Cannabis Seed Varieties and Aspects

I wrote this up for a differnt site several years ago. I thought it might be of use here.
I posted over in beginners, but i thought it may be helpful here as well


LANDRACE STRAINS: Landrace strains are native, indigenous cannabis strains that are specific to differnent tropical and subtropical regions of the world near or below the 30th parallel. There are 3 relevant landrace varieties.

Sativa: Sativa's tend to originate at or near the equator. Sativa landraces include Thai, vietnamese, South Indian, malawi, durban, brazilian, columbian, mexican to name a few. Equatorial sativa's are not photoperiod responsive. Because every day is 12 hrs long at the equator, these sativa's dont respond to photoperiod changes and daylength. They sprout, they veg for a period of time and then begin to flower. Many sativa's take months to flower. Columbian and other equatorial strains can take 6 months from the beginning to end of flower.

Indica: Indica landrace strains originate further north: pakistan, afganistan, iran, kasmere, waziristan,northern india, morroco and others. Indica's are seasonal and photoperiod responsive in nature and flower as a result of declining daylength. As daylength decreases, it signals to the indica that the season is ending and its time to reproduce.

Ruderalis: Rud is a non drug producing species of cannabis native to russia. It does not respond photoperiod in flowering. Ruderalis sprouts, vegetates for 6 weeks and then begins to flower reguardless of daylenth or season. Ruderalis is used to create autoflowering strains.

Most landrace strains are often consistent in appearance and growth. They are seldom as potent or vigorous as hybrid strains

HYBRID STRAINS: Have you ever seen a Liger? Its a huge animal- a hybrid between a lion and a tiger. Most hybrids are bigger and better than either of the parents and cannabis follows this rule . Generally speaking, hybrid cannabis(f1) is bigger, more vigorous and more potent than non hybridized cannabis. You may have seen a strain claim "displays classic hybrid vigor". Hybridized cannabis is a cross between to landrace strains of cannabis and the vast majority of strains available on the retail market are hybrids. These hybrids are called F1's.

The first hybrids were made in the mid 70s and were mexi/aghani crosses. Hybidization resulted from a number of desires by cannabis breeders. The very first hybrids resulted from smugglers that wanted the yeild and shorter flowering time of indica's in their mexican plants, but hybridization has provided other growing possibilites.


For example: Because every day is 12 hrs long at the equator they dont flower due to seasonal change and daylength. Indica's on the other hand, are seasonal in nature. Each of these strains contains certain genetic characteristics which are dominant. The seasonal responsiveness of indica's is dominant. When the indica is bred to the non responsive sativa ,(hybridized), the dominant seasonal aspect of the indica is passed to the equatorial sativa and the offspring will be photoperiod responsive. This hybridization reduces the flowering time of the equatorial sativa from 6 months to 60 days and is why hazes and equitorial sativa's such as kali mist can be grown indoors or at northern lattitudes.

Phenotypes: When 2 strains are crossed, the offspring will usually be varied as the different genetic combinations are somewhat random in nature, but many will produce 2 or 3 distinct variations. These variations are called phenotypes. The cross can have plants that resemble the mother strain, the father strain or a combination. The combination pheno is the "hybrid" pheno and is the one that will contain the highest degree of enhanced vigor/potency.

Polyhybrids: Polyhybrids are crosses using hybrid crosses or a number of strains being incorporated into the strain. 3way crosses and 4 way crosses are polyhybrids. Strains developed from 2 hybrid strains,(ie; haze x skunk). Poly's can display hybrid vigor, sometimes not. Some are extemely potent such as jack herrer and others are mediocre. Unlike hybridization which assures hybrid vigor, thats not necessarily so with polyhybrids.

F2's: F1 is the primary hybridization of cannabis as 2 naturally occuring strains are bred/crossed. An f2, is the act of crossing the hybrid to itself. Sensi starX sensi star will
produce f2 seeds. or train wreck bred to trainwreck will produce f2 seeds. f2's are far less stable than f1 seeds. Generally a sprouting of f2 seeds will result in 1/4 of the seeds looking like the mother, 1/4 looking like the father and 1/2 of the offspring will be some combobulation of the available genetics. That special mother is often found in f2 grows and many of the elite cuts around have come from an f2 grow. Many breeders use f2's for breeding purposes,(early skunkf2 x warlock= biddy early).

I once had a maple leaf indica mother that was chosen from an f2 grow. It was a genetic misfit and its controlling hormones were dysfunctional. The plant was confused about the proper location of resin glands. As a result, it produced gobs of resin glands on every part of the plant including the stem nearly to the ground. It was very odd looking when in flower, but it was the most resinous plant i have ever witnessed of any variety. The plant was the result of the randomness of millions of combinations of genetic expression that can be displayed in the f2 grow.

Polyploids: Polyploids are cannabis strains that have been genetically altered. The chromosomes in the plant have been divided and changed through the introduction of radiation or chemicals such as colchicine. Polyploids are easy to spot: The vegetation is very dense and branching is vigorous and variable with branches heading in every direction. Polyploids often resemble a reveged plant. Sour Bubble is a polyploid.
Polyploids always are big yielders in relation to size as nodal spacing is close and branching heavy. The are nearly impossible to grow outdoors due to the thick vegetation and the disease it can harbor.

Feminized Seed: Generally, feminized seeds result from a process known as selfing. Selfing is the process of forcing a female cannabis plant to produce a male flower, which fertilizes itself. Because there was no male and his y chromosome present, all of the offspring from the selfing will be either female or hermaphrodite. Breeders use a variety of "irritant" chemicals to force the female to produce male flowers. Collidal silver is one such irritant. Soma uses a process he calls roderization, but human intervention is required to produce femmed seeds.

To produce female seeds that are truly female and not hermaphrodite, breeders grow out a a number of plants and assess which of those plants are the most stable sexually. They will stress a group of females in different ways: lighting, heat, rootbinding, etc. In the group, many of the plants will hermie, but 1 or 2 dont seem to be effected so much by the stress and maintain their sexuality. These are the plants chosen for selfing. Quality breeders then grow out their femmed beans, again applying stress to determine stabiity. Only those plants that maintain their sexual identity are used in the breeding. This results in stable femmed seeds

Plants grown from feminized seeds are often more similar to one another than is seen in hybrid strains, with fewer phenotypes. They can be better in that they are more likely to resemble
the mother plant, which was chosen because of her fine qualities. FEminization results in lesss variation because the genetic material is limited to what is present in the mother plant.

Autoflowering seeds: Autoflowering seeds were developed for northern growers that dont have a long growing season. Auto breeding incorporates the use of a species of cannabis called "Ruderalis". This species is native to russia. It is not a drug producing species of cannabis, but it does posses an attribute that is dominant. Ruderalis is not photoperiod responsive. It sprouts, it vegetates for 4-6 weeks and it then flowers -regaudless of daylength. Ruderalis goes from seed to mature plant in 3 months.

When hybridized or landrace strains are crossed with the ruderalis, the automatic flowering trait is passed to many of the offspring. The autoflowering offspring are inbred and the result is a plant that will begin to flower within a designated period regaurdless of season or daylenght.
At this date, there isnt any autoflowering strain that displays the level of thc and potency of a full season cannabis strain. Autoflower thc percentages rarely exceed 6%, where as
some hybrids can measure 20%. Most growers prefer the higher potency strains and only grow auto flowerers when they have no other alternatives. Autoflowering strains are always small and seldom yield more than 2 ozs per plant.

LIGHT SENSITIVE STRAINS: These strains are created using an autoflowering parent, but the autoflowering phenotype is not inbred and therefore the flowering traits of both parents are present.

There is usually 1 phenotype that is autoflowering just like one of the parents. There is often a second phenotype that is not autoflowering and this pheno flowers as a result of diminishing daylength. However, because of the dominant influence of the autoflowering parent, these non auto phenos are extremely sensitive and will begin to flower at the first sign of shorter daylength. They are light sensitive.

These strains are often marked by the presence of 2 fininshing dates. July and early sept. Brenda's skunk or Dutch treat are such strains. They have an autoflowering pheno that finishes within 10 weeks of sprouting and a second pheno that finishes in early sept. These strains usually produce much more weed than autoflowerers and are somewhat more potent in my opinion

INDOOR/OUTDOOR; Contrary to popular belief, there is a considerable difference between indoor and outdoor varieties of cannabis. Breeders deemphasize these major differences because they want to sell seeds, so they label their seeds: Indoor/outdoor.

Outdoor strains are usually much more vigorous and resistant to bugs and disease. They require an extended veg time of at least 8 weeks if they are to develp properly.

The flowering of outdoor strains requires much stronger light than indoor strains and the buds need the sun to become full and hard. While some Indoor/outdoor strains do perform well outdoors, the majority dont and cant handle the harsh outdoor enviroment. The outdoor grower will benefit from avoiding strains that arent listed as "outdoor" or have a proven history of growing outdoors.

Indoor Strains are strains that have been bred indoors and grown indoors for the majority of their history and respond well to artificial lighting. Indoor strains dont require the long veg time needed to develp properly and many can be grown on 12/12 from sprouting. A significant percentage of indoor strains have actually been climatized/acclimated to indoor weather and a daylength of 12/12. These pheno's wont begin to flower outdoors until daylength has been reduced to 12hrs or less which makes them difficult to grow. Indoor strains are nearly always highly suceptable to insects and borers and attempt to grow them outdoors is an excersize in pesticide usage. They generally lack the vigor to stand strong during a thunderstorm or resist blight or mould and dont seem to appreciate the 30 degree temperature swings that outdoors can produce.

On the positive side, indoor strains are some of the most potent cannabis available and provide the opportunity for those living in cities or cold enviroments to grow indoors..


[]