If you’re growing cannabis for the first time, it is essential that you know your cannabis plant gender and how to separate your male from your female. If you don’t, you risk losing an entire harvest to pollination and you could end up with a whole bunch of seeds. Learning the difference between male and female plants is essential!
When to check for the cannabis plant gender
Until your plants are old enough, you won’t be able to tell if they are male or female. However, once the vegetative state has come to an end and the plants begin to pre-flower, you are able to determine the gender of your cannabis plants. If you put a male plant into the flowering room, then it is extremely likely that it will pollenate your female plants. If you are in the situation where you are flowering before knowing the gender, make sure you determine as quickly as possible.
How to tell if your plant is female
It can be a little bit difficult to tell at the very beginning of the pre-flowering stage between the different flowers. If that is the case, it is okay to wait a little bit longer in that stage. When they are ready, female plants will begin developing flowers where the branches meet the main stem.
They are called pistils, because they look like little white hairs emerging. Male plants will not have this quality.
If your plant is male…
If your plant is male, it will begin to grow something that looks a lot like a ball and it contains all of the pollen. A premature pollen sack grows at the node and looks like a small covered seed or leaf. The telltale sign is that it does not have the white pistil hair!
As soon as you know your plants are male, remove them from flowering straight away or put them far away from your female plants. This will ensure you end up with luscious buds and not seeds!
