Authoritative information on Cannabis is hard to come by. One place you very seldom find it is on Internet grow forums or social media. Good books and peer-reviewed scientific studies should always be the first place you look.
Cannabis: A Complete Guide by Ernest Small (2016) is about as authoritative as it gets. And it’s in print, albeit expensive. A pirated version is currently available here, though the index and references are missing. Together with Dr. Small’s recent papers, that’s already an abundance of reliable information to draw on.
As for cultivation, where legal, the best place to start is always work by crop scientists and horticulturalists, even if not directly about Cannabis itself. The crucial thing is to keep it simple.
The following words are from an experienced horticulturalist running a licensed grow in Canada, whose photos are below:
+95% germination on Syrian, Kazakh, Sinai, Balhki, Rasoli, and Turkish, as well as the Nanda Devi around 85%.
Our gardening techniques work great with the variable germination. So many growers have issues with germination using fancy pants techniques that aren’t necessary! We just use a mix of 50% compost 50% bed soil, sow directly in wooden flats, and keep them watered. The seeds pop when they’re ready.
Wild-type Siberian about 50% and Kaghan Valley only 5/50 so far, but more germinating all the time.
Where legal, see the note at The Real Seed Company blog regarding germinating wild-type Cannabis seeds.
The seeds in the photo above are from our 2008 Sudanese accession, an equatorial landrace we will soon be making available here.
