What is a hermie seed?

dawill1967

New Member
I think a lot of the logic behind seeds and where they come from is lost in the constant misinformation being distributed. MJ is a plant and the ultimate goal of ALL plants is to reproduce. We as growers don't want this to happen unless we're controlling the situation which is fine, but at some point, we can't control nature. Let's start with a few definitions so we're all on the same page.

Seed: seeds are reproductions of the MJ plant. These seeds may have all of the characteristics of the female plant, or many of the male traits, or both. The multiple strains of MJ have been endlessly crossed to make different varieties that we all know so well. It's not much different than a genetic engineer isolating the coding for freckles or something else. We all know how kids are made, I'll stop here...

Feminized Seed: feminized seeds have "more" of the female gene according to seed vendors. You have a better chance of getting a female if you use them. Why? Feminized seeds are bred by applying a chemical (usually colloidal silver) on branches of a female plant to make it produce male parts and pollinate itself. In other words, they force the female to hermie (but hermies are bad, right?). You can also stress YOUR plant to the point where it will produce seeds, but like the colloidal silver, it's STRESS not a predefined trait in your seed. The plants thinks it's going to die because of something in it's environment so it attempts to survive which is the base coding in it's genetics.

Bag Seed: without proper control or unknown origins, any seed becomes "bag seed". No matter where the seed came from, if it is still viable and if grown in a "comfortable" MJ environment, it may become a prize winner. There are a lot of duds in a bag of weed because most growers try and avoid seeded bud. If it happens, it has a good probability of being a dud. This is usually why bag seed gets a bad name. You get immature seeds that may never survive. There are "accidents" at birth for "babies" all the time. This is a natural occurrence.

Now for the logic. If you pay $$$ for your seed, it does NOT guarantee anything. The vendor has put a lot of time and effort into selective breeding and "stabilizing" the genetics in their seed product. That does not make them God. The seeds they sell still have to abide by the laws of nature and they may die, hermie, mold, etc. Under conditions you give them, they may even be murdered! New growers kill SO many seeds and seedlings, I know I have! OPINION: So unless you're confident in what you're processes are or you have money to burn, don't buy seeds from a vendor and expect that seed to give you what the vendor tells you it will. Your mileage may vary. Bag seed can be good bud if you learn how to grow MJ in general. Save your money, look for the gems in your stash. It takes time, but all the "good" strains had to start somewhere.
 
I think a hermie seed is one that you grow and care for then one day out of the blue.. Ballsacks
 
With respect I disagree. Sure seeds are venturing into a realm unknown because each seed has unknown potential. When buying from the seed banks, more notably our seed bank sponsors here on on 420magazine, you can trust that they will provide the genetics they are saying. You are right however that you never really know what you're going to get but that is the magic of seeds. Every seed has the potential to be a brand new phenotype that noone has ever seen producing the most amazing buds anyone has ever seen. I love seeds and the delicate yet robust nature of them. I love every aspect of the cannabis plant. Seeds are the key to maintaining quality genetics and variety. Feminized seeds are the way to go. Auto flowering seeds are interesting and I will be trying them soon.

Great post and it is interesting to hear your opinion on seeds. You are right about bag seed having just as much potential.

I've always loved the story of Jack and the Bean Stalk. I always look at cannabis seeds as magical beans. I have a dream that one day I'll come home to buds busting off the roof.
 
With respect I disagree. Sure seeds are venturing into a realm unknown because each seed has unknown potential. When buying from the seed banks, more notably our seed bank sponsors here on on 420magazine, you can trust that they will provide the genetics they are saying. You are right however that you never really know what you're going to get but that is the magic of seeds. Every seed has the potential to be a brand new phenotype that noone has ever seen producing the most amazing buds anyone has ever seen. I love seeds and the delicate yet robust nature of them. I love every aspect of the cannabis plant. Seeds are the key to maintaining quality genetics and variety. Feminized seeds are the way to go. Auto flowering seeds are interesting and I will be trying them soon.

Great post and it is interesting to hear your opinion on seeds. You are right about bag seed having just as much potential.

I've always loved the story of Jack and the Bean Stalk. I always look at cannabis seeds as magical beans. I have a dream that one day I'll come home to buds busting off the roof.
Not really sure what you're disagreeing with, I never said seed banks don't provide you with what they say they do. I'm just saying there's no guarantee that a new grower will get the same yield/performance as an experienced grower. New growers have a high failure rate, it's normal. This was originally written with new growers in mind. My whole point was feminized seeds are hermie seeds since "bag seed" has the common misconception that it's a hermie seed and it's "bad", or it will hermie when you try to grow it. It's simply a seed that you don't know the genetic information about.
 
I agree that the hermie seeds have the female characteristics. My last grow has three plants -1 girl ,1 boy & 1 hermie. The boy was killed .The hermie had about 12 seeds .So far, 3 hermie seeds planted -3 girls.:thumb:
 

There are several ways to feminize seeds.

Traditionally/Originally but very prone to hermaphrodite is the "Bolting" method where we allow a female to flower far longer than maturity , what happens is a sensi female will pop male flowers in desperation to self pollinate. After a few weeks those seeds become viable/growable mature seeds that will be considered feminized.

Newer methods use a chemical reaction that promotes female flowers to turn in to male flowers and the pollen from these specimens are considered "Sterile" and if crossed with another female plant will produce feminized seeds. Be warned these methods work really well but take time and still can produce Hermi prone plants and the rare male still.

There is another patented method that is used in Europe where they use a genetic process that eliminates the male chromozone completely , these are the only true "Feminized" strains. They become unstable fast when further bred with other strains and are prone to genetic reversion. It has 2 good qualities for the breeder , one is to ensure a solid product and two is to ensure their genetics are tougher to mimick consistently. If you ever needed a male to backcross F1 you are stopped dead in your tracks on these genetics.

I am not a professional , nor do I imagine my information to be 100% but it seems like viable info to me from what was explained by many other breeders. Best of luck and welcome to 420!
 
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