Short Answer: Only a female cannabis plants make buds. The flowers of a female cannabis plant are what we call “buds”. Female flowers are smokable when dried, and contain the most THC. Male cannabis flowers are called “pollen sacs”. Pollen sacs are not good to smoke and contain low amounts of THC compared to buds.
For most growers, male cannabis plants are only used to make pollen to fertilize female plants and make seeds. Most home growers throw away any male plants that they encounter to keep them from fertilizing the female plants and making unwanted seeds.
Only female cannabis plants make buds.
Learn about Male vs Female Cannabis Plants
Dig Deeper
With regular cannabis seeds, about half the plants will be male, and half will be female. Growers typically can’t tell the difference between male and female plants until theey start making flowers. (Exception: Pre-flowers can tell you the plant sex ahead of time)
However, only female flowers/buds contain a usable amount of THC.
Male marijuana plants only make pollen sacs, which are not good to smoke. Most growers only want pollen to fertilize female plants and make regular seeds. That’s why it’s recommended that home growers identify and throw away any male plants they encounter. This keeps them from fertilizing the female plants and giving you seedy buds.
If your female plants do get fertilized, they use all their energy to produce seeds instead of making buds. This not only lowers your overall bud yields, but the buds will also be full of seeds.
This is great if you want regular seeds. However the problem with using regular seeds fertilized by a male plant is half of the seeds will also be male plants. Home growers typically want to only put effort into growing plants that will make buds. It’s annoying to have to throw half the plants away, especially since you can’t tell which plants are male or female until they start making flowers.
Home Grow Tip: Start with “feminized” seeds (here’s a list of good ones) to ensure every cannabis plant is female. (What are feminized seeds?)
Example of the flowers of a female cannabis plant (“bud”)
Male cannabis plants make pollen sacs (low THC compared to buds, bad to smoke, low yields if used for concentrates).
Avoid keeping male plants in your grow room because their pollen causes buds to form seeds.
Example of the flowers of a male cannabis plant (“pollen sacs”)
The best way to ensure all-female cannabis plants is to use feminized seeds. Feminized cannabis seeds are safely available worldwide in just about every country. If you grow with feminized cannabis seeds, every plant will be female and grow seedless buds. Highly recommended over using seeds you find, which are on average going to be half male plants.
If you would like to start a breeding program to make your own hybrid, try using a method that creates all-female (feminized) seeds at home so that you don’t waste time having to identify and throw out male plants.
Getting clones of female marijuana plants is a way besides buying feminized seeds online from a seed bank to ensure that all your marijuana plants are female.
If you don’t have a choice of seeds, and some of your seeds may be male (like if you found random seeds in your weed) then you want to get your plants to reveal their sex right away so you don’t have to waste time and energy on male plants.
Click here for more pictures of male vs female marijuana plants.
Breeding for Seeds
If you would like to start a real breeding program to make your own hybrid strains, I recommend using a method that creates all-female (feminized) seeds so that you don’t waste time having to identify and throw out male plants. That’s what some of the most successful seed breeders do to progress their breeding programs much faster than using male plants in their breeding program.
Getting clones of female marijuana plants or buying feminized seeds online from a seed bank are other ways you can ensure that all your marijuana plants are female.
If you don’t have a choice of seeds, and some of your seeds may be male (like if you just found seeds in you buds) than you want to get your plants to reveal their sex right away so you don’t have to waste time and energy on male plants.
How to Identify male and female marijuana plants
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