What is Cannabis Ruderalis?

Hey folks! I hope everyone is having a fantastic week. Today, we’re going to be talking about a little known variety of cannabis that most average consumers are completely unaware of: Cannabis Ruderalis. This little guy belongs to the same family as Cannabis Indica and Cannabis Sativa, but doesn’t get nearly as much hype. Let’s dive in and find out why!

What’s the story morning glory?

Cannabis Ruderalis is a cannabis variety that propagated in central and eastern Europe as well as parts of Russia. It doesn’t produce a significant amount of THC, which is probably why you haven’t really heard about it up until now (unless you have, in which case, here’s a gold star!). It also tends to have a rather small stature, meaning it doesn’t grow big enough to be effective for hemp production. Since it evolved in areas with cooler climates and less sunlight than other cannabis strains, it also doesn’t produce a high yield based on it’s sunlight exposure. All and all, it doesn’t seem to have any obvious beneficial traits that put it on par with its psychoactive cousins.

So…like why are we even talking about it?

I’m getting there internal Brynn voice, calm yourself. Cannabis Ruderalis’ unique traits have some unexpected virtues that make it useful to breeders. In particular, the fact that it flowers based on time and not exposure to sunlight is a unique feature that puts it in a class of its own. If you’ve ever heard of auto-flower, ruderalis is a key component of that. To put it simply, growers will breed a sativa or indica flower with a ruderalis flower in order to create a plant that has decent THC and other cannabinoid content, but reaches its flowering state based on time as opposed to exposure to sunlight, which is the norm for other plant types in the same family. The end result is a flower that requires far less time and stress to grow, making it perfect for those who want to grow their own cannabis but don’t want to tackle the often times challenging effort of managing light levels to accommodate cannabis’ specific needs.

The only real downside to an auto-flower is the potency and yield tend to be below what an experienced grower can produce through careful attentiveness and knowledge based skill. While that may be a problem for people who are looking to grow an absolute unit of a flower, the ease of growing auto-flower style cannabis makes it a worthwhile investment for first time growers or those who don’t want to read their plant bedtime stories.

That’s great!

It really is! One of the main hurdles to first time growers is the sheer amount of know-how it takes to produce a good grow without committing a ton of time to reading the plants needs and adjusting. One still needs to make sure that the plant is checked for mold and cared for, but the effort is negligible compared to other plant types. So, if you’re interested in growing but intimidated by the process, start with an auto-flower! It’s a great way to jump start your journey into growing your own quality cannabis.

 

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