New Grower The Truth About Feminized Seeds!!

[Rebel]

Hey Buds!

I want as many opinions on this as possible. What are your experiences with Feminized seeds? I've read they have a higher male/hermi rate... I have also read this is just a way for the Breeders to ensure their genetics/work aren't stolen or copied. I can understand that but, I also agree with TBM as he thinks Fem seeds should then be offered at a lower price than regular seeds!

This makes total sense to me... Since you can copy regular beans you would think they WOULD charge more to discourage that! LOL but, they charge more for fem... I think TBM makes more sense!

So what's the TRUTH? Is it to protect genetics and worth spending that kinda dough?

OR

Are they a waste of money due to higher hermi/male ratio, that being an even BIGGER waste of money to me! Please, everyone weigh in!! I think this would be important information to the AFN community.

 

[LUSSO]

I personally dont buy fem...I don't see spending that kind of money on an fem auto unless you plan to breed with it...which has its risks...or the strain is some kill...No way of getting clones...unless of course its a super auto...

I personally like the companys that share reg genetics with the world...Don't want to see the majority of companys going to fem side only...reg genetic supporter for life

I do however enjoy getting fem freebies from the attitude

 

[CanadianBudz]

I feel for photos its just easier with fem seeds, wont have to worry about wasting time on males, even though there might be an occasional herm, for autos reg is a better choice in my opinion :smokebuds:

 

[Rebel]

Thanks for the replies! Great info. Can't wait for more members to weigh in! :smokebuds:

 

[Muddy]

I've grown both and with autos, prefer regular seeds. To me it seems that the femed autos I've grown were not as hardy and productive as regular seeds. Maybe that was just the luck of the draw but I've seen noticeable differences in size and growth rate. I will not breed to a plant from a fem seed and think that over time breeding femed seeds will promote hermies and dilute the gene pool. However with photos, I do use femed seeds. I have no interest in breeding photos and don't want to waste time dealing with a lot of males. I can only plant a few photos so want to insure that they are all girls.

I can understand a breeder wanting to protect his investment by only offering feminized seeds. There's also the extra work involved in creating them, so I guess the higher price could be justified. What I'd like to see is those breeders eventually releasing their seeds as non fems after awhile. Say fems only for a year or two, then regulars become available. I see too many people not concerned about future genetics who will breed to those fems.

 

[bruzilla]

ive had tremendous success with female seeds! no hermphies. ive done both 4 sure its just a LOT less stressful without males around plus you can kinda figure out ur rotation/room situation not stressn over how many of your pride n joys gonna be axed after your risk n hardwork all that time?no!

 

[dirtybongwater]

ive had good luck with female seeds but i want sum males so i dont have to keep buying new seeds. of course if sumtin comes out that catches my eye ill order them but i like to keep the garden going at all times and cant afford to buy seeds evry 30 to 40 days lol but again this is just my

 

[riz]

I agree with all the comments about fems being overpriced and an accident waiting to happen, but i have tried to balance up what they are worth to me and they might work out more expensive per ounce harvest at the end of the day but they save me so much hassle it's well worth it. Lose the cost of the seeds but double the cost of the compost makes it only about 50 quid of a difference to me for 18-20oz.

I've never had a hermie or a male from any fem beans i have purchased.

I have a load of diesel ryder reg and onyx reg seeds from when i got a 10 packs of regs and pollinated but it means planting 36 regs in 6 litre pots to try and get 18 females to fill my 4x4 space. Thats mixing up 216l of compost which is backbreaking. then there is carrying 36 pots through the house, up the srairs to the growroom which is legbreaking. They are not going to show sex for about 21 days so that means they need fed just before they show sex which is a waste of nutes on the males. I run the risk of a rogue pollination and ruining my sensi crop. I also run the risk of a crap male/female ratio which has happened to me before. I then have to dispose of the waste from 18ish males.

For femmed beans, i buy in packs of 25, plant 19-20 to fill the 4x4 and just have to water/feed for 10 weeks without any real in-between work. Lazy I know but i work full time and just don't have the energy after work and weekends are usually busy. If i was working part time or closer to home then i may go down the route of reg beans but not until i have more time to dedicate to it.

 

[cres]

Its not about the price, I mean fools pay foolish prices. And thats there business. Besides what 10 or 15 bucks for something which if you know what your doing will produce multiple times that amount...

As for fems being worth less than regular seeds... well anyone can cross males and females... But just try and produce properly made Feminized seeds... with your best mother for everyone to see... its not that easy, maybe you have tried CS or Sts or GA... But the whole reversal come with experience and trial and error, for each and every pheno. And to make a thousand or more fems for retail sales....and quality..

breeder XYZ breeds 1000 fems, sells them to PDQ seed dealer for $4 each... breeder profit $4000 when they sell. Dealer makes same as the seed is sold to you at $8.

But for the breeder its going to take a special hepa filtered room just for these 3 to 7 plants which are grown for seed. The same grow room/space could produce equal cash as sensi... so there is a taste of how a fem breeder is working so much harder for a buck he is not going to even see for months or year down the road


OH, plus the risk of being a breeder and sticking your neck out even further than a grower goes... There is very little premium for that.

 

[AndyBotwin]

My current grow has been stressed to hell and back and didn't go hermie on me. I've got more fem seeds already in the ground for the next one. I personally have limited space for growing and limited time to spend with the plants. So not wasting time and space with males is well worth the extra cost to me. Once I have my stash built up I plan to produce my own seeds, but until then fems make more sense for my small scale growing.