Identifying Male
Cannabis Plants
by Erowid
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Cannabis plants
are either male or female. The male plants
produce pollen which pollenates the flowers of
the female plant, which once pollenized, produce
seeds. If the female plant isn't pollenized (if
there are no male plants nearby producing pollen),
the flower/buds continue to develop and produce
THC. Female plants which are not pollenized are
referred to as sensemilla (without seeds). Usually 40-50% of the
plants are male.
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D. Removing
Males: Outdoor
male plants will begin to produce their flowers
and pollen as early as mid July for varieties
acclimated to this climate. Varieties from more
southern climates, may not start until mid
September. This difference depends on the budding
cycle of your variety, some plants start to bud
earlier than others, so the exact time to cut the
males will vary with the strain. If you are using
a variety of different seeds it may be necessary
to visit once a week from July 21 through
September 15. The timely identification of a male
plant is crucial to the success of the harvest.
If the weather is exceptional during the time a
male starts producing its flowers and you missed
seeing the first signs during your last visit,
you could wind up with a lot of seeds and little
of the fine herb. A female can either generate a
large seedless bud, a large bud with a few seeds,
or a large bud that is almost totally seeds. The
first case is achieved by removing all the male
plants before any of their flowers open. The
second case occurs when a few male flowers have
opened but you remove them before any more open.
The third case occurs when you miss-time the
flowering of the male. This can be devastating if
you have big female plants because you could
loose 90% of the smokable herb to seed production.
This last scenario may not always be bad though.
If you are short on seeds for the next growing
season, it may be prudent to let one or two males
stand and fertilize a portion of the females.
Good seeds are hard to come by, so if you have a
strain you like, make sure to plan ahead and have
at least a few hundred seeds for the future. The
spotting of males is one of the most difficult of
things to explain to a person that's never grown
since it really takes careful attention to how
the tops of male plants look at this stage of
development. Even experienced growers will be
unsure at times and will have to wait till the
next visit to be sure. When a male enters the
stage of flower development, the tips of the
branches where a bud would develop will start to
grow what looks like a little bud (little balls)
but it will have no white hairs coming out of it.
Females will have
no balls and will have small white hairs. All of
the images on this page are of male plants
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Males are often,
but not always, tall with stout stems, sporadic
branching, and few leaves. Males are usually
harvested except those used for breeding, after
their sex has been determined, but before the
pollen is shed. When harvesting, especially if
close to females, cut the plant off at the base,
taking care to shake the male as little as
possible. This helps prevent any accidental
pollination by an unnoticed, open male flower. |
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