How to distinguish male from female cannabis plants

While cannabis is dioecious, which means it can be male or female, the plants we smoke are exclusively female. Female plants are responsible for the resin-giving flowers we all know and love, and to do this must be kept away from pollination by males. This is because once female plants are fertilized, they convert energy from THC production to sowing. Hence the females we consume are “sinsemilla” or seedless.

However, male plants are still necessary for cannabis production when it comes to reproduction and breeding. In order for a female plant to produce seeds, it must be pollinated by a male plant. Without further ado, let’s dive into how to distinguish male from female cannabis plants.

Proper sexing of cannabis is easier with more mature plants, but there are several important ways to sex cannabis in the Pre-blooming phase.

Identifying a male cannabis plant

Male cannabis plant, photo courtesy Royal Queen Seeds

Pre-flowers appear at the base of the leaves when male plants are around three to four weeks old. In females, they appear between four and six weeks old. Males can be sexed one to three weeks before germination. However, it is best to identify and kill males before they start developing pollen sacs.

One male is enough to devastate a crop.

Male pre-flowers are staminates and the female pre-flowers are pistils. Staminates are rounder than stamps and take on a spade-like shape. Find them at the joints of the flower stalks. As it matures, the staminate takes on a curved blade shape and a round spade or ball.

Can you smoke them

Technically yes, but in Obi-Wan’s immortal words, these aren’t the cannabinoids you’re looking for. The high quality THC we get from cannabis comes from seedless females. Men just don’t contain the same amount of things that we look for in cannabis to consume. Sure, males produce some trichomes, but the amount and quality pale in comparison to females. Additionally, if you allow a male to reach the level of maturity at which it is producing cannabinoids and terpenes in the first place, the females will already be pollinated and your crops will be ruined.

Identification of female cannabis plants

Female cannabis plant, photo courtesy of Pexels

Like the males, pre-flowering female plants have bulbs, but these are pear-shaped rather than spade-shaped. The dead giveaway is long translucent hair called stigma. The stigma is part of the pistil and will definitely identify the plant as feminine. Female plants all produce pistils; The problem with sexing female plants is not every pre-flowering female plant has pistils.

Hermaphroditic plants

Another confusing variable is hermaphroditic plants that produce both stamina and pistil. Hermaphroditic plants are typically the result of stress. Treat these plants as males and kill them if you want to harvest them, or keep them if you want to sow seeds.

Structural difference between male and female plants

Finally, there are a few morphological differences between male and female cannabis plants that will help you determine the sex of your plants. Female plants tend to be shorter and bushier, while males grow taller and have thicker stems to carry the extra weight.