Genetic preservation

We have been asked by many of our customers about what auto-flowering strains of cannabis are. We have been given this article by our friends at www.autoflower.co.uk which is very useful in explaining what what autoflowering cannabis seeds are.

Normal strains of cannabis need to have a reduction to 12 hours of light before they will start flowering but autoflowering cannabis strains completely eliminate the need to induce flowering by reduction of day-light hours. It eliminates the need for a timer or the need to wait until autumn for the marijuana plant to start flowering and it will grow consistently well and finish under 24 hours of light, from germination to harvest, in eight weeks to 10 weeks.

Autoflowering cannabis plants altogether do away with a vegetative growth stage. Basically, you plant it, it sprouts, grows a set of leaves, then immediately and automatically begins flowering. This generally starts after around 3 weeks, the males showing signs of flowering a few days before the females. As a result, ‘autos‘ are the quickest, most compact, and most easily hidden marijuana plant available.

Auto strains can easily be kept hidden because of their tiny size and early flowering, whether planted in fields, in yards, on patios or even on windowsills. When planted in the spring, they will produce ripe bud earlier than any available variety. Autoflowering cannabis seeds can be planted, grown and harvested several times per season (in your garden for example), without attracting unwanted attention. Due to their super-fast life cycle (8-9 weeks), auto flowering marijuana strains can be planted up to early August. They can be simply and very succesfully grown in the most unlikely locations, from Alaska and Norway (auto flowering cannabis will bud and finish in the 24hr light of Arctic summers) to the city flat and apartment balconies of the world!

Having no vegetative stage, autoflowering strains cannot be cloned or regenerated. Replanting seeds is a must but having 8-10 week growth cycle producing your own seeds and creating your own strains is not a problem anyway. Anyhow, this plant’s special advantages do away with any reason for cloning in the first place. Also, seeds are much easier to move around and handle and have a higher success rate than clones anyway.

We stock a huge range of feminised autoflowering seeds cannabis seeds on our auto fems page.

Cannabis comes in 3 sub-species, cannabis indica, cannabis sativa and cannabis Ruderalis

Most strains of cannabis available today are described as indica, sativa or a hybrid of the two.

indica is generally relatively short, conical with tightly packed branches, whereas Cannabis sativa can be described as tall with sparse branches.

indica plants tend to have short, broad leaves whereas sativa plants have leaves that are relatively long and narrow.

Its is important to get an understanding of each subspecies to understand the genetic make up of the plant in question

Cannabis Sativa

These narrow leaved strains developed in the warmer areas of asia where long summers allowed them to have very long flowering periods.

Compared to indica strains, sativa strains take a long time to complete their flowering process which generally takes around 12 weeks but can sometimes be even higher.

The sativa plant will grow very tall, given the right conditions, often reaching 3 metres and sometimes getting as high as 5 metres. The leaves as mentioned before are long and thin and the flowers (buds) are often very long as well.

Sativa strains tend to have very low levels of CBD but high levels of THC which means an effect for the end user which is often described as ‘high’, ‘trippy’ or ‘cerebral’. This is different to indica strains which tend to give a ’stoned’ effect leaving the user very lethargic.

Some examples of pure sativa strains are:

Greenhouse seeds arjans haze #2

Arjans haze #2 pure sativa strain

Sativa seeds Haze #1

Sativa seedbank Haze #1

Dr. Grinspoon feminised seeds from barneys farm

Dr. Grinspoon pure sativa seeds

Cannabis comes in 3 sub-species, cannabis indica, cannabis sativa and cannabis Ruderalis

Today we discribe strains of cannabis as indica, sativa or a hybrid of the two.

indica strains are generally relatively short, conical with tightly packed branches, whereas Cannabis sativa strains can be described as tall with spaced out branches.

indica plants tend to have short, broad leaves whereas sativa plants have leaves that are relatively long and narrow.

Its is important for us to understand each subspecies to get a feeling for the genetic make up of the plant in question

Cannabis indica

These broad leaved strains of marijuana have typically been produced in India, Afghanistan and Pakistan for the production of Hashish. Pharmacologically, indica strains tend to have a much higher cannabidiol (CBD) content than cannabis sativa strains.

For the end user this results in more of a stoned feeling whereas the sativa strains which tend to have higher levels of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) give the user more of a ‘high’ or ‘trippy’ feeling.

Because of the short summers in the regions that Indica strains originate they tend to finish flowering much more quickly than sativa strains, many going through the full flowering cycle within 8 weeks.

As they have less time to grow they stay shorter and produce solid resin covered buds which traditionally made them perfect for the production of Hashish.

Some examples of pure indica strains are:

Spoetnik from paradise seeds

Spoetnik is a pure indica strain

Himalaya Gold from greenhouse seeds

Pure indica strain himalaya gold

Next Generation Afghani Kush feminised

Pure indica afghani kush seeds

Many cannabis connoisseurs will know that a cannabis plant in flower can emit a pungent aroma.

Like any genus of plant there are a wide range of variants and in the cannabis family there are plants which have a very strong aroma and some which can be described as low odour strains.

This genetic attribute can be of great interest to the genetic preservationist wishing to collect a wide range of cannabis seeds so we have compiled a list of some low odor cannabis strains.

Serious seeds chronic female seeds

Chronic feminised seeds

Our most commercial variety, this medium height, not too dense plant is the perfect combination of good yield and excellent quality. Smokers that know and grow choose this plant for its combination of appearance and sweet smell. With its indica background Chronic can produce up to 600 g/m2 without losing that connoisseur feeling. Grows a single huge central bud with few side branches. Do not top plants to encourage multiple big buds, as this strain does not respond well. Mild, sweet smell develops while flowering, take care to dry thoroughly after harvest (before packaging) to maintain this subtle fragrance. 3rd prize High Times Cannabis Cup 1994, improved in 2000.

Of all our strains, this is the best choice for growers tired of losing quality when increasing yield.

Type: sativa/indica hybrid
Indoor clone grow time: 5 – 10 days
Indoor flowering time: 56 – 63 days
Indoor yield: 350 – 600 grams/m2
Outside/Greenhouse harvest time:
15-31 October

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Female seeds Grapfruit feminised seeds

Grapefruit marijuana seeds

Reliability : 1/1000+
Flowering period : 8 weeks
Yield : Maximum
Harvest outdoors : End Oct.
Variation : 2

For those who like it sweet!

A new style sativa; early maturing, fast flowering and maximum yielding. Buds have a soft smell of grapefruit, sweet taste and intense tropical high. This is a 75% C99 x 25% strong fruity sativa, stabilised on early maturity for some generations now. Plants grow up to 50 to 60 cm, when put under 12/12 hrs after one week of germination. This one is still undergoing an stability-program, although with 80% being winners not a bad choice. Our test results for batch # FS-GF-0503: no males or male flowers found.

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Nirvana Northern lights female cannabis seeds

Buy 100% feminised: buy Nirvana marijuana seeds! Northern Light is a marijuana strain which is highly suited to indoor growing. Nearly all promising modern indoor cannabis strains contain Northern Lights genes. With its high flower-to-leaf ratio, compact buds, good yields and exceptional resin production, these wonderful marijuana seeds are a most lucrative choice for the indoor cannabis grower. The smokes flavour is somewhat neutral, yet full-bodied.

Seedbank Nirvana
Type Indoor
Indica / Sativa Indica dominant
Feminized Yes
Yield 400 – 500
Effect Stoney
Grow height Low
Flowering weeks 9 / 11 weeks

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Northern lights are available from various other seeds companies:

White label northern lights

female seeds company northern lights

Royal queen seeds feminised northern lights

The sex of a marijuana plant is an important thing as Cannabis plants are either male or female. In order to sexually reproduce the male cannabis plant produces pollen which pollinates the flowers of the female marijuana plant, which once pollenated will produce seeds. If the female cannabis plant isn’t pollinated (due to no pollen producing male plants being close by), the flowers/buds will continue to develop and produce THC as well as various other compounds. Female plants which do not get pollinated by a male cannabis plant are referred to as sensemilla (without seeds).

At female seeds we are committed to the genetic preservation of cannabis seeds. We do this by offering a wide range of collectable seeds for the amateur genetic preservationist and souvenir collector.

In order to keep your seeds in a viable condition for the time when it may become legal to use them storage is of the utmost importance.

Over time various biological processes go on within seeds that reduce their viability but luckily there are ways of slowing this process and keep your seeds in the best condition for longer.

In order for a seed to germinate it needs light, moisture and heat so you need to keep your seeds away from all of these elements.

Seeds should be stored in a COOL, DRY and DARK location.

A fridge is the ideal place to keep your seeds and is where they will last the longest. If you do not have a fridge, a box in cool dry place is almost as good.

If you keep your seeds in these conditions they will remain viable for many years and could be using by people in the future if and when cannabis germination laws change.

The aim of our business is to help preserve cannabis genetics for future generations through the sale of souvenir cannabis seeds.

Prohibition of cannabis in certain countries could lead to the extinction of some strains with the possible loss of medical, food and scientific resources.

This act of genetic preservation is seen as very important and is demonstrated by the Norwegian government’s creation of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault:

“The Svalbard Global Seed Vault (Norwegian: Svalbard globale frøhvelv) is a secure seedbank located on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen near the town of Longyearbyen in the remote Arctic Svalbard archipelago.[1] The facility was established to preserve a wide variety of plant seeds from locations worldwide in an underground cavern. The seed vault holds duplicate samples, or “spare” copies, of seeds held in genebanks worldwide. The seed vault will provide insurance against the loss of seeds in genebanks, as well as a refuge for seeds in the case of large scale regional or global crises”

Obviously in this industry we cannot go to such great lengths but the more of us that collect souvenir seeds the more of a genetic base we will have to work from at a time when the growing of cannabis becomes legal again.

As is the case with all plants, the more genetic examples we have the better the defence again pests and disease so we are constantly looking for new strains to add to our seedbank.

It is currently illegal to germinate cannabis seeds in the UK and we cannot sell any customer who intends to break the law.

The information provided for the strains we sell gives the genetic preservationist the knowledge he/she needs about the strain being preserved and is also available for those who live in countries where it is legal to grow cannabis.