It Starts with a Seed

If you’re old enough, you remember those tiny telltale burn holes in people’s clothing that disclosed a pot smoker.  Well, times have changed. Cannabis smokers no longer worry about those pesky seeds blowing up and landing on their favorite t-shirts.

Whether it’s a commercial operation or a grow-your-own, most marijuana plants these days are grown from feminized seeds. These are seeds that produce only female offspring. 

Why does this matter?

If you use regular seeds, you will get both male and female plants. If you are a farmer type, think straight-run chickens.  When your plants reach the pre-flowering stage, the males pollinate the females.

There are six stages of the cannabis plant from germination to harvest. In the fourth, or pre-flowering stage, you will know the sex of each plant. If two nodules pop up on the crotches of stems, the plant is a male. These pollen carriers will be all over the male plants. If you don’t pull these plants quickly, they will pollinate the females.

Why does that matter?

Pollinated female plants produce seeds. You don’t want seedy buds. You don’t get sinsemilla from pollinated plants. You’ve spent a lot of time and effort to grow healthy plants only to have to remove half of them.

If you do start with regular seeds, don’t just throw the uprooted males on the trash pile. Left in the open, the nodules on the plants can still burst open and pollinate any females in pollinating distance.

Dr. Jamie McCracken at Mannford Feed & Grow Supply carries only feminized seeds, both auto-flower and photo period seeds. Auto-flower plants will flower automatically, just as the name says. Photo period seeds require a specific dance of light and dark.

Both types of feminized seeds come with names like “Purple Haze” and “Girl Scout Cookies.” The latter reminds me of an old joke about Paul McCartney’s run-in with authorities when he and Wings were performing in Japan. I don’t remember the comic’s name, just the joke: “The customs authorities didn’t find marijuana in the band’s luggage, just a suitcase full of Twinkies.”

As far as I know, there is no “Twinkies” seed variety.

Jamie’s goal is to provide the best genetics available. It says so on her Medical Marijuana Seed menu. Her seeds are guaranteed.

Of course, it takes more than seeds to grow cannabis. Jamie carries specialty soils, fertilizer mixes, and organic nutrients. She has pest control products specifically for use on cannabis plants. This is essential.  

Professional growers must have their product tested before it can be sold. Testing will provide a THC rating and determine if the product is free of harmful pesticides. Home growers, as well, do not want anything in their product that is unhealthy.

Jamie also carries equipment. She has everything you need for hydroponic gardening, as well as trim bins, product containers, and one other essential resource: “know how.”

As a former college professor, she knows the value of good research. She has reference books in the store, and she’s willing to recommend books and share her knowledge.

Jamie also has seeds and starts for your vegetable garden. She carries only organic and non-GMO seeds.

If you already have a personal-use card, you know that you can have six adult plants and six seedlings. If you want to know more about Oklahoma’s grow-your-own rules, you can find legal information at https://oklahoma.gov/omma.html. For everything else, there’s Mannford Feed and Grow Supply.