How to identify female and male cannabis plants

Female and male marijuana plants

Female cannabis plants produce large quantities of resin-secreting flowers that coalesce into round or pointed buds, while males produce smaller balls near the base of the leaves. The male plants pollinate the female cannabis plants to initiate seed production. But we consume the strong female unfertilized plants called sinsemilla, which produce large buds that do not contain seeds.

Hermaphroditic plants contain both female and male sex organs that allow self-pollination or can pollinate nearby female canabis plants. This self-pollination is usually considered bad among growers because it spoils the sinsemilla plants. The pollen from hermaphrodites contains only XX chromosomes, so the seeds thus produced are feminised. However, they will have a relatively high probability of hermaphroditism.

How to determine the sex of a cannabis plant before flowering?

The best way for cannabis growers to identify the sex of their plants is with female parent clones, which are genetically identical cuttings from the parent strain, or they can buy quality fresh feminized cannabis seeds directly from Nukaseeds.

Unfortunately, you can’t tell the sex of a cannabis plant just by looking at the seeds.

If you are starting with regular cannabis seeds, you need to be aware of the sex of the marijuana plant and try to determine the sex as soon as possible. Cannabis growers don’t want to spend a lot of time on a plant only to find out it’s male and have to dispose of it.

All cannabis plants only reveal their sex at flowering stage (the second stage of life when marijuana plants produce flowers or pollen sacs).

There are several different methods to determine the sex of young vegetative marijuana plants. One is to take a clone of a young marijuana plant and force it to start flowering. The sex revealed by the clone tells you the sex of the cannabis plant you took it from.

Another thing you should know is that male plants generally start flowering before female plants. If you have taller plants that produce new growths before smaller ones, then the taller plants are probably male.

A good way to tell the sex of a marijuana plant early on is to look at the calyx with a very fine magnifying glass.

If the calyx is raised on the stem, it is probably a male. If the calyx is not protruding on the stem, it is probably a female.

Another way to tell the sex of your cannabis plants is to watch the marijuana plants when they are 4-6 weeks old, but you need to know where to look.

What you’re looking for is “Pre-flowers.” They are the small parts of the adult sex of the marijuana plant, and when you see them you can tell what sex the cannabis plant will be. They usually appear in the upper parts of the plant, closer to the light.

The sex of the marijuana plant is revealed by the “pre-blooms”, which usually appear from the time the plant germinates around 4-6 weeks.

For most cannabis plants, week 4 is still too early to detect sex, but for almost all vegetative plants, detection at week 6 is usually sufficient to determine sex.

Male pre-flowers

Male marijuana plants usually reveal their sex earlier than female cannabis plants. Have you ever played cards? Do you know what “spades” look like? This is the similar shape of the male reproductive organs. Some compare the shape of the smooth pollen sacs to the shape of an egg.

Female pre-flowers

The female cannabis calyx is longer and narrower than the male balls, sometimes with a fat underside. They usually (but not always) also have 1-2 white hairs (pistils) protruding from the top. Sometimes it takes a few extra days for the pistils to appear.