Male vs female cannabis plants

Male versus Female cannabis plants

Cannabis plants are primarily male or female, although hermaphrodite plants are always a possibility. Cannabis is known as a dioecious plant, meaning both male and female plants produce flowers. Each sex has different characteristics which enables growers to tell them apart. It is important to know exactly how to identify each gender of cannabis plant depending on the desired outcome of the grow, whether that be large resinous buds or seeds and breeding potential. Cannabis plants begin to reflect signs of their specific sex within the first two weeks of the flowering period. Plants begin to reach their sexual maturity at around six to eight weeks after germination has occurred. At this point the cannabis plant will show signals to which sex they are, this will become visible around branch internodes. Typically, pure Indica and sativa strains will begin to flower when night cycle start to become longer, or the day cycle is shortened. If a plant contains auto flowering genes, time will be the determining factor instead of light.

Cannabis plants will show their sex by what grows in between the nodes, where leaves and branches extend from the stalk. What starts as a pollen sac on a male plant or a stigma on a female will become what either spreads or catches pollen. Luckily, we can see these differences weeks before they actually start serving their purposes in the reproduction cycle. These are known as “pre-flowers.” Pre-flowers begin to develop four weeks into growth, but they may take a little longer depending on how quickly the germination cycle occurred. Pre-flowers can at the beginning be extremely small and hard to see with the naked eye, but you can use a small jeweller’s magnifying glass to get a better look. There are other methods to determine what sex the plant is, examining pre-flower formation is the most reliable. Removing the males early on is important for two reasons, it frees up space in your grow space, so the females grow bigger and stronger, and it prevents the males from pollinating the females.

Female Cannabis Plants

Female cannabis plants are the absolute preference for most growers who want big buds to smoke or to make medicine with or to sell. This is because female flowers are coated in a thick layer of cannabinoid-rich resin which determines their recreational and medicinal potential. This resin is produced by mushroom-shaped glands on the plant called trichomes, effectively miniature cannabinoid factories. The first signs of a female cannabis plant are the pistils: Wispy hair-like protrusions that appear right where the buds are going to develop (usually between the main stem and the branch). A female plant might take a bit longer to show the first signs after changing to flowering but will start developing reproductive organs during the late vegetative period if kept on an 18/6 light cycle for longer.

This resinous substance or trichomes, is extremely important for the reproduction and evolution of the cannabis plant. It enables female cannabis plants to seize male pollen which results in the fertilisation of the plant. After fertilisation has taken place, the female plant will go into seed, ensuring the survival of the species and providing growers with breeding and cultivation potential. Especially during the early stages of flowering, it is easy to confuse a female pre-flower with a male. In that case, its shape should give you the answer: Females are more elongated and shaped like a pear. If you are still unsure, you can wait until the pistils start sticking out.

If you want to be sure to only grow female plants, we recommend purchasing some feminized cannabis seeds at a reputable local seedbank in South Africa. We can highly recommend quality genetics from Nirvana Shop SA – https://www.nirvanashop.co.za/

However, one important reason to detect the sex of plants early on is to single out the males and remove them from the growing space. This action will be taken by growers looking to optimise the quality and quantity of the cannabis buds. If the female plants are kept away from the pollen produced by their male counterparts, they will start to produce the far more valuable resin in a desperate attempt to capture pollen and become fertilised. If no pollen is to be found, the end result will be flowers covered in a dense layer of trichomes. This is due to the available resources being harnessed for resin production, instead of seed production.

One definite way to detect if a plant is female will be the appearance of its sex organs, named pistils. These tiny white or orange hairs are the sex organs of female plants. Pistils will start to emerge at the internodes, sections where branches intersect with the main stem, at around 1.5 weeks into the flowering stage. Female flowers will produce small tear-like calyxes with two pistils at this stage, which will eventually grow and form together into what are commonly referred to as buds. Knowing all about cannabis sex is especially important to growers, as male and hermaphrodite plants do not produce usable buds. What is worse, when the time for flowering comes, the pollen sacks forming underneath the foliage will burst, pollinating nearby female flowers. From that moment on, the female flower will be unusable for recreational or medicinal purposes, as its potency and quality will be diminished.

Male Cannabis Plants

Perhaps less praised among smokers and consumers, male plants still play a fundamental role in transferring genetics to the next generation of cannabis plants. Male plants look aesthetically different to their female partners whose flowers are glistening with resin. Male cannabis flowers instead produce bell-like clusters known as pollen sacks that will hang down, the equivalent of botanical testicles. It is impossible to guess the sex of a plant by looking at the seed. Usually, it is revealed in the later stages of the plant’s life. Somewhere between the transition from vegetative stage to the flowering stage, the pre-flowers start to form. These tiny undergrowth’s are what will develop into the reproductive organs of the cannabis plant. Knowing how to read them will help you immensely, as you will be able to remove the males well ahead of schedule.

Male cannabis plants will display tiny pollen sacks at internode locations early on in the flowering stage, making it apparent what sex they belong to. These pollen sacks begin to open up and bloom when they reach the correct stage of maturity, producing white/green flowers. The dispersed pollen will then be released in an attempt to fertilise female plants and spread the genes of the father plant.

As far as breeding programs go, good quality males are necessary as genes from the father cannabis plant is also partly responsible for contributing to the genetic makeup of the offspring cannabis plants. Although not as saturated with cannabinoids as female flowers and plants, the male plants have been found to contain a decent degree of cannabinoids and can be fairly potent. Male plants display resin producing glands mostly on the sepals, anthers and smaller upper leaves.

Males also produce significant amounts of terpenes, the molecules responsible for a plants individual flavour and scent. Getting seeds instead of smokable buds is the no#1 disaster for the casual or beginner grower. Not only are you not getting to smoke your own cannabis buds, but you have likely spent a significant budget on the genetics. Therefore, caring for your plants and making sure that no males stay in your grow space will save you time and frustration.

Hermaphrodite Marijuana Plants

Even after you have removed all the male cannabis plants from your grow space, it is important to monitor them for signs of hermaphroditism closely, otherwise known as “Hermies,” can start to form quite unexpectedly, leaving you dumbfounded and with a grow space full of seedy flowers. In the kingdom of plants, reproduction can happen in many different ways, hermaphrodite plants grow single flowers that have both male and female reproductive organs. Monoecious plants produce two different types of flowers on the same plant. And then there are dioecious plants like cannabis, which produce either male or female reproductive organs.

Hermaphrodites can pollinate themselves and your whole grow space if you are not careful. What exactly causes them is still not verified, although stressful situations are the number one culprit, abnormal temperatures, light leaks during the dark cycle or any other extreme environmental factors can trigger hermaphroditism in cannabis plants. Whatever the reason for it, as soon as you spot hermaphrodite plants in your grow space, you must remove them immediately. The other primary cause of hermaphrodite plants lies in the cannabis plant’s genetics. A plant with poor genetics or a history of hermaphrodite development should be avoided to protect your grow space. If you notice any pollen sacs or anthers at any point, remove the plant from your grow space immediately to prevent pollination of female plants.

When a female cannabis plant develops both the male and the female sex organs, it is considered hermaphrodite, this means your cannabis plant is now capable of producing pollen that can pollinate your entire grow space. “Herming out,” as some call it, is something that generally happens when a cannabis plant becomes excessively stressed. Some plant stressors include, Plant damage, Bad weather, Disease, Nutrient deficiencies or bad light cycles. There are two types of hermaphrodite plants, a plant that develops both buds and pollen sacs, a plant that produces anthers, commonly referred to as “bananas” due to their appearance. While both result in pollen production, true hermaphrodites produce sacs that need to rupture, while the anthers are exposed, pollen-producing stamen. This often occurs when the cannabis plants are under stress, it is important to monitor the plants after they have been exposed to the different stressors, Indoors, high temperatures, or light leaks are often the cause. Outdoors, a snapped branch might be repaired and then turn into a hermaphrodite.

Here are some other ways which can help in determining the sex of your cannabis plant, look for thicker, sturdier stalks with fewer leaves on male plants. A male plant, compared to a female plant of the same strain, generally has a thicker stalk. That is because it gets taller than female plants and needs to be able to support the weight. They also have fewer leaves than female plants. Check your plants regularly to identify the sex of them. If male plants are allowed to pollinate the female plants, they will severely lower the potential crop of your female plants. That is because, once fertilized, female plants spend energy producing seeds instead of THC, leading to a smaller harvest. If you are growing indoors you will likely be visiting your plants regularly, so the following checks should be easy to do. You need to check every plant to determine if it is a male or a female, as one rogue male plant can wreck your harvest. In general, the male plants show their sex 7-10 days (indoor) or 3 weeks (outdoor) before the female plants. Check the joints on the stalks of the male flowers. The little balls that grow on the joints of the stalk, where the other branches meet the main stalk, are the main indicators of a male plant. These pollen sacs and flowers release the pollen and need to be removed for a better crop. If you are trying to create new plants or reproduce, you need to leave these balls undisturbed. Female plants will have these bulbs too, but will also have long, translucent hairs on them. If you only see 1-2 on a plant, wait and see if more develop.

Know that hermaphroditic, both sexes, cannabis plants exist, and should be treated as male plants. Cannabis plants can grow both sex organs. If you see any of the tell-tale male buds, you should trim them like you would a normal male plant. They will still release pollen that can ruin your grow space. "Hermies" are generally undesirable plants, and they can ruin a small grow space with their pollen if you are not careful. Throw out or remove the male plants unless you specifically want to get seeds. Once you have determined a plant is a male, you need to get rid of it or it will ruin your grow space. Do not try and remove the buds by hand, as missing even a few will significantly decrease your bud’s intensity. While most growers simply throw the plants out, a few keep them around for breeding purposes. If you do, put them in a separate room from the female plants, and make sure you do not track pollen in from the male plants room to the female plants room on your clothes or hands.  Let the plants grow for roughly six weeks before sexing the plants. Cannabis plants, both the male and the female, will be identical in the first 6 weeks of life. It is only after they have begun developing their sex organs later on that you will be able to differentiate them. You can purchase "feminized" seeds as well, which usually create close to 100% female plants. However, there are occasional errors, and you should still keep a close eye on your cannabis plants to make sure there are no rogue male plants.

Note the fuller bodies of leaves, when compared to the male plant, on a grown female plant. If you are trying to sex mature plants, one of the easiest indicators is how bushy or leafy the female plants get. The male plants have thicker, sturdier stalks and very few leaves. A female plant of the same strain will be shorter and bushier, with more leaves, especially near the top of the plant. Check the joints by the stalk for small, translucent hairs. Once the plant has matured enough, the female plant will begin to flowering. At the joints where the branches meet the main stalk, you will see small, translucent hairs, known as pistols, coming out of a small, tear-shaped bud tucked in the joint of the stem. Frequently, there will also be "growth tips," which are new branches and groups of leaves, growing as well. Male plants will have the small buds (pollen sacs) but will not have the associated hair growing out of it. Plants can grow both pollen sacs and pistols. If it does, it is hermaphroditic and should be treated like a male. Separate your female plants from any male plants, as only female plants create buds. Only female plants will produce enough THC to be used as medicine, but they will not create much if they become fertilized. The pistol is meant to attract pollen. If it gets it, it will create a seed, and all the plants energy and nutrients will be spent making seeds, not making big, THC-full buds. Your female plants are the only ones that will produce a crop, but only if they stay away from the male plants.