Every cannabis flower starts from a seed and today you may choose from thousands of different hybrids of cannabis plants. The choice may be overwhelming for some because they can all offer unique outcomes for your plant from flavour through to aroma, growth characteristics and potency.
Life is about choices and one thing in cannabis cultivation, there are many choices you can make. You may choose to grow either indoors or outdoors, you may grow using a hydroponic set up or manually water your plants in soil each day. One thing for certain, there is a seed for every setup.
The best place to start is choosing the right seed. Currently, there are 3 major categories of seeds to choose from, namely; regular, feminised and auto-flowering seeds. Each of these options comes with their benefits and drawbacks. The choice you make will depend on your grow location, desired yield, flowering time and also your growing experience. In this article, we will discuss the differences which should help you make the right seed choice.
Regular
These seeds are natural and easy to grow for beginner growers. They are generally less expensive than feminised or auto-flowering seeds. Regular seeds will give first-time growers a chance to see a full cycle of growth and give the grower good insight as to exactly what the plant needs. Regular seeds are also critical in the process of creating new strains as well as cross-breeding cannabis, thus creating new hybrids.
The downside to regular seeds is that you will be growing both male and female plants. Generally speaking, if you are growing for bud, regular seeds can cause you a couple of setbacks. If males are not removed immediately, you may pollinate the female plants and end up with flowers filled with seeds. Regular seeds will produce roughly 60% female and 40% male plants, so essentially half the initial seeds you started with could be males, and need to be discarded. 60% is an average figure and depends on the quality of your seed genetics and the growing environment. If grown well and in the right conditions, regular seeds will give you the largest yields per plant, dependent on genetics.
Feminised
As the name implies, feminised seeds are produced to eliminate the possibility of producing any male plants. Quality feminised seeds should produce 100% of female flowers every time. So consider upgrading from regular seeds to feminised seeds and you will automatically remove the possibility of having to deal with male plants or the possibility of your females getting pollinated. The biggest benefit of these seeds is that you will save time and space when growing. If you have limited indoor grow space and are growing for buds only, choosing feminised seeds could be your best option.
Auto-Flowering
Cannabis plants are photo-sensitive and require specific cycles of time and lighting to progress from germination through to harvest. Auto-flowering seeds are the easiest plants to grow for beginners as they don’t require the same level of care as the other varieties. Auto-flowering seeds are very short plants ( usually 30-60cm ) as they skip the vegging stage and automatically go into flower, regardless of the light cycle. These seeds may also offer the benefit of having two harvests in the summer. One of the downsides to auto’s is that they are small plants and therefore do not offer big yields like regular or feminised seeds.
So there you have it, these are several of the main categories of cannabis seeds you may choose from. Have a look browse of Green Smoke Rooms auto feminised seed range, these offer you the grower the easiest plants to start with, and they are only female with quick flowering times. There are still hundreds of breeders and varieties of unique strains. Good growing.
References:
https://www.greensmokeroomseeds.com/sa-local-stock/reg-seeds-sa-local
https://www.greensmokeroomseeds.com/sa-local-stock/fem-local-seeds
https://www.greensmokeroomseeds.com/sa-local-stock/auto-local
