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The final harvest of a plant is a result of its “nature” and “nurture.” The potential for high-potency cannabis is determined by genetics, or nature. However, environmental conditions, or nurture, affect the plant’s growth and yield. Some plants have the genetic potential to produce high-quality cannabis and others do not. The goal of the cultivator is to provide the optimal environment to nurture the plants so they reach their full genetic potential.
Cannabis is a fast-growing annual plant, although some varieties in warm areas can overwinter by going dormant as the days shorten, then grow and flower again the next summer. The plant evolved on the Tibetan plateau, where the altitude averages 10,000 feet (3,000 m). Cannabis has evolved to grow, flower, and seed before the autumn snow in order for the population to survive to grow the following season.
Cannabis does best in a well-drained, nutrient-rich growing medium and requires long periods of bright, unobstructed light daily. Cannabis is usually dioecious, meaning plants are either male or female. Annual dioecious plants are rather unique in the plant kingdom.
Occasionally monoecious plants, or hermaphrodites, appear and produce both male and female flowers; however, this is often a function of a plant being stressed to induce hermaphroditism. Hermaphroditic plants are most common among some varieties native to south Asia, but can also result from inadequate light, poor nutrition, or switching from long uninterrupted nights to short or interrupted dark periods and back again. Because monoecious plants produce male flowers that can pollinate females, they are undesirable and should be removed from the garden as soon as they appear to avoid a pollination event.
Cannabis grown in the wild or with traditional methods outdoors has an annual cycle that begins with seed germination in the early spring. The plant grows vigorously in a vegetative state for several months as the days get longer and they begins to flower as the lengthening darkness reaches a critical period in late summer or early fall.
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