Sowing the Seeds of Love: Feminized vs Autoflowering

Before you embark on the rewarding journey of growing your own cannabis, it will be worth your while to understand the biology of different cannabis seeds. Choosing the right seeds is the first step to ensuring a fun and productive growing experience.

The types of cannabis seeds are generally separated into 4 categories: Regular seeds, CBD seeds, Feminized seeds, and Autoflowering seeds. So, what’s the difference?

The cannabis plant is dioecious, which means it produces a separate female and male plant. Females produce The Flower while males produce pollen. Don’t discount the importance of the male plant because it is a valuable component when breeding strains as the pollen is used to fertilize the female’s flowers. The gamble with germinating regular seeds is that you have no way of knowing if they will produce a female or male plant. CBD seeds on the other hand are grown specifically for medical uses and they produce buds that contain very little THC. CBD and regular cannabis seeds are similar in appearance, flowering time, and yield and can be grown both indoors and outdoors. However,

So, if you’re not a weed breeder, or looking for more than just therapeutic benefits, and simply want to grow THC-loaded buds, then you need to look at feminized and autoflowering seeds. With CBD cannabis seeds, you will also find varieties that are available as autoflowering or feminized.

THC feminized and autoflowering seeds will differ in the way they are grown, the length of time to harvest, and yield quality.

Feminized Seeds

Feminized seeds were created to maximize the chances of growing a female plant. The odds are in your favor with a 99.99% probability that the plant will be female and will produce buds for consumption. Depending on the type of breed you are planting, flowering can take anything between 7 – 12 weeks after germination.

Other advantages in choosing feminized seeds are that with the right care and attention, you can produce resinous flowers with a high THC content and you won’t waste time plucking out the males from your grow space. The disadvantage is that environmental stress or bad genetics can cause the plant to turn into a hermaphrodite, which will render the plant useless.

There is a multitude of top-quality specimens that you can cultivate from specific feminized seeds such as the Royal Gorilla, White Widow, Northern Light, a range of Kush breeds, Blue Cheese, and many more.

Autoflowering Seeds

Autoflowering seeds are great for beginners and growers who want the quickest growing time. They are easy to grow, have a rapid flowering period and these seeds are not sensitive to changes in the light cycle. The reason light is an important factor is because feminized and regular seeds need shorter light cycles to stimulate flowering. Different types of autoflowering seeds will vary with their flowering times, but you can find specimens that flower from 2 – 4 weeks or 6 – 8 weeks after germination flower regardless of the exposure to light.

The disadvantages with these seeds are that they are normally lower in THC than feminized seeds and also produce lower yields.

Differences in Growing Techniques

If you are growing your feminized seeds outdoors, the plants will start to flower the moment it gets less sunlight, so this is typically at the end of the summer season and the beginning of autumn. The benefit of indoor growing is that you can mimic the exposure of sunlight by implementing a lighting system. Autoflowering seeds will flower based on the plant’s age and it is not influenced by the amount of light it receives. So, these seeds are much easier to grow whether it’s outdoors or indoors.

Yields and Maintenance

• Feminized seeds produce greater yields in one cycle than autoflowering seeds.
• Autoflowering seeds will give you more growing cycles in a year because of their faster flowering periods.
• Female plants that germinate from feminized seeds are easier to prune because they have fewer leaves than plants from autoflowering seeds.

In a Nutshell

Feminized seeds are the preferred option for experienced and advanced growers because they give a higher yield and produce high-quality THC buds. They also require a bit of skill and technique to ensure a successful harvest such as applying SOG (screen of green). Autoflowering seeds are not as sensitive to growing conditions and require little maintenance. This is why beginners usually go this route as an introduction to cannabis cultivation or for those who want a quick harvest.