Our seedlings have been gender tested and the results are in.
Drum...roll...please...
We've got one boy and one girl!
These are the gender test results for our seedlings from Phylos Bioscience. We have one female and one male.
I don't have children of my own (besides the two cats) so this was the closest thing to discovering the gender of life I've been cultivating. So I'm genuinely excited.
(The two clones, or starter plants, we're also growing are females. We knew that from the get go, because they're clones of other female plants).
How they were tested
It's amazing what science is capable of these days. For about $20 each, any Oregonian can test their plant's gender before any identifiable male/female traits are visible to the naked eye.
We invited Portland-based cannabis research company, Phylos Bioscience, to test our two seedlings.
The process is fairly straightforward: Someone from the lab can come to your growing site and collect DNA samples and take them back to the lab, or you can collect the DNA yourself and mail it to them. Rest assured, you're not sending drugs in the mail because the part of the plant you send in - the cotyledon, or the first set of rounded leaves - contains no THC.
(Watch the video above to see how the DNA is collected).
"Cannabis is just like humans. Females have an XX and males have an XY," said Mowgli Holmes, Chief Scientific Officer at Phylos Bioscience. The test uses technology called quantitative PCR (polymerase chain reaction), which amplifies and detects DNA. "If a Y chromosome is spotted, we know it's a male," Holmes said.
The "old-fashioned" way of gender testing is complicated
Another way to identify your seedling's gender is by pure observation. You can tell a marijuana plant's gender when it is flowering, or producing bud. You'll notice white hairs on female plants and small pollen sacs on male plants. But you'd have to wait about four to six weeks before flowering indoor plants and up to three months for outdoor plants. (Marijuana plants flower under 12 hours of light exposure. When they're growing, they need 18 hours).
Because this method takes time, resources and a keen eye; scientific gender testing is an attractive option for both commercial and first-time home growers.
What's with all the sexism, anyways?
Only female plants produce the stuff you smoke - the flower. The flower has the majority of the THC and other cannabinoids.
Male plants, on the other hand, produce pollen sacs, not flower. And their goal in life is to pollinate the females to create seeds. But, if female plants spend their energy producing seeds, they can't produce potent flower. So give your male plants the boot when it's time to flower.
What will we do with our male plant?
Because I'm attached, and he's such a stud, we're keeping him for now. Plus, he doesn't need to be removed for another few weeks, when we start the flowering process.
What should we name our plants?
Shrek, Elphaba, Rosie...Buddy? Need some suggestions. We have three females and one male at this point, if that helps the brainstorming. Feel free to chime in in the comments below.
Watch them grow live
Happy growing,
Teresa
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