Male vs. Female Pot Plant

Like humans, cannabis plants are dioecious, which means they have either male or female reproductive organs. Depending on the target of the grower, it is vital to recognize the gender of their plants before harvest.

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Is it crucial to know the sex of a marijuana plant? Yes, if your goal is to grow quality buds rich in cannabinoids. It is vital to separate males from females to prevent unwanted pollination and seed production.

After reading this article, you will be able to distinguish between the marijuana genders. You will also know whether there is a way to turn male plants into females.

I will give you tips for simple plant identification to help you identify a male cannabis plant before it causes you some difficulty.

Male and Female Marijuana Plant Growth

I’ll start at the beginning. Regardless of THC content, all marijuana plants—male and female—go through two phases:

• Vegetative
• Flowering

In the first, crops usually spend all their energy on growing as tall and as heavy as they can. Plants produce flowers in the latter.

For a female weed plant, the flowering process may end in one of two ways:

• It will not get pollinated so it will “only” grow into the big, cannabinoid flowers and terpenes that we all adore.


• It is pollinated by a male plant and creates seeds that are good for edibles or procreation.

You want to stop pollination at all costs to get the best out of your crop. It’s fine, of course, to have male and female marijuana plants to proceed with the species.

Nearly 85% of the seeds will germinate, so you will need three normal seeds for two feminized seeds or one female plant, and so forth.

When Are You Able to Tell If Your Plant Is Male or Female?

There are three possible answers to identify the sex of your marijuana plant depending on the cannabis growth stages. I will discuss them below.

Before Planting

It is easy to distinguish between the gender of the plant right before you have the very first weed seedlings. What you need is to buy feminized seeds.

They will supply you with only female offspring. You can buy them online, or you can develop them. However, make sure you find a reputable supplier.

Before the Flowering Stage

6 weeks — This is the age of the plant when it reproduces. How to tell whether your plant is male or female before the flowering stage is not difficult.

You need a clear vision and a lot of persistence to search for pre-flowers. Small buds develop on the stalk, right between the nodes.

Male plants — When they’re super small, it’s pretty hard to tell male buds apart. Observe them form a shape tightly.

Particularly when they are very small, male weed buds have a round shape and look like small balls. They are tiny, fertile bags, getting ready to burst open one day and give their pollen to the female flowers.

The male marijuana plant will reveal its true nature earlier than the female, so be vigilant.

Typically, pollen sacks appear in the flowering stage for one or two weeks. At this point, they will look like small grapes.

Female plants — The pre-flowers look a lot different. They are round at the bottom (in between nodes), but the female pre-flowers before the pistils are a little pointed at the top.

On the other side, pistils are telling signs of a female cannabis plant that is easy to identify.

Do you know the white, pale, yellowish, sticky strands that contain all the lovely CBD and THC?

First, they start very modestly, like wispy, white hair. The male plant will never have white hair coming out of the ball, while the female buds grow it.

During the Flowering Stage

You know what to expect when you modify your lighting schedule to 12–12. You want your precious children to start blossoming and bringing out that sweet CBD and terpenes.

If cultivated outdoors, cannabis plants tend to bloom in compliance with the level of sunshine.

Typically, the flowering stage begins one to three weeks after the lighting cycle has been modified. The female plant is now able to fire those pistils. Then you’ll have no worries that you will have a lady of your own.

What counts most throughout the flowering process is the 12 hours during the night.

The lack of light is a more important signal for the plant to begin its flowering period than the presence of light. As long as you maintain the 12 hours of zero sun, your crops will flourish.

When Do Male Plants Pollinate Female Plants?

This occurs a week or two after the flowering stage has begun. Note that male plants mature faster than females.

You can identify them more quickly that way, so it’s mostly your mistake if your female plants start developing seeds rather than buds.

Because male plants are not able to produce flowers, which are the products most people smoke, it is normal for growers to kill their male plants as soon as they know their gender. Here are the reasons why:

• You’d be wasting light and water resources on a plant that doesn’t ultimately generate higher concentrations of THC and other cannabinoids.


• Males are pollinating females. As a result, females waste energy growing seeds instead of flowers. That’s fine if you want seeds for the next season, but it’s not that good if you’re going to harvest the most potent crop.

Things to Do If the Male Weed Plant Has Released Pollen

If you find pollen on the leaves, you might attempt to mist the nearby female plants and any region the pollen might have dropped on before extracting the plant.

The harm has already been done, but the effects are impossible to say. You could be in time, and you may be fortunate. Then again, the pot females may have already been pollinated.

It looks like there’s a lot of work to do if you grow a lot of hemp plants. Is it worth it? Yes! Are the effects of not getting rid of a male pot plant catastrophic for your harvest? Without a doubt, yes!

Use of Female Marijuana Plants

Female plants are essentially what everybody is after when cultivating cannabis because they are the ones that make buds, which are the portions of the plant that produce the most THC.

With just a single male plant and a small percentage of pollen, your plants can end up filling their flowers with seeds.

If you have male and female plants in the same field, buds grown there can generate only seeds, so you won’t be able to smoke either of them.

You can tell females apart by the fact that their flowers are not close, that they are still very open, and that they grow little hairs called pistils.

They’re extremely easy to identify because the first thing they grow is their pistils, which male plants don’t have at all.

Use of Male Marijuana Plants

Male plants ultimately produce pollen, which is required for cannabis plants to reproduce naturally. If you wish to make your own crops, you will need a male plant.

However, if you cultivate normal plants and want to pick flowers, we suggest that you get rid of any males as soon as possible.

Telling them apart is not possible until they begin to bloom, which is when plants reveal their genders. Male weed plants grow “balls” that open up to let out their pollen and come out looking like a little bunch of flowers.

You’re going to have to get rid of them long before this occurs. It would be too late if they managed to disperse their pollen. It might require up to three weeks to burst.

Breeding Marijuana

As a novice, you can clone a mother plant and establish a continuous line of clear buds from similar female plants.

However, as you become more skilled, you will start to discover your bud flaws. Conversely, you would love it if the flowering stage started a little early.

Luckily, male hemp plants are here to come to the rescue! As you have learned, their primary role is the breeding of plants.

When a male plant pollinates a female, it composes 50 percent of the genetic makeup of the crop. Do some digging into the genetics of the males in your garden with this in mind.

Do they grow fast? Are they extremely resistant to molds and pests? If so, these positive features can be passed on to enhance the quality of new generations.

Follow this five-step guide to eliminating unwanted males and finding ideal plants for breeding:

• Get rid of early-flowering or auto-flowering males because they’re more likely to produce monoecious males.


• Exclude any males that grow incredibly fast or are very tall. In specific, these particular plants are better suited for growing fabrics instead of flowers.


• Pick up the close, compact flowers of the males and get rid of each one with a loose, airy frame.


• Focus on the males with the strongest scent.


• Hold plants with large and hollow stems and cut any stems with too much pith (spongy white tissue). There is a correlation between the form of the stem and the THC material.

Concentrates

Can you produce edibles with male plants? Yes! While you’ll get less THC than with the ladies, male plants still have some THC left in their tiny leaves.

If you feel that there is too little focus for you, make some hashish. You should be pleased with the outcome.

Good Hemp Fiber

Both male and female marijuana plants may be used as a fiber source, but their consistency is unique.

Male fibers are more robust, lighter, and smoother, making them ideal for making high-quality textile products such as linen or towels.

Pest Repellent

Perhaps you’ve heard about how the males make perfect companions. We guarantee it’s true!

Dry leaves can be used for this purpose, or you might carefully plant a few of them around your vegetables to keep them free of pests. Cannabis terpenes will do their thing to hold off pests. No harmful pesticides are required.

If you want to make the most of this male vs. female marijuana plant competition, you can detach the males with sunflowers.

You can retain them, and your cannabis ladies will be protected from unintentional pollination.

Soil Improvement

Cannabis plants are considered to have a long taproot. This ensures that the roots can split into low-quality soil, allowing more sunlight, oxygen, and nutrients to be consumed. What’s more, they also prevent the land from eroding.

Juice

The cannabidiolic acid found in cannabis-type fiber juice prevents the migration of breast cancer cells, according to studies.

It is also high in nutrients. What about the female vs. male cannabis plant when it comes to cannabidiolic acid? The sums are about the same.

Turning a Male Plant Female

The fact is, there is no sure way of turning a male cannabis plant into a dense, stable female, and this is for two reasons:

• Weed plants that are considered to be male are simply hermaphrodites, so it’s difficult to know the majority of the real males.


• The sex of the plant is essentially decided by its biology, which is set in stone even before you initiate the germination process.

So, there’s no way to make a male plant feminine, but there are strategies that can be used to compel a male plant to show a female-like appearance.

Forcing a Male Plant to Show Female Characteristics

What you should remember when trying this method is that it requires the use of chemicals that can be toxic to both pets and humans.

This makes it vital for plants to be kept away from anyone and anything that might inadvertently contact or ingest some of the additives.

If you have chosen a secure location, you can start the procedure. It must be done at a specific stage of development, so it is not suitable for older plants that have already been developed.

• Develop a weed plant until it starts to exhibit the traits of a male, like a pollen sack.


• Buy one bottle of ethylene, which is a female pot plant hormone, and a pair of gloves along with a face mask to shield yourself from unintentional inhalation of the drug.


• Spray the ethylene over the branches of the vine, concentrating on the leaves and stem joints.


• Set the lighting system to 12 hours of light a day and wait for the effects. Note that this will work only on actual male plants. If you have a hermaphrodite, it won’t be nearly as visibly successful.

What Does This Technique Do?

The purpose of the approach discussed here is to trick the cannabis plant into thinking that it is female. Think of the anatomy of a weed plant like you would a person.

People also take hormone-specific supplements, such as testosterone and estrogen, to deceive the body into revealing the physical features of the opposite sex.

Who Benefits From This Technique?

Licensed producers and breeders must comply with strict conditions and regulations. Maintaining a male plant within the facility could trigger cross-contamination as it releases its pollen.

This would destroy the whole plant. This method is not used or suggested for those operating with such high stakes.

Instead, it is something that could be tried by private individuals who grow marijuana and end up with males that otherwise would be useless.

Can This Technique Create the Same Result in Female Cannabis Plants?

Yes, it’s much easier to manipulate a woman into thinking that she’s a male than to do the reverse. However, there is no particular justification for why anyone would do this.

If you’re using gibberellins, which are male marijuana plant hormones, instead of ethylene on females, the plants would almost undoubtedly begin to exhibit male-like traits.

Cloning a Cannabis Pant

Usually, you want to wait until you have an outstanding stable female plant to cultivate, but the cloning of marijuana plants, for this reason, would entail action much earlier.

When the main plant starts to display signs of becoming a male, it is ready for cloning by cutting off small individual branches.

• Dip each of them into the edible rooting hormone of the plant.


• Plant them in the soil.


• Wait for at least one week after cloning to give the plants a chance to develop themselves before using ethylene.

Is Cloning Applicable to Male Marijuana Plants?

It is, of course, and some people swear by it. However, the dilemma is that it should be completed when the plant is in its youngest stages. Remember, you won’t really end up with a lot of clones.

Conclusion

Separating male and female cannabis is crucial, especially if it is not your intention to grow male cannabis.

While some farmers intend to get cannabis seeds from sexing male and female marijuana plants, those who are into only the leaves should eliminate male cannabis before it pollinates the rest.