subject: The Growing Demand For Autoflowering Cannabis Seeds [print this page] While a wide range range of cannabis seeds has been commercially available for more than twenty years now there has been a dramatic growth in the availability of one particular type of seed in recent times. Originally labelled as a gimmick or an interesting curiosity at best, autoflowering seeds have literally taken the market by storm.
What are autoflowering seeds? Cannabis indica plants such as e.g. Mazari, originally found at higher latitudes, evolved as a plant whose life-cycle was governed by the photo-period, or length of day-light, that it received. Vegetative growth in the longer summer days produced a bushy plant which reproduced sexually as the daylight hours became shorter.
The tropical cannabis sativa strains, on the other hand, evolved to utilise the much more equal hours of day and night the closer they are to the equator, such that their life-cycle is governed by their chronological age rather than any photo-period effect. So far, so logical.
In the 1970s a cannabis plant derived from the sativa variety was found growing in the short summer zones of Eastern Europe and Siberia. Named cannabis ruderalis this plant grew fast and short, reaching maturity, flowering automatically and producing seeds within a life cycle of only eight to ten weeks or so in areas with long hours of summer sun, albeit weak in higher latitudes.
A cannabis connoisseur, later known as the Joint Doctor, became fascinated by the potential he identified lurking within the cannabis ruderalis plants. After years of experimentation he successfully produced the worlds first, stable ruderalis cross The original Lowryder plant. This Lowryder strain became the basis of many subsequent automatic autoflowering strains both by the Joint Doctor himself (e.g. Diesel Ryder) and by other cannabis seed breeders such as Lowlife Seeds.
The advantage of these seeds is that a high quality crop can be grown very quickly indoors or outdoors. In the latter case, depending on latitude, up to 3 crops can be harvested per growing season from May to September. Their short stature means that they are perfect for container or window box growing. In just a few years these seeds have become extremely popular with people who are fortunate enough to live in jurisdictions where the cultivation of cannabis is permitted even in high latitude environments where such cultivation would hitherto have been regarded as impossible
