Indica vs Sativa

As you dive deeper into the world of marijuana you will keep hearing references such as ‘Indica’, ‘Sativa’, and ‘Hybrid’. These are not just names for cannabis, they are distinctive subspecies of the cannabis plant. Each type comes with different effects when smoked, let me break it down for you.

What type of high does each subspecies give?

It has always been a myth that these subspecies give different types of high. The actual type of high comes from the Cannabinoids and Terpene profiles of the plant.

For many years smokers relied on selecting a subspecies of cannabis for their preferred high. But as marijuana finally starts to get some real in-depth research, highly qualified chemists have found evidence to show that no matter whether the cannabis species is Indica or Sativa, the psychoactive effect can be very different from plants within the same species;

So basically, instead of looking at ‘Indica vs Sativa’ we should be looking into the Cannabinoids and Terpene profiles. Obviously, that is hard to do when you are buying a seed, so reading and paying attention to the product description is your best bet.

Type of high from Indica Cannabis

As stated above, this question is now redundant, but the general premise of an Indica was this:

When you smoke a dominant Indica strain you may feel something along the lines of:

• A heavy full body high
• Physically sedated, rendering you lethargic
• Decrease in nausea and pain
• Relaxed muscles

Indica strains are reported to have many medicinal properties for things such as loss of appetite, pain relief, combating insomnia and reducing nausea. Many users prefer to smoke an Indica at night time.

Type of high from Sativa Cannabis

As stated above, this question is now redundant, but the general premise of a Sativa was this:

Smoking on some Sativa dominant cannabis may feel something along the lines of:

• Reduced anxiety
• Reduced Depression
• Feeling uplifted, creative and focused
• Serotonin increase

Sativas are also a popular medicinal strain for things such as chronic pain relief. It is often recommend for day time use due to not leaving the user feeling tired or couch bound when smoked.

Sativa vs Indica Effects

So is it really this straight forward? Not anymore! Assuming the type of high the user will get is really not as easy as identifying its species; Although for many years, people thought it was. There is a method available to determine the effect of every cannabis strain. But we need to dive much deeper into marijuana science!

To truly identify the type of high you will get we need to look at the chemical balance within the marijuana. The two main key ingredients are Cannabinoids and Terpenes. Finding more information on these two key ingredients will give us some details on how the user can expect to feel when smoking the marijuana.

We sell cannabis seeds of all types, you can pick up Indica dominant strains such as White Widow, Black Domina and Bubba Kush. We also have some Sativa dominant seeds such as Cinderella 99 and Chocolope.

Hybrid Cannabis Explained

Pretty simple. The majority of marijuana strains out there have a random balance of both Indica & Sativa; placing them under the title ‘Hybrid’.

What does a hybrid cannabis plant look like

This really depends on the ratio the strain holds from each subspecies. But if you take a look at the fan leaves and compare them to dominant Indica and Sativa plants you can get a good idea of the ratios a hybrid contains. Here is an example of a hybrid next to a sativa and indica. If you’re browsing on a mobile phone, turn it landscape!

The hybrid in this photo is our feminized Girl Scout Cookies seeds which is a 50/50 Indica and Sativa split. This really shows in the fan leaves which are a perfect split of the thicker indica fingers and thinner sativa fingers.

Indica vs Sativa Yield & Smell

When it comes to the smell and yield of indicas and sativas there is nothing to compare. Whether or not your selected strain is dominant to either species, these statistics will always be different between all strains of cannabis.

How to identify a Sativa or Indica Plant

Spotting the difference visually between the two plants is very easy and does not take much experience. Before we lay out some details, take a look at the picture below of a Sativa plant and an Indica Plant.

You will notice a couple of obvious things right away. The Sativa is much taller and has thin fingers on the fan leaves. Whilst the Indica is short, fat, and bushy. The fan leaves here are much broader on each finger.

Later on once in flower, there are also some differences in the shape of the bud. Indica flowers are often more dense and round, whilst Sativa flowers are often longer and thinner in shape.

A good way to remember the difference is this. A friend of mine once said, if it is an Indica, it will ‘fit in-di-car’ (optional, but you can add a Jamaican accent).

What is best out of Indica & Sativa

This purely comes down to what you are personally after. If you want a big yield of large dense buds that are easy to trim and want a shorter flower time, then most likely you will say that Indica is best! We stock many Indica seeds for sale on our shop.

Indica strains are much more popular on the streets than Sativa for the reasons above. So if you wanted something a little different and more unique then Sativa seeds could be for you.

Conclusion

So you may of come here looking to find out the difference between Indica and Sativa. What you should now know is that there is no need to obsess about the subspecies of your strains as the statistics are not written in stone for all plants in the same group. Pay more attention to the breeder’s description and you will find out everything you need to know about the strain you are browsing!