barney as some herm prone varieties
Why do you speak like as if you are a big breeder?
1 For a start you can get MALES in feminized seeds.
2 Some fems like Soma are made from over doing the flower cycle until it stress's and self's
3 you can also breed near feminized seed from high ratio males and selective breeding.
4 Herm seed is made from genetically modified females. anything can happen in the result. Nature is still nature and as her own way of dealing with thing's
5 It depends on how the seeds where made to how stable they are.
Recent research as found better techniques than the out of date STS, Gib acid. It cost's pennies to make female seeds in both breeding time and cost efficiency . Breeders (True breeders) creat a variety with basic breeding. Select the Pheno's they wish to show of and then self them. but offer up a regular version with more variety .
I have done nothing but research genetics in the last 6+ years and just when you think you have sussed it out nature throws a spanner in.
1. you can get males if you breed incorrectly. a good breeder will have no hermies in their fem seed batch. The reason you get hermies (9 times out of 10) is because the breeder chose either a hermie or a hermie prone variety w/o checking it. some just find a good pheno and make beans from it without bothering to stress it to see if it will hermie.
ive grown almost all fem seeds in my growing career and ive hardly had any hermies at all. generally the hermies i got (2 of them) were from suspect breeders who don't have a proven track record. (ie. GHS)
a good breeder TESTS their genetics before breeding with them. ive tested some feminized beans myself in the past by stressing them in terms of light or nutes and they stayed female after 1+ month of torture. that would be a good candidate to breed with and you wouldnt get hermies down the line either.
2. yes. and soma is a good breeder. the STS method doesn't cause hermies down the line. most if not all mj plants will throw out bananas (male pollen sacs) if left to flower for a long time past their "ripe" stage in an effort to preserve and continue the strain in future generations. perfectly natural. the hermies im refering to are when breeders use genetics that tend to hermie easily going into 12/12...not from over ripening.
3. very true.ive heard of many folks getting 10 packs with 7+ females before.
4. yes thats true too. however CS does NOT alter a strain's genetics. its something you treat the plant with as it begins flowering. that doesnt alter the plants genetics nor does it produce hermies in future generations (if the parent chosen does not have a tendency to hermie which some breeders don't bother testing for...but a good breeder wont have hermies in future generations)
5. thats true too. for instance ive grown fem beans from paradise and their genetics are very stable as far as im concerned. i grew out a 10 pack of white berry from them and there were only 2-3 phenos and all were the same height and stature. they were a breeze to grow in that respect. no herms and potent smoke. i can say the same about a 10 fem pack i got from dutch passion too. they were quite stable and nice w/ no hermies.
then there are breeders like GHS...i bought a 10 pack of one of their strains and it was supposed to be 80% indica however i got like 7-8 different phenos ranging from short squat indicas to 6 foot stretchy sativas. and yes some DID hermie.
so imo the difference is finding a good breeder versus a crappy one. however to dismiss fem seeds because of a few bad breeders is not the way to go. you can easily buy a 10 pack of regs and get hermies if you buy from a bad breeder or a breeder who didnt test their genetics/gene pool.