Today learn the universal principles that let you grow better weed than you can buy. 

I love these strains for home growers: Blue Dream (pictured here), Candy Games #38, and Purple Ghost Candy.

1.) Start with Extraordinary Genetics

What to Do: Start with the best seeds you can find. Good seeds germinate consistently and produce the kind of weed you want (density, smell, size, effects, strength, color, smoothless, etc.).

Why: Good seeds grow good weed with your desired effects, even if you make mistakes. Plants works with you instead of against you.

Quick Win: Use one of the following 3 methods to find great genetics for your next cannabis grow.

1. Choose a proven breeder and read the strain description to find what suits you. A good breeder always maintains quality for all their seeds. Some breeders I like lately are Happy Valley Genetics, Seedsman, Seed Supreme, and Ethos (all represented in my current grow journal). 
2. Copy what works – Get the genetics that you see people growing great weed with. For example, if you have friends that grow weed, or interact with growers on social media, take their lead if you like what you see. Find out what they’re growing and get seeds from the same source to copy their results.
3. Enjoy the gamble – The old fashioned method. Grow the seeds you have, or choose a strain that sounds good and go for the adventure! Good seed banks curate their seed selection and have seed germination guarantees, so any of their seeds should produce good weed.

The seeds you pick make a huge difference to results. For example, the following plants were grown together with the same grow medium, nutrients, and care. But look how different they’re turning out! The difference is 100% genetics, not anything I did.

Blue Dream and Candy Games #38 have wildly different genetics! Choose a strain that makes weed you want to grow.

2.) Use a Strong LED Grow Light (Cannabis-Specific)

What to Do: Get a proven cannabis grow light that’s designed for the size of your grow space.

Why: Light = food for plants. More light is better, up to a point. Spectrum (light color) matters too, affecting not only yields, but also density, color, and potency. Older grow lights, most especially “blurple” LEDs, don’t get nearly as good cannabis yields or bud density as newer “quantum board” style LEDs with pinkish or white light.

Modern cannabis LEDs usually produce white or pinkish light.

Quick Win:

1. Choose an LED grow light that’s proven to get great results with weed. The best thing you can do is use a grow light that growers are already using to produce great cannabis harvests. 
2. Good LED companies include… We’ve consistently found these are the most popular grow lights for GrowWeedEasy.com readers: Spider Farmer, Mars Hydro, and HLG. I’ve used multiple models from each of these companies and always had great results with growing weed. Which one to get? Choose the grow light that best fits your grow space and budget requirements. Spider Farmer and Mars Hydro get about equal results. HLG lights tend to be overpowered and cost a lot, and often have to be turned down even in a dialed in setup, but gets some of the best bud density of any LED we’ve tried so far. Even their tiny 65W and 100W LED lights have produced multiple ounces for us.
3. Check out our list of 9 recommended cannabis lights with yield estimates, and see pictures of real cannabis plants we’ve grown with them.

A HLG 65W LED is surprisingly productive in a 2x2x3 grow tent. Not bad for an LED that uses less electricity than my bedroom fan.

Or upgrade to a bigger grow light, like a HLG 350 Diablo (or two).

Or go BIG, like Max did here, with multiple lights including a Spider Farmer G5000.

Often it’s easier to combine multiple smaller grow lights than have one enormous grow light. That way you can adjust them independently and have more control over where light falls.

3.) The Right Nutrients at the Right Time

Whether you grow in soil, coco, or hydro, provide proper nutrients. Either use cannabis-specific nutrients and dole out to plants on a schedule. Or start with a cannabis-specific soil that slowly delivers the right nutrients at the right time (called “just-add-water” super soil). 

What to Do: Make sure plants get the right amount of nutrients at the right time.

Why: Faster greener growth, but more importantly, proper nutrition in the flowering stage greatly increases bud quality, yields, and potency. On the other hand, a plant that is starved of nutrients while buds are forming makes small, airy, non-potent buds. Most crucially, make sure plants have plenty of nutrients for the first 6+ weeks of the flowering stage, until hairs start darkening and curling in. Plants still need nutrients after that, but for the best harvest, it’s especially important to avoid significant nutrient deficiencies during the early flowering stage and initial bud formation.

Quick Win: Use cannabis nutrients and follow an already-tested schedule

1. Easy cheap option – Dyna-Gro Grow + Bloom. Give at 1 tsp/gallon. Give “Grow” for seedlings until first 3 weeks into flowering stage. Then once the flowering stretch is over, give “Bloom” until harvest. These nutrients were initially designed for orchids, but growers have discovered they give surprisingly great results with weed. I was impressed when I tried them in coco.
2. Advanced nutrient system – General Hydroponics Flora trio. My personal favorite nutrients, I find the GH trio provides some of the fastest growth and biggest yields. No need to follow a special schedule. Just follow the amounts listed on the side of the bottle at half-strength, and only raise the amounts if plant seem pale. I’ve had good results in soil, coco, and hydro.
3. Use super soil instead – Use a “just add water” organic soil that’s made for a plant like cannabis. This kind of soil slowly releases nutrients over the course of the grow, so you don’t need to add any extra nutrients. Nature’s Living Soil is a proven super soil concentrate that makes super soil when used with Coco Loco soil. Just remember, super soil can be stinky at first! But the smell settles after the plants make themselves at home in the soil.

General Hydroponics Flora trio are my personal favorite nutrients for growing weed.

Follow the directions on the bottle at half-strength to grow green, happy, and abundant cannabis plants.

4.) Water Plants So They Grow Faster

Water plants regularly with the right amount at a time. It’s important roots don’t dry out, or stay overly wet for too long. Luckily, if you’re following all the other steps here, you can make some watering mistakes and plants still turn out great. Cannabis plants are remarkably able to recover from watering issues as long as you course-correct.

What to Do: Water plants properly. The easiest method is to follow a cannabis-specific watering schedule like the one below. Or follow proven general principles.

Why: Plants grow faster and get fewer deficiencies, especially seedlings, when given the right amount of water. Good watering practices helps plants start growing fast out the gate. 

Seedlings grow super fast if you give the right amount of water!

I use a battery operated water transfer pump to easily water plants.

Quick Win: Basically, give seedlings just a little water at a time, at first, in a small circle around the base, every few days. If you don’t want guesswork, follow the following seedling watering schedule that I use. It’s suitable as long as you’re in a 3 or 5-gallon pot (and works pretty well in most sizes). Never wonder again if you’re over or under-watering your seedlings!

Day 1 – Give 2 cups (500ml) water per plant (at this point, your cannabis seedlings should have their leaves completely open and be in a 3-gallon or 5-gallon pot under the grow light)
Day 3 – Give 2 cups (500ml) water per plant
Day 6 – Give 2 cups (500ml) water per plant
Day 8 – Give 3 cups (750ml) water per plant (every 3 days after this)
Day 11 – Give 3 cups (750ml) water per plant
Day 14 – Give 4 cups (1 liter) water per plant
Day 17 – Give 4 cups (1 liter) water per plant
Day 20 – Give 5 cups (1.25 liter) water per plant
Day 23 – Give 6 cups (1.5 liter) water per plant
Day 26 – Give 6 cups (1.5 liter) water per plant
Day 29 – Give 8 cups or 1/2 gallon (2 liter) water per plant

At first, cannabis seedlings only need a little water in a circle around their base.

After the first 30 days, start watering like this…

(1+ Months) Cannabis Watering Schedule

1. Wait until top inch of soil is dry (for coco, wait until top is mostly dry)
2. Water until you get 10-20% runoff out the bottom
3. Remove runoff (test the pH if needed) and start over

P.S. Learn about auto-watering pot bases so you can water plants less often. I’m loving them lately.

5.) Harvest at the Right Time

Wait to harvest until buds have reached peak potency, size, and bud quality. Harvest earlier (speedier more “up” weed) or later (stronger relaxation effect) to achieve your desired effects. Dry and cure using a proven home method.

What to Do: Harvest buds based on their maturity level. After harvest, dry buds to make them smokable (buds are mostly water on the plant), and then jar them so they “cure”.

Why: Choosing the right harvest time maximizes yields, potency, and effects. Drying and especially curing increases density, appearance, potency, and effects, while enhancing the natural bud smell.

Quick Win: 

1. Follow our free harvest & curing guide on GrowWeedEasy.com
2. Check out our new digital book HARVEST. It’s perfect if you want a step-by-step harvest guide that’s available anywhere without the internet Growers who sign up for our Home Grow Masterclass next week get a free copy of HARVEST. And those who have already purchased HARVEST get a steep discount on the class! Make sure you’re signed up for our newsletter and watch your email for more info coming soon.

Wait until buds have reached maturing before harvesting for best effects…

Harvest time may be my favorite part of growing!

The post Grow Better Weed: The 5 Core Principles appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

“Curing” is a special process that makes cannabis better after you’re done harvesting and drying buds. A proper cure improves the density and smell of buds, but that’s not all. Curing cannabis actually increases the subjective potency of buds, and improves the overall subjective effects.

The #1 Most Important Tool for Curing Weed: Boveda Humidity Control Packs (automatically maintain humidity)

Why do growers cure weed in the first place?

• Higher Bud Density – Curing tends to tighten buds so they are overall more dense and feel more solid.
• Improve Smell – Sometimes the cannabis smell gets lost during the drying process. Curing helps bring those smells back. They also increase the overall complexity of smells.
• Increase Potency – After curing buds for two weeks, they typically feel “stronger” when smoking compared to smoking right after they are first dried.
• More Lovely Effects – Many growers feel the effects of cured buds are more captivating, more relaxing, or otherwise improved.
• Smoother to Smoke – Curing buds tend to make them less “harsh” to smoke, so they’re easier on your lungs.

Curing can make the difference between “good” and “out of this world” cannabis!

Curing gives you higher quality, more potent weed! (This is Alaskan Thunderf*ck after curing)

This Purple Ghost Candy got ultra dense after curing.

A cannabis grower’s 3 best curing tools:

1. Boveda Curing Packs – Moisture levels in the air are key to a great cure, and these packs automatically maintain the humidity (amount of water in the air) to ensure buds never get too wet or too dry. The right humidity ensures buds are exposed to the perfect amount of moisture during the curing process.
2. Wide-Mouth Glass Mason Jars – Glass mason jars are perfect for curing and long term storage, as they are airtight but easy to open and close. The “wide mouth” version ensures you can fit your hands inside. Glass mason jars are what most cannabis growers use for curing, and what I use. The most popular size is 32 oz (1 quart), which holds about 1 ounce of weed. A few other types of containers can be used for curing, but are much less common (more info below).
3. Mini Hygrometers (Optional) – It’s nice to know the humidity inside your jars. However, the Boveda Humidity Packs automatically maintain the humidity, so this is the least important of the 3 tools.

With these three tools alone, you can achieve a fool-proof professional cannabis cure every harvest!

Complete Step-By-Step Guide to Cannabis Curing

Curing is actually one of the most straightforward parts of growing cannabis, especially if you invested in Boveda Humidity Packs. Before these packs were popularized, growers had to manually maintain the humidity, which can be a pain. Luckily, the packs take out the guesswork and do most of the work for you.

Step 1: Dry and Trim Your Buds After Harvest

Before putting jars is buds, it’s essential to make sure your buds are fully dried and most of the leaves have been trimmed off.

Why Dry Buds Before Curing?

Freshly harvested buds are mostly water (75-85% water). Although humidity packs can take out extra moisture, they don’t have the drying power to take all that water out of your buds. Too much water locked in the jars can grow unwanted stuff, so you must dry buds first.

Buds are dry and ready to jar when…

• Small stems snap instead of bend
• Buds “pop off” the stem, without leaving strings behind

If the small stems are still bendy, or buds are leaving strings behind when you try to pop them off, it means there is still water contained inside and they should be dried a bit more.

The most common way to dry weed is hang branches upside down and let them air-dry.

Why Trim Buds Before Curing?

Although you can trim your buds before or after drying, it’s crucial to trim your buds before curing. If a lot of leaf matter is put in the jars to cure, the buds get a grassy hay smell, and buds won’t be as smooth to smoke even if you trim the buds at that point.

Don’t skip trimming before jarring your buds! Buds respond well to curing in jars, but leaves don’t.

Example of trimmed vs untrimmed cannabis buds.

Helpful Tutorials

• When to Harvest Weed Tutorial
• Complete Guide to Trimming Weed
• How to Dry Cannabis Buds

Step 2: Put Buds in Airtight Container with Humidity Pack (Optional: Add Hygrometer)

Once buds are trimmed and dried, it’s time to put them into an airtight container to start the curing process. These containers should be easy to open and close because you will be “burping” your jars once a day for a few weeks. Most cannabis growers use glass mason jars for curing cannabis.

During curing, it’s crucial to maintain the proper humidity. Luckily, this is easy with today’s curing tutorial! Just add a Boveda humidity control pack (sometimes called “Humidipaks”) to automatically maintain the humidity in the right range. They come in different versions, which I’ll explain below.

Lastly, you can optionally add a mini hygrometer to monitor the humidity in the jars.

Less than $20 for a 10-Pack of Humidity Control Packs – An investment worth EVERY penny!

There are two types of humidity packs you can choose to use for curing weed.

58% vs 62% Humidity Pack – Which is Better for Curing Weed?

• 58% Humidity Pack – The 58% version keeps things a little more dry than the 62% option. I personally prefer this version for curing weed. I think buds tend to smoke better, and it lowers the chance of any moisture building up in the jar, especially if you’ve got bigger or denser buds. It is also an ideal humidity for long-term storage, as weed should be a bit drier when stored for more than a month or two.
• 62% Humidity Pack – The 62% size is another great choice for curing weed. This is better if you prefer slightly softer weed, and also is an ideal choice for smaller buds (which tend to be easier to dry out). Although I like slightly drier buds, many cannabis enthusiasts prefer the texture of weed that has just a bit more moisture contained inside. However, if you plan on storing your weed for more than a month, you should opt for the 58% version (or switch after the 2-week cure).

Besides the humidity rating, these packs also come in different sizes. Boveda’s “Size 8” (this stands for 8 grams, which is the weight of each pack) is the perfect size to cure 1 ounce of weed. If you’re

Whether you get 58% or 62% packs, choose “Size 8” for 1 ounce of weed.

What containers to cure weed?

These are the most popular types of containers to cure your weed inside:

• Wide-Mouth Glass Mason Jars – These glass jars were originally made for cooking, but they’re also perfect for curing! These are what I use, and (by far) the most popular container for curing weed. They’re completely airtight, yet easy to open and close. You can easily see the weed inside.
• Turkey Bags – Also known as “oven bags”. These are what you would stick a turkey inside of to cook in your oven without drying out. They happen to work well for curing weed, especially if you’ve got a BIG harvest and don’t want to have to “burp” tons of jars once a day. The one downside is the trichomes may stick to the sides from static, but if a bag is full of a ton of weed that won’t make a significant difference.
• Other Airtight Containers – Glass tends to get the best results. Wood containers can leave a woody smell, and plastic tends to make static and can attract trichomes so they stick to the side instead of staying on your weed. Some growers get specially made curing containers that claim to automatically “burp” the weed for you, like the insanely expensive Herb Guard Auto-Cure Smart Jar or much more reasonably priced 2-Way Humidity Control Bags. However, in my experience these don’t work any better than the tried and true glass-jar-plus-humidity-pack combo.

Make sure to get the “wide mouth” version (not “regular mouth”) so your hands can easily fit inside.

Glass mason jars – tried and true for awesome curing. The 32 oz (1 quart) size is most popular, and holds about 1 ounce of weed.

After buds are cured, they can be kept in the jars for long-term storage.

Another option that’s popular for a big harvest is to cure the buds in “turkey bags” (the kind of bag you would use to cook a turkey in the oven). Buds are put into the bag, and then you tie it closed tightly to make it airtight. The benefits of turkey bags are you can put a lot more weed in them, and they’re easier to open and close to “burp” than jars (which you’ll learn about in the next step).

If you’ve got 20 ounces of weed in 20 jars, it can actually get a bit time consuming to burp them all every day. But you could put that much weed in a few turkey bags, and opening/closing is easier.

With a large harvest, daily burping can feel a bit daunting. Turkey bags make burping easier.

The only thing to keep in mind with turkey bags is they’re not suitable for long-term storage. Even if you tie them tightly closed, they’re not airtight like glass mason jars. That’s fine during the curing process when buds still need a little fresh air. But once the buds have finished curing for 2 weeks, you should move them into a truly airtight container.

Turkey oven bags can also be used for curing cannabis the first 2 weeks.

Tie the bag as tight as you can. Note: Even tied tightly, they are not completely airtight.

Remember, buds need to be moved to an actual airtight container after 2 weeks of curing.

Hygrometers are optional, but fun. If you want to see the actual humidity in you jars, you can buy cheap mini hygrometers that fit right inside a glass mason jar! However, if you follow all the other steps including getting the Boveda humidity packs and burping the jars, you don’t really need them.

Mini hygrometers are unnecessary if you follow all the other steps.

But they’re cheap and fun!

Step 3: “Burp” Jars Once a Day for 2 Weeks

While curing buds, the container should prevent air from going in and out, but buds do need some amount of fresh air. That’s why jars should be “burped” once a day during curing.

“Burping” means to open the jars and then close them. Larry had a LOT of jars to burp last harvest.

This step is pretty straightforward. Open your jars (or other curing container such as a turkey bag) once a day for the first 2 weeks. This ensures they get some amount of fresh air.

Don’t skip this step even if you feel like you overdried your weed. It’s crucial for the buds to get some fresh air to properly cure. The humidity packs ensure there is the right amount of moisture for a proper cure.

Sniff your weed! Burping is also a good time to enjoy the smell of your weed as it intensifies over the curing process. Maybe keep a nug for a smoke test 😉

Some strains like Platinum Cookies smell like a tasty dessert!

If buds smell musty or feel wet on the outside, pay attention! Buds should feel dry to the touch. Also, if buds smell like something besides weed (ammonia, vinegar, musty, or otherwise like something unwanted is growing in there), don’t ignore it! Typically, this happens when the weed was still too wet when jarred.

A humidity pack can remove some amount of moisture, but if the buds weren’t fully dried before being put in the jar, it may not be able to pull enough water out. Or the moisture may be building in the bottom of the jar, away from the humidity pack.

If you think your buds aren’t dry enough, dump them out of the jars onto a clean surface and let them dry for a few hours. Don’t put them back in the jars unless the outside of each bud feels completely dry. You may need to repeat this process again the next day if you still notice a musty smell or the buds feel wet again.

If buds seem wet in the jars, lay them out on a clean surface and let them dry for a few hours.

Step 4: Enjoy Your Cured Buds!

After 2 weeks, your buds are done their initial cure. At this point, they’re ready to smoke!

After 2 weeks, you don’t need to keep burping the jars every day. But it’s not a bad idea to open the jars once a week for a few more weeks to keep the curing process going. Buds may continue to improve for several more weeks or even months of curing.

Is it worth curing buds for longer than 2 weeks?

I’ve noticed certain strains keep getting more and more potent for months, while other strains don’t seem to improve much past the first 2-4 weeks of curing.

For example, we grew some Full Moon and Purple Ghost Candy plants together. The harvest was enormous, and we were smoking it for over a year. We noticed that the Full Moon maintained its potency, but for the Purple Ghost Candy continued getting more and more potent until we used it all up. We actually started calling it the “Day Ender” because if you smoked some of it you weren’t going to be doing anything else that day!

Some strains continue improving from longer curing, like this Purple Ghost Candy.

Buds were super potent after 2 weeks of curing. (Note: although the leaves were purple, the buds were mostly green)

But after curing in jars for a few more months, the Purple Ghost Candy potency reached “day-ender” status!

On the other hand, the Full Moon buds (plant on the left from the same grow) only maintained the same potency after a long cure.

So strain and genetics seem to play an important role on the effects of long-term curing.

What about long-term storage?

One of the coolest parts of being a home grower is after you’ve gotten the hang of it, each harvest results in way more weed than you can use. Even for daily smokers!

Check out this unbelievable harvest by our friend Mr. K!

So you may end up in a situation where you want to store your weed for a long time. Properly stored weed maintains its potency for years.

Here’s what’s most important for long term storage:

• Buds are completely dry – It’s a good idea to open jars once a week for a little while to ensure that moisture isn’t building up inside. After a few weeks, if buds seem totally dry every time you check, they’re ready for long term storage.
• Add a Boveda 58% Pack – For long term storage, moisture is your enemy, so you want to keep buds on the drier side. A 58% Boveda pack works great.
• Cool, dark place – Besides moisture, the biggest enemy to weed in storage are heat and light. Both tend to degrade THC levels. Ideally, you want to keep your buds completely in the dark, in a place that stays cool all the time. Don’t store your weed jars next to a window with the sun shining on them, or a room that gets hot!

If you followed all the steps, buds can be stored for years without losing potency. And as mentioned before, in some cases, you may find they’ve actually gotten more potent!

If you follow today’s 4 easy steps, you’ll end up with perfectly cured cannabis every single harvest!

Happy Growing!

Looking for some awesome new cannabis strains to grow? Wondering where to buy marijuana seeds? There are lot of choices, but learn about the marijuana seed banks we recommend here: https://www.growweedeasy.com/seeds

Want free cannabis grow tips delivered to your inbox every Sunday? Join our weekly newsletter!

About the Author: Nebula Haze

Nebula Haze founded GrowWeedEasy.com with her husband Sirius in 2010. Our mission is to demystify the world of indoor marijuana cultivation. We’ve shared our passion and knowledge through hundreds of tutorials covering every aspect of growing, both in print and online. We’ve also guided numerous students through our comprehensive online courses. For us, it’s not just about growing cannabis; it’s about empowering every grower to discover the simplicity and joy of nurturing cannabis plants to an outstanding harvest. Growing is easy, you just need to know what to do!

Keep smiling and growing,
~Nebula Haze

The post The #1 Method to Cure Buds Perfectly Every Time appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

The moment has arrived! Your cannabis buds are finally ready to harvest and you’re ready to start the cannabis drying process. You’ve decided to trim the leaves off your cannabis buds because you know trimming helps buds look better, smoke better, and taste better.

Yet should you trim your cannabis buds before or after drying them? This is a surprisingly controversial topic, with strong supporters on each side. The controversy is often referred to as “wet trimming” vs “dry trimming” in the cannabis grow community.

But does it even make a difference when you trim your cannabis buds? Let me clear it up for you today. By the end of this tutorial, you will know exactly the difference between wet trim vs dry trim, including the pros and cons of each. Let’s go!

Dry Trim (before and after) – Cannabis buds were dried first before getting trimmed.

Wet Trim (before and after) – Cannabis buds are trimmed as soon as they’re harvested.

“Wet Trim” vs “Dry Trim” – Should Cannabis Growers Trim Buds Before or After Drying? 

When I first started growing cannabis, I didn’t know anything about trimming. I knew you could do it before or after drying buds, but I didn’t know the pros and cons of each method. From reading online, I could see that growers successfully use both methods, so there’s no “right” or “wrong” way to trim your buds. As long as you’re happy with the results, you did a good trimming job.

But what do cannabis cultivation experts say about timing when it comes to trimming buds?

A beautiful trimming job. This cannabis job received a “dry trim”.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to trimming cannabis:

Trim before drying (“wet trim”)

Some growers trim their cannabis buds before drying them.

Pros

• Best If Humidity is High  – Cannabis leaves are mostly made of water, and they give off a lot of moisture as they dry. Trimming means fewer leaves, which adds less humidity overall to the drying space. For reference, it’s getting too humid for drying buds above 60% RH in the dry space.*
• Buds Dry Faster – Overly leafy plants can add a surprising amount of moisture to the surrounding area. If buds are drying too slowly, trimming extra leaves can help buds dry faster.
• Helps Prevent Mold – In humid conditions (or when there is no air movement), leaves can cause wet spots. Mold loves to grow on wet buds. Trimming off extra leaves before drying can help prevent that.

* Up to 70% RH can be okay if the temperature is below 70°F/20°C, because mold doesn’t like cool temperatures. But most growers should aim for under 60% while drying.

Cons

• Not Optimal If Humidity is Low  – Without the protection from cannabis leaves, buds in dry air conditions tend to dry out unevenly
• Buds May Dry Too Fast – In dry air, buds may dry too fast, which can prevent them from curing properly later.

Freshly harvested buds that haven’t been dried yet, about to be wet trimmed.

Trim after drying (“dry trim”)

Some growers trim their cannabis after buds have already dried.

Pros

• Best Choice in Low Humidity – Low humidity (below 50% RH or so) tends to make buds dry unevenly and too fast. Keeping leaves until after buds have dried can help raise the overall humidity in the drying space.
• Buds Tend to Dry Slower and More Evenly – The extra leaves adds moisture to the air and create humid pockets around buds to help them dry more evenly. These buds tend to smoke better, and improve more from the curing process.
• Some Growers Find it Easier to Trim Dry Buds – If buds are fully and completely dried first, it’s typically faster to trim them. Since the leaves are dry and crispy, you can brush a lot of them off.

Note: Unless it is extremely dry (under 35% RH), you should remove at least some of the big leaves on a leafy plant. If your plant is a bundle of leaves it will get wet and make the buds wet for too long. If you’re not sure, leave the fan leaves on, and check on the drying plants after 24 hours of drying. If the plants seem super wet, remove the excess fan leaves and let the buds continue drying.

Cons

• Not Suitable if Humidity is High – If it’s high humidity in the drying space, it’s crucial to at least remove all the big fan leaves protect buds from mold. Even if you don’t give your buds a full trim, removing the fan leaves helps keep excess moisture out of the dry space.
• Some Growers Find it More Difficult to Trim Buds – Some growers find it more difficult to dry trim buds and get a neat, manicured appearance. This is worst if the buds are still a bit underdried. If you’re going to dry trim your buds, it’s important to let them be fully dried before trimming. For example if the buds come off with strings when you try to pluck them off the stem, this is a sign there is still moisture inside and the buds should be allowed to dry for a bit longer.

Buds that were dried first before trimming, about to be dry trimmed.

If buds are dried first before trimming, sometimes it can be difficult to remove all the leaves.

When deciding whether to trim your cannabis wet or dry, think about your grow environment and what you want from your buds. If your area is very humid, wet trimming can help avoid mold and gets your buds ready faster. But if the humidity is moderate, and especially it’s really dry where you grow, dry trimming might be better because it lets your buds dry out more slowly and evenly, resulting in better quality. The best choice depends on your situation and preference. I highly recommend trying both ways to see what works best for you.

Check out what growers say about dry trim vs wet trim.

Why are they called “wet trim” and “dry trim”?

Trimming your cannabis before drying is known as a “wet trim” because the leaves still contain all their moisture during the trimming process. Trimming after the cannabis buds have already dried is known as a “dry trim” since your buds and leaves will already be completely dry before you trim off the leaves.

Most cannabis growers will at least remove all or most of the big fan leaves with their fingers before drying, though some growers will hang the whole plant upside down without any type of trim whatsoever.

Wet Trim Example (fully trimmed before drying) – All leaves are removed before buds are allowed to dry. These buds are still full of moisture.

Dry Trim Example (light trim before drying) – Only the biggest leaves were removed before the buds were dried. Most leaves are still there for the dry process.

Dry Trim Example (no trim before drying) – Full branches were hung without any trimming. Not even fan leaves were removed before drying.

Here are some examples of buds from plants where I trimmed half the buds before, and half after. I wanted to help you see what difference it made. It’s really kind of different depending on each strain and your drying conditions.

Notes on the test of dry trim vs wet trim:

• The untrimmed cannabis buds took 0.5 to 3 days longer to dry. The leafier the plant, the longer it added to the total dry time.
• The biggest difference is I noticed the “dry trim” buds seem noticeably more dense/uniform. Drying with the leaves on seems to help them “tighten up” and seem more solid.
• The dry vs wet trim buds smell a bit differently, but all smell good. Neither seems particularly stronger or better as far as smell.
• I noticed that the “dry trim” buds often seem browner as if they’ve been curing for a while. The effect was most pronounced on the leafiest plants. Perhaps the additional water content causes some processes to go faster at the micro level?
• As far as comparing taste/smoothness/potency. In blind tests with cannabis enthusiasts, I’ve gotten mixed results. Some people prefer the smell or smoothness of the buds one way, while others like the exact opposite. It doesn’t seem to follow any particular pattern that I can tell. I truly think it’s a matter of personal preference, and also varies from strain to strain.

Buds drying with their leaves on.

In practice, I’ve seen a huge variation between growers as far as when they trim. Some cannabis growers trim plants immediately after harvest, some trim partway through drying, some wait to trim until after buds are totally dry, and some never trim at all. It can also vary with the local weather and even the particular plant. For example, if I had an extremely leafy plant and the humidity was high right as I was harvesting, I may opt to trim that plant before drying to prevent the chance of mold, even though I might normally prefer to trim after buds dry.

In the end, nothing beats trying both options for yourself. Next cannabis harvest, trim some buds before drying and some after drying. See what you like best!

Ready to get trimming?

Learn how to trim your cannabis buds like a pro!

Conclusion: Dry Trim vs Wet Trim

Let me sum up today’s tutorial on dry trimming vs wet trimming cannabis buds after harvest.

Trim before drying (“wet trim”) when…

• You’re worried about mold
• You have high humidity (above 60% RH)
• There is poor air circulation and little air movement
• There’s a lot of buds drying in a small space
• Buds are taking too long to dry

Freshly harvested buds that haven’t been dried yet, about to be wet trimmed.

Trim after drying (“dry trim”) when…

• You’re not worried about mold.
• You have low humidity (below 45% RH)
• You want buds to be “tighter” or more dense
• You want buds to dry more slowly

Buds that were dried first before trimming, about to be dry trimmed.

FAQs – Frequently Asked Questions

Here are the answers to some frequently asked questions about trimming cannabis.

Read the full tutorial on how to trim cannabis buds.

Why do growers trim cannabis buds in the first place?

• “Top Shelf” Appearance – Trimmed buds are often considered higher quality. Most buds are completely manicured (or at least somewhat trimmed) when you see them in magazines, at the dispensary, and online. This is the appearance we’ve come to associate with “good weed” and so untrimmed buds may look less appealing to some people.
• Better Smell – Buds that are trimmed before being going into jars tend to gain a stronger “weed” smell over time. On the flip side, untrimmed buds sometimes take on a “planty” hay smell if they’re stored in an airtight container for too long with all their leaves intact (several weeks to months).
• Easier on Your Throat – Leaves are more “harsh” on your throat/lungs than flowers when vaping or smoking. Trimming off extra leaf matter makes buds more “smooth” to smoke or vaporize by removing unnecessary leafy matter.
• Higher THC Concentration – Buds from modern strains can be 20-30+% THC by dry weight, while leaves have much lower THC (1-4%, depending on strain).  Even trichome-encrusted sugar leaves have a significantly lower concentration of THC and other cannabinoids than the flowers. That means trimmed buds tend to have higher levels of THC gram-for-gram, so you can smoke or vape less to get the same effects.

Many growers want trimmed buds but don’t want to waste any THC, so they process their trim to extract the THC in the leaves separately. You have endless options for getting the good stuff out of your leaves and other trim. My favorite ways to extract THC from leaves include making dry ice hash, weed butter or canna caps. I sprinkle dry ice hash on top of bowls to skyrocket their potency, I use butter for edibles, and I love canna caps for the ability to easily dose edibles on the go.

An example of well-trimmed cannabis buds. You can barely see any leaves.

Untrimmed cannabis buds with leaves intact – pic by psychonaught

What Other Cannabis Growers Say – Dry Trim vs Wet Trim

I thought you might be interested in learning what we’ve heard from growers in our cannabis grow forum on this topic. It’s often nice to hear multiple opinions from different experienced growers.

Pro Wet Trim

• “Trimming when wet (just picked buds) is easier!” ~Sylvester
• “Wet trimming always. Easier to get all the sugar leaves before they dry and curl into the bud.” ~CaptainWiese91
• “Wet trim. I got tired of seeing beautiful, tiny crystals go flying everywhere when dry trimming.” ~YYCannabis
• “I think wet trimmed buds look way better than buds that have been dry trimmed with half of all the sugar leaf stems in the bud still.” ~CaptainWiese91
• “Wet trim, I leave about 40% of the sugar leaves so it dries slower.” ~Ace1973

Pro Dry Trim

• “I feel like dry trimming is better for me. I like to get as much of the leaf off as possible and it feels easier that way. I also like that it takes a little more time to dry. I got a bowl leaf trimmer that works pretty good on bigger buds, and a Cannabrush for everything else. Both cut off a lot of time on my meticulous trimming. And if I over dry it I just soak a stem (or a few) in water for a little while and it goes in the jar too until it’s around 64-65%. That eliminates the Boveda packs that some say makes the weed taste different. I never noticed personally, but I stopped using them anyway.” ~dphipps1020
• “As a person making a living from growing dank buds and selling them at a high price just for the quality; I personally have found that wet trimming diminishes the bud quality and smell. It dries not just quickly but the wrong way. It dries up from all the open tissue connected by the plants circulatory system. Meaning the branch looses water way too quickly. You need that moisture reservoir to keep the buds from drying to quickly. The same goes with trichomes. Leaves make a moisture cocoon that protects terpenes and trichomes from evaporating and drying the outer layer of the trichomes so quickly that it rips open and the trichome oxidizes and the terps fly out. Gotta mention I got full control of my drying room and keep at 60% rh 22-24C.” ~9fingerleafs
• “I live in the desert super low rh and leaving the leaves on while drying helps hold some moisture in. The leaves form over the buds after a few hours like a cocoon and I lay them out on stackable sweater drying racks (old days we used window screens) with a cover over them to trap more moisture.” ~MeEasy

Depends

• “If its low humidity dry trim and if high humidity wet trim.” ~LemonBuzz

I hope that helped give you some ideas of what works for other cannabis growers depending on their goals and environment. Contact us if you have experience to share!

You might be interested in…

10-Step Guide to Grow Cannabis

Complete Guide to Trimming Weed

When to Harvest Cannabis Buds

How to Grow More Dense Weed

The post Wet Trim vs. Dry Trim: Which Makes Better Cannabis? [Controversial] appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Cannabis growers often use a magnifier to look at the glittery trichomes to know when to harvest weed. Some growers wait until most of the clear trichomes turn white, and some wait longer until some of the trichomes turn amber before they harvest. But what about when cannabis trichomes turn purple?

What do purple trichomes tell you about cannabis buds?

I decided to make this article in response to a post about purple cannabis trichomes in our free grow forum.

You need a magnifier like a jeweler’s loupe or USB magnifier to clearly see trichomes. (Learn how to see trichomes.)

Marijuana growers often examine the color of the cannabis trichome heads as harvest time approaches. These trichome heads typically turn white when buds reach maximum THC levels, but not always.

If trichomes are normally clear, white or amber/gold, what does it mean if they turn other colors, including purple?

What Makes Trichomes Turn Purple (or Pink or Other Jewel Colors)

What makes cannabis trichomes turn purple: Genetics.

While growers have developed methods to increase the amount of purple on your buds or leaves (temperature swings, cold nights, LEDs, slightly lower pH, harvest on the later side, etc.), the color of trichomes is almost 100% dependent on your genetics. The strain is in charge when it comes to cannabis trichome color.

Purple Lemonade by North Atlantic Seed Co. loves growing purple trichomes

For Most Strains, Trichomes Go from Clear > White > Amber (Yellow)…

With most cannabis strains, the trichomes appear with clear glass-looking heads, turn a milky white when they hit peak THC, and then turn amber (a nice way of saying “yellow”) when the THC is starting to degrade. For optimum potency, most growers harvest weed when the heads are mostly white or just starting to turn amber.

• Clear trichomes – not ready for harvest
• White trichomes – highest THC
• Amber/yellow trichomes – more sleepy effect, THC is starting to degrade

Clear trichomes (not ready yet – these are a sign of low THC potency)

Mostly white trichomes (max THC potency)

Mostly amber/yellow trichomes (THC is starting to degrade, effects are more “sleepy”)

What about purple trichomes?

When Do You Harvest Weed with Purple Trichomes?

Unfortunately, with cannabis strains that grow purple trichomes, you can’t use the color to know when to harvest the buds. So how do you know when to harvest your weed?

• Option 1: Ask the breeder – Most trustworthy cannabis breeders will answer questions about their strains, including hints about the best time to harvest buds. Additionally, the strain description from when you bought the seeds may have relevant information.
• Option 2: Look at the buds directly to see whether they look ready to harvest. Here is a picture gallery of ready-to-harvest cannabis buds to help guide you.

Some cannabis strains produce trichomes in colors like purple or pink. These trichomes may never turn white. When it comes to these “exotic” trichomes, the standard rules don’t always apply. In these cases, it’s best to ask the breeder when the trichomes indicate readiness. If that’s not possible, make sure to look at the buds and ensure they look ready from a visual inspection and use the trichomes as only a secondary indicator.

These trichomes started white as normal and then just turned purple instead of amber.

But for some strains, the trichomes turn purple from the beginning and therefore the color doesn’t tell you anything about potency. That’s why, with colorful trichomes, it can be best to either ask the breeder about when to harvest, or judge the apparent maturity of the plant.

Regardless of the color of trichomes, most cannabis strains are ready to harvest when buds look solid. At this point, all of the hairs on the buds have darkened and curled in. When you can’t tell when to harvest based on the trichomes, use the visual appearance of the buds to guide you. Here is how to look at the buds themselves to determine when to harvest.

Need more help knowing when to harvest cannabis?

• Full cannabis harvest tutorial: https://www.growweedeasy.com/harvest
• Picture Gallery of Ready-to-Harvest Cannabis: https://www.growweedeasy.com/ready-for-harvest-pictures
• Trichome Deep Dive: Picture Gallery of Ready-to-Harvest Trichomes: https://www.growweedeasy.com/what-do-trichomes-look-like-when-ready-to-harvest-ready-to-harvest-trichome-picture-gallery

Harvest your weed at the right time and get rewarded!

The post Purple Trichomes: When do I harvest buds? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

NOTE: As an Amazon Associate, GrowWeedEasy.com earns a commission from qualifying purchases on Amazon. You support our website when you visit Amazon through the links below.

Harvest time is here (or almost here), and you must be ready. A prepared cannabis grower maximizes their yields and bud quality while reducing the chance of running into challenges.

What do you need to ensure a great cannabis harvest? Find out now!

Before Harvest Day

Stay vigilant in caring for your maturing buds until it’s time to harvest. Here are some tools to help you keep a close eye on your cannabis buds during the final weeks.

Thermometer / Hygrometer to monitor temperature and humidity

Monitor conditions to make sure it doesn’t get too hot/cold or too humid. Buds develop best when it’s slightly cool and not too humid. Good conditions help prevent bud rot and improve overall bud development.

If growing outdoors, you don’t have a lot of control over the environment, but it’s still good to monitor the humidity so you aren’t surprised when the weather starts getting bad. Indoors you actually have a lot of control to change your environment. Learn more about changing your indoor environment.

This thermometer lets you monitor the conditions remotely, whether your plants are outside or in a grow tent.

Extra tips:

• Weather stations and thermometers help you monitor environmental conditions, so you can take action if necessary.
• Consider defoliating a super leafy plant especially if you see leaves lying over each other and making wet spots. Extra moisture leads to mold.
• It’s better to harvest a little earlier than to harvest after you’ve already started seeing mold or bud rot.

Fiskar micro-tip snips are useful to remove leaves or prune plants easily and cleanly.

Magnifiers (to Inspect Color of Trichomes)

• If it fits your camera, get a Spider Farmer phone microscope (what I use)
• To use with a laptop or newer smartphone: USB Microscope
• Low-tech option: Jeweler’s Loupe

Learn everything you need to know to check your trichome color with a magnifier.

Harvest Day

Here are the supplies a cannabis grower needs for harvest day.

Use shears to cut the big, thick branches

Big shears – to cut through thick stems.

• I like this heavy-duty pair of pruning shears by Fiskars when I have to cut through a really thick branch that regular scissors can’t deal with.

Plant scissors to cleanly cut stems

Fiskar micro-tip snips are one of my favorite and most used tools around harvest time (before, during, and after).

Protective gear

• Gloves – protect your hands from all the sticky weed, and help keep everything clean.
• If growing outdoors, wear your gardening apparel (hat, hardy clothes, etc.)

I think black disposable gloves look the coolest 🙂

After Harvest

Drying

Cannabis buds need to be dried before they can be used. There are many ways to dry weed, and here are the most common:

• Air drying – Hang individual branches upside down to dry. For the best result, buds should be dried in a cool spot with slight air circulation and humidity in the 50-60% RH range.
• Drying racks, nets, or lines – Various ways to hang harvested buds. Typically it’s better to hang each branch upside down, but drying racks and nets can be useful if you have to dry a lot of bud close together in a small area.
• Cannabis-specific bud dryers – These are a good choice if you don’t have a great drying environment. Air-drying in a cool spot gives the most consistent results and is difficult to mess up, but if your drying spot is warm or humid it may cause mold to grow on your buds. If that’s a concern, you can use something like the HerbsNow or other cannabis-specific dryers to dry your buds with strong airflow under low heat. However, with these dryers it’s super easy to overdry your buds, which reduces their quality and potency, so when using any dryer it’s crucially important to monitor your buds closely and stop drying them as soon as they’re dry enough (the small stems snap instead of bend). Read my review of the HerbsNow.

Learn how to dry cannabis buds perfectly.

If your space has a good drying environment (doesn’t get hot or overly humid), hang your branches upside down to dry. I typically dry my buds inside the same tent I grew them in.

If your drying space gets warm and/or humid, you might want to consider using a specialty cannabis dryer. Check out my HerbsNow review for one example.

Trimming

Spring-Loaded Scissors

You want trimmers or scissors designed for harvesting cannabis. Regular scissors are unwieldy and typically aren’t strong or sharp enough to harvest cannabis plants. The scissors listed here are designed particularly for cutting through plants.

When trimming away extra leaves from your buds, it’s best to get a pair of scissors that is “spring-loaded” which means it will automatically open on its own between each snip. This ends up saving your hands half the work since they only need to work to close the scissors and never to open them.

Examples of good cannabis-trimming scissors – The thin blades of these scissors make it easy to cut accurately.

• The 6″ Fiskars micro-tip pruning snips are my personal favorite.
• I also love these disposable bonsai pruning shears.

What are the “best” scissors for cannabis? Everyone has different preferences so I recommend getting a few different kinds and trying them out. Whatever scissors you like best is the best option for you.

Storage and Curing

“Curing” is the process where you store your cannabis buds in an airtight container and let them continue to age like fine wine, occasionally “burping” the container (letting in air) to help the curing process. Cannabis buds typically improve in perceived quality and potency for the first 2+ weeks of curing.

• Airtight container – Quart-size wide-mouth glass mason jars (most common), curing-specific jars, etc. These are excellent for curing and long-term storage of cannabis buds.
• Oven bags – For short-term storage and curing, you can put buds in turkey oven bags (Like what you’d use to cook a turkey in the oven). These are not fully airtight, but that’s okay for the beginning of the curing process since you have to burp the air regularly. Some growers will cure their buds in bags for 1-2 weeks, then transfer to jars or other air-tight container after that. If you’ve got a big harvest, this can be easier than burping 20 jars every day. But oven bags are not sealed and therefore not good for long-term storage.
• Hygrometers – They sell packs of small hygrometers that fit in most curing containers. These make it easy to monitor the humidity in the airtight container. Ideally, it should stay between 55-62% RH to ensure proper curing.
• Humidipaks – Boveda and Boost offer specialty humidity-regulating packs that will automatically maintain the humidity at a specific reading. I use the Boveda 58% RH packs. Each of the “Size 8” packs is enough to maintain the humidity in a quart-size jar (about 1 ounce of weed).

Quart-size wide-mouth glass mason jars are the most common container to cure and store weed. You can often find these cheaper at Walmart, the grocery store, home improvement stores like Home Depot, and craft stores.

Turkey oven bags can be a convenient choice for the first 2 weeks of curing, but aren’t suitable for long-term storage since they’re not totally airtight.

Small hygrometers can be placed with your buds during curing and allow you to monitor the humidity.

Boveda “Size 8” Humidity packs are one great option for automatically maintaining the humidity in a quart-sized jar. I like the 58% RH packs because I like how the bud tends to burn smoothly at that level.

You now have all the gear you need for an epic marijuana harvest!

Looking for more harvesting resources? You might like these articles…

Complete Tutorial: When Do I Harvest Weed?

Outdoor Harvest Tutorial: When to harvest cannabis outdoors

How to Trim Your Cannabis Buds

Complete Drying and Cannabis Curing Tutorial

The post Your “Cannabis Harvest Kit” – Get Supplies for a Successful Harvest! appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Outdoor cannabis harvest season is here! But when should you harvest your gorgeous outdoor marijuana buds?

When to harvest outdoor cannabis plants? Find out in today’s outdoor harvest tutorial.

When it comes to growing weed outdoors, figuring out the perfect time to harvest is both an art and a science. However, getting the harvest timing just right rewards you with maximum yields of the best quality buds. Today’s tutorial on when to harvest outdoor marijuana plants first tells you what to look for when it comes to bud maturity, so you harvest buds when they have max THC, CBD, and terpenes (smells). After that, I’ll show you a ton of pictures so you don’t have to do any guesswork, even if your buds don’t look like most other strains.

What to pay attention to when harvesting outdoor cannabis plants:

1. Appearance of buds – Hairs should have all darkened and curled in. This is the best way to know when to harvest your buds. Learn what your strain looks like when outdoor buds are fully mature, and pick that moment. Today’s article will focus on how to choose when to harvest buds based on how they look.
   • Trichome color – The tiny mushroom-shaped trichomes (“glitter” on the buds) typically look white or gold (“amber”) when the buds are ready to harvest. You need a magnifier to see the trichomes clearly, and trichome color is not as consistent an indicator on outdoor plants compared to indoor buds. Therefore, checking the trichomes is not a bad idea, but also not as important as the other factors on this list. Learn how to look at trichomes with a magnifier.
   • Watch out for round leaves – Pay attention to the leaves touching your buds for signs of re-vegging (re-vegging causes round leaves), which causes your cannabis buds to stop developing.
2. Strain-specific harvest time – Different strains take more or less time before buds are ready to harvest. Typically when you buy a strain, the breeder gives an estimate as to how long the buds will take before they’re ready. When in doubt, it can’t hurt to contact the breeder directly and ask if they have any info about when to harvest this particular strain outdoors. I’m often surprised at how helpful breeders are if you ask about their strains.
3. Weather conditions – Keep a close eye on weather forecasts because you don’t want to let some bad weather ruin your whole crop. If you see predictions for heavy rain, frost, or freezing temperatures right as buds are looking mature, it might be best to harvest early to avoid bud rot or other damage.
4. Bud density and size – Big fat buds are more susceptible to mold and pests. If you have very big buds on your plant, consider harvesting those ones early just in case.
5. Mold and pests – Inspect your plants regularly for signs of bugs, webbing, mold, or spots of major discoloration. It’s always better to harvest a little early than harvest buds covered in bugs.

Over time, cannabis growers gain experience and a sense of intuition about the best time to harvest their outdoor marijuana plants. I recommend writing down any observations for next year, pay attention to the plants, and trust your gut. Don’t hold it against yourself if you make a mistake. Gardening (and life) is a learning process.

Until you gain that cannabis grower’s intuition, here’s a bunch of pictures to help.

Pictures of When to Harvest Outdoor Cannabis Plants

First, let’s look at outdoor cannabis buds that are NOT ready yet. You can tell because the hairs on the buds have not fully darkened and curled in.

Outdoors Cannabis Buds – Not Ready Yet

You can tell that these outdoor cannabis buds are still not ready to harvest because they still have lots of white hair sticking straight out.

Still a lot of white hairs. Getting close but still a few weeks until harvest.

Outdoors Cannabis Buds – Ready to Harvest

These outdoor cannabis buds are ready to harvest. Sometimes outdoor buds look a little different than indoor buds from the same strain. For instance, outdoor buds are often leafier (though not always).

Beginning of outdoor cannabis harvest window – buds are mostly solid and most hairs have curled in.

This outdoor cannabis bud is also at the beginning of the harvest window. It’s normal for outdoor buds to be a bit more leafy than the same strain grown indoors.

The hairs on these cannabis buds have all curled in and turned purple. Ready to harvest.

There’s still a few white hairs left on this next bud, but they’re a very small percentage of the total number of hairs. This purple bud is in the harvest window and can be harvested now if necessary.

3 Signs It May Be Time to Harvest Immediately

Sometimes it’s better to harvest cannabis buds a little early to prevent other kinds of damage to them. Here are the 3 most common reasons to harvest buds earlier than you normally would.

Bad Weather is Coming

These cannabis plants are getting close to the optimal harvest time, but still have a lot of white hairs left. However, a huge rainstorm is predicted in a few days, and then it’s going to be cold. Best to harvest now, because you don’t want to lose your harvest to bud rot!

What’s the matter with a little bad weather? The biggest issue is wet and cold weather can trigger bud rot, which can decimate an entire outdoor harvest almost overnight. What do outdoor cannabis growers need to know about bud rot?

Bud Rot

If you see bud rot, harvest now! This problem is caused by a fungus and spreads quickly, especially outdoors.

The first sign of bud rot is usually the leaves around the buds get discolored.

If you look at the base of the discolored leaves, you’ll see the cannabis bud is rotting at that point. It may appear moldy, brown, gray, or otherwise have dead patches.

Bud rot is most common after wet weather (or a lot of dew in the mornings) as it’s caused by a fungus.

A cannabis bud with bud rot will often “open up” or split open where it’s rotting.

Learn more about cannabis bud rot.

Pest Infestation

If your buds are already close, and you’ve got bugs, it’s best to harvest now before they reduce your bud quality further.

Harvest now if your cannabis plants are overrun with bugs.

Learn about “bud washing” to help clean buds that were infested by bugs.

Conclusion – Pick the Perfect Time to Harvest Outdoors

With outdoor growing, the visual appearance of the buds is often the best method to know when to harvest. The most important things to keep in mind…

• Watch the Hairs – Wait until the white hairs have all darkened and curled in. This is the most consistent indicator of cannabis bud maturity for most strains.
• Watch the Weather – Watch the weather forecast and harvest before days of heavy rain or freezing temperatures
• Watch the Plants – Check your plants and buds closely to immediately identify any issues that mean you should harvest early.

You’re now armed with the information to harvest your outdoor cannabis buds at the perfect moment.

Learn how to dry and cure your buds after harvest.

About the Author: Nebula Haze

Nebula Haze is a cannabis enthusiast and co-creator of GrowWeedEasy.com, your ultimate resource for cannabis cultivation. Nebula has over a decade of hands-on experience growing cannabis at home, and uses her knowledge to create simple, easy-to-follow tutorials that make learning to grow weed easy and fun. Her tutorials and online classes have helped countless growers use simple methods to achieve outstanding yields and professional bud quality.

In this article, Nebula demystifies the art and science of harvesting outdoor cannabis, providing insights into the visual cues and environmental factors that ensure perfect timing for maximum yield and quality. By focusing on bud appearance, strain-specific harvest times, and weather conditions, she guides growers to make informed decisions that lead to successful harvests.

Whether you’re just starting out or looking to improve your results, Nebula’s expertise and enthusiasm are here at GrowWeedEasy.com to guide you every step of the way.

Nebula Haze wishing you abundant harvests!

Don’t miss out on the latest tips, tricks, and expert advice from Nebula Haze! Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get the best cannabis cultivation tactics delivered straight to you every Sunday morning at 4:20 am.

The post Is it Time to Harvest My Outdoor Cannabis? (Outdoor Ready-to-Harvest Weed Picture Gallery) appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Is there a last-minute trick to increase THC right before harvest?

If your cannabis plants are close to harvest, you probably want to make sure you do everything possible to maximize your results. What if I told you there might be a way to increase THC and overall bud quality in marijuana plants, right before harvest time?

Enter the 3-day dark period.

I’ve heard about this tactic multiple times over the years.

Essentially, the idea is to “shock” your plant in the days leading up to harvest in hopes of increasing the potency of your buds. The most common tactic is to place your plants in total darkness for 3 days before harvest. Another tactic is to water your plants with ice water. I’ve even heard a grower say that you should put nails through the main stem to “scare” your plant.

But do these tactics work to increase bud quality, potency, THC, or anything measurable in cannabis plants?

Keep reading to learn more about whether the 3-day dark period works to increase cannabis potency.

Does the 3-day dark period actually work?

I don’t know for sure. I have not seen any grower do an experiment yet besides me. (Check out the bottom of the article for the first set of experiment results!)

From a theoretical standpoint, I personally have difficulty imagining a vast difference in bud quality using last-minute tactics. My reasoning is that THC develops slowly throughout the flowering stage. It takes “work” on the part of the plant to create molecules of THC. Even if stressing the plant increased THC production, how much extra THC could be produced in a few days?

But I’ve grown cannabis long enough to know that sometimes what seems intuitive isn’t correct, which is why experiments are so helpful and powerful.

Check out my other side-by-side cannabis growing experiments.

My experiment: Test a 3-day dark period before harvest

These 2 cannabis plants are close to harvest. They were grown in small grow tents under small LED grow lights.

Square One Genetics special cut plant under an HLG 65 4000k LED grow light (65W) in a 2’x2’x3′ mini tent (check out the full grow journal).

Runtz cannabis plant under a Spider Farmer SF-1000 LED grow light (100W) in a slightly taller 2’x2’x4′ grow tent.

I harvested buds off these two plants from before and after giving them a 3-day dark period.

Let’s see how these buds test against each other in the lab.

• Before 3-day dark period: 18.4% THC average
  • Pacific Punch: 19.8% THC
  • Runtz: 16.9% THC
• After 3-day dark period: 19.7% THC average
  • Pacific Punch: 21.9% THC
  • Runtz: 17.6% THC

Wow! This was a spur-of-the-moment test without any controls, so take this with a grain of salt, but it’s pretty stark how much higher the THC tested after the 3-day dark period on both plants. The average is more than 1% higher. I must run more side-by-side experiments to see if this is a fluke. It’s hard for me to believe a dark period could increase the THC this much on a consistent basis.

I wonder if there is some other factor. Perhaps it was natural variation between the buds and it was a matter of luck which ones I picked. It’s also possible that harvesting half the plant caused stress that increased THC in the remaining buds. That would mean it actually had nothing to do with the darkness. Or there may have been some other unknown factor.

A follow-up experiment is definitely coming. This first one was last minute and not well planned. There were no control plants. But the next experiment will involve clones and I’ll harvest plants separately  before and after the dark period to reduce the total number of variables. Maybe I’ll think up some other similar tests. Such an exciting time to be a grower!

Closeup of one of the Runtz buds.

Check out more side-by-side cannabis growing experiments.

Don’t forget to sign up for our weekly newsletter to get updates on my current experiments before they’re published on the website!

Now learn how to improve…

• Yields
• Bud Quality
• THC Levels
• CBD Levels
• Smell/Taste
• Density
• Bonus: What Determines Yields?

The post Does a 3-Day Dark Period Before Harvest Increase THC? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Recently we’ve received a few emails about “bud washing” or essentially giving cannabis buds a “bath” to clean them after harvest.

Is bud washing necessary to grow the best cannabis?

Do marijuana buds need a bath after harvest?

Possible reasons to wash your buds

• Pesticides were used while buds were forming
• Plants had a bug infestation (bud washing can help remove bug poop and dead insect bodies)
• Remove large amounts of any other contaminants including hair, dust, fur, etc.
• Buds were grown outdoors and exposed to contaminants from nature

Essentially, bud washing is a last-resort option when buds need to be cleaned and you’re not willing to throw the weed away.

Bad reasons to wash your buds

• Most other reasons

➡ Jump Right to How to Wash Your Cannabis Buds

Some growers wash buds because it seems like a good idea. For example, you wash an apple from the store right? There’s a big difference. We wash produce from the store because we don’t know what it comes in contact with before it reaches our home. Most produce you buy was also grown outdoors without a personal touch. If you’ve grown your buds indoors in a clean environment, they shouldn’t be exposed to contaminants that need to be washed off.

Bud washing is a last-resort option when buds are dirty and you’re not willing to throw them away. In my opinion, the time to “wash” your buds is in the process of making bubble hash 😉

Not only is it unnecessary to wash clean buds, you run the risk of triggering mold. If you’re going to treat your buds with anything, stop to consider why. The best way to grow clean weed, in my opinion, is to grow weed in a clean environment.

How to grow clean weed indoors

• Grow tent – Growing plants in a tent typically produces cleaner weed than if the plants were grown in an open room.
• Air filters – There are air filters that proactively clean dust and pollen from the air. An intake filter is used to clean air that is coming into the grow space.
• Keep the grow room clean – It helps to be organized and put things away in their place. A cluttered grow room tends to get dirty over time.
• Vacuum – If you are seeing dust or pet hair on your buds, it makes a huge difference to vacuum the grow area on a regular basis.

You don’t need to wash buds that are already clean

What about outdoors?

Growing cannabis outdoors is one of the times where bud washing may be helpful. Unfortunately, nature is full of fun surprises including fur left by deer rubbing your plants, nettles or pollen, webbing from the occasional spider, and more. There are few outdoor environments that can produce weed as clean and pristine as what can be grown indoors.

For outdoor growers, bud washing can remove some natural contaminants from nature and give you cleaner buds. The jury is still out on how well bud-washing removes mold, fungus, or spores. Please contact us if you’ve ever done any lab tests that demonstrate the efficacy of this technique.

The dangling eggs on these cannabis buds are lacewing eggs. It’s good to see these eggs in the garden because lacewings are a natural predator of many cannabis pests. But you might want to wash them off after harvest.

What about pets?

It’s a good idea to keep any shedding animals away from your plants, but I love hanging out with my cat while working in the garden. However, I’ve noticed that as long as I vacuum and use a grow tent, buds come out clean. However, I’ve grown an autoflowering plant in a window before, and I noticed the buds had pet hair on them even though I vacuumed.

Use a grow tent in the flowering stage to keep pet hair off your buds

What about bugs?

Bugs are a fact of life. They love cannabis just like us and when they invade your grow room it feels violating. It’s relatively straightforward to get rid of bugs when plants are in the vegetative stage because you can use most pesticides and you don’t have to worry about anything getting on buds.

Learn about common cannabis pests

Can you save plants after an infestation? (these are aphids)

But if plants have already started making buds when pests move in, you have some hard choices to make. Do you throw away the plants? Do you treat them? Will buds be safe to smoke?

• Bad infestation – If the infestation is particularly bad, you might consider throwing the infested plants away. A really bad infestation is often hard to treat. Once bugs have taken over your plants, they seem impossibly good at surviving. This is especially true for spider mites (aka “The Borg”), broad mites, and hemp russet mites. Most other pests are survivable.
• Small to medium infestation – Look at the safe insecticide list and see if there are safe options for the type of bug you have. Some bugs are easier to get rid of than others. Additionally, bugs that come from other species of plants are typically much easier to get rid of than if your bugs came from another cannabis grow room. If you get thrips on clones you bought from the dispensary, they’re probably going to be much tougher to get rid of than some random thrips that wander onto your cannabis from outside.
• Flowering stage – The more buds have developed, the more it’s recommended you either toss plants or harvest them early and cut your losses. Even if you successfully treat an infestation without getting pesticides on the buds, the buds may still be covered in bug poop, eggs, webbing, dead insects, etc. Some growers choose to wash their buds at this point, but I personally recommend tossing plants just to be safe.

These buds are covered with mealybug bodies and the white fluff produced by their babies. Not good to smoke.

How to prevent bugs

1. Start with seeds – The most common reason growers get a bad infestation is because they brought an infected plant into the grow room from someone else’s garden. For example, a clone or plant from a dispensary or other grower. The best way to ensure you are not importing bugs with your plants is to grow cannabis with seeds. If you have no other choice, consider spraying or dipping new plants with a safe insecticide like a horticultural oil. After treatment, quarantine plants for 14 days to ensure they’re bug-free before bringing them into your grow space
2. Avoid using soil – You are much less likely to get bugs when growing in an inert medium like coco or hydroponics because many bugs need soil for their life cycle. The few times I’ve gotten bugs in my growing career were always when I was using soil (I’m pretty sure they were coming from my neighbor’s roses through a bad window screen…). It’s possible to get bugs in coco or hydro, but it’s much more rare. However, if you follow all the other tips on this page you can easily grow plants in soil without bugs.
3. Grow indoors – It’s much easier to protect plants from bugs when you’re growing indoors because you have much more control over the environment.

How to identify and get rid of cannabis pests

It’s easy to avoid bugs when you start with seeds, avoid soil, and grow indoors (especially in a grow tent)

Other tips

• Grow tent – Even indoors, a grow tent can help prevent outside bugs (for example your neighbor’s rose bush) from getting to your plants. However, this is only marginally effective because you’re still going to be opening the tent to check on plants. Plus some bugs are small enough to crawl through the mesh air holes.
• Keep grow room windows closed – If you have a lot of plants around your home, it can help to make sure the windows are closed in the grow room.
• Don’t walk into the grow room from outside – Along the same lines, don’t check on plants as soon as you get home. Avoid going from outside directly into the grow room.
• Inspect new plants or flowers – If someone gets a bouquet of roses or a new houseplant, take a minute to make sure they don’t have bugs before you let them in the house.

A grow tent offers some protection from bugs and greatly reduces dust/hair getting on buds

Now you know how to grow beautiful, sparkling buds without a hint of contamination. No bud baths are required.

But if you have read through this tutorial and bud washing your cannabis seems like the right choice for you…

How to Wash Your Buds (tutorial by Doc Bud)

This forum thread goes into some of the specifics of bud washing (which I haven’t personally tried myself), including commentary from Doc Bud, the self-described creator of the technique.

Directions from Doc Bud from this thread (posted October 5, 2013) – The following text is the property of Doc Bud and is published here for reference purposes. 

I’m glad to see people are adopting my bud washing technique!

Yes, I “invented” it. I shared it with you folks here on 420….and nowhere else. I’ve never met, spoken to, or heard about anyone else doing it before I tried it…..and I enjoy freaking people out by putting fresh buds in a bucket of water….

But as many have said here, the results speak for themselves!

Let me put it to you like this:

Let’s say I grew lettuce, cucumbers, tomatos and carrots in my basement. It’s dusty down there, I’ve got fans flowing all around….battled with some PM, had some mites…..every now and then I get some rot or other disease on my plants….bugs flying around, dead skin cells, hair…..and I spray the plants with compost tea, fish fertilizer, kelp meal, etc.

So, you wanna come over for a salad? We’ll just pull the veggies out of the ground, plop ’em in a bowl and start eating! No need to wash…..right?

The first time you wash your harvest and see all that brown crap left behind you’ll begin to see the light! Then, when you smoke your first washed harvest, you’ll understand.

For those who are new to this, here’s my method:

4 buckets total. (5 gallon buckets are perfect)

Bucket 1: 3 parts RO water to 1 part 3% H202.
Bucket 2: 5 gallons of RO with 1 cup baking soda, 1 cup Lemon Juice
Buckets 3 and 4: RO only.

Cut down plants, pull off fan leaves by hand, remove any necrotic leaves. Leave sugar leaves and anything with frosting on the plant.

Fully submerge in bucket 1 (H2O2) for 30 seconds. Submerge for a full minute if you had ANY sign of PM or bud rot. Let water drip from buds and then…..

Fully submerge in buckets 2 through 4 for 30 seconds each…lightly agitating the whole time.

Allow produce to drip dry. You can blow a fan on it if you like, just make sure it’s blowing clean air.

Hang and dry per usual.

Final manicure of buds is best done after they dry. It goes very fast and you’re left with washed, highly resinous trim….makes superb joints. I’m also educating my customers to select untrimmed buds, which are actually better than the manicured ones because they still have sugar leaves attached. The trichomes in the leaves have more THC than those in the buds…..so it’s good to get the whole spectrum in there.

I give instructions for this in my journals, as I do it every single week, on every single harvest. Once you try it, you’ll never go back.

This works so well for a couple reasons:

1. takes off dirt, foliar sprays, bugs, fiberglass dust, etc.
2. fully hydrates the leaves, allowing photosynthesis to occur for a day or two on cut and trimmed buds. I recommend leaving a light on the buds for the first day or two after washing.

This results in very, dense, clean burning, smooth tasting produce! That’s the basic recipe….and I’m tweaking and changing it all the time.

Warning: Do NOT use an “organic produce wash” that is based on oils! They sell these in grocery stores and health food stores, and while they might be good for lettuce and cukes….the oil removes resin from the plants…..don’t use it!

Water will not harm resin….oil can and does.

Anyone who wants to know more about my methods is welcome to ask me about them anytime!

Doc Bud

Ben’s Experience with Bud Washing

I recently received this email from a reader sharing their experiences and processes for washing cannabis buds. I thought it was helpful so I’ll share it here.

Hi, I liked the article on bud washing and thought I could add my experience.

When I Wash Buds: I wash all plants grown outdoors and all indoor plants that were sprayed for any reason or if there was mould any where in the grow.

Water Source: If the plants have not been sprayed and don’t have bugs on them I just use rain water to wash.

Mould: I have often washed buds over the years and have not had a mould problem and the end result does not seem degraded. I have regularly had bud in storage for over two years that does not get mould. ( I don’t recommend keeping bud that long. No matter how well cured or stored, it seems to start degrading after a year.)

Process: In my washing process I have a step where I soak buds in a 3:1 mix of rain water and white vinegar for 20 to 30 minuter then do a rain water rinse.

Drying Buds After Bud Washing: When I have finished the wash I put the buds in a salad spinner to remove the water. From the spinner the buds go on racks in an air conditioned room where I run the air conditioner on the dehumidifier mode. If there had been any indication of mould I also run an air purifier that has an ultra violet function in the room during the drying stage.

Making Extracts: An air conditioner on dehumidifier mode also works well for drying keif if you are making bubble hash or rosin.

Thank you for all the great articles.

Regards,
Ben

There you have it, straight from cannabis growers with bud washing experience.

What do you want to learn more about next?

• Bigger yields
• Better bud quality
• Higher THC
• Higher CBD
• More trichomes (sparkle)
• Bud density

The post Bud Washing: Should Cannabis Growers Wash Their Buds? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Bud density isn’t everything… but it sure is nice! If your cannabis buds keep coming out light and fluffy and you’re not sure why, this tutorial will break it down for you. Learn exactly how to grow dense, rock-hard cannabis buds at home.

Example of dense marijuana buds. Looks and feels solid.

This cannabis density grow tutorial shows you how to prevent airy “popcorn” buds!

Why do cannabis growers want dense buds?

Growing dense buds has some key advantages:

• Potency – Dense buds tend to have higher levels of THC than looser buds from the same plant. This isn’t always the case, but the same principles that make buds dense (being located at the top of the plant, bright light, good growing environment, vigorous plants, etc.) also tend to raise THC levels. As a result, on average, the densest buds on a particular plant tend to be some of the most potent buds on that plant.
• Weight – If all your buds are dense, that will greatly increase the overall yield weights at harvest. This means each harvest gives you more weed, so it either lasts longer or leads to higher profits/savings. As another advantage, you can fit much more weed in less space when the buds are dense.
• Looks great – Beautiful aesthetics aren’t necessary, but it does put a smile on your face to see your homegrown weed looks amazing. In general, dense buds are seen as more visually appealing than looser buds. That may be because dense buds are often some of the best ones to smoke.
• Smoking experience – Dense buds tend to make a smoother and more longer-lasting smoke compared to loose or airy buds. Note: If cannabis buds get too dense they can be difficult to work with or grind up. It’s not the case that more density is always better.

Would you like to start growing denser cannabis buds? If so, you’ve come to the right tutorial. There are some extremely common reasons your cannabis buds aren’t growing as compact or dense as they could be, and I’m going to reveal exactly how to fix that today!

1. ) Genetics – The Foundation of Bud Density

You can’t overcome a cannabis plant’s genetics. Some strains only grow loose or airy buds, even in perfect growing conditions. If the genetics simply don’t make high bud density, it’s not your fault if buds come out fluffy. When genetics tend to grow loose buds, there’s not much you can do to change that. That being said, some of my absolute favorite strains have buds that tend to come out with a lower density. Low density doesn’t necessarily mean buds are bad. It’s common with sativa and haze-leaning strains, as well as certain hybrids.

Once you’re smoking the buds, you don’t notice the difference!

Not all good cannabis strains are dense. I personally love Liberty Haze for the captivating bud effects and excellent yields, yet the buds aren’t necessarily the most dense.

Choosing a strain that’s known to grow dense buds greatly increases the chance of producing dense buds. Indica-leaning strains tend to develop the densest buds, though these days, just about every strain is a hybrid that includes a mix of Indica and other genetics.

Grape Ape is a hardy strain that stays short and tends to grow solid buds even in poor conditions (plus the yields and effects are fantastic)

Grape Ape cannabis plants consistently produces rock-hard buds!

Moby Dick is another popular cannabis strain that produces dense buds with splendid effects.

If you’re looking for the highest THC possible, then check out Kushberry Moonrocks, which produces very dense, very potent buds.

Here are more dense strain recommendations:

Photoperiod strains

• Bananacane (Limited Edition) – Tight buds that grow in dark purple, giving a spectacular visual result. Limited edition, so get seeds before they’re gone!
• Bubba Kush – This may be the densest version of the classic strain, with outstanding effects.
• Grape Ape – A fruity “Purps” strain with a dense bud structure and up to 24% THC.
• Jelly Breath S1 – Easy to grow strain with great effects and tight, frosty buds.
• Purple Ghost Candy – An easy-to-grow strain with enormous yields, rock-hard buds, and insane potency. (Check out our full Purple Ghost Candy review)
• Somango – Although the buds have strong, psychoactive Sativa-like effects, the plant grows dense buds and has a relatively short flowering period just like an Indica-leaning strain.

Auto-flowering strains

• Cinderella Jack Autoflower – Most dense autoflowering strain I’ve grown so far!

What’s your favorite dense cannabis strain? Let us know and we may feature it in this list!

The Purple Ghost Candy we grew produced ultra-dense buds.

2.) Feed Me! (Proper Nutrition for Rock Hard Buds)

Cannabis plants tend to be relatively forgiving in the vegetative stage, and the exact nutrients provided don’t matter much as long as plants are growing green and healthy. Yet once you’re in the flowering stage and buds are forming, nutrients begin to have a direct effect on your bud quality, density, and yields.

Don’t Let Cannabis Plants Run Out of Nutrients While Buds Form

Don’t rely on regular potting soil for nutrients in the flowering stage. Plants that are grown in the same soil from seed to harvest often use up a lot of the nutrients by the time buds start forming. Proper nutrition is crucial for a plant to produce the biggest, densest buds.

Don’t rely on regular potting soil to provide nutrients while buds are forming. Plants need a boost of extra in the flowering stage to grow dense buds.

If you’re already adding cannabis-friendly nutrients in the water, this likely doesn’t apply to you.

However, if you’re not using nutrients, It’s a good idea to supplement your plant with flowering stage nutrients (high in P and K). The exception is when you’re either regularly transplanting into fresh soil, or using a composted, amended soil (which slowly releases organic nutrients throughout the plant’s life). The specific brand of nutrients isn’t nearly as critical as making sure you’re giving the plant what it needs. Learn more about the best cannabis nutrients.

Get quality nutrients to make sure your plants get enough nutrients in the flowering stage

Dyna-Gro Grow + Bloom is a cheap nutrient option that works great for cannabis plants. Just give at 1 tsp/gallon of Grow in the Vegetative Stage, and 1 tsp/gallon of Bloom in the flowering stage.

Dyna-Gro Grow + Bloom nutrients

The General Hydroponics Flora trio gives professional results in the flowering stage, whether growing in soil, coco, or hydro. This is what I personally use. Just follow the nutrient recommendation on the side of the bottle at 1/2 strength and you’re good to go.

General Hydroponics Flora trio nutrients (what I use)

Fox Farm Trio is an excellent cannabis nutrient that is formulated especially for growing in soil. It contains mostly organic sources of nutrients, and buds come out dense and frosty. I’ve had good results following their nutrient schedule at 1/2 or strength with “hot” soil (contains lots of nutrients), or 3/4 strength with regular potting soil.

Fox Farm Trio nutrients for soil

Avoid Too Much Nitrogen in the Flowering Stage

On the flip side, you can give plants too high levels of nutrients, especially certain nutrients. Providing high levels of nutrients overall causes nutrient burn, which is cosmetic and doesn’t have a massive effect on cannabis bud density. However, if you’re giving plants too high levels of nitrogen (N) in the flowering stage, it can reduce proper bud development.

Too much nitrogen in the flowering stage can suppress bud development

Luckily it’s effortless to tell if your plant has too much nitrogen. The main symptom of a nitrogen toxicity is dark green leaves, and possibly also clawed tips.

Are you giving too much nitrogen? Too much nitrogen (N) causes dark green leaves. Sometimes they appear almost shiny.

A nitrogen toxicity sometimes causes the tips of leaves to claw down

A nitrogen toxicity is super easy to fix. Just reduce the amount of nitrogen your plants are getting. Don’t stop giving nitrogen altogether though, pull it back.

If you’re using all-purpose or vegetative nutrients (which are high in nitrogen), you need to find different nutrients for once buds start forming. Suitable nutrients for the flowering stage are typically labeled as “Bloom” nutrients and contain low levels of Nitrogen. You don’t need to worry if you’re using nutrients made for flowering (like the Bloom bottle from Dyna-Gro Grow + Bloom), or when using nutrients with multiple bottles that you combine according to a nutrient schedule (like the General Hydroponics Flora trio or the Fox Farm trio). Follow the instruction to automatically decrease the amount of Nitrogen during the flowering stage to the proper levels.

Buds don’t develop as well as they could when a plant is getting too much nitrogen

What if you’re using Bloom nutrients with low nitrogen, but plants still look dark?

In this case, reduce the nutrient levels overall. Don’t change the ratio. You can use fractions to figure out how much nutrients to add (for example trying to cut the nutrients by a 1/3), but I don’t like doing fractions. It’s too easy for me to mess up! Instead, I add extra water after mixing nutrients to dilute the overall levels without messing with the proportions.

When treating a Nitrogen Toxicity, make sure that you give enough water to get some runoff. Runoff water helps flush out any nutrient buildup in the grow medium.

Learn more about nitrogen toxicity.

Don’t Ignore Nutrient Deficiencies

Now you know that flowering cannabis plants need plenty of Phosphorus and Potassium (P&K), but not much Nitrogen (N). The next most common nutrient challenge in the flowering stage is the appearance of nutrient deficiencies. If you’re not adding nutrients in the water, there’s a chance that the plant needs higher levels of nutrients overall, and supplementing with a suitable Bloom nutrient will solve the problem.

Not sure which bloom nutrient to get? Dyna-Gro Bloom is an affordable and effective bloom nutrient for cannabis in any grow medium that will provide your plant with complete flowering stage nutrition in any grow medium. An easy way to prevent flowering stage deficiencies!

However, if you’re already using nutrients and still see a nutrient deficiency, it’s likely caused by incorrect pH at the roots.

Don’t ignore nutrient problems like this potassium deficiency! Keep plant leaves as healthy as possible in the flowering stage for the best bud development.

Why should you care about nutrient deficiencies?

Although P&K are most important to bud development, your plants need a variety of nutrients to complete normal plant processes. Any time you ignore a plant that’s getting sick, you’re lowering the overall growth rates and potentially reducing bud size and density.

Diagnose my nutrient deficiency! (Free Plant Doctor)

Is my cannabis nutrient deficiency caused by pH problems? (Picture Guide)

What About Supplements?

What about cannabis supplements? How important are they to bud density?

The truth is, you can achieve incredible bud quality and density using just base nutrients. They contain everything your plant needs for healthy growth, and so you don’t need any supplements to grow great buds. When I first started growing, I felt confused because it seemed like you need supplements to produce brag-worthy buds and yields. I’ve learned over the years that nutrient companies want you to believe that because that helps them sell more bottles of supplements.

I’m not saying that supplements don’t provide benefits, I just want to assure you that they’re not necessary. They can sometimes make things more complicated by interacting with your nutrients or each other. Many supplements can be useful in small doses but may harm your plants at higher doses, so give sparingly at first to see what effect they have.

Some supplements claim to increase the density of buds, but it’s hard to pin down exactly which ones work. Unfortunately, there are not many side-by-side experiments showing the difference that each supplement makes. Here are some popular choices.

These supplements claim to increase yields and density with extra Phosphorus (P) & Potassium (K)

• Liquid Koolbloom (by General Hydroponics)
• Hydroplex (by Botanicare)
• Beastie Bloomz (by Fox Farms)

Tips for using supplements in the flowering stage

• Only add one new supplement at a time. You’re most likely to have unexpected results if you add several new things at once.
• Adding just one supplement at a time also helps you pinpoint which supplement is causing the effects you see.
• Always use supplements made by the same company as your base nutrients. Sticking with one company reduces the chance of unwanted interactions. Each company designs its nutrients and supplements to be used together.
• Use any supplement sparingly. A little usually goes a long way! Too much of certain supplements can harm plants, burn the leaves, or stunt bud growth. Always start at the lowest recommended dose (or less) and only increase if plants seem to be responding well.

We all want magic in a bottle, but it’s important to remember that the environment and overall plant care are much more critical to achieving excellent bud quality and yields than any particular supplement. You can’t overcome a bad growing environment no matter what you give your plants (more on that next).

Learn more about cannabis plant supplements.

3.) Intense Light Makes Dense Buds

Since intense light is key to growing dense buds, the grow light you choose is key to improving density.

Unfortunately, some cannabis grow lights struggle to grow dense buds no matter what you do as a grower.

Grow lights that are excellent at producing high bud density:

• My list of the current best LED grow lights for growing cannabis – Most cannabis growers would be happiest with an LED grow light.
• HPS grow lights – These are good lights but they get extremely hot, so they’re best suited for growers with a cold grow room.
• LEC/CMH grow lights – Overall similar to HPS.

Fluorescent lights like T5s can produce dense buds when you keep the lights close. However, the lower buds on plants grown under fluorescents are typically on the fluffier side because the light doesn’t penetrate far into the plant. If density is most important to you, fluorescent lights are not be the best choice.

Fluorescent lights like T5s tend to make fluffy buds. Not the best choice for the best cannabis bud density.

If density is the most crucial factor for you, generally, you’ll get the best results in the flowering stage with powerful modern LEDs or HID (“big bulb”) lights like HPS. However, the technology for LEDs has improved dramatically in the last few years, and there are many modern models of LEDs that consistently produce long, dense buds.

However, some LEDs (especially the no-name ones) have low penetration down into the plant and buds simply don’t harden up. These low-quality LEDs often produce airy buds. For example, the following buds were grown under cheap LEDs. Buds stayed small and larfy even though plants looked happy and healthy. If the LED light looks “blurple” colored, it is typically not well suited to growing cannabis plants.

Avoid “blurple” colored LEDs for growing cannabis.

Good LEDs for growing cannabis in the flowering stage typically produce white light with a pink or yellow tinge.

Good flowering LEDs make light that looks mostly white, often with a pink or yellow tinge.

High-quality LEDs tend to cost a bit more, but the results can be worth it. For example, you can achieve impressive density and yields from LED models like the HLG Quantum Boards (HLG 100 3000k version, HLG Blackbird, etc.) as well as Spider Farmer and Mars Hydro LED grow lights. Learn more about the best LED grow lights for cannabis.

Certain LEDs produce high density. The HLG 100 (3000k version) uses only 100W and made these extremely dense buds for me.

I’m currently flowering several plants under the HLG 350R, and so far, I’m even more impressed.

If you’re not sure which LED to get, you can’t go wrong with a Spider Farmer LED.

Spider Farmer LEDs like the G4500 model produce super tight, potent buds at a much cheaper cost than most other LEDs of similar size and quality.

HPS grow lights consistently produce dense buds as long as plants are healthy and kept from being hot. However, HPS grow lights produce a lot of heat, and hot air makes fluffy buds. That means HPS grow lights are best suited for a cold grow room. If you’re battling heat, HPS don’t perform nearly as well as LEDs.

This bud was grown under HPS. As long as the temperature doesn’t go much over 80°F/27°C, HPS usually produces very dense buds.

LEC/CMH grow lights also tend to produce dense buds. One of my favorite aspects of growing with an LEC is buds come out extremely sparkly and stinky compared to other grow lights.

These sticky, dense buds were grown under a 315 Ceramic Metal Halide.

4.) Vegetative Stage – Prepare Plants to Make Dense Buds

During the vegetative stage, you have total control over a cannabis plant’s final shape and size. As a grower, you can use this to your advantage. Set your plants up correctly now so they naturally tend to grow dense buds once they enter the flowering stage.

Grow More Than Just One Main Bud

You can increase your overall yields by training your plant in the vegetative stage (with techniques like LST or manifolding), so it grows multiple primary buds instead of one.

Cannabis plants naturally tend to grow one main bud.

However, growers can use simple techniques in the vegetative stage. often called “plant training” or “plant pruning” that will force the plant to grow many buds in the flowering stage.

Plant training increases yields by forcing plants to grow multiple main buds instead of just one.

Avoid Too Many Bud Sites

However, if you grow a plant with tons and tons of buds sites, it may not be able to fatten them all up before harvest. This is most likely to happen on smaller plants, younger plants, and when using smaller grow lights. If you’ve got a relatively small plant, try to force the plant to focus on just a few main buds instead of dozens. A general rule of thumb is that plants under 2 feet tall should have 4-10 primary buds. Big or wide plants can support more.

Don’t spread the plant’s energy too thin or you may end up with tons of baby “popcorn” buds.

This plant has too many bud sites for its size. Although it may get good yields, none of the buds will grow particularly big or dense.

Bigger plants, older plants, and manifolded plants can support more big, dense buds. Especially when combined with a powerful cannabis grow light.

Don’t Switch to Flowering Stage Too Early

This is sort of related to the last point. Bigger plants can support bigger buds, and switching to 12/12 early means that your plant might not get big enough to make dense, thick colas/buds.

Try to switch to the flowering stage when your plant has reached about half the final desired size. Since plants about double in size after they start getting 12/12, this should give you the biggest plants possible for your grow space.

Switch to 12/12 when plants are half the final desired height. This helps ensure they’re big enough to support dense buds

5.) Flower Power – Create the Perfect Bud-Building Environment

The flowering stage is the most essential part of your plant’s life when it comes to bud quality, density, and yields. The way buds form is a direct reflection of their growing conditions. A common cause of airy buds is poor care or environment while the buds are forming. Here are several factors that can affect whether you get the best bud density in the flowering stage.

Avoid Ultra-leafy Plants While Buds are Forming

Problem: Plants are so leafy that air and light can’t get through the plant. Buds are covered by leaves so they aren’t getting direct light.

Result of Too Many Leaves: The buds don’t get as dense as they could.

These plants are too leafy for the flowering stage. Buds won’t fatten far into the plant, and won’t be as dense as they could be.

Air and light should be able to travel through the plant in the flowering stage. Every bud should get strong direct light. For some plants, you won’t have to do anything to achieve this. But with some plants, you may need to remove leaves to achieve the optimal amount of leafiness.

You may need to remove leaves if cannabis plants get too leafy in the flowering stage.

Not sure if your plants are too leafy?

This 3-step defoliation tutorial ensures your plants have the perfect amount of leaves.

Don’t ignore pests or disease

I mentioned nutrient deficiencies already, but it’s also vital that you react immediately to any other issues that may come up. Don’t ignore a problem until it gets out of control.

Typically a sick cannabis plant is simple to treat when it’s just starting to experience problems, but the longer it goes on, the worse it gets. An unhealthy plant won’t grow buds as well as a healthy one, so stay on top of your plant’s health.

Don’t ignore problems like pests or disease.

Avoid extreme temperatures (especially heat)

A lot of growers ignore issues with the plant’s flowering stage environment. Growers often don’t realize how much this can hurt their bud density, potency, and yields. It’s easy to ignore environmental problems like heat because typically, your plants and buds will still be growing.

If plants look okay, the heat should be fine, right? Unfortunately, no.

When the air is too warm (above 80°F/26°C) in the flowering stage, buds tend to grow more light and airy. Sometimes buds even grow unsightly foxtails as a result of heat.

Buds get less dense when it’s too hot. Look at the loose structure of this bud grown in extreme heat.

Too-cold air can also cause buds to grow small, airy, and loose.

Another thing about temperature: cannabis plants in the flowering stage like it to be a little warm in the day, but cool at night. Warm nights are also associated with airy buds. Try to keep the temperature consistently between 65-80°F (18-27°C) for the best bud development in the flowering stage.

Check out our complete cannabis temperature tutorial.

High humidity makes buds grow loose

Humidity in the flowering stage is another factor that’s often ignored. Each plant leaf is constantly adding moisture in the air, which means that the humidity tends to rise in the grow space as plants get bigger. What’s ironic is that cannabis plants like high humidity when they’re young/small, but it causes problems in the flowering stage after buds start forming.

High humidity can trigger bud rot and powdery white mildew, which is plenty enough reason to control humidity. But there’s more. Buds don’t get as sparkly as they could in high humidity, and buds overall tend to grow more loose and airy when the air is humid.

Keep humidity under 50% RH while buds are forming for the best results.

Check out our full cannabis humidity tutorial.

Keep humidity under 50% RH while buds are forming, or they may not get as dense as they could

Give lots of fresh, moving air

Buds seem to fatten the best when they get plenty of light and fresh air. You’ve already taken care of light, but you should also ensure your plants get excellent airflow. Air circulation helps control humidity, prevent wet spots, and moves air through the plant and around the buds.

Check out the full Air-Circulation and Exhaust Tutorial.

Make sure cannabis plants get fresh air and good airflow.

Avoid major stress or deficiencies

If your cannabis plant doesn’t “look good” or seems sickly in the flowering stage, that’s the first thing you should focus on to improve the bud density at harvest.

If plants look generally unhealthy, you should focus on fixing that before trying anything else. These plants are suffering from heat stress. Look how loose the buds are.

Buds tend to stay small and fluffy on an unhealthy plant.

Diagnose your sick cannabis plant here!

6.) Don’t Rush the Finish – Proper Harvesting and Curing

Don’t harvest too early

Buds gain a lot of size, weight, and density during the last few weeks before harvest time. That means if you harvest your cannabis plants a few weeks early, the buds will be significantly smaller and less dense than they could be. Early-harvested buds also aren’t as potent and may give some people a headache. There are lots of great reasons to harvest your plants at the right time.

Learn the exact right time to harvest your cannabis plants.

Don’t harvest until cannabis plants are ready. These buds are dense and ready to harvest!

Always dry and “cure” your cannabis buds

Drying and curing buds makes them smoke better, smell better, feel more potent. Don’t skip this step!

As a bonus, drying and curing can help tighten buds up for that “California dispensary” look.

How to dry and cure your cannabis buds.

Buds tend to look more “tight” and feel denser after being dried and cured.

I’ve found that waiting to trim buds until after drying can also help them feel and appear more dense (compared to trimming before drying)

If you avoid these mistakes, you will produce cannabis buds as dense as you’ve always dreamed!

The post Why can’t I grow dense buds? [Bud Density Tutorial] appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Ready to harvest more than 1 pound of top-shelf cannabis right from inside your home? Sounds amazing, doesn’t it? Turning that dream into a reality is fully within your grasp, and I’m going to show you exactly how to produce a pound of top-shelf weed indoors. Harvesting a pound (that’s an eye-popping 16 ounces) of your own top-shelf cannabis is about more than just the weight. It’s also about independence from buying, the delight of sharing your crop with others, and the freedom to have so much weed you never run out, with enough left over to make your own goodies like edibles, extracts, and tinctures.

Our first 1-pound indoor cannabis harvest based on this tutorial (600W HPS grow light).

And our first 1-lb harvest after switching to an LED grow light (600W LED grow light).

One key to growing a pound of good weed indoors is you have to give your plants the right growing environment. A large tent sized at 4’x4’x6.5′ (1.2mx1.2mx2m) is a manageable size that provides an ideal place to consistently produce your 1-lb cannabis grow.

Here are some examples of grow lights that would be suitable for this size grow tent:

• Spider Farmer SF4000 LED grow light – (uses 450W) – Yields just under 1 pound
• Mars Hydro FC-E4800 LED grow light (uses 480W) – Yields over 1 pound per harvest
• 600W HPS (Uses 600W) – Yields up to 21 ounces or 1.3 lbs
• HLG Blackbird 600W LED (600W, dimmable) – Yields up to 24 oz or 1.5 lbs. Recommended choice – this LED light was designed specifically to achieve high yields in a 4×4 grow tent.
• 1000W DE HPS (Uses 1000W) – Yields up to 35 oz or 2.2 lbs, VERY hot, you will need cooling.

Example Plants Grown in This Size Tent

Cannabis plants grown in a 4’x4′ grow tent under a 600W HPS.

Six plants under a 600W LED grow light in 4’x4’x6.5′ (these are only on day 38 of flowering).

Two Hydroponic Plants under a 600W HPS in 4’x4’x7′ grow tent – Yielded 23.09 oz at harvest!

Those are just a few examples. Many of you have written in asking for more tutorials about growing large amounts of weed in the home environment. We have heard you loud and clear! Here’s the proven strategy we’re covering in today’s cannabis tutorial that will teach you how to yield 1 lb or more of top-shelf cannabis in a single large grow tent:

Overall Strategy

1.) Start with a high-yielding cannabis strain – Learn how to find the right strain.

2.) Get your supplies – Here’s an example of a complete shopping list for a 4’x4′ grow tent that gets great results with cannabis.

3.) “Top” plants at a young age – Cut off the top of the main stem when seedlings are a few weeks old.

4.) Train plants to grow flat and wide (like a table) in the vegetative stage.

• Simple Way: Either use plant twist tie to hold down branches…
• Using a Net: Invest in a Scrog net and install it to be half the final desired height of your plants. Any time a stem grows above the net, tuck it back underneath until you’ve filled the entire net

5.) Initiate the flowering stage, then…

• Defoliate – Follow a strategic defoliation schedule
• Not too hot, not too humid – Maintain a good environment while buds are forming.
• Keep plants healthy – Avoid bugs and nutrient deficiencies.
• If using a net,  add a second net and arrange buds to fill the entire net as they grow.

6.) Harvest at the right time.

7.) Dry and jar buds properly.

This is just a super basic outline. Check below for more details and step-by-step instructions!

How to Grow 1 Pound of Weed: Step-by-Step Instructions

1.) Start with a high-yielding cannabis strain

Learn how to find the right strain (regardless of what your goals are).

Some strains naturally yield much more than others. Choose high-yielding strains to maximize your harvest weight.

Autoflowering Strains vs Photoperiod Strains: Which is better for cannabis yields?

Although many auto-flowering strains are high-yielding, and produce fast harvests under 3 months, you don’t have as much control over plant growth patterns and size as you do with photoperiod strains. That’s because autoflowering strains start making buds after about 4 weeks, even if your plants aren’t as big as you need them to be yet. Cannabis plants about double in size after they start flowering, and if your autoflowering plants are too small at that point, they’ll stay small until harvest no matter what you do. Especially for beginners, it can be difficult to consistently harvest 1 lb per harvest with auto-flowering strains because even a small problem at the beginning of the grow can stunt your plant size.

On the other hand, photoperiod cannabis plants are much more forgiving if you make mistakes early on. You have all the time in the world to get your plants to the exact right size and shape before you initiate the flowering stage. As long as you set your plants up right before they start flowering, and keep them healthy, you’re pretty much guaranteed a 1+ lb harvest following all these steps, which is why photoperiod strains are recommended if you’re not sure what to pick.

Autoflowering strains 

Pros

• Faster – Ready to harvest in under 3 months. Can’t beat the time to harvest! If speed is most important, then auto-flowering genetics are the way to go.
• No special light schedules – You don’t have to worry about light schedules, light leaks, or anything like that. Just give the plants 18+ hours of direct light a day and that’s all you really need to think about when it comes to light. Check on your plants any time.

Cons

• Early mistakes can dramatically hurt yields – Can’t make mistakes in the seedling stage. Autofloweirng plants start flowering after about a month even if they’ve been sick and are still small. That means early mistakes like overwatering your seedlings will stunt autoflowering plants for life, so only choose autoflowering strains if you’ve got a great handle on taking care of plants for the first 4 weeks of life.
• Less consistent yields – More difficult to always get 1 lb per harvest, due to the shorter life period as well as the fact that it’s easier for plants to end up smaller than you want.
• Fewer strain choices – Autoflowering strains are “boutique” specialty genetics and you typically have fewer options when it comes to autos.

Photoperiod strains <– Recommended for this cannabis high-yield tutorial

Pros

• Early mistakes are forgiven – Even if you make mistakes early on, you have time to let your plants recover and get them the optimum size and shape to guarantee a 1-lb harvest.
• Consistent 1 lb harvests – With photoperiod strains, even a total beginner can produce a pound of weed in their first harvest as long as they just make sure to follow all these instructions.
• Bigger selection – Most strains are photoperiod strains, which means you have a much larger selection to choose from.
• Excellent bud quality – Although you can get some incredible autoflowering strains these days that have bud quality equal to photoperiod strains, on average photoperiod buds not only look and smell nicer, but also have higher THC levels.

Cons

• Takes longer – Average grow time with photoperiod strains is 4-5 months from germination to harvest day. This is about 1-2 months longer than most autoflowering strains.
• Special light schedules – In order to get photoperiod cannabis plants to make buds (start “flowering”), growers give plants 12 hours of complete darkness a day to simulate that winter is coming. This is easy to do in a grow tent by putting your grow lights on a timer. However, the downside is you can’t check on or care for your plants during their 12-hour “lights off” period every day so you don’t accidentally interrupt their beauty sleep.

I recommend growers follow this tutorial with photoperiod strains just to increase the chance you get a full pound or more. However, auto-flowering strains can work if you’re desperate to harvest within 3 months and are willing to make sure to take extra good care of your plants while they’re still young.

Examples of excellent high-yielding photoperiod strains (these are all feminized seeds, which means every plant with be a bud-making female plant)

• Blue Dream by Seed Supreme – Enormous yields every time. A true commercial producer and one of the higher-yielding strains I’ve grown. Buds are sweet-smelling with relaxing yet “social” weed effects that have given in the status of “party favorite”.
• Platinum Cookies by Seed Supreme – Excellent yields and the bud quality is out of this world. The purple-tinted buds tested at 25-27% THC when we grew it and the effects were a crowd favorite. This strain tends to get tall, but responds well to bending and supercropping to keep it short and flat. It has a 12-week flowering stage, which is a few weeks longer than average, but the yield and bud quality are worth 2 extra weeks in my opinion.
• Kushberry Moonrocks by MSNL – Great yields, pretty purple color on buds, averages around 28% THC, only a 10-week flowering stage. Effects are relaxing but POTENT. Definitely a strain meant to be enjoyed at home.

2.) Get your big-yield supplies

Here’s an example of a complete shopping list for a 4’x4′ grow tent that gets great results with cannabis using the HLG Blackbird 600W LED.

Here are other examples of grow lights that would be suitable for this size grow tent, using otherwise the same setup as above:

• Spider Farmer SF4000 LED grow light – (uses 450W) – Yields just under 1 pound
• Mars Hydro FC-E4800 LED grow light (uses 480W) – Yields over 1 pound per harvest
• 600W HPS (Uses 600W) – Yields up to 21 ounces or 1.3 lbs
• HLG Blackbird 600W LED (600W, dimmable) – Yields up to 24 oz or 1.5 lbs. Recommended choice – this LED light was designed specifically to achieve high yields in a 4×4 grow tent.
• 1000W DE HPS (Uses 1000W) – Yields up to 35 oz or 2.2 lbs, VERY hot, you will need cooling.

Any of these grow lights will grow thriving cannabis plants in a 4’x4′ grow tent.

Other hints for getting the highest yields in your setup:

• Grow with coco (or hydro) – Coco and hydro tend to produce better yields than growing in soil on average. The grow medium that tends to produce the lowest yields is super soil (“just add water” soil). However, yields aren’t the only important thing when it comes to growing, and you can achieve 1 pound in this setup even with super soil if you make sure to maximize everything else.
• Use synthetic nutrients – Along the same line, cannabis plants tend to produce the highest yields when using synthetic or mineral-based nutrients. Adding organic nutrients can definitely increase yields vs not using any nutrients, but they are not as easily available to the plant as man-made nutrients. Some great cannabis nutrient systems are mostly organic with just a few key synthetic ingredients to get the best of both worlds, like Fox Farm trio for hydro. But fully synthetic nutrients like General Hydroponics Flora trio get the best yields of any nutrient system we’ve tried in side-by-side grow experiments so far. If yields are your #1 goal, I highly recommend the GH Flora trio – just follow the instructions on the side of the bottle at half strength, maintain a pH of 5.5-6.5 pH at the roots, and you don’t have to worry about nutrients.
• Don’t ignore heat – Young plants don’t mind the heat, but if it’s regularly above 85°F/30°C in the grow space while buds are forming, it will harm your yields by making buds grow more loose and airy.  Heat also greatly increases the chance of getting bud rot or mold in your buds. Luckily, a good exhaust fan venting air out of the tent goes a long way, which is why I included in a powerful exhaust fan in the recommended 4×4 setup. However, if the whole room is warming up above that temperature, adding more fans won’t help. At that point, you should vent the hot air directly out a window or install an AC. At that point, you won’t need to worry about heat and can focus on other things.
• React quickly to plant problems – If you notice a nutrient deficiency, see signs of bugs, or catch sight of any other unexpected plant symptoms, pay attention! Check our free plant doctor tool and correct the cause of the problem as soon as possible. Most problems can be dealt with easily at first, but they get harder and harder to fix the longer they go on without intervention.

Once you’ve got your garden set up, start your seeds and lets start growing!

• How to germinate your seeds directly in the grow medium, as pictured below (here’s a germination tutorial for hydro).
• How to water cannabis plants.

Plant your marijuana seeds and keep them warm during germination.

The result? Cannabis seedlings pop up a few days later.

3.) “Top” plants at a young age

Wait until the seedling has about 6 sets of leaves, then cut off the top of the main stem.

Wait until your plants have grow about 6 sets of leaves (6 “nodes”).

Cut off the top of the plant through the main stem. You want to remove the top node completely.

After topping 4 plants, I had 4 little tops. Cutting off such a small amount of plant doesn’t seem like it would make a huge difference to your yields, but this is one of the most important steps to take as a grower indoors to maximize yields. As a result of this simple act, the plant will stop growing with only one main stem, and instead naturally grow more bushy and wide with multiple stems. These bushy cannabis plants will be covered in buds instead of only having one main bud, giving you the “sea of buds” you often see in pictures.

These 4 plants were just topped.

These are the 4 tops from the 4 plants. Such a small amount removed, but it will dramatically change the future growth of your plants.

Now that their tops have been cut off, these plants will never grow the same again. After being topped, they naturally grow bushier with multiple bud sites instead of growing with just one big bud. As a result, you increase the amount of yield you can produce per plant.

Learn more about topping cannabis plants.

4.) Train plants to grow flat and wide (like a table) in the vegetative stage.

Method 1: Bend down branches and use plant twist tie to hold them in place.

• When any branch gets taller than the others, bend it down and away from the center of the plant.
• Tie the stem directly to the plant container using plant twisty tie to hold it in place.
• You’re done when they’re all the same height and about 1.5′ tall from the top of the plant container. At that point, move to the next step.

Full tutorial on how to use plant twist tie plus bending to grow plants wide and flat like a table.

The goal of any training when growing indoors is to force your plants to grow flat and wide like a table. This ensures all the parts of the plant are about the same distance from the grow light. This shape will dramatically increase your yields once buds start forming because it allows your plants to use “every last drop” of light to make buds.

Method 2: Use a “Screen” (get trellis netting and train plants to grow under the net)

Invest in a 4×4′ Scrog trellis net (get two because you may want a second one later) and install it to be half the final desired height of your plants. In a 4’x4′ grow tent, a good final height for your plants is about 3′ tall. So install the scrog net about 1.5′ feet above the tops of your plant containers. Any time a stem grows above the net, tuck it back underneath until you’ve filled the entire net.

Keep tucking branches under the net as plants grow.

Continue until the whole net is “filled” with a canopy of living plants. This net just has a few spots left before it’s completely filled and ready for the next step.

5.) Initiate the flowering stage, then…

In order to get plants to make buds (start “flowering”) you need to give plants 12 hours of complete darkness a day. This is typically done by putting your grow lights on a timer set on a 12/12 light schedule.  Since your plants are in a grow tent, when the grow lights are off, your plants are in complete darkness so they can enjoy their “beauty sleep”.

Note: Don’t check on your plants during their 12-hour “night” period because exposing them to light at night even a few times can disrupt budding and revert plants back to the vegetative stage. Keep plants totally in the dark when the grow lights are off.

Defoliate – Follow a strategic defoliation schedule.

It doesn’t seem like defoliation (removing leaves) should improve cannabis yields, but this is a “hack” that has proven to be remarkably effective. Not only does strategic defoliation increase your yields (when done properly), it also increases the overall bud quality including the THC percentage and density of your buds. We confirmed this at the lab in our defoliation side-by-side experiment with clones. There are many great defoliation schedules, but here’s one that works well to increase yields and is followed by many commercial growers.

Example of a great defoliation schedule (most common defoliation schedule for commercial cannabis growers)

First Defoliation: 3 weeks after 12/12

Remove all the big fan leaves from the plant about 3 weeks after initiating the 12/12 light schedule.

• If a leaf is the size of your hand or bigger, remove it.
• If the stem is at least 1″ long, remove it.
• Make sure to leave at least a few fan leaves on each main stem

Second Defoliation: Do this 4 weeks after the first defoliation

• Repeat the same process
• Focus on making sure all bud sites get direct exposure to the light and aren’t covered by leaves
• After this, don’t remove leaves unless the plant is getting overly leafy, causing leaves to lay on each other and create wet spots
• It’s okay to tuck leaves to expose buds

After defoliation, you should be able to see light from the grow light hitting the floor (if the floor is in shadow then remove more leaves).

Read the full defoliation tutorial.

Other flowering stage tips

• Not too hot, not too humid – Maintain a good environment while buds are forming.
• Keep plants healthy – Avoid bugs and nutrient deficiencies.

Leaves should appear green and healthy for most of the flowering stage. It’s normal for leaves to start turning yellow or looking rough the last 1-2 weeks before harvest, but before that, it’s a sign of a problem. If you notice discolored leaves, don’t ignore it. Do something! Your yields will thank you.

If using a net…

• Once you initiate the flowering stage, stop tucking your stems under the first net.
• Let the stems grow above the net. Each stem is going to develop into a main bud (sometimes called a “cola”).
• Are the colas getting too close ot the light or starting to fall over?
  • If the stems are wavy and falling over, or if some stems are growing taller than others, install a second net about 1 foot above the first one.
  • This is not 100% necessary, but can be helpful if your stems stretch a lot after initiating 12/12 (a second net helps you arrange buds to make sure they fill the entire grow tent).
  • Use the grid to stabilize your colas where you want them.
  • If a stem is getting too close to the grow light, tuck it under that second net.
  • Try to ensure your buds are all about the same height as each other and the same distance from the light.

Regardless of the exact method of training, the goal is to get all your buds about the same distance from the grow light. This maximizes yields.

6.) Harvest at the right time.

Harvest at the right time. Here’s a quick guide.

Not Ready

Baby buds (budlets) look like a ball of white hairs. These buds have many weeks to go!

If your buds are all white hairs, they’re just getting started. Expect much more fattening from here.

Watch out for pollen sacs!

If you started with feminized seeds from a trustworthy breeder, you should never see pollen sacs. But just in case, if you see pollen sacs instead of white hairs, it means your plant is growing male flowers and should be removed from the grow space immediately. Why toss male plants? Male flowers don’t contain much THC and their pollen causes nearby buds to grow seeds.

Immediately remove any plant that grows pollen sacs instead of white hairs. Learn more about male plants.

Still Not Ready

As the marijuana plant buds get closer to harvest, they thicken, and those white pistils start to darken and curl up. You’ll notice your buds are slowly getting thicker and denser. However, if you still have a lot of straight white pistils, like this bud, it means you still have a few weeks to go.

Ready to Harvest!

You’re in the ready-to-harvest window for cannabis when most of the hairs have darkened and curled in.

A bud is ready to harvest when most of the hairs darken and curl in.

Check out tons more pictures of ready-to-harvest buds from different strains!

Learn how to use a magnifier to look at buds for even more precision.

7.) Dry and jar buds properly.

Buds aren’t smokable directly off the plant because they’re mostly full of water. You need to dry and cure buds if you want to get bud quality like what you’re used to buying.

The simplest way to dry buds is to cut off the branches and hang each branch upside down until the buds are dry. Best done in a cool space.

Learn how to dry buds and cure them perfectly.

Time to enjoy the fruits of your labor!

Conclusion: Summary of Key Steps for 1 Pound Yields in a 4×4′ Grow Tent

Growing over a pound of cannabis in a 4’x4’ grow tent is an achievable goal for any home grower (even a beginner) when following my strategic plan.

Here’s a recap of the key steps covered in this guide:

• Start with high-yielding strains – Choose stable, fast-growing strains that are known for their heavy yields.
• Get the right equipment – Invest in a quality grow light, tent, fans, etc. sized for your space. If you get good equipment, especially a good grow light, your equipment will do most of the work for you.
• Top young plants – Cut the main stem early to promote bushy, wide growth.
• Train plants to grow flat like a table – Use bending and tying down (or a trellis / scrog net) to “train” plants and create a wide even canopy that fills the entire grow space. Do this before you initiate the flowering stage.
• Initiate flowering at the right time – Switch to 12/12 when plants are 1/2 the final desired size.
• Strategic defoliation – Remove large leaves to “hack” the plant’s natural plant processes and force it to grow in a way that produces bigger, denser, and more potent buds. Best when done on a specific schedule. For example, a common schedule is to defoliate heavily at the beginning of the flowering stage, and then defoliate again 3 weeks later.
• Control environment – Avoid excessive heat or humidity, and give plants lots of airflow. Luckily, if you started with good equipment and set up your grow space properly, you won’t have to worry about the environment.
• Stay vigilant – Catch issues early and take corrective steps. Don’t ignore problems!
• Harvest at peak maturity – Harvest buds at the right time.
• Dry and cure buds – Dry buds in a good environment, then jar and cure them for a few weeks. This is crucial to achieve professional quality bud!

Follow these steps carefully throughout the grow and you can expect to harvest over a pound of dense, high-quality buds from a 4’x4’ grow tent setup! With some experience under your belt, yields of 1.5 pounds or greater become possible!

You might enjoy the following cannabis growing tutorials…

15 ways to improve cannabis yields

How to increase bud density

How to increase THC of buds (make buds more potent!)

The post How to Grow 1 Pound of Weed Indoors (Proven Method) appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.