Leaping into the world of cannabis cultivation requires an understanding of the different seeds currently available on the market. While we briefly touched on the differences between regular, feminized, and auto-flowering seeds, we will now dig deeper to round out our understanding.
As close to nature as the world intended, regular cannabis seeds have roughly a 50% chance of emerging as a male or female. As a result, regular seeds give new cultivators the chance to breed fresh genetics while producing nicer, better-quality clones.
What Are Regular Seeds?
Regular cannabis seeds are simply seeds that have been free from human tampering. Every single time that you attempt to germinate a regular cannabis seed, you are risking the eventual development of a pollen-producing male. Males are not the target of most cannabis cultivators, though male plants are necessary to develop a robust breeding program.
Benefits
- Fresh Genetics: Breeding regular seeds can be a great way to produce novel strains. Put plainly, regular seeds are necessary for the continual breeding of our favorite plant.
- Strong Clones: Traditional seeds are ideal for cultivating strong mother plants for healthy and capable clones. Cloning helps growers to take a shortcut during the germination process. A stronger mother plant will allow growers to keep a pipeline of clones functioning. Feminized seeds, on the other hand, tend to be unstable when they are cloned.
- Supporting Reintroduction: Oftentimes, gardeners will plant regular seeds as a way to see cannabis successfully re-established and re-introduced into the wild. Often planted in smaller groups within forests or other wild areas, regular seeds are utilized to successfully bring back wild-growing cannabis that once flourished throughout the region.
Limitations
- Limited Availability: Regular seeds have slightly fallen by the wayside as more and more cultivators turn to feminized seeds to accomplish their goals. Regular seeds still maintain a foothold within the cannabis seed market.
- Sexual Instability: With a 50/50 chance of emerging as a male or a female, it can be hard for growers on a budget to trust regular seeds. While Rocket Seeds offers an 80% germination rate guarantee, regular seeds won’t always sprout into a viable plant for growers looking to get a female grow going.
- Less Accepted: Private growers continue to prioritize feminized seeds for their gardens. Regular seeds are, however, more accepted in places where importing/exporting cannabis seeds has been outlawed.
If you’ve ever lit a joint and enjoyed the experience, you have a feminized seed to thank. Feminized seeds are the laborers of the cannabis world, providing the cannabinoid-rich buds that we revere with the flavors and effects that we have grown to love. North American growers are increasingly turning to feminized seeds to increase their plant production.
How Are Feminized Seeds Created?
Various techniques can be used to create feminized seeds. The classic method of creating a healthy female plant is by interrupting its light cycle during the flowering phase. Another common technique for feminizing seeds is by sprawling down female plants with a silver thiosulphate solution, giving growers the ability to control the overall sex of the plant without modifying or tinkering with genetics.
Benefits
- Enhanced Cannabinoids: Feminized seeds produce higher levels of cannabinoids, which is ideal for strains that are bred to maximize both aroma and potency. Feminized seeds are a great way to make sure that your cultivation leads to an enhanced and potent product. Higher levels of THC as well as richer terpene profiles can lead to a more relaxing, enjoyable, and comforting cannabis experience.
- Save Time and Money: When you cultivate from regular seed, you run the risk of cultivating male plants. Male plants need to be discarded as they will not provide you with the results that you are looking for. A male seed is a seed that has been wasted by most growers.
- Improved Yield: Feminized seeds lead to better potential yields with fewer potential wasted plants.
Limitations
- Price & Availability: As one of the most popular ways to cultivate weed, feminized seeds can be hard to acquire and expensive to work with. With that being said, seed banks like Rocket Seeds make it more affordable than ever to explore the world of feminized seeds.
- Lack of Genetic Expression: Bred from feminized seed, most plants will retain the genetics of their parental lineage. Compare this to regular seeds and we can see that feminized seeds may be less genetically unique.
Whether new to the game or an O.G., growing pot means that you will want to explore autoflowering strains. Autoflowering seeds are ideal for both indoor growth in hydroponic setups or outdoors in good old soil. With a harvest-ready yield in just under eight weeks, what’s not to like?
What Is an Autoflowering Seed?
Autoflowering seeds are typically combined from some mixture of sativa, indica, and cannabis ruderalis, a native species found in Russia. Cannabis ruderalis grows automatically after just over seven weeks, does well in cold weather, and makes for a fantastic interbreeding component, leading to the creation of autoflowering strains. Put plainly, autoflowering seeds are simply seeds that begin to flower after a certain phase of development has been reached.
Benefits
- Sturdy Plants: Autoflowering seeds lead to plants that are more resistant to temperature fluctuations, allowing them to be grown year-round indoors or outside.
- Reliable and Efficient: Thanks to its ruderalis genetics, autoflowering seeds are destined to be harvested on time, each and every time.
- Make Cultivation Easy: Autoflowering seeds will automatically begin to flower when the time is right, so growers don’t have to fuss with lighting switches or cycles. Shoppers can opt for AutoFlower Mixed Marijuana Seeds to enjoy strains from home.
Limitations
- Smaller Yields: Autoflowering strains are ready for harvest within eight weeks, though they do present smaller yields than the other seed options. Autoflowering plants are also diminutive in size when compared to their regular counterparts.
- Pricing: Autoflowering seeds are incredibly popular so their price can vary depending on the seed bank and strain desired.
While some growers rightfully have their concerns about autoflowering seeds, it remains clear that they provide even the novice enthusiast with the tools required to find success in the grow room or outdoor garden.
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