What are feminized seeds?
Growing cannabis plants is an adventure that starts with choosing your weed seeds. The main types are regular cannabis seeds, feminized weed seeds and autoflowering seeds, feminized or regular.
Regular seeds are generally preferred by old-school marijuana growers and breeders. Feminized marijuana seeds are by far the most popular and the modern industry standard. They are designed to produce only female plants with a typical success rate of 95 - 99%.
This is in stark contrast to naturally occurring marijuana seeds, referred to as regular in the industry. Regular marijuana seeds will generally produce a fifty-fifty split of male and female cannabis plants. This is not a concern if you choose to buy female weed seeds. Feminized weed seeds have been around for decades, growing into the global cannabis communities’ most popular type of marijauna seed. The feminization process works with photoperiod and autoflowering seeds so all cannabis growers can save time in the grow room.
Male marijuana plants are often discarded in the early phases of a grow to avoid cross pollination. This prevents accidental pollination that can ruin crops. With feminised seeds, beginner growers no longer risk overlooking the male plants in the crop. Cultivators can be confident their feminized marijuana seeds will produce only female plants and so cross pollination is highly unlikely to occur. A big win for the grower.
The best advice on this topic suggests that unless you are actively looking to breed strains then regular seeds are not going to be the best choice for most home growers.
Are feminized seeds better? They certainly have their advantages...
- Feminized weed seeds nearly always deliver female plants.
- Female plants produce all the delicious, consumable bud (sinsemilla) with far higher levels of cannabinoids than their male counterparts. This means maximum strength, potency and aroma.
- With feminized cannabis seeds, there’s no need to check the sex of the plants. This saves lots of time in the garden.
- With no males in the garden, you can focus more time on your healthy female plants.
- The best feminized seeds USA save money at the cannabis seed bank too. Growers no longer need to buy twice the amount of marijuana seeds that they need as with regular weed seeds.
- Feminized pot seeds are available as photoperiod strains (light cycle dependent), fast-flowering and autoflowering strains.
- Feminized parents are ideal mother plants. They produce stable offspring with uniform traits and better genetics.
We’ve committed to offering an amazing selection of female marijauna seeds at Homegrown. As far as we know, it’s the biggest and most diverse cannabis seed library in the world.
Are feminised marijuana seeds good for beginners? Who else can they benefit?
Feminised seeds are a fantastic choice for beginners, no question. But are they suitable for all cannabis growers?
Female plants are perfect for recreational growers looking for pronounced effects. Female buds deliver far more when it comes to relaxation, euphoria and laughter. All the things we associate with high-quality, recreational pot seeds and high THC weed.
The feminized marijuana seed is essential for medicinal cannabis growers. Female buds contain the terpenes and cannabinoids necessary for effective medicine while male plants do not.
How to avoid a hermaphrodite weed plant?
Hermies (hermaphrodites) are cannabis plants with both male and female reproductive parts. They can produce pollen and can self pollinate, resulting in seedy buds and low-quality weed. Bud growers avoid hermies at all costs!
We are often asked if female marijuana seeds increase the risk of hermaphrodite weed plants. Feminized seeds are produced by inducing a female parent to produce pollen. This means there will be hermaphroditism in the seed’s genetic history. Happily, it doesn’t mean female cannabis seeds are hermaphroditic by default. They only become susceptible to hermaphroditism when exposed to severe stress. Avoiding stress is vital when cultivating marijuana from feminized cannabis seeds.
Poor quality feminized pot seeds can hermie without stress. Substandard breeding practices and unstable genetics are the main contributing factors. It is vital that budding growers stick to trustworthy cannabis seed breeders and US seed banks like Homegrown Cannabis Co.
We create and sell pot seeds only from stabilized mothers with almost no hermaphrodite tendencies. This results in high quality seeds with a very slim chance of producing hermie plants.
It’s heartbreaking to grow a full crop of high CBD cannabis plants only to remove and destroy half the plants because they’re male.
What are the different types of feminized cannabis strains?
Growers wanting to buy cannabis seeds from an online retailer for female only weed plants have a far wider choice than those buying regs.
Most decent cannabis seed banks will offer a good range of indica marijuana strains, marijuana sativa strains, hybrid strains, fast flowering cultivars and autoflowering strains. There’s more about the differences between these types of weed strain below.
We offer a huge variety of medicinal strains as well as unique female strains not available from other seed banks. In addition to a vast catalogue of cannabis seeds we offer extensive educational resources free of charge.
We’ll be with you every step of your journey from novice marijuana grower to skilled cultivator. It’s exactly why marijuana legends Kyle Kushman, Steve DeAngelo, Nikki Lastreto and Swami Chaitanya joined our mission to inspire and empower people to grow their own cannabis.
What are the main types of cannabis?
The primary subspecies of cannabis are indica, sativa and ruderalis. Indica cultivars were traditionally known to produce a heavy stoned feeling, as opposed to the cerebral, energising effects associated with sativa cultivars.
This has been questioned by the latest research, which looks at the terpene profile of individual cultivars. The sheer numbers of hybrid strains has added to the diversity of cannabis traits. Hybrids cannabis plants can possess indica, sativa and / or ruderalis genes.
The real difference between these subspecies of marijuana lies in their growth pattern, preferred climate and structure.
- Indica cannabis plants are typically short and bushy with dense foliage and wide leaves. They are generally hardier plants than sativa having evolved in cool, mountainous regions such as the Hindu Kush in Pakistan. This is why any so-called ‘Kush’ plant will, in most cases, be indica or indica dominant.
- The ruderalis gene is responsible for autoflowers. 100% ruderalis plants are not typically sold in pot seed form. It’s generally breeders, rather than weed seed banks, that possess these genetics.
While these are the three main subspecies of weed, finding fully indica or fully sativa mj seeds can be difficult. Most female marijuana seeds are hybrids expressing beautifully diverse traits that didn’t exist twenty years ago.
You can buy female seeds that grow plants with azure-blue foliage. High THC Seeds, plants with 30% CBD and female plants with super heavy yields.
“Shopping at Homegrown is so much fun, it’s like being a kid in a candy store.” Nikki Lastreto.
Buying feminized cannabis seeds is a wondrous adventure, full of possibility and promise. There has never been a better time to start growing your own cannabis from seed.
What are fast-flowering marijuana seeds?
There’s another category of fem seed appearing in weed seed shops, the fast flowering marijuana seed. The fast-flower is a female weed seed famous for a fast flowering time. With an average maturation time of six to seven weeks, they’re ideal for shorter summers or rainy falls.
Fast-flowering cultivars have made outdoor growing accessible to thousands of growers. They’re a welcome addition to the range of 420 seeds we stock at Homegrown.
How do you grow feminized marijuana seeds?
Easy! Buy weed seeds from a company that knows how to feminize cannabis seeds properly. The actual grow is the same, whether you’ve had your pot seeds feminized or not. The indoor and outdoor process is similar when using fem seeds or regs.
Indoor and outdoor cannabis grows.
Feminized weed seeds can be grown in either indoor or outdoor environments. You're essentially applying the same principles as growing cannabis from regular seeds. The significant difference is that with feminized strains, there’s no need to identify the plant’s gender. Feminised marijuana seeds are 95 - 99% guaranteed to be female. Separating male plants is therefore no longer a problem.
When cultivating feminized cannabis indoors, growers need to replace the sun with artificial lights. Adjusting the light cycle triggers the flowering phase, causing the plant to swell and produce big, aromatic nugs of weed.
When growing feminized cannabis outdoors, the sun takes care of all that. The main concerns for the grower are climate and season. Cannabis plants don’t like extended periods of high wind, cold or rain.
Season is vitally important when growing with weed seeds. For the marijuana farmer it’s very simple: plant in spring, harvest in fall.
What are the best tips and tricks to grow from a feminized seed?
- Germinate the seeds properly using the paper towel method.
- Once “popped”, take special care in transplanting the seedlings to 2-inch pots.
- Spray with adequate amounts of water to keep the soil moist but not dripping wet. Be careful not to over or underwater, this will lead to problems later on.
- Give the plants a good regimen of nutrients. Excess nutrients will not result in more vigorous growth but can cause nutrient burn.
- Light is vital. When growing cannabis indoors, HPS and LED are excellent choices. When growing marijuana outdoors, ensure the plants are exposed to plenty of sunlight.
- Use appropriate training techniques. Some marijuana strains do well with high-stress training while others perform best with low-stress techniques. Too much stress can trigger hermaphroditism.
What’s the best temperature and humidity for growing feminised cannabis?
One huge advantage of indoor weed grows is the control you have over the environment. When growing cannabis outdoors, you’re at the whim of the weather. When cultivating marijuana indoors, you can control the climate and give your feminized cannaseeds the best chance of success.
Optimum temperatures can vary slightly from strain to strain but most marijuana seed banks will have this information to hand. A good rule of thumb is to keep the temperature around 70°F.
If you want to know more about temperature and humidity, explore the incredible range of articles in our free educational section. A grow advice site dedicated to cannabis growing and cultivation.
You can also check out and join our own community forum. Ask our resident grow experts, other community members and even Kyle Kushman himself for help when you hit problems or have questions.
