Feminized seeds, marijuana seeds specially bred to produce only female plants, have been gaining popularity over the past five years or so.

Feminized seeds have become so popular that most seed companies now have both feminized and regular seeds available for each of their marijuana strains. And why not? A batch of seeds that will grow all female plants sounds great, right? Unfortunately, there are problems with feminized seeds that have been widely reported by growers around the world. Before we discuss the problems, it is important to understand how feminized seeds are made.

Discovered by the same generation of growers that learned the secrets of indoor growing, feminized seeds are nothing new.

If you have a budding female plant that suffers a lot of stress, it can produce male flowers. These flowers are able to pollinate any female plants around, including itself. The seeds resulting from this ‘union’ would produce a very high ratio of females to males.

The old-school terms for producing feminized seeds were ‘hermaphroditic breeding’ or ‘breeding with Herman’. It was discovered in the 70’s and many growers experimented with the techniques through the 80’s.

What was found is that the new generation of (over 90% female) plants had a highly increased tendency to ‘turn Herman’, meaning that many of them would produce male flowers with little or no stress. Since a single bud of male flowers can easily pollinate all females in a grow room or all nearby females outdoors, feminized seeds took up residence in the backs of the minds of early marijuana growers and were not widely used.

These days, many companies use hormones rather than stress to produce their feminized seeds.

Hormones can be applied to branches of female plants (or even male plants) to switch the sex of that branch. Due to the wide disagreements about the tendency of feminized seeds to ‘turn Herman‘, I believe this hormonal approach to be vastly more reliable and actually capable of producing the desired high quality all-female seed batches. The online conflict over feminized seeds has a couple of patterns that seem to support this theory.

Most growers that purchase feminized seeds from high-class seed companies, such as Green House Seeds in Amsterdam, report no problems with hermaphrodites. Most growers that report hermy problems without much stress have bought their seeds from companies that haven’t been around very long, or are totally geared toward commercial and guerrilla grows.

If you choose to purchase feminized seeds, make sure you research the seed company that breeds them. Here is an example of a nice test of feminized seeds.

When searching for a brand of feminized seeds to grow, it is important not to go with the cheapest seeds you can find. Remember, stress-induced fems produce only 90% – 95% females and have a much greater risk of ‘turning Herman’. While no seed company that I’ve seen actually breaks down their methods for producing feminized seeds, there are ways to improve your chances.

Price is a good indicator, and so is the general reputation of the seed breeding company. I’ve found the most valuable indicator of quality is simply their inventory. Companies with only a few different available strains are usually the work of a single breeder with a few helpers, such as DJ Short. Reputation is the most important deciding factor here, as most new companies also have only a few varieties.

For larger companies, simply look at the list of available strains.

Are there any pure sativa strains such as Haze or Durban Poison available? Seed companies helpful enough to sell you their pure sativas are a good bet for quality. If a seed company has no pure sativa to offer you, it is because they profit much more from selling crosses, rather than selling you the genetics needed to make your own crosses.

Are they selling strains like Green Crack, Herojuana or other strains that make marijuana sound like a ‘gangsta drug’? As a general rule, any company that compares marijuana to any other drug or uses profanity in the strain name is simply not a very professional company. The only exception to the profanity rule is Matanuska Thunderfuck, which is a fabled Alaskan strain that has been around for at least twenty years.

A great place to do your research is Attitude Seed Bank in the UK. They carry stock from over 100 seed breeders around the world, and you can see obvious examples of good breeders and bad breeders. Please remember to take your time with your selection, because you’ll be working with whichever seeds you buy for at least a few months, up to several years.

Anyone have any experiences with feminized seeds (good or bad) to share? Please feel free to do so in the comment box below. Any seed breeders think I’m giving feminized seeds a bum rap? Also, please feel free to speak your mind. I wish all of you luck with whichever seeds you choose, Happy Growing!