6 Problems with Cannabis Seeds That Clones Solve(d)

When I started growing my first cannabis plant in June 2019, I was lucky to have an actual pack of seeds (and not just my bagseed stash from years of smoking) to start with.

Many weren’t that lucky, especially prior to recent legalization efforts.

Cloning became a reliable alternative to growing from seed.

6 Problems with Cannabis Seeds That Clones Solve(d)*

1. Sexing: If you’re growing from seed, there’s a chance you could end up with a male (females are desired unless breeding). Feminized seeds (produced without an XY pollen donor) have since helped address this, but cloning a proven female is a guaranteed way to be sure (and saves you the expenses of sexing the seeds yourself).
2. Timing: Growing from clone can be faster than growing from seed (9 weeks if flipping a clone, compared to 14–6+ weeks from seed). Modern autoflower breeding has helped address this, expediting the time from seed to harvest to 70 days or less in some cases.
3. Maturity: Clones come from plants mature enough to be flipped immediately to bloom, while seedlings must mature until they produce hormones responsible for this transition. Clones start at the same age as the plant they were cut from, which means that they are already “adults” hormonally, even if they are small in size.
4. Expression Stability: Depending on your circumstances, if you are growing multiple plants of…