Autoflowering seeds: how do they work

Modified on: 26/08/2022

When were autoflowering cannabis seeds born and thanks to whom?

Autoflowering marijuana seeds are unique seeds, highly sought after by cannabis lovers. The reason is that these seeds have the extraordinary ability to grow as marijuana plants that bloom automatically, just a few weeks after its germination.

Plants issued from conventional cannabis seeds (or feminized cannabis seeds) are usually photoperiodic. That is, they begin to bloom at the time of year when the hours of light decrease. It occurs in nature only once a year at the end of the summer; while in indoor cultivation, this is reproduced artificially.

For indoor cultivation, it is the alternation of a photoperiod of either 18 hours of light and 6 hours of dark, or 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark, which allows to trigger the flowering. It will enable the plants to begin to evolve as if they were in the wild.

However, plants born from auto flower cannabis seeds have the distinction of being able to make flowers several times a year, thanks to this ability to flower according to their age. But how do they manage to do it? To understand this, we need to talk about cannabis ruderalis.

Auto flowering seeds from the outside and inside: all thanks to the genetics ruderalis

There are 3 types of hemp in nature:

Indica
Sativa
Ruderalis

The latter, the ruderalis, is a variety of cannabis with a specific DNA that can flower several times a year, compared to sativa and indica, which do not have the same characteristics. This discovery allowed botanists to crossbreed cannabis plants that have genetically inherited the auto-flowering feature.

But let’s start with the beginning of this story: the cannabis ruderalis was first recognized in 1924 by a Russian botanist. This cannabis variety is typical of Central, Eastern Europe, and Russia (in fact, it is not afraid of cold climates) but also in America, as specimens have been found in Canada and the United States.

Ruderalis is a moderately-sized plant (about 40 cm), with a few exceptions, and has an accelerated flowering capacity. This characteristic began to be exploited as early as the 1970s when the first hybridization experiments between several species began.

The desired result was precisely to obtain a new variety inheriting the auto-flowering characteristic of the ruderalis. One of these breeders (botanists dedicated to hybridization), who made history, was Neville Schoenmaker, founder of “The Seed Bank”, now known as “Sensi Seeds”.

The first hybrid with large-scale auto-flowering capacity was created by Joint Doctor, a Canadian breeder: the Lowryder. This autoflowering variety was tiny and developed entirely in only 6-7 weeks from the germination of marijuana seeds.

However, like many prototypes of history, it was not very lucky due to the low THC content of the inflorescences and the modest production of them. The turning point came with the Lowryder 2, a more powerful hybrid, derived from its relative: the Lowryder, and this time very successful.

The Lowryder 2 served as a precursor for the genus of hybrid, auto flower marijuana seeds, which is still very popular. This crossbreeding with the rougher varieties has allowed breeders to recreate over the years, photoperiod varieties in autoflowering version.

Read also: Amnesia Haze Seeds: Origin and Characteristics

Fast auto-flowering seeds indoors: the culture revolution

The advent of auto flower seeds revolutionized the world of indoor cannabis cultivation for two reasons:

The average height of plants
The multiple flowering depending on the age of the plant and not on the hours of light.

It has allowed the creation of indoor crops in small spaces and accelerated production up to 3 times more than that of photoperiodic varieties. However, there is nothing to prevent an outdoor auto-flowering seed crop from producing as much as possible and producing a large number of inflorescences.

amnesia haze flowers from cannabis seeds

Indeed, the rapid flowering of auto-flowering seeds in 60 days, let alone depending on the variety, already gives an abundant flowering, ready for harvest. Fast flowering seeds varieties offer inflorescences in just 6-7 weeks!

In addition to professional growers, auto-flowering weed seeds have also given a lot of satisfaction to amateur growers in countries where home cannabis cultivation is legal. In France, the cultivation of cannabis plants at home is no longer a criminal offence, but it is still prohibited.

When allowed, the high resistance to mould and pests of plants born from auto-flowering hemp seeds has allowed anyone to obtain a crop of inflorescences in a short time. Besides, the small size of the plants makes it easy to grow even at home.