RQS can help you decide on a seed in just seven questions
Finding the ideal strain for your home cannabis grow can be one of the most intimidating parts of starting a cannabis journey. Ph levels, light content, climate, indoor vs outdoor, all of these factors have a huge influence on your decision, and that’s not even to mention the most important part—that it’s gotta be fun to smoke as well.
This isn’t just a problem for greenhorns either. Experienced cannabis growers can also struggle to find an exciting new strain to grow, and some exciting strains that they would love may fly under their radar, a missed connection that can leave growers missing out on their possible new favorite. Searching for a strain can feel like endlessly scrolling through a streaming service, paralyzed by the overwhelming amount of choice.
Royal Queen Seeds, one of the most forward-thinking and innovative seedbanks around, is out to help streamline the process and reduce analysis paralysis. They’ve developed an online seedfinder tool to help growers search Royal Queen Seeds’ huge library for the strain that best fits their needs and flavor preferences without the stress of doing painstaking research. No matter your situation, style, or location, Royal Queen Seeds has a strain that you’ll be satisfied with and a few more fun options besides.
Now, that may all sound well and good, but how does it look in practice? We asked one of our writers to use himself as a guinea pig and go through the Seedfinder process to see how Royal Queens’ process works when faced with some real-world conditions. How did our intrepid writer/grower fare? Read on to find out, or click the link below to head straight to the Seedfinder!
Our writer takes a pot quiz
Autoflowering versus photo-dependent
When curious growers like our writer navigate to the Royal Queen Seeds Seedfinder, they first have to decide whether they’re looking for an autoflowering or photo-dependent strain. This is one of the biggest decisions any grower has to make, and it behooves new growers to research the difference between these two categories of seeds to decide which best suits their needs.
Our writer decided to go for the autoflowering strains. While the increased crop yield of the photo-dependent seeds was intriguing, our writer instead opted for the unrivaled speed and convenience of Royal Queen Seeds’ premium autoflowers. While our writer has significant experience consuming cannabis, he’s a relative newcomer to growing and appreciates the low maintenance offered by Royal Queen Seeds’ autoflowers.
Where do you plan to grow?
The nifty Seedfinder tool next asked our writer about his living situation, and whether he grew his weed indoors, outdoors, in a greenhouse, or on a balcony. Our writer lives in an apartment in a city in the Pacific Northwest, where sunlight is a precious commodity in short supply. He had a dedicated corner of his apartment given over to his growing supplies, but his windows face north and only catch sunlight at rare hours.
These types of limiting factors present the sort of situation that the RQS Seedfinder excels at solving; with just the addition of a humble, commercially available grow light and the right strain, our writer is well set up to grow and harvest his cannabis, even in the bleak, long darkness of the PNW winter.
How much space are you working with?
The next question asks how much space you have in your growing area, and if you would prefer tall, large plants or cannabis of a more manageable size. Expert growers know that cannabis plants can look wildly different from each other once grown, with as much as a 100 cm difference in height between strains. This is due to the different phenotypic expressions of indicas, sativas, and the myriad of hybrids.
While tall and large plants can yield more smokable cannabis per harvest, our writer chose instead to make the most out of his apartment’s limited space with short and compact strains. Taller plants also require a bit more resources to remain healthy, and our writer has limited funds for potting soil. No preference for your grow? No worries. You don’t need to answer this question if you’re open to either tall or short plants.
Ideal grow timeframe
Another important factor in finding your ideal seed strain is how much time you have once your plants begin to flower. It’s largely up to a grower’s personal preference if they like to harvest their cannabis as swiftly as possible, or if they have time to burn. Our writer isn’t going anywhere and isn’t in any hurry; he opted to limit his search to strains with an extended flowering period and settle in for the long haul.
Potency particulars
At this point, things start getting even more fun, as the test shifts from focusing on limiting factors of your cannabis seed options to the exciting details that growers dream about. To signify this change, Royal Queen Seeds’ next question is simple; how potent would you like your weed?
The stronger stuff is better for making edibles and concentrates, while lower-THC content cannabis is the preference of many growers who prefer a more mellow high. As you might expect from a writer at a cannabis publication, our writer has a formidable tolerance to THC, so he selected the high-THC strains for his grow.
Multiple Choice
These next two questions are an important and unique part of the test; it’s the only section where you can select multiple different answers. We’re about to get into the psychoactive parts of cannabis consumption, so it’s important to note that everyone experiences cannabis a bit differently. While a strain may induce a certain effect like euphoria or hunger in the majority of cannabis consumers, your individual mileage may vary.
Desired effects
The sixth question on the Seedfinder docket regards the effects that you want to experience when you finally get to consume your cannabis. RQS has split the massive field of cannabis effects into four broad categories; Physically Relaxed, Uplifted, Focused, and Psychedelic, which Royal Queen Seeds uses as their category for their intense strains meant for experienced consumers.
As a note, the strains under the Psychedelic tag will not give you any sort of hallucinogenic effects akin to those of LSD or magic mushrooms, although they will most certainly get you quite stoned. Our writer opted for options B and D, Uplifted and Psychedelic effects, following his personal preference for sativa-like strains that don’t hold anything back.
What’s your flavor?
The final question before the big reveal is another pleasure to answer; this time, Royal Queen Seeds wants to know how you like your weed to taste. This is the biggest preference that you’ll be selecting, and just like the question before, this one is multiple choice.
Our writer had his choice of Sweet, Earthy, Sour, and Dank options, an excellent breakdown of the four big categories of cannabis flavor. As an open-minded cannabis consumer, our writer initially considered selecting all four options. However, a quick inventory of his favorite strains revealed a predominance of Haze family picks, so he decided to stick with what he knew and only opted for the Sour tag.
And the winner is…
After less than five minutes with the Royal Queen Seeds online Seedfinder tool, our writer had the ideal strain for his growing conditions, Royal Haze Auto. Although it’s the progeny of famous parents Amnesia Haze and Skunk, Royal Haze is no nepo-baby, and some would argue the strain even rises above its well-known pedigree.
Royal Haze Auto will grow to around two to three feet tall and doesn’t mind a low-light environment, an eminently manageable combo for our writer’s PNW pad. While Royal Haze isn’t the strongest strain around, it has a respectable THC content that will be more than enough to help our writer feel energized and focused once his plants are ready to harvest.
That isn’t all that Royal Queen Seeds’ Seedfinder has for our writer. It suggested four other knockout strains that all met his selection criteria. If Royal Haze Auto didn’t strike our writer’s fancy for any reason, the Seedfinder also suggested autoflowering varieties of Pink Runtz, Royal Cheese, Amnesia Haze, and Royal Jack. While all of these strains would excel in our writer’s grow area, they are all very different strains from one another, giving him the ability to make an informed decision as to which strain (or strains) to purchase.
And that is the real value of the Royal Queen Seeds online Seedfinder; not only does it give you a quick way to narrow down the many strain options, but it also teaches you how to think like one of Royal Queen Seeds’ expert breeders. The Seedfinder helps new growers learn what factors are important when it comes to selecting their strains, and what is just noise. The Seedfinder is also an invaluable tool for experienced growers looking to discover new favorites. Thanks to Royal Queen Seeds, all it takes to find the new superstar strain of your grow is five minutes and an internet connection. Take the quiz and uncover your ideal strains today.
The online Seedfinder is just one of many reasons to check out the Royal Queen Seeds website. Not only can you browse their library of over 200 strains, but you can also peruse their online headshop and buy Royal Queen Seeds merch as well. They’ve also got heaps of online resources to help you take your grow to the next level. While you’re there, make sure to follow Royal Queen Seeds on social media (Instagram, X, Facebook) to keep up with all their new updates, like their collaboration with Mike Tyson and Tyson 2.0.
Availability subject to law
