Can You Tell the Sex of Cannabis Seeds from Their Appearance

Of all the things that can trip a grower up, sexing marijuana plants may just be the trickiest. Sexing plants is so important because growers are typically after the female plants, that produce the huge THC covered buds. Or the medicinal relief that CBD strains can bring. With such opposite effects of male and female plants, it’s easy to see just how important sexing plants is. But what if growers didn’t have to wait to sex their plants? While it would certainly make life easier, is sexing cannabis seeds possible?

What does a weed seed look like?

Weed seeds are small and oval-shaped, with a hard light or dark brown shell. They have one pointed end where the root comes out, and one flat end. Some seeds have a ‘tiger’ stripe style pattern on their outer shell. If you find any pale or white seeds, this normally indicates that they are immature.

On the whole weed seeds all look very similar, there are slight differences in their size, color and shape but telling seeds apart from appearance along would be incredibly difficult.

Can you determine the sex of cannabis seeds?

This has been a question that has become a very hot topic online these days. After a quick search, growers can find multiple charts and explanations on how to sex cannabis seeds.

Unfortunately, there’s not much truth to any of these interpretations. It’s simply impossible to tell just by looking at them what the sex of any cannabis seed is. If it was that easy, feminized marijuana seeds would not be as popular as they are. People could simply buy regular seeds and look at them themselves.

Typically, marijuana plants cannot be sexed until they have already begun to grow. Cannabis seeds will look somewhat identical and plants in the vegetative stage will also look identical,. As the plants move into their flowering stage, they will start to show very clear signs as to what sex they are. While it would be much more convenient for growers to be able to determine sex before this point. The sad truth is that it’s just not possible.

So where do all the myths from sexing cannabis seeds come from?

Common myths on identifying the sex of a cannabis seed

One of the biggest myths of sexing cannabis seeds comes from a popular chart online.

The chart states that one can determine the sex of a cannabis seed by just looking at them. Within the chart, five cannabis seeds are shown. Three of these are female and two are male, supposedly. This chart says to look for a crater at the bottom of the seed. It explains that females will have a depression that is perfectly round. While males will have a crater that is misshapen and not uniform. However, this is simply not true. The craters found in cannabis seeds have nothing to do with the sex of a seed.

This same chart states that females will also roll easily across a table or surface, while males will not. While it does say that a magnifying glass and pair of tweezers is needed to examine the seeds. neither of these tools will make it any easier to determine the sex of cannabis seeds.

While growers may not be able to determine the sex of a seed, does the environment have anything to do with it? This is something else that has been hotly contested online.

Environment determines sex debate

We know that determining the sex of cannabis seeds cannot be done. However,  it’s unclear as to whether environmental factors have any place in determining the sex of marijuana plants.

Research is carried out all the time to determine if a plant’s environment has anything to do with the sex it will turn out to be. And while there’s research stating that it does not, there’s just as much research stating that certain species do have their sex determined by the environment. This same research also states that using certain chemical treatments can also reverse the sex of a plant.

While environmental factors may not necessarily determine the sex of marijuana plants or cannabis seeds, it is known that certain environments can change the sex of a plant.

This will mostly happen when a plant is stressed by its environment. When this happens, the plant may think it’s going to die and as a result, will change itself into a hermaphrodite plant. By doing so, it will be able to self-pollinate itself and survive.

Growers know that hermaphrodite plants can be just as harmful to crops as male plants. Therefore, it’s very important that every grower understand how to sex marijuana plants. Particularly if they’re not using feminized marijuana seeds that will give them only females.

While it would be much easier for growers to be able to sex their cannabis seeds, the simple fact is that there’s no way to do it. However, sexing plants early on during their growth period is not only essential, it’s completely possible. Growers can even do it before their plants enter the flowering stage if needed. Then male plants can be removed and growers can enjoy a nice, full crop.