Cannabis plants grow as dioecious and monoecious. The first group show defined sex, either male or female, while the latter group has both sexes in the same plant (hermaphrodite).
In the past, people didn’t care whether a cannabis plant was dioecious or monoecious as both were used to make fiber, and they used to eat seeds. But, when they started smoking, they removed seeds. It’s why they favored female plants since they had fewer seeds.
Nowadays, most cannabis plants have well-defined sex. However, some varieties still show hermaphroditism. Find out from this guide whether you can smoke a hermaphrodite cannabis plant.
What Is a Hermaphrodite Cannabis Plant?
It’s the one that carries both male and female traits. As such, they produce flowers, seeds, and thick buds, which make the cannabis plant to be less effective. These plants look like female weed plants, only that they are a bit smaller. Note that the process of acquiring hermaphroditic features slows down their growth process.
Early signs of a hermie plant include that the pollen sacs are different from those of regular marijuana plants. They have an elongated yellow look, which is why some people have nicknamed them bananas. If you notice banana sacs growing in your cannabis plant, it’s probably a hermaphrodite.
Plus, hermaphrodite weed plants that yield flowers will have so many seeds inside and on the bud’s outside.
What Can Influence a Hermaphrodite Cannabis Plant?
Hermaphrodites weed plants form due to various reasons. One is genetic factors. Some seeds carry hermaphroditic traits from their mother. These characteristics can be inherited easily. Such plants include Kush strains, Gorilla glue, Thai Sativa, etc.
Another reason can be environmental factors. When a cannabis plant grows in an environment that lacks enough water and sunlight, it leads to stress, which causes hermaphroditism in Marijuana. In such cases, the plant will shut down and shorten its growth cycle if it’s not getting the essential things needed to flourish. Some of the things that can stress a marijuana plant include light interruptions when flowering, over 27 degrees of heat on average, lack of water, using pesticides or fungicides, etc.
How to Tell a Male from a Female Weed Plant
It’s hard to spot a hermaphrodite weed plant if you can’t tell a male and female marijuana plant apart. Male cannabis plants usually have balls beneath their leaves. These are simply pollen sacs that can fertilize female plants once they are developed. Male plants often grow quickly and spindly without producing crystals or hairs until after they’ve fully grown. They mostly produce seeds and a fraction of a flower.
Female cannabis flowers, on the other hand, grow slowly and are bushier. They start producing white and orange hairs and pistils while they are still small. One can spot THC crystals in them at an earlier stage of coating. They produce a quality potent bud.
Can You Smoke a Hermaphrodite Weed Plant?
There’s nothing wrong with smoking hermaphrodite cannabis. But you may not want to. Smokers often pick female weed plants due to their high potency. However, a hermaphrodite is not that potent. Plus, it tastes different because it has many seeds. So, you may not like the experience.
But, if you want to smoke it still make sure you remove pollen sacs using your fingers or tweezers. Some people also remove all flowers that show male traits.
Other Uses of Hermaphrodite Cannabis Plants
If you don’t want to smoke this plant, you can use it for;
Making THC or CBD Concreates- like powder, hash il, hash shatter, etc. Although hermaphrodite plants have a low THC content, harvesting and condensing them can produce an effective concreate.
Making feminized seeds- individuals do this by introducing the plant to a crop of female cannabis via hormones and other chemicals. This will mostly result in a female plant or fertilized seeds that can create pure female plants.
Although growers try to avoid encountering hermaphrodites, they are not always successful. Thus, they still grow and are harvested. And one can smoke a hermaphrodite weed plant, as mentioned earlier. But the experience isn’t going to be satisfying. While you can remove the seed to create a better smoking experience, it won’t be the same as smoking female weed plants
