By Max Sargent


Sexing cannabis plants is a necessity for all but the most laid-back growers. Unless you just want to see the plants grow and don’t really care about the results, then you have to identify the sex of your plants. Even with feminized seeds readily available, it’s still good practice to check each plant, as one may possibly develop into a male or hermaphrodite on rare occasion, and this can ruin a whole crop.

As well as saving females from yield-destroying pollination, sexing is important for cannabis breeders, who actually want males but will need to decide which ones are more suitable for breeding with. This guide focuses on how to accurately identify the sex of your cannabis plants, as early as possible.

Pre-Flowering Stage: The Crucial Moment

You can begin to identify a cannabis plant’s sex once it enters the pre-flowering stage. You’ll want to sex your crop as soon as possible to avoid any problems, so you need to know when to start your investigations!

Male vs Female cannabis plant
Male vs Female cannabis plant

When Can You First Identify Plant Sex?

Sexing cannabis plants is first possible during the pre-flowering stage, typically occurring around 4–6 weeks into the vegetative phase, although this can differ significantly between crops, plants, and grow spaces.

For indoor photoperiod plants, the pre-flowering stage begins once you switch the light cycle to 12/12. Although most growers will do this at around 4–6 weeks, it can happen at essentially any time.

Outdoors, it will happen sometime towards the middle of summer, when the daylight starts to wane and the light spectrum becomes more red. To catch your plants at the right point, you’ll have to keep checking them daily from the end of June onward. Most plants tend to rapidly pack on height during the pre-flowering/early flowering stage, so this is a helpful giveaway.

Autoflowers are an exception to this; they will just start flowering after a predetermined amount of time—usually between 2 and 4 weeks, although this depends on the strain in question.

How to Sex Plants Using Pre-Flowers

Once a cannabis plant enters the pre-flowering stage, it will begin to develop pre-flowers at its nodes. Nodes are the joints where the branches join the stem. Small growths will begin to appear in these spaces, and depending on what form they take, you will be able to identify the plant as male, female, or hermaphrodite.

  • Early Signs of Male Plants

Male pre-flowers typically appear as small, round balls clustered at the nodes. These will eventually develop into pollen sacs that dangle from the plant if not removed. Indeed, once developed, they are not unlike testicles. However, during the earlier stages, when it’s best to notice them, they will appear as small lumps and then clusters of balls.

Tips for Identifying Male Pre-Flowers
  • Location: Check the upper parts of the plant first, as male pre-flowers often appear there earlier.
  • Size and shape: Look for spherical, smooth structures without any hairs.
  • Timing: Male pre-flowers generally appear a week or two earlier than female pre-flowers.
Male cannabis plant
Male cannabis plant
  • Early Signs of Female Plants

Female pre-flowers manifest as tiny, pear-shaped structures with a pair of clear/white hairs (pistils) protruding from them. These pistils are the most important and simplest signal to look out for. If a plant has pistils, it’s either female or perhaps a hermie, but it’s certainly not male. To give some context, as plants continue to mature, pistils serve to catch pollen drifting in the air—this is their purpose.

Tips for Identifying Female Pre-Flowers
  • Location: Inspect the nodes where the branches meet the main stem.
  • Size and shape: Look for pear-shaped structures with emerging white hairs.
  • Timing: Female pre-flowers usually appear a bit later than male pre-flowers.
Female cannabis plant
Female cannabis plant
  • What About Hermaphrodites?

Some strains have a tendency to develop into true hermaphrodites, where they have both male and female sexual organs from the moment they begin to flower. These can be harder to spot, and take many growers by surprise.

True hermaphrodites will first develop male pollen sacs, but will then also begin to develop pistils a week or so later. The good news is that they develop their male sexual organs first, so hopefully you’ll identify them as male before the pistils begin to show. Hermies can pollinate themselves and other plants, so you'll want to get rid of them unless you want to breed this way.


How to Differentiate Female vs Male Plants

As plants mature, the differences between male and female plants become stark. However, during the crucial pre-flowering stage, the differences are more subtle and you’ll need to keep a close eye on your crop. The key things to look out for are:

  • Females have pistils, males don’t; this is the easiest way to sex plants.
  • Males develop earlier than females. This is generally true, but is only reliable if your crop consists of plants from the same strain, growing under the same conditions. Do not rely on this alone.
  • Males develop hairless balls.

Can You Determine the Sex Before the Pre-Flowering Stage?

Male and female plants are indistinguishable before they enter the pre-flowering stage. However, for growers who really want to know the sex of their plants earlier, there is one method that can be employed. However, it’s quite labour-intensive and requires more space, so it’s only really advisable to breeders who need to know in advance.

It involves taking a cutting from each plant, planting them as clones, and flipping them to flowering earlier than the rest of the crop so that you can sex them.

The Cloning Approach

  1. Mark each plant and the corresponding pot for the clone. You’ll need to carefully record which clone comes from which plant, otherwise you might not know which is which.
  2. Now it's time to take your cuttings. Cut a branch with at least two nodes from each plant.
  3. Place the cutting in a rooting medium and provide adequate light and water.
  4. Once rooted (after around two weeks), switch the light cycle to 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness to induce flowering.
  5. Monitor the clone for pre-flowers to determine the sex. The clone will have the same sex as the mother (or father) plant.
Cloning cannabis

Why Sexing Marijuana Is Important for Growers

Sexing your weed is a very important step, even if they should all come out female. The consequences of not doing so can ruin a crop, so it’s really worth putting the effort into this part of the cultivation journey to avoid disappointment later on.

Maximising Yield by Preventing Pollination

Ultimately, most growers want a large yield. Sexing plants accurately increases the chances of this, as removing male plants prevents them from pollinating females, which would otherwise produce seeds instead of potent buds.

It also means that you don’t waste space and resources growing male plants, instead allowing you to grow even more female plants.

Selective Breeding

For breeders, knowing the sex of the plants allows them to create new strains that develop desirable traits. You can separate your grow into males and females, keep your eyes peeled for the specimens you like the most, and then breed them together. Sexing as early as possible allows you to make the most informed decisions regarding your breeding efforts.

Male, Female, and Hermie: What Do You Need to Know?

Understanding the differences between male, female, and hermaphrodite plants is crucial for effective cannabis cultivation, whether you're seeking large yields or want to breed new cultivars. Once plants enter the pre-flowering stage, you’ll be able to tell their sex, and you shouldn’t wait around. Depending on the type of strain and your grow space, the amount of control you have over when the pre-flowering stage starts will vary. Still, with the tips above, you should be able to identify plant sex soon enough!

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Privacy Policy - Royal Queen Seeds

To ensure a safe online environment and guarantee adequate data protection, we strictly comply with all legal requirements. In this privacy statement, we provide information about how and for what purpose data is collected, safety measures, storage periods and contact details.


COMPANY NAME: SNORKEL SPAIN, SL (hereinafter ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS)

C/ Vilar d'Abdelà, 5 (nave 1) CP: 08170 de Montornès del Vallès

+34 937 379 846

support@royalqueenseeds.com


The present Privacy Policy sets out the terms on which we will treat personal data at ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS; this includes any personal data collected through our website https://www.royalqueenseeds.com/ as well as any other data we process in the course of our business activities.

ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS collects the following personal data for the purposes listed below:

SECTION 1 – PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

1.1 Account purchases

Account purchases can only be made if you are in possession of a personal account. When you create an account or purchase something from our shop, as part of the buying and selling process we collect the following personal information that you provide to us:

This information is required for delivery. In addition, when you browse our shop, we automatically receive the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your computer. Based on this information, we can optimise your online experience and at the same time protect our online environment.

Purpose of data collection

We collect and store account-related data for the following purposes:

(a) to carry out obligations arising from any contracts between you and us, and to provide you with information, products and services that you may request from us;

(b) to set up, manage and communicate with you about your account and your orders;

(c) to conduct market research and analysis;

(d) to confirm your age and identity, and to detect and prevent fraud.

1.2 Newsletters

With your explicit permission, we may send you newsletters about our shop, new products and other updates. We send newsletters based on your explicit consent. In the event that you purchase a product, and in accordance with current regulations, we may send you commercial communications in accordance with the legitimate interest of our company, always about products or services similar to those you have purchased or contracted. In any case, you may exercise your right of opposition through the channels announced in this Privacy Policy. The following information is collected in relation to the newsletter:

We do not need to know the sex of the person in order to send the newsletter (data minimisation: by law we must ask for data that is strictly necessary to provide the service, and in this case knowing the sex is not necessary to send the newsletter).

Purpose of data collection

The data collected is used to:

(a) personalise our emails, including your name and gender;

(b) provide gender-specific content.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by using the link provided in the newsletter or the contact information provided in section 2.

1.3 Customer service and contact form

In order to provide appropriate support, our customer service employees have access to information related to the account. Consequently, their support will be highly effective and friendly. The data provided in our contact form is used by our CRM provider, SuperOffice. We will only use your details to respond to your message.

SECTION 2 – LEGITIMATE INTEREST

If you have purchased any of our products, please note that we may process your personal data for promotional purposes, based on Royal Queen Seeds' legitimate interest only to offer you products or services from our company and about products or services similar to those you have purchased. You may exercise your right to opt out of future messages by the means set out in this Privacy Policy or through any notification you receive.

2.1 How do you withdraw consent?

If you change your mind, you can withdraw your consent for us to contact you for the purpose of collecting, using, or disclosing your data at any time by reaching out to us at: support@royalqueenseeds.com.

SECTION 3 – DISCLOSURE

We may disclose your personal information if we are required to do so by law or if you breach our Terms of Service.

SECTION 4 – HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR DATA?

At Royal Queen Seeds, we will not retain your data for longer than is necessary for the purposes described in this Policy. Different retention periods apply for different types of data; however, the longest period we will normally hold any personal data is 10 years.

4.1 Account information

Data relating to the account remains relevant for as long as the consumer is in possession of an account. Therefore, the data remains documented for as long as the account exists. When our customers delete an account, the associated data will be deleted within a reasonable period of time. Requests regarding the inspection or correction of stored personal data or the deletion of an account can be sent to support@royalqueenseeds.com.

4.2 Newsletters

In the event that you give us your consent to inform you about our products or services, we will keep your data until you express your wish not to receive any further communications from us. However, we regularly (every month) carry out a relevance check. Registered customers (and their personal information) will be deleted whenever customers do not reply to our request. In addition, our newsletter mailing has an opt-out feature. Consumers can withdraw their consent by using this opt-out feature.

SECTION 5 – COOKIES

Cookies are small information files that notify your computer of previous interactions with our website. These cookies are stored on your hard drive, not on our website. Essentially, when you use our website, your computer displays its cookies to us, informing our site that you have visited before. This allows our website to function more quickly and remember aspects related to your previous visits (such as your username), making your experience more convenient. At Royal Queen Seeds, we use two types of cookies: functional and analytical.

5.1 Functional Cookies

Functional cookies are used to enhance your online experience. Among other things, these cookies track what is added to your shopping cart. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

5.2 Analytical Cookies

Analytical cookies are used for research and market analysis. The data collected with these analytical cookies is anonymous, making it unusable for third parties. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

SECTION 5 – THIRD-PARTY SERVICES

Third-party services are required to conduct transactions and provide our services. In general, the third-party providers we use will only collect, use and disclose your information to the extent necessary to enable them to perform the services they provide to us.

However, certain third-party service providers, such as payment gateways and other payment transaction processors, have their own privacy policies regarding the information we must provide to them for your transactions.

We encourage you to read the privacy policies of these providers so that you can understand how these providers will handle your personal information.

In particular, certain suppliers may be located or have facilities located in a different jurisdiction than yours or ours. Therefore, if you choose to proceed with a transaction involving the services of a third party, your information may be subject to the laws of the jurisdiction in which that service provider or its facilities are located.

Once you leave our website or are redirected to a third-party website or application, you are no longer governed by this Privacy Policy or the Terms of Service of our website.

Web analytics service (anonymous data)

On this website we have integrated an element of a web analytics service (with anonymisation functionality). Web analytics can be defined as the gathering, processing and analysis of data about the behaviour of visitors to websites. An analytics service collects, among other things, data about which website a person came from (the so-called referrer), which sub-pages they visited or how often and for how long they visited a sub-page. Web analytics is mainly used for website optimisation and for a cost–benefit analysis of internet advertising.

Courier service

To complete deliveries we use a courier service. This courier service carries out the delivery between our company and the consumer's home. To complete these logistics, the company requires access to the consumer's name and address information.

Mailing service

Royal Queen Seeds uses a third-party mail service provider to send its newsletter. This provider has access to limited account information related to opt-in consent (e.g. email address).

Marketing services

Royal Queen Seeds has the support of a company that specialises in marketing and communication activities. Their access to personal information is very limited and mostly anonymous.

Payment services

At Royal Queen Seeds we use external payment services to handle our transactions (e.g. credit card payments).

SECTION 6 – SECURITY

To protect your personal information, we take reasonable precautions and follow industry standard best practices to ensure that it is not inappropriately lost, misused, accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed.

If you provide us with your credit card information, the information is encrypted using secure socket layer technology (SSL) and stored using AES-256 encryption. Although no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, we follow all PCI-DSS requirements and implement additional industry standards that are commonly accepted. Information related to the account is protected with a hashing method. This method transforms the information into a generated hash. As a result, confidential information is protected and invisible, even to us. In addition, our databases are exceptionally protected against unauthorised access. For example, access to the database is only possible and permitted via approved IP addresses (e.g. from Royal Queen Seeds headquarters). Other attempts and addresses are rejected at all times.

Furthermore, data is anonymised as much as possible, so it cannot be directly linked to a specific consumer. With this data, however, we may be able to carry out market research and analysis. In addition, the third parties concerned (e.g. mailing service) are examined prior to our collaboration, comply with the GDPR from the EU and receive a processing agreement. Within Royal Queen Seeds, employees are assigned different access permissions. Specific permission provides access only to information that is strictly required to perform a task. Digital security measures are subject to change and must meet high requirements to ensure the safety of online customers. That is why, at Royal Queen Seeds, we appoint a security officer. Regular verification and improvement of security measures (where necessary) are part of the role.

SECTION 7 – CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time, so please check back regularly. Changes and clarifications will be effective immediately upon being published on the Website. If we make substantial changes to this policy, we will notify you here that it has been updated so you will know what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we use and/or disclose it.

SECTION 8 – YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO: