Most cannabis growers who breed this plant do so to look for female cannabis plants. However, it isn’t easy to come up with female plants unless you’ve bought feminized seeds from a marijuana seed bank. Regular seeds rarely produce female plants. Some research estimates that about 75% of regular cannabis seeds turn into male plants.
It isn’t easy to differentiate a male from a female plant, especially if the plants are still young and haven’t differentiated. Males have different growth characteristics from females, and recognizing them requires some knowledge and skills. Fortunately, you can increase the likelihood of harvesting more female plants from regular seeds by following simple tricks and techniques. This article explains how you can get more female plants from stable sources purchased at Homegrown Cannabis Co.
1. Environmental Stability
A stable environment is vital for increasing the female ratio. From the moment your seeds germinate, you must tailor the growth environment and make it as ideal as possible for the plants. You need to maintain stable humidity and temperatures and ensure the photoperiod starts and ends at the same time daily. Be careful of any light pollution that may interrupt plants at night. You must also check the nutrient mixture and ensure you water your plant enough. Higher or lower nutrient mixes may cause stress, producing more male plants.
Temperature regulation is vital for the growth of any plant. Though some plants thrive in higher temperatures, some will do well in lower temperatures. Cannabis plants need some specific range of temperatures to grow and flower. Because female seeds require a stable temperature, any fluctuations may increase stress, producing more male plants.
Therefore, growing your plants in an environment you can easily control would be best. If you feel that growing your plants outdoors will make it difficult to control the setting, it’s advisable to grow them indoors where you can maintain all the minimum requirements.
2. Subject Your Seedlings To Fewer Hours Of Light
Some growers find pleasure in accelerating their cannabis plants’ growth process by exposing them to 24 hours of lighting within the vegetative stage. Though this technique is efficient and can make your plants grow fast, it may only produce more male plants.
It would help if you gave them a lesser lighting schedule to harvest more female plants. Some experts recommend that a photoperiod of 18/6 is ideal. Lesser lighting hours stimulate the plants to develop more females. If you want to reduce the chances of the male-to-female ratio further, you may need to minimize the photoperiod to 14 ½ lighting.
A lesser lighting schedule may slow the growth and development of the cannabis plants during vegetation. However, it heightens the production of female plants from 70% to 100%. Expensive seeds may require one more vegetative week to give the best result. It would be best to be patient when sourcing female plants because developing them is slower.
An increased photoproduct of more males results in poor root development. Bad roots interfere with the exchange of gases during the rhizosphere. Root development and sale of oxygen occur mostly at night. If you aren’t patient, your plants’ growth will suffer because of poor root development.
3. Use Blue Light
Using cool blue light while your plants are vegetating can help promote effective growth and development. You must expose your plants to this light at this stage because it’ll also increase their quality. However, it would help if you avoided lights with purple or red tints because they’re ideal during flowering.
Experts recommend using a metal halide light during the vegetative stage. It’s great because it has a blue spectrum that effectively copies the summer season’s sunshine. When your plants begin to flower, transition to a 12/12 photoperiod; during this stage, you can use higher-pressure lights that are preferably made from sodium. These lights contain a narrow red spectrum that copies the natural transition of summer to autumn.
4. Increase Air And Humidity Levels In The Soil
From the germination to the vegetative stage, you need a stabilized condition to increase the chances of producing more female plants. Coupled with this, you need a consistent watering routine to regulate the soil’s moisture. High moisture levels in the soil promote the development of female plants.
When the plants are young, it’s recommended that they have a minimum of 80% RH level. Fortunately, achieving this at the earlier stages of the plant’s growth is easy. Maintaining this RH level will prevent the growth area from getting too dry and discourage male plants’ development.
At the pubescent stage of the cannabis plants, experts recommend that you maintain a humidity level of 70% RH. To ensure you get the accurate level, you must use instruments measuring humidity levels, such as the hygrometer. If the growth’s area humidity level isn’t easy to control, you can regulate it with a dehumidifier or humidifier. Additionally, it would be best not to overly dry or overwater the plants because that’ll increase male production chances.
During the flowering stage, you must minimize the humidity levels to 40-50%. Once you’ve done this, don’t reduce it any further. Reduction in the humidity levels helps minimize the chances of stress, leading to the development of male plants and other problems. You can achieve female plants by this stage if you regulate the vegetative stage properly.
5. The Bottom-line
Securing female plants from your seeds requires a lot of effort and patience. You may even have to learn a lot if you’re a beginner. To develop many female plants from your seeds, you need to stabilize the environment, reduce the lighting hours, use blue light, and enhance air and humidity in the soil. The beauty of performing all these processes is that it’ll enable you to get a bountiful harvest that’ll increase your profits.