Male Weed Plant Explained: Is It Worth Cultivating?

Cannabis plants are either male or female, but only female plants produce seeds. Therefore, you must understand the cannabis plant’s gender, genetics, and reproduction system to grow weed successfully.

It can be even more confusing since cannabis plants don’t show their gender qualities until the plant slightly matures within two to four weeks of the initial growth. Fortunately, male cannabis plants mature quicker and show their sex sooner than females. So dive in to understand more about the male weed plant.

What Is a Male Weed Plant?

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As its name suggests, it is a plant with male parts, meaning it will produce pollen sacs during the development stage.

To understand better, a cannabis plant is considered a dioecious plant meaning each cannabis seed contains either male or female gametes, which produces male or female plants. Although this also means the male plant can reproduce, a female plant is needed if you exclude self-fertilization.

How to Know if Marijuana Is Male

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The tell-tale sign of a male cannabis plant is a pollen sac a well-trained weed grower’s eyes can pick up.

Since male plants mature two weeks before female plants, they also start to grow taller, have fewer leaves, and have thicker and sturdier stalks. However, it’s important to compare weed plants of the same species because leaf counts and stalks usually vary from one cannabis breed to another. For instance, Indica plants have sturdy stalks than Sativa plants.

Another tell-tale sign is the pre-flowers. Both male and female plants have pre-flowers at the joints of the stem. However, male pre-flowers have small bulbs or balls, which are the sacs that release pollen. Since male plants develop faster than female plants, you should remove them as soon as you see them.

To identify male plants:

• Look at the joints of the stem where plants start developing pre-flowers and look for the small bulbs
• Tighter clusters
• Fewer flowers at the top of your cannabis plant
• Straighter plant structure

What is the Difference Between Male and Female Cannabis Plants?

The most significant difference between the two is that female flowers produce seeds while male flowers produce pollen. Also, male flowers have a common structure that produces a soft five-petaled flower once it blooms. Notably, for a male plant, it develops in clusters of tightly closed buds, and once it blooms, the male flowers release pollen into the air.

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In addition to producing unusable buds, the male marijuana plant has lower levels of potentially therapeutic cannabinoids, like tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). For many cannabis enthusiasts, this difference is a double blow because male plants have fewer therapeutic benefits and euphoric effects. The lower cannabis levels also mean less potent smells and scents.

However, it is impossible to know the gender in the first stages of growth, so purchasing from a trusted source like Seed Pharm is important.

What about Hermaphrodite Plants?

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Hermaphrodite cannabis plants are plants that include both reproductive organs, and it happens when your plants are under enormous amounts of stress. Since cannabis plants can sometimes self-pollinate, they develop hermaphrodites or hermie plants, but they are treated as male plants.

So, if you see a hermaphrodite plant with pollen sacs in some areas but still has pistils in other areas, you should treat it as a male cannabis plant.

Some cannabis stressors that can cause hermie plant include:

• Nutrient deficiencies
• Bad weather
• Disease
• Damage to your plants
• Light changes during the flowering stage
• Inadequate water

What are the Uses of Male Plants?

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While some growers disregard male marijuana plants and consider them useless, they have many benefits to offer. Some of them include:

1. Breeding

Breeding is a crucial part of the development of the marijuana plant because it encourages the process of genetic change, which makes the marijuana plant stronger and more effective. The reason marijuana strains today are much more potent than they were many years ago is that marijuana breeding has been adapted to enhance the option of beneficial genes for human application.

Although the benefits of common weed breeding have been fully established, the naturalization of yields has indicated that secondary metabolites, weeds’ inherited features that give marijuana immune responses to harmful microbes and predators, have been removed. Generally, male marijuana plants are necessary for the survival of different pot strains.

If cannabis growers don’t want to produce more cannabis plants using marijuana clones, they should let male plants pollinate. Growing a male marijuana plant is also important for anyone who wants to breed their strains. Growing the same plant repeatedly from the clones may not be interesting anymore, especially if you are a cannabis enthusiast.

2. Concentrates & Hash

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Although male cannabis plants have less potency than female plants, male weed plants show a psychoactive nature. Indeed, male cannabis plants don’t produce buds, but their stems, sacs, and leaves contain a small cannabinoid amount that produces hash.

Throughout the vegetative stage of development, males exhibit higher levels of tetrahydrocannabinol in the petals than females. Still, only female cannabis plants produce a higher proportion of tetrahydrocannabinol during the adult stage.

The ability to make hash is a skill that all females possess, giving them an advantage in gum production. Unfortunately, males have a short lifespan; tragically, there are no known ways to increase gum production and prevent cross-fertilization in males.

3. Garden Augmentation

Besides cannabis cultivation, male cannabis plants are beneficial in vegetable and flower gardens. This is because the terpene in a male plant is not as abundant as in a female plant, which produces natural fragrances that help repel pests.

Plant some male plants to avoid using harmful pesticides on your vegetables and flowers. Before planting the male weed in your shoot or green field, separate it from the female weeds. As long as you succeed in doing that, your field will benefit from having male cannabis plants because their terpenes will help control pests and infections.

Cannabis plants have roots that extend far into the soil to erode rocky terrain. These roots also maintain the position of the soil. This prevents the soil from deteriorating when it pours heavily. Additionally, it reduces food spillage during heavy rain.

4. Cooking or Juicing

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Among health-conscious people, several cannabis recipes are gaining popularity. While male cannabis plants have lower cannabinoids than female plants, they carry plenty of nutritional properties, making them a favourite among enthusiasts who enjoy juices.

Although you don’t juice the larger leaves and denser stems, you can work them in a manner that is roughly equal to how you would treat females. This will help you avoid the overpowering “weed flavor.”

Cannabis juice is a good medium for delivering the benefits of some compounds, such as cannabidiol, without the high or other undesirable effects. If you prefer your male weed to be mild, you can also make tea from the foliage.

5. Hemp Fiber

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Male plants produce softer fibers than female cannabis plants. Also, the fibers from the male cannabis plants are perfect base materials for sheets, light blankets, clothing, and napkins.

These textiles made from hemp fiber are more sustainable, eco-friendly, and last longer. In addition, male hemp plants are flexible, stronger, and more resilient to external factors than those female plants.

6. Edibles

Regular marijuana edibles have a reputation for producing strong, lingering euphorias. An excessive THC intake might result from consuming too much marijuana—most of the time, male and female flowers with roughly equal amounts of THC.

Consequently, this chemical from male plants will result in a delicate essence that can be enjoyed in sweet or delicious ingredients with a low risk of turning green.

How to Choose the Best Male Plant for Breeding

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Professional cannabis growers use the elimination process to choose good male plants. Below are some tips you can follow when choosing your male cannabis plants.

a). Avoid plants growing tall quickly or faster

The fast-growing cannabis plants fail to produce the expected quality and are not so great in enclosed spaces. Therefore, opt for the stockier male plant if you plan to have an indoor grow.

b). Choose Male Cannabis Plants Based on their Stems

This is an effective way to ensure you choose the best plants for your planned use. Commercial growers prefer heavy and large stems to get high-quality THC content. So, check for these stems in your male plants if you want to grow cannabis plants with impressive THC content.

c). Choose the Marijuana Plant with the Best Scent

The plants with the best scents are the most promising ones, and you can know this with a simple sniff test. So, if you are looking for skunky or dunk buds, you should find male cannabis plants with the most potent smell for your breeding purposes.

d). Avoid Plants that Auto-Flower or Flower Early

These auto-flowering plants have a high chance of becoming hermaphrodite cannabis plants, and if a plant develops into a hermaphrodite, it has both sex organs in the same flower. This is mainly a problem if you plan to sell or smoke your buds since the buds most likely contain seeds.

Should You Cultivate Male Plants?

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Yes, but this strongly depends on the needs of the cultivator. For example, while female marijuana plants are more desirable to cannabis cultivators, male weed plants play their vital roles.

Male cannabis plants should not only be considered for the above benefits, but they can also ensure you achieve diversity and sustainability among the weed plants.

Harvesting only the profitable plants has proved to be a dangerous path, and cannabis may experience the same fate if we don’t cultivate if we only focus on the female cannabis plant. Also, growing cannabis on male plants will ensure we get the strain’s hardiness, which will ensure cannabis becomes more of a commercial commodity.

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