why do some people steer away from fems?

[weed420420420420420]

Just wondering what are some reasons people stay away from fems in general. Ive heard they mold up easier. Ive heard they tend to herm easier. And Ive heard they just dont get quite as dank. What might be some sciencey reasons behind that stuff?

And isnt there still such a thing as fems "done right" that can compete with most things out there.

 

[High5_it_in]

I like regs because sometimes I want pollen to hit something with. I also like feminized too, so you know for sure you're not gonna have a sausage fest. It would be great for breeders to have both in a seed pack, especially for those expensive packs. I know I'd like if they had a full pack of regs(12+), along with a half pack of fems(6+)

 

[Madmax]

Pretty much there is an answer to your questions to why people are having problems with fems.. is your enviroment ,too much humidity,or humidity spikes,not enough air flow are the main contributing factors with mold.some strains are more tolerant and some are not..herming can b genetic or the breeder hasnt done his job properly or stress from enviromental factors in your room.too much heat,light leaks just to name a few.....i grow fems always as i havnt the space to bring up regs and waste nutes and media on males waiting for them to determine sex..all my gear is dank from purchasing great genetics .your nutrients can help ,sulphur is known to enhance terps and drying and curing your buds slower helps too..

 

[dean1963]

just a newb here, by fems i assume you mean feminized seeds?

 

[freezeland2]

just a newb here, by fems i assume you mean feminized seeds?

Yes

 

[Buzzzz]

Just wondering what are some reasons people stay away from fems in general. Ive heard they mold up easier. Ive heard they tend to herm easier. And Ive heard they just dont get quite as dank. What might be some sciencey reasons behind that stuff?

And isnt there still such a thing as fems "done right" that can compete with most things out there.

You are relying on the breeders preference of quality when he/she picks the mother,less variability,bottle necking,sometimes less stability,less vigour, the only way to reproduce it is to self it again,if you get hermies it will always be a factor down the road and all the negatives of intense inbreeding will surface, ex: pest,disease vulnerability,less defenses available etc and preservation is limited after generations.

 

[dean1963]

well crap.
wish i had read this before a spent $240+ on feminized seeds.
i bought gorilla glue from Beaver Seeds and super OG kush from Sonoma Seeds.
kush is already started.
anyone have experience with these 2 companies?

 

[nashobaTHC]

No experience on those companies. I always buy fems (from attitude) but for the past 2 years I tried a couple regulars also just to see if there’s any difference in quality. Last year my fems were quite potent and stanky…more than the regulars. FYI…for attitude enables seed our hood singles, 3-packs, 5-packs, 10-packs (avg $10-$15 per seed) and shitloads of freebies. For $240 you could probably get 50-75 seeds including the freebies. Keep shopping around though.

 

[BudBogart]

I’ve used fems for 12 years running. Never hermied, no molds. Big, beautiful plants.
With restrictions on how many plants we can grow, using fems means I can run them full speed ahead without the need to slow the light down to sex them. They can be placed into their final holes without later pulling males out of the holes.
Attitude, then The Choice Seedbank are my favorites.

 

[PipeCarver]

Just wondering what are some reasons people stay away from fems in general. Ive heard they mold up easier. Ive heard they tend to herm easier. And Ive heard they just dont get quite as dank. What might be some sciencey reasons behind that stuff?

And isnt there still such a thing as fems "done right" that can compete with most things out there.

I find reg seeds hard to deal with in a small basement grow. I've had some real bad luck in the female to male numbers. 1 out of 5, 2 out of 7 , 3 out of 7, Then once I Identify and clone to get a stable fem I'm 8 months into it before I can add a new fem into my cycle.....I know there are some who read this would choke at that length of time but in a small space its hard for me to coordinate and keep things healthy with too many plants to deal with.

Fems I can just grow and clone with no need to keep 5 plants growing then determine sex and end up with 1 or 2 plants.

 

[HippiHemuli]

9 years of growing with only fem seeds and had only 2 hermies and never mold issues or anything else. Heard many times too they can herm more easily than regs but i think good breeder and genetic play big role here. Growed few years ago in place where had little light leaks 24/7, humidity and temperature swinging pretty much but never hermied.

 

[Moe.Red]

You create Fems typically by spraying a female plant with STS or another chemical that forces it to hermie. It then self pollinates, and produces seeds that only have female mom and "dad" - making them female.

The question really is does that spray impact the underlying genetics of the plant which is passed to the offspring. I am not certain of the answer, but my gut tells me no.

External influence can cause genetic mutation - think UV light or X-rays and how they can harm a mom before childbirth. It is pretty much natural selection at work. But I don't think that is how it works with STS sprays, and even if it did create a genetic mutation capable of being passed in seeds, what makes us think that mutation is always likelihood to hermie?

Maybe a breeder can chime in here and help us.

 

[Buzzzz]

You create Fems typically by spraying a female plant with STS or another chemical that forces it to hermie. It then self pollinates, and produces seeds that only have female mom and "dad" - making them female.

The question really is does that spray impact the underlying genetics of the plant which is passed to the offspring. I am not certain of the answer, but my gut tells me no.

External influence can cause genetic mutation - think UV light or X-rays and how they can harm a mom before childbirth. It is pretty much natural selection at work. But I don't think that is how it works with STS sprays, and even if it did create a genetic mutation capable of being passed in seeds, what makes us think that mutation is always likelihood to hermie?

Maybe a breeder can chime in here and help us.

Pick a stable strain then buy it in feminised form and you get a greater % of hermies,if it wasn't true then the claims wouldn't be there. Today it's somewhat accepted to get hermies and blame the grower as well. 20 years ago hermies were pretty rare and a seedbank known for hermie stock was laughed at or at best avoided

 

[Moe.Red]

,if it wasn't true then the claims wouldn't be there.

What claims are you referring to?

 

[nashobaTHC]

I have grown feminized seeds outdoors in soil (mostly FF ocean forest) for about the past 15 years and have NEVER had a hermie or accidental male. My grow area is not ideal getting about 6-7 hrs direct sunlight and about 3-4 hrs indirect light per day and even these conditions didn’t create hermies so it appears to be either strain or breeder issues.

 

[Moe.Red]

I have grown feminized seeds outdoors in soil (mostly FF ocean forest) for about the past 15 years and have NEVER had a hermie or accidental male. My grow area is not ideal getting about 6-7 hrs direct sunlight and about 3-4 hrs indirect light per day and even these conditions didn’t create hermies so it appears to be either strain or breeder issues.

I have similar results after years of many different Fem seeds. No hermies.

Then I grew Diet Durban - and they hermied to beat the band.

Some fem seeds are just bad, but that seems to be unusual and a breeder that is rushing the process. In this case there was an arms race by breeders to grow a high THCv strain, and the marketing push was really hard. They ended up doing a recall on all those seeds.

 

[Buzzzz]

I have similar results after years of many different Fem seeds. No hermies.

Then I grew Diet Durban - and they hermied to beat the band.

Some fem seeds are just bad, but that seems to be unusual and a breeder that is rushing the process. In this case there was an arms race by breeders to grow a high THCv strain, and the marketing push was really hard. They ended up doing a recall on all those seeds.

A proud breeder would never release seeds without trying them out first. Some breeders have 100 strains,regs,fems,autos and I really don't know how they keep it all straight or unintentional pollination unless they are just buying from contractors. Using the public as your tester and going from there is rushing it and makes it about the $. I remember the THCV phase and Dougs Varin was a big deal but no one I knew could ever secure seeds of them,don't know if you can today even, and I think without adequate UV like indoor growing you don't get to realize it anyway. A lot of the seed business is based on marketing and sales are all that is important.