How do farmers ensure that their seeds are male?

Rin101

New Member
I have long wondered this question, but I have never been able to find any mention of the topic on the internet. When I tell people all the reasons we should be growing hemp, I always come back to this question of how farmers can be sure that their plants are male.

This brings up another important question: without female plants, how would seeds be produced to re-plant hemp fields? If all the plants are male, can they still pollinate each other and produce seed? When the seed falls, are some of the seeds female? Do the male plants grow faster and choke out the female plants?

If anyone has any knowledge or insight on the topic I would greatly appreciate it if you could share :)

Thanks
 
Cannabis is a truly unique plant in that it is one of the few that are either a male or female. All others have the female and male parts contained in a single plant, such as veggies and food crops.

Answers pertain to hemp only:
Without female plants, how would seeds be produced to re-plant hemp fields? They wouldn't, you need a female and a male plant. Except for the occasional hermie, but a farmer wouldn't rely on that to produce seeds.

If all the plants are male, can they still pollinate each other and produce seed? Nope, maybe a rare exception again in a hermie, but nothing predictable or reliable.

When the seed falls, are some of the seeds female? Average expectancy is 50% male / 50% female. That's mother nature at work to assure survival.

Do the male plants grow faster and choke out the female plants? Nope, hemp grows more from a single stalk with very little side branching.

Although the seeds can be used as well, the main harvest is from the stalks, not the buds, and females are harvested as well with little to no difference in producution than males. So to answer the first question: Farmers don't want all males, the girls are equally valued for their stalks and seeds for next crop. Hope that helps a bit :peace:
 
Thanks for the info. So it sounds like the DEA is correct in saying that they would have trouble distinguishing male from female Cannabis plants if hemp were legalized, BUT they are wrong in thinking that the female plants grown as hemp would be grown for drug use. Does that seem accurate?

Also, when I was asking about male plants choking out the other plants, I was relating it to the claims I have read saying that hemp "chokes out" other species of plants and weeds because it is grown so densely (and therefore doesn't require weed-killing chemicals be applied to the fields). I didn't realize that the female plants would grow the same way that the male plants would!

As a solution for this problem of the female plant being grown legally, I read a book that suggested the legal limits for Cannabis grown for hemp should 1)contain less than 1% THC and 2)contain a Cannabidiol to THC ratio greater than 1. I think that sounds like a reasonable way to prohibit growth for drug use. Unfortunately, hemp would still steal too much profit from major corporations for them to even consider legalizing it!! The bastards!
 
Yes, they would and especially before the plants bloom. Another prime example of their ignorance on hemp though, since it usually has less than .03% THC you would have to smoke an acre of the stuff to get high.

Your right on with the rest of the post.

Now go out and educate those bastards and get it legalized, HAHA

Peace
 
Transplanting clones from a male plant would ensure a male only crop. Although this would be laborious and cost consuming it would provide a 100% legal crop, with all the characteristics of the previous. Thus providing a pest resistant, reliable crop :)
 
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