Female Seeds – Dream or (almost) Reality? (2/2)

Grow!: “Can you tell us what motivated you in all those years? In dealing with such complicated matter you must have invested a lot of time and also experienced some setbacks, haven´t you?”

Cees: “I have indeed experimented for years, before eventually getting some results. But that´s me – I just won´t let go once I´ve sunk my teeth into an interesting subject, especially if it entails some unanswered questions for the rest of the world. All the setbacks I experienced on the way have only strengthened my will to succeed. The only disadvantage of all those years of experimenting was that I hardly produced anything smokeable. Believe me, this is not a matter for people who only want to produce their own blow. Fortunately, this phase is now behind me.”

Grow!: “Why did you spend so many years on the production of female seed and what are your plans, now that you have cracked the formula?”

Cees: “My object was to extract a healthy natural amount of female seed from really potent XX-plants. When I achieved that after virtually endless experiments, I started to go on cultivating these seeds, to find out whether there´d be any decay after a certain amount of ti-me. During that process I found out that the agent I used also made the plants bloom faster and more fully. But we will discuss this later, for me personally it is not of such great interest. Particularly, because I would only help the ´bread-winning growers´, who for simple monetary reasons often use pesticides and such. Because coincidence only plays a minor role in my perception and because other members of the scene entered the market with female seeds as wel, I didn´t want to keep my knowledge from others interested in this matter. In other words, I´d like to explain that the agent I use is non-toxic and still works very well.”

Grow!: “We´re all ears, so go on telling your story.”

Cees: “In order to produce XX-seeds, one needs a 100% XX-plant. It shouldn´t prove too difficult to find out, whether the plant in question really is exclusively female. A dead-sure method to uncover hermaphrodites is interrupting the cycle by creating shocking light-effects. The shock treatment works best, if one also feeds the plant some extra CO2. One mustn´t forget to add some trace elements as well, though, I have noticed that all the extraordinary events make the plants use up a lot more of those, particularly magnesium. After having found one or more purely female plants, these become the basis of the variety to be cultivate. However, one has to be extremely careful, because there are only very few purely female plants, strange as it may sound. Careless cross-breeding, especially with Asian varieties, has produced a lot of genetic hermaphrodites in the past. Therefore, hermaphrodites may still show up, even after a number of ´clean´ generations. So, if the plant isn´t exclusively XX, the pollen can´t be, either. That can be very frustrating, because in that case all your work is domed from the beginning. But okay, let´s assume that we have found a XX-plant and go on from there. After years of pottering about, searching and experimenting I finally reached a point three years ago, at which I could make a XX-plant pollinate itself. But it wasn´t a real breakthrough yet, because the lenght of the cycle was disappointing in relation with the harvest result.”

Grow!: “Most people would have jumped holes in the air getting only that far. But if I understand correctly, you had merely started, hadn´t you?”

Cees: “Yeah, it gave me a kick, something like “And now let´s get going!”. In the meantime I have solved the cycle problem. At this point, I can bring a pure XX-plant into any state I may chose. The fotos show that very well. Here you see a plant that blooms in three different ways on three separate twigs. It´s a strange and unnatural view, but very exciting for me. Because this was the path to good, strong female seed. But also - as I found out later – to 30-40% more flowers on the ladies and a shortening of the growing cycle by one week. This also proves that it is possible to treat the individual twigs of a plant differently. As you see, I can make the XX-plants grow nice full tops of male flowers, which still produce a lot of pollen. When one or more of its biological sisters are in full bloom, this manipulated lady is put in their midst for pollination. Now, pollination only takes place when the plant is in full flower and will therfore produce a lot of seeds. One only needs a single plant with some good tops of male flowers to pollinate a whole room full of plants.”

Grow!: ”But how does such a treatment work and which miracle potion do you use? What you have told us up to now has only made the matter even more mysterious to me.”

Cees: “The plants I spray have to be topped off first, because it is important that the plant is wide open at the top. Otherwise the pollen can´t reach all the flowers and the seed production won´t be optimal. The right moment of the flowering phase is also very important. If you spray too early, there will only be a few seeds. If you spray too late, most flowers will already have withered and then the result is quite meagre as well. So at exactly the right moment I spray the plants with my solution. It has taken me more than ten years to get a grip on all this.”

Grow!: “All very well, but the question remains: How do you get male flowers on a female plant? We have been waiting long enough now and would like to know what agent you use. Please, do tell!”

Cees: ”I don´t want to tell everything, but quite a lot. One thing I´d like to keep to myself is the proportional ratio of my mixture. There are various substances to manipulate the plants with. I have decided to use GIBBERALIC ACID. But currently there are five different variations for that substance available and it is very likely that the manufacturer will come up with new ones. I have chosen this agent, because I had it tested by Dr. Alink, toxicologist at the School for Agriculture in Wageningen. The result was handed to me in writing and it said in black on white, that this agent will harm neither humans nor animals. The test was done without questions or resistance, which makes it clear that anybody could have substances tested for their harmfullness. In other words, it is very well possible to work with less toxins than was thought to be viable until now. The costs? Zero point nil. Gibberalic acid in itself is highly toxic though, and I am surprised that it hasn't been added to the list of pesticides harmful to the environment.”

Grow!: “But can you just spray that stuff onto the plants?”

Cees: “No, that would be too simple. Of course it needs to be dilluted first. Dilluting a heavy synthetic acid like gibberalic acid is a story in itself, and used to be even more difficult in the old days. Currently, I use natriumhydroxide, a rather aggressive substance that is used to unstuff clogged-up pipes. Natriumhydroxide breaks down very quickly and therefore is not dangerous from a toxicological point of view. The next difficulty is finding the right mixture, only to realize afterwards that the state of the plant sometimes requires a specific composition, that is only variable many points behind the comma. The balance is so sensitive, that things won´t work out, unless one is able to weigh such tiny measures. The exact quantities are so small that dosing them is more than just precision work. Maybe it would help to have a pharmacist as a friend, but even they can often only weigh up to 0.05 grams. But the biggest difficulty of all is determining the right moment!”

Grow!: “If this is all true, then it´s only a question of spraying and there´s your XX-plant?”

Cees: “That´s more or less what it comes down to. Of course, reality is much more complicated, but I already gave away most of the secret. I do this, because I think the smoking community has a right to know what´s going on. That´s why I´m sharing my experiences in this area with you. I hope that people who are into manipulating plants will have the substances they use to do so toxicologically tested. It doesn´t cost anything and the tester doesn´t ask annoying questions, either. In my opinion, the only right method of informing the consumer about the contents is printing them on the wrapping. And the days, in which growers ´had to´ work with very toxic substances are long gone, damn it!”

Grow!: “However, many growers will probably want to continue working with cuttings, because they feel it takes too long for seedlings to mature. Is this a disadvantage we simply have to live with or is the difference in time not so big after all?”

Cees: “Growing from seeds doesn´t have to take that much longer, if you only pre-grow the seeds. About three weeks before I want to put the plants into my garden, I sow them under neonlights (Cool White). The lamps have to hang very closely above the plants, but mustn´t touch them at any point. This makes the seedlings strong and thick and one doesn´t need to fear that they will topple over. Moisture is an important factor, but cannabis is no waterplant. Therefore it is extremely important that the medium the plants are rooted in is moist enough, but can still take in some oxygen. The ideal temperature is 25° C during both, the light and the dark phase. Like the Americans, I stick to a lighting cycle of twenty hours, but eighteen may do as well. All this requires only little space and no great investments. Then I put my seedlings into the harvested and cleaned-up garden and leave them to grow for another two weeks. Then I let them bloom within twelve days and so the whole thing doesn´t take more than a week longer”.

Grow!: “When will your seeds be on the market and how much will they cost?”

Cees: “We have cultivated and tested more than 2.000 seeds and all plants have turned out to be female. The harvest result was much better than with cuttings. If I speak of 30% more produce, I am still being modest. People will be able to try for themselves not too long from now. And I don´t even mention compare this with healthy cuttings; as we both know, those hardly exist. About the price I can only say that ist won´t be much higher than that of cuttings and that I will try to synchronize it with the price of cuttings as soon as possible. But that will only work, if I can further increase my production, because currently people´s interest is so massive that I can´t satisfy the demand. In the meantime, the first production has been harvested and will be on the market this coming summer.”

Grow!: “So, if I may believe you, we will all grow plants from yor seeds shortly, and there will finally be some good grass in the coffeeshops again?”

Cees: “I don´t know about your first point, because others will bring seeds to the market as well. But I am sure that we will return to the seed-method. And that would indeed mean that there will be good grass again, which, after all, is a good thing for everyone. But I notice that you´re still looking at me in disbelief; I will give you a little bag of seeds to try for yourself.”

Grow!: “Thank you very much! If you were right, we´d be the first ones to congratulate you, because the advantages you´re talking about are music to my ears!”

So far the story of this interesting and inspired man, who want to share his knowledge and to warn against the dangers of pesticides without any financial motivation. At the end of the interview we received a handful of seeds to try out. We will keep you posted about this project.

The Amsterdam seed-company `Dutch Passion is the world´s only commercial supplier of female seeds, the right address for our questions about the use of toxic substances to spray the plants. Company director Henk van Dalen:
“We had gibberalic acid tested as well; it is a substance commonly used in gardening. Gibberalic Acid is a hormone that only very slightly influences the male flower and which has some adverse side-effects on the plantgrowth. We don´t use any hormones at all, because the plants react in weird ways to that. The agent we use is a simple chemical substance, like f.ex. a salt solution, and is absolutely free of toxics.

Interview from GROW! Magazine (Nr. 3/2000)