hermie seeds

Can you grow Hermie seeds?

Then, are seeds from a Hermie feminized?

A male plant makes itself known at the beginning of the flowering stage, but a hermie plant may grow only buds except for just one or two tiny pollen sacs. In order to create a feminized seed, one of the parent female plants had to be forced in some way to produce pollen.

Additionally, will bag seeds grow? Though you can certainly purchase seeds from a seed bank to increase your chances of success, many bag seeds will grow just as well (and save you a lot of money in the long-run).

Hereof, will a Hermie produce buds?

Answer: Yes, this plant is a hermie / hermaphrodite. One of the biggest worries with a hermie (plant with both female and male parts) is that the pollen sacs will burst and pollenate your flowers. This will “seed” your buds. In other words, this will causes your buds to start focusing on producing seeds.

How long does it take a Hermie to pollinate?

from pollination to seed development is about 3 or 4 days. during those days the pistil will die back and if it’s early in flower you’ll notice it. if it’s later in flower and your pistils are already dying back, then chances of pollination are slim.

Yes its ‘possible’ but there are too many factors to give you an accurate ratio of female:hermie. It depends on the genetics, how the Hermie seeds were made, if the seeds came from a self pollinated hermie or from a 100% female plant pollinated by a hermie.

Do Feminized Cannabis Seeds Make Hermies?

What Are Feminized Cannabis Seeds? These seeds all grow up to be female plants. That means every plant produces buds. With “regular” or unfeminized seeds, about half the plants will turn out to be male, which don’t produce buds. They can also pollinate your female plants (causing seedy buds). Therefore most growers will remove male plants from the grow room as soon as they’re identified. Learn more about male vs female plants. Feminized seeds let you plan your grow more effectively because you don’t have to throw half the plants away once they start flowering.


What Are Hermies? “Hermie” is short for “hermaphrodite.” Hermie cannabis plants usually look like normal female plants for the most part, but they also grow some male parts that produce pollen. This causes seedy buds just like pollen from male plants. Hermies are to be avoided! Read the full tutorial on hermies.

It’s no good if your “female” plants start growing male flowers or parts of male flowers. That can cause seedy buds just like a male plant!

This bud got completely seeded due to a hermie in the grow space. Notice the lumpy round bits. Those are seeds forming.

What’s the matter with a few seeds?

Cannabis growers are trying to grow sinsemilla (seedless buds). A few seeds won’t hurt anything. But if you have very seedy buds, it significantly lowers your yields because plants are putting all their energy into making seeds. The buds also tend to be less potent if they are full of seeds. Seeds are not the end of the world, but it’s good to avoid if possible.

“Sinsemilla” means “no seeds.” Sinsemilla is the highest quality and most potent of all buds


Feminized cannabis seeds can be a blessing for small-scale growers. While male plants produce pollen sacs, feminized seeds ensure all your plants will end up being bud-bearing females (instead of growing half male and half female plants like with regular seeds).

If you don’t have room for extra plants, feminized seeds can make planning your grow a lot easier!

Good feminized seeds should produce only 100% female plants, with no hermies or male plants. So starting with feminized cannabis seeds lets you make the most efficient use of your grow space. You don’t have to worry about identifying male plants and throwing them away before they pollinate your female plants. With good feminized seeds, you know that if you’re growing 10 plants, all 10 of them will make buds, and that makes it easier to plan out your grow ahead of time.

With all these bonuses, why would any small-scale grower use any other type of seeds?

Pros of Feminized Cannabis Seeds

All plants produce buds



But is there a dark side to feminized cannabis seeds?


This hermie is growing both male and female flowers. Can this be caused by feminized seeds?

Unfortunately, hermies can be a lot easier to miss than a male plant since it may just be a small part of the plant that’s affected. A male plant makes itself known at the beginning of the flowering stage, but a hermie plant may grow only buds except for just one or two tiny pollen sacs. A few yellow hermie bananas hidden in the buds can also produce pollen. Any type of male flower part that grows in your garden can add seeds to your buds, and hermies are some of the worst offenders.

This grower didn’t notice that the buds had been seeded until harvest. As he was trimming, he noticed seeds popping out. Since there were no male plants, chances are this was caused by an unnoticed hermie somewhere in the grow space.

Is it True that Feminized Seeds Sometimes Cause Hermies? Yes!


That pollen is used to pollinate another female plant, and the offspring of those two plants will all be female since both of the parents were female. That’s how you get feminized cannabis seeds. But that also means every time you have a feminized seed, that seed had a plant that produced male flowers in its recent genetic history.


It’s important to understand that hermies can happen a couple of different ways. And the different types of hermies affect what genes are being passed on to the seeds.

This swollen calyx has a seed developing inside

What Causes Hermies?

Hermies can be caused by many things, including…

bad genetics – the plant comes from a line of plants that naturally create hermies for no reason, even in good growing conditions


letting buds over-mature – this is also known as “rodelization;” basically when the plant’s buds have gone past maturity without being pollinated (if the grower waits way too long to harvest), a female plant may make male pollen within its buds as a last ditch effort to pollinate itself and make seeds for the next generation


Seeds created from “female” pollen will turn out being female (or at least as female as the parents).

The pollen from a hermie plant makes feminized seeds

The pollen sacs on this masculinized female plant have opened and pollen has spilled onto the leaf below






If a seed is pure white it usually means it’s underdeveloped and won’t sprout. But it can sometimes be hard to tell. In the end, if a seed sprouts and grows it’s a viable seed! I’ve had very pale, flimsy seeds sprout into gorgeous fast-growing plants, so if you’re not sure the best thing to do is try to germinate it!

Seed Banks & Breeders



The pollen that results from chemical stimulation is used to pollinate another female plant and make feminized seeds. If the parent plants would never hermie without chemical stimulation, then you have created feminized seeds that won’t ever make pollen in your grow room.

But if one of the parent plants was chosen because it does hermie easily, you’ll end up with seeds that likely will herm. The breeder might not have done any testing on the parents or the resulting offspring to even know.


Choosing the Right Cannabis Breeder

Unfortunately, some cannabis seed breeders are more trustworthy than others. The great ones have created stabilized strains that have been bred over several generations to produce a consistent product without any problems with plant sex.



Breeder choice is important!

I have to admit I may be biased towards feminized seeds. I’ve grown almost exclusively with feminized seeds over the last decade. It has made my life so much easier! I only purchase seeds from breeders that I trust and all the resulting seeds have been bud-bearing females. I haven’t had any real problems with hermies.


Yet there are good and bad breeders out there, and with good breeders, you have a very low chance of running into cannabis sex problems.





I personally prefer feminized seeds, and that’s the only type of seed I grow. It makes it easier for me in my limited grow space. I haven’t run into any significant problems with hermies, so I’m satisfied with growing only bud-bearing plants.

Yet a lot of growers grow with regular seeds because they’re easier to breed and produce at home. Many growers have created a system for weeding out male plants that is more convenient for them than using feminized seeds.


"Hermie" cannabis plants can look like normal female plants at first glance, but they produce pollen that causes seedy buds. Hermies are to be avoided!"