Sinsemilla

Marijuana Horticulture

by Jorge Cervantes

Sinsemilla (pronounced sin-semiya) is derived from two Spanish words: “sin” = without and “semilla” = seed. Sinsemilla is the word that describes flowering female cannabis tops that have not been fertilized by male pollen.

Highly prized sinsemilla buds are the most potent part of any strain, with a proportionately large volume of THC per flower bud, and it’s all smoke, no seeds! Unpollinated female plants continue to flower until calyx formation and resin production peak out, six to ten weeks after turning the lights to 12 hours. During six to ten weeks of flowering, calyxes develop and swell along the stem, yielding more high quality buds than pollinated, seeded flowers.

Make any female marijuana sinsemilla by removing male plants as soon as they are identified. Removing males virtually guarantees that male pollen will not fertilize succulent female pistils. Sometimes a few early grains of pollen are shed by premature male flowers. Pollen dispersed from wild or cultivated male cannabis plants could also be floating in the air. Sometimes a hermaphrodite with a few male flowers will sprout on a predominately female plant.