The term “bud” refers to the dried and cured flower of the cannabis plant that most people purchase and consume. Whether you can grow a new plant from this material depends entirely on the biological starting material found within the product. Successful propagation requires either a viable seed or a living, vegetative cutting, though only a seed may be accidentally present in cured flower. Cannabis plants are started either through sexual reproduction using a seed or through asexual reproduction by cloning a living piece of plant tissue.
Propagation by Finding Seeds
The most straightforward way to grow a plant from cured flower is by finding a mature seed, often called a “bag seed.” These seeds result from accidental pollination during the plant’s growth cycle, leading to a fully formed embryo within the harvested flower. Mature seeds are typically hard, firm, and dark, displaying colors from brown to gray, often with a mottled or striped pattern.
Immature seeds, which appear pale green, white, or are soft enough to crush easily, are unlikely to germinate successfully. They lack the necessary internal development to sustain a seedling. Viable seeds can be germinated using the paper towel method, placed between damp paper towels in a dark, warm environment. This allows the seed to absorb moisture, triggering the embryo to emerge as a small white taproot. Once the taproot is visible, the seed can be gently transplanted into a growing medium.
Why Cured Flower Cannot Be Cloned
The dried, cured flower material itself cannot be used to grow a new plant through cloning or rooting. Cloning requires taking a cutting from a living plant that is actively growing and in a vegetative state. The harvested bud has been dried to remove a significant portion of its water content, which severely compromises the vascular system needed to transport water and nutrients to a newly forming root structure.
Furthermore, the curing process initiates senescence, or programmed cell death, within the plant material. The flower tissue lacks the living meristematic cells and hormonal balance—specifically auxins—required to generate adventitious roots. Attempting to root a piece of dried flower will only result in the material molding or decaying, as the physiological conditions necessary for survival and regeneration are absent.
Proper Vegetative Propagation Techniques
The correct method for creating a genetically identical copy of a plant, known as cloning or vegetative propagation, involves taking a cutting from a live mother plant. This technique bypasses the need for seeds and ensures the clone possesses the desired traits of the original. A cutting is a small piece of a healthy, vegetative stem, typically four to six inches long, taken with a clean, sharp blade just below a node.
The fresh cut is often dipped into a rooting hormone gel or powder, typically containing indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), to stimulate the development of new root cells. The cutting is then placed into a rooting medium, such as a rockwool cube or peat pellet, and kept in a highly humid environment, often under a humidity dome. High humidity, maintained between 70–90%, is critical to prevent the unrooted cutting from drying out while it develops its root system. The goal is to keep the cutting in a stable, moist environment with low-intensity light until the new roots emerge, which usually takes about three weeks.
Basic Requirements for Cannabis Growth
Once a seed has germinated or a clone has successfully rooted, the resulting plant requires specific environmental conditions to sustain its growth through the vegetative and flowering stages. The vegetative phase focuses on developing a strong root system and foliage. Plants thrive with a long light cycle, often 18 hours of light followed by 6 hours of darkness daily. The required light intensity is moderate, typically around 600 micromoles per square meter per second (\(\mu\text{mol}/\text{m}^2/\text{s}\)) when grown indoors.
Temperature and humidity control are also important for healthy growth, with plants preferring temperatures in the 70–85°F (21–29°C) range during the vegetative stage. The choice of growing medium can vary widely, from traditional soil mixes to soilless options like coco coir or hydroponic systems. Nutrient requirements shift as the plant matures; the vegetative stage demands higher levels of nitrogen to support leaf and stem growth, while the subsequent flowering stage requires a decrease in nitrogen and an increase in phosphorus and potassium.