When growing medicinal plants, you have two paths to choose from: seeds or clones. One one hand, seeds are reliable, easy, and accessible. Clones, on the other, are fast, efficient, and carry the exact traits of the mother plant. Seeds and clones both have a unique set of pros and cons. Once you weigh up the traits of each, you’ll be able to decide which path you want to head down.
Advantages Of Seeds
Access to high-quality medicinal plant seeds has never been easier. Many reputable seed banks go to great lengths to test their products for quality. Some even allow their customers to search for seeds according to variables such as desired effect and medical condition. First-time growers looking to learn more about a particular strain can find this information displayed clearly and can confidently make their choice.
Plants from seeds grow a better tap-root than clones. The taproot is the equivalent of the main stem. It grows straight down with lateral branches growing along its length. A deep tap-root reaches the water table or moist soil at a lower level of topsoil or penetrable subsoil.
Seeds are free from disease and pests, including viruses. Clones can transfer both pests and disease.
You know you have the variety you wanted when it comes from the seed company.
Seeds are the product of sexual reproduction so they inherit genetic characteristics from both parents. Plants from seed exhibit some genetic variation, so you can choose the best plant or the one you like the most. Growing from seed is more adventurous, because you are not sure exactly how the plants will turn out.
Seeds of many varieties are readily available in shops, dispensaries, by mail and over the internet. When they come from a seed company, you can have confidence in getting a variety with the basic characteristics you want.
- They are very portable and easy to store for long periods of time.
- Not susceptible to mildew, bugs, mites
- Better for growing outdoors
- Can cross strain
- Can be saved (don’t need to grow right away)
- Higher yields versus clones
Disadvantages Of Seeds
Medicinal plant has separate male and female plants. Unless they are used for breeding, males are of no use and are dangerous pollinators that endanger the potency of the female flowers with the risk of pollination.
Usually about half the plants are males that have to be detected and removed. This can be an arduous task and the consequence of missing one can be seedy buds throughout the garden.
Feminized Seeds
Feminized seeds have been bred to produce only female plants. They are the solution to the problem of sexing males since all the plants are females.
Germinating seeds is a more delicate operation than transplanting clones.
Seeds take longer to grow and be ready to flower because rooted clones are already biologically mature and have a head start on root development.
Plants from seeds don’t reproduce exactly their parents’ traits. Seeds from a variety you saw and tasted will not grow to be exactly the same as their mother, though it will be a close approximation.
Because you will discard roughly half of the plants once they can be sexed, growing from seeds can more easily put you over any legal plant count limits, or leave you with fewer plants than allowed or anticipated.
- Extra 4-6 weeks grow time vs clones
- Not all seeds will germinate
- Risk of non-feminized seeds
- Costs can add up quickly
- Can’t predict plant size or yield
Advantages Of Clones
Cultivators who opt to use medicinal plant clones to start their crop will find them attractive for various reasons. Clones are copies of the plant they were taken from. This means that the genetic variation expressed by seeds is mostly mitigated, and the resulting flowers from a clone will be more or less identical to what the mother produced.
Clones are taken from female plants so they are female, too. There are no males or hermaphrodites to mess with the buds.
Clones get you past the germination “hump” that seeds present. Seeds take several weeks to catch up to a rooted rooted to replace plants as they are placed into flowering.
- Ideal for the indoor grower (shortens grow cycle a month)
- You know what strain you’re getting
- You know what yield you’re getting
- Guaranteed gender
- Can quickly be grown into a mother and re-cloned
- Can grow in limited space
Disadvantages Of Clones
Clones are only available commercially in some states that have medical medicinal plants laws. Clones of the particular variety that you would like are not always available, even where they are legal. Clones can carry diseases and pests that can infect your whole garden. Clones from friends are more likely to be infected than professionally grown clones.
- More difficult to grow
- Possible genetic drift
- No phenotype variation
- Not easy to be transported over long distances (need to be watered)
- Susceptible to disease from the mother plant it came from
- Can be sensitive to new lighting conditions and new nutrients
Growing your own medicinal plants at home has many advantages, and it is probably one of the most fulfilling things you can do. It will take time and patience to learn how to grow medicinal plants the right way, but with dedication you can eventually turn it into a real passion. For more information and tools, feel free to visit our official website. Follow us could get the biggest discount. Now using coupon code: Nicole11 to get 17% off when checkout.
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