Seeds in Your Weed? Here's What It Means

If you find lots of seeds in your cannabis buds, it means the plant got pollinated. Seeds tell you the plant spent part of its energy on reproduction instead of resin, which knocks down the quality and potency of your weed.

It usually happens when a female cannabis plant comes into contact with pollen from a male or hermaphrodite plant, so it starts making seeds instead of resinous, cannabinoid-rich flowers.

Finding seeds in your buds can catch you off guard when you're trying to maximize your harvest, because pollinated plants tend to produce fewer trichomes and cannabinoids, which means less flavor, aroma and potency.

How can you tell if a cannabis plant is male or female?

Cannabis sativa is a dioecious plant, meaning individual plants are either male or female. You can't tell a plant's sex until it reaches sexual maturity. In some cases you'll also get a hermaphrodite plant, one that carries both male and female organs.

Pollination happens when pollen from male flowers lands on the stigmas of female flowers, and that's what produces seeds.

If you're after seedless flower, known as “sinsemilla,” you have to pull out male and hermaphrodite plants so your females don't get pollinated. That way the buds end up with a higher concentration of cannabinoids and you get a better-quality product.

Why are there seeds in my weed?

Even though most cannabis seed banks promise a high percentage of females, males or hermaphrodites can still show up because of genetic or environmental factors. On top of that, accidental pollination can happen for reasons outside the grower's control, like pollen carried on the wind or contact with other plants nearby.

Once female plants are pollinated, their energy goes into making seeds instead of more resin and trichomes, and the buds suffer for it. The result is weaker, less flavorful weed, with annoying seeds to boot.

Female, male and hermaphrodite cannabis plants: how they differ

Female cannabis plants

Female plants develop small calyxes in their flowers, which hold the pistils (stigmas) sticking out in a “V” shape. These flowers cluster together into buds, which keep growing and producing resin as long as there's no pollen around.

If the plant isn't pollinated, it keeps pushing out more flowers and resin in an attempt to catch pollen, which gives you bigger, stickier buds.

Male cannabis plants

Male cannabis plants are mainly kept for breeding and making seeds. If you don't want pollination, get them out of your grow as soon as you spot them. Male flowers are easy to recognize: little balls hanging from the stem that hold the pollen. Once mature, those pollen sacs open up and release pollen to fertilize the females.

Hermaphrodite cannabis plants

Hermaphrodite plants carry both male and female flowers and can show up because of genetics or environmental stress. If you spot hermies early in flowering, the safest move is to pull them from your grow to prevent pollination. If there are only a few male flowers, you can pluck them off by hand with tweezers, but if there are a lot, take the plant out of the grow room.

How do seeds affect your buds?

When buds are seeded, the quality of the cannabis drops considerably. Aroma and flavor take a hit, and smoking it can be unpleasant thanks to the taste of burnt seeds. You can still smoke seeded weed, but pick the seeds out before you do. Pollinated plants will also have less potency and fewer trichomes.

Seeds in the buds are one of the most common headaches cannabis growers deal with. Seeds don't just lower the quality of your weed, they also hurt its flavor, aroma and potency. Here's how to keep your plants from producing seeds so you end up with a high-quality harvest.

Learn to sex your plants, male and female

The first step to seedless buds is learning to tell your plants' sex correctly. Cannabis is dioecious, meaning plants are either male or female. Males produce pollen, which can fertilize the females and lead to seeds. To prevent that, it's crucial to pull the males from your grow as soon as you recognize them.

Sometimes plants develop hermaphrodite traits, meaning they produce both male and female flowers. Hermies can pollinate themselves or other plants, so it's important to remove or destroy them to avoid unwanted pollination.

Remove male and hermaphrodite plants

Once you've spotted male or hermaphrodite plants, get them out of your grow as soon as possible. Males usually show their sex before females do, which gives you enough time to remove them before they release pollen. With hermaphrodites, if you find a few male flowers early in flowering, carefully remove them by hand so they don't contaminate the rest of the grow.

The bottom line

Keeping seeds out of your buds takes a mix of techniques and care. From sexing your plants correctly to avoiding stress and light leaks, these steps will help make sure your plants produce top-quality buds, seedless and with maximum potency, flavor and aroma.