Seed Selection (non-commercial)

[Canna.grower]

Hello to those who enjoy growing their own. I am having no luck finding any discussion here or elsewhere about seed selection for those of us who do no pay for seeds. As a grower for many years, I have saved a large number of seeds. I do not want to sell or trade them. I use them, of course, to start my next crop and that is where some discussion and sharing or experience would be most helpful. Does anyone have ideas about how to select the seeds that will give the best results when you have thousands of seeds (they are not feminized) to choose from?

When I search for advanced help on the web, the first 500 search responses are from seed banks trying to sell seeds. I want to learn and share experience from home growers about what works best for seeds that are most vigorous, highest yield, best THC content and even the most likely to be female plants. The common wisdom is that seed gender cannot be determined from examination, and I believe this. But are some locations on the plant more likely to be female than male? What about timing of seed "hatch". If I wet 100 seeds and plant only the first (or last) 6 to sprout will there be any effect on gender? How about exposing plants that are in vegetation stage to a dusting of pollen? What about age of seeds? Do older seeds such as 3 years since harvest produce any different ratio of gender than fresh seeds?

I am not looking for basic seed info such as sorting out preemies, squashing in fingers to weed out dry and hollow seeds, or other basic 101 level support. These things one learns from experience if no other way. I am hoping for sharing of ideas beyond the more obvious. What have you learned from handling your own seeds?

 

[growsince79]

Eat 1 gram decarbed kief. Wait 2 hours, then ask the goddess of ganja to guide your hand to pick the best seeds.

 

[Grownsince95]

The sex of your seeds is 100% determined the moment pollen meets flower. It's genetic and random. Each pollen grain will carry either an x or y chromosome and that's it.

I don't know the answer to whether males or females germinate at different times but I would say after a few thousand sprouted you would have an idea if you kept good notes

 

[growsince79]

The sex of your seeds is 100% determined the moment pollen meets flower. It's genetic and random. Each pollen grain will carry either an x or y chromosome and that's it.

I don't know the answer to whether males or females germinate at different times but I would say after a few thousand sprouted you would have an idea if you kept good notes

No way to tell gender from seed. But my males usually show before females.

 

[JWM2]

Female seeds have red lipstick. Everyone knows that.

 

[Madmax]

No way to tell gender from seed. But my males usually show before females.

thats def true for outdoor plants.i usually select the roundest biggest seeds and ones with eggshell effect markings over striped ones..im sure theres a writeup on this on seed selection and even an experiment on selecting certain seeds by there shape .
Im sure some of you guys have heard about it..

 

[Grownsince95]

The look of the seed is also strain dependent. I have two varieties seeded at the moment, one making classic tiger stripes and one more small and gray color like white widow seeds...which are notoriously tiny btw. I see some variation between seeds on the same plant but tbh have never made notes on seed appearance before. Definitely something to try

Also, apparently seed grown outdoors will be larger too but I have zero experience with that.

 

[Canna.grower]

No way to tell gender from seed. But my males usually show before females.

Right. My random seeds produce plants that, as a general rule, do the same. The males will sometimes reveal themselves by shooting ahead of the others. I will even kill a fast starter sometimes if I have 6 or 7 started and one is a jolly green giant. I even wonder if that premise might extend to seedlings. I have just started experimenting to see if killing off the first 50 out of 100 sproutlings and husbanding the best of the remainder could improve my female "batting average".

 

[Canna.grower]

The sex of your seeds is 100% determined the moment pollen meets flower. It's genetic and random. Each pollen grain will carry either an x or y chromosome and that's it.

I don't know the answer to whether males or females germinate at different times but I would say after a few thousand sprouted you would have an idea if you kept good notes

I know that you are right in terms of the science. I even saw a test site that will, for $10 a pop, do a gender reveal on a small leaf cutting. I know that the xx and xy can be determined. I'm wondering if that is indeed that and the case is closed. The tendency within cannabis to have hermaphrodites fairly readily is something that may muddy those nice clean waters of x and y. I have seen some hermies in my home tent and I recently let one fertilize the whole tent so I may have a supply of seeds without that nasty male chromosome. Nevertheless, I have a curiosity about experimenting with their gender. You are right about the notes, and I do keep records. All of this takes time over the plant generations, and I am looking for connection to whatever other growers may know about it. I appreciate the comment, and as I said, I know you are right about the x and y issue that is at the heart of this.

 

[Canna.grower]

Eat 1 gram decarbed kief. Wait 2 hours, then ask the goddess of ganja to guide your hand to pick the best seeds.

It pays to not neglect the spiritual side, so thanks for the thought.

 

[tucume66]

Hello to those who enjoy growing their own. I am having no luck finding any discussion here or elsewhere about seed selection for those of us who do no pay for seeds. As a grower for many years, I have saved a large number of seeds. I do not want to sell or trade them. I use them, of course, to start my next crop and that is where some discussion and sharing or experience would be most helpful. Does anyone have ideas about how to select the seeds that will give the best results when you have thousands of seeds (they are not feminized) to choose from?

When I search for advanced help on the web, the first 500 search responses are from seed banks trying to sell seeds. I want to learn and share experience from home growers about what works best for seeds that are most vigorous, highest yield, best THC content and even the most likely to be female plants. The common wisdom is that seed gender cannot be determined from examination, and I believe this. But are some locations on the plant more likely to be female than male? What about timing of seed "hatch". If I wet 100 seeds and plant only the first (or last) 6 to sprout will there be any effect on gender? How about exposing plants that are in vegetation stage to a dusting of pollen? What about age of seeds? Do older seeds such as 3 years since harvest produce any different ratio of gender than fresh seeds?

I am not looking for basic seed info such as sorting out preemies, squashing in fingers to weed out dry and hollow seeds, or other basic 101 level support. These things one learns from experience if no other way. I am hoping for sharing of ideas beyond the more obvious. What have you learned from handling your own seeds?

In my experience with germinating seeds that are not intentionally feminized, I can tell you that from 50-65% of any given number of Cannabis seeds will be male; 35-50% will be female. Age of seeds is important and if not stored properly will lose their ability to germinate and as their age increases the ratio of males to females will not change if the seeds are germinated. Flower locations on Cannabis are axillary in relation to the main stem and secondary stems and as the secondary stems grow and produce their own alternating leaves those axillary areas where the leaves attach to the secondary stem are also going to produce axillary flowers.