As long as people continue to enjoy consuming cannabis, there’s a market for growing marijuana. And when there’s a demand, there’s a profit to be made.
As of May 2021, New York and New Jersey were in short supply of legal weed. New Jersey’s old dispensaries couldn’t keep up, and cannabis corporations dread the incoming surge of demand that’s yet to peak. If there were any prime time to join the “green rush,” it’d be now.
Top Cash Crop Strains
This article helps aspiring entrepreneurs choose the best marijuana cash crop strain for themselves. For experienced growers, I’ve created a list of the best cash crop cannabis strain to grow.
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What Are Cash Crop Strains?
The textbook definition of a cash crop is a plant that you grow for selling rather than consuming, making all marijuana strains potential cash crops. It does depend on what the popular and most sought-after strain is in your area.
There could be no greater time than now to start your own little business of growing cannabis. Medical dispensaries are in short supply, and the demand for weed is growing with each day.
It’s estimated that the market size (people who are likely to buy the product) will reach 97 billion in 2026. Essentially, this means consumers may seek home growers when large cannabis corporations can’t meet the demands.
Best Indica Strains
Also Read our Top Indica Strains
Buy Indica weed seeds for a relaxing, high-yielding, easy grow. Find the best Indica marijuana seeds at ILGM’s seed bank.
To avoid the same problem as the New York and New Jersey weed shortage, you would need the best cash crop strain that produces a considerable harvest.
And although all cash crop strains on this list have high yields (hence high profits), some outperform others. The cash crop strains differ in the amount of harvest, which is worth considering based on your cannabis profit plans.
Seeds like Green Crack and White Widow are examples of high-yielding strains that are the prime picks for any grower, experienced or otherwise, because of the large harvest they have in return.
They’re also quite popular among customers, with Green Crack, in particular, becoming so well known that it was renamed Green Kush to make it easier to recommend. However, if these two strains aren’t for you, I’ve curated a list of the best cash crops strains for you to choose from.
Best Cash Crop
The Best Cash Crop Cannabis Strains to Grow
Big Bud Strain
Big Bud
With its high, 26% THC content, Big Bud is our choice for high-potency. It’s perfect for those seeking a heavy-hitting smoke. Big Bud also lives up to its name by delivering a considerable harvest of 25oz (708g), and you can bump those numbers with the right growing techniques.
Growing Big Bud is fairly easy since it doesn’t require a lot of attention. You do need to pay some attention, though, since its flowers grow so dense and heavy that the stems could snap from the weight alone. You can expect to harvest around mid-October when it finishes its 12-week flowering period in an outdoor setup.
Super Silver Haze Strain
Super Silver Haze
Super Silver Haze is a popular strain among consumers who want to enjoy marijuana throughout the day and still manage day-to-day tasks. It brightens your mood and puts you in a creative spirit, taking away any stress or lethargy.
It’s what I like to call the perfect recreation strain since it helps with mood and won’t leave you couch locked.
Growing this strain requires a lot of care and attention. It prefers indoors but is highly resistant to diseases. But, all your attention will go to feeding it the right amount of nutes and exposing it to an exact amount of light. Do all of this right, and you’ll be rewarded with 19oz (538g) per square meter after it finishes its flowering period in 10-11 weeks.
Chronic Widow Strain
Chronic Widow
Chronic Widow is my pick for the best cash crop strain with the best flavor. If you happen to love the taste of chai lattes and cinnamon rolls, then the spicy-sweet flavor of this strain might just be for you. There’s also its immediate effects which pair well with that unique taste. Chronic Widow is a fast-acting head and body high that would get you out of any slump. And once the high dies down, its residual effects would leave you feeling relaxed and sleepy.
Just like its parent, White Widow, this strain takes some effort. Generally, you should grow this strain in a Mediterranean climate. Some effort will reward you with a harvest of 20oz (566g) per plant outdoors after its 12-week flowering period.
Amnesia Haze Strain
Amnesia Haze
Amnesia Haze is our pick for the best fast growing cash crop strain due to its 9-week flowering period. When grown indoors, Amnesia Haze flowers fast and is quickly ready to harvest. Its considerable and consistent yield of 21oz (595g) per square meter beats Big Bud’s indoor yield of 12-20oz (340-566g).
You won’t have to worry about sitting on a surplus of Amnesia Haze either. The citrusy taste mixed in its earthy flavor has made it one of the prime picks when it comes to customers. In fact, Amnesia Haze’s popularity has earned multiple awards. It was awarded the 1st place Cannabis Cup in 2004 and earned its 1st place Sativa Cup in the 2012 (The Founders) Cannabis Cup.
Chocolope Strain
Chocolope
Chocolope is our choice as the best outdoor cash crop strain due to its big yield of 32oz (907g) per plant. Chocolope doesn’t just have a considerable harvest but a flavorful one. With its chocolatey taste and coffee scent, this strain will rake in customers looking for a substitute for a cup of joe. Because this strain is known for keeping you focused throughout the day and keeping you energized and happy while doing your morning routine.
And although I chose this for our best outdoor cash crop strain, Chocolope can still be grown indoors and would even reduce its flowering period from 13 weeks to 9. However, it also reduces its yield to 21oz (595g).
Boost Marijuana Yield
How to Boost Your Marijuana Yield
Any strain can be a cash crop when you know how to produce high yields. Here are some techniques you can use to increase yield and turn your cash crop strain into one of the best cash crop strains around your area.
Provide the right type of light
It’s a known fact that light is important for cannabis. Light is cannabis’s means of producing food and energy. To us growers, though, light is a means to increase yield. By providing intense light during their flowering period, the buds on your plant will grow denser. It’s in the same vein as low-stress training (LST). Instead of manipulating the shape of your plants, you increase the intensity of exposed light.
This method of increasing yield is favored by indoor growers who have full control over the light they give to their plants. In particular, you could use a full-spectrum UVB grow light that causes marijuana to produce more trichomes. And more trichomes mean more potent buds.
If you want to know more about trichome production and proper lighting, check out my article on increasing trichome production.
Download my free marijuana grow guide and start growing high quality strains
Adjust container size accordingly
When working with any plant, it’s natural to first grow in small nursery pots before moving into larger ones. This is the same for cannabis. It’s easier for your seedlings or clones to get the right mixture of water, nutrients, and air in smaller pots instead of big containers. This lets them grow faster as they’re not focusing on root development as much to find the nutes and water they need.
As your cannabis plant grows, you would need to transplant them in bigger pots as they begin to demand more nutrients and water. It’s also a way to avoid your plants from becoming rootbound, a condition where your plant’s roots have taken up all the space in the pot. To avoid that, here’s a general guide for when to transplant:
Feed your plants with the right nutrients
A common mistake for any new grower is thinking that giving their plants a surplus of nutrients means they’ll end up with a larger plant with big buds. That’s not the case, however, due to nutrient burn. Nutrient burn causes plants to become stressed due to excessive amounts of nutrients in the soil. Nitrogen burn gets its name from its tendency to turn cannabis leaves yellow.
To avoid making the same mistake, treat nutes as you would vitamins. They’re there to provide a bit more just in case your plant needs it, and you can check the condition of your plants through their leaves. An important red herring to take note of, though, is when your cannabis is in its flowering stage. They tend to lose leaves during this time, but that’s not a sign of concern because all the nutrients are actually going into bud production.
Marijuana Advanced Growing Techniques
Use advanced training techniques
Advanced growing techniques include methods for increasing the number of colas in your plants. Colas are the flowering site for your cannabis. So, more colas mean more buds, and more buds mean bigger yields. There are two types of advanced growing techniques:low-stress training (LST) and high-stress training (HST).
The most commonly used LST is bending the stems of your plants while they’re young. This naturally causes more colas to develop as the cannabis grows wide and flat. Meanwhile, HST involves cutting cannabis plants so that they grow bushier. This can take the form of monster cropping, super cropping, and topping, all of which you can learn extensively about in our article on advanced growing techniques.
Time your harvest perfectly.
Once your cannabis has finished its flowering period and is ready for harvest, it’s in your best interest to take your time and let the buds fully ripen during the 2-3 week harvest window. By doing this, you’ll see an increase in their overall size.
That’s not all. Waiting for the buds to ripen increases their potency, which you can see for yourself by observing the clear trichomes turning milky white. It’s said that trichomes in this stage have the highest THC and CBD content. And if given more time, the milky white trichomes will take on an amber color. In this stage, there’s less THC content in them which produces a more relaxing feeling as opposed to a buzz found in the earlier stage.
Feminized Seeds
Autoflower Seeds
Hybrid Seeds
Final thoughts
To summarize, the cannabis industry is a growing market that needs more growers to keep up with the demand. And to combat the weed shortage, cash crop strains of cannabis were bred to produce larger yields.
To truly make a profit, though, you shouldn’t just rely on good genetics. You’ll also need to know about the different growing techniques that will further increase your yield.
FAQs About Cash Crop Weed Strains
What strains do commercial growers grow?
Generally, they would use any strain available to them. Growers pick strains that are high-yielding, easy to grow, or cost-effective. The strains growers pick typically do not require a lot of nutrients or effort to grow. They may also pick popular strains because they sell immediately in the market.
Can an autoflower be a cash crop?
Because autoflowers are known for their low yields, they’re not exactly the prime picks for commercial growers. However, I do carry Super Lemon Haze Autoflower, an autoflowering strain, and it can potentially be a high-yielding plant under an experienced hand.
Are there any high-CBD cash crop weed strains?
Absolutely! ILGM has a wide variety of cannabis strains to pick from with guaranteed germination, including those with high CBD. Use the filter in my store to narrow down my full collection of high-yielding seeds to those with high CBD.
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