*SEED*
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*HOW TO BUY ‘MARIJUANA SEEDS’*
(leafly link)
The first couple months of the year is a great time to start planning your cannabis garden to get a head start on the outdoor growing season, which roughly runs from March to November, depending on where you live.
Navigating the cannabis seed market can be challenging when states have different degrees of legality.
This guide will answer your questions on buying seeds so you can be on your way to growing your own cannabis.
Is it legal to buy marijuana seeds?
cannabis seeds
(Sinhyu/iStock)
Marijuana seeds are considered a cannabis product just like flower, edibles, and concentrates.
Their legality depends on which state you live in.
People living in states with adult-use legalization can buy, produce, and sell seeds within their own state, but seeds can’t cross state lines.
People living in states with medical marijuana legalization can only buy seeds if they have a medical card.
Seed banks exist outside of the US and can sell them for “souvenir purposes,” but it is illegal to bring seeds into the US and Customs will seize any cannabis seeds they find in packages or on a person.
Where can I buy cannabis seeds?
Many world-renowned seed banks are overseas in the Netherlands, the UK, Spain, and other countries where cannabis laws are less restricted.
Seed banks provide seeds from a variety of different breeders.
In states with adult-use legalization or a medical marijuana program, you can buy seeds within your own state, either at a dispensary or through a specific seed company’s website.
How to buy cannabis seeds online
Before you purchase seeds online, you’ll need to figure out what strain you want to grow and what breeder you want to buy from.
Because US federal law still prohibits cannabis, it can be hard to find information on seed banks and breeders.
Breeders who have a long history and positive reputation are usually a good place to start
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To get an idea of what well-established breeders look like, check out:
Europe
Sensi Seeds
DNA Genetics
Dinafem
Green House Seeds
US
Southern Humboldt Seed Collective
Exotic Genetix
You can also do some research and find an online grow journal that details the whole growing process of a specific strain from a particular breeder.
Through these, you’ll be able to look over another grower’s specific notes and see pictures of the final results.
If you grow some seeds and like the results, try growing another strain from that same breeder and see how it goes.
How to buy cannabis seeds at a dispensary
Although this option is only available to people living in states with medical and adult-use legalization, buying marijuana seeds at the dispensary is far more straightforward.
However, your options are more limited.
Dispensary staff should be able to give you information on the seeds they’re selling, but keep in mind that a lot of dispensaries focus on selling flower and end-products.
It’s a good idea to call ahead and talk to staff to see if they are knowledgeable about seeds and can give you specific information on growing.
How to look for quality genetics when buying marijuana seeds
cannabis seeds
Breeders talk about “unstable genetics,” meaning that a seed’s origin is unknown.
Make sure that when you buy a packet of seeds that it or the breeder who produced them can list where the seeds came from and how they were crossed and/or backcrossed to get the seed that you hold in your hand.
If you can’t get a seed’s history, it could be anything and the result of poor breeding practices.
An inexperienced breeder might cross a male and a female one time and sell the resulting seeds as a new hybrid strain, but professional breeders usually put their strains through several rounds of backcrossing to stabilize the genetics and ensure consistent plants that reflect those genetics.
Which strain should I grow?
Even one weed plant can produce a lot of buds come harvest time, so make sure you grow a strain you like.
Note strains you enjoy when you pick something up at the dispensary or smoke with friends, and look for seeds of it when you want to start growing.
Some strains are easier to grow than others because they are more resistant to mold and pests, so if you’re new to growing, you may want to try an easier strain to start.
Some strains also take longer to grow than others.
Depending on whether you’re growing indoors or outdoors, you may want to grow a quicker marijuana strain if you live in a climate that get cold and wet early in the season.
For example, indicas are known for having a shorter flowering time than sativas.
All of this information should be available to you when buying quality seeds.
What’s the difference between regular, feminized, and autoflower seeds?
cannabis seeds
(Sunshine Seeds/iStock)
Regular seeds
If you buy a packet of regular seeds, they’ll come with a mix of males and females.
A lot of cultivators prefer to grow these because they haven’t been backcrossed—essentially inbred—as much as feminized or autoflower seeds.
You’ll need to sex out the seeds once their reproductive organs show during the flowering phase and discard the males—because they don’t produce buds and will pollenate females, resulting in seeded flowers.
Feminized seeds
Seeds can come feminized, meaning you can just put them in soil and start growing for buds.
These seeds are guaranteed to be bud-producing females and growing them cuts out the step of having to sex out plants and discard the males.
It also reduces the risk of having a stray male sneak into your crop—just one male can pollinate a huge crop, causing your females to focus their energies on producing seeds instead of buds.
Autoflower seeds
Autoflower plants change from the vegetative to flowering state with age, not the changing of their light cycle.
They have a short grow-to-harvest time and can be ready to harvest in as little as 2 ½ to 3 months from when you put the seeds in the ground.
The downside is that, typically, they are less potent, but autoflower seeds are great for people who want to grow cannabis but don’t want to spend a lot of time doing it.
How much do marijuana seeds cost?
Cannabis seeds usually come in a pack of 10 or 12 seeds and start at around $40 a pack and go up from there.
Some high-end genetics can run between $200 to $500 a pack.
Feminized and autoflower seeds will cost more because more breeding work was put in to creating them and they take less time for the grower to get buds.
How many seeds should I buy?
Are they all going to survive?
cannabis seedling
When you grow any amount of seeds, a percentage of them won’t germinate, even if you get them from a reputable breeder.
Always count on a few not germinating or dying off, or roughly 1/4 of the total you put in the ground.
When growing regular seeds, some won’t germinate and some will have to be discarded because they’ll turn out to be males.
With feminized seeds, some won’t germinate, but a higher percentage of them will turn into flowering plants because there won’t be any males.
If you want six total cannabis plants to harvest for buds and are growing from regular seeds, start with about 4 times as many, or 24 seeds.
Some won’t germinate and some will turn out to be males, and then you’ll want to discard down to the six best phenotypes.
If growing feminized seeds, you can probably start with about twice as many seeds in this case (about 12)
a couple won’t germinate, and then discard down to the six best phenotypes.
Make sure to always stay within your state’s legal limit of growing plants.
How do I buy strain-specific cannabis seeds?
Strains like Blue Dream, Gelato, and Original Glue have gained in popularity in recent years
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Check out these resources on how to buy these types of cannabis seeds
How to buy Blue Dream seeds and clones
How to buy Gelato seeds and clones
How to buy Original Glue seeds and clones
Pat Goggins contributed to this article
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*BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO GROWING MARIJUANA*
(leafly link)
Growing weed is super easy—it’s called “weed” for a reason—so don’t worry if you haven’t grown anything before.
Our clear, easy-to-digest guide will help growers of all kinds, especially first-time ones.
Whether indoors or outdoors, growing marijuana is fun and rewarding, but it can also be challenging and takes a certain amount of patience, time, and money.
We’ll walk you through all the steps of growing, from preparation, to seed germination, plant growth, and harvesting, as well as best practices and how to troubleshoot common problems.
Because the plant was illegal for so long, a lot of grow info has been passed down by word of mouth.
There are many myths and traditions about growing weed, so it can be hard to sort good, sound advice from hearsay.
Also, because it was illegal, there’s ample information on indoor growing and how to get the most out of a small space by maximizing harvests and training plants.
These are all great resources but not all growers want to put in that amount of time and effort to get a ton of weed—some growers just want to have fun, grow a little weed, and smoke something they grew themselves.
Below are all the topics covered in our growing guide.
That is followed by a list of where it’s legal to homegrow in the US and a quick overview of the growing process.
Enjoy, have fun, and learn a tip or two—growing weed is therapeutic and relaxing, and there’s nothing better than smoking weed you’ve grown yourself.
Leafly’s complete marijuana growing guide
Where is it legal to homegrow cannabis?
Before you get started growing, you’ll need to see if you even can grow in your state.
Below is a list of states in which it is legal to grow your own marijuana at home, both states with medical and adult-use legal status.
If your state does not appear on this list, it is not legal to homegrow in your state.
You might be surprised which states don’t allow homegrowing—only five medical states and one medical territory allow homegrowing at all, and some adult-use states require a medical card.
Check out our Guide to marijuana legalization for more details on homegrowing in your state.
Note that “mature” plants are those in the flowering stage, when plants begin to produce buds;
“immature” plants are those in the vegetative stage, before they produce buds.
A “household” is defined as two or more people living at a single residence
State Legalization status Legal to homegrow? How many plants?
Alaska Adult use Yes 6 (3 mature, 3 immature)
Arizona Adult use Yes 6
California Adult use Yes 6
Colorado Adult use Yes 6 (3 mature, 3 immature); 12 per household
Hawaii Medical w/ medical card 10
Illinois* Adult use w/ medical card 5
Maine Adult use Yes 15 (3 mature, 12 immature, plus unlimited seedlings)
Massachusetts Adult use Yes 6; 12 per household
Michigan Adult use Yes 12
Missouri Medical w/ medical card 6
Montana Adult use Yes 8 (4 mature, 4 immature)
Nevada Adult use Yes 6; 12 per household
New Jersey Adult use Yes 6; 12 per household; medical: 10
New Mexico Adult use Yes 6; 12 per household; medical: 16 (4 mature, 12 immature)
New York Adult use Yes (pending)
NY is currently setting up a framework for homegrowing;
adults will be able to grow 6 plants individually and 12 per household when it takes effect
North Dakota Medical w/ medical card 8
Oklahoma Medical w/ medical card 12 (6 mature, 6 immature)
Oregon Adult use Yes 4; medical: 6
Rhode Island Medical w/ medical card 24 (12 mature, 12 immature)
South Dakota Adult use Yes 3; 6 per household (starting 7/1/2021)
Virginia Adult use Yes (pending) Virginians will be able to homegrow 4 plants per household beginning July 1, 2021
Vermont Adult use Yes 6 (2 mature, 4 immature)
Washington* Adult use w/ medical card 4 (up to 15 if given authorization from healthcare practitioner)
Washington, DC Adult use Yes 6 (3 mature, 3 immature); 12 per household (6 mature, 6 immature)
Guam Adult use Yes 6 (3 mature, 3 immature); medical: 18 (6 mature, 12 immature)
US Virgin Islands Medical w/ medical card 12
*Illinois and Washington are adult-use states but require a medical card to homegrow
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Quick overview of the basics of growing marijuana
marijuana plant growing outdoors
Here’s a quick rundown of the most important things you need to know about growing weed:
Cannabis is a warm-season annual—it thrives in temperate climates, such as Northern California’s famed Emerald Triangle, and it grows and dies each year, having to get planted again the following year.
it will take about 10-32 weeks to grow a weed plant, depending on the method you choose and how big you want plants to get
Before you start growing, you’ll have to determine whether you want to grow indoors or outdoors (more below).
You can grow weed pretty much anywhere—it just depends what space, equipment, and resources you have available.
Marijuana plants start out as either a seed or a clone.
Seeds will need to germinate to grow into a seedling.
A clone is a cutting taken off a weed plant that you can then grow into another plant, and it will have the same genetic makeup.
After the seedling stage, a weed plant enters the vegetative stage, which is generally the longest stage of its life.
Here the plant will be a main stalk, branches, and fan leaves—no buds yet.
The magic happens during the flowering stage, when weed plants start to grow buds. Plants enter this stage about two months before harvesting.
At harvest, you’ll cut down your plants, trim, dry, and cure them, and then your homegrown buds will finally be ready to smoke.
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What does a marijuana plant need to survive and thrive?
Light:
Weed is a photoperiod plant, meaning the daily amount of light it receives will determine when it flowers—when it starts to produce buds.
Outdoors, this happens when the daily amount of light reduces as summer turns to fall, and indoors, growers can control this by changing artificial light from 18 to 12 hours a day
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Water:
Weed plants of course need water, and the amount of water they need will change as they grow, and also depends on your local climate and weather
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Nutrients
Weed plants need nutrients so they can grow strong and be healthy
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Temperature and humidity:
You’ll need to provide an environment with optimal temperature and humidity that will allow weed to thrive.
Generally, this is between 55-85°F, with a relative humidity between 50-70%
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Wind/airflow
Weed plants also need wind or airflow, which you can simulate indoors with fans, and which will occur naturally outdoors
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Indoor vs. outdoor marijuana growing
(irina88w/iStock)
Your homegrowing journey starts with the question: indoors or outdoors?
Growing outdoors is the cheapest and easiest way to grow, because you can utilize the power of the sun and other natural resources, but you need the proper space to do it, and the space needs to be able to get ample sunlight throughout the growing season.
Often, you can let plants grow large and get big yields with more space outdoors.
Growing weed indoors is more expensive because you’ll need to spend money on equipment and utilities, but you can control every aspect of the grow environment and set up an indoor grow almost anywhere.
Expect to grow some killer weed—indoor is known for its potency and quality.
How to choose a marijuana strain to grow
(Yarygin/iStock)
At the end of the day, you want to grow a strain you like.
A single plant can yield between a half-pound and a full pound of dried buds, depending on how big your plants get, so you’ll have a lot of it come harvest time.
The last thing you want is to put a ton of time and effort into growing weed and end up with a strain that you don’t like.
Everyone has different tastes and preferences, and strains affect people differently
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Other factors to consider when picking a strain to grow
Availability
The legality of cannabis in your state will determine whether you can buy seeds or clones at a dispensary.
Even if you can, you’ll be limited to genetics that are only produced in your state, as seeds and clones can’t cross state lines
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Climate and environment
Certain strains benefit from open space and are easier to grow outdoors, and some grow short and stout, making them great for indoor growing.
Additionally, some strains need more attention and are more susceptible to pests and may benefit from a climate-controlled environment.
It’s a good idea to talk to other growers in your community to see which strains grow best in your climate
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Garden space
Cannabis can be grown successfully in small or large spaces, but it’s important to know how much space you have to work with before you start building out a garden.
For example, if growing in a small space, consider growing indicas, which tend to grow shorter and bushier
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Length of time to grow
Some strains take longer to mature than others.
If you want a quick turnaround, aim for strains that take 8-9 weeks to flower instead of 12.
Autoflower cultivars will be a lot shorter
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Difficulty of growing:
Difficulty equates to more care and attention, which can involve a more complex nutrient regiment, more training requirements, and perhaps paying more attention to environmental factors.
These all take time, patience, and research to master, especially if you don’t have much growing experience.
Pat Goggins and Patrick Bennett contributed to this article.
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www.leafly.com /learn/growing
Beginner’s Guide to Growing Marijuana | Leafly
9-11 minutes
grow guide header
(Ann Clancy/Leafly)
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“let the grass grow’…
(in ‘blumbergian terms’)
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(‘grass’ can be grown ‘outdoors’ or ‘indoors’)
(‘grass’ can be planted ‘outdoors’ under the ‘sun’,
either on ‘natural soil’
or in ‘pots’ of ‘pre-made’ or ‘commercial’ soil
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(in most places of the ‘sub-tropics’, ‘grass’ is germinated from ‘late spring’ to ‘early summer’ and harvested from ‘late summer’ to ‘early autumn’)
(when cultivated outdoors, the chosen areas are those which receive 12 hours or more of sunlight in a given day)
(in the ‘northern hemisphere’, ‘cannabis seeds’ are typically planted in ‘late may’ or ‘early june’, so the ‘plants’ can have a full 4 months of growth)
(typically, the ‘plants’ are harvested anywhere from ‘mid-september to ‘early october’)
(in ‘north america’, northern locations are preferred ((‘humboldt county’ / ‘california’) and ‘british columbia’ being particularly notable), but southern locations (such as (‘maui’ / ‘hawaii’) are also known to be good ‘producers’)
(evidence found in ‘ancient burial sites’ indicates that ‘humans’ have been experimenting with cannabis [‘recreationally’ / ‘spiritually’ / ‘medicinally’] since at least the “2000s BCE”)
(‘herodotus’ – an important greek historian of the ‘4000s BCE’ – described how the ‘scythians’ of the ‘middle east’ used ‘cannabis’ in ‘steam baths’)
(a ‘cannabis grower’ may grow a ‘cannabis seed’ into a ‘plant’ and find that this ‘plant’ is unique in some way)
(the ‘grower’ may make ‘genetically identical clones’ of the ‘plant’ and distribute these)
(this is technically referred to as a ‘clone-only strain’)
(a ‘clone’ is the only way to propagate the exact ‘genetic makeup’ that makes a strain ‘unique’)
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(however, how the ‘plant’ is grown greatly affects the ‘final consumable product’)
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www.leafly.com /learn/growing/buyers-guide/how-to-buy-marijuana-seeds
How to Buy Marijuana Seeds | Leafly
8-10 minutes
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*👨🔬🕵️♀️🙇♀️*SKETCHES*🙇♂️👩🔬🕵️♂️*
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💕💝💖💓🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤❤️💚💛🧡❣️💞💔💘❣️🧡💛💚❤️🖤💜🖤💙🖤💙🖤💗💖💝💘
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*🌈✨ *TABLE OF CONTENTS* ✨🌷*
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🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥*we won the war* 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥