How Cannabis Plants Are Pollinated

Cannabis plants are typically pollinated through natural means, primarily by wind and insects. In outdoor settings, wind can carry pollen from male plants to female plants.

Insects such as bees, butterflies, and moths may also transfer pollen between plants as they forage for nectar.

However, in controlled environments such as indoor grow rooms or for specific breeding purposes, hand pollination is often employed.

This involves manually transferring pollen from male plants to female plants using tools such as brushes or tweezers.

Hand pollination allows growers to control the breeding process more precisely, ensuring desired genetic traits are passed on to the offspring.

Steps to Hand Pollinating Cannabis

Here's a step-by-step guide on how to hand pollinate cannabis plants:

1. Identify the Male and Female Plants: Cannabis plants are dioecious, meaning they have separate male and female plants. Female plants produce the flowers that contain the buds, while male plants produce pollen sacs.
2. Select Your Breeding Stock: Choose the male and female plants you want to cross-pollinate. These plants should exhibit desirable traits that you want to combine in their offspring.
3. Identify the Pollen-Producing Male Plants: Look for male plants that have mature pollen sacs. These sacs will look like small pods or clusters filled with pollen.
4. Collect Pollen: Once the male plants have mature pollen sacs, carefully collect the pollen. You can do this by gently shaking the male plant over a clean surface or by using a small brush to gather the pollen.
5. Prepare the Female Plants: Identify the female plants that you want to pollinate. These should be in the early flowering stage, with fresh, receptive pistils (hair-like structures) emerging from the flowers.
6. Apply Pollen: Using a small brush or your fingers, lightly dust the collected pollen onto the receptive pistils of the female plants. Make sure to cover the pistils evenly with pollen.
7. Isolate Pollinated Plants: To prevent accidental pollination from other sources and to ensure the purity of your cross-breeding experiment, isolate the pollinated female plants from other plants.
8. Monitor and Wait: After pollination, monitor the pollinated flowers closely as they develop seeds. It usually takes a few weeks for seeds to fully develop. During this time, continue to care for the plants as you normally would, providing adequate water, nutrients, and light.
9. Harvest Seeds: Once the seeds have fully developed and matured, carefully harvest them from the pollinated flowers. Store the seeds in a cool, dry place until you're ready to use them for.

To learn more about how to grow cannabis, go to the Cannabis Training University.