What Are Fast-Flowering Weed Seeds?
Cannabis legalization that occurred in many US states has resulted in the growing popularity of independent weed growing. Now, every interested consumer can buy a pack of seeds and grow a couple of plants in their gardens or indoor grow rooms. So, with weed gaining wide dissemination as a crop for retail cultivation and its evolution into a readily accessible, legal herbal remedy, cannabis enthusiasts may find it hard to determine the right seed type for their plantations.
As a rule, growers distinguish regular, autoflower, and feminized seed varieties as the three main categories in the market. However, this is not all the cannabis seed spectrum can offer. Here is a guide on everything you should know about Quick Flowering Seeds https://askgrowers.com/seeds/fast-flowering. Read on to learn the basics and reap bumper harvests from your weed plants.
What Are Fast-Flowering Seeds?
Let’s start with the terminology. In the cannabis world, a fast-flowering strain is a light-dependent (photoperiod) strain with a shorter flowering period than the original strain. One may naturally suggest that these are autoflower seeds – the ones known for a quick flowering period and an overall shorter life cycle than that of feminized seeds. However, things are not that simple here.
First, you should note that fast-flowering strains are photoperiod, which means they are not autoflower. This feature places them somewhere between the feminized and autoflower weed varieties. It allows them to reap the benefits of both – quick flowering cycle typical for autos and high yields and rich cannabinoid and terpene concentrations of fems.
Benefits of Growing Fast-Flowering Seeds
So, why should a grower choose the fast-flowering variety when shopping for cannabis seeds? What unique benefits do they ensure that make them appealing and demanded among cultivators? Here are a couple of considerations you should know.
Early Harvest
Fast-flowering seeds give any grower a unique opportunity to collect their harvest early enough until the night colds (or even frosts) strike in their location and the weather gets worse day by day. It’s highly common for moderate continental climates to experience rapid weather changes, which can harm your plants and kill the cherished yields just 1-2 weeks before maturity. Thus, with fast-flowering weed varieties, you can shorten the growing cycle and avoid the hassle of weather monitoring and sleepless nights because of the approaching cold.
Original Aroma and Flavor
Another considerable advantage of fast-flowering varieties is that they don’t differ much from the original strain versions and preserve the original aromatic mix and flavor associated with the weed variety. This is not always attainable with autoflowers and feminized seeds since they undergo a series of genetic engineering efforts and can unpredictably change their genotypes and phenotypes.
High Yields
Third, it’s important to know that fast-flowering seeds give you the benefit of high yields typically absent in autoflower cultivation. Autos are indeed much more comfortable in terms of light independence and fast growing cycles, but they are notorious for substandard yields, even from healthy plants. Thus, choosing a fast-flowering seed variety instead of an autoflower type may be a wise decision, as you get to enjoy the combined effort of a short growing cycle and high yields.
Height Control
Experts point out that it’s easy for a grower to control the plants’ height and yield with the right approach to seed germination. Those who plan outdoor cultivation can germinate their seeds early and expose the plants to a longer growing period. Growers with an indoor setup can germinate and grow their seeds until the moment they see that the plants’ height is enough for their growing space. At that moment, they can adjust the lighting schedule and trigger the flowering period, thus ending the vegetative stage at their discretion.
Cloning
Besides, fast-flowering seeds allow simple cloning, which autoflower seeds don’t allow. You can easily choose a mother plant from the ones you’ve cultivated and use it as a source of clones to enjoy unending growing cycles.
Examples of Top-Selling Fast-Flowering Seeds
Now that you know that a fast-flowering seed variety is an ideal choice for growers living in moderate to cool climates and those impatient about yield collection, it’s time to choose the strain correctly. Here are a couple of top-selling fast-flowering seed varieties that most growers recommend for the convenience of management:
- Royal Cheese. There’s much to love the fast-flowering variety of Royal Cheese strain for. It’s a successful genetic combination of Old School Skunk and Afghani weed strains, which makes it an Indica-dominant cultivar. The plants don’t grow high – usually up to 60-100 cm, but they are ready to flower in 7-8 weeks and yield 450-500g per m2. The strain has a high THC level of around 17%, which ensures a strong stoned effect on the users.
- Speedy Chile. Fans of the soothing effects of weed are sure to appreciate the fast-flowering type of Speedy Chile strain, which is a combo of Early Skunk, Skunk, and Chile varieties. The cultivar is 70% Indica, so its plants also grow not that tall, one meter maximum, and deliver 475-500+g per m2. The effects you can expect from this weed are calming and balancing, though some users report a giggly state of mind.
- Candy Kush. This Indica-leaning cultivar has an exquisite flavor and taste that many weed enthusiasts will recognize from afar. The plants grow 60-100cm indoors and reach 170cm outdoors. The effects of this weed are full-body relaxation and the feeling of stone, which is related to the 18% THC concentration. You may see the emerging buds 7-9 weeks upon germination.
Grow Your Weed Fast
As you can see, opting for fast-flowering seeds may be a good idea if you live in a region with early colds in the autumn or want to accelerate the seed-to-harvest cycle overall. By choosing early flowering seeds, you avoid the need to monitor your plants for many weeks, checking when the buds are ripe enough for harvesting. So, this variant is universally suitable for growers of any experience level and should definitely be tried out.
The author of this material is Tia Moskalenko, a passionate cannabis grower and blogger at AskGrowers. Tia shares her observations and hands-on experience in the field of weed cultivation to help novice growers join the industry and reap generous harvests from their plantations. She believes everyone can grow weed for themselves, so she helps consumers with growing recommendations and strain selections.