Autoflowers do not need any darkness to grow.
Because autoflowering plants are not dependent on changes in the light cycle to commence flowering, they can successfully be grown using a lighting cycle of anything from 16/8 to 24/0.
Autoflowering seeds are good for at-home growers who don't need to grow massive volumes, and growers who live in compact spaces.
Ruderalis plants provide many of the desirable traits of autoflowering plants, but they also produce one noticeably undesirable one.
Autoflowering cannabis or day neutral cannabis varieties automatically switch from vegetative growth to the flowering stage based on age, as opposed to the ratio of light to dark hours required with photoperiod dependent/short-day strains.
Many autoflowering varieties are ready to harvest in less than 10 weeks from seed.
Dwarf varieties can have short stature while still giving decent harvests.
The origins of autoflowering cannabis are still debatable.
The strain Lowryder by breeder The Joint Doctor was the original large scale marketed autoflower.
Lowryder contains genetics from a Mexican strain that was referred to as Mexican Rudy and is believed to be created from a cross between a Mexican sativa and a Russian Cannabis ruderalis.
Another theory is that the early genetics came from the first oilseed hemp variety called Finola, which was developed from Russian stock in Finland during 1995.
These early hybrids with large amounts of C. ruderalis genes were lacking some of the finer qualities of high grade cannabis strains available.
The ruderalis subspecies of cannabis is highly resilient.
Native to the harsh climates of Russia, central Europe, and central Asia, ruderalis was officially identified in the wild regions of South Siberia by Janischewski, a Russian botanist, back in 1924.
Further hybrids from these ruderalis dominant strains were created using some of the more popular and standard photo-period sensitive strains.
Since the first mass market autoflower, Lowryder, many improvements have been made by breeders.
Because the effect was weak when consuming it due to its low THC levels, autoflowers weren't popular among recreational users.
A couple of years after its characteristics became known, autoflowering strains became of high interest to cannabis breeders.
Breeders started developing ruderalis hybrids that had high THC or CBD levels and only needed around 9 weeks to completely mature.
These hybrids became known as Autoflowering cannabis, for its ability to flower automatically without depending on darkness, like normal photoperiodic strains.
Some autoflowering strains now have up to 27% of THC.