What is Cannabis Ruderalis?

Cannabis Ruderalis is a completely different species than Cannabis Sativa or Indica

What is Cannabis Ruderalis?

Cannabis Ruderalis what the hell is that? You’ve probably heard the terms Cannabis Indica and Cannabis Sativa. But have you ever heard about the species known as Cannabis Ruderalis? Many stoners’ll say no. That’s because until very recently Cannabis Ruderalis has been dissed by most breeders and growers because of its extremely low THC levels. And they’ve been the only groups of people who ever really know what the stuff actually is. Anyhow a few of it’s unique characteristics, including the ability to flower automatically, is helping Cannabis Ruderalis gain popularity quickly.

The Origin of Cannabis Ruderalis
A ruderal species refers to any plant that is the first to colonize land. Cannabis ruderalis strains first appeared growing in the wild in places like Russia, Poland and the Czech Republic. It’s a versatile and very hearty plant that has spread it’s roots all the way to China and the Caucasus mountains. Ruderalis marijuana plants don’t grow to be very tall. In fact they’ll max out at around a couple feet. And when compared with other varieties of weed its leaves are smaller and fewer in number.

Cannabis Ruderalis strains are unique because they flower earlier than Indica and Sativa strains. Unlike the later two types of weed Cannabis Ruderalis doesn’t start to flower based on a change in the light cycle of their growing environment. These special plants begin to flower when they reach a certain predictable maturing. Many growers leverage this unique characteristic and use it to great success. They’ll take the Cannabis Ruderalis genes and breed them with Sativa and Indicas to create a hybrid that’ll flower once it reaches a particular age. Growers of these autoflowering plants as they’re called don’t have to worry about the light schedule to produce fat flowers. Pretty cool, eh?

Characteristics of Cannabis Ruderalis
Cannabis Ruderalis weed plants produce very little THC. In fact, they’ve been found to possess a chemical profile similar to Hemp. However its autoflowering characteristics have allowed breeders to create many hybrids that retain their Indica or Sativa characteristics but are heartier, grow faster and flower automatically. This makes them great for cultivating outdoors. That’s because growers can net more than one harvest a season. Popular Ruderalis seeds include LowRyder, Easy Ryder, Fast Haze, White Express, Speed Ryder, Quick Fruit and Low Diesel.

Cannabis Ruderalis Effects
Because of its low THC content, straight Cannabis Ruderalis weed makes really lousy smoke. It also delivers really negligible effects. However, Cannabis Ruderalis autoflower hybrids retain the effects of the Sativa or Indica strains they’re bred with. This means breeders can get develop Ruderalis seeds with high THC/CBD content that benefit from all the advantages of autoflowering plants.

New Cannabis Classifications
In 2014 John McPartland, a researcher affiliated with GW Pharmaceuticals, presented a study at the 2014 meeting of the International Cannabis Research Society proposing a new nomenclature for cannabis. Apparently the dude who first created the taxonomy for cannabis in the 1970s, Richard Evans Schultes, got it wrong. He misidentified a Cannabis Afghanica plant as a Cannabis Indica plant. And that single mistake has continued to cause confusion to this day. According to McPartland Cannabis Sativa should have been identified as Cannabis Indica, because it originated in India—hence indica. Cannabis Indica should have been identified as Cannabis. Afghanica, because it actually originated in Afghanistan. And Cannabis Ruderalis is actually what people mean when they refer to Cannabis Sativa.

Have you ever come across a straight Cannabis Ruderalis plant growing in the wild? Or have you tried growing any autoflowering strains? We’d like to hear about your experiences in the comments section below.



2 Responses to “What is Cannabis Ruderalis?”

  1. idan ben ruby

    hey ! thanks for the ruderalis article! very interesting and informational. i was trying to find thc and cbd levels for cannabis ruderalis all te over the web.. is it possible to tell the avarage precentage of CBD and THC levels in cannabis ruderalis?
    thank you!

  2. 802VTgrown

    I too appreciate this article. I decided to give the ruderalis a chance this outdoor season not really knowing much about it except that it did well in VT,s climate. I also share the same delema as to what strain my girls are paired with?, if any, oh boy that would suck much time and effort for nothing. This question derived from me being quite worried weather the beauties will be for smoking or the compost. Thank you I hope we can receive an answer because the flowers just keep growing getting longer and fatter and they stink a sweet blue cheesy awesomeness if any sense was made in that comment. Thanks. Friends

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