Indoor Gardening and Autoflowering Seeds
Whether growing indoors or outdoors, cannabis plants require regular, precise feeding to maintain health and yield a good crop. When starting out, it is common to follow your grower’s advice in this area, but don’t go overboard. Some experienced growers do feed their plants only once each month or even less frequently. Others like to feed their plants every two or three days. To make sure you get the best results, experiment to find what works best for you.
So which is best? Usually, feminized seeds are preferred by most growers. They are, in fact, almost always available at the nursery. Male cannabis plants tend to pollinate the female flowers, producing seeds. The female plant starts to produce more pollen sacks for self-pollination to carry the feminized seeds to the next growing space. The end result is a complete surprise to the grower.
For indoor gardens, feminized seeds are ideal because they resist many of the elements that regular seeds are prone to, including: droughts, periods of heavy rain and mould. In addition, female plants have a higher tolerance of high temperatures, meaning that indoor growing spaces can be enjoyed year round. When compared to regular seedlings, the plant grows more slowly and is more mature. Also, the plant flowers more frequently and produces more offspring. This, along with a longer growing season and minimal stress, make females preferable to regular seeds.
Many gardeners mistakenly think that female plants cannot survive without pollinating. This can actually be true. Male plants, because they have not been domesticated, have not been “pollinated” by pollen from females. However, some breeders have been able to create pollen banks that produce substantial quantities of feminized pollen, allowing growers to successfully grow crops using this method.
Creating feminized cannabis seeds by cross-breeding male plants can be challenging because it requires precise breeding techniques. For instance, some hybrid varieties of cannabis plants, such as Sour Diesel, have only one generation between females and males. Cross-breeding methods have created numerous different hybrid cannabis seeds, however, that have produced hundreds of different types of cannabis strains. It is now possible to cultivate newer hybrid varieties with little or no outside assistance. Some plants grow very well on their own. Others require a bit of help from a grower or farmer before flowering.
Cultivating feminized marijuana seeds is easy to do, because most of these plants grow quite well on their own when given light cycles and regular feeding. When grown in containers, however, it is much more difficult to control the light cycle and nutrients provided to the plant. A continuous light cycle is needed to provide the plant with the energy it needs to flower. When the plant blooms, it takes up a lot of space. For this reason, many breeders will combine different marijuana plants into a hybrid. This allows the gardener to grow a large variety of plants in the same container.
Many feminized autoflowering seeds are available through various websites and catalogs. Some are sold by growers who specialize in only this specific type of plant. It is also possible to purchase feminized autoflowering seeds from breeders who grow a specific variety of cannabis. All varieties will usually take three weeks or less to mature, but will continue to grow for up to ten weeks. Growers who specialize in hybrid cannabis may be able to provide specific information about each variety.
The three-week rule is based on the assumption that plants grow best when treated as one unit. Autoflowering plants are grouped into two types: Resinous Buds and Strain. A strain is simply a larger collection of Resinous Buds. Strain plants are grouped into three categories: Regular, Indicative and Hybrid. All three strains have similar characteristics, but the appearance of each strain is different due to its selection of cannabis genetics. If you are planning to start an indoor garden from seed, it is best to purchase auto flowering plants rather than resinous buds.