Determining Cannabis Sex

In the arena of plants, the very nature of reproduction is amazing. It can take place in a wide range of ways and using several methods.

Hermaphrodite plants, for example, only grow single flowers, which both have female and male reproductive organs. Dioecious plants are similar to cannabis plants and also have female and male reproductive organs. Monoecious plants have two kinds of lowers located on the same plant.

Determining cannabis sex is easy if you know what you are looking for.

The Benefits of Male and Female Cannabis Plants

Since marijuana grows both female and male plants, let us look at the benefits of growing the female plant without and with the interference of the male plant.

If you introduced both female and male plants, then you are going to have to contend with cross-pollination and therefore, the seeds that come as a result. This is how a cannabis breeder pulls off new genetics.

However, if you were to remove the male plant from your cannabis garden, the female plants would grow as seedless buds in large portions. This is what cannabis enthusiasts call sensimilia. Cannabis sex of the female makes a huge difference in the outcome of these resinous buds from the female plant.

The Seeded Buds of Male Cannabis Plants

The seeded buds from the male plant are considered low quality marijuana. That means, when there are seeds, the recreational user has a harsh and unpleasant smoking experience.

Cannabis growers, however, might introduce their male plants into the garden in order to pollinate the female plants, especially if they are going to breed a new marijuana strain or collect new seeds for the future crops. Otherwise, they are removed from the garden.

Determining Cannabis Sex

The one way of determining cannabis sex and female genetics is to obtain feminized seeds and clones. If you use regular cannabis seeds or you are not certain of the type of the seed, you have to know how to determine the cannabis sex of the plant. This is essential, if you want to develop new genetics, grow sensimilia or gather new seeds.

Lucky for us, to determine cannabis sex of your plant is easier than you may imagine. You just have to know where or when to begin looking. Let's take a closer look.

The Appearance of Female and Male Cannabis Plants

The pre-flowers of the female plant grow as small bracts. If you look closely at them, they have little hair-like stigma peeking out at you.

The male plants have tiny, round balls located at their nodes. The nodes are where the branches and leaves stick out from the stalk.

The cannabis sex of the plant shows by what is grown between the nodes. On the male plant is a pollen sac and on the female plant, it starts with a stigma. The stigma will either spread or it will catch pollen from the male plant.

For the cannabis grower, it is fortunate that it can be noticed weeks prior to actually starting the reproduction cycle. This is the pre-flowering phase, which starts about four weeks into the cannabis growth. When the sixty week rolls around, it is now easy to determine cannabis sex of the plant.

The Hermaphrodite

There are female plants that develop both cannabis sex organs and they can self pollinate. These are called hermaphrodites. The plant is usually not able to produce pollen. So your entire cannabis garden will be safe from too much male pollination. Be careful with hermaphrodite plants though, if the genetics are poor, it can ruin your cannabis garden.

If you want to learn more about determining cannabis sex of male and female plants, visit the Cannabis Training University's cannabis certification courses