The increased Cannabis culture that has blossomed in spite of government prohibition nearly the world over is a sort of wondrous phenomenon that is seen throughout history any time a government attempts to regulate something as simple as a plant. The effect of prohibition has done the opposite of what its goals were, Breeders and Users saw this as an opportunity to develop more potent strains and improved growing methods to be able to deal with the loss of an open Cannabis community. The basic start of this improved “new” Cannabis that has come about begins, obviously with the seeds, and the seed banks that work tirelessly to provide new and improved Cannabis seeds for almost any possible use and plants that will grow to the liking of the grower.

It may seem odd at first that growing quality Cannabis isn’t as simple as plucking a seed from a plant and putting it in the ground, but there is actually a very good reason for this. During the time of the beginnings of the War on Drugs, growers and sellers of Cannabis noticed a dramatic improvement in the strength, size, and yield of Cannabis that was disallowed to receive pollen from the male plants. The breeders would pluck the males at the right time, and then keep a few of the strongest and hardiest for the next breeding cycle and put them with a special “mother” plant. What this says is that if one wishes for quality Cannabis, just picking the seeds off of a random plant will not produce the intended results as the plant was not grown properly and thus is nearly guaranteed to be genetically inferior than seeds from a seed bank or proper breeder.

Furthermore, another interesting development that has occurred within modern Cannabis seeds The genetics is the addition of “feminized” seeds to the stocks. The female of the Cannabis strains are the only ones capable of producing the THC and CBD required to be used as medicinal Cannabis oil. To make things easier for themselves and customers, seed banks figured out a way to create an all-female batch of seeds. These are seeds that are treated with a special solution of colloidal silver, which causes this original batch of females to grow hermaphroditic attributes that allow the breeder or seed bank to collect pollen from a female plant. They then use this to create a line of plants that are solely female, because of the loss of the male DNA. All seeds collected from this batch are guaranteed to be female.  Most seeds banks carry many lines of these, for just about any popular strain.

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Another offshoot of the standard Cannabis seed that came about by necessity is that of the auto-flowering varieties of seeds. Cannabis flowers when the light cycle changes, i.e. from summer to fall, due to the increased growing operations indoors this became an issue as it can be difficult to match exactly how much light a plant needs at certain stages of development. These new Cannabis that fix this issue come from plants that are hybridized, that is two different strains mated together, of either Indica or Sativa and a Cannabis Ruderalis. The Ruderalis is found in the cold steppes of Eastern Europe, the difference is mainly that due to the in-climate weather and lack of consistent sunlight these plants developed a trait that tells them to flower after a certain amount of time instead of with the changing of light sources such as the Indicas and Sativas did. These new plants are very hardy, and are known by some as just “sow-and-grow” varieties in the sense that you really just have to water them and provide some sort of light source. The caveat to this is that the Ruderalis is a low THC and CBD plant so there is a loss of the medicinal qualities, though some prefer this trade off as it can make growing much easier.

A big difference between the main types of Cannabis strains available through seeds is the difference between a Cannabis Indica and Cannabis Sativa. Not only are the effects pronounceably different, the Indica being heavy and mellow whereas a Sativa is energetic and cerebral, the growth time, size, and smells are vastly different from one another. An Indica will generally stay quite short, which allows the breeder to take advantage of the length and width of the area the plant is grown in, whereas a Sativa more concerns must be taken to the height of the plant as it tends to grow upwards as opposed to the Indica’s upwards. Growth time is different as well, with the Indica averaging somewhere between 45-65 days, and the Sativa taking up to 90 days for full flowering to take effect in the plants. An Indica will generally have a larger yield due to its increased bud size, however precautions must be taken as large Indicas tend to give off the noticeable smell of Cannabis at much higher levels than a Sativa would if stealth is of concern.

Cannabis seeds are useful for much more than growing as well, for consumers much of available hemp oil is made from a cold compression of bulk seeds. This method of refining contains very little THC, the main active ingredient in Cannabis and is used in many consumer products due to this. These seeds generally come from the hemp plant, which is Cannabis, but it has negligent amount of psychoactive substances within it. Body care products, lubricants, paints, fuel, plastics, and many more every day products do contain some amounts of THC in many cases. The oil by itself is also noted to have many health benefits nearly every vitamin and fatty acid needed for the human body can be found in these seeds, in ratios that are consistent with what most people need. Recently even more attention has come to the seed due to it being a possible bio-fuel for future alternative fuel use as Fossil fuels become scarcer and scarcer globally.