There are two main methods to create feminized cannabis seeds:
- colloidal silver method or
- rodelization (sometimes spelled “rhodelization” or “rodilization”)
Learn more about how to make feminized cannabis seeds with colloidal silver!
Both the colloidal silver method and the rodelization method are described in detail below if you scroll down. Rodelization is a more “natural” way to get seeds, while colloidal silver gives you more control of the feminization process. Each of the methods has its pros and cons.
For whatever reason, when a colloidal silver solution is sprayed regularly on female cannabis plants during the early flowering stage, she will grow male “balls” (which are full of female pollen) instead of growing buds.
This allows the grower to collect pollen from a female cannabis plant. You can use this all-female pollen to pollinate another female plant. With two female plants as parents, ALL the seeds will end up being female.
That is why colloidal silver allows can be used to create female x female cannabis crosses and produce feminized seeds.
Rodelization takes advantage of the fact that a female plant will try to pollinate herself as a last resort when she doesn’t get pollinated and is nearing the end of her life cycle. That is why sometimes older or stressed female plants grow a few male “balls” as a last-ditch attempt to self-pollinate. When successful, she will grow a few seeds.
These self-pollinated seeds will have gotten both sets of genes from the same female plant, so both parents will be female, and all resulting seeds with be female.
Why do you want feminized seeds?
When growing regular cannabis and trying to produce seeds, the resulting seedlings end up being about 50% male and 50% female.
This can be a big disadvantage for the cannabis grower because male marijuana plants do not produce very much THC or other psychoactive cannabinoids.
Therefore, when growing cannabis indoors, most growers will throw away all male cannabis plants as soon as they’re discovered. However, it’s easier to not have to worry about males since identifying and removing male cannabis plants can be a bit of a pain. Plus, male plants also take up precious space in the grow room until their gender becomes apparent when they are forced to start flowering.
Another problem with male cannabis plants is that they can accidentally pollinate your female cannabis plants which will cause them to concentrate on making seeds instead of making sinsemilla.
Sinsemilla is the term for cannabis flowers/buds that don’t contain any seeds. Dried sinsemilla is what most growers are trying to produce when growing cannabis.
So what can you do? If you create feminized cannabis seeds, then all the resulting plants will be female and you never have to worry about male cannabis plants again.
While there are a few different ways to create your own feminized cannabis seeds, for some people making your own feminized seeds may be impractical. If you are looking for a discrete, dependable seed bank, I personally recommend Seed Supreme. They have proven to be trustworthy (at least as of November 2021 during the time of this writing) and have a huge selection of feminized seeds. However, seed banks change so it’s always a good idea to double-check our seeds list for recommended seed sources as we update it regularly based on feedback from our readers.
How it Works
The main method used to create feminized seeds is to take a known female cannabis plant and force her to grow male pollen sacs and produce pollen.
You can then take this all-female pollen and use it to fertilize other females. Because all the genetic material comes from females, you will end up with seeds that are 99% female.
So far for me, it’s worked 100% of the time. Any male plants that do result when growing feminized seeds are probably genetic females that are growing with male characteristics.
There are several processes by which female plants will grow male characteristics. Some female cannabis plants will start growing male organs if they are left in flowering for too long, as a last-ditch attempt to pollinate themselves since they were not pollinated by any male plants.
Some female plants will also show male characteristics as a result of heat and light stress. But for the grower, the most convenient way to get a female cannabis plant to make pollen is to treat her with a solution known as colloidal silver.
Below I will first explain how to make feminized Cannabis Seeds using colloidal silver, then I’ll briefly explain the all-natural rodelization method, which is an all-natural though less reliable way to get feminized seeds.
Use Colloidal Silver Spray to Make Feminized Cannabis Seeds Like the Seed Banks Do
Pros:
- You’re able to produce feminized seeds using any two female cannabis plants (even clone-only strains!)
- You can produce seeds consistently
- You can control how many seeds produced
- Easy to make hundreds of feminized seeds if needed
Cons:
- You will need to find a source of colloidal silver which will be used to spray the cannabis plants as they start flowering. Your main options are: buying colloidal silver directly, buying a colloidal silver generator, or making your own simple colloidal silver generator yourself (instructions below)
- It is not safe to directly use/consume any cannabis which has come into contact with colloidal silver, though any seeds produced by a treated plant’s pollen are 100% safe. Note: Some space-starved pot farmers will use the colloidal silver to spray just the bottom branch of a cannabis plant so they can still smoke/use the rest of the cannabis buds. You can do this, just be extremely careful not to get any colloidal silver spray on any part of the cannabis that you will be consuming. See this page (https://nccih.nih.gov/health/silver#hed2) for more information on the risks involved with using colloidal silver.
When a female cannabis plant is treated with a solution of tiny silver particles suspended in distilled water, the plant will start to exhibit male characteristics.
This solution of silver in water is called colloidal silver and can be purchased from a pharmacy/online or easily made at home {instructions below}. Or you can make it with a colloidal silver generator.
Some people drink colloidal silver for its health benefits and others use it occasionally on plants to help control bacteria, insects, and fungus growth on the leaves.
To take advantage of this, you thoroughly mist a female cannabis plant with colloidal silver every day right when she enters the flowering stage, she will start growing male “balls” full of pollen. Keep misting the plants daily until you see the beginning of male pollen sacs forming, usually around 10-14 days.
The concentration of silver ions in the water acts as an ethylene inhibitor/antagonist on the plant, which forces the plant to create male pollen sacs instead of female buds.
After the balls start forming
You need to let the sacs swell like a big empty balloon.
You will be able to tell when they are about to open because the leaf section protecting the pollen starts to crack.
At this point, simply take the pollen sacs off and place them in a cool dry place for a week and let them start to dry.
The pollen will come out if you shake them about a little, or you can also cut open the sacs to get to the pollen inside.
Use this pollen to pollinate female plants and you will get all-female seeds that are a mix of both their mothers.
This method is great because it will force almost any female cannabis plant to show male characteristics.
Unlike the rodelization method described below, you are not selecting plants that show hermaphrodite traits. The genes of the plant are completely unaffected. This method will also produce a lot of pollen consistently compared to the rodelization method.
The one downside to this method is that it is not safe to use any cannabis that has come into direct contact with colloidal silver.
You should, therefore, destroy the plant after the pollen has been collected.
You will also want to ensure that you clean any remaining traces of silver off your equipment in case you accidentally contaminate another cannabis plant with silver.
Here are the main things to keep in mind when using the colloidal silver spray method:
- Make sure you spray the cannabis with a strong enough colloidal silver solution (at least 30 PPM of silver)
- Spray the cannabis thoroughly to almost drench all the parts you want to turn into pollen sacs
- Spray the cannabis regularly, at least once a day for 10-14 days, starting when you change the lights to 12-12
- Spray the cannabis with colloidal silver every day until you see signs of male pollen sacs forming. Some hardy strains may need over 2-3 weeks spraying before they ‘turn’.
Where to Get Colloidal Silver
Colloidal Silver is created by submerging two pieces of pure silver in distilled water and then running an electric current between the two pieces of silver. The electric current will cause silver ions to be deposited in the water which creates a colloidal silver solution.
Buy Colloidal Silver: You can buy colloidal silver which has already been prepared and is ready for use. If you’re purchasing colloidal silver, try to find a solution that has at least 30 PPM (parts per million) of silver. However, buying Colloidal Silver that is already prepared can get expensive.
Buy A Generator Kit: A better option is to buy a relatively cheap colloidal silver generator to easily make your colloidal silver. This Colloidal Generator kit comes with everything you need including silver. All you need to do is provide the water and a container.
Make Your Own: You can make your own colloidal silver generator at home. The diagram below should illustrate what you need to do.
Items Needed:
- 9-volt battery
- 9v Battery Connector (less than $2 at a hardware or electronics store)
- Pure .9999 or 999 Silver (yes it must be pure)
- Distilled water (yes it must be distilled)
- Alligator clips (Optional: but will make things much easier)
- Soldering Iron (Optional: only needed if you want to use alligator clips)
The diagram above will show you how to easily make colloidal silver to make feminized cannabis seeds
When you first connect everything, you may be surprised because it will seem like nothing is happening. You will know if it worked by the next day because the whole process will leave a silvery residue on your silver. You may need to use sandpaper or something else rough to clean your silver each time after creating a batch of colloidal silver.
If you don’t have a soldering iron and would still like to solder alligator clips onto your battery connector, then I recommend going to a hardware store and asking someone if they will help solder it for you.
Remember to keep your resulting colloidal silver solution away from any light or it will deteriorate and turn a dark gray color. If this happens, then you can no longer use the solution for creating feminized seeds.
Avoid most problems when making colloidal silver by:
- using pure (distilled) water
- using pure (999/.9999) silver
- giving electrolysis enough time to work so you don’t get a weak solution (at least overnight)
- make sure the solution has as little contact with light as possible until you use it
How to Make Feminized Cannabis Seeds Using Rodelization
Pros:
- All-Natural
- Very Simple
Cons:
- Unreliable
- May not produce many feminized seeds
The Rodelization method is all-natural and is the simplest method to create feminized seeds, but it is also unreliable and may not produce much pollen. The premise is that some female marijuana plants will start growing male pollen sacs/sex organs if they’ve been left in flowering too long (past the peak point of harvest). This is a last-ditch attempt by the marijuana plant to pollinate itself so that it at least produces a few seeds. You can collect these male pods and use the pollen inside them to pollinate other female plants. You pollinate female plants by evenly covering their buds with the pollen after they’ve been flowering for 2-3 weeks. Females that are pollinated in this way will start growing all-female marijuana seeds. If you’re very careful, you can pollinate only some of the buds on a plant that will produce seeds, and leave other buds alone so they can still be used for consumption.
This issue with this method is that some strains of plants never seem to grow male characteristics naturally. Additionally, with this method, you’re selecting plants that have a natural genetic tendency to show male characteristics. This can produce offspring that are more likely to show male characteristics themselves which may or may not be what you’re going for. Lastly, even when you do get male pollen sacs from a marijuana plant in this way, there tends to be a lot less pollen than from a typical male plant.
The one great thing about this method is it’s completely all-natural so you can implement this strategy with an organic grow.
If you want to buy feminized cannabis seeds, I recommend The Nirvana Seed Bank
Happy Growing!
