What are Regular Cannabis Seeds?

Regular cannabis seeds produce marijuana plants without an autoflowering or feminized trait. That means they can produce male plants and require a change in the light cycle to flower.

Additionally, regular cannabis seeds are made naturally via a male cannabis plant pollinating a female. This is why regular seeds are also called open-pollinated seeds.

Are regular cannabis seeds male or female?

They’re both! One trait of regular cannabis seeds is the ability to produce male and female plants with a roughly 50-50 split. This trait is why some growers buy and even prefer them over feminized cannabis seeds; regular seeds are better suited for breeding new strains. 

Be sure to try your hand at growing yourself. It’s easier than you think! Robert’s free Weed Grow Bible will help you get started quickly.

Are regular cannabis seeds photoperiod?

Yes, regular marijuana seeds produce photoperiod plants. This quality means they require a change in the light cycle to initiate flowering. In fact, the term photoperiod and regular is often interchangeable when describing seeds, but only sometimes. It’s not always accurate because some photoperiod strains are feminized.

Still not quite sure what Photoperiod cannabis seeds are? Read our guide on photoperiod cannabis seeds to learn more.

Are regular seeds the same as organic seeds?

You could argue that regular cannabis seeds are the same as organic seeds since both are produced through natural means – pollination of a female plant with a male one. However, they differ because organic cannabis seeds come from plants grown in an organic system or setup without synthetic fertilizers or pesticides.

Why choose regular seeds?

Growers choose regular cannabis seeds for various reasons, including cloning, breeding, and creating new phenotypes. Cloning and breeding regular seeds is much more stable than autoflower of feminized seeds. 

Feminized seeds have less stable genetics and may cause traits like hermaphroditism to occur more frequently than regular seeds. The tendency for hermaphroditism becomes stronger the more feminized plants are bred together or cloned since the process involves applying stress to the plant. In terms of autoflowering seeds, it’s impossible to clone plants of them due to their automatic flowering genetic trait. 

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Regular seeds produce genetically varied plants called phenotypes (strains). You can highlight those traits via breeding by choosing a phenotype with desirable traits. An example is Thin Mints (bred from the Girl Scout Cookies strain) or Chem’s Sister, grown from the same bag of seeds as Chemdawg.

As exciting as the potential of creating new phenotypes and strains are, it takes a certain amount of cultivation experience and time. Make sure you have some grow cycles under your belt before attempting to crossbreed your own phenos.

Pros and cons of regular seeds

Like every seed type, regular cannabis seeds have pros and cons. You should weigh those differences to help you decide what seed type best suits you. However, it is important to highlight the importance of regular seeds.

Regular seeds are an indispensable part of the cannabis community because they help introduce new strains and new phenotypes of those strains. Without them, there wouldn’t be as much diversity in the market.

What are the benefits of regular cannabis seeds?

There are a lot of benefits when you grow regular cannabis seeds, both as a home grower and as a contribution to the cannabis community. The following are just a few examples:

• They are more stable for cloning and breeding
• Regular seeds introduce new traits to the gene pool to create better strains
• They are more natural compared to other seed types, which makes their genetics more robust 
• Regular seeds are more genetically diverse, allowing new phenotypes with unique terpene profiles to emerge

What are the downsides of regular cannabis seeds?

Regular seeds do have their drawbacks. Here’s some of the laborious effort that comes with growing cannabis from regular seeds:

• There’s at least a 50-50 split between male and female cannabis plants. That means you’ll end up with only half the number of viable plants producing smokable flowers.
• You’ll have the extra labor of removing male plants, and that process is not suited for new growers.
• You’ll have wasted precious resources growing those male cannabis plants until you can identify their sex around the pre-flowering stage. 
• If you’re only growing for smokable flowers, using regular seeds instead of feminized ones is counter-intuitive due to the risk of males pollinating the females.

What is the difference between auto and regular seeds?

The only difference between autoflower and regular seeds is that autos produce plants that flower automatically without changing their light cycle. Regular seeds, in comparison, produce plants that need a change in the light cycle to flower. For a more in-depth review, read our article comparing autoflower vs. photoperiod cannabis.

Here’s our ultimate guide! Want to learn more about autoflowering seeds? Read our guide on autoflower seeds to learn more.

What is the difference between feminized and regular seeds?

The key trait differentiating feminized seeds from regular ones is that feminized seeds will only produce female plants. How feminized seeds are produced is fundamentally different than the process for regular cannabis. To learn more, read our article on feminizing seeds.

Are regular seeds more potent?

Regular cannabis seeds aren’t more potent than other seed types, except for some autoflower strains. Regular seeds produce plants that yield equally potent buds as feminized and some super autoflowers.

Tips for growing marijuana from regular seeds

Growing cannabis is easy to learn but hard to master. A lot of trial and error will come your way. The main issue with regular seeds is the potential for males to pollinate your female plants. However, you can get around that by removing those males before they can pollinate your garden. Simply wait until your plants are in their pre-flowering stage, where you can tell their gender apart and remove them. 

Once you’ve identified and separated the males, all that’s left is growing the female plants until harvest. Be sure to provide your plants with a consistent light cycle of 18 hours of daylight and 6 hours of darkness to rest during vegging. Then follow that with 14 hours of light to 10 hours of darkness at the start of flowering before transitioning to only 12 hours of light.

If you want an in-depth review of how to grow cannabis, check out our Beginner Guide to Growing Marijuana.

Are regular cannabis seeds worth it?

Regular cannabis seeds are worth a try if you want to do the extra work. You could also stick to growing feminized seeds if you wish to grow your own weed, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Growing cannabis from regular seeds is harder; that’s why it’s often left to professional growers and cannabis breeders.

If you’re a new grower looking to get started, we recommend starting with feminized seeds. While you’re at it, download Robert’s Grow Bible to learn more tips about cannabis cultivation.

Happy growing!