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plants are either male or female. The male plants produce
pollen which pollinates the flowers of the female plant,
which once pollenized, produce seeds. If the female plant
isn't pollenized (if there are no male plants nearby
producing pollen), the flower/buds continue to develop and
produce THC. Female plants which are not pollenized are
referred to as sensemilla (without seeds).
Once your
seeds begin to grow into a plant you need to sex the
plant. You need to sex the plant because only the female
plants produce the buds you want to smoke. If you are
growing under lights you can do this by putting the plant
on a light cycle of 12 hours on 12 hours off. After a week
or two you will begin to see small white hairs emerging
from the sacks at the base of the branches. If
you see hairs coming out of the sacks you have a female.
If the sacks develop but no hairs emerge you likely have a
male. Unless you are going to seed out some of your plants
you will want to get rid of the males as soon as possible
Free cannabis seeds
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in-depth information on the gender of marijuana plants
Female
Pistils - notice the sac and the feathery frond-like
structure. Usually after five days to two weeks you will
begin to see a pair of tubular nodes. Hopefully they will
have white hairs protruding from them as this denotes a
female plant. These little hairs are known as pistils and
they are the first sign your plant is flowering.
Female Cannabis – The female cannabis plant, unlike the
male, is grown to produce marijuana. Premium marijuana is
produced in seedless form by eliminating all pollen
sources from the growing environment. Seed production
reduces the value of marijuana dramatically by lowering
the yield and potency of the flowers.
The female flowers appear as two long white, yellow, or
pink pistils protruding from the fold of a very thin
membranous calyx. The calyx is covered with resin exuding
glandular trichomes (hairs). Pistillate flowers are borne
in pairs at the nodes one on each side of the petiole
behind the stipule of bracts which conceal the flowers.
The females are recognized by the enlargement of a
symmetrical tubular calyx (floral sheath). They are easier
to recognize at a young age than male primordia. The first
female calyxes tend to lack paired pistils
(pollen-catching appendages) though initial male flowers
often mature and shed viable pollen. In some individuals,
especially hybrids, small non-flowering limbs will form at
the nodes and are often confused with male primordia. The
female plants tend to be shorter and have more branches
than the male. |
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Female /
feminised seeds - the way to avoid male plants
Of
course it is very important to be able to spot male
plants but if you do not want the hassle of spotting
them or having them waste space in your garden it
might be an idea to consider feminised seeds. Some seedbanks have managed, through complicated
processes, to produce plants which produce all
female seeds. Due to the extra work taken to produce
these plants the prices are higher (generally twice
as expensive) but you will know you are going to get
all female offspring so for some people it is worth
the extra expense
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SATIVA/INDICA
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Because
there is large selection of strains in the internet,
this can sometimes get overwhelming when trying to
decide which one to order. Choosing is not as
difficult as you may think. There are really only
two sides of the marijuana family we are talking
about here. Indicas and Sativas.
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Sativas
are just about the opposite of indicas. They are
tall, thin plants, with much narrower leaves and
grow a lighter green in color. They grow very
quickly and can reach heights of 20 feet in a single
season. They originally come from Colombia, Mexico,
Thailand and Southeast Asia. Once flowering has
begun, they can take anywhere from 10 to 16 weeks to
fully mature. Flavors range from earthy to sweet and
fruity. The stone of a Sativa is cerebral, up and
energetic.
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Indicas
originally come from the hash producing countries of
the world like Afghanistan, Morocco, and Tibet. They
are short dense plants, with broad leaves and often
grow a darker green. After flowering starts they
will be mature in 6 to 8 weeks. The buds will be
thick and dense, with flavors and aromas ranging
from pungent skunk to sweet and fruity. The smoke
from an Indica is generally a body type stone,
relaxing and laid back.
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Combining
different indicas, different sativas or a
combination thereof creates hybrids. The resulting
hybrid strains will grow, mature and smoke in
relationship to the indica/sativa percentages they
end up containing.
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FLOWERING
TIMES
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Flowering
times are an indication of how long it will take the
plant to mature indoor after flowering has been
induced by changing the lights to 12 hours of
darkness. This will be affected by the environment
to some degree, but is pretty much fixed in the
plant. Indicas are faster flowering than sativas and
hybrids are in relationship to the percentage of
each they contain.
Equally important in the process is vegetation time,
or how long you grow them before flowering is
induced. Sativas grow very quickly and if we wait
too long to flower them they will outgrow the limits
of the space and will not fill out. On the other
hand, if an indica is not grown for long enough, the
yield can be greatly reduced. In the scheduling of
the process they can often both end up taking about
the same amount of time to grow and mature.
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Marijuana gender guide
Our best selling dutch passion feminized cannabis seed :
