Cannabis Seeds

Cannabis Plant Characteristics

Marijuana (Cannabis Sativa L.) is a dioecious plant, which means that it produces both female and male specimens; both are involved during the reproduction process (through which cannabis seeds are created).

We’re used to seeing female plants, which are the ones that produce buds (flowers), which are the main objective of most growers. On the other hand, male plants are only used to pollinate females, producing cannabis seeds as a result.

What Type of Cannabis Seeds are There?

Overall, the main differences are found in the sex that seeds are capable of producing. This means that regular cannabis seeds develop into both sexes, female and male, whereas feminized cannabis seeds always produce females, which makes growing a much easier process.

How Does Light Affect Cannabis Seeds

Most feminized and regular strains are light-dependant, which means that they need a certain change in light schedule to begin to bloom. While your plants are exposed to 18h light and 6h darkness, they will stay in the vegetative phase, which is to say, growth. Once the plants are changed over to a 12/12h light and dark schedule, they’ll begin to flower.

If light-dependant plants get 12/12h light and darkness straight after germination, they’ll begin to flower when they’ve reached maturity – after about 30 growing days.

Automatically flowering plants, also known as autoflowering, can be feminized or regular, depending on the strain. This type of plant begins to flower between the 2nd and 4th week after germination. The main characteristic of autoflowering seeds is that they will bloom regardless of the amount of light received, which allows for faster harvests when growing outdoors because they don’t depend on the days getting shorter to flower.

What Types of Seeds Exist According to Cannabinoid Content?

For a few years now, CBD has made a name for itself on the cannabis market, changing the concept of hybrids entirely. CBD, or cannabidiol, has certain medicinal and recreational properties that has pushed many seed banks to go through extensive breeding and selection processes rich in this particular cannabinoid. Nowadays you can find cannabis strains with different THC/CBD ratios, which means different levels of the same cannabinoids.

What Can You Find in Our Seed Catalogue?

At La Huerta Grow Shop we have the following main seed categories:

• Feminized Seeds (light-dependant): these seeds always produce female seeds, which are perfect for producing high yielding, stable, quality cannabis plants that are easy to grow (no need to get rid of male plants).

Cannabis grown to be consumed is generally produced using female seeds such as Original Amnesia or Jamaican Dream thanks to their high cannabinoid level as well as the previously mentioned qualities.

• Regular Seeds (light-dependant unless indicated): this type of seeds produces both female and male plants.

They’re ideal for finding unique phenotypes (they have a more diverse genetic structure than feminized seeds). This type of seed is also great for making your very own hybrids.

• Autoflowering seeds: this type of seed starts to flower between the 2nd and 4th growing weeks, regardless of the amount of light given.

Autoflowering seeds are ideal for setting up a fast outdoor grow while your photoperiodic seeds grow. They’re also super helpful for growing in small spaces, for those that need a little extra discretion, or when there’s light contamination that can’t be dealt with.

These are some of the reasons why autoflowering plants are becoming more popular, with growers planting strains such as Magnum or Amnesia XXL Auto, among others.

• CBD Seeds: the most well-known cannabinoid is THC (Tetrahidrocannabinol), high in both medicinal and psychoactive effects. However, thanks to breeding and selection processes, there are various strains which have CBD as the main cannabinoid, high in medicinal value while producing no psychoactive effects.

This category contains photoperiodic seeds rich in CBD such as Only CBD and autoflowering seeds including Sweet Pure Auto CBD.

• Varied Seed Packs: Are you looking to change up your garden? Having trouble choosing just one strain? Some seed banks such as Sweet Seeds or Buddha Seeds offer a mix of seeds at quite an affordable price, such as Sweet Mix Feminized or Assorted Auto.
• Limited edition: cannabis growers are always looking for new strains, surprising flavours and unique specimens. Limited edition seeds are great if this applies to you.

Seed banks such as Eva Seeds offer exclusive Limited Edition hybrid strains, including incredibly special and unique strains.

Other Cannabis Plant Characteristics

Depending on your chosen strain, you’ll be able to grow cannabis with certain characteristics. One of the main classifications made between cannabis strains is that of Sativa or Indica. Seed banks tend to classify this depending on the effect produced by the plant. For example, Sativa plants are considered those that produce a stimulating effect whereas indicas are classified as those that produce a relaxing effect.

Initially, it was thought that these effects depend on plant genetics and this is partially true. However, the components that can actually alter cannabinoid effects (making them more stimulating or relaxing) are terpenes (which make up each plants’ aromatic profile).

A Brief Summary

• Indica strains tend to produce more relaxing, narcotic effects and many of them are used medicinally to treat sleeping problems, stimulate the appetite, relieve pain etc.

• Sativa strains produce more of a stimulating, energetic and psychoactive effect, making them perfect for meeting with friends, using during the day and for recreational purposes.
• You can also find CBD-rich strains (Cannabidiol), an active component of cannabis that has medicinal properties and is used to treat illnesses such as epilepsy – it’s also capable of modifying the effects produced by THC to a certain level.

In our large seed catalogue you can find genetically pure strains which are called Landrace strains; from pure Sativa seeds from topical areas such as Jamaican Dream, to pure indicas including the strain TNT Kush by Eva Seeds from Pakistan.

We should also mention that some cannabis seeds have been stabilized and crossed (these are known as hybrids) in order to obtain strains with varying characteristics:

• Some have been modified for short flowering, such as Lemon King or Critical +, taking just 45 days to flower.
• Others have specific characteristics, such as Txomango, Gorilla Candy, Cream Caramel and Gipsy Haze, all of which produce amazing aromas and flavours.
• Hybrids can also be made in order to obtain other characteristics such as increased resin yield, humidity resistance, higher yield, easier to grow etc.

Cannabis Seed Recommendations

• When growing outdoors, plant autoflowering and light-dependant strains at the start of the season. After approximately three months, you’ll be able to harvest your autoflowering plants, having cannabis ready to consume before summer is over. A few months later, you’ll be able to harvest your feminized plants which produce higher yields and better quality.

*Outdoor cannabis season in the Northern Hemisphere is between April and October. On the other hand, in the Southern Hemisphere it’s from October to December, harvesting around March to April.

• Plant regular seeds if you’re looking to select special phenotypes or make your very own hybrid strains.
• When growing indoors we recommend planting feminized seeds, as they’ll all grow into female specimens. We don’t recommend autoflowering plants indoors, as you’ll need to have the lights on for longer while producing less yield. If you’re looking for large harvests in fast times, you should go for fast-flowering feminized strains such as Jamaican Dream.
• If you want to consume cannabis during the day without getting the psychoactive effect that high THC strains produce, whether it’s because you can’t cope with the high or because you have important things to do that require concentration, we recommend growing CBD seeds. You’re guaranteed to be surprised by the benefits of CBD.

• If you want to vary your grow a bit more you can always check out our varied seed pack catalogue.
• If you’re looking for unique strains and phenotypes, our Limited Edition packs are a great choice.

Some of the posts on our BLOG may help you to choose your seeds:

• Types of cannabis seeds
• Fastest outdoor cannabis strains
• How to grow autoflowering cannabis outdoors
• How to grow feminized seeds (light-dependant) outdoors

If you have any questions when picking your seeds, ask our team.