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Autoflowering Seeds

Autoflowering seeds (also known as automatic seeds) have become one of the great success stories of the marijuana breeding world in recent years. This is because they mature and produce THC coated buds even under a continuous light cycle which makes them very popular for outdoor enthousiasts in higher latitudes. Auto seeds were originally produced and marketed by the Joint Doctor under the Lowryder name. Recently the cross-breeding of famous cannabis strains with ruderalis genetics by other seed banks has resulted in an explosive proliferation of the number of such fast-maturing dwarf marijuana strains. Some seed banks such as Grass-O-Matic and Flash Seeds specialise in breeding and selling them while long established seed banks such as Dutch Passion and Green House Seed Co. have also added such strains to their catalogue.

In addition there are also some newer arrivals on the seed bank scene from Spain, including Dinafem and Kannabia, which have also developed and marketed some interesting new ruderalis-based seeds as well as their own versions of old favourites. At first an interesting curiosity in the world of cannabis breeding has turned into a dynamic growth sector due to its great popularity with customers who now have a huge choice of dwarf ruderalis-based seeds thanks to continual experimentation and development.

Advantages of Automatic Ruderalis Hybrid Seeds

Autoflowering marijuana seeds offer several advantages for the grower:

• Ruderalis Genetics: Incorporating ruderalis genetic material enables the plants to begin the flowering stage independently of any shortening of (day) light hours. Indoors the light cycle needs to be reduced to at least 12 hours per 24 normally in order to induce the flowering phase. Outdoors the profound shortening of daylight hours needs to occur with most standard strains before any meaningful florescence is instigated resulting in the possibilty of severely compromised harvests due to inclement weather in all but the most reliable of climates or the hardiest of cannabis strains.
• Fast Maturation: The average maturation time from seed to harvest falls in the range of 8 - 9 weeks for most auto-flowering strains which marks a considerable improvement over the majority of standard (non ruderalis-based) cannabis plants. The lack of any appreciable period of vegetative growth means that such seeds sprout, grow the first couple of sets of leaves and then go straight into the flowering stage. This fast maturation enables more than one such crop to be successfully harvested outdoors in the same season. Of course indoors this has great benefits for the grower as well.
• Small Compact Plants: The vast majority of these plants never exceed 40cm. in height which has clear advantages both for the indoor cultivator where space might be a consideration and outdoors where secrecy and prying eyes are also factors. Indoors a further advantage in the smaller size of these plants is that it is more feasible to use compact fluorescent lighting solutions which have reduced light penetration. This no longer need be a problem with the compact automatic strains.

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