What Is Ruderalis?
When we speak of a ruderalis plant, we’re talking about the family of marijuana named cannabis ruderalis. This is the scientific name, and it works much the same as cannabis sativa and cannabis indica in identifying a specific subspecies of the plant family. Cannabis ruderalis plants are often found in some of the harshest places in the world. You can usually find these plants in very mountainous or rocky regions, with some of the coolest and wettest climates in the world. Understandably, this doesn’t make a very good climate for marijuana to grow in, so this family of cannabis has become highly specialized. Over time, they’ve evolved to grow in such a way that they’re able to efficiently survive in these conditions. One of the main aspects of this evolution is their flowering behaviour. This is exactly the thing that’s made them so useful in the modern day cannabis industry. Because of the very low daily light hours and bad weather in native ruderalis regions, these plants begin flowering at a certain time during the year. Photoperiod plants will begin flowering once the sun begins to set at an earlier time during the day, but ruderalis plants don’t have time for this. They like to begin flowering well before the end of the growing season in order to ensure their survival. When you apply this to a modern grow operation, it allows the grower to forgo the task of reducing lighting hours to begin their plants’ budding stage.
What’s The Difference Between Ruderalis, Sativa and Indica?
At a glance, the three families of the general cannabis lineage don’t have any glaring differences. In their appearance, they all look relatively similar, with only some minor differences separating them. Cannabis sativa plants tend to grow in a slimmer and more wiry fashion, cannabis indica plants grow stockier and denser in size and in the buds, and cannabis ruderalis plants grow in smaller, lightweight and compact fashion. Where the real differences come in is how to cultivate them, and the effects they’ll give you when it’s all done. In ascending order of temperature ranges, ruderalis seeds will tolerate the lowest temperatures and humidity. Indica seeds will typically not do as well, but they will be better in cooler temperatures than sativa seeds. Sativa seeds are truly the tropical variety, and they demand the highest temperatures and wettest air out of all three. These variations are most apparent in their differing effects when smoked. Ruderalis is typically regarded to provide the least intense high out of the three. Many smokers say that ruderalis doesn’t affect them at all, so you’ll get the strongest effects out of indica and sativa plants. Indica weed will typically give users a more calming, heavy head and body high. Sativa weed gives many smokers a lighter, airy and more buzzing, energetic high. You would typically use indica pot as a strain to relax after a long day of work or sport. Sativa instead gives you a much better smoke to work out or work on a project with, to increase creativity or improve artistic expression.
Main Features of the Ruderalis Cannabis Plant
Upon further inspection of a cannabis ruderalis plant, you’ll notice a bit more of a pronounced difference compared to adult plants of the other families. Many of their differences in terms of appearance and growth patterns are attributed to the environment they originate from. This family of cannabis plants comes from incredibly harsh parts of the world, especially so for this type of warm weather, tropical plant to be growing in. In fact, the term ruderalis comes from Latin roots, and the rough translation comes out to mean something that grows among waste or weeds. This is because it’s been observed that ruderalis plants are fantastic at taking advantage of bad situations and thriving in them. They can be found across many parts of the world simply growing in garbage piles or ditches, because they’ve become so adaptable and flexible in their growth. Because of the conditions they originated in, ruderalis marijuana had to adapt both physically and genetically to keep up with the hostile environment. As a result, ruderalis pot plants sport a much thinner and smaller structure. This is likely to help them survive extreme weather and high winds in the regions that they originate from. It may also help them conserve energy, as growing much larger and stronger would require more resources and energy to do so. Since they are genetically different from their two main cousins, they take on a different appearance in the leaves as well, bearing a slightly altered version of the typical marijuana leaf shape.
Ruderalis Plant Height
Because of the adaptive abilities of cannabis ruderalis plants, they’ve developed a different way of growing than the other two main types of marijuana. They often grow in a much smaller and more compact fashion than sativa or indica plants, which is likely due to the climate where they originate from. Many of the plants in these mountainous or plains regions grow smaller and lower to the ground, which helps them conserve energy. It also protects them from wind, as it allows very strong winds, a common feature of these regions, to pass over them more easily. This gives them a higher rate of survival by making them less likely to break under the wind’s force. Because of these traits, cannabis ruderalis plants have a much shorter average height than your regular cannabis plant. It depends on who you ask exactly, but many growers say most of these plants don’t grow above three feet in height. In particularly small strains, they may not even make it over two feet in height. This makes them remarkably smaller than sativa strains, which can possess some of the tallest heights out of any marijuana plant. This trait makes cannabis ruderalis plants substantially lower yielding than most other strains as well. Another typical feature of this family of plants is their significantly lower period of growth and flowering. These strains will flower in as little as four weeks of vegetative growth, and they can reach full maturity only two months from planting.
The Shape Of Ruderalis Leaves
The main notable differences that you’ll see in a ruderalis plant over an indica or sativa plant are in its appearance. From the stems to the buds, ruderalis plants are substantially different from other families, and this trend continues on to the shape of the leaves. Because they require such a different growth pattern to survive properly in those bleak climates, an altered leaf pattern adds to the utility that these plants have created through the power of evolution. For example, in cannabis sativa plants, the leaves will be broad, long and have thin leaflets spreading out like an animal’s claws. They’re sparse and frail, allowing for better airflow in wetter climates. Cannabis indica plants have a much different shape, with a narrower structure but with very wide leaflets. This creates an appearance much more similar to a paper fan. Cannabis ruderalis plants have leaves that fall somewhere in the middle. The leaflets are very long but not very wide, leading to a rather leggy look. The shaggy growth pattern of the leaves may help the plant shrug off bad weather and heavy precipitation, though nobody’s exactly sure why they grow in such a different way. They also possess different coloring than other strains, and cannabis ruderalis plants often sport colors such as light green or muted blue or beige hues. The leaves don’t do much more than help the plant grow, and they’re not good for preparing or smoking as they usually contain no THC.
Ruderalis Cannabis Buds
In the buds of the cannabis ruderalis plant is where you’ll likely find the most distinguished difference between these plants and the indica and sativa families. The sativa cannabis and indica cannabis families are known for creating buds that are highly potent in THC, the compound that gets us high and makes us feel euphoric, warm and fuzzy. In plants that have a high amount of ruderalis genetics, the buds behave in a very different way. It’s not clear exactly what compounds these plants are best at producing, but most amateur researchers believe that cannabis ruderalis produce mostly CBD. It’s likely that if you harvest feral cannabis ruderalis, such as specimens found in the wild, there may not be many cannabinoids inside them at all. Because this family of plants isn’t optimal for being smoked to get high, there hasn’t been much research done on them. All we know for sure is that they’ll grow nearly anywhere, and they possess some unique genetic traits that can help us make all marijuana strains easier to cultivate. Weed Seeds offers autoflower seeds that utilize ruderalis genetics to flower automatically, making for a much simpler grow. Because of the fact that very little THC is found in ruderalis buds, it’s unlikely they will make a good marijuana to dry, cure and use to smoke. The absence of most cannabinoids will likely give you little to no effects, so it’s much better to go to other strains for these purposes.
Ruderalis Plant Stems
Along with the altered growth patterns of cannabis ruderalis plants, you’ll find many finer details that contribute to their unique identity. One of the traits that will be much more difficult to notice is the slightly different appearance of their stems. Cannabis ruderalis stems are significantly different from those of the sativa and indica varieties. Sativa plants tend to have strong stalks that extend high up in the air, and long stems that help them fan out their leaves. Indica strains have much shorter and sturdier stalks, along with stems that are more compact, causing their foliage to take on a much denser appearance. Cannabis ruderalis varieties are different from both of these varieties in order to support their differing bud structure. The buds are typically much smaller, so ruderalis plants don’t need stems as large. They possess smaller stems that are typically shorter but still stocky. This helps them keep their buds and leaves safe under high winds or other adverse weather conditions. Because of their much smaller size, these plants don’t usually possess many stems in the first place. They grow in a much smaller and more compact fashion, so they will have very dense foliage that’s generally lesser in size. Inside a cannabis ruderalis stem, you won’t find any cannabinoids or other psychoactive compounds. Only the buds of the plant may contain these compounds, so if you’re trying to harvest these modest cannabis varieties, you should go straight for the buds first.
Cannabinoids in Ruderalis Plants
In the buds of a cannabis plant is where the large majority of the cannabinoids are produced. A cannabinoid is a compound that’s produced by cannabis plants that can interact with the human endocannabinoid system. The cannabinoid that you are likely most familiar with is THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol. This compound is the one that makes up most of the psychoactive effects coming from any given marijuana plant. It gives human users an intense euphoric high that can sometimes feel dreamy, heavy, buzzing or even psychedelic. Given that the highest amounts of these compounds are produced in the buds of a cannabis plant, these are the parts that humans harvest and cure to create the weed we all know. The strength will determine how strong of an effect you get from the pot, and Weed Seeds sells high THC seeds that utilize some of the highest potency possible to create astoundingly strong effects. When looking at cannabis ruderalis plants though, they have a very different cannabinoid profile. These plants usually possess very little THC, and many researchers say that ruderalis plants typically produce mostly CBD. This compound is substantially different from THC, and most smokers agree that CBD usually doesn't provide much of a psychoactive high. While it’s not good for this purpose, many medicinal cannabis users swear by its pain relieving and restorative powers to help them cope with illness or injury. This means that marijuana ruderalis may not make a good candidate to get stoned with, but it could possibly provide some medicinal purpose.
Effects Of Ruderalis Flower
Given that cannabis ruderalis flower doesn’t usually contain much THC, it’s unlikely that smokers will experience any strong effects from these plants. The THC is what gives humans that floating high that’s typically experienced with cannabis. When inhaled, it can give an incredibly uplifting and giddy high, which can also induce hunger, laughter or put the user to sleep. This can help many users who suffer from mental or psychological difficulties, though many users also go to THC for physical restoration. THC has an ability to also relieve pain for many, helping relax muscles and joints as well as provide some possible relief of nausea. These effects are present in many cannabis sativa and cannabis indica strains, but not as much in cannabis ruderalis varieties. If you were to dry and cure ruderalis buds, you likely wouldn’t feel much if you were to smoke them. Given that many say these plants produce primarily CBD, they may possibly have the ability to help numb pain or provide a soothing effect. This is likely only possible using purchased ruderalis seeds though, as feral cannabis ruderalis providing any kind of effect or medicinal use is highly improbable. With Weed Seeds cannabis seeds, we use ruderalis genes to help make them easier to grow, which gave way to the creation of our autoflower seeds. WS auto seeds will give you all the best qualities of ruderalis cannabis, while still retaining the high levels of THC or CBD of its cousins for you to enjoy.
Growing Hybrids With Ruderalis Plants
When you put two different cannabis strains together, you’ll get a hybrid strain. This strain will have some balance of the genetics of the two parents, and it will give you effects and a grow similar to the traits of the parent plants. The addition of ruderalis genes to a marijuana strain can provide a number of different effects to the seeds. The main benefit of growing hybrid ruderalis plants is the fact that many of these strains have the trait of autoflowering. Because of the genes inside ruderalis plants, they will flower once they reach a certain age, rather than the typical photoperiod pattern of flowering once the sun begins to set earlier in the day. When you give these traits to regular cannabis plants, it makes them much simpler to cultivate, and you’ll need to pay less attention to them to bring them to harvest. It will give you the opportunity to plant your seeds and give them only the basic care needed, and they will do the rest of the work for you. After the growing is done, you can harvest them and begin drying your pot like usual. When browsing the Weed Seeds catalog, you can find seeds that have ruderalis genetics by searching for our auto seeds. You can even search for ruderalis in our search bar to find all the strains that possess some of those outstanding ruderalis weed genes, giving them increased hardiness and an automatic flowering period.
