When it comes to cultivating CBD outdoors, farmers aiming to grow biomass often consider regular seeds as the most cost-effective option. However, let's dive into the potential setbacks that male plants can bring to your farming productivity.
First and foremost, male plants can present a considerable challenge because they don't yield this highly coveted CBD-rich biomass we're all after. Instead, male plants are all about pollen production, which can lead to fertilizing female plants and, ultimately, seed production. Here are a few key concerns associated with male plants in the realm of CBD farming:
1. Reduced Yield: Male plants don't pack significant levels of CBD, the primary sought-after compound. Opting for regular seeds automatically slashes your crop value by more than 30%.
2. Detecting and Removing Males: While it's possible to spot and remove male plants early on, this process demands significant manpower and attention. Consider the labor hours lost during planting (where 50% of the seeds could turn out to be male), careful germination, male plant detection, and manual removal. Even then, the occasional male might go unnoticed – after all, nobody's perfect, right?
3. Pollination Woes: Any male plants that go unnoticed will eagerly attempt to pollinate nearby female plants (and sometimes those not-so-nearby, with reported cases of pollination reaching over 10km distances), leading to undesirable seed production.
4. Impacts on Quality: If your initial goal was to harvest CBD-rich flowers, those pollinated plants are now compromised. The focus shifts to seed production, resulting in a devastating 60% decrease in phytocannabinoid contents, as noted in a 2021 study published in Frontiers in Plant Science (source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8602813/
).
To mitigate the risks associated with male plants, many growers turn to feminized seeds. However, small-scale farmers may encounter pricing hurdles, as high-quality feminized seeds are often sold in large quantities. That's where cooperatives and associations come into play! Collaborate with fellow enthusiasts to secure better pricing for larger seed volumes and safeguard your CBD crop's success. Happy farming! 🌿💚
Vera Bogdanova,
EcoTrio Labs
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