Feminized Seeds - Rumours Laid to Rest

Hello RIU (Roll It Up) members!

I've been reading a lot of rumours around the forum about feminized seeds. A lot of these rumours are incorrect, therefore false info that is confusing both new growers and some experienced growers and possibly causing breeders grief.

The rumours go along the lines of: 'feminized seeds are created using hermaphrodites (hermies) (implying they're created using genetic hermaphrodites) so don't buy them because then your plants might go hermie and pollinate your crop and ruin it!'

This is not true.

Perhaps some amateur breeders use genetic hermaphrodites to create personal feminized seeds, however, professional seed banks, do not!

'Well then how do they do it!?' I hear you ask lol.

Professional feminized seeds are created by chemically hormone treating a female plant to produce male flowers, the pollen from the male flowers of this plant are then used to pollinate a female plant.
This means that the seeds produced contain the genetics of two female plants, and therefore are 99% likely to be female - with the exception of genetic mutation.

This also means that the seeds produced do not contain any genetics hermaphrodite traits or tendencies.
Chemical hormone treatment does not carry through genetically to sequential generations.

Therefore the rumours stating that your plants are highly likely to turn hermaphrodite on you are completely wrong.
Feminized seeds are no more likely to turn into hermaphrodite plants as any other 'regular' female plant.

If you get your seeds from a home breeder, and they have not used chemical hormone treatment to produce their feminized seeds then you are at risk.
If you get them from a well known and trusted seed bank, then you are not at any more risk of producing hermies as you are when growing regular seeds!

Cheers all!

well if thats true maybe i will have to take a look at some of those greenhouse seeds that looked so tasty. thanks for putting my fears to rest.

Yeh,GHS was the first to sell the Fem. seed.I've also had 100% success with royalqueen,and big buddah fem. seeds.

Can you tell me if a stress induced hermi has pollen that has the genetic traits of a hermi?

Can you tell me if a stress induced hermi has pollen that has the genetic traits of a hermi?

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A plant that has become hermie due to stress is likely to (nothing is 100% with genetics lol) produce offspring that will also be likely to hermie when stressed.
It is a genetic tendency to turn hermie under stressful conditions. It does not guarantee that the seeds produced will all definitely hermie. But that is a weakness in the genetics that stress induces that response in the first place.

Hope that makes sense...

How about this:
Autoflowering seeds don't necessarily mean they are female seeds either?
I got all excited when I got some autoflower dwarf lowryder's then after I got em I actually used my brain for a moment and realised.. hey it didn't say autoflower feminised, it just said autoflower.
So I may have got all males as far as I know.

How about this:
Autoflowering seeds don't necessarily mean they are female seeds either?
I got all excited when I got some autoflower dwarf lowryder's then after I got em I actually used my brain for a moment and realised.. hey it didn't say autoflower feminised, it just said autoflower.
So I may have got all males as far as I know.

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Yes you MAY have got all males, but that's pretty unlikely! I always have 50% or more females with any 'regular' (non-feminized) seeds I buy, but that may just be luck, whether you consider 50%+ good or bad luck is another story lol.

GreenphoeniX said:

A plant that has become hermie due to stress is likely to (nothing is 100% with genetics lol) produce offspring that will also be likely to hermie when stressed.
It is a genetic tendency to turn hermie under stressful conditions. It does not guarantee that the seeds produced will all definitely hermie. But that is a weakness in the genetics that stress induces that response in the first place.

Hope that makes sense...

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But wont any plant subjected to say, light leaks, turn hermie? If so, that isn't a genetic weakness that will be isolated to a certain breed or type, but to all plants? If not never mind. Otherwise will all seeds from a stressed hermi be hermi also? Or is there a chance of normal seed? Thanks for the previous answer too, + rep for you.

But wont any plant subjected to say, light leaks, turn hermie? If so, that isn't a genetic weakness that will be isolated to a certain breed or type, but to all plants? If not never mind. Otherwise will all seeds from a stressed hermi be hermi also? Or is there a chance of normal seed? Thanks for the previous answer too, + rep for you.

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As I said, nothing in genetics is 100% ... But let me try to answer your question, forgive errors, I'm tired and have had a couple whiskey's lol. I'll break down your question into parts if I can!

But wont any plant subjected to say, light leaks, turn hermie?

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Light leaks are probably the most common cause of stress induced hermaphrodites, however, some strains and phenotypes of those strains are more resistant to this kind of stress than others. This resistance is genetic. So some plants may induce a hermaphrodite response after a couple days of light leaking, whereas other plants (of different phenotype at least), may take a couple weeks before the light leak stresses them enough to induce said hermie response.

If so, that isn't a genetic weakness that will be isolated to a certain breed or type, but to all plants?

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As mostly explained above, it's more about tolerance to stress when it comes to environmental factors that can induce hermaphrodites, some strains have better tolerance than others, and some phenotypes of those strains will be more or less tolerant than other phenotypes of the same strain.
Not every Cannabis plant will turn hermie due to light leaks, some will refuse to flower properly, some will increase flowering time to compensate, some will reduce yield and/or potency. Plants endemic to areas close to the equator tend to be more tolerant to increased photoperiods during flowering, as long photoperiods are simply a common reality in their endemic environment.

Otherwise will all seeds from a stressed hermi be hermi also? Or is there a chance of normal seed?

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There is a chance they will be normal depending on the family history... E.g - If the parents were hermies, and their parents where hermies, and their parents were hermies, than the chance will be a lot more likely.
I'm sure you've heard of genetic traits skipping generations, such as eye or hair colour in humans, well the same can apply for plants. If a plants parents are hermies, but it's grandparents were not, it's possible the plants haven't got any genetic hermie tendencies.
A genetic tendency to turn hermie for no real reason is very uncommon anyway, in my experience at least, unless you have some very bad, or sensitive, genetics. It's more about the strain/phenotypes resistance to having environmental stresses induce a hermaphrodite response.

Hope that makes sense! Cheers.

Good info, thanks for that!

Do you have any info on how the chemical used to promote pollen sacs work?

Not specifically on how it works, but I did have some names of the products commonly used to do this, however I'm not sure where they are now. If I come across it in my files I'll be sure to let you know!

niceeee
i'll rep ya 4 that

I'm not convinced plants hermie due to stress. I've had fem'd seeds undergo consistent and variable stresses and they never hermied. IMO some plants will hermie even under perfect conditions and it is genetic, more often than not a defense triggered in the plant to make sure some seeds are produced.

I hear a lot of people complain about a few "nanners" and to me that's no big deal. If I had a nice healthy plant that throws off 20 seeds I don't really care, most of the plant is still going to be pure goodness. I've seen pics of full blown hermies and they are certainly odd, unattractive plants.

I'm not convinced plants hermie due to stress. I've had fem'd seeds undergo consistent and variable stresses and they never hermied. IMO some plants will hermie even under perfect conditions and it is genetic, more often than not a defense triggered in the plant to make sure some seeds are produced.

I hear a lot of people complain about a few "nanners" and to me that's no big deal. If I had a nice healthy plant that throws off 20 seeds I don't really care, most of the plant is still going to be pure goodness. I've seen pics of full blown hermies and they are certainly odd, unattractive plants.

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Amen to that!

Ive heard that the late on-set "nanners" pollen creates feminized seeds.

Ive heard that the late on-set "nanners" pollen creates feminized seeds.

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Original trials I from memory ... Originally that way was used when the idea came about, then chemicals were used, these chemicals had some weird, somewhat negative side-effects so the technique went back to naturally made 'nanner' pollen, then some new chemicals were used which didn't produce the mutant side-effects, and I believe that these 'new' chemicals are what are currently used ... It can be hard to keep up with all the info coming out of every different Cannabis resource.

1kooguy said:

Yeh,GHS was the first to sell the Fem. seed.I've also had 100% success with royalqueen,and big buddah fem. seeds.

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Yeah I am pretty sure it was actually Dutch Passion that made the first feminized seeds.