Autoflower vs Feminized Seeds: The Complete Guide

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Two of the most common questions we get at Devil’s Harvest Seeds: What’s the difference between autoflower and feminized seeds? and Which should I be growing?

They’re different in one fundamental way — how and when they flower — and that single difference changes almost every aspect of the grow. Here’s the complete breakdown.

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What Are Feminized Seeds?

Feminized seeds are bred to produce only female plants. In cannabis cultivation, only female plants produce the buds you’re after. Male plants produce pollen and, if left unchecked, will fertilise the females — reducing quality and triggering seed production.

Before feminized seeds became widespread, growers had to germinate more seeds than they needed, identify and remove males during early flowering, and accept significant waste. Feminized seeds eliminate that problem.

Key characteristics:

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What Are Autoflower Seeds?

Autoflowering seeds come from genetics that include Cannabis ruderalis — a subspecies that evolved in northern latitudes where light cycles are unreliable. Ruderalis developed the ability to flower based on age rather than light, and breeders have crossed those genetics into modern strains to create autoflowers.

Key characteristics:

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Head to Head

	Feminized	Autoflower
Flowering trigger	Light cycle (12/12)	Age-based (automatic)
Total grow time	3–5 months	60–90 days
Plant size	Medium to large	Small to medium
Yield per plant	Higher	Lower
Grows per year	2–3 (indoors)	4–6 (indoors)
Light schedule flexibility	Needs 12/12 to flower	Any schedule works
Best for	Experienced growers, higher yields	Beginners, fast cycles, small spaces
Cloning	Yes	Not recommended

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The Case for Feminized Seeds

Maximum yield. If you’re running a proper indoor setup with controlled light, feminized photoperiod genetics will produce heavier harvests per plant. You control the veg period — run it longer and you grow a larger plant with more bud sites.

Cloning. You can take cuttings from a feminized plant during veg and create genetically identical copies. With autoflowers, this isn’t practical — by the time a clone roots, the mother is already well into flower.

Genetic expression. Many experienced growers feel that photoperiod strains — given time — express their genetics more fully. If you want to experience the ceiling of what a strain can do, feminized photoperiod is the route.

Our feminized range: Shoreline, RLX OG Kush, Zuper Z, Banana OG, G.M.O. (Garlic Cookies), Gelato Cream Pie, Peanut Butter Toast, Sugar Guavaz, Strawberry Sour Diesel, Shoreting

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The Case for Autoflower Seeds

Speed. 60–90 days from seed to harvest is genuinely fast. For a grower who wants results quickly — or wants to run multiple cycles a year — autoflowers are unbeatable.

Simplicity. No light schedule management. No male identification, nor veg-to-flower transition. You plant, you water, you harvest. For beginners, this removes significant complexity from the process.

Discretion. Autoflowers stay small. A plant that tops out at 60–80cm is far easier to manage discreetly than a feminized plant left to veg for 6–8 weeks.

Outdoor flexibility. Because they don’t depend on the light cycle, autoflowers can be grown outdoors across multiple windows of the season — planted in spring, harvested in summer, then another run before autumn.

Our autoflower range: Golden Haze Auto, Lemon Cherry Gelato Auto, Melonade Auto, OG Reek’n Auto, Strawberry Sour Diesel Auto

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What About Quality?

This question used to have a clear answer. Early autoflowers were noticeably behind photoperiod genetics in quality. That gap has closed significantly. Modern autoflower breeding — including the genetics we make at Devil’s Harvest — produces results that stand up well against feminized equivalents.

For the majority of growers in most setups, a well-grown autoflower from quality genetics will produce excellent results. The ceiling is still higher with feminized photoperiod strains if you’re running an optimised setup and putting in the time — but the gap is smaller than it’s ever been.

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Which Should You Choose?

Choose feminized if you:

Choose autoflower if you:

Many growers run both simultaneously — autoflowers for a constant rolling harvest, feminized photoperiod plants for their showcase grows. There’s no reason to choose only one.