Does it matter if it’s a cannabis seed? Are certain types of cannabis seeds better? What about clones? These are common questions among new and experienced growers alike. If you have gardened your whole life using seeds to start plants each year, you might not have good luck buying plants and transplanting them. Conversely, if you have always grown using plants produced by asexual propagation (clones) instead of plants grown from seedlings, you might not time your seeds right. Some seeds take several months or even years of specific climatic conditions in order to cause the embryo in the seed to germinate. These conditions can usually be recreated indoors with the use of a refrigerator, freezer, basement, cellar and ambient room temperature.
In general, cannabis plants grown directly from seeds or seedling starter plants will yield more than plants from cuttings. Conversely, clones will give you a consistent end product across different plants in the same batch leading to better uniformity and higher quality. Either type of plant can be a profitable product to grow for some farmers but neither type will work for all. Clones take longer to propagate than seeds but will produce a ripe product in as quick as 75-90 days. Seeds can propagate in as little as 1 day but will generally take 100-120 days until harvest
Cannabis seed plants are more adept to an outdoor climate and are able to be planted earlier in the year before other weeds and cover germinates. Clone cannabis plants require a greenhouse or indoor grow room set up to keep the environment optimal to ensure a successful cloning regimen.
Because of their relative age, cannabis clones are more susceptible to disease and pests. Therefore a proper IPM regimen is essential to the success of any cloning operation. Cannabis seeds grow a tap root and are more vigorous if grown correctly. They can give the grower piece of mind that they don’t have any “stow-aways” from a buddies grow or the local nursery.
In a future article we will dive deeper into plant diseases, specifically diseases that effect cannabis plants.
