# Chuck

> To chuck is to pollinate plants loosely, usually an open or one-off cross, often implying little selection or record keeping.

- Canonical: https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/chuck.html
- Also written: chucking, chucked, chuck pollen, chuck a cross
- Glossary category: Grower slang and culture
- Status: Draft: awaiting expert review · Updated: 2026-10-31
- Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/), attribute "GenetixBay cannabis glossary"

To chuck (or "chuck pollen") is slang for [pollinating](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/pollination.md) a plant or a whole room, usually as a quick one-off cross. The word is neutral among friends ("I chucked my male at the whole tent") and critical when applied to someone selling the result.

## In practice

A home grower might keep one male, collect a few hundred milligrams of pollen and dust a single lower branch of each female, which is a controlled way to get seed without seeding the whole crop. "Chucking the room" means letting a male open freely among the females, so every plant sets seed and parentage of each seed is unknown. That is [open pollination](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/open-pollinated.md).

What separates a useful chuck from a careless one is records: which female, which male, which branch, the date, and how many seeds came back. Without those, the seed cannot be traced and a later problem ([herms](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/hermaphrodite.md), off-types) cannot be tracked to its source.

## Don't confuse with

- **Pollen chucker**: the person, and the criticism. Chucking once for your own garden does not make you one.
- **Selfing**: pollinating a plant with its own pollen ([S1](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/s1.md)). Chucking implies a second parent.
- **Breeding**: a programme of selection over generations, not a single pollination.

## Related terms

[Pollen chucker](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/pollen-chucker.md), [Cross](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/cross.md), [Open-pollinated](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/open-pollinated.md), [Breeder](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/breeder.md)

## Read more

- [Pollination and seed production, step by step](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/breeding/pollination-seed-production.md)