Cannabis Seeds: Best Strains to Grow Guide

The Definitive Guide to Marijuana Seeds

Marijuana, also known as cannabis, is one of the most popular plants you can find anywhere in the world. It has been around for over two decades and seems to grow in popularity daily.

Did you know that cannabinoids are compounds obtained from cannabis seeds? They have a lot of psychological and physical benefits for humans.
Identifying a real marijuana seed can be challenging, and only experienced growers are skilled enough to understand which weed seedlings to buy.

Marijuana has several strains, and some people prefer those that don’t have a strong odor. Others like strains with a potent smell that can get high with just one puff. Some individuals even cultivate marijuana for commercial purposes, and certain drugs contain cannabis as one of their components.

While many people worldwide smoke marijuana for fun or to calm their nerves, not everyone understands the meaning of strain when it comes to marijuana. This post will provide you with all the details you need to know about marijuana strains.

Varieties of Marijuana Strains

Some naive growers assume only one type of marijuana does it all. This is not true, there are different strains and all have their distinct features. Marijuana has three popular strains, which are Indica, Sativa, and Hybrids.

They all have distinguishing features that are known by most experienced growers; there are over seven thousand cannabis strains in the world, but these three are the major ones, and the other ones you might know are made from these three strains.

Though if you ask most users to differentiate between these three Marijuana strains, it might be hard for them to distinguish, they know what type they use, the effectiveness, price, and the effect it gives.

Pharmaceutical industries majorly use some while others are used during relaxation and to get high. Sativa and Indica are the best most significant strains, while the hybrid is produced when you crossbreed Sativa with Indica.

Marijuana is a very useful plant. Some are hermaphrodites, while some Marijuana plants have separate male and female trees. Most of the time Female marijuana plants are seedless, and they need a male tree to pollinate with them, that is when seeds are produced.

Learn more: How to Spot a Male Plant

When it reaches maturity, the seeds fall off the plant, which is used for cannabis oil or serves as food. It is worth of mention that some hermaphrodite cannabis plants self-pollinate themselves; they also go through the same process to produce seed after pollination.

Before we delve into the features of Sativa, Indica, and Hybrid, it is necessary to know the difference between male and female Marijuana plants.

The Difference Between Male and Female Cannabis Seeds

Seeing the process of cannabis growth is the most feasible method to understand reproduction of cannabis. Though some people understand the reproduction through appearance, smell, and texture, all these are not as noticeable as seeing it grow.

The pre-flowering phase is the first stage to know the gender of the plants; this stage is usually around the first six weeks of growth. If it’s a male, then the hairless tulip-shaped bulb called pollen sac would have started developing.

For easy identification, the pollen sac looks like a male genitalia. Most people cultivate male cannabis for breeding purposes because it helps the pollination of female cannabis plants and makes it produce seeds while the female plant’s flowers stop growing after a male has fertilized it.

Female Marijuana plants grow pistil hairs at the part where the bud will be formed. At the initial stage, whitish hairs start emerging from the bud, which at the maturity stage turns red or orange depending on the female plants. Most utmost growers prefer female plants because they produce flowers that are more useful for commercial purposes compared to seeds.

The Three Major Marijuana Strains

The three types are Sativa, Indica, and Hybrid.

1) Sativa: This can’t be found worldwide due to its distinctiveness. It grows and thrives in Africa, some parts of Asia, Mexico, Thailand, and some other countries near the equator. You can hardly find Sativa in any cold country, it prefers temperate environments. 

At times they grow up to twenty-five feet; they are the tallest among Marijuana strains. Sativa has light green leaves that are narrow on extended branches. They don’t grow fast compared to other strains; matured Sativa marijuana takes between eleven to twenty weeks to grow.

Sativa is the most effective due to its high THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol: This is the substance that gives marijuana’s psychological effects). This THC has helped millions of users across the globe to eradicate depression, cure hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), reduce fatigue, especially in sports personalities, travelers, or those that suffer severe fatigue daily.

Over the years, Sativa users believe that it gets into the head and energizes you to be more creative in whatever you do. Here are the notable Sativa strains: Red-headed stranger. 

They are Panama Red, Allen Wrench, Acapulco Gold, Fine Strawberry Cough, Kali Mist, Active Silver Haze, Maui Wowie, Lambs Bread, Super Grapefruit, The Durban Poison, Dirty Girl, and a lot more types of Saiva.

2) Indica Strain: Indica was found thirty-two years after the Sativa was discovered. A French biologist named Jean-Baptiste Lamarche discovered Indica in the year 1785 then he noticed Cannabis Indica had a different soothing cannabinoid effect compared to Cannabis sativa. 

Remember, Sativa grows at least over 15 feet, but Indica is mostly short, wide, sturdy, and highly aromatic. They grow within three to six feet. They are compressed together while growing, making them perfect for an indoor grower strain. If you know anyone suffering from migraine, Cataracts, Arthritis, especially in the muscle, and lack of sleep (Insomnia).

Indica can cure these ailments, it is also used for medicinal purposes in the pharmaceutical center. The significant effect is, it helps relax the muscle. Therefore, It makes you feel sleepy.

Indica is high in resin, and this enables it to bloom in the cold region. You will see them everywhere on the hills if you visit Pakistan and Afghanistan. Some European countries also grow Indica. Some of the well-known Indica are Lavender, Kush (Obama kush, Kosher kush), Willy’s Wonder, Northern Lights, Berry white, The Grand Ape, Berry (Push berry, Blueberry, Plushberry).

3) Hybrid: Marijuana business owners believe that most of the cannabis in the markets is hybrid, meaning that they are a mixture of Sativa and Indica. Even marijuana farmers that used to plant different strains of cannabis separately now crossbreed. Under hybrid strain, there are three kinds of cannabis you can get depending on who you’re buying from. 

They are Indica-dominant, fifty-fifty(balanced Sativa and Indica), and Sativa dominant. According to most cannabis growers, there are two significant reasons why they mix them. The first reason is to allow the Sativa that majorly thrives in warm conditions to survive in a cold climate, and the second reason is to cushion the effect of Sativa and Indica. 

Auto-flowering plants were the hybrid finish product when you crossbred some Indica and Sativa, auto-flowering plants are also high on demand in the market. Here are the most used hybrid strains, Jellybean, Golden coat, OG (Banana OG, Larry OG, Sour OG, SFV OG, KUSH OG, Rascal OG, White Fire OG, Tahoe OG), Permafrost, Sour Tsunami, Pink kush, Cannatonic, ACDC, Cinderella, Skunk No 1.

Smell, Color, Size, and Shape

These strains we explained above cannot be distinguished easily unless you can know the difference between their smell, color, size, and shapes.

1. Smell: There is practically no marijuana that doesn’t smell; the scent, though, has different variations. They all have an aromatic compound (Terpenes), and you need to determine the different smells of each to identify the best strain that suits you. Find a trusted seller and explain to them what you need. Once you get the strain, study the smell for succeeding times.

2. Color: Most marijuana has colors, but if you find a colorless marijuana, then that might be a spoilt one. There are a variety of marijuana colors like gold, dark purple, and bright green. You shouldn’t expose your strains to too much under the sunlight because it changes the colors and reduces their nutrients.

As a grower, you should be concerned about the bud. Any marijuana strain with a bleached/faded bud will lose a more significant part of its aroma. Marijuana that also looks like faded gold shows it is old and spoiled, good gold-colored strains have an attractive color and do not look faded. Acapulco gold strain is an excellent example of gold marijuana but assures the color is shining before you purchase it.

3. Sizes and Shapes: Though some assume that the dimensions of marijuana don’t matter, I disagree. Larger pot nugs are usually more potent compared to the smaller types. There are machines you can use to share it to different sizes, though there are some smaller pot nugs that are more potent than the bigger ones. Expert marijuana farmers use their hands to shape the sizes because of the trichome, which gives the effect drops while using a machine for trimming most times.

In conclusion, check the crystal size of the jar before buying. Small crystal size means your marijuana maintains a lot of trichomes while trimming, but if the crystal is abundant, that is a red sign, it means the more substantial part of the trichomes drop off while trimming, and you might not get a good outcome from it when you plant. It is also advisable to check the pot label for the cannabinoid percentage and profile of terpenes available in the strain you are buying.