How Strains of Cannabis are Developed
Cannabis, like many other plants in agriculture, is a result of human intervention in nature. This is not abnormal; much of today’s farming focuses on crops producing specific traits and features for mass production. For example, original natural maize, the processor to what we know as corn today, was a very small crop in its original form. The big corn-on-the-cob harvest we enjoy at Thanksgiving didn’t exist centuries ago. It is a result of producing plant breeding variations so that corn today produces big cobs and thick kernels for food. Cannabis is no different. It is grown in different strains to produce different results and attributes, but all stemming from just a few native land race species that grow in the wild. Understanding what those strains are and can do then influences how Cannabis can be used, bred, and grown more effectively.
Which Strains are Better?
Asking which strain is better without any further details is a loaded question. Strains have different effects, and the condition you are trying to address can be met differently by one strain versus the other. For example, some strains are far more effective for pain. Others are more effective for relaxing and becoming calm or going to sleep. Again, what a person needs will dictate which strain to work with.
Technical Background
Strains are based on the marijuana plant’s chemotype or chemical profile, its phenotype and medical effects. There are lots of strains, and they can be categorized into groups such as chemovars and cultivars for example. There are up to 800 different strains available or produced in some manner, but lots of other variations and even new strains in the wild are possible. The number continues to grow over time due to growers continuing to experiment with different ideas and prototypes.
The Major Groupings to Note
In an overall grouping, strains fall into one of three buckets: hybrid, indica or Sativa. Each has a variation and impact on energy, senses dulling and relaxation. Sativa is the most famous of the three, producing psychoactive reactions when smoked. Indicate has less of the famous marijuana effects, and it is used far more for relaxation instead. Hybrid strains push the emphasis on THC or CBD, the chemical interactive elements that create effects when marijuana is consumed. Because these are mixes, a wide range of variation is possible, and those who really study and document effects create gradual variations in the dozens or hundreds to see what the changes result in.
See Strains in Person
To see strains in person and get a better idea of how varied marijuana products can be, it’s a good idea to visit a distributor like Silverton Marijuana Dispensary or similar. Guidance happens best through experience and seeing the actual differences produced both physically and at the chemical level provides some of the best education in how strains develop.
