If your aim is to grow incredible-quality cannabis, you need to start with great genes. The way your cannabis plants will grow and fruit will have a lot to do with the genetics they started with. Each cannabis plant is a mixture of the traits from its two parents. With genetics playing such a crucial factor on your plants' end results, it is essential to know a little bit about the genetics of the plant you’re working with.
There are three primary strains or types of cannabis: Indica, Sativa, and Hybrid strains (hybrid strains are a mix of sativa and indica).
With the enormous amount of strains available, some databases list over 3,600 unique cannabis strains on their sites. Nearly all of the cannabis strains you come across will be some sort of hybrid. Some of these hybrid strains are more indica dominant, while others tend to be more sativa dominant.
Not forgetting there is also another rather popular type of cannabis; “Ruderalis” more commonly known as “Auto-Flowering” strains.
So let’s break these strains down
Indica
Indica strains show a tendency to grow shorter and bushier. Indica strains will have fat rounder leaves.
Sativa
Sativas strains will grow larger, have higher light requirements, and take longer to mature than Indica plants.
Sativasoften have thin, finger-like leaves. Hybrid It is often easiest to grow cannabis plants that are a hybrid strain because they have been specifically bred to carry the best traits of both sativa and indica.
Auto-flowering
Auto-flowering strains will start flowering regardless of its light schedule. These strains are usually a popular well established strain that has been bred to carry the “auto-flowering” characteristic.
When growing with auto-flowerning cannabis strains such as the Lowryder, you can give the plant up to 18 hours of light a day throughout the whole growth cycle, and your plant will be ready to harvest in roughly 3 months.
Due to their short life cycle, auto-flowering strains generally won’t grow taller than 1 meter.
If you’re researching what strain of cannabis to grow, besides being drawn to the strains overall physical effects, it's worth considering the strains' growth requirements, like its light cycles and growth periods, to make sure that it is a good match for your growing area. Especially when you’re planning to grow outdoors as you have less control over the environmental factors.
Doing your research on the strain before purchasing any seeds or clones is vital as some strains are fussy and need a lot of attention or are prone to disease or mold, while others are sturdy and can handle missing a watering for a day or two.
Another factor to consider is that certain strains have adapted to specific climates, so growing outdoors in Johannesburg is different to growing in Durban.
If you’ve done your research and you’re still on the fence, Leafly has summed up the 5 easy marijuana strains that are easy to grow for beginners. These strains grow strong, are tolerant and have a forgiving margin of error, can grow in many different climates, and will yield well for your effort.