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Feminized Seeds vs Regular: Pros and Cons of Both

Making a choice for feminized seeds vs regular isn’t always easy.

When you go to a seed shop, all you see is feminized seeds. Most customers just buy whatever everybody else buys, but some people don’t like the idea of their seeds being genetically modified, and so they are suspicious. If you too have second thoughts about buying feminized seeds, our post will help you make an informed choice.

Let’s Define Feminized Seeds First

Feminized cannabis seeds are the seeds that have been genetically manipulated in such a way that the plants grown from them are almost always female.

In contrast, regular seeds grow into plants that can either become male or female, with more or less a 50/50 chance.

If you want more details and insights into the biology and history of feminized seeds and what to expect of them, we’ve written a separate post about it.

Are Feminized Seeds Bad?

The short answer is NO, they’re OK.

It’s true that some 30 years ago—when fems first made their appearance on the weed scene—growers routinely ran into problems with feminized seeds. The reason was that, initially, the process of feminization involved too much stress. As you might know, stressed marijuana plants often turn into hermaphrodites. And if they later produce seeds, those seeds inherit this feature, too. Meaning the seeds harvested from hermie plants grow into hermies as well if they’re stressed even slightly.

Fortunately, today’s market—with its huge supply and ruthless competition—forces breeders to eliminate stress from their practices. Most of them offer customers very stable genetics. I myself have seen regular plants change sex for no particular reason. And fem plants that were standing next to them were perfectly alright. So, feminized seeds aren’t good or bad per se. It all depends on the breeder who’s made them.

So Are Feminised Seeds Better Then?

I risk making purists angry, but I think that yes, they are. If you grow cannabis for buds, the choice of feminized seeds vs regular is a no-brainer.

With regular seeds, you’ll have to plant twice as many seeds as you need. Don’t forget that half of them will produce males and you’ll throw them away. This will leave gaps in your grow room that’ll have to be filled somehow. Besides, it’s a waste of resources if you take care of a plant for several weeks, and then it goes in a trashcan.

You’ll also have to watch your plants vere closely after you flip the switch to 12/12. It’s the time when plants reveal their sex, and males must be discarded IMMEDIATELY. You should never risk leaving them in your grow room for an extra couple of days for whatever reason. Even one pollen sack could ruin your whole crop.

And when you grow pot outdoors, guerilla-style, and can’t afford to visit your secret patch very often, the possibility of even one plant turning male in your absence is a major headache. Hell, cross-pollination can happen even if male and female plants are within 10 miles of each other, let alone in the same patch!

With feminized seeds, you’ll have none of these worries.

Are Feminized Seeds Less Potent?

There is nothing in the genetic makeup of feminized seeds to make them less potent than regular seeds. The genes that determine the sex of a plant have no influence over potency. And the same goes for terpenes. So, stuff grown from feminized seeds will smell and taste good and will make you as high as the buds grown from regular seeds.

Do Feminized Seeds Yield Less?

The yields that you can expect from cannabis seeds don’t depend on whether they are feminized or not. So, if you go to a seed shop and see two versions of the same genetics—feminized and regular—rest assured that both yield exactly the same. Yields may be high or just average, but either way it has nothing to do with feminization.

Feminized Seeds Disadvantages vs Regular Seeds

The main disadvantage is the higher price compared to regular seeds. However, recently the prices have been going down. At least some breeders sell their feminized beans very cheap.

One more (rather obvious) thing is that if you want to produce your own seeds the old-fashioned way (when male and female plants grow next to each other, and pollination occurs naturally), you can’t do it with feminized seeds.

And even if you want to make your own feminized seeds (which is not so hard btw), you have a choice to use either feminized seeds or not, but it’s probably best to take genetics that are more ‘natural’, that is regular seeds.

Another drawback has more to do with the integrity of a particular breeder. And it doesn’t matter whether they make feminized seeds or regular. If they’re in a hurry to market half-baked strains and make a profit, it’s one thing. In this case, you may expect a great deal of variance of phenotypes. Probably, also a fair share of hermies and mutants from both feminised or regular seeds. But if they make sure to stabilize their varieties over several generations, it’s a totally different thing.

So read reviews about a breeder and their strains, look for how stable their plants are and whether growers have ever problems with hermies. If the breeder checks out, their feminized seeds can be better than non feminized seeds by another, less scrupulous breeder.

Bottom Line: Feminised Seeds Rule!

Purists and traditionalists never win in the long run. Progress always does. So don’t look down on such a wonderful modern invention as feminized seeds. In most situations and contexts, they are your best bet.

Feminized Seeds Explained: Let’s Separate Fact from Fiction

Today, feminized seeds are everywhere. You can grow weed for years without actually laying your eyes on anything else. As if marijuana were a single sex (female) plant all along. But it isn’t so, and it’s best to have clear answers to the following questions about feminized seeds: what does it mean and what exactly to expect from them? These questions are not just theoretical, but have a real practical value.

What is a Feminised Weed Seed Exactly?

Here’s a very short and pragmatic feminized seeds definition for you. Feminized seeds are cannabis seeds that turn into female plants only. This is how they differ from regular seeds which can turn either female or male. Now let’s talk about it in more detail.

As you may know, cannabis has two distinct sexes. Take a bunch of seeds from plants grown in nature and sow them. Some of them will grow into male plants and some — into female plants. The ratio will be around 50/50. Growers call such natural seeds regular.

For some time, regular seeds were all that was available to weed growers. The first small batches of seeds that deserved the name ‘feminized’ started to appear in the beginning of 1990s in Amsterdam. It was the founder of Dutch Passion who first offered them. Today, Dutch Passion is one of the oldest commercial seed banks that are still around.

The feature of this new type of seeds was that they grew into female plants more than 95% of the time. In fact, closer to 100%. It was a God’s gift for bud growers because now they didn’t have to throw away half of their plants at the beginning of the flowering. They knew that there would be only females in their garden and that they would harvest buds from every seed they had sowed.

Are Feminised Seeds Always Female?

Well, ideally they should be, and serious breeders go to great lengths to ensure that ALL their feminized seeds become female, but in reality they never are. Not 100%. Even the best feminized seeds produce males occasionally. Fortunately, such occasions are rare. Statistically speaking, you should grow close to a hundred of plants before you see a male intruder in an all-girl team. So can feminised seeds turn male? Yes, they can, but it’s highly unlikely for you to have this issue with your very first attempt.

What Makes a Feminised Seed?

The feminized seeds definition we’ve given above doesn’t explain how exactly breeders manipulate the beans into producing only females. In a few words, cannabis plants can change their sex in response to stress or when exposed to certain chemicals. It means that females can turn into males and produce pollen sacks instead of flowers.

Growers have long noticed this phenomenon. It’s called hermaphroditism and is a very unwelcome thing in your garden because you want buds without seeds and ‘female’ pollen will make all the buds go to seed and your whole crop will be ruined.

So, growers had been fighting ‘hermies’ for a long time, but they didn’t immediately realize that the seeds that they got in their buds because of female pollen would grow into female plants only. Well, hermaphrodite plants to be exact. Meaning that they will mostly produce female buds, but also some pollen sacks whenever they experience too much stress.

Believe it or not, the very first batches of feminised seeds marketed by Dutch Passion in the early 90s were made exactly this way. The plants were stressed to the point that they hermied and then hermies-prone seeds were harvested and sold. No wonder that those initial barbaric methods gave feminized seeds a bad reputation and still make some purists use only regular beans. You can read more about ‘feminised seeds vs regular’ controversy in a separate post.

Feminized Seeds Without Hermies Are the New Norm

The time when ‘fems’ and ‘hermies’ were practically synonyms is long gone. Now, breeders produce feminised seeds in a totally different way. They use special chemicals for this. It could be gibberellic acid or silver thiosulfate or such a simple solution as colloidal silver water made with the use of a homemade 9V battery feminisation kit. Anyway, none of these techniques involves any stress. It means that the resulting seeds are no more prone to hermies than their regular counterparts.

There is even a special method to make sure that a plant you choose for making feminized seeds isn’t predisposed to hermies at all.

How to Select a Feminized Plant That Won’t Hermie?

It works like this. You take a bunch of regular seeds, grow plants from them, put them into the flowering mode, and when they reveal their sex, discard all males. As for the remaining females, you wait till they begin to flower in earnest and then start to stress them. You can doi it by constantly changing the light cycle: when today it’s 12/12, tomorrow — 18/6, then — 14/10, etc. All weaker genetics—when ‘punished’ this way—will turn hermies at some point. And the ones that stay female despite all the stress are definitely keepers. Meaning they are your best choice for feminized seeds production.

Do Feminized Seeds Produce Different Phenotypes?

Making seeds that always turn female and making seeds that grow into very uniform-looking plants are two completely different things. So, with feminized seeds, a breeder never guarantees that you will get only one pheno. The phenotipic variance can be as huge as with regular seeds. And if you want feminised seeds that don’t have different phenotypes, make sure that the breeder or reviewers describe the strain as stable.

So, we did our best to define feminized seeds’ meaning. Now let’s take a few moments to dispel some misconceptions that people have about this type of marijuana seeds.

Feminized vs Autoflowering

Some people, when they choose a strain, wonder what they should rather buy: feminized seeds or autoflowering. As if these were opposing terms. In fact, they are not. The confusion is understandable: seed shops offer seeds in two large categories:

feminized autoflowering seeds -> usually shortened to just ‘autoflowering seeds’,
feminized photoperiod seeds -> usually shortened to just ‘feminized seeds’.

The fact that the words not marked in bold are too often omitted has created this confusion. In fact, there are also regular autoflowering seeds and regular photoperiod seeds, but neither category is very popular. Most newbies don’t even see them when they shop for seeds. All they see are the words ‘feminized’ and ‘autoflowering’, and so they feel like they should choose either one or the other. The good thing is you can have both. Autoflowering feminized seeds produce only girls, and they all start to flower automatically.

This confusion aside, we’ve written a separate post discussing pros and cons of autoflowering vs non autoflowering seeds.

How to Tell Feminized from Non Feminized Seeds

Another misconception is that feminized seeds somehow look different than other types of seeds. Not by a long shot. A seed is a seed. It can be small or large, or it can look mature or immature, but, other than that, you can’t tell anything about the seed’s genetics by just looking at it.

It can be medical cannabis or hemp, sativa or indica, an auto strain or a photoperiod one, it can be a high THC or low THC variety, or CBD rich etc. and all of them will look just the same.

And if you insist on knowing what type of seeds you have—feminized or not—the only sure way is to wait till they flower.

Do Feminised Plants Produce Seeds?

If feminized seeds catch some pollen, they do produce seeds. After all, they are feminized, not castrated. The reason why people have seed-free harvest of buds from feminised seeds is because they don’t have any males in their grow room and no male pollen. But if you get some pollen inside your grow space (from outside or from hermies), your plants will get pollinated, no matter feminized or not. So, if you bought only fems and still your feminised plant has seeds, look for the source of pollen.

How to Grow Feminized Seeds

There is a whole group of questions from novice growers regarding germination and planting of feminised seeds, their grow time and flower time, light cycle, phenotypes and what not.

We’ve already said that feminized seeds look exactly like non-feminized. Well, they also grow the same and should get the same treatment as regular seeds. The only real difference is that you won’t have to cull the males when the plants in your garden show sex.

Maybe there is one more difference. If the breeder hasn’t done his job properly and his fem seeds genetics are unstable, the seeds will be more prone to become hermaphrodites. In this case, take extra care not to stress your feminized plants at any point of their life cycle. Other than that, take care of them just the normal way and you’ll be alright.

Monster Cropping Weed Plants: Everything You Need to Know

For an advanced grower, monster cropping is another powerful weapon in the ongoing battle for every additional gram per watt. Read on and decide for yourself whether this unconventional method of weed growing suits your needs and is worth trying.

Monster Cropping Definition

Monster cropping simply means growing cannabis from clones that have been taken from a flowering plant.

Most of you know that taking cuttings from a plant you like is a great way to keep its genetics. You simply cut off a branch, make it root, and thus get a true copy of the original. Some of you also know that cloning should normally be done during the vegetative stage, before the flowering begins. Clones that are still in veg are very easy to root, and even beginners can use this technique successfully on their first attempt.

A monster cropping clone, on the other hand, is taken from a pot plant that has been in the flowering mode for 2-3 weeks and already has some noticeable bud growth. This results in some difficulties: mostly with rooting, but also with reverting the clone back to veg.

WHY going to all this trouble then is an altogether different question, and we’ll answer it presently (see below), but for now let us explain what the word ‘monster’ means in the name of this method.

Well, first of all, your cuttings will look like ugly little monsters once you have reverted them back to veg. They WILL grow new leaves, but they’ll look like mutants: single leaflet, with round shape, and smooth edges. Only after some time, leaves of normal shape will appear.

Another monstrosity is the number of side branches. Some people say that every pistil (female hair) on the bud transforms into a separate side shoot. It’s hardly true, but certainly seems that way.

And finally come the monster harvests that you’ll (hopefully) get if you use this technique.

Does Monster Cropping Work All the Time?

Monster cropping does work for skilled and experienced growers, but the results depend on the genetics of the plant. Some are very difficult to monster crop, and others — impossible.

Monster Cropping Autoflowers

This is the case where the method doesn’t work. The reason is that once autoflowers have begun to flower, they cannot be reverted back to the vegetative stage. There’s simply no way to make them do it.

For photoperiod plants, you can change the light cycle from 12/12 to 18/6 and thus signal them to stop producing flowers and resume the vegetative growth. Autos, on the other hand, don’t have any inbuilt mechanism to react to light schedule. No matter how many hours of light you give them each day, they simply do their thing according to their own inner clock.

For the same reason, it’s not worth your while to clone an autoflowering strain BEFORE it begins to bloom. If you manage to root your cutting, it’ll never grow into a big plant, but rather stay the same size, with no side growth, and very few bud sites. The yield from such a clone would be even smaller than if you had simply left the branch on the parent plant.

Click on the link to learn more about the difference between autoflowering vs normal (photoperiod) weed.

Monster Cropping Sativa vs Indica

Sativas and sativa-dominant hybrids clone more easily than indicas and indica doms. Just put a sativa cutting into a glass of water (or stick it into soil), and it will probably take root in no time. Indicas require much more time and effort. Also in terms of your convenience it’s much easier to monster crop plants with open structure and long internodes (sativa strains again).

So, you may experiment with any photoperiod variety (not autoflowers though), but keep in mind that the ease and the success rate will be very much different for different genetics.

Monster Cropping Pros and Cons

Pros

Your second chance to save the genetics you like. Suppose you didn’t expect much from a plant until it began to flower. Now you see that it smells and looks awesome and has more promising buds than the rest, and so you want to have another go with exactly the same genetics. It’s too late for normal cloning, but monster cropping gives you another chance.

No need to keep a mother. Normally, a grower who prefers to work with clones rather than seeds has to keep a collection of mother plants to take cuttings from. This requires a separate grow space which not everybody can afford. Monster cropping allows you to have a perpetual growing cycle where you take cuttings from your current plant and use one of them for the next grow.

Take as many clones as you need. Monster cropping plants makes them so branchy that you can trim and prune them without affecting their health, growth rate, and yields. Note that this will work only starting with the second generation (in the first one, you’ll have just an ordinary plant, with a ‘normal’ amount of side shoots).

Numerous bud sites and insane yields. What does monster cropping do is it makes clones develop an intimidating amount of branches. You have a perfect opportunity to make each of them covered with buds, and thus your harvests could be spectacular.

cannabis plant with multiple branches with a huge yield potential

Compact, bushy plants with an even canopy. As an indoor grower, you know the importance of keeping your tops at an equal distance from lights. This is rather difficult to achieve with tree-like plants, but if your marijuana is a short and wide bush, your gram-per-watt ratios will skyrocket.

It works in hydro as well as in soil. You can try monster cropping in almost any setup, including soil, coco, hydroponics, and even outdoors (see below).

You can use any method of training. Once your clones have rooted and returned to veg, you can start to shape the canopy using your favorite training technique: LST, topping, fimming, supercropping, lollipopping. The best method (in terms of yields) seems to be ScrOG because you will have so many branches to fill your net with.

Bigger harvests with fewer plants. This is especially important where there are legal limits as to the number of plants that you can grow for your personal needs. With monster cropping, a single plant has the potential to fill your whole grow space.

Cons

YOU CAN’T DO MONSTER CROPPING WITH AUTOS. We’ve already covered that (see above).

Not all your clones will root. As we have already mentioned, flowering branches need more time to root, and the conditions must be close to perfect. The success rate will never be 100%. So, depending on your skills and the genetics you work with, take at least 25% more cuttings than you intend to keep.

Rooting and reveg take time. With regular clones, rooting may take anywhere from 5 to 7 days, and then you can veg them like regular seedlings. With monster cropping clones, rooting itself takes longer. And then the cuttings need to change gears from budding back to vegging which takes even more time.

Short and dense varieties are difficult to work with. We’ve already touched upon this subject while discussing the difficulty level of monster cropping sativa vs indica. This method makes any strain more dense and compact. With shorter varieties, this tendency can be too much .

There’s a risk of stress and hermies, as a result. This is a high-stress technique, and if your plant is predisposed to hermaphroditism, as some feminized genetics unfortunately are, you risk seeing some male bananas in your buds.

Is Monster Cropping Worth It?

This method is definitely not for every situation, nor every setup. Read carefully the pros and cons above and choose the best course of action. Don’t think that monster cropping AUTOMATICALLY means monster harvests. It may be so in some contexts, but not every time.

Monster Cropping Yield

Your yield per plant will definitely be spectacular because every plant grown this way will be huge, but not tall at the same time. As for grams per watt, there’s no guarantee. With so many branches and bud sites, and an even canopy, the potential for better yields is definitely there. However, you’ll have to go an extra mile to match this potential with good growing practices.

monster cropping many fat and dense colas

Monster Cropping Step by Step

Choose a plant to be cloned, make it start flowering at 12/12 for 2-3 weeks. Some people say that even one week after the 12/12 flip is enough, but probably it isn’t. After just one week, all you see are only hints of future buds on plant tops, and you need real flowers for monster cropping to be successful.
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Choose a branch closer to the bottom part of the plant. These branches are usually better for cloning than the ones on top. The length should be at least 4 inches (10 cm). Shorter branches work, too, but the success rate is lower. Cut off the chosen branch with scissors and immediately put it into a glass of water, the colder, the better. Your goal is to prevent air bubbles from forming inside the branch, or else it could rot.
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Cut every leaflet in half, the same way as you do with regular clones. This helps reduce evaporation from the leaves. If the leaves are left intact, they will droop, especially under low humidity conditions. As for the buds, some people say that they should be removed, but better leave them be.
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Take a sharp knife and make a long, diagonal cut just above the original cut. This is the place where roots will appear, so the more surface area the cut has, the more potential roots you’ll get. Some people also scratch the surface of the stem above the cut. Or make shallow vertical cuts with the tip of the knife. New roots can grow from these damaged places as well. It’s best to perform all these procedures underwater.
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Quickly dip the cut into a rooting gel (or powder) and stick the clone into its rooting medium. It can be a rockwool plug, 1x1x2 inches (2,5×2,5×5 cm) or a bit bigger. Of course some clones can be rooted in a glass of water, but probably not the flowering ones. Besides, rooting in a glass of water generally takes more time and has a lower success rate.
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Keep the clones under a humidity dome and reduced light (T5s or CFLs would be perfect) until you see new roots appearing through the sides and at the bottom of the rockwool plug. Don’t let the rockwool dry out. From Day 1 of cloning and all the way through the reveg, the lighting schedule should be at least 18 hours of day and 6 hours of light. This will signal the plants that they should switch from the flowering mode back to vegging.
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Wait till the ‘mutant’ growth is finally replaced with normal leaves and veg the plants until they reach the desired proportions. At this step, you do what you would normally do with vegging cannabis: transplant it into containers of appropriate size, feed it nutrients with a lot of nitrogen, train it until you get a flat and even canopy. Or better yet install a ScrOG net and weave the branches through the mesh.
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Flip to 12/12 and don’t forget to take another batch of cuttings in 2-3 weeks (if you want yet another cycle of monster cropping).

An unknown indica strain monster cropped and put into the flowering room. See the journal on Grow Diaries.

These are two clones that were monster cropped off the plant in my first dairy… They were revegged for probably 3 months under insufficient light… I did some extensive pruning to remove the crazy growth near the main stems and small bud sites that won’t develop. Because of the spread out structure of the plants I didn’t have to top them.

Thanas_Garden

Using This Technique on Outdoor Plants

You can do monster cropping for outdoor weed as well, but only in those mild, warm, and sunny climates where the growing season is extra long.

You should start the first generation of plants some time at the end of winter: when days are still short, so your cannabis can start flowering.

In spring, when days get longer, you can take some flowering cuttings and make them root. Then your goal is to induce revegging. Depending on the time of year, it can either be done under natural light, or you can extend daytime to at least 18/6 with artificial light. By the time the clones are vegging again, days will already be long enough so that there is no danger of any premature flowering.

The flowering will actually start at the end of summer and will be over in fall (when you get your second harvest).

As you may guess, monster cropping outdoor plants is very tricky: too much depends on the correct timing, so you’ll probably need some trial and error before you come up with a perfect schedule for a particular strain.

How Long Does Monster Cropping Take?

Let us compare the timeline of monster cropping with that of regular growing from clones. The process of rooting takes up to 7 days for normal clones and a bit more – for clones with buds on it. Let’s say 10 days.

Monster Cropping Reveg

For normal clones, you can start vegging them as soon as they have formed roots. With monster cropping clones you can’t do that right away. You must first let them reveg for 2-3 weeks or more.

Monster Cropping Veg Time

This stage is no different from any other cannabis plants grown from clones or seeds. It all depends on the final size that you aim for. Since the goal of monster cropping is usually to grow a big plant with a lot of girth, the vegetative stage will probably take you several weeks, 3 at least. Note that if you decide to top your plants to make them bushier, each topping instance will extend the veg by 1 week or so.

Monster Cropping Flower Period Duration

Again, it is exactly the same as with other growing methods. There is a small difference between plants grown from seeds and from clones. Clones are more mature (genetically) than seedlings of the same size and so they start to flower sooner after you switch to 12/12. They also probably finish a bit faster. However, the difference isn’t really significant.

So, compared to regular clones, you’ll need about 2.5-3.5 weeks more which is the time mostly needed for re-vegging.

Now You Know Enough to Decide if This Will Work for You

Though no magic bullet, this method can work miracles in some situations. In others, it will just make things harder for you. So weigh in all advantages and disadvantages before you decide to use this unorthodox and rather complicated technique.

How to Make Feminized Seeds with Colloidal Silver

We were curious how easy it was to make feminized seeds with colloidal silver at home. So we ran a little experiment and got more than 1500 viable beans without any issues. You too can do the same and make a nice stash of female plant seeds for yourself by following these step-by-step instructions.

But let’s start with a bit of theory (you can skip this part and get down to business straightaway).

What are Feminized Seeds, and How are Seeds Feminized?

In nature, cannabis plants have two distinct sexes: male and female. However, only female plants produce buds for smoking. And if these buds catch some pollen, they will be subpar in quality because they will be full of seeds and not so big and also less resinous. That’s why growers who use regular seeds must watch their plants closely and cull all males in their garden as soon as they reveal their sex. Not very convenient, is it?

It all changed with the introduction of seeds that grow into fem plants in 99% of cases. They were named feminized seeds. So, are feminized seeds always female? In the majority of cases, yes, they are guaranteed to be female. However there are ways to make fem seeds hermie, meaning they will turn male or at least produce a few male flowers inside female buds. This can happen for seeds with weak genetics, or it can be a reaction to stress.

Male Plants no Longer Necessary

And this is exactly the feature that is used for manipulating feminised plants into producing feminised seeds. You don’t need any males for that. If you use a male to pollinate a plant grown from a fem seed, the result will be a bunch of regular seeds. And if you want fem seeds only, you should use one female plant as mother and another female plant as father. Or, alternatively, you can opt for self-pollination: when a single plant is used to both produce pollen and grow seeds.

There are several methods to make a feminised plant turn male. We won’t discuss here the most barbarian one — when breeders subject their plants to high levels of stress and they are turning hermie as a result. Although, believe it or not, the first commercially available seeds were made exactly this way, back in the early 1990s. You may guess the obvious drawback of such seeds: plants grown from them often become hermaphrodites even under normal conditions.

There is a less invasive method that modern breeders use. I’m talking about spraying a plant (or an individual branch of a plant) with a colloidal silver solution. This changes the chemistry inside the plant to make fem seeds male, and does so without any stress. As a result, we get seeds on a female weed plant without making them prone to hermies.

How to Make Feminized Seeds Using Colloidal Silver Spray

First, you need to make a colloidal silver generator and use it to produce the solution for your feminized seed spray. It’s unbelievably cheap, quick, and easy. Judge for yourself by clicking the link above and reading our step-by-step guide. The result should look more or less like this:

You should start using your feminised seed spray on a plant as soon as it starts flowering. You can apply it on all branches or just one. In the latter case, cover the rest from spatter. Please remember that silver is a toxic heavy metal and can poison you. You should never smoke colloidal silver weed.

It had taken us 4 weeks before we saw clearly that male flowers began to form. It was our first experiment, and we wasted many days applying the solution with a paintbrush. Don’t do that. It’s stupid. Just cover the rest of the plant with a piece of plastic and spray the chosen branch until it’s thoroughly wet. Do it once a day.

At some point, you’ll notice little green balls appear among female hairs (pistils): first closer to the top, then further down. Continue to apply colloidal silver spray until male ‘balls’ completely oust female pistils and start to look like a bunch of grapes. Only then you can stop spraying.

And this is how another branch on the same plant looks. It was not sprayed, so it only has female flowers:

After another month the male flowers will turn yellow and start to open:

Pollen Everywhere

Pollination is in full swing now, even if you don’t see the pollen. It consists of millions of tiny particles, and they fly everywhere.

Btw, pollinating buds at such a late stage of flowering is not the best idea. It would be better if the male pollen were ready a couple of weeks earlier, when the buds weren’t that mature. That would result in a) more seeds, b) less time spent, and c) better quality seeds. Well, we’re not sure about c), but some people on forums say it’s true.

When the branch with male flowers on it is fully mature, cut it, place it on a table, and rub it with your fingers until all yellow flowers fall off:

Then move the flowers this way and that with a credit card. The pollen will stick to the card’s edge. Shake it off into a separate heap:

To store and later use the pollen more conveniently, you can mix it with the equal amount of flour:

We put the mixture into an empty gelatin capsule and placed it in the refrigerator for storage..

Let me stress that we never used the pollen harvested this way to sprinkle on the plant. All pollination happened before we cut off the male branch. The seeds were fully mature 3 weeks after that. In this photo, you see only some of them. Later, we harvested at least as much.

How Soon Can You Plant Seeds After Harvesting Them?

We spent some time looking for an answer. People on forums say that the fresher the seeds, the lower germination rates. If you want to have good germination, give your homemade seeds some time to dry. Let’s say a month or two. It would be enough to degrade the hormone that prevents seeds from sprouting.

Our Experiments with Self-Pollinated Feminized Seeds

Over the next couple of years, we did a lot of experiments with our homemade seeds. The germination rates were always close to 100%, although, we must confess, we handled the process in a most off-hand manner. It’s understandable when the seeds cost you pennies.

We brought several plants to maturity and can say that they are very true copies of the parent plant. All fems, no hermies. All start to flower automatically after 2.5-3 weeks, all have the same height as the parent, the same length of the flowering period, the same structure of buds, and the same type of high. We liked the original plant, so we also liked its copies.

To Recap

Making your own feminized seeds is fairly easy. If you want to make copies of an autoflower, this is the only way. If you want to copy a photoperiod strain, it works great as well, but you also have the option of taking cuttings. Cloning marijuana is quicker, but seeds are easier to give away or sell. Believe us: with our little harvest of seeds. we’ve made a lot of people happy.

Colloidal Silver Spray For Plants: Let’s Make a Generator in 10 Min.

In this post, I’m going to teach you how to obtain a colloidal silver spray for plants using a homemade colloidal silver generator. You can assemble one with nothing but a knife and a pair of pliers. You won’t need fancy circuit diagrams, plans, or schematics because it’s just a matter of buying a few supplies in a local store, connecting them to each other, and then following our simple colloidal silver recipe.

But first let’s see why we use colloidal silver for weed plants.

Using Colloidal Silver for Weed: A Breakthrough Technology Available to Anyone

In the 1990s, cannabis breeders came up with a method of producing feminized seeds by making fem plants produce male pollen sacks. At first, the technology was unbelievably crude by today’s standards: weed plants were stressed to the point where they began to ‘hermie’ and make pollen. Of course, the seeds grown this way were also prone to become hermaphrodites (which is a nightmare for a marijuana grower).

But breeders kept experimenting and came up with several methods of turning female plants into male which didn’t involve so much stress. One of these techniques is feminizing seeds with a colloidal silver spray.

Obviously, a spray is something that you can buy online. Or, alternatively, you can buy a colloidal silver generator and make your own colloidal silver solution of premium quality whenever you like. Better still, read our instructions, and in a few hours you’ll have a colloidal silver maker that is perfectly suitable for preparing a colloidal silver fem seed spray.

Colloidal Silver Generator: 9 Volt Battery Version

Parts, Supplies, and Tools

A small container with a cap (I used a urine container form a drugstore)
A 9V battery
A battery connector with wires
2 alligator clips
2 pieces of 999 silver
A knife (to strip wires and cut off molten plastic)
A pair of pliers (to hold alligator clips while heating them)
A tea kettle and a cooking pot (to distill water)
A TDS meter (optional)

How to Make a Battery Operated Colloidal Silver Generator

Take one of the alligator clips, hold it with a pair of pliers above a gas burner and then melt two holes in the cap of the container. When the plastic cools down, cut off any burrs with a knife.

Now you can easily insert and secure the clips in these holes and clamp your pieces of silver with them.

Using the knife, strip the ends of wires and connect them to the clips. I didn’t even have to use a soldering iron. The only thing left is to connect the 9V battery. Now, our low voltage colloidal silver generator is ready for use.

I promised you that it all will take no more than 10 minutes. In fact, it took even less!

Making Distilled Water

Now comes the most time consuming part – making distilled water. According to weed forums, it’s really absolutely necessary to use distilled water and 999 silver. This will ensure that your colloidal silver liquid is pure and of the best quality.

No pictures are necessary here. Just fill the kettle with water and make it boil. Then place the cooking pot filled with cold water above the spout and at an angle. This way the drops of water condensing on the bottom can slide down the slope and drip into the container. With a rate of a drop a second, I filled my container in 10 minutes or so.

Attention! After a while, the cooking pot and the cold water inside it will warm up and the drops will be far and between. You will need to change the water in the pot several times or use ice from the freezer (as I did).

You’ll need to fill your container to such a level that, with the cap closed, the ends of silver plates are immersed, but the clips are not. The clips SHOULD NOT touch the surface!

Measuring TDS of Colloidal Silver (Optional)

I’ll make one more (optional) step to make sure that the water is really distilled. My TDS meter shows just 2 parts per million. It’s practically medical grade quality!

Now let’s connect the battery. Our constant current colloidal silver generator begins operation, making colloidal silver water.

Colloidal Silver Spray for Plants: Optimal Concentration

I don’t know of any experiments that show which concentration is best for a feminized spray. People in forums say that to achieve the necessary colloidal silver ppm for weed it’s best to leave your colloidal silver home generator working overnight. Indeed, when I measured the concentration of the solution in the morning, it was 42 PPM. I expected the liquid to be clear or maybe have a yellow color, but it was like a strong tea.

The 999 silver plates turned dark on the surface.

In later experiments, I kept my colloidal silver maker machine running for fewer hours to make the solution just a bit yellow – like weak tea. So here’s my advice: if your colloidal silver water looks like tea, it’s strong enough for feminizing seeds. And if you have a TDS meter, make sure you achieve at least 20 ppm, and you’re good to go.

Colloidal Silver Spray for Plants in Action

And now look at our colloidal silver mist in action and the resulting bunches of male flowers that are full of pollen.

I’ve described the way colloidal silver spray can be used on weed plants in a separate article.

External Links:

Colloidal Silver – Health Information

Cannabis Seed Cracking Without a Cracker Tool

Sometimes, marijuana seeds are too weak or too old to sprout quickly, so you need to use some techniques to help them germinate. In this post, I will describe just one method – cannabis seed cracking.

The idea is that cracking requires some energy from an embryo and not all of them are strong enough for that. If you do this job for them, you help your seeds save energy and germinate faster. Besides, the process of germination requires some water to penetrate the shell, and if the seeds are old or haven’t been stored properly, their shell can get too dry to let water inside. The downside to this method is that you can damage the embryo if you squeeze the seed too hard.

Cannabis Seed Cracker: Is It Really Necessary?

I’ve come across a forum thread where people discuss buying a special cannabis seed cracker tool. I even watched a video where a weed grower uses it for seed cracking. You may google this gadget and spend a couple of dozens of dollars on it. But in my opinion there’s nothing special about a seed cracker. It’s just a simple contraption to hold a seed in place and gently apply pressure on it until the shell gives way with an audible crack. The cracking is done one seed at a time.

The good news is that you can do the same with your teeth just as easily!

Just firmly hold the seed with your finger tips, with the ridge positioned vertically and the pointy end facing outward. Gently bite on it with your teeth until you hear it crack. Then use your favorite germination method.

Cracked vs Uncracked

In my little experiment, I used 4 seeds of my OG Kush Auto that I’ve created myself. For some reason or other (because these feminized seeds were made by self-pollination maybe?), these beans are not very quick, especially if the room temperature is low, like it is now – 65-68 °F (18-20 °C). Let’s see if cracking makes any difference.

I’ve just placed 4 pot seeds between wet cotton disks.

After 36 hours, 2/2 of the cracked seeds and 1/2 of the uncracked (the one on the left) have shown tap roots.

After 60 hours, the situation has changed in favor of unckracked seeds. A least, the one in the bottom-right corner seems to be the winner.

72 hours (3 days) have passed, and the last seed to crack is also the strongest. The seeds that were cracked have crooked and somehow yellowish tap roots.

What Has My Cracking Experiment Demonstrated?

It is true that when you crack your marijuana seeds before germinating them, they may show tap roots earlier. However, the first one out of the gate isn’t necessarily the winner. Out of four seeds that I germinated I would definetely choose the one that was the last to crack. So, if you have a good fresh batch of seeds, don’t risk damaging them by cracking their shells. If the seeds are too old or haven’t been stored properly and wouldn’t germinate in a regular way, cracking may help.

Marijuana Germination: 3 Basic Methods Compared

Poor marijuana germination rates are the first issue that inexperienced growers face. Recently, a customer said he failed to germinate any of the seeds he had bought from me and complained. I decided to show him that my seeds were all viable and could be germinated successfully even with the crudest methods imaginable. Here’s how it went.

I took three caps from glass jars, three cotton disks, and 10 weed seeds.

Into one cap, I just poured a little tap water (of drinking quality) and dropped three of the seeds on the surface.

Then I soaked all the disks in the same tap water. I placed one disk into a cap without squeezing out the excess water and put three seeds on top. And then I squeezed the remaining two disks so that they were moist, but not wet through. I put the remaining four seeds there.

I placed all three caps on a window sill and covered them with a book because marijuana germination requires darkness. The temperature was about 77° Fahrenheit (25° Celcius). It’s well within the acceptable temperature range for marijuana.

After 64 hours, the results of my marijuana germination experiment were as follows:

On the surface of water – 2/3 germinated
On top of the soaked disk – 0/3 germinated
Between soaked but squeezed out disks – 4/4 germinated

Also, between the disks, the tap roots were the longest.

Interpreting the Results

What is the rationale behind this experiment? All too often, novice growers ‘drown’ their seeds in too much water. The thing is that embryos inside the seeds need oxygen to start growing. If you deprive them of oxygen, all processes stop. It happens when you put them too deep in the soil and water excessively. The same thing can happen when you don’t squeeze out the cotton disks.

So basically, pot seeds can be successfully germinated on the surface of water because below them there’s moisture and above them – oxygen, and there’s nothing to stop them from popping. I thought that by the same principle they would also easily germinate on the surface of a wet cotton disk, but the experiment has proven me wrong.

The method of germinating marijuana seeds between cotton disks demonstrated the best results in my experiment. No wonder this is the standard method for thousands of weed growers worldwide.

I also plan another experiment where I’ll be germinating one batch of seeds between squeezed out disks and the other one between disks that are dripping wet – just to show you how detrimental too much water is for the process of germination. Stay tuned.

Marijuana Germination in Soaked vs Moist Medium

Ha-ha! Great hypothesis! I’ve finished the experiment, and it was the exact opposite of what I had expected. As you can see on the photos below, the seeds that were germinating between wet-through disks have higher germination rates (5/5) and have on average longer tap roots (some of which are already covered by a lot of tiny ‘hairs’).

On the left, you can see the seeds that I kept between cotton disks that were thoroughly squeezed out (they were pretty dry after 3 days). On the right, there are seeds germinating between very wet disks.

So I propose another hypothesis (hope it’s not as far off the mark as the previous one): excess moisture is okay provided that seeds have free access to breathable air. It’s what happens to plants in DWC where their roots float in water all the time, but get all the oxygen they need in the form of bubbles from air stones. So, if you use very wet cotton disks (or paper towels), don’t press them too tight against each other. Let there be a bit of space between them for embryos to breathe.

Gorilla Glue Auto Review: Expect Highly Resinous Harvest

With the original Gorilla being such a popular international phenomena, it was a matter of time before breeders introduce some form of autoflowering Gorilla Glue or other. And today, there’s a great number of Gorilla Glue autoflower strains that try to preserve the coveted genetics. Besides, there are quite interesting crosses with other varieties.

So, if you want to raise this famous beast in 10 weeks from seed to harvest, your choice is seemingly unlimited. The question is whether THC levels and yields in these autos can be compared to the real thing. Well, there’s hardly any angry Gorilla Glue Auto review online, and reports mostly range from favorable to extatic. Read on to learn about this important addition to the huge Gorilla family.

Gorilla Glue Auto Info: What to Expect

This weed strain, including its automatic form, has been around long enough, so the information is abundant. From a grower’s perspective, this marijuana variety is beginner friendly and quite fast.

When to Harvest Gorilla Glue Auto

Harvest time can be as soon as 8-9 weeks from seeds, although 70-75 days is more common. Only some sativa leaning phenos in some specific strains (see in our list below) can take up to 90 days to mature.

Gorilla Glue Auto (Barney’s Farm) – Buy

Harvest Time: 70-75 days from seed

Gorilla G4 Auto (BlimBurn Seeds) – Buy

Harvest Time: 70 days from seed

View all Gorilla Glue Strains

The average height is 3+ feet. Some strains are more compact and bushy, others are of middle height and with a dominating central cola, and finally there are tall and branchy varieties with great yields. Hermie problems are reported, but very seldom. Most of the time, the genetics are stable and strong.

Indoor and Outdoor Grow: What’s More Rewarding?

For those of you who still don’t know, Gorilla is celebrated for its sticky, resinous buds. It’s like glue in a plant form, and to completely use this potential of the strain to produce resin it’s best to grow it indoors under powerful lights. Indoor yield is on the high side, especially in DWC and with the use of good nutrients. If you prefer to grow in soil, use pot size of 5 gallons to give plenty of room to the roots.

Outdoors, the root system gets as much soil as it could possibly need, so you can raise bigger and more productive plants, although buds may be not so solid and less resinous than indoors, stil with better production of the ‘sticky icky’ than most other cannabis strains, including photoperiod varieties. So expect great results outside, even if you decide to grow guerilla style.

Gorilla Glue Auto (Barney’s Farm) – Buy

Indoor Yield: 600 g/m2
Outdoor Yield: 800 g/m2

Gorilla G4 Auto (BlimBurn Seeds) – Buy

Indoor Yield: 400-600 g/m2
Outdoor Yield: 50-300 g/plant

View all Gorilla Glue Strains

Can I Do Topping on Autoflowering Gorilla? What About LST?

If you want to use advanced techniques to see the strain’s full potential, you can LST it to make the plants more branchy. It not only gives you more bud sites, but also keeps them at a more or less equal distance from the light, and they all turn out of the same size and quality. As for topping, it’s never recommended for autoflowers, and Gorilla is no exception. Some varieties (see our list) tend to produce single-cola phenos and are better suited for SOG setups, meaning that you place a greater number of plants in the same space and use smaller pot sizes, around a gallon per plant.

Gorilla Glue Auto: Sativa or Indica in Terms of Effect?

The main effect that Gorillas and their many hybrids produce is euphoria. You just feel great, like on top of the world, with feelings of well-being and happiness in your body and mind. And it’s up to the specific genetic profile of a strain to determine whether the effects will lean more to indica or sativa. In one case, you’ll feel more relaxed and will prefer to spend a cozy evening on the couch. In the other, you’ll be inclined to do something.

In any case, the high is mentally stimulating, and, whether you move about or sit still, prepare to be talkative and creative. The effect is never trippy, though, which is a good thing if you want to keep your head clear in case of emergencies.

Gorilla Glue Auto Strain’s THC and Flavor

THC content is short of amazing, even at the standards of today’s market. It’s clearly the case of great breeding work. The auto version is practically the same as the photoperiod one, but faster.

Most varieties have 20+ percent THC, with 18 being the absolute minimum (and even that is ‘deadly’ for newbies) and the whopping 27% quite achievable, too.

The terpene profile is just as amazing. Look forward to the same complex aroma and flavor as those that the photoperiod ancestor is famous for. The smoke is top-notch in terms of smell and taste. However, it can be a bit harsh on the lungs due to Gorilla Auto’s sheer psychoactive power.

Several Awesome Gorillas to Choose From

And now it’s time to meet some of the best representatives of these genetics. You can order and buy any of the seeds below from anywhere in the world, including the UK. The seed shop that we use ourselves and recommend you hides the seeds inside other merchandise. So you won’t have problems with customs even if the package is shipped internationally.

Royal Gorilla Auto: Harvest the Most Resinous Buds Ever

The feminised Gorilla Auto by Royal Queen Seeds produces large and high-yielding plants with plump and solid buds completely covered by ‘glue’. Indoor yield can reach 400 g/m2, and outdoors this RQS version has even greater potential (up to 170 grams per plant). Thanks to the Cookies genetics added to the Gorilla base, this strain leans on the indica side with a heavy-handed punch that sends you straight to the couch. Surprisingly, you get a lot of mental stimulation at the same time. The flavor is rich and complex: it’s dominated by the taste of kush and diesel, with fruity and piney undercurrent.

Gorilla Glue Auto Expert Seeds: Probably Your Best Choice

Expert Gorilla Auto is based on the most popular #4 pheno, and so you should probably start your acquaintance with this lineage with the Expert Seeds version. It’s a bit faster than other Gorilla autos, at least if you get an indica phenotype. Sativa phenos can take several weeks longer. All have a very strong and penetrating smell of fruit, cat piss, and fuel during grow, and look amazing because of the most generous trichome coverage. You can LST this plant because otherwise it can grow just one big cola with very small side shoots. Reviews describe the effects as happy and relaxed. However, the couch lock/energy balance depends on the predominance of sativa or indica genes.

Gorilla Zkittlez Auto Feminized Seeds: An Indica with a Sativa-Like Euphoria

All reviews point to this strain being really uplifting despite 75% of indica in its genetic makeup. Round and compact kush buds smell of sweet fruit, are extremely resinous, and have around 20% THC. Doesn’t seem like much nowadays, but Barney’s Farm are very down-to-earth with their claims on THC levels. So their 20% are in fact amazing. If grown in pots, use at least 5 gallons because this strain develops extensive root structure and easily reaches around 3 feet (and up to 4 feet outdoors). The yields will be above average.

Gorilla Girl Auto XL: Zesty Sativa Energy

Gorilla Girl XL Auto by Sweet Seeds has a mostly sativa genetic makeup and produces powerful invigorating effects that make you active and ready to tackle any task. Also perfect for social settings and outdoor leisure activities. The plants show some variance in height, but, irrespective of the size, bring in XXL yields. This will be great for both heavy smokers and enterprising cash-croppers alike. The THC content depends on the pheno, but is always in the respectable range of 18-25%. And, as is always the case with Sweet Seeds, the taste and smell are top-notch. You’ll fall in love with this strain’s sweet and fruity flavor, enriched by some woody and lemon influences.

Gorilla Cookies Auto: Fastbuds Have Balanced the Best From Both Parents

In this feminised hybrid, the breeders have added Girl Scout Cookies genetics, but this fact hasn’t made the plant less gluey. In fact, the buds have such a thick layer of trichomes that they seem almost white and obscure the color of calyxes and leaves which can be golden and sometimes purple. As a result, Gorilla Cookies Auto seems probably the most gorgeous in our little list. It’s squat and branchy and extremely high yielding. THC level can reach the jaw-dropping 27% mark. This means extreme euphoria that deeply relaxes your body while stimulating your mind. The smell of sweet cookies and candy and the taste of earth inherited from one parent are supplemented by influences of the other: kush, citrus, and diesel. You can’t go wrong with these seeds. It’s a total bomb.

Gorilla Glue Auto Fastbuds: Good Reviews Fully Deserved

This Gorilla Glue Auto is based on arguably the best of the pack – the number 4 which was injected with ruderalis genetics to make it flower automatically and finish in as little as 8-9 weeks from seeds. No wonder this version by Fastbuds is the most sought-after. The plants are robust and vigorous, if only a bit slow in veg. The buds are dense and very frosty. They’ll smell of fruit, with some pungent notes of diesel, and relax you, filling your whole being with euphoria. 24% of THC ensure that the effect lasts long and the tolerance is slow to build up.

Auto Gorilla (00 Seeds): Giggly, Social, and Talkative Experience

This Gorilla Autoflower is a fast flowering (70-75 days), big and generous variant. In exterior setups, its roots benefit from abundant soil, and so the plant reaches up to 5 feet in height with correspondingly high yields. The signature huge amount of resin makes this variety ideal for extracts and hash production. The taste of earth and the smell of lime and pine make the smoke very enjoyable. The uplifting effects fueled by 25% of THC in some phenos are ideal for chilling with friends. You’ll be relaxed and talkative at the same time, full of new bright ideas, and ready to laugh out of sheer happiness.

Want to See What Gorilla Genetics are All About? Give Autos a Try

Autoflowering Gorilla won’t disappoint you. It’s the same legendary strain quality-wise, only faster, somewhat smaller in size, and, as a result, not always as high-yielding as its photoperiod parent. But with a shorter growing time, you save several weeks of waiting, and this counts for something, too. And if you already are acquainted with the pure Gorilla genetics, there are many hybrids at your disposal. And they are probably just as great.

Gorilla Glue Strain Review and the List of Best Gorillas

If you’re considering growing yourself some Gorilla Glue version and looking for the information regarding this strain, you’re lucky because there’s tons of info. We did our best to gather it all in one Gorilla Glue strain review. We’ve also provided you with a choice list of the more popular GGs out there. And if you’re looking for an autoflowering version, rather than a photoperiod one, read about Auto Gorillas here.

Gorilla Glue Strain Review: Why Is This Weed So Popular?

The strain was named after the well-known American glue brand, so you may guess the main reason this marijuana variety became so famous. The resin production on buds, ‘sugar leaves’, and even larger fan leaves, branches and stalks, is really prodigious, and makes the plant very sticky. As a result, these genetics became an international phenomenon. There are many Gorilla Glue Strain names, or sometimes just numbers that point to this or that of the original phenotypes. Among those numbers, #4 stands out as the most desirable of the bunch.

THC Level Way Above 20%, and Sometimes Closer to 30%

As any graduate of the Weed 101 course will tell you, elevated resin production means psychoactive power. It’s because the resinous glands—which so richly cover various GG versions—contain THC and other mind-altering cannabinoids.

Different seed breeders make different statements about the THC levels in their creations, but we have yet to find one that has less than 18% in the weakest of phenos grown in the least favorable conditions. Most seeds out there come with a promise of THC at least in the mid 20s, often in the higher 20s. No doubt, the best of growers can achieve 30% with an especially promising pheno.

Keep in mind that for most Gorillas, CBD levels are very low which means there’s nothing to hold back the raw power of this beast.

Knock Out Effects and Exquisitely Complex Flavor

The reference Indica/Sativa ratio for GG is 60/40, and in different strains it oscillates around this mark. Still, some crosses with other genetics can stress the indica or sativa side. So the type of effects can range from physically relaxing to energizing. However, for newbies, it’s practically always a deep couchlock (although accompanied with mental stimulation). Imagine your body perfectly still and your mind roaming the farthest reaches of the Universe.

The flavor is marked by an utmost complexity. Even in any one particular strain, it’s hard to find a name for every note and hint and nuance. And different strains can be totally unlike each other. Some remind Kush with its smell and taste of pine and diesel, others have fruity and berry-like influences. More exotic whiffs of coffee and chocolate are also very common. In any case, you can count on its being a real treat for your nose and taste buds.

pine,
diesel,
fruit and/or berry,
chocolate/coffee.

Also keep in mind that so much resin makes Gorilla a very smelly strain. It will fill with pungent stink your whole house during flowering and especially drying and curing. So be prepared and equip your grow room with carbon filters.

Gorilla Glue Strain Yield Per Plant: Well Above Average

You’d think that high resin production and raised levels of THC will be enough to make a strain of weed a hit, but this one also brings in yields well above average.

The buds are big and dense, and, as a result, very heavy. Besides, the plants tend to grow a lot of side branches which means a lot of bud sites. You can use this tendency to grow even bushier plants if you use topping, fimming, LST, and ScrOG. Just don’t forget that some lower branches will have to be pruned. The same goes for smaller branches inside.

Strain History

Gorilla Glue’s creators are Don ‘Joesy Wales’ Peabody and Ross ‘Lone Watty‘ Johnson from the state of Nevada. They didn’t breed their masterpiece on purpose: it was a lucky accident in their garden. A Chem’s Sister grew some pollen sacks and pollinated a Sour Dubb. The breeders decided not to throw away the seeds, but give them a try. The result was outstanding and was named Gorilla Glue number 4. Later, other noteworthy strains were made in a similar fashion: among them the particularly sought-after #1 and #5.

Gorilla Glue Sues Weed Strain, and the Subsequent Name Change

Our Gorilla Glue strain review wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t mention the branding controversy.

The glue producer from Ohio with the same name was not happy that their brand was put on top of a pot strain, so they decided to sue the breeders. The latter eventually lost the suit, and have renamed all their creations to GG. However, as you may find out yourself, other breeders, seed banks, and seed shops still continue to market these genetics under their original name.

Gorilla Glue Strain: How to Grow for Best Results

We have already mentioned that most varieties in the Gorilla Glue family are high-yielding and that their potential can be further enhanced by various techniques that make the plant structure more branchy.

The disadvantages of growing this strain are:

considerable variance in phenos, and
the tendency to hermie.

So try to create a stable environment for your plants, without stresses and regularly check for male flowers if you want a harvest free of seeds.

The strain isn’t really finicky, but some previous experience wouldn’t hurt either. So we advise first time growers choosing an easier-to-grow strain. Or else prepare for subpar results in terms of yield and bud structure. Still, even in inexperienced hands, the buds will be resinous as hell.

Info on Veg Time and Flowering Time

We are happy to tell you that Gorillas grow very fast during the vegetative period which enables shorter grow cycles and a faster turnover. The flowering time is also comfortably short – 8-9 weeks in general. However, some fancy hybrids with dominant sativa genes may take a couple of weeks longer to mature.

The Long List of Gorillas: A Plethora of Variants

For your convenience, we have compiled a list of 7 strains that you can buy at an affordable price, ordering your pack of seeds from anywhere in the world, including the US. And if you live in the UK, the package will arrive at your doorstep in no time, so that you can pop your Gorilla seeds ASAP and start growing. Just choose a version you like and follow the link.

Dinafem’s Gorilla Glue Strain Review

Dinafem’s Gorilla grows into big branchy bushes that require some pruning and defoliation at the end of flowering which helps combat mold issues in humid environments and ensures that every bud site gets enough light. The yield potential is impressive, especially outdoors, and the production of resin is over the top. This is the case when you don’t know what to do with stems and branches: they are covered with resin the same as nuggets and sugar leaves. Throwing anything away seems like a waste. The indica leaning high is knockout strong and sedating. The autoflowering version of Gorilla by Dinafem is very good too and highly recommended.

Royal Gorilla Strain: Reviews Mostly Complimentary

Royal Queen Seeds are among the big guns of the cannabis industry, and their version of the Gorilla strain is top-notch. The yield indoors can be as high as 550 g/m2, although in outdoor grows it’s not the most productive one in our list. Buds are rock hard and heavy, taste sweet and earthy and with notes of pine and lemon. The stone, though couch-locky, is also very stimulating mentally. Patients with depression will appreciate the happy euphoria this strain creates.

Gorilla Zkittlez Strain: Yield, THC Level, and Effects to Die For

Barney’s Gorilla (crossed with Zkittles) is so popular that there’s tons of information and reviews from growers and smokers alike. This strain has the classic 40/60 sativa/indica ratio, is a massive yielder, especially outdoors, and boasts a respectable 24% THC. So it’s a bit milder than some other versions – meaning that you won’t ‘white out’ every time you smoke it. Still, newbies beware: the Gorilla Skittle strain is some powerful stuff. Smoke it in moderation, and you’ll find it at the same time physically relaxing (with expressed pain-relieving properties) and very thought provoking and even philosophical. Perfect for those who love to meditate on weed.

Gorilla Cookies Strain: Info Rather Scarce, but Positive

The explosive combination of Gorilla and Girl Scout Cookies genetics promises great things from their hybrid, and Expert Seeds fulfilled this promise completely. Their Gorilla Cookies strain not only boasts high levels of THC, but is also rich in CBD. It’s of great value to medical patients and those recreational smokers who tend to get paranoid from too much THC. The added bonus in this Gorilla variety is that it finishes a whole month earlier outdoors than the rest of its peers. And the yield, according to reviews, isn’t affected by the shortened flowering period.

Gorilla Breath Yield Outdoors is Short of Miraculous

Humboldt Seeds have always been a supplier of high-yielding genetics for the Californian medical marijuana industry. Their Gorilla Breath strain can bring in as much as 6-8 pounds per plant outdoors. Its genetic makeup leans heavily to the indica side thanks to the injection of the OG Kush Breath DNA, and the same genes make sure that the effect is cerebral, rather than physical: it is mentaly stimulating and awareness enhancing (true to its OG Kush heritage), while the Gorilla parent made its offspring extremely resinous and frighteningly potent. Both producer info and customer reviews point to the plant requiring some attention and skills.

Gorilla Bomb Strain Info: Go Organic. Always

If there is a variant of Gorilla that really shines in organic setups, it is this hybrid of GG#4 and THC Bomb bred by Bomb Seeds. The yield is not really insane, but well above average. However, the smoke is so strong that you won’t really need much. Prepare to be blasted by the strain’s complex and unique flavor: a cocktail of citrus fruit and fuel with very pronounced sweet notes of chocolate. Another great trait of this strain is that it’s sativa dominant, so that effects are really uplifting if you don’t overindulge and become a creative and thinking, but perfectly immobile couch potato.

Gorilla Girl Strain by Sweet Seeds: Predictably Delicious

Another sativa leaning hybrid in our list. This one combines GG genetics with Girl Scout Cookies, and specifically its famous Thin Mints phenotype. Gorilla Girl strains by Sweet Seeds boasts high levels of terpenes that provide the smoke with rich notes of cypress wood, earth, and citrus. This variety is great for those who like plants with a lot of side branches. You can further increase their number by topping and LST. As a result you’ll get countless bud sites, all covered in resin and promising super potent smoke. The effects are stimulating and exciting.

Takeaways from our Gorilla Glue Strain Review

In our Gorilla Glue strain review, we’ve featured only a tiny fraction of all GG versions and their crosses with other strains that you can find on the market today. These are probably more well-known, but the rest come highly recommended as well. If you hear ‘Gorilla’, think ‘resin’ which means THC which translates to potency. With Gorilla genetics, you can never go wrong.

Cannabis Seedling Problems: How to Resolve Any Issues

Newbie growers tend to run into cannabis seedling problems with their plants from day one. That’s why our diagnosis tool can come handy to you. Start by finding your cannabis seedling issues in the list below (we tried to group them for more convenient navigation), and then use page jumps (or scroll down) for possible causes and solutions.

It may be a serious disease, or just a temporary issue that is easy to fix, or even a perfectly normal thing that you mistook for a sign of trouble. In the latter case, we recommend you to read our article on the anatomy, development and look of a healthy seedling. And, of course, it’s better to ensure that no cannabis seedling problems arise in the first place, so we encourage you to read another article with tips on creating perfect conditions for your sprouts and caring for them the right way.

Symptom	Possible Cause/Remedy
weed seedling won’t shed shell	see Removing the ‘Helmet Head’ by Hand
weed seedling not opening	see Removing the ‘Helmet Head’ by Hand or The Problem of Weed Seedling Damping Off and Other Root Problems
marijuana seedling too tall weak/thin stem seedling bending/falling over	see Seedling Stretching: Reasons and Solutions
cannabis seedlings keep dying seedling sprouted but not growing seedlings not growing true leaves	see The Problem of Weed Seedling Damping Off and Other Root Problems
cannabis seedling very short	see The Problem of Weed Seedling Damping Off and Other Root Problems or The Seedling Gets Too Much Light
weed seedling limp	see Water Stress (Overwatering / Underwatering) or The Problem of Weed Seedling Damping Off and Other Root Problems
leaves light green and going yellow marijuana seedling leaf tips turning brown	see Cannabis Seedling Problems with Nutrients
marijuana seedling turning yellow	see The Seedling Gets Too Much Light
leaves turning white / bleaching	see The Seedling Gets Too Much Light or Cannabis Seedling Problems with Nutrients
yellow veins or seedlings yellow in middle white / red / purple / brown stem purple leaves/veins	see Discoloration Isn’t Always a Sign of Trouble
marijuana seedling dark green	see Cannabis Seedling Problems with Nutrients
leaves pointing up seedling cupping/praying leaf edges curling up	see Heat Stress is Common Among Cannabis Seedling Problems
leaves pointing/curling down	see Water Stress (Overwatering / Underwatering) or Wind Burn
wavy leaves	see Water Stress (Overwatering / Underwatering)
deformed/twisted leaves	see Weed Seedling Mutations
cannabis seedlings eaten / uprooted / broken etc.	see Physical Damage: When a Seedling Can and Cannot be Saved?

Removing the ‘Helmet Head’ by Hand

Too often, when a weed seedling is sprouting from the medium, the cotyledons are still stuck in the shell and it won’t come off on its own.

This is day 1 for three OG Kush Auto seedlings. Only one of them has cast off its shell on its own.

Probably, most seedlings will find enough strength to eventually shed the shell, but meanwhile a lot of time will be lost and you’ll see a lot of stretching. So you have to remove the shell yourself as soon as possible. Moisture is the key here. If the seedling is still tiny and can be covered by moist medium, by all means do so. Probably it will be enough. If not, the shell will be wet enough in a couple of hours, so that you can easily remove it with your fingers.

If the seedling is already too tall to be covered with wet soil, spray it with water or put a droplet of water on the shell: this will make it wet and mushy after a while. Then remove the shell with your fingers.

We’re wetting the shells with a drop of water. It will be enough to easily remove them from cotyledons.

Sometimes the shell comes off, but a thin membrane covering the cotyledons remains. Usually, it’s the reason why weed seedling is not opening. The membrane is too dry and acts as a straightjacket. Make it wet and when it gets soft, pluck it with your fingers. It usually slips off quite easily.

We have removed shells from the seedlings on the right and in the center. The one in the center still retains the membrane.

Warning: Sometimes, the seedling hasn’t rooted too deeply and has still a very short tap root (like an inch or so). In this case, the procedure described above can result in your plucking the sprout out of the soil completely. So never apply excessive force. It’s better to make the shell wet again and wait a bit more. If you did pull the sprout out of the ground, you can still stick it back in (probably, it’s best to remove the shell first). Most seedlings can survive this without apparent shock or stress.

In your future grows, make sure that sprouts emerge from the medium already without a shell. Keep the surface of the medium moist at all times, and you probably should think about placing the seed a little deeper than you did before. In this case, the seedling will encounter more resistance on its way up and the shell will slide off.

Seedling Stretching: Reasons and Solutions

Most seedlings are tall and skinny and look vulnerable, and generally it’s not a problem. But sometimes the stem is growing too tall, weak and thin and can’t support the weight of cotyledons anymore. As a result, the long stem is not growing straight, but sideways or even upside down. The reason is simple: there’s not enough light. Either the source is too weak (e.g. you keep your seedlings on the window sill), or the light is placed too high above. In either case, seedlings stretch toward light uncontrollably and keep falling over.

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We still recommend that you play it safe the first couple of days and keep the light at a distance. Let the seedling reach the height of 2-3 inches (5-7 cm) – it’s normal and healthy and much better than the other way around: when the sprout is stressed by too much light (and sometimes heat). Slowly correct the distance before you see the seeding bending, leaning or even falling over. In time, you’ll know the exact distance for your type of bulb.

This seedling has clearly stretched too much and needs to be made shorter. Strart by crushing its stem with your fingers just above the surface of the soil and then do the same in several places above.

But what to do if a seedling already bent and flopped over? You can always use a toothpick to prop a weed seedling not standing up. However, it is best to make the stem that is too long shorter. You can do this by adding more soil (or coco, or other medium) – then the part of the stem that you cover by the medium will grow more roots, and it’s great. Or, if the container isn’t tall enough for that, you can press the seedling to the soil horizontally (it’s easy when the stem is already bent or the seedling fell over) and cover it with a thin layer of soil. If there’s too much resistance, gently crush the stem with your finger tips, probably just above the surface – it won’t really hurt the seedling.

Now that the stem is soft and pliable, lay it on the soil, probably in a half-ring shape.

Now cover the bent stem with soil and don’t forget to water. Note that this procedure will slow down the growth a bit, compared to seedlings that you didn’t let stretch in the first place.

The Problem of Weed Seedling Damping Off and Other Root Problems

Stunted growth, or slow growth, is common among cannabis seedling problems. The reason can be anything: from wrong conditions to stress to shock, but here we’ll talk about problems in the root zone. Healthy root growth is the single most important factor for a plant’s well-being, and if you see that your marijuana seedling stopped growing or is growing very slow, or especially if cannabis seedlings keep dying on you time after time, the first thing to check are the roots and what’s going on with them. Are they affected by some type of fungus? Is there root rot?

Most of the time, these problems arise when the medium is constantly wet and cool at the same time. These are ideal conditions for mold and fungi, and can lead to the weed seedling damping off. Apart from the seedling not growing leaves or its slow growth in general, you will notice that the stem gets very thin just above the surface. Next thing it will flop over. And, of course, you may notice some whitish substance on the surface of the soil. When the soil feels damp and cold to the touch, it happens very often. And the problems are not just on the surface, but more importantly deep down, too.

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Cannabis Seedling Problems Can be Caused by Bugs

Another reason why a seedling has sprouted but is not growing is that some kind of bug living in the soil has eaten the tap root. You wonder why the seedling won’t grow without realizing that there is in fact nothing at all below the surface, no roots to speak of. This sprout will die, and there’s nothing you can do about it. To prevent this from happening in the future, kill all the parasites in the soil with heat. Just make the soil wet and place it into the oven at around 200° F (90-100° C) for a half hour or so.

A Root-Bound Seedling is Hardly Ever a Problem

Some novice growers wonder if a cannabis seedling can become root bound. It’s the situation when there is too little room in the medium, so that the roots reach the sides of the container and start to grow along them, simply because they have nowhere else to go. It’s quite a common situation for mature plants growing (or shall we say ‘not growing’?) in too small pots, but seedlings generally haven’t enough time for their roots to use up all available space. So seedling becoming root bound is hardly ever an issue.

And, of course, if you feel that your marijuana seedling is growing slow or not growing fast enough for you or is very short, make sure that you don’t expect too much. Read about the healthy and normal seedling development here.

The Seedling Gets Too Much Light

Most marijuana growers would swear that the more light the better. However, the issue of too much light is the real thing, especially for weed seedling. We have been sent countless pictures of seedlings showing the signs of stress from too much light. To be frank, we sometimes (erroneously) diagnosed the issue as potassium (K) deficiency which is often manifested by the lower leaves turning yellow at the edges. However, if you see this symptom in sprouts, the first thing you should suspect is that you have a source of light that is too intense or too close.

You may ask why then this symptom (yellow spots along the edges) appears not on the topmost leaves, but on the lower ones? Well, it’s because the lower leaves have had more exposure to the stressful levels of light (simply because they are older and have been around longer). Leaves yellowing due to too much light are very rare if you use CFL or T5 lights, but with HID (high intensity discharge) bulbs, like HPS or MH, or with the LED technology, these problems are very common.

Too Much Light and Heat Stress Often Go Hand in Hand

If you see seedling leaves turning white, sometimes to the point of complete bleaching, it also can be caused by too much light, but also made worse by heat stress (see below) and maybe calcium deficiency (these two often come hand in hand). Remember that for plants grown in coco calcium deficiency is especially common.

Another sign that your light is simply too much for this stage is that the seedling stays very short. It not only has no reason and motivation to stretch toward the bulb, but the dense flux of photons is constantly pounding on it, causing it to keep close to the ground.

If you see any of these signs, simply raise the lights, or use weaker ones.

This seedling was exposed to the harsh light of a LED bulb for too long. That’s why its cotyledons and the first pair of true leaves look yellow, dry, and brittle.

Another severe case of too much light. Again the culprit is a LED bulb that was kept too close to the seedling.

These two plants stand next to each other under two CFLs each. There’s clearly something wrong with their lower leaves. Our guess is they have received too much light. See how compact and dense they are.

Cannabis Seedling Problems with Nutrients

When you see a yellow leaf on your seedling, it’s not necessarily the symptom of too much light (as described above). It can also be a nutrient deficiency. It is seldom the case in soil, because soil mixes come preloaded with fertilizers, organic or synthetic, and it’s enough for the first two weeks or so. But if you use some sterile medium like coco or rockwool, it’s your job to provide your seedlings with plant food. Unfortunately, it’s more than easy to make mistakes here.

This seedling looks yellow and sickly. Most probably, it suffers from many deficiencies, including N deficiency. Note that the medium here is coco. In soil, you can give your seedlings only plain water and still see no deficiencies whatsoever.

Read carefully the instructions for your nutrients formula and follow them, not forgetting to adjust the dosage for various stages. Look at the color of your seedling: its leaves should have a healthy and vibrant green color. If leaves are light green or yellowish or you see yellow cotyledons, it could be nitrogen (N) deficiency. Although sometimes, if you overwater your young plants for days and weeks, they can show the same symptom (but there will also be others, more specific; see below).

If the seedling is dark green, it looks more like N toxicity (too much nitrogen). In severe cases, seedling leaves will also be curling down.

If you see such deep, dark green color of the leaves, probably you’re feeding your plant too much nitrogen (N).

This is how nitrogen toxicity can look in a mature plant. Also check if it’s not a wind burn (if there isn’t a fan too close to the plant).

We already mentioned seedling bleaching and white spots while discussing the problem of excessive light, and mentioned that it could be caused or made worse by calcium deficiency, most common in coco.

And surely there is this widespread symptom of leaf tips turning brown which is a sign of nutrient burn. It simply means that the dosage of fertilizers that you give your plants when watering (or that is present in the soil mix) is way too high, and you should lower it when you see your seedling burn like this.

Discoloration Isn’t Always a Sign of Trouble

When you suspect that the color of your seedling is not quite normal, maybe you’re wrong. Of course, yellow hues should always raise a flag. The exception is when you look at a plant the first thing in the morning and see yellow in the middle of uppermost young leaves or yellow veins. It could simply mean that this is the new tissue that has grown in the dark and simply hasn’t had a chance yet to be filled with green chlorophyll. Expose it to light, and it’ll become green in no time.

Stem color can vary from plant to plant. It can be white, red, purple, and sometimes even brown. If there are no other worrying signs, it’s probably natural and caused by the specific genetics. Purple stem, veins, or whole leaves can also be due to colder night temperatures (in genetically predisposed strains). So when your seedling is turning purple, see if it doesn’t get too cold at night.

Heat Stress is Common Among Cannabis Seedling Problems

If your weed seedling experiences heat stress, it affects the shape of leaves in a very specific way. You may see the leaves pointing up.

Back in the day, we used to keep CFL bulbs too close to the seedling, and, instead of shying away from it, the seedling seemed to try and hug the bulb with its upper leaves. Other growers see it differently: to them it seems as if the seedling were praying. Still others name it ‘cupping’.

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The underlying cause is the same though: not able to move away from the light, the seedling tries to position its leaves in such a way that the light falls on them only obliquely. This helps them absorb less heat energy. If you continue to expose your plants to heat (be it hot air, or the energy from the light), you’ll see a more sinister symptom: leaf edges curling up. The heat often aggravates calcium deficiency and vice versa.

To combat this problem, always try to maintain the correct temperature range in your grow room and make sure the light isn’t close enough to burn. The ‘backhand test’ can help you with that. Place your hand palm down under the light at the level of plant tops and hold it there for some time. If you feel the light ‘bite’ or there’s any discomfort, it’s best to raise the light.

If leaves on your cannabis plant (at any stage) curl up like this at the edges, it means they are overheated by light or hot air.

This young plant kept under a CFL has grown so fast overnight that it actually touched the bulb. Hence the burned leaves on top.

Water Stress (Overwatering / Underwatering)

Newbies overwater marijuana all the time. Luckily, the plants have a way of showing their caregivers that they overdo the watering. The first sign of overwatering is clawing of the leaves, of their curling down. When you touch the leaves on an overwatered plant, you’ll feel that they are quite rigid. Conversely, if the leaves are pointing down, but feel limp and lifeless, the seedling is probably underwatered.

Leaves on this seedling are shriveling up and curling down. The plant has clearly been overwatered. At the same time, it shows signs of heat stress.

Leaves can even change color because of water stress. If you keep them overwatered for long periods, they’ll begin to yellow and eventually die off. The bottom line is: when you see marijuana seedlings shriveling up, correct your watering schedule.

This chronically overwatered cannabis seedling has leaves that look yellowish and lifeless along the edges, almost as if they were touched by frost.

Sometimes, weed seedlings have wavy leaves. We don’t know the exact reason why it happens, but have this theory that the issue is due to irregular watering. No one has yet disproved this theory, and we continue observations. In any case, it’s not a grave symptom. Seedlings with wavy leaves may not look fit for a beauty contest, but are otherwise healthy and vigorous.

All of these seedlings have wavy leaves: a not uncommon symptom. Probably, at some earlier point, the grower has overwatered these plants.

Wind Burn

Another reason weed leaves can become deformed is when there is strong wind blowing on them all the time. For instance, you may have placed a fan close to a seedling, and it’s blowing straight at it and not above it. After a while, it may cause wind burn. Leaves that are stressed this way are pointing down and forming ‘claws’ similar to overwatering. But in this case, they also curl at the edges in the shape of tubes. Often, they also have dark green color, like they do when there is too much nitrogen in their feed.

Weed Seedling Mutations

Deformed, twisted, shriveled leaves – these symptoms can appear in marijuana seedlings for no reason and should be considered mutations. These plants are never the best specimens in terms of growing, but, if you bring them to harvest, the smoke may surprise you. It’s up to you to choose what to do with mutants. Seeds don’t come cheap, and you may decide to grow every one of them. That said, breeders always discard seedlings with leaves twisting, as well as with other mutations. There is one interesting mutation though that we personally wouldn’t mind to keep and propagate: weed seedlings with 3 leaves. Usually, leaves grow in pairs, opposite each other on the stem. But here you have three leaves growing from every node. Delightful!

Twisted leaves point to some kind of mutation. You can still succesfully bring this plant all the way to harvest, but it’s not the genetics that you’d want to keep.

A rare and cool-looking mutation: a cannabis plant with 3 leaves.

Physical Damage: When a Seedling Can and Cannot be Saved?

A special case of seedling problems is when a grower damages it by mishandling. A seedling can be knocked over and uprooted. If you don’t disturb the root system too much, the more vigorous sprouts can survive the repotting without even slowing down their growth.

Root damage is a bigger issue. It often happens during transplant when a piece of soil falls off, tearing off a part of the root ball in the process. You just put the rest back in soil, and hope for the best. When the root broke, it’s a significant stress for a seedling, so try to make its life for the next couple of days less stressful. You can do this by creating milder conditions, like light and temperature, and, of course, refrain from any major changes (repotting, switching to 12/12, or moving outdoors) until the damaged seedling resumes its growth.

And what if the stem broke? Partially broken stem can heal, no doubt about it. Just make a splint and put a bandage where the seedling snapped, and the tissue will not only heal, but even be stronger. Even if you break the stem clean off, it arguably can be made whole again in this way.

What you can’t do is make any use of a seedling that only consists of the roots and the stem, but no growing point, in other words no leaves, as when something has eaten them. The thing is that cannabis doesn’t grow from roots. There are simply no growing points there, so you can’t salvage such seedlings.

Say Goodbye to Cannabis Seedling Problems!

Most cannabis seedling problems can be resolved, and quite easily, too. Just don’t freeze with panic and use common sense. After all, there’s nothing magical about cannabis. It’s just a plant, and one that is quite hard to kill. And if you fail to save a particular seedling, learn not to repeat the same mistake next time.

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Cannabis Seedling Care: Tips and Optimal Conditions

If you want great results come harvest time, start to build your success early — with the proper cannabis seedling care. This includes creating ideal conditions for your seeds when they still germinate and following our tips for the best practices during the seedling stage. It will save you time growing your sprouts and ensure that they move to the next stage (the vegetative one) full of vigour and in the best possible shape.

Medical marijuana is mostly grown indoors. And even if you keep your adult plants outside, you’d want to start them inside. The reason is that the seedling stage is the most delicate and vulnerable in the cannabis plant’s life. So most of what follows deals with indoor growing: a grow tent, a growbox, a special marijuana seedling starter kit, or even a window sill. And if you are willing to risk starting your sprouts outdoors, scroll to the bottom part of this article.

Also, some of you have probably never grown pot before. So you have no idea how a healthy young plant looks like, how fast it grows, and what are the stages of its development. We suggest that you read our article on weed seedling anatomy and growth progress (where you can also look at pictures). And if you suspect that you have run into some problems with your sprouts, read our guide to diagnosing and resolving cannabis seedling issues.

Cannabis Seedling Care: Let’s Create Ideal Conditions

Cannabis seedling care is a very easy thing. Young plants don’t require much light, water and nutrients, and there’s very little that you can do in the way of plant care. Instead, focus on creating the best possible conditions and then simply sit on your hands.

Marijuana Seedling Temp and Humidity

Temperature and humidity are of utmost importance. Moisture is what sets off marijuana germination, and the correct/ideal temperature range allows sprouts to grow vigorously from day 1. For marijuana in general, 70-90° F (20-30° C) temps during the day (when lights are on) is acceptable. But it’s better to aim at 73-82° F (23-28° C). Seedlings prefer the upper part of this range. Let’s say 80-82° F (26-28° C). The night temps should be about 5° lower.

Temperature (day)	80-82° F	26-28° C
Temperature (night)	5° lower than day temperature
Relative Humidity	60-70%

The correct humidity range for cannabis is the same as is recommended for human dwellings: 40-60%. It’s very convenient for those who grow at home. Seedlings prefer a bit more humid conditions than vegging or flowering plants. So aim at 60 to 70 percent, and you’ll be alright. If the air in your grow room is drier than recommended, you can use a humidity dome to cover your sprouts. Better still, buy a starter kit for seedlings which comes not only with a dome, but also with a heat mat. This allows for easier temperature control as well.

Marijuana Seedling Light Needs: Type, Intensity, Distance

Weed plants need light throughout their life cycle, but during the seedling stage not really so much. And if you wonder how much light is ideal, we recommend to err on the side of caution.

It’s hardly the best option to keep your cannabis seedlings under HPS grow lights. Use weaker lights, instead, like CFLs, T5s, or LED lights. This will not only allow you to save on electricity, but spare your sprouts from shock. And if you insist on using HPS or other high intensity discharge (HID) lamps, raise them high, probably as high as your grow room allows.

Still, under light of this type, seedlings can show signs of stress, slow down their growth, and demonstrate various worrying symptoms. In this case, though it may seem counterintuitive to you, you’ll see better results if you temporarily keep your weed in the window — until it’s mature enough to handle strong light.

When to Put Weed Seedling Under Light?

Some growers do it even before their sprouts emerge from the medium. Others wait first for the germination to complete. So, when the seeds break the surface, put them under light. Before that, it’s completely optional.

Distance from Light

If you follow our recommendations and use weaker types of light, like CFL, there’s a question of CFL light distance. The optimal light height is at least 4 inches (10 cm) for the first couple of days, even for such weak bulbs as 20W or so. Let the seedlings stretch toward light instead of being pounded by it. If you see that your seedling stays short and its leaves won’t grow or worse—turn yellow and dry—the light is too close.

The same goes for young plants that grow under T5 or under LED lights — keep a comfortable distance. Nobody likes stretchy plants and especially stretchy seedlings, but 2-3 inches (5-7 cm) in the first few days is healthy and desirable. Unless the stem bends over, it’s okay. So start far away and move the light closer, if your plants start to stretch too much. If you use LED and can measure PPFD, start with a conservative level of 200, although you can get away with 300-400, too.

Is Ventilation Important for Cannabis Seedling Care?

Very small plants obviously need very small amounts of light and water for photosynthesis, and, correspondingly, very little CO2. And one of the main reasons to use ventilation in your grow room is to provide plants with the fresh supply of CO2. The bottom line is you don’t really need any extractor fan for seedlings. But the other reason to use ventilation is to control temperature. If you need fans for that, by all means use them.

There is another type of fan that growers use in their grow tents — the one that blows air in the vicinity of plants and helps to mix air inside the grow space, to prevent mold issues, and to cause the plants to sway a little and thus make stems and branches stronger. You can use a fan on seedlings for this purpose, but be sure that it doesn’t blow directly on them. Otherwise, you might experience the cannabis seedling wind burn.

Marijuana Seedling Light Schedule

Even novice growers understand that cannabis needs light to transform its energy into plant matter. And the more light hours a seedling gets, the more energy it has a chance to absorb. So the question is: do marijuana seedlings need 24 hours of light?

They can certainly take it, no problem, but they hardly really need so many light hours. Many experienced growers argue that nighttime is important for plants because it gives them some rest which protects them from overstress. Besides, there is this theory that the root system grows more actively during dark and cool hours, so think about it when you decide not to turn off lights in the evening, or decide to give your plants a good watering before the lights-off. Either action won’t do your plants any good (probably).

So we suggest that you experiment with more conservative light schedules: 18/6 or 20/4. However, in our personal experience, the 24 hour light schedule works fine, too. Just don’t forget to change it to 18 hours of day and 6 hours of night when the seedling turns into a young plant, i.e. it enters the vegetative stage and starts to grow very rapidly.

Weed Seedlings Can be Grown in Various Mediums

The choice of the medium really depends on where you plan to keep your plants after the seedling stage is over and you are ready to transplant. It’s very convenient to put sprouts into rockwool for a DWC grow. When you grow in coco, it’s best to start in coco.

If your grow medium of choice is potting soil, use small pots or party cups filled with soil. As far as pot size is concerned, 8-10 fl oz (250-500 ml) containers should be enough for the first 2 weeks. Alternatively. you can grow seedlings in jiffy pellets or jiffy cups. Some growers look down upon them, but they are definitely convenient when you need to transplant without stress. Especially if you start your seedlings indoors but plan to move them outside.

Marijuana Seedling Transfer

You should never forget that repotting marijuana seedling is a risky and potentially stressful procedure that can slow down or even stop growth, and this is especially dangerous for autoflowers. If you don’t want to see your cannabis seedling drooping or wilting after transplant, you should do it as quickly as possible and give the root zone the least disturbance.

Don’t Fuss Too Much over Cannabis Seedling Care!

There’s only so much that you can do when your medical marijuana is still small. Apart from watering and maybe occasional feeding, sprouts hardly need any love and care. So let’s look at what you actually can do.

Watering (Obligatory, Duh)

This is the single most important thing of cannabis seedling care.

How much water do your seedlings need and when is best to give it to them? Well, if you keep your young plants in party cups or very small containers, it’s pretty straightforward: when the surface of the soil is dry and the cup or container feels light, it’s time to water. For a 8 fl oz cup (250 ml), 2 fl oz (50 ml) of water should be enough. For bigger pots, adjust the water amount accordingly.

It’s not recommended to put your seeds or sprouts into final size containers (where the plants will spend all their life, till harvest). This makes it very difficult to come up with the right watering schedule and calculate the ideal amount of water.

Watering Autoflower Seedlings

Autoflowers don’t like being transplanted, and it’s best to grow autos in the same container from seed to harvest. So, if you put your seedling in a big pot, you’ll probably need to water the whole container lightly once and then pour only very small amounts and only near the seedling, gradually widening this area and increasing the water amount. It’s difficult for a newbie and is best reserved for growers with some experience.

The Best Time of Day for Watering

Always try to water your plants in the morning, that is at the very start of the period when water is needed the most: for photosynthesis and perspiration. During the night, photosynthesis is nonexistent, and perspiration slows down. Besides, roots which supposedly grow most actively during the dark hours don’t need water for this, and an excess will suffocate them.

Feeding (Optional in Many Cases)

Grow your weed seedlings in soil and you’ll probably never need to feed them until they enter the vegging stage sometime after two weeks. It’s because a soil mix that you can buy in a store is pre-loaded with plant food. You can still try and boost the growth by giving your seedlings a very light dose of nutrients. Start with about a quarter of what a fertilizer manufacturer recommends. And even in this case, make your first feeding when the plant is at least 2 weeks old (1 week for risk takers and rule breakers).

Of course, in hydro or coco, there are no nutrients in the medium whatsoever. So, you’ll have to add some to your solution from the very beginning. We recommend 100 PPM for a start, with up to 400 PPM as you progress. It’s better to underfeed and increase the dosage as needed than overfeed and flush. Cannabis seedling and flushing are two things that don’t go well together

Marijuana seedlings need the same pH level as mature plants. pH is a constant throughout the plant’s life cycle. It’s 6.0-6.5 in soil and 5.5-6.0 in hydroponics.

Growing a Marijuana Seedling Outdoors

Believe it or not, cannabis does grow outdoors in the wild, but you’ve probably paid a pretty penny for seeds and aren’t eager to expose your precious seedlings to elements too early. We can only commend you for that. It’s best to start inside and put marijuana seedlings outside when they’re healthy, robust, and growing rapidly, and not younger than two weeks from sprout. At this stage, they can take pretty much any weather and not only survive, but continue to get bigger and stronger. If they are just a couple of days old, a heavy rain, let alone hail, can kill them.

However, we admit that some growers simply can’t start their seedlings inside. So when is it more or less safe to start your outdoor grow? Look at the weather forecast and choose a period when there can be no early morning frosts anymore, and the outside temperature during the day is at least 60° F (15° C). Mind you that at this temperature your seedlings will be in the survival mode. Look above for the correct and ideal temperature range.

As for sunlight—which can also be deadly for very young plants—you can provide some shade for them in the afternoon to protect them from full sun. The same principle applies when you start indoors and want to make your young plants get accustomed to the sun. We used to believe that marijuana seedlings shouldn’t be in direct sunlight for a whole day, but some experiments have shown that in spring this rule can be ignored. In summer, it’s best to expose your seedlings to direct sunlight only for a couple of hours in the morning and the evening when the air is cool enough, but never around noon.

Cannabis Seedling Care: Take Things Easy!

First-time growers tend to get nervous at the slightest sign of trouble, real or imaginary, especially during the germination and the seedling stage. But there’s no need to panic. Keep it simple, and you and your plant will be just fine!

External Links:

Factors determining yield and quality of illicit indoor cannabis (Cannabis spp.) production, Wouter Vanhove

Marijuana Seedlings: Their Anatomy, Growth, and Identification

In this post, we’ll talk about the normal growth of marijuana seedlings. It will give beginner growers a pretty good idea of what to expect day by day and help you keep your cool and not react with panic whenever you suspect trouble.

We understand that taking care of marijuana seedlings can be a nerve-racking experience. But it shouldn’t be. Just look at the pictures in this post and compare them with your little plants to see if they are doing okay. And if in doubt, consult our guide to seedling problems and how to solve them.

Marijuana Seedlings from Day 1 and Onwards

So you’ve germinated your seeds between wet paper towels or using some other method and placed the sprout into a grow medium, like soil, or soil mix, or coco, or rockwool. We recommend covering the sprout by the medium completely, so that its tap root has something to push off from when it’s trying to dig deeper. And when the tap root has established itself in the medium, it pushes the seedling out of the medium and its ‘helmet head’ comes up.

If the medium is moist enough and coarse enough, the shell can peel off on its own. Otherwise, the seedling can be stuck in the shell and needs your help (see the link above to remedy this and any other problem). Below the shell, there is a thin film covering the cotyledons. Sometimes, it sticks and doesn’t let the cotyledons open, even after you have successfully removed the shell.

This is day 1 for three OG Kush Auto seedlings. Only one of them has cast off its shell on its own.

We have removed the shells from the seedlings on the right and in the center. The one in the center still retains the film though.

Sometimes, you will see the weed seedlings sprouting yellow. Don’t worry: it’s perfectly normal. The green color in plants is due to chlorophyll, a natural chemical that plants produce in the presence of light. And this process needs time. Give your yellow sprout a couple of hours under light, and it will start to turn green.

The First True Leaves

When the seedling sprouted, the pair of cotyledons will be ‘glued’ together – the way they used to be inside the seed, but soon they will move apart, and you will see the first tiny pair of true leaves tucked between them. Of course they will be whitish or yellow, too, at first.

On day 1, the cotyledons will be most probably pointing down, but on day 2 they will definitely straighten themselves (and so will the stem), and the first leaves with serrated edges will start to turn green and grow imperceptibly. These first leaves will have only one ‘finger’ each. The second pair – three fingers, the third – probably five.

Most of the Growth is in the Root Zone

The growth in the first week may seem painfully slow to you, but don’t you worry: the plants will pick up pace eventually, and right now a lot of progress is happening underground where the root system develops. The main root, called tap root, tries to reach as deep as it can.

That’s why it’s recommended to use deep pots or tall party cups for cannabis seedlings. But secondary roots also actively grow at this stage which will be evident to you if you use rockwool or jiffy pellets: the root tips will grow through their sides.

Control the Height of Your Marijuana Seedlings

Marijuana seedling height is controlled by the amount of light it receives. If everything is just right, the seedling is sturdy and not too tall: probably 2-3-4 inches the first several days, and hardly much taller when it is 1 week old or even 2 weeks old.

The seedling’s main business at this time is root development and the growth of leaves, not the overall height. If you see that each successive pair of leaves eventually grows bigger than the previous one, your young plants develop beautifully. At day 10, the span of the second pair should be the same as the span of the first one.

When Does the ‘Veg’ Begin?

It’s hard to point to the exact moment in time when a young plant stops being a seedling and begins its vegetative stage. You’ll see it happen when your cannabis starts to get noticeably bigger overnight. It may just grow higher, or rapidly develop side branches, or its leaves will get very large very fast. When you witness this sudden spurt in growth, congratulations: the vulnerable seedling stage is over and the plant has started vegging.

On day 1, one out of three OG Kush Auto seedlings has yet to ‘unglue’ its cotyledons.

This is Day 1 for Cream Caramel that managed to cast off the shell while emerging from the soil. It’s still yellow because it hasn’t yet been exposed to light.

Cream Caramel seedling at day 2. The cotyledons and the first pair of true leaves are already green. The stem is brownish-purple, but it’s perfectly normal.

OG Kush Auto at day 3. The seedling is in the process of straightening up.

This Six Shooter seedling is at day 4, and you can already see the second pair of true leaves.

OG Kush Auto at day 6. A bit stretchy and bent as a result, but oherwise healthy.

OG Kush Auto at day 8. Firts pair of leaves a bit wavy, probably due to overwatering at some point.

On Day 10 or so, the spans of the first and second pair of true leaves should be the same. This Six Shooter is actually 13 days old which means that its growth has been too slow.

A very sick seedling. Besides yellow, dry, and brittle leaves (due to too aggressive LED light), you may also notice that the second pair of true leaves, though developed, is much smaller than the first one. This assymetry is a clear sign of major trouble.

Green Crack by Fastbuds at day 11 develops nicely. However, there is evidence of mild heat stress.

This 2 week old Auto Euforia seedling has leaves with 1, 3, 5, and even 7 ‘fingers’.

With noticeable side shoots at every node, this young cannabis plant shouldn’t be called a seedling anymore. Now it’s entering the vegetative stage and will develop rapidly.

The Color of Healthy Marijuana Seedlings

Generally, your seedling’s leaves should be medium green, not too light and not too dark. If the green color is too deep, it can mean that there’s too much nitrogen (N) either in the medium (soil mix), or in the plant food that you’re feeding your cannabis.

If the green color is just a bit too dark or too light, maybe it’s the genetics (see below). And when the leaves are turning purple or you see purple veins, purple stem, or even red stem, it also can be attributed to genetics. However, sometimes the cooler temps, especially at night or during the lights-off period, may lead to reddish hues in stem or purple leaves. White stem (usually with some greenish stem color) doesn’t mean there are any troubles.

Yellow is the Color of Trouble

The yellow coloration is a different story. Most often, it’s a sign of trouble, so don’t be complacent and resolve the issue a.s.a.p.

The only exception is when you see yellow veins or yellow in the middle of leaves first thing in the morning. It’s because the growing parts of the seedling haven’t yet been exposed to light. Watch them for a couple of hours, and, most probably, these new leaf parts will produce enough chlorophyll to turn the healthy shade of green.

This picture was taken at lights on. The new tissue in the middle hasn’t received any light yet, that’s why it’s yellow.

Another case of normal yellowing is when cotyledons die off at some moment. They are necessary in the first few days of a seedling’s life, before true leaves develop. Then cotyledons become redundant, get yellow and dry. This is inevitable and happens sooner if the cotyledons are far from light or shaded by true leaves above them.

This plant is probably 3 or 4 weeks old. The cotyledons have already served their purpose, and now it’s time for them to die.

Marijuana Seedling Identification: How Much Can You Really Tell?

Some people are very impatient to identify their marijuana seedlings. Maybe, you’ve bought a mix of different seeds, and they are not marked in any way, so you can’t tell the difference between them. Or a friend has given you a bean or two, or you decided to try some bag seeds. So, what can a seedling tell you about your future rewards, if any?

Frankly, marijuana seedlings don’t reveal much. The only thing that you can tell with any confidence is whether your seedling is an Indica or a Sativa. Often, you can see the difference in the very first set of true leaves. Indica leaves have darker green color compared to sativa leaves that are more light. Indica leaves are also shorter, broader, and ‘rounder’.

Judging by broad, round leaves, this seedling has dominating Indica genes.

This Green Poison Early version has narrow, light green leaves that point to its Sativa heritage.

The Identification of Sex in Marijuana Seedlings

As for the seedling gender, you can’t tell male from female. Only when a young plant starts flowering, or, to put it more correctly, when it shows preflowers at the nodes, you can determine if they are female hairs or male fists.

This seldom happens earlier than at 3 weeks (in the quickest of automatic strains). For photoperiod varieties, you can only wait until the vegetative growth really kicks in and the first preflowers appear. Alternatively, you can speed up this process by switching your light schedule to 12/12, which can be done even from day one. However, it will be a significant stress for your seedlings if they start flowering like this and then you decide to revert them back to veg with 18 hours of light and 6 hours of darkness.

This plant has clearly shown its sex. It’s a boy. Note that you wouldn’t see male or female flowers in a seedling; only in mature plants.

A much younger cannabis plant has already shown male flowers.

Yet another plant (mature) showing male flowers at the nodes.

This young plant, probably 3 weeks old and not very healthy looking, shows the first white pistils (female hairs) on top. The yellow color in the middle probably means that the picture was taken at lights on.

Identifying a Keeper by Smell

There is one more thing that you can do to understand what you actually grow: you can slightly rub the leaves and smell them. The aroma should be rich and pleasant for you. That’s what breeders do who germinate hundreds of seeds and want to decide early on which ones to keep and which to discard. And, of course, you should look for marijuana seedlings that are healthy and vigorous, not sickly and small.

Not much of identification guide, we know, but it is what it is.

So now you know enough about marijuana seedlings to stop worrying and enjoy the process of growing. And if you want to make sure that your sprouts receive all the proper L&C, check out our article describing the ideal conditions for your weed seedlings and how to take good care of them.