I read this today and was curious to see what the diverse and thriving OG community thinks of this list.
I typically recommend NL and Skunk #1 to
new growers,
I have not grown out all of the strains listed, so there’s that.
The 5 Easiest Cannabis Strains to Grow for Beginners
I honestly believe that if you do your homework on what cannabis requires to thrive, almost any strain will grow well for a beginner. Unfortunately, many people fall for the “it’s just a weed, bruh” bullshit, toss a seed in dirt, and are surprised when they don’t get a QP of prime flower.
Obviously you wouldn’t recommend a 17 week flowering sativa to a first timer, or one of a fairly small number of notoriously tough to grow strains. Otherwise, my advice to a beginner is pick something that sounds interesting and dive in.
Haven’t grown any on the list. Northern Lights would be right up there for me as well. I’d also add White Widow to that list, pretty forgiving in my experience.
Heard great things about Gorilla Glue, but haven’t grown it… yet…
I haven’t either and believe it or not, I did tons of reading before I got my first and you guessed it NL and WW where the two I kept coming up with.
Blue Dream for sure. Maybe above Skunk #1.
I am surprised Dutch Treat is on there. It’s a stretchy bitch to grow.
The first strain that I feel like I got right was Bogglegum… seemed quite forgiving.
To some degree, I think this is true, but there are definitely some strains out there that are quite finicky. A first-time grower might get the wrong idea about growing in general if they encounter a strain that (e.g.) sucks up magnesium like there’s no tomorrow. I tried (and failed) to grow Apollo 13 four times before realizing that it’s an extremely light feeder, at least in early veg.
But yes, unless it’s a nightmare strain or an old landrace sativa, I do agree that a grower who does their homework could struggle through almost any strain to produce some good bud 
We didn’t follow the KISS advice people gave us way back when we first started. But 1 strain for a grow isn’t a terrible thing. And after the first couple harvests, if you’re like us, you’d have a lot left over so you do have variety in the buds available at any given time.
5 easiest strains in our humble opinion - Starting off they should be pure / indica dominant strains. Avoid sativa’s unless it’s outdoors.
@oranje makes a great point about any novice should be able to grow a plant as long as they do their research. But it’s not hard to make mistakes and fail to get to the end.
As a new grower, the absolute hardest part of growing, by FAR, was learning LITFA. Especially in a soil grow, trust the plant and it’s hard to go wrong.
Quick finishers work better. Less time to flush means less time to mess up. Meds come back quicker too which can be important especially to first timers.
White widow always gives me problems no matter if it’s an auto or photo. I get what seems to be a calmag problem where I get rust spots on a lot of the leafs. Once I flip and they begin to stretch the problem goes away. It IS an easy plant to grow but if your a new grower and you see them spots happening you always think the worse and try to fix it eventually creating other problems. 
I’v done both WW in photo and auto version and have seem to had done well with them , NL Crosses also seem to do well for me.
Cannabis is actually easy-peazy to grow relative to other plants.
Anyone with any experience successfully growing tomatoes or flowers from seed develops a “plant sense” and should be able to easily produce some nice flowers from any strain of cannabis.
The learning curve for people who have never grown anything is much more steep,
of course.
And certainly the very best way to learn how to grow reefer, is to put in some research time, then start growing.
I mention NL for new growers because it is readily available from many vendors, it is relatively cheap, not fussy, and can produce some fine flowers.
Quick finishers work better. Less time to flush means less time to mess up. Meds come back quicker too which can be important especially to first timers.
^ This - The hardest plants I’ve ever grown were all landrace sativas indoors in an arid, high altitude climate. And of course it’s going to be tough for those kinds of plants because you usually find them around the equator. Some plants are definitely more adapted to the environment you’re growing in that others. If you’re growing outdoors in a tropical equatorial climate, it’s probably easier to grow those landrace sativas that a landrace indica. Indoor is it’s own “climate”, and depending on what the humidity is like in your grow area, what altitude you’re at, etc, it can vary.
I find the leafly list a bit weird but why not after all. Specially the GG4 lol, you don’t need to miss hardly to herm it in plain flowering stage.
1 - Skunk#1 : Near impossible to fail but not fast.
2 - Black Widow : Fast, solid and give productive trimming bonus.
3 - Chronic : fast and good to learn how to clone, very easy to root and “motherize”
4 - Jack Flash : just perfect for those who want start in big pot in trees mode. Very rewarding, easy and the bitchy side of the JH is totally anihilated in this line but not so much the potency.
5 - Critical mass : all in one, fast, decent yield, tasty, resist high temps, eat well, clone easy and fast, but to avoid in high RH zones.
I will personnally disagree with :
Hashplant : she’s a bitch to feed to don’t smoke hays or spinach, and you need to build an off chart feeding to best grow it. Most of beginners don’t even known what mean NPK ^^
Nothern Light : same profile, need to adapt the feeding chart to sucess it. Its lateral branching can be annoying for those than are not used to plan it in the space and a bad pruning/training totally destroy the yield. She will be very punitive in “try and fail” mode.
Which Dutch Treat are you referring to @anon4675195? I have a feeling there are a couple versions, because East Island’s version is a super hardy and almost bullet proof outdoor plant that I would definitely recommend to a new grower or one that just wanted to make sure they got some strong bud out of their season. East Island’s version was definitely semi-auto when I grew it, smelled like spicy orange, and was as strong as I would ever want it.It’s a main cola plant that you don’t top unless you want to delay harvest.
Well, I recommend the East Island version for a new grower that wants to have success outside 
My approach is “no extremes in my tent.” No extreme heat or cold, no extremely wet or dry soil, no extreme feeding or light. I figure the vast majority of strains are going to be happy, and they’ll tell me if they aren’t. Perhaps some strains might do better with all these criteria “optimized”, but I’m not trying to win a Cannabis Cup.
I’d look for an extra-fast finishing hybrid with known mold/mildew resistance. A hybrid with indica-type growth habit and flowering time, matched with sativa shaped buds I saw some people recommend Dutch Treat, that was a good one
A few of you mention “fast” as a positive attribute of beginner strains. I agree it is positive, but one ingredient that is crucial to this hobby is patience. Maybe better to learn that right from the start?
I think people suggest fast finishers to get your 1st grow out of the way as quickly as possible. I know my first ever grow I was constantly checking the plants. Doing this seemed in my own mind to double the grow time 
. Now the only time I check them is feeding time or if they need some more training to keep the canopy even
Agreed. I grow to supply me.
I am always seeking to improve my process and my results, but only within limits. I use a version of Lucas with maxibloom and a few extras and try to follow the K.I.S.S. philosophy. I have no interest in adding hours of work for a marginal gain.
I grow multiple strains in perpetual, so if a strain is too finicky and requires personal attention, it doesn’t stay in the rotation.
