Seed type

Regular seeds are natural and untampered-with cannabis seeds. The "regular" attribute is merely to distinguish these seeds from feminized seeds.

Feminized seeds, on the other hand, always grow into female plants. Some growers consider this convenient, as it eliminates the need to determine the plant's sex and the risk of having male plants fertilizing the female ones. Buyers of regular seeds will need to cull the males as soon as they show sex.

Regular seeds can grow into either male or female plants. The ratio is about 50/50. Please keep in mind that's an average. Sometimes you'll get 2 females only, or if you're in luck, 9 females and a single male. Usually, you'll end up with roughly the same amount of female plants whether you buy feminized or not, because feminized seeds come 5 to a pack and regulars are 10 to a pack.

Regular seeds are generally considered to be stabler and less prone to hermaphroditism. A feminised plant that is stressed (for example by light leaks, too much heat or cold, or by being replanted too often) may develop male as well as female flowers. Generally speaking, the choice between regular and feminized seeds is a personal one. Either option could suit you, depending on your experience, grow room facilities and personal preferences.

Medical Use

Medical strains are particularly suitable for medicinal applications. These are all strains with a proven track record as medical marijuana. Please read the description to find out more about specific applications: some strains are good painkillers, others stimulate the appetite or lift your mood.

Effect

The effect of cannabis can be felt in either your head or your body, or both. Generally, sativa-dominant strains have more of a cerebral effect; that is, you feel high and the effect is mainly felt in your head. This effect is often uplifting, energizing, inspirational, visual, trippy, social and mind-expanding. Indica-dominant strains generally produce more of a body buzz: you feel stoned and the effect is felt mainly in the body. Some strains offer a mixed effect felt in the head as well as the body (usually a high followed by a body stone).

Nirvana Shop categorizes its strains into three effects: head high, body stone, or a combination.

Flowering Period

The term flowering period refers to the number of weeks a plant will flower in total, from the moment it comes into bloom until harvesting time. So the number of weeks specified is the average time it takes from inducing flowering to harvesting, NOT to the time it takes from seed to harvest (because that is highly individual, depending on how long you choose to veg).

Bear in mind that the flowering period we specify for each strain is an average. The flowering period can fluctuate because of several factors (whether you're growing outdoors or not, or whether the plants are stressed). Avoid light leaks and nutrient issues to make the flowers ripen more quickly.

Cultivation

Depending on how experienced a grower you are, you can pretty much try to grow any strain outdoors as well as indoors. But we've made a rough classification of strains best suited to indoor (or greenhouse) growing, and strains suitable for outdoor cultivation.

Average Yield

The yield you see specified for our strains is NOT per plant. It is the average yield you can expect from 1 m² of plants grown in a Sea of Green - that's why it says (g/m² in SOG). Remember, the amount you harvest is dependent on lots of variables, so your mileage may vary!

We cannot account for all the differences between individual growers, phenotypes, growrooms, training techniques etc., which is why we've chosen to list the average yield in a common set-up like SOG. Basically, the numbers tell you whether the strain can give modest, medium or huge yields, but not exactly how modest or how huge. Different techniques and grow circumstances may lead to higher or lower yields than the amount indicated.

Flavor

Flavors may vary according to phenotype, nutrient use, and grow conditions (indoor/outdoor, organic/hydro/soil), and the smoker's tastebuds, of course. But we have tried to provide a general idea of what each strain tastes like: pungent or sweet, fruity or fuelly, etc.

Plant Height

The ultimate height your plants will attain depends on many factors, such as the length of the vegging period, the height at which your lamps are suspended, whether you grow indoors or outside, etc etc.

This is why we've decided to give only a general indication of plant height in our shop. Roughly speaking, plants categorized as short will not go over 1.5 metres, or 5 feet. Often, they stay well short of that, especially in the case of autoflowering varieties.

Tall plants start at 2 metres / 6'5'' or so, although they can be pruned or trained to stay short. They can grow very tall (under excellent conditions) when left free to grow guerilla-style and will then yield immense amounts.

Medium-sized plants fall in between and will generally grow no taller than 2 metres / 6'5''.

Plant Type

The technical classification of the different (sub)species of the Cannabis genus has been a matter of controversy for centuries. We won't go into that whole debate here, as there are plenty of websites that already have.

For recreational/cultivating purposes, it is useful to distinguish three subtypes of cannabis: sativa, indica and ruderalis.

The term sativa is used to indicate cannabis that grows in tall, lanky plants with wide branches, either bamboo- or Christmas tree-shaped. Sativa strains are usually higher in THC and lower in CDB, meaning their effect is cerebral, i.e. it works on the mind rather than the body. The high can be energising or uplifting, making you feel giddy, happy, social or trippy.

The term indica designates cannabis that grows on short, dense, bushy plants. Indica strains are popular for indoor grows, especially when space is limited. Indicas usually show higher levels of CDB than sativas, making for a heavier, stonier effect, also known as a body stone, body buzz or couchlock stone. Indicas may make you feel drowsy, sedated and even numb, and their effect can be pain-killing, sleep-inducing and calming.

The term ruderalis is used to refer to the short, stocky cannabis plants that grow wild in Europe and Central Asia. Ruderalis plants are not dependent on light cycles to start flowering, which is why autoflowering strains contain ruderalis genes.

Of course, most modern cannabis strains are carefully bred to produce hybrids. These combine the best of their ancestor's traits, and often even more strongly so!