This post was made in partnership with cannagenetics.com. Read more about my sponsorship policy on my disclosure page.

Welcome back to What’s Going On In Dave’s Grow!

At the start of each new grow, there is always one question in the back of my mind. “Should this grow start from seed or clones?” Now of course this is all dependant on where you live in the country, but if you are in a legal state, maybe it’s time to try some new genetics from seed.

For me, I truly enjoy spending hours online looking over various seed banks and picking out which strains to grow. Typically, online seed banks reside in other countries and are extremely pricey. Recently, I came across a seed bank located right here in the U S of A called cannageneticsbank.com. This online seed store has one of the best selections from the top breeders for cannabis seeds including Dutch Passion Seed Company, Barney’s Farm, Humboldt Seed Company, and more!

So you decided to purchase seeds online…

Buying seeds online can make you feel a little unsure about hitting the order now button.  The laws around purchasing seeds are a little unclear and to get around this, most seed companies sell you “collectible novelty seeds” and are not meant to be grown…just collected (wink wink). The fact of the matter is the seeds contain no THC (until they grow into plants) and the only way to verify that you bought cannabis seeds would be to grow them and have them tested. So technically you aren’t purchasing anything illegal.

Now I have been ordering seeds online for many years now and have seen a lot of crazy packaging. Typically there is a “ship in discreet packaging” option from most online seed shops. This means you will get your seeds in something like a toy model box or puzzle box and they will be hidden inside the box amongst the model parts. Typically, they cut the seed packaging into parts so it makes it even tougher to decipher which seeds are what. All in the name of discretion.

Cannageneticsbank.com doesn’t play those games. You order your seeds and they arrive in a priority mail box. Each seed pack comes in its original packaging so you know what is what. I really love this because it takes all the weird feelings out of purchasing seeds. You order what you want and it arrives just like anything else. No shady vibes at all.

Seeds are not cheap either and when you are spending upwards of $100+ on seeds, you want to make sure they will germinate. Canna Genetics also has unbelievable customer service and will replace the seeds that don’t germinate as long as you take a pic and keep the original packaging. I have never heard of that ever and believe me that makes this seed bank my go-to from now on.

Things to consider when purchasing seeds

When you are looking for seeds, there are a few things you will need to figure out first. The main decision being which type of seeds do you want to buy. Your choices are regular, feminized, and auto-flower. Let’s break down what each one is and their respective benefits.

Regular

Regular seeds are seeds that could be female or male plants. I would not recommend purchasing regular seeds unless you are wanting a potential male plant in your grow. Now if you are an experienced grower and want a male so you can pollinate your favorite female plant to produce new strains, then this is the way to go. Some say regular seeds that produce female plants are stronger genetically. The downside is you get fewer female plants and have to watch out for males and remove them before they pollinate the grow.

Auto Flower

Auto-flowering seeds come in regular and feminized versions. The main benefit of autos is they don’t rely on light cycles to transition into flowering. For regular and feminized seeds, you control the vegetative and flowering states of your plants by altering the light cycles. 18 hours of light are required for the veg state and 12 hours are required for flowering. Autoflowering plants must have a minimum of 10 hours of light to grow. Once they are ready to flip to flower, they just do it on their own, no different light cycles are required. This helps you save on electricity by using less light throughout the grow cycle.

Feminized

Feminized seeds have a very high success rate of being females every time. We are talking like 99% here. This is the best way to maximize your grow and you are all but guaranteed to produce nothing but female plants which translate into cannabis-yielding plants. Now even though you have a much higher success rate of having a successful grow, occasionally you will have things happen like your feminized plants becoming hermaphrodite plants which will be both male and female at the same time and will definitely pollinate all other plants in your grow. This typically occurs when your plants are under a lot of stress in early flowering. Not feeding your plants regularly or giving them irregular light cycles can cause this to happen.

Now that you have made your decision as to the type of seeds you want to purchase, you can drill down and decide on all the other fun stuff like potential THC content, indica? sativa? hybrid?, and CBD content. Canna Genetics has a handy filter to help you find your perfect seed packs.

I want to say that I am by no means a legal expert and don’t want you to feel as if you should order something you are not comfortable with at all. Do the research first and then decide for yourself. Personally, I feel it is important to lay all of the information out there from my experiences because purchasing seeds online is somewhat shrouded in mystery and this company is the first I have seen that is totally transparent with the process.

So whether you are new to growing or an experienced grower looking for a seed bank with a great selection and amazing customer service, check out cannageneticsbank. You are in great hands with this site and the owner is always available to help you make your decision and answer questions.

I will be featuring the seeds that I ordered in my upcoming grows. Stay tuned to see how they turn out. If you are interested in purchasing seeds from cannageneticsbank, they were kind enough to provide me with a 15% off discount code. Use code DAVESGROW at checkout for your discount or simply click here to order.