In Illinois, law provides for patients to buy their seeds from licensed dispensaries. But patients say dispensaries are not selling seeds, and licensed cultivators say they don’t grow seeds because they sap energy from the buds, and are considered waste that would have to be cleaned out of the final product. Instead, professional growers generally use female plants generated from small cuttings from mother plants, known as clones. Home growers may use clones as well, once they have their plants established, but generally must start with seeds.