Auto-flowering marijuana: 5 exclusive distinguishing features for this type of plant

Modified on: 24/04/2024

The main characteristics of autoflowering marijuana.

When talking about CBD cannabis, you may have often heard the term “auto-flowering marijuana”, and you may have wondered what it means. And you may also be wondering why auto-flowering strains are the most in-demand by cannabis growers.

Autoflowering cannabis plants may look like regular marijuana plants, but, when compared to regular cannabis strains, the differences can be seen at a glance. However, some characteristics can only be seen by growing the plants and following them step by step in their growth.

Today, to clear up all your doubts, we will explain the characteristics of auto-flowering marijuana varieties grown by the Italian farms with which we collaborate.

1) Autoflowering marijuana: how flowers grow.

It is not be called “auto-flowering” by pure chance! This type of marijuana can bloom automatically once it reaches a certain age. The amounts of light and darkness received are not crucial for flowering (but they are essential for yield), because the flowers don’t start to grow because of the light received during the growth phase of the plant!

When it’s time to develop, they start. Growers are well aware that to achieve a satisfactory yield it is necessary to give the plants many hours of light, so much so that they usually subject the auto-flowering plants to 24 hours of artificial or natural light or 18 hours of light and 6 hours of darkness.

But is the auto-flowering unique and special?

Yes, absolutely! Regular plants usually have seasonal flowering, i.e. they produce cannabis flowers according to the photoperiod. But maybe we haven’t been clear enough. For them to bloom, they have to receive particular amounts of light, which they usually receive in autumn: 12 light and 12 dark.

But why doesn’t the flowering phase of Indoor and Outdoor auto-flowering depend on the seasons? It’s all about genetics.

Read more: Black Cannabis and Mould

2) The particular genetics of auto-flowering cannabis.

Autoflowering cannabis has exceptional genetics: it comes from the cross between feminized Indica or Sativa varieties and the cannabis variety Ruderalis.

You should know that Ruderalis is very resistant to weather changes, pests and mould and that it flowers automatically. Besides, its stem is much lower than other species: this is also a feature inherited from auto-flowering nooses!

3) Autoflowering CBD cannabis has a short stem.

The feminized auto-flowering seeds produce plants of short stature so that they are often called “dwarf auto-flowering”.

The smallest ones measure about 60 cm, while the tallest auto-flowering plants can reach a maximum height of 2 metres. Regular marijuana plants, i.e. seasonally flowering marijuana plants, can be more than 5 metres tall.

The advantage of the low height of CBD auto-flowering cannabis plants is that they can be grown Indoor very easily. At the same time, they are perfect for outdoor growing because of their resistance to unfavourable temperatures, bad weather and parasites inherited from Ruderalis cannabis.

As you can imagine, the short stature of the auto-flowering plants also results in a lower yield than regular plants.

Read also: Medical marijuana: Here’s how it works in Italy.

4) Outdoor and Indoor Autoflowering: particular yield of these particular of these CBD weed varieties.

Being very low, auto-flowering cannabis plants have a meagre yield compared to seasonal flowering varieties. You have to consider that auto-flowering plants are usually less than half the height of regular plants, so even the CBD flowers produced will not be many.

Usually, the yield of the most productive Indoor auto-flowering plants (such as Gorilla Glue) can be as high as 450/500 grams per square meter if grown excellently, while Outdoor plants range from 50 to a maximum of 300 grams per plant.

Some species also have a lower yield, which is why the price of light marijuana may seem high.

The advantage of these varieties, however, is that they have concise growth and flowering times so that they can be grown cyclically.

5) Indoor and Outdoor Autoflowering: flowering times.

Flowering and ripening times for both Indoor and Outdoor auto-flowering cannabis are much shorter than for seasonal flowering marijuana.

Autoflowering legal weed seeds produce plants that flower and ripen in just 10 weeks, while some ultra-fast (called fast flowering) plants even ripen in 6-7 weeks! Fast flowering, counting on the fact that classic cannabis plants need a whole season to mature, are therefore ready for harvest after 4 or 5 months.

In conclusion

Our CBD flower varieties all come from feminized auto-flowering plants, grown – depending on the plant’s needs – Indoor, Outdoor or GreenHouse! The cultivation methods are 100% organic, so the cannabis plant, in all its phases, receives natural treatments, such as using only organic fertilizers.

Would you like to buy our CBD buds or legal hash of undisputed quality? Visit Justbob’s website now!