Home Growers Corner
Seeds and Sex
a Beginners Selection Guide
by Gerry Donovan, contributing writer
First, let’ s talk about where babies come from! Cannabis plants are generally either male or female. Male plants produce pollen via pollen pods of smaller sacs( see male photos below). They look similar to tiny banana bunches. Female plants consist of the flowers, which are a mix of leaves, calyx( seed pod), and stigma hairs( see female photos below). The female stigma hairs are receptacles for the pollen released from the male sacs, which are brought down into the calyx for the seed to develop to maturity and fall when the plant dies.
Warning to Novice Breeders and New Home Growers!
Just one pollen pod can“ accidentally” pollinate a complete room of female plants— turning quality, smokeable buds into annoying seed bombs!
Stigma Hairs
Male Plant
Stigma Hairs
Female Plant
22 April 2025
Male Pods
Female Early Bud.
Pollen Pods
Pollen Pods
Hermaphrodites( photo above) Exist; They are Real! If a female plant produces just a few pollen pods, pluck them, discard them, and keep an eye out for more. But likely, you are in the clear for flowering. If you encounter a plant such as this( left), with a significant development of male anatomy, it is best to get rid of the entire plant. Those pollen pods will keep coming, and eventually, one will open and release pollen, potentially seeding out an otherwise smokeable crop.
As consumer growers, we are interested in growing female plants with no males around to potentially“ ruin” a harvest.
It used to be very difficult to obtain cannabis genetics for growing, nearly impossible even. One would have to travel to Canada or Europe or, by chance, know a grower who would share seeds or cuttings( known as clones). Sure, there were plenty of seeds in bags of schwag— little did many of us realize their potential. It was the haphazard grows and poor post-harvest processing that made that stuff terrible, not bad genetics. Many were DOA anyway— crushed or soaked in chemicals and better to just throw away. That is a far different story today. It is very easy to find a local grow shop that has seeds for sale.
As with gear and nutrients, most seed companies will claim to have the best. If you look online for seeds, it can be very confusing. You will come across many various names and claims to be Sativa, Indica,