How to Identify Male Plants

If you are trying to grow Big Buds, you want to avoid male cannabis plants! Males do not produce buds so how can you tell which plants are male? Unfortunately there is no way to visually determine if a seed will be male or female. In fact, sex does not show until the flower stage of growing!  

Gender revealed during Flower

Male plants tend to show their sex earlier than female plants. They typically reveal their reproductive organs in the first week after the light cycle is switched to 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness (for photoperiodic strains).

Pollen Sacs

Look for small, round pollen sacs (often referred to as "balls") that form at the nodes where the branches meet the main stem. These sacs will eventually open to release pollen if the plant is not removed.

Male pollen sacs do not have the white pistils (hair-like structures) that female flowers develop.

How to Avoid Male Plants

There are a few options for those looking to avoid the possibility of male plant:

1. Buy Feminized Seeds

What Are Feminized Seeds? Feminized seeds are specially bred to produce only female plants. These seeds are created by inducing a female plant to produce pollen, which is then used to fertilize another female plant. The resulting seeds have a very high likelihood (about 99%) of being female.

2. Grow Clones from Known Female Plants

What Are Clones? Cloning involves taking a cutting from a known female plant and allowing it to root and grow into a new plant. Since the clone is genetically identical to the mother plant, it will also be female.

For a wide selection of germination guaranteed seeds, visit our preferred seed bank, Seedsman.