Should I start with bought seed?

[Doozy]

In answer to the original question, i think absolutely not. I cannot fathom why people would spend good money on equipment then risk the entire grow on saving a few pennies on seeds....it literally baffles me.

If you think you need a trial run, i suggest you do more research, so you don't waste your time and effort. There is no reason why your first grow shouldn't be a success.....it's not rocket science.

 

[Clawhammer]

I would get some good seeds on line or some good clones and hem a female to use for pollen and make some seeds. I am doing this now using Tiresias Mist and it works good. This is my first time doing fem seeds as I always make regular seeds. Usually I make around 500 seeds on a very small plant. I got to see the buds from the strains of clones I am seeding rite now which is great as I will have a pretty good idea of how my seeds will turn out. You don't have to seed a whole plant either. Some times I only seed the lower buds as the light I use is small and the bottom is just popcorn buds and useless to me anywise. Start with good seeds and make more seeds your first grow. Also I would recommend trying find a network of friends to swap clones and seeds with. I have a huge network of people to trade plants and seeds with and it make growing so much cheaper and fun. Well I am the only one who uses seeds, all my friends grow from clones Start off growing weed you want to smoke don't start from bag seed. Research the strains too and find out what will grow well in your set up. I would recommend starting off with an indica dom plant for your first grow.

 

[HazelDazel]

@dirtydan
I'm growing in similar conditions from seed. I'd go with Dready Berry or Dready Cheese if your main concern is a quick growing cycle (55 days!). Though Sage is a bit more mould resistant, can handle slightly cooler temperatures in Northern climes. Depending on your set-up, that might be a benefit. Plenty of European and UK seedbanks will deliver to the US (I go with the seed-bank.com, and I've had no trouble so far).

 

[LKV]

Because you can make so many mistakes as a beginner, you should consider starting with bagseed. They're free, and you know ahead of time what the final product should be like.

So if you are wise you will save some seed from buds which you consider to be good and learn from your experiences as you grow them to maturity.

On the other hand...
Having invested in expensive growing equipment and supplies, buying good quality proven genetics can be considered a worthy cause, when you consider the time you are about to invest growing them.

Author: Bear

How do you save seeds form you plants. We have no males.

 

[Rexer]

How do you save seeds form you plants. We have no males.

Hi LKV,

The thread you are posting on is pretty old.

There are options for reversing the sex of a female plant to create seeds.

Do a search for STS or colloidal silver in the forums and you'll find a plethora of information.

Also, on the topic of store bought vs bagseed, I'd recommend buying good genetics everytime. Less chances of having a plant go hermie on a first grow.

 

[Damien102]

I'm doing my first grow now. 2 plants-GG auto (MSNL) 2x2x4 tent, 105w quantum board. Between that, the nutes, ph up and down and peripherals like root stim, fans, humidifier, dehumidifier and all the other nickels and dime stuff I'm well over $600.... I'm on week 12 from the time the seed broke ground/6weeks into flower, and figure I'm about 2 weeks off harvest.
I give all this back ground to address what the OP originally said. After all this time and money investment, personally see $20 for a couple of femmed seeds pretty minimal.
I agree with what the OP said in his second paragraph more than the first.
I spent hours of reading , followed the recommendations of experienced growers and still made correctable mistakes. But looking at my plants I think it safe to say I'll be getting "at least" 3oz probably more like 4oz+ dry bud. Maybe I got lucky or maybe I just did the right things. But if I had to do it again, with all the time and $ needed for the start up, I would definitely go with a $10 or $15 bank seed, over bag seed.
(the trichome picture is about a week old. They're a lot more milky now. The other pics are from just now)

 

[Damien102]

How do you save seeds form you plants. We have no males.

I was going to say something like that. Also "you should consider starting with bagseed. They're free, and you know ahead of time what the final product should be like." Correct me if I'm wrong, but you can't judge the quality of smoke from a pollenated plant can you?

 

[Phytoplankton]

Really not too much difference, unless it’s really heavily seeded. Small drop in quality, but mostly just a pita dealing with the seeds. IMHO, with bag seed you don’t really know what the quality will be because you don’t know what the quality of the pollinator was.

 

[Braddah Waiheesohai]

Bagseed may have been caused by the parent plant turning hermaphrodite. If that's the case, and you grow out those seeds, there is a HIGH probability that your plants will be hermaphrodites and you will end up with more useless seeds than bud.

If you find 1 seed, in a big nug, out of a large bag, then chances are its a self femmed seed, that some plants will produce as a hail Mary to reproduce and you MAY be okay growing it.

If you get a bag full of seeded buds, avoid at all costs.

Either way if it's your first grow why take the chance? Buy a quality seed, with good genetics. There's enough else that can go wrong without having to worry about herms too.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Cannabis seeds are cheap. It's not like you're only getting a one-gram joint from each one. Even if you just grow them out and harvest the plants instead deciding to keep one or more norther plants and produce up to thousands of clones, you're probably still only going to end up spending about $30 for each ounce of bud you produce. Last time I tried to buy any, the going rate for a lid was a lot higher than that.

 

[3edid]

I also decided to start with the purchase of quality seeds. I read a few threads on the forum and realized that I could not afford the cost of growing in "ideal conditions". So my choice is to gain experience for the next summer season. Unfortunately, there is no time to plant something in the ground now((( So I will definitely not spare money for quality seeds. This is the only thing that increases the chance of a positive outcome for me.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Ideal conditions? I wouldn't worry overmuch. I've seen cannabis grown in repurposed juice and soda pop bottles full of perlite, and fed with General Hydroponics MaxiBloom dry nutrient. Probably cost about $1.35 per plant for container/medium/nutrients, plus however much their water cost (half a cent per gallon, from the faucet?) and their electricity (if used). Better/more equipment is generally helpful, but not necessarily required.

As for seeds, sure a person can pay $150+ for a pack of seeds - but he/she does not need to. Herbie's Head Shop sells Seedstockers' Northern Lights Auto for $5.43 each ($3.26 each if you buy a five-pack, or approximately $2.61 each, lol, if you buy a 25-pack for $65.21). That's not a recommendation; they might be great, but I've no idea because I've never grown them. And I probably wouldn't recommend an autoflowering strain as a person's introduction to cannabis gardening unless they had certain issues (couldn't provide 12(ish) hours of uninterrupted darkness during the flowering phase indoors, or they're growing outdoors and their local growing season is really short - and they don't want to deal with covering them every evening to artificially lengthen the dark period so as to have the plant finish early).

Herbie's also sells Sensi Seeds' Mexican Sativa for $7.87/each. It's feminized, so will grow into a pistillate (aka "female") plant, meaning you won't have to deal with males and their pollen seeding your crop. I grew it, but it has been YEARS, and I grew the regular (non-feminized) version. But it's probably very nearly the same. It's not the strongest one in the universe, but it's decent. Sativa dominant but not in the extreme; they say 70% sativa / 30% indica, but I'm guessing the indica percentage is a little higher than that (it has a bit of CBD). Genetics are a sativa from Oaxaca (thus the name, Mexican Sativa), Durban Poison, and a Pakistani hash plant indica. Grows/branches well. It's as easy to root cuttings (clone) from this strain as... the likelihood of success are roughly comparable to your odds of hitting the ground after you have already fallen off your roof, lol, so one mother plant can give you many, many new plants. Decent flavor/scent. Buzz will make you smile (giggle, even, if you're not a hardcore consumer). Easy to grow. Smoke before mowing the grass, walking the dog, et cetera. Reasonably short flowering period, about average for this type of hybrid. Not a "mold magnet." Basically, just a good beginner-friendly strain that some people choose to continue to grow - or return to - because it's a nice daytime one that's decent but not overpowering. I would have no problem recommending this one to a new grower.

Prioritize your carbon filter / exhaust fan setup (when gardening indoors) unless you are in a legal region. Even if you are, consider doing so - the smell of cannabis can become rather extreme, and it lingers on you, your clothing, etc. Plus, although it might not really bother neighbors living within a 100' radius or so any more than any other relatively dense planting of random especially fragrant plants (that the gardener is encouraging to grow "to the max"), if one of them is a thief - or happens to talk to someone who is, and mentions that their neighbor (you) must be growing some of the finest kind - it could cause major problems to you, even it your state has a relatively reasonable castle doctrine law that would in most situations allow you to shoot a burglar deader than last Christmas. Telling the responding officer, "I shot the SOB who broke in to steal my stuff," is all well and good, and might be cause for a pat on the back for a job well done for performing a community service... unless/until the LEO smells the cannabis plants. In which case, you've just run afoul of the federal possessing firearm "under disability" (or however it's phrased) law. Which would be bad news. Especially because it's not merely the one LEO - who might, just possibly, be able to ignore things if he/she wishes to do so - it's also the investigating detective, crime scene forensic people (if the locality is big enough to have them), the ambulance crew tasked with bagging and removing the suicide-by-burglary, one to several additional LEO who'll probably have arrived on scene when the initial officer is dispatched to the scene of a shooting with fatality, and all the rubbernecking neighbors... plus local press. Therefore, unless you're prepared to... dispose of your trash, yourself - or, alternatively, stand by while you get robbed and then flip a coin to see whether YOU (and family members, if present) get pooched by the thief so as to leave no witnesses behind - yeah. Carbon filter. Priority number one.

 

[Lexstar]

mr.nice,ghs,attitude,soma,nirvana,.....FEMINIZED!


man, the best solution is to start with feminized seeds from good seedbank! results will be great ,you can't do anything wrong that's why you are here on this forum!

The only drawback is do you know what your doing? I’ve always spent money on good genetics because that is where the good stuff is. You get what you pay for. Would you pay over $1,000.00 for a seed as a beginner. Don’t think so. But if you know how to grow, no problem.

 

[Porky82]

The only drawback is do you know what your doing? I’ve always spent money on good genetics because that is where the good stuff is. You get what you pay for. Would you pay over $1,000.00 for a seed as a beginner. Don’t think so. But if you know how to grow, no problem.

$1000 for a seed!!

 

[tav]

bag seed ....hmmmm. buddy gave me some THC BOMB type and one seed germinated one came up and the others having a hard time splitting.

 

[tav]

The only drawback is do you know what your doing? I’ve always spent money on good genetics because that is where the good stuff is. You get what you pay for. Would you pay over $1,000.00 for a seed as a beginner. Don’t think so. But if you know how to grow, no problem.

even $10 a seed is crazy

 

[Braddah Waiheesohai]

Breeding properly, and working lines to get consistent outcomes, is actually VERY labor, time, and money intensive. 10$ a seed for good genetics that someone has properly worked is a steal.

Problem is for every good breeder there are 5 sketchballs chucking pollen and selling unworked first generation crosses that should be freebie testers.

 

[Meph]

All the opinions seem to be covered but from a new grower that dumped money on setup... bag seed the first run to work out kinks, develop some flow, start finding YOUR style and dialing that in. You can absolutely just jump right to purchased genetics and there's a good case to be made if you're pretty set on what you're going to be doing.

IF you have a tendency to heavy hand things or over think, go with a test run on bag beans.

Here's why...
If it's decent and you get a great crop you have validated your initial methods AND have some decent smoke.

The additional $ spent on good genetics is what I knew would keep me over thinking / over reacting. Running the bag seeds right ahead of the good stuff lets me work out my own issues before I mess up the nicer plants.

To each their own and it ultimately comes down to what works for you. Testing with no pressure was nice for me to fight my own tendencies but might not be the right choice for everyone.

 

[grayeyes]

If you are just starting then instead of spending a fortune on a hobby you don't know you will like, try low budget. Forget all the meters and fancy stuff people want to sell you. Buy either some kind of light or germinate a seed in a plastic cup. A feminized seed to start with is the biggest bang for your buck. Buy something you maybe have tried from a dispensary. Discover the fun it was to make your own high.

 

[Regrowth]

I grew bag seeds my first time and had a closet full of hermies and seeded weed.
It ended up being a lot of wasted time, money and effort.
That wont always be the case but it's still a gamble.