What is different between Male vs Female Cannabis Plants

Cannabis plants have evolved enormously over the past couple of decades, mainly thanks to human kind. We’ve spent years combining different species from all over the planet. Every strain has its own specific characteristics, such as structure, type of buds, flavor and effects. When you combine male and female weed plants that are different strains, the new creation takes on characteristics from both, allowing us to create totally new plants.

One of the biggest evolutions has been the appearance of feminized plants; after years and years of work, cannabis plants can be created to have a 99% chance to be female. You need to know how to tell male from female plants when growing regular seeds, as you’ll only get actual psychoactive weed from the female flowers. Male plants pollinate female plants, which fills their flowers up with seeds so if you’re looking to make the most of your plants you’ll want to keep them away from each other. Hopefully we can help you to tell the difference between male and female weed plants by the end of this article; it’s not that hard, but if it’s not explained correctly it can be a bit confusing.

What’s the difference between male and female weed plants?

Male Cannabis

Male plants essentially produce pollen which is needed for cannabis plants to naturally reproduce; seeds occur when there are male plants in the mix. If you want to make your own seeds you will need a male plant However, if you’re growing regular plants and want to harvest flowers, we recommend getting rid of any males as soon as possible. You won’t be able to tell them apart until they begin to flower, which is when plants begin to show their sex. Male weed plants grow “balls” that open up to let their pollen out, ending up looking like a small bunch of flowers. You’ll need to get rid of them way before this happens. If they manage to release their pollen it’ll be too late. They can take up to three weeks to burst. If you’re still not sure how to tell them apart, male flowers do not have any pistils on them at all.

Female Cannabis

Female plants are basically what everyone is after when growing cannabis, as these are the ones that make buds, which is the part of the plant that contains the most THC. With just one male plant and a miniscule amount of pollen, your plants might end up filling their flowers with seeds. If you have male and female plants in the same growing area, the buds grown there will only produce seeds so you won’t be able to smoke any of it. You can tell females apart due to the fact that their flowers don’t fully close, they’re actually quite open and they produce little hairs called pistils. They’re incredibly easy to recognize, as the first thing they produce are their pistils, which male plants do not have at all.

Hermaphrodite Cannabis

Hermaphrodites are a type of plant that contains both male and female flowers, so they will produce buds but they will also pollinate those buds and the rest of your plants. Plants may naturally become hermaphrodites or be turned into one due to stress. Both female and male plants can turn. Thai strains are more genetically inclined to become hermaphrodites, although any strain can turn when stressed enough. There are many factors that can stress out your plants and end up turning them, such as extra light when they’re supposed to be in the night cycle, too much or not enough water, certain insects or pathogens, watering with cold water, or even a badly done transplant. Hermaphrodites aren’t the best type of plants to keep around, as they can produce buds but it’s definitely a risk because they might pollinate the rest of your plants. We recommend getting rid of them; it’s not worth it just for a little bit more weed.

How to Identify Female and Male Marijuana Plants

How to identify a male weed plant?

The male cannabis plants can be recognized by their round spheres in the leaf axils. These are larger than those of the female plants. The armpits can be found at the top of the branch where the branch grows from the trunk. Moreover, the globules of a male plant doesn’t have any hairs (which the female plant doe have). Finally, male plants often look thin and unhealthy. In most cases a male cannabis plant has fewer leaves and grows less high.

How to identify a female weed plant

Female cannabis plants also have a ball at the armpit (just like the male plants). However, with female plants a hair is growing out of the bulb. In addition, the globules are smaller compared to male marijuana plants. A female cannabis plant also looks healthier. The plant has more branching and is often larger than the male plant.

How to recognize a Hermaphrodite cannabis plant?

In rare cases, a cannabis plant develops two sexual organs (male and female). Such a plant is called a Hermaphrodite. It’s a plant that can fertilize itself. However, an Hermaphrodite only develops when the natural conditions are bad. In addition, an Hermaphrodite can arise from genetic predisposition. Some species are more susceptible to the development of an ambiguous plant than others.

Because Hermaphrodites produce pollen, they have to be removed before it influence the production of buds.  It’s therefore important to recognize the development of Hermaphrodites.

Hermaphrodites can develop in two forms, namely as a “banana” (a ball turned inside out) or two balls of different sizes, one with hair and one without a hair. 

Recognizing the sex during the pre-flowering phase or the flowering phase

In some cases it’s possible to see gender symptoms from the 4th week of the growth phase, which is also called the pre-flowering or vegetative phase. The females will produce hairs at the end of the branches. These are the places where the buds eventually will develop. However, recognizing the gender is not always possible in the pre-flowering stage. The pre-flowering method is therefore not always suitable. The sex is mainly visible from about the 10th day of the flowering phase.

How to Determine Sex of a Marijuana Plant
You can wait until your plants naturally show the first signs of their gender and then remove all the males, but that means you have to watch the plants closely. You also will waste time and energy growing plants only to find out that some or all are male and have to throw them away. If you want to be more proactive and get rid of all male plants right away, then use this technique.

• Take a clone from the unverified marijuana plant
• Label both the clone and the mother plant so you know which clone came from which corresponding mother. If you don’t label them clearly, then all your effort will go to waste
• Once the clones have established roots, change just the clones into flowering mode by providing them with a grow light schedule of 12 hours on, 12 hours off
• The clones should start revealing their gender in a week or two. Males will start developing balls and females will start developing white hairs. Click on the pictures below to see some examples of male and female plants.
• Once you have determined the gender of your clones, you should make sure you throw away any corresponding male plants.

HOW TO PREPARE YOUR GROW SPACE

Some groers in search of high performance buds remove all the male plants from the grow room to prevent a transfer of energy. Once the pollen sac ruptures, and females are pollinated, they will convert all the energy that would have gone to flower production into seed production. This makes for a lower cannabinoid concentration in the buds and low yield if this is your end goal for harvest time.

However, seed production is still very important as cannabis and hemp are both annual plants. This mean they grow from seed, flower, and die all within a year. Where as perennial plants like trees grow from a seed and have many years of fruit or crop production throughout their life. This is why hemp/cannabis seeds are still very valuable and are becoming more of a mainstream crop.

These seeds are sought out not only for cannabis growers and hybridization, but also for the food industry. More and more frequently, hemp seeds are being used in kitchens and restaurants across the world for their high protein and fat content. They add a little more nutrition to each plate or smoothy.

Whatever your harvesting goals are, the ability to tell the male and female plants apart can go a long way.

If you want to grow marijuana indoors, I will recommend you to use a complete grow room kit

HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST MARIJUANA SEEDS