Fat and dense buds, thick with trichomes on luscious cannabis plants, are what most cannabis growers’ dreams are made of.
But, how do you ensure a better and bigger yield from your marijuana plants? Well, there are techniques for that. Today, let me take you through them.
Procure Best Quality Marijuana Seeds
Genetics plays a crucial role in determining the quality of the harvest. Choose a strain with stabilized genetics to grow huge and potent buds.
There are different varieties of high-quality strains, though. Some might guarantee you tall, bushy plants with a lot of buds, and others might be capable of growing fragrant and potent buds but in lesser quantities. It is good to research these characteristics beforehand and decide on the strain that would suit your interest best.
If you are getting your strains from reputed seed banks, like i49, you can be sure that the plants have a great yield. –
Ensure Appropriate Climate Conditions
Cannabis yield is highly dependent on the environment the plants grow in. There is absolutely no alternative to providing a stable, healthy climate for the marijuana plants to ensure a great yield.
The plants will not yield as much if the temperature is way above or below the needed heat. Humidity, too, affects in the same way.
The aroma and potency are highly dependent on the temperature, and relative humidity of your grow area. Ensure a consistent and certain range of temperature to maximize the growth. It will also help you to prevent issues like mold or rot.
Additionally, create an adequate airflow and circulation around the plants to keep them healthy and get a rewarding harvest.
Train Them Well
Growing cannabis plants indoors have their limitations. If the plant becomes too tall, it won’t have enough space to grow flowers. Even the natural shape of the cannabis plants might hinder growing potent buds while growing indoors with grow light.
You need to make sure that all the parts of the plants receive adequate light, especially the lower parts.
However, you do not need to fret. There are a variety of tips and techniques you can use to train your plant to yield a maximum number of buds.
Methods like tie-down, topping, fimming, lollipopping, super cropping, or monster cropping are great to do that. Research and choose a method that suits your plant well.
Most of these methods might cause stress to the plant, so use them cautiously.
Prune Them
Trimming the plants selectively to ensure the maximum yield is known as pruning.
It is the most simple method to maximize the yield of a cannabis plant growing within the limitations of an indoor growing area.
Pruning enables the plant to conserve the energy used to grow leaves and more buds and thrive. Generally, cannabis plants develop more stems than they can support. Eventually, these leaves die and fall off. Pruning will optimize this process as you will cut these leaves and stems. Removing the weaker and lower stems might also be of help.
With careful attention, locate the internodes and remove long stems growing there. Branches that are lower than the main stem should also be considered as they are not exposed to light due to the upper foliage.
However, while pruning, pay attention to the chopping of the stems and not just the leaves. You must avoid snipping large fan leaves as they create and store energy to be provided to the main root.
Some growers also tie the leaves instead of trimming them to ensure results without harming the young plant.
However, take care to prune only when the plant is in its vegetative state to provide the plant with adequate time to grow large leaves and recover from the process. Also, pay close attention to the plant’s health after pruning. They should be provided with adequate water and should not get a nutrient burn.
Do Not Stress Out The Cannabis Babies
Pruning or other training methods might cause plant stress. The plants respond to stress by releasing a hormone known as jasmonic acid. This hormone inhibits growth and induces healing.
Over pruning, therefore, might stunt the cannabis plant growth. The key here is not to prune them all at once but in intervals. Though a little bit of stress might encourage the plant to release more trichomes, too much can torment.
If the plants are getting adequate space, light, and airflow, I prefer that they grow naturally without any pruning. This reduces the risk of inhibiting the growth rate and size of the plant.
Take Care Of The Light Intensity
A cannabis plant needs adequate light and darkness to grow dense buds packed with trichomes, especially in their flowering stage. More intense light will feed the photosynthesis process and lead to bigger flowers. Uninterrupted ‘dark time’ will help them produce the flowering hormone, florigen.
If there is an issue with the light, your plants will exhibit symptoms. For example, they will stretch upwards or towards the light source if they want more light during the vegetative phase. This will also make the plants taller than you want them to be. Bushier plants produce more buds than the taller, slim ones.
It is best to ensure a uniform top foliage for all your plants so that all the buds receive great light during the flowering stage.
Take care not to increase the temperature of the growing area if you increase the light’s intensity.
A simple trick is to adjust the height of the lights and bring them closer to the plant tops rather than adding more lights. If you are doing so, take care not to burn the plant tips.
You must also pay heed to the CO2 availability in your grow room. CO2 enables the plants to absorb more light. You can add a little bit of CO2 if the lights are more than enough for your plants.
However, if you are adding CO2, you should seal the area and take precautions before walking in.
Balance The Nutrients
Often new cannabis growers think that adding more nutrients will result in a well-nourished plant. However, this is a false assumption.
Cannabis plants have different nutrient needs during each phase.
Feeding too many nutrients might cause the leaves to curl, get discolored, or eventually die and fall off. These are the symptoms of ‘nutrient burn.’
If the leaves are a uniform shade of bright green, be rest assured that your plant doesn’t need any additional nutrient feeding. Raise the levels of nutrients only if you notice the leaves turning yellow at the bottom.
Generally, it is better not to feed the plant any nutrient during its final two to four weeks. You might see leaves falling at this time, but that is likely because of the developing buds and not a nutrient issue.
Not adding any nutrients during the final stage will ensure that your buds are free of any nutrient taste.
Making your compost and organic soil is the best way to ensure that your plant has all the nutrients it needs for a super yield.
Summing Up
In addition to these factors, you must also harvest the buds at the right time for high-quality smokable weed. There are also plenty of conditions or diseases that might influence the harvest of your plant.
As a seasoned marijuana plant parent, I have realized that informed effort is the key to ensuring a great yield. I still keep educating myself about different aspects of growing weed.
Yes, it is a lot of hard work, but I feel a fiery passion that gets me going. I am certain you are going to feel it too. Once you taste the fruits, I mean, buds of your harvest, all of it will be worthwhile. I wish you all the very best.
