

Click to expand...

Miyagismokes,

How? You're an organism with a set of chromosomes, passed on by your parents. You are a phenotype.
Without physically altering your very own DNA how can you change this?
How would you achieve this NATURALLY. Without synthetic interference?

Im keen to learn. That's why i'm asking these questions.
So please explain your claim.

I won't get into all the other stuff. but when an individual is choosing seeds, three main factors come into play. Time, money and space. Each of these are weighed differently according to what you are trying to do.

If you are planning on selling the bud, that will make the time and spaced used to sex out the males more valuable. Most pro's use fem seeds. The income from growing is factored into their budget, and they need the crops to come off when they are supposed to. Their space needs to be filled with females for this to work efficiently. Plus the electricity used to veg out the males is wasted.

But on the other hand, if you are growing for smoke, and have time and space to spare {or if you are interested in making a few seeds}, regular seeds are the way to go. {if you were to frequent the breeder threads, folks will send you free tester seeds of some kick ass strains} There is more variation, which to me is a good thing. I like pheno hunting.

Or you could do a mix. The strains you really want to be females, go with fems. If there is a cross you might want to make, get a few regs. Or you could hit up some of the gentleman breeders on here for testers.

I agree with @too larry it's a matter of your priorities, space, time. I like to make my own seeds/strains so I prefer regs. But I've run some fems when regs weren't available for a specific strain and grabbed some killer and stable phenos, have used a few (fems) for breeding and have yet to see a nanner pop on any of them.

Tim1987 said:

So please explain your claim.

Click to expand...

Downs syndrome is caused by an extra chromosome. Nobody GMO'd downs syndrome into existence.