I don’t think they necessarily are... I did some blueberry cheesecake that tried to outgrow the tent, and it was ridiculously resiny.
Well Indica hashplants are invariably shorter and have trichomes further down leaves than taller sativa genetics. The hashplants have been selected over millenia to produce more trichomes for hash production. Most of the favourable taller sativas have been selected for a different effect and use than trich size, density and coverage.
Its not a height thing but completely a genetic thing and possibly some people cant handle growing sativa dominant genetics very well
Here's a shot of the chop of a thunk cross I grow:
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Maybe 18" tall at harvest, 8-10g dried.
Micro style flowered in 16oz cup, 80 days in flower.
The root beer pheno.
I grow micro, none of my tops are 22" tall, I do a thunk that I LST that yields well.
A close up shot if another cross I'm making:
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Small plants under good lamps will yield good smoke.
what is thunk and where can i find seeds?
The classical indica or hashplant might look more similar to some of the auto crosses where the whole plant is a 1-2 ft. single cola. Completely different than a sativa which will grow like a tree. It's easy to see how the hashplant phenotype is easily suited to indoor growing when space and light cost money. This is a big reason for many of the cannabis crosses at least old ones from years ago.
The "% thc" of the whole entire plant will be a higher number if you compare a hashplant to a 15 ft. tall plant, even if the flowers are potent. Since the sativa phenotype might give you mostly fiber stalks by volume/weight and relatively few potent flowers, understandable why this isn't as lucrative, or even viable really for suppliers let alone hobbyists. Remembering years ago when I heard about 7 week chop, it is really cool to see more and more "tastier" maybe lesser yielding strains 60-80+ days being grown.
In my opinion?
It's a vpd thing. It's not the 'size' of the plant, it's the conditions it was flowered in. (cue size jokes) When you flower a plant in hot and humid conditions, like the equator, you get lots of growth. I believe you also get more plant under the same number of trichomes.
In my experience, when the same cut is flowered in both hot/humid and cool/dry conditions... the cool/dry plant finishes smaller (which is why a longer veg is needed for yields) but it also finishes significantly frostier.
Does that help at all?
Sure, I'm one of those not too shy about admitting I want to get away from early finishing strains that were designed exactly to maximize yield in the shortest time in the smallest space. I'd much rather have something "more natural" which I think is what many people are getting at. I'm sure the big bud x any strains still have a place. But I'd even take a long flowering sativa that required all the same work and yielded 20% as much compared to using that space for a high yield hybrid.
A commercial retail operation which is what the recreational business looks like (think frys best buy etc) is designed to reduce costs while maximizing profits and I suppose I could throw in "stimulate the economy" as much as possible. This could be interpreted as creating jobs and/or wasting money/environmental resources depending on your position or perception. Without getting into much detail this is different than a community-supported agriculture model i.e. grower to consumer. Although the commercial space may want to claim this it is also not the same as truly "best of the best" cannabis without regarding budget or time constraints. Kind of an odd turnaround but if medicinal properties exist then compassionate caregiving beats cascading compound recreational taxes hands down. Considering the opioid and fentanyl epidemic, and assuming people are able to use CBD with some relief, I would carefully consider exactly how and where and for what purpose any mass produced cannabis products are coming from. I mean, I would personally take moral issue with my canna pills being made by or with the same money that made the fentanyl. But not everyone shares that opinion, whether it's ignorance or something else. There is a cannabis community outside of dispensaries and novice users. I don't want to use the word opposite but the fastest savviest investors on the business end may or may not overlap a lot with the best cultivators, experts etc. Being blunt here but we all know that just because it says "glue" doesn't mean it's particularly real or great and some place is filling the role of churning out walmart weed.
It's quite similar to me to having the ability to choose different brands and quality produce at the grocery store. The hothouse tomatoes will always be there, and I am not saying that anyone should remove hothouse tomatoes from the shelf altogether. I am saying that I can still buy the heirlooms at the farmer's market. I think the legal-recreational axis can maybe try to figure something out for the self-sufficient portion of the market.