Dear Cheri,

How many seeds should I buy in order to grow a single cannabis plant?  Or in other words, how many seeds do I need  in order to grow a cannabis plant?  Thank you.

Those are in fact two different questions.  Not to be a smartass, but technically it take one seed to grow one plant.  So if everything goes right, the answer is one. 

However, frequently, not everything goes right.  Which is why you might want to buy more than one seed.  Well actually, I don’t know of any place where you can buy a single seed.  More often than not they are sold in minimums of three.

Now if someone just gave you a bunch of seeds, you can sprout more, otherwise I might try to sprout 3 at a time, hoping more than one “pops” or sprouts, and that at least one of those is a girl.

Making sure you have a female plant is of crucial concern when growing from seeds.  You will want to yank any males as soon as possible in order not to have all your plants turn to seed instead of producing bodacious buds!

Why might you want to sprout more than 1 cannabis seed at a time even if you only want to grow one plant?

• The more seeds you sprout, the better the chances of a female plant.
• Even if you end up with all female plants, sprouting more than one let’s you choose the heartiest, most robust plant.
• Getting more female plants than you need allows you to gift your growing friends with a valuable gift.

The best cannabis seeds for beginning cannabis growers

If you are just starting out, and even sometimes after you are experienced, Mitch recommends feminized and/or auto flower seeds for beginner cannabis growers. 

This recommendation also extends to the casual home grower who just wants to grow some decent weed for personal use without having to do deep dives into cannabis cultivation techniques.

What are these magical beans you might ask?  You are likely to encounter these terms when shopping for cannabis seeds so let’s explore.

Feminized Cannabis Seeds

When you buy feminized cannabis seeds you are guaranteed to grow a female plant.  Especially for beginners, this takes away a lot of the worry.

Autoflower cannabis seeds

Autoflower seeds are feminized seeds but not ALL feminized seeds are necessarily autoflower seeds. 

Autoflower seeds take away (alomost all of the) guesswork.  When you buy an autoflower seed you know exactly what to expect.  You will know when to change the lights if growing indoors.  Or how long it will take when growing outdoors.  

Think of autoflower seeds as preprogrammed to transition from their vegetative to flowing states automatically at a designated time.  Simple!

Are there negatives to feminized and/or auto flower seeds?  Perhaps.  But at the beginner stage of your cannabis cultivation journey, in our opinion, the answer is no.