Auto Flowering Cannabis
Autoflowering cannabis varieties automatically switch from vegetative growth to the flowering stage with age, as opposed to the ratio of light to dark hours required with photoperiod dependent/short-day strains. Many autoflowers will be ready to harvest in less than 10 weeks from seed.[1] Dwarf varieties can have short stature[2] while still giving decent yield. Conversely “super autos” can take over 100 days to mature and can reach over 6 feet tall.
The origins of autoflowering cannabis are still debatable. The strain Lowryder by breeder The Joint Doctor was the original large scale marketed autoflower.[3] Lowryder contains Cannabis ruderalis genetics from a Mexican strain that was referred to as Mexican Rudy and is believed to be created from a cross between a Mexican sativa and a Russian ruderalis. Another theory is that the early genetics came from the first oilseed hemp variety called Finola, which was developed from Russian stock in Finland during 1995. These early hybrids with large amounts of C. ruderalis genes[4] were lacking some of the finer qualities of high grade cannabis strains available.
Further hybrids from these ruderalis dominant strains were created using some of the more popular and standard photo-period sensitive strains. Since the first mass market autoflower, Lowryder, many improvements have been made by breeders.[5] The genetics behind these new autoflowering strains that breeders are producing are generally not shared or if so only in very vague terms. This secrecy is done to keep others from producing knock offs of the strains, and more often, to obscure revealing that new strains are, more often than not, descended from the original Lowryder, which is often criticized as a substandard strain of low potency.
The newly produced strains of autoflowering cannabis have proven that they can produce quality medicine comparable with classical short-day strains. Breeders have reported THC content in the low 20% in some newer varieties while many varieties also have high CBDcontent.[6] The advantages that autoflower breeders report with their plants include:
- Short life span with many going from seed to harvest in under 13 weeks (some as short as seven weeks)
- Can be kept short in stature for “stealth” growing
- The Cannabis ruderalis heritage causes flowering after 2–3 weeks from germination
- No need for a separate vegetative and flowering environment (unlike with photoperiod dependent/ short-day strains)
- Simple seed production, one plant can produce several hundred seeds even at 1 foot (30.5 cm) tall
- Due to short life span can be grown in cold climates where summers are short and cold[7]
- Can be grown outside in city environment where there is artificial lighting, that would affect (stress) regular strains
- Can produce multiple harvests outdoors in one season