Am I understanding this right?

Ok, I've been thinking about ordering some auto-strains. So lets say I order a 10 pack, because germination and sex (at least for auto-strains) are not guranteed, it's very well possible to only have like 7 that germinate and then of those only 4 are female? Right? Someone plz help lol, basically I'm just want the most bang for my buck, that is why I'll be ordering auto-strains over traditional and using soil. Also keep in mind I'm new to the whole growing scene, can't I take the male plants and pollinate the female plants to get more seeds? So maybe male plants aren't bad?

johnnypotseed88 said:

Ok, I've been thinking about ordering some auto-strains. So lets say I order a 10 pack, because germination and sex (at least for auto-strains) are not guranteed, it's very well possible to only have like 7 that germinate and then of those only 4 are female? Right? Someone plz help lol, basically I'm just want the most bang for my buck, that is why I'll be ordering auto-strains over traditional and using soil. Also keep in mind I'm new to the whole growing scene, can't I take the male plants and pollinate the female plants to get more seeds? So maybe male plants aren't bad?

Click to expand...

I can only relate to you what happened with me. I bought Lowryder II. 100% germination. 4 males, 4 females and 2 hermies. Since it is not advisable to clone auto-flower strains, seed production is the way to go. I produced seeds, but I was so unhappy with the final yield of 4 females out of 10 seeds, they sit unused.

dude its basically a coin flip for the seed to be male or female, best bet is to buy feminized seeds

Well I really want my first grow to be an auto-strain, I like "lowlife" but I just went to the "dr chronic" and they don't offer femininsed packs, "lowryder" is in-stock with feminised, but I like the idea of picking a strain I've heard of. I would be through the roof, if I could find "lowlife" feminised strains, no more coin flips.

smokeythabear said:

dude its basically a coin flip for the seed to be male or female, best bet is to buy feminized seeds

Click to expand...

Not with auto-flowering strains. 40/40/20 is an average male/female/hermie rate. Using feminized seeds might get you 10 females, but that's it. No cloning. No seeds.

Johnnyorganic said:

Not with auto-flowering strains. 40/40/20 is an average male/female/hermie rate. Using feminized seeds might get you 10 females, but that's it. No cloning. No seeds.

Click to expand...

what do you mean no cloning? you cant clone female seeds?

ganxtah said:

what do you mean no cloning? you cant clone female seeds?

Click to expand...

Auto-flowering strains go straight to flower. No veg phase. What are you gonna clone? It's not impossible, it's just highly inefficient. Seeds are the way to go when propagating auto-flowering strains.

Feminized seeds are worthless when it comes to seed production. Even if you managed to get your hands on some male pollen, the offspring would have high hermie characteristics.

When dealing with autoflowering varieties, you cannot clone from them.

When Dealing with feminised seeds you should NOT produce seeds from them.

have you guys heard of the "banana religion" or whatever it's called, the theory that fruits give off ethalyne gas, causing plants to be female...theory not fact, some people put banana peels in with germintating seeds, some put peels in their soil, i put one banana peel in each pot during weeks 3-4(that's what they said was the most critical time in determining sex) out of my three plants i got all females...not a proven fact, probably just lots of luck, any thoughts???

don't beat me up if this theory is totally bogus, just thought i'd share info i read with my results

Interesting I will look into it... +rep for the idea...

google banana religion or search it on here you will find the thread

dude, definately get regular seeds. this way you can breed your own seeds, you could pollinate 1 plant and have a hundred seeds. or you could buy feminized, and have to keep buying seeds. but anyway, I've heard lowlife has bad genetics from a couple people, so make sure you look that up.

Ok so if I buy a 10 pack of regular seeds, in theory I could keep myself in supply of seeds for a while? I have a lot to learn, I don't know how to breed plants or pollinate them, besides I thought pollinating a female plant was bad because the quality of the bud diminished because of the seeds?

oh, your right about that, but would you rather have one plant give you some okay weed along with 100 seeds, or have all your plants give you dank bud, but have to spend $100 on some new seeds. and if you go to the growfaq you should be able to find whatever you need to

Quality does not diminish down generations.

Hey wait, had an idea. Lets say I have 9 female plants and 1 male plant, couldn't I just pollinate 1 of the female plants, thus having my other 8 female plants with no seeds and also still have seeds to keep repeating this process? I mean it only makes sense to pollinate 1 female plant out of a harvest, since 1 plant can give off all the seeds you need for a while? It's like having your cake and eating it too!

if i was to buy a pack of 10 feminized seeds how many will turn out to be male???

^i hope that was sarcastic

Autoflowering strains are not bang for your buck, they the fastest ticket to homegrown bud, you lose out on clones and a lot of the nuances of growing. Im not ragging on autoflowers, they are awesome if you need bud, have a confined space, or are pulling a johnny appleseed thing.
However, if your looking for bang for you buck get quality genetics (you dont have to spend more then 25$) and weed out the males, then clone females, then find mothers, ect. This shouldnt intimidate you, its really rewarding when you have an endless supply of homegrown bud.

Edit: polination is an advanced technique. Its hard to do well, and generate better seeds then just spraying all the pistils with pollen. Seeding will also ruin the potential of the buds. Compared to cloning, reproducing from seed is way more inefficient, time consuming, and will always have you culling out males and sacrificing harvests to seeded plants.