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Does Quality of Hemp Products Matter When it Comes to Seeds?
Thank you for coming to this post. This is part three of a three part series on providing consistent results. If you happened to miss the first blog click here and if you have not read the second blog click here to read.
We have covered tissue culture and cloning propagation in the previous articles and now we will cover seeds. Why we use them, why we create them and why they are essential.
Do you know cannabis has both male and female plants?
The cannabis plant requires both a male and female plant to create seeds. These seeds will take on genetic attributes of the parents. Just like humans, trees and plants offspring are slightly different from the parents. I like to think of apple genetics to explain the reasoning. Apples are not true to seed, meaning the qualities of an apple seed will not guarantee that it will be like either of the parents. In order to make a “Golden Delicious” apple, you must take a cutting (aka scion) from the tree. The explant is then grafted onto a rootstock to carry the genetics forward. It just so happens that cannabis is the same way, it is not exactly true to seed. It is important that our hemp stays below .3% THC to weight to ensure the plant does not turn into an illegal substance. To ensure the plants do not go hot we have a series of procedures when using seeds for creating genetics.
What kind of seeds do we make?
At Aloha Hemp, we are creating 99.9% feminized seeds using a series of natural methods to get the female plants to turn into part male plants. At this moment you might be scratching your head. Yes, I said the plants will be male and female.
What does female hermaphrodite plant do for seeds?
The female plant by default has XX chromosomes in its genetic makeup. When the plant is converted with a natural solution, its male pollen carries the same DNA(XX) as the main plant; therefore, the male will not carry an XY chromosome like a traditional male plant would poses. Thereby enabling the seeds of that plant and all the plants around it to have all feminized seeds!
Why do we need seeds?
At the farm we are working on creating genetics that will allow plants to auto-flower. That means they do not care about the hours in a day. The plants only care about the number of days until they are going to be ready for harvest. It is a set time that ranges from 30 days to 75 days. The plant knows after a certain amount of time that is will go to bloom. Typically it is the ruderalis species that causes the auto-flowering to occur. Auto flower plants cannot be cloned as it does not work with their internal clocks. The roots of an auto flower cannabis plant are delicate and require special treatment so they do not prematurely flower. In addition, the auto flower plants require special pots to not disturb the roots. This is only needed if not direct planting int he field.
Why do we typically not direct plant seeds in the field?
The main reason is success rate can be declined on the propagation of the seed. Rodents love hemp seeds, they will hunt the entire field to gather all of the seeds.
For more education and research on hemp, check out project CBD