Auto and Semi-Auto Traits in Landrace and Feral Cannabis

You can find a wide range of ‘autoflowering’ and ‘semiautoflowering’ landrace and feral cannabis varieties here at The Real Seed Company.

‘Autoflowering’ in cannabis means plants go into flower based only on their age. ‘Auto’ is the opposite of ‘photoperiod’ – i.e., auto varieties flower irrespective of what light / dark cycle they’re under. The technical botanical term for the auto trait is ‘day neutral’. Pure auto varieties in our collection are ‘Selected Siberian’ and ‘Kazakh’.

The Siberian and Kazakh accessions are both feral forms indigenous to the Eurasian Steppe. The Siberian accession might be representative of the population that’s popularly known as ‘Ruderalis’. ‘Ruderalis’ is an informal name derived from the formal taxon Cannabis ruderalis, which was never in fact published but was tentatively suggested by Dmitri Janischevsky in 1942 for feral populations along the Volga River in the Pontic–Caspian Steppe region of the Eurasian Steppe.

Genomics work points to the possibility that ‘Ruderalis’ day-neutral Eurasian Steppe populations such as ‘Selected Siberian’ are perhaps the source of the very early maturing traits found in landraces from the Near East such as Syrian, Lebanese, and Moliotiko. Similarly, these autoflowering steppe forms appear to be ancestral to a lot of European hemp landraces, particularly northern European hemp varieties. Very speculatively, the picture is of a westward movement out of inner Eurasia toward Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean, perhaps in waves such as the late Bronze Age immigration to the Pontic Steppe, Turkey, and Near East by the Scythians and Cimmerians.

Syrian, Sinai, Lebanese, Moliotiko and other varieties in our Near East collection such as Sudanese are ‘semiautoflowering’. That means they show a mix of ‘auto’ and ‘photoperiod’ traits. Long dark periods will trigger them to flower, and age will eventually cause them to flower too. For practical purposes, what’s most significant is they’re far and away the earliest drug-type landraces – much earlier than pure Afghan and Pakistani landraces. Sown outdoors at the start of the season, lines such as Sudanese and Moliotiko will be ready by late August or early September at 40° N.

Another advantage is that – unlike Afghan and Pakistani landraces – varieties from the Near East have usually undergone many generations of selection for use as bud (as opposed to hash), so they’re much better suited for most folks working in the west: not just very early finishing but far more consistently potent than a typical unworked Hindu Kush landrace. The highs are also essential to experience for yourself: positive, euphoric, even blissful.

And for folks who like modern style highs in an autoflowering form, over at our sister site we’ve got none other than… Auto Cheezkittlze… something for everyone!

The photo shows the Kazakh outdoors around 55° N.