6

Recognizing and Differentiating Between Male and Female Cannabis Plants

With hundreds of years of effort, we have developed many varieties of cannabis. We now have the choice to grow whatever variety we want. Do you remember when I told you about how different strains are produced?

Female Cannabis plant

Let me remind you! For a new strain, all you need is to grow a male and female plant of a different strain alongside of each other. The male plant will pollinate the female plant during its flowering stage and the seeds that are produced as a result will be of a new strain. That new strain will have the combined qualities of its parent plants.

6.1 Importance of Recognizing and Differentiating

Recognition and differentiation are important for a grower to get the maximum benefits in terms of crop value. You would like to get primarily female plants because they produce more buds and give more value to your crop. Male plants are used when you want to get seeds from your crop. But as an enthusiastic grower, generally all you want is to get maximum amount of buds and little to no seeds at all.

Let’s come to the main point:

6.1.1.         Why knowing this is important for you?

6.1.2.         Why do you need to know the differences between male and female plants?

6.1.3.         Why feminized seeds have been developed?

One of the most important things, which made us realize that it's the female plant that we want to grow, is the amount of THC and CBD in the buds of female plants. THC and CBD amount is our main motivation for our efforts in growing cannabis. We want our plants to give us maximum output and that output is best attained if we grow only female plants. Male plants produce pollens that are used for fertilization and once a female plant is fertilized, its efforts and energy are consumed in making seeds. Here I will try to inform you of the most important differences between male and female plants so that at the end of this unit, you will be able to differentiate between the male and female plants. After knowing the differences, you will be able to remove male plants from your cannabis crop to gain the maximum output of THC and CBD.

THC and CBD amount is our main motivation for our efforts in growing cannabis. We want our plants to give us maximum output and that output best attained if we grow only female plants. Male plants produce pollens that are used for fertilization and once a female plant is fertilized, its efforts and energy are consumed in making seeds.

6.2 Male Plant Identification

You should know that there are two stages of development. The childhood phase is called the vegetative phase and adult phase which is called the flowering phase. It is difficult to differentiate between male and female plants during their vegetative phase. The stalk of the male plant is thicker, and the plant has few leaves compared to the female plant. The male plants usually grow higher than the female plants. So, they need to have thick stalk to get support for their growth. The main focus of the plants during the vegetative phase is to grow big and grow tall. They only begin to produce seeds/buds at the end of 6th week when they start entering into the flowering phase.

Male plants produce pollen and that pollen is present where the stalks grow from the main stem. They are present there in the shape of a ball. The pollen is present within those balls and it usually takes 3 weeks for the ball to burst and release all the pollen. You need to make sure to remove those balls before they burst. Because once they burst, you can't stop the production of seeds by your nearby female cannabis plants that have been fertilized by those pollens. Once the pollen ruptures, they look like a small ball that has burst. One more important feature to look for is pistils. Male plants don't have pistils at all.

Cannabis leaves and stem

6.3 Female Plant Identification

Female plants have been the focus of humans since the beginning. Female Cannabis plants produce buds and those buds have the most important psychoactive compound, THC, in them. Those buds and all their qualities can be lost by just a single male plant fertilizing your plant and your plant will end up making seeds in place of buds and unfortunately, you can’t smoke seeds.

The main features of the female plant are:

• Female plants are small in height.
• They have more leaves at the end of the vegetative phase as well as at full maturation.
• They have thin stalks.
• You can look for the female plants as their flowers open and they have small hairs on them which are called pistils.
• Male plants don't produce pistils.

Female plant showing hairy pistils

6.4 How to Look for Hermaphrodites?

As you know, there are separate male and female cannabis plants but you should also remember that both male and female plants can turn into hermaphrodites when put under stress. However, turning into hermaphrodite can be natural as well. These plants have buds as well as pollen. So, one part of the plant produces pollen which will then fertilize the other part of the plant that has been producing female buds.

You should be aware of the stress factors that can cause your plants to turn into hermaphrodites:

• Insects or pathogens
• Lack of water
• Lack of Light/Excessive light
• Coldwater
• Too much water
• Lack of night cycle

Remember that both male and female plants can turn into hermaphrodites when put under stress. However, turning into hermaphrodite can be natural as well.

You should be aware that hermaphrodites are not the type of plants you should keep in your crop. I would advise you to remove these from your crop. They are not worth their presence just because they produce a small number of buds.

6.5 Differentiation Between Male and Female Plants

A regular visit to your plants is important to get the maximum output from the crop. A single male plant can pollinate a lot of female plants. You can recognize the male plant 7-10 days early in case of indoor and 3 weeks early, in case of female plants, due to their ball-like buds that burst later.

• Little stalks grow out from the main trunk of the plant and this is the area where ball-like structure grows on the male plant. This structure has a fewer number than those present in a female plant but in that case, they have little translucent hairs on it, and it is usually long.
• After 6 weeks of initial vegetative growth, if you look at your crop, you can easily identify female plants based on having more leaves, being bushy, and short.
• If you look at the stalks emerging from the female plants, you will see small hairy structures which are called pistils. They are easily identifiable for you due to their and emerging from the triangular area of the joint.
• It is quite possible for you to see a plant that has pollen sacs and pistils. This type of plant should be considered as a male plant and should be removed.

After 6 weeks of initial vegetative growth, if you look at your crop, you can easily identify female plants based on having more leaves, being bushy, and short

6.6 Do You Know Why the Pistil is Hairy?

A small sac-like structure with translucent hairs that you see on a female plant is called pistils. This is hairy because it must attract pollens for fertilization so that the plant can make seeds. If it gets pollen from the nearby male plant, it utilizes its maximum energy in making seeds. And as a result, your crop value is decreased.

6.7 Conclusion

Now you should be able to recognize and differentiate between male and female plants.

Male plants being tall and female plants being short in height. Female plants having more leaves than the male counterparts. Male plants producing pollen sacs whereas female plants producing pistils. Male plants having thick stalk compared to the female plants. One trick to aid in identifying them is to regular visit your plants as you can identify and isolate male plants well before they are able to release pollens and fertilize your female plants. You can do it approximately 3 weeks before they burst. To be frank, it will be really easy for you to recognize the differences. One thing I would like to share is the quality and aroma of weed that you get at the end which is more potent in plants that have been grown in more natural ways. The plants which have been grown with only feminized seeds will produce more buds but at the cost of quality to some extent. This is the reason many expert cannabis growers stick to the regular seeds for their crops. In this way, they prefer to get quality smoke to the quantity of smoke.

One trick to aid in identifying them is to regular visit your plants as you can identify and isolate male plants well before they are able to release pollens and fertilize your female plants.