Cannabis falls into a grouping of plant species known as dioecious .
Dioecious plants make up around five percent of all flowering plant species . Unlike monoecious plants , which have both male and female reproductive organs on the same individual plant , dioecious plant species have separate male and female plants . Cannabis growers who start from non-feminized seed will have a 50 / 50 chance of growing a male or female plant . Unless interested in breeding , cannabis cultivators should remove all male and / or hermaphrodite plants and focus on growing unfertilized female plants , also known as sinsemilla .
Why Sinsemilla ?
Female cannabis plants create flowers that contain higher concentrations of many of the sought-after cannabinoids , including THC and CBD , than their male counterparts . When a flowering female cannabis plant comes in contact with pollen from a male plant , it will begin to produce seeds . Seeds in a cannabis flower create a harsher smoking experience and also diminish the overall amount of cannabinoids in the flowers . Once fertilized , the female plant will put its energy into creating and protecting the seeds .
“ FEMALE CANNABIS PLANTS will typically start to show their sex in the pre-flowering stage .”
This diverts precious energy that could otherwise be contributing to more cannabinoid and terpene production . To grow a high-quality sinsemilla , a cultivator must identify and then remove any male or hermaphrodite plants from his or her cannabis garden . Early detection is key , as pollen from a male or hermaphrodite plant can fertilize an entire cannabis crop in a short amount of time . Unless the cultivator is breeding cannabis , male and hermaphrodite plants should be removed immediately after identification .
Identifying Female Cannabis Plants
There are several tell-tale signs a grower can look for when identifying the sex of a cannabis plant . Female cannabis plants will typically start to show their sex in the pre-flowering stage . This is generally after five to six weeks of vegetative growth or after the first one to two weeks of flowering growth ( a 12 hours on / 12 hours off light cycle ). Identifying the sex of a cannabis plant becomes much easier once the flowering light cycle has been initiated . For outdoor cannabis gardens , the plants will normally begin their flowering stage after the summer solstice , when the daylight hours start to drop below 14 hours of light . Female cannabis plants display unique reproductive organs that can be identified fairly easily with some practice . They produce stigmas that protrude from a green calyx starting at the nodes ( base of the branches ). This female sex-organ structure is known as a pistil . The stigmas look like a pair of white hairs and typically grow in a V shape from the calyx . If the stigma comes in contact with pollen from a male plant , the flower will become fertilized and create seeds .
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