What is a bud?
A bud is the flower of the female cannabis plant: the compact cluster of flowers that forms during flowering and is the part that gets harvested. It's where the plant concentrates the THC, the CBD and the terpenes that give it its aroma.
Although we call it a "flower", a bud doesn't look like a rose. It's more like a tight cluster of many small flowers, all bunched together around a stem and covered in shiny resin.
If you look at it up close, you'll see several parts:
- Calyxes: small, teardrop-shaped structures, the base of each flower.
- Pistils: the little hairs that come out of the calyxes, white at first and then orange or brown.
- Small leaves: little leaves mixed in with the flowers.
- Trichomes: the tiny glands that cover everything and give it that frosty look.
Why only female plants?
Cannabis has male plants and female plants. Males don't form buds, but pollen sacs instead. If the pollen reaches the females, the buds fill up with seeds and produce less resin. That's why most growers want only females, and that is why feminized seeds exist, which produce female plants almost every time.
The main bud and the side buds
At the tip of the main stem, the biggest bud forms, usually called the main bud or cola. Smaller ones grow on the branches. The more light an area of the plant gets, the bigger and denser its buds tend to be.
The shape, size and density of the bud vary a lot from one strain to another: some make compact, rounded buds, others longer, airier ones. On the product pages, the seed bank usually describes what they are like.
Related terms
Before you grow, check the laws in your country: growing cannabis is not allowed everywhere.
