What Do Weed Seeds Look Like?

What do weed seeds look like? Cannabis seeds are characterized by a whitish-brown color and have small black spots or stripes on their surfaces. You’ll see plenty of them as we go through the article. Also, we’ll even look at the inside of a weed seed for better understanding.

Cannabis seeds vary in size. Some can be as small as 0.5mm, while others are as big as 2mm. In addition, if you deal with different cannabis strains, you’ll notice that the appearance may vary from strain to strain.

Does Cannabis Seed Size Matter?

The truth is that the size of your cannabis seeds doesn’t affect the size of the plants they grow into. So, for example, you can easily get a huge plant from a small cannabis seed, just as you can get a small plant from a big cannabis seed.

Therefore, don’t worry too much if you find that your bag contains mostly small cannabis seeds. They will still produce wonderful plants as long as you grow them correctly. If you are brand new to the marijuana community, we have many guides on our blog section for useful tips on your cannabis-growing journey.

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The good thing about dealing with cannabis seeds is that they are ready to grow once they successfully germinate. You’ll know the weed seed has germinated once the root breaks out of the protective outer shell.

When it comes to the sex or genetics of weed plants, it can be hard to tell just by looking at your seeds. In this article, we’ll dive into the world of weed seed appearance and give you all the information you need for a great weed-growing experience.

First, let’s dissect a weed seed and see what the inside looks like.

The Anatomy of A Marijuana Seed – A Look at the Inside

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Understanding the anatomy of a cannabis seed can help you become a better grower. The outside of the seed has an oval shape and is often whitish-brown in color. Some weed seeds have stripes on them; we’ll look at why in the next section.

You’ll notice that the weed seed also has a ridge that runs longitudinally. This is the part that opens up during the germination process. You’ll find that unfertilized and underdeveloped seeds have an off-white color and are often smaller than developed weed seeds.

Once you dissect the weed seed, you’ll see the radicle, cotyledons, and root cap. These parts form the plant embryo, which is similar to the typical plant seeds we learned about in school.

The cotyledons are crucial because they grow into the first leaves of your weed plant. The radicle is also important and will grow into the primary root.

The pericarp is what protects the embryo from external forces, while the root cap protects the tips of the weed plant as it grows.

Let’s now look at why some weed seeds have tiger stripes on them and what these stripes indicate.

What Do Stripes on Cannabis Seed Indicate?

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When getting cannabis seeds to plant, you may notice that some of them have stripes on them. The tiger stripes on weed seeds often indicate that the seed is mature. Therefore, this is a good thing!

In fact, you should be glad when you get weed seeds with tiger striping because you can be sure that you’re getting value for your money. Immature seeds are often disappointing to get and can lower your zeal for growing cannabis.

Unfortunately, the tiger stripping doesn’t give you any other information about the weed plant species you’ll get.

Nonetheless, you can sometimes tell the species of the seeds based on their size. For example, Hemp, Ruderellis, and Sativa seeds are often smaller than Indica seeds.

Although you can’t know the size of the cannabis plant that will germinate based on the size of the marijuana seeds, you can tell the sex of the plant based on the types of seeds.

For example, if you want to get a flowering female plant, consider growing feminized marijuana seeds.

Types of Cannabis Seeds

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Weed seeds come in different forms. These include feminized seeds, auto-flowering seeds, and regular seeds.

Here are the different types of weed seeds.

A) Feminized Cannabis Seeds

Unfortunately, it’s difficult to distinguish between feminized weed seeds and auto-flowering seeds just by looking at them. Therefore, avoid placing these two seed types in the same place to ensure you don’t mix them up.

Feminized cannabis seeds have been engineered to produce female plants only. Therefore, if you want to cultivate smokable flowers, feminized seeds are what you need. Example are Jealousy Strain and White Truffle Strain.

One thing to note when dealing with feminized cannabis seeds is that you shouldn’t plant them near male plants to avoid pollination from happening.

If pollen from the male plants gets to the female plants, you’ll have female weed plants with seeds.

Although growing female cannabis seeds can be costly in terms of resources and Cannabis nutrients, you can be sure that you’ll be getting value for your money.

The reason is that female seeds often use nutrients to their full capacity to produce female cannabis flowers.

B) Auto-flowering Seeds

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Auto-flowering cannabis seeds are great for indoor growing and for growing in places where the growing season is short. Unlike their feminized counterparts, these cannabis seeds require less light and are much easier to grow.

Although you can’t tell them apart from feminized seeds by looking at them, you can tell them apart during the flowering stage.

Auto-flowering plants start and end the flowering phase based on their maturity. The amount of light they receive daily doesn’t affect the flowering process. Therefore, you don’t have to maintain a light schedule to initiate the flowering phase.

You’ll simply notice the first signs of flowering after 2 – 4 weeks of growing the plant.

In fact, if you are a beginner in the world of growing your own cannabis, we recommend you start with auto-flowering seeds. They are easier to maintain, and you’ll have your harvest ready within 8 weeks of sprouting.

Check out our article on harvesting marijuana for maximum yield for extra tips during harvesting.

C) Regular Seeds

Regular cannabis seeds can produce female, male, and hermaphrodite plants. The advantage of these seeds is that they are easier to find than the other two types above and are cheaper than feminized seeds.

Take Away

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Cannabis seeds have an oval shape and are whitish-brown in appearance. Healthy cannabis seeds are often dark and strong; breaking them is difficult.

Unfortunately, you can’t tell the sex of the cannabis plant you’ll get by looking at your seeds. You’ll have to wait till the flowering stage to find out.

For quality marijuana seeds, we recommend that you get your seeds from a renowned seed bank.

Another thing to watch out for regarding the appearance of weed seeds is their health. Mature weed seeds are often dark, whereas immature cannabis seeds have a whitish or greenish appearance.

Frequently Asked Questions About Cannabis Seeds

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1. How do you know if a marijuana seed is healthy?

The first step is buying seeds from a reputable marijuana seed company. This way, you can be sure that you’ll get healthy cannabis seeds that will produce great cannabis plants.

If you are new to growing your own cannabis plants, it can be hard to identify quality marijuana seeds. Nonetheless, there are some signs to watch out for. These include a white or pale green color in the appearance of the seed.

Healthy marijuana seeds from a good seed bank are dark and don’t break easily. These quality seeds will germinate easily and give you a good yield.

2. Can you tell the sex of the marijuana seeds from their appearance?

Unfortunately not. There’s no visible physical difference between female and male-producing marijuana seeds.

If you truly want to know the sex of the seed, it’s best to get cannabis seeds from a good seed bank where you’ll get this information.

If you already have the seeds with you, the next best thing is to wait until the flowering stage and see if it’s male or female.

3. Are larger marijuana seeds harder to germinate?

The size or weight of the marijuana seed alone doesn’t affect the germination process. However, some weed growers argue that the larger or heavier the seed, the more difficult it is to germinate

The truth is that the weed seed germination process is often influenced by factors outside the state of the seed. The one factor that can make weed seeds harder to germinate is age. Old cannabis seeds can be more difficult to germinate than their younger counterparts.

To further counter the argument that size and weight affect the germination process is that the outer shell of the cannabis seed is designed to be weakened by water. Therefore, the size or thickness of it should not inhibit the root from emerging.