Pollination requires the presence of males or intersex plants (hermaphrodites), which are females that also produce pollen. The first thing you need to do to keep the risk of pollination low is to eliminate as many males or “hermies” as you can. Especially during the first three weeks of flowering, it is important to check frequently for possible male specimens in the garden. It is the female plant that produces the buds that we dry, cure and use.
As a consequence, the average weed garden is populated only by female plants. It is considered marijuana cultivation 101 to discard and destroy male plants as soon as you discover their growth. If you don't, they'll pollinate the females. Its seeds end in the bud and reduce the amount of THC found in the plant after harvest.
Make your first “crossing” a success by creating a structured improvement program with these 6 tips and a simple 4-step program. Like the female plant, the male cannabis plant also has sexual organs. Male plants often, but not always, reveal their sex a week or two earlier than female plants. Male plants produce pollen sacs, which also grow at the junction between the node and the stem.
When first formed, male pollen sacs may initially appear similar to the small buds that appear on female plants, but have no stigmas protruding from them. Male pre-flowers also take on a more shovel-like shape than the teardrop shape of the young female bud. Male cannabis plants are only desirable if someone wants to breed cannabis and save seeds (which is another topic for another day). If you grow cannabis from feminized seeds, or seeds that have been grown to produce only female plants, the plants should grow exclusively female.
