Why do the seed companies advertise different or better characteristics (yield, height, etc) with their feminized versions? Look on marijuana-seeds.nl for example. Almost all of their feminized strains claim higher yields, etc. Is it bull, or is it true? They charge about 3x the price for some of the feminized versions.

I just couldnt disagree anymore with that article and would recommend the growers withold judgement with such a limited experience base.

This spring brings my 9th year of growing outdoor with fems and the 11 pakcs ready to crack for this year brings my total to 81 packs of fems grown outdoors over that time.. Biddy earlyfems, early skunk fems,sensi star fems and bubbleberry fems will make up my grow this year. Ive been able to average 5.50z's per plant from my 35-40 plants making my 10+ pound harvest worth far more than the $800 or so i have spent on the seeds.

After 10 years and 81 packs later, here is what i know.

Indoor and outdoor growing of fems is the difference between night and day and shouldnt be discussed in the same context. Artificial lighting, heat, rootbinding and other conditions create indoor stress and Fems can develop male flowers.Femmed seeds from a quality breeder started outdoors and kept outdoors under stable light will result in a stable plant. Not once over the years have i had a hermie show up under those conditions.

In fact, I would argue that if fems are kept stable and planted along side 10 females from regular seeds, there will be a much greater chance of finding seeds or male flowers than from the femmed plants.

Femmed beans made the outdoor growers life much easier. Prior to fems, we either had to plant 2 times as many plants and cull, or start mothes and develop a bunch of clones. Fems allow one to sprout and plant.

I love them and so does the rest of the world. If they truly hermied as the article suggests, do you think they would increase in use and availability year after year?

Word.

Good post Bonesucker. 'The sky is not falling' with the fem seeds!,

BARNEYS FARM FEMINIZED
RED DRAGON *3
G13 HAZE *1
follow along here :

http://forums.cannabisculture.com/forums...089#Post1623089

What is this I hear that hermies have their own branch and feminized male flowers come directly out of the bud. I have been going by this method and breeding my plants and have never seen a hermie and never a male from my seeds.

"Creating feminized cannabis seeds is an art. Just like art, there are a few different methods of application. I have written about some of my different methods of making seeds in previous HIGH TIMES articles. I have used gibberellic acid, pH stress, light stress, and fertilizer stress to force my female plants to make seeds. All of these methods are harsh on the plants, and some, like the gibberellic acid, are not organic. In my search for cleaner, more earth-friendly ways of working with the cannabis plant, I have found a new way to make feminized seeds. Feminized seeds occur as a result of stress, rather than genetics. All cannabis plants can and will make male flowers under stress. Certain strains like a higher pH, some a lower one. Some like a lot of food, some like much less. There is quite a lot of variety in marijuana genetics, and you can’t treat every plant the same way.

It takes many harvests before you really get to know a particular strain. Just like getting to know human friends, it takes time. I have grown the same strains for close to a decade, and am truly getting to know every nuance the different plants exhibit. I can recognize them from a distance. I must say that I get a lot of help from my friends, both in making seeds and in learning new and better ways of working with this sacred plant.

I named this new method "Rodelization," after a friend who helped me realize and make use of this way of creating female seeds. After growing crop after crop of the same plants in the same conditions, I noticed that if I flowered the plants 10-14 days longer than usual, they would develop male "bananas." A male banana is a very slight male flower on a female marijuana plant that is formed because of stress. Usually they do not let out any pollen early enough to make seeds, but they sometimes do. They are a built-in safety factor so that in case of severe conditions, the plant can make sure the species is furthered.

To me, a male banana is quite a beautiful thing. It has the potential of making all female seeds. Many growers out there have male-banana phobia. They see one and have heart palpitations, they want to cut down the entire crop, or at the very least take tweezers and pluck the little yellow emergency devices out. I call them "emergency devices" because they emerge at times of stress.

In the Rodelization method, the male banana is very valuable. After growing your female plants 10-14 days longer than usual, hang them up to dry, then carefully take them off the drying lines and inspect for bananas. Each and every banana should be removed, and placed in a small bag labeled very accurately. These sealed bags can be placed in the fridge for one or two months and still remain potent.

For the next phase, you need to have a separate crop that’s already 2 1/2 weeks into flowering. Take your sealed bags of pollen out of the fridge, and proceed to impregnate your new crop of females. To do this, you must first match the female plant and the pollen from the same strain in the previous crop. Shut all the fans in the growroom down. Then take a very fine paintbrush, dip it in the bag of pollen, and paint it on the female flower. Do this to each different strain you have growing together. I have done it with up to 10 different kinds in the same room with great success.

I use the lower flowers to make seeds, leaving the top colas seedless for smoking. This method takes time (two crops), but is completely organic, and lets you have great-quality smoke at the same time you make your female seeds. If you’re one of those growers who’s never grown seeds for fear of not having something good to smoke, you will love this method.

You can also use this pollen to make new female crosses by cross-pollinating. The older females with the male bananas can be brought into the room with the younger, unpollinated females after they are three weeks into flowering. Turn all of the circulation fans on high, and the little bits of pollen will proceed to make it around the room. Do this for several days. Six to seven weeks later, you will have ripe 100% feminized seeds; not nearly as many as a male plant would make, but enough to start over somewhere else with the same genetics." - Soma.

What you guys think?

Soma speaks the truth! I've got a Shiva Skunk that started sprout a few 'nanners after I let her stay in flower too long. After I'm through regular breeding,I'll try this.

I definitely agree. Anybody want some femmed seeds that hermie at the drop of a hat? I have dozens of them and they are useless! I wasted a whole year developing these seeds but I have learned my lesson. At least I didn't pay money for them.
Now I buy high quality seeds from a reputable seller like Seed Depot and clone clone clone...

Fems get slandered alot on forums. I thought i would present 1 little fact that negates every negative opinion about them. It's my opinion that this fact trumps all other considerations where feminized seeds are concerned.


Plant 10 feminized seeds of any strain and then plant enough regular seeds of the same strain to get an equal number of females as you got from the fems.

Mix up the pots.
Grow them together w/same lighting and temps

There isnt a grower on the planet that can seperate the plants out without looking at the labels. At no point during the grow or the harvest can the grower or anyone else tell which of the plants are the fems and which of the plants are from the regular seeds.

Once the product is dried and cured, there isnt a smoker on the planet that can distinguish between the smoke from the feminized seed or the smoke from the reg seeds.

If male flowers are found at all on any of the plants, they will be found in equal numbers on both the femed plants and the regular plants in every single case

Ive conducted this test with White Widow, Sensi star and Flo. The results were the same on all accounts.