When growing cannabis, you need to know how to identify a female seed. This is crucial because only female plants will produce buds that you can smoke and enjoy!
When a female plant is pollinated by a male plant, she will create seeds. These seeds will contain THC and other cannabinoids that you can enjoy.
Look For The Volcano
There are several myths floating around that claim you can tell a cannabis seed is male or female just by looking at it. One of the most popular is that female seeds have a perfectly round crater-like impression on their bottom, just like a volcano.
However, this is false. Crater-like impressions can form on all types of seeds, regardless of sex.
The fact is, it’s not even possible to tell a male from a female seed by simply looking at them.
The only way to know for sure whether your seeds are male or female is by checking them out when they start to flower. By sexing them early, you can avoid accidentally pollinating your plants and ending up with male seeds instead of female ones. This can be a major pain for new growers, but it’s well worth the trouble and money you save in the long run.
Look For The Hair-Like Pistils
When it comes to identifying a cannabis female seed, the hair-like pistils are a surefire sign. Typically, these structures appear around 4 weeks into the vegetative phase and are indicative of a plant’s pre-flowering stage.
A cannabis female flower has three main reproductive organs: the pistil, bract, and ovule. The ovule is the place where the seed germinates, and the bract is where stigmas emerge from.
As the flowers mature, pistil hairs begin to change colour. This can be a helpful indicator for growers, as it helps them know when to harvest their buds.
Another useful way to tell when to harvest is by observing the colour of glandular trichomes, which are small chemical factories that generate THC and other cannabinoids. The colour of these trichomes changes from translucent to milky as the flowers are nearing harvest time.
Look For The Pre-Flowering Stage
In the flowering phase, cannabis plants grow buds containing resin-secreting trichomes. These trichomes contain THC, terpenes, flavonoids, and other cannabinoids.
Female seeds can be distinguished by their long, wispy pistillates (bud sites) that look like they’re covered in fine hairs. Male pollen sacs, by comparison, look rounded with distinct splits running lengthwise.
If you’re growing your own, it’s important to know how to tell the difference between male and female seeds before attempting to pollinate them. Otherwise, you risk ruining the whole crop by producing hermaphrodite seeds.
It’s critical to avoid disrupting the cannabis plant’s photoperiod during the flowering stage. This can lead to a variety of undesirable consequences, including:
Look For The Flowering Stage
The flowering stage is the final phase of a cannabis plant’s life cycle. During this time, plants stop putting energy into leaf growth and instead focus their attention on producing flowers (buds) that contain the highest concentration of THC and terpenes.
When a cannabis plant transitions to the flowering stage, it will look different depending on its genetics and environment. This is the stage when plants become very large, and some strains will even double in size!
A plant will also begin to grow new leaves at the top of its main colas. These are called “bud sites” and are a good sign that it has completed the vegetative phase of its life cycle.
When a cannabis plant is at the flowering stage, it is important to separate it from males. This will help it produce quality buds that are packed with THC, terpenes, and other cannabinoids.
