Modified on: 20/09/2022
Advantages of outdoor growing and better varieties
When deciding to grow cannabis, you will almost certainly feel a certain sense of disorientation when faced with the vast array of products available on the market. First of all, it may be helpful to clarify the different types of seeds and consequently the growing methods they offer.
Why choose autoflowering seeds
There are three main categories of seeds: classic seeds, photoperiodic feminised seeds and autoflowering seeds.
Classic seeds are little used nowadays due to the great success of feminised and autoflowering seeds. Unlike the latter two, they take longer to grow, are more complex and have unpredictable sex, at least until the plant matures.
They are, in fact, instrumental in hybridisation experiments, as the presence of males is necessary to pollinate the females when trying to create new crosses.
The risk of investing energy in growing plants that might turn out to be males, which are notoriously less productive than females in terms of quality and quantity of inflorescence, has been eliminated by the advent of photoperiodic feminised seeds.
These only produce female plants. This characteristic has led to their use being much preferred to regular seeds.
The only disadvantage they may have is their close dependence on lighting cycles. This variety of plants will only flower if these cycles are managed to simulate the average seasonal cycle.
It might be helpful to have a timer to facilitate this programming.
Lastly, there are auto-flowering seeds.
This type has the particularity of flowering according to the age of the plant and not the lighting conditions in which it lives. This is why it is the most popular, especially among newcomers.
Read also: Marijuana seeds: how to choose them?
Strengths of outdoor cultivation
There are several advantages to growing outdoors. First of all, it is the most economical way of growing, since you have a small plot of land and the sun and water are provided by nature. The main advantage is that you do not need electricity. But, on the other hand, the lamps required for successful indoor cultivation are expensive, and their consumption is far from low. Outdoor cultivation is ecological and sustainable. It will not make it necessary to reproduce the outdoor environment inside a room. Just water and fertilise the seedlings and let nature do the rest. Secondly, outdoor cultivation guarantees considerably higher yields than indoor cultivation. The cannabis plant is, by nature, an outdoor plant. In addition, this type of cultivation reduces maintenance costs and energy to almost zero compared to indoor cultivation. In their natural habitat, the plants will spontaneously let themselves be guided by the environment and the surrounding conditions and adapt to them. The mere fact that you don’t have to influence air humidity levels directly or soil pH significantly reduces effort and expense.Top 5 outdoor autoflowering varieties
According to growers’ opinions, it was possible to identify several strains that make up the top 5 outdoor autoflowering strains.
It is difficult, if not impossible, to decide which is the best overall, since apart from objectively analysable aspects, personal tastes and evaluations come into play which cannot be universal for apparent reasons.
However, the growers’ favourites seem to be the following:
- G14 auto,
- Grapefruit auto,
- Gorilla Glue auto,
- Stardawg auto
- Californian Snow auto.
Read also: DIY rooting hormone
