by Nebula Haze
You’re browsing a cannabis seed bank website, and see different marijuana strains with the same name, perhaps Bruce Banner. But one says “Autoflower” and one says “Fast” (sometimes also “Express” or “FF” or “Fast Flowering”). What does this mean? What’s the difference?
What’s the difference between an Autoflower and a Fast cannabis strain?
“Autoflower” and “Fast” Cannabis Strains are Not the Same
This may be the most confusing strain naming convention for beginner cannabis growers. You could read the entire strain description, and still not know what to expect. Autoflowering strains are technically very fast to grow, typically being ready to harvest just 2-3 months from germination.
However, the short answer is a “Fast” strain is a fast-flowering photoperiod strain (not an autoflower strain).
Keep reading for a quick and simple explanation, so you know exactly which strain to choose for what you want!
“Autoflower” Cannabis Strains Make Buds Automatically
An auto-flowering (“auto”) strain makes buds automatically after a few weeks, and these plants are typically ready to harvest only 2-3 months from germination. These are not photoperiod strains and don’t need special light periods, or any input from you whatsoever, to start growing buds. They’re essentially like a cannabis houseplant that just needs to be kept alive to make buds.
Auto-flowering strains like this Gorilla Glue Auto by Fast Buds tend to stay small and are typically ready to harvest 2-3 months from germination.
- Autoflowering examples: Bruce Banner Autoflower or Chemical Candy Auto
Learn more about autoflowering strains.
“Fast” Strains are Photoperiod Strains… but Faster
A “Fast” strain is not an auto-flowering strain, but actually a photoperiod strain that has been bred specifically to go through the flowering stage extremely quickly while still achieving good yields and potency.
- “Fast” strain examples: Bruce Banner Fast and Crystal Candy F1 Fast Note: Fast strains are sometimes called “Express” or “FF” (for Fast Flowering)
What does “photoperiod” mean? Photoperiod strains are traditional cannabis strains, and instead of automatically growing buds after a few weeks, they need to experience a 12/12 light schedule (12 hour nights) in order to start making buds. Otherwise photoperiod plants just get bigger and bigger forever, never growing buds. Luckily, giving 12 hours of darkness each day is easy to accomplish indoors just by putting your grow lights on a timer.
Learn more about photoperiod cannabis strains.
A “Fast” strain like Crystal Candy F1 Fast is NOT an auto-flowering strain!
Fast cannabis strains are usually developed in one of two ways.
Two ways to create a “Fast” photoperiod strain:
- Cross a photoperiod strain with an auto-flowering strain – Once the cross is made, the first generation (F1) of offspring will be photoperiod because the auto-flowering trait is recessive. In other words, the offspring carry the recessive autoflowering gene, but still act like photoperiod plants. Those photoperiod plants tend to be much faster-flowering. Some breeders might sell those F1 seeds as “fast flowering”. However, typically a breeder will continue breeding to select for the fast-flowering trait while breeding out the recessive autoflowering trait until they stabilize a photoperiod strain with that extra speediness. The use of autoflowering genetics is why you’ll notice that many “fast” photoperiod strains are developed by breeders that also breed auto-flowering strains.
- Cross 2 fast-flowering photoperiod strains – In this case, the breeder makes the cross between great photoperiod plants, identifies the fastest-flowering offspring, and then uses those plants to breed the next generation. This is typically done by commercial growers, and over several generations can shave multiple weeks off the flowering time without sacrificing yields or bud quality.
For home growers, we typically don’t mind an extra week of growing here or there. As long as we’re getting several solid harvests every year, we’re often happy with that. Compared to those growing weed to sell to dispensaries, we may take more time in between grows, and experienced home growers often grow way more weed than we could use on our own anyway.
However, once breeders develop these fast strains, it’s actually pretty neat from the perspective of a home grower. Who doesn’t want to get the same bud quality and yields, but sooner?
Fast cannabis strains produce the same results in less time.
Recommended Fast Strain: Gorilla Cookies Fast (sometimes listed as Gorilla Cookies “FF” for “Fast Flowering”) can get big and produce great yields, but buds are ready to harvest 7-8 weeks after initiating 12/12. That’s 2-3 weeks quicker than most photoperiod strains.
Here’s an example of Gorilla Cookies Fast. Tons of weed in a short amount of time!
While we’re here, I just wanted to explain the difference between feminized and regular cannabis strains, since this is a super important distinction for home growers!
Feminized vs Regular Seeds
- Feminized Seeds – Every cannabis plant is female when you start with feminized seeds. That means every single plant will make buds, and the buds will be seedless. These special seeds are created using an advanced feminization technique. As a home grower, starting with feminized seeds lets you grow weed without worrying about male plants. Example: Bruce Banner Feminized
- Regular Seeds – With regular seeds, half plants are female (makes buds), half are male (don’t make buds). Example: Bruce Banner Regular. Male plants make non-smokable pollen sacs instead of buds, and also release pollen, causing any nearby buds to become full of seeds. Although it’s extremely important for growers to know whether a cannabis plant is male or female, you can’t tell which is which from looking at the seeds, or even from looking at the young plants. Male and female plants look the same until they start making flowers or pre-flowers. Therefore when using regular seeds, growers must identify and remove male plants as they reveal themselves. You get to skip all that if you start with feminized seeds.
Half of “regular” seeds grow into female plants, which make buds.
But half of “regular” seeds grow into male plants, which make non-smokable pollen sacs.
I recommend most beginner growers start with feminized seeds. This takes one extra possible headache out of the growing process. It stinks if you grow a few regular seeds and most of them (or even all) end up being male, due to random chance. In that case, you would have to start over to get more cannabis plants that grow buds. It’s a lot easier to take care of cannabis plants when you know every plant will make buds!
Feminized seeds always make buds.
Fast Fun Fact: You may have noticed many versions of Bruce Banner on this page. Why so many variations? It’s because the original Bruce Banner cannabis strain (bred by Jason Holck, aka OG Ironlung) hit the genetic jackpot of big yields, high bud quality, and strong euphoric effects.
Bruce Banner genetics tend to be high-yielding with excellent effects.
Do you have any questions about marijuana seeds or strain names? If so, let us know and I can add the necessary information to this tutorial!
