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.

I recently received this email about a stunted, tiny autoflowering cannabis plant. Why does this happen? Stunted autos are a common problem, especially for auto-flowering strains with a very short vegetative stage. Keep reading to learn what causes autos to stay too small, and how to prevent it!

“This picture was taken last Fall. This my Purple Kush CBD Auto plant, quite pretty…

…until you see the actual size of it!

This came from an auto-flowering feminized cannabis seed that I dutifully planted outside in the Spring. Maturity was supposed to be 63 days but when I saw how little it had grown, I left it in as an experiment to see how tall it would end up. It didn’t grow even another cm taller. I ended up harvesting it at 113 days.

Any idea of what’s happened? Why did this autoflowering plant stay so small and stunted?

~Carmen

Why did this autoflowering plant stay so small and stunted?

Auto-flowering cannabis plants are on a tight schedule. Once they germinate, it’s essentially a “race” to the end of their life. That’s because their ancestors (“Ruderalis” wild cannabis  plants) originated in Siberia where summers are just 2-3 months long. As a result, most auto-flowering strains start making buds at around 1 month from germination, and are ready to harvest when they’re just 2-3 months old.

What does this have to do with an auto-flowering plant staying small?

An autoflowering plant stops getting taller when it’s about 6 weeks old for most strains, and even earlier for faster-flowering auto cannabis strains like Purple Kush CBD Auto (which can be ready just 9 weeks from germination). That means that if your auto-flowering plant has a slow start for whatever reason (overwatered, cold, not enough light, other stress, etc.), it might not get very big before it stops growing taller.

• Short vegetative stage – Most autoflowering strains automatically start making buds (they start “flowering”) around 4-5 weeks old.
• Plants stop growing in the flowering stage – Auto-flowering plants typically stop getting bigger not long after they start flowering.
• Small plants that start flowering stay small – If an auto-flowering plant is still small when it starts flowering, it won’t get any bigger.

This Purple Kush CBD Auto must have had a slow start, and started flowering before it had a chance to get very big. As a result, the final size was really small.

Here’s another example from our reader Hypermx, who experienced the same thing with his autoflowering plant.

I’ve had it happen as well. This auto-flowering plant went through stress at the beginning of its life (a person fell on it… okay it was me), and as a result never got big before it started flowering.

Just to give you an idea of how much an effect stunting can have, these are both the same autoflowering strain. You can see how much smaller the plant was that got stressed at a young age compared to the auto-flowering plant that was given good conditions from the beginning.

You want to avoid stunting to get the best yields from auto-flowering strains. Small plants can’t make big buds.

Unlike autoflowering strains, photoperiod plants have the luxury of being able to stay in the vegetative stage for as long as you want. That means you can recover from stress or problems and still get plants big enough to produce good yields. But with auto-flowering strains, you need to think about your grow as if you’re in a race to the finish line, and start strong.

I hope that helps reveal the mystery of why an auto-flowering plant can stay so small. Whenever growing autos (or any cannabis plants, really), I highly recommend germinated an extra seed or two, just in case something happens when they’re young or some plants grow better than others.

Bonus: Recommended Autos to Prevent Stunting

These auto-flowering cannabis strains were chosen because they are extra stress-resistant and easy to grow, yet produce good yields and outstanding bud quality.

• GG 4 Autoflower – This version of Gorilla Glue #4 is easy to grow and tends to grow fast. It is a forgiving strain that can handle a bit of stress and is ready to harvest at 70 days from germination.
• Cinderella Jack Auto – When I grew this strain, it produced the densest and most potent buds of that entire auto-flowering grow. It responded well to plant training, and produced good yields even though it was in a crowded tent with 7 other autoflowering plants. Harvest at 80 days from germination.
• Planet of the Grapes Auto – Delicious grapes smell, high potency, medium height, and super easy to grow. This strain is something special! Harvest at 80 days from germination.

The GG 4 Autoflower I grew in the very front (right behind the green bar) thrived in a tiny grow tent (copy this setup).

The Cinderella Jack Auto I grew produced ultra-dense buds.

Planet of the Grapes Auto produced outstanding bud quality.

About the Author: Nebula Haze

I started growing weed in 2008. To be honest, in the beginning, I struggled. There just wasn’t great information available for cannabis cultivation. I had to find my own way through trial and error. After I had figured out how easy it could be, I decided to create GrowWeedEasy.com in 2010 with my partner Sirius to make cannabis-growing information easily available to everyone who wants to grow at home.

Weed companies charge way too much for subpar weed, and we want home growers to learn how easy it is to grow higher-quality buds than most weed you can buy. The secret doesn’t take a ton of money or require you to learn special tricks. You just need good genetics and the right information so you get the best results for the least amount of effort.

That’s why we’ve made all the tutorials on the website easy and straightforward to follow. If you follow our instructions like a recipe, your cupboards will soon be overflowing with weed. I hope you enjoyed this article about how to prevent stunted autoflowering plants. Don’t hesitate to contact us to share your experience or let us know your favorite auto-flowering strains. Also, we’d love to see your plant pictures so we can feature them in our weekly newsletter!

• Sign up for the weekly growing newsletter – delivered every Sunday at 4:20 am Eastern time
• 10-Minute Cannabis Grow Guide – 10 minutes from now you could be a weed-growing expert!
• Plant Doctor (to diagnose your sick plants) – Find the plant problem and get the solution

Nebula Haze says, “Thanks for reading, and happy growing!”

The post Why did my autoflowering plant stay so small? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Cannabis plants can be male or female, but only female cannabis plants make buds. Female cannabis flowers are buds, and male cannabis flowers are pollen sacs, which contain low THC and are poor to smoke. Male pollen sacs eventually open and release pollen, which pollinates the female cannabis plants, and causes buds to grow seeds, which also results in smaller buds with lower THC levels.

These days, most home cannabis growers start with feminized cannabis seeds because they grow only female plants, which means every plant will make buds. Other growers watch their cannabis plants as flowers start developing, then identify and remove male cannabis plants.

Feminized cannabis seeds are the best way to ensure that every plant is female. This way you don’t need to worry about identifying the sex of plants!

But if you can’t buy cannabis seeds online, and must start with another source of seeds, there is a strong chance that about half the plants will be male and half will be female.

With standard, non-feminized cannabis seeds, plants grow 50/50 male vs female plants. That means half of the plants won’t make buds and, even worse, cause the buds you do have to make seeds.

If you’re worried some of your plants may be male, here is the easiest way to determine the sex of your cannabis plants while they’re still in the vegetative stagae.

How to Identify the Sex of a Cannabis Plant

Here’s how to identify the sex of your cannabis plants even if they’re still in the vegetative stage.

1.) Take a cutting (clone) from the unverified cannabis plant and put it in a glass of water.

I take stems off the plant and put them in a cup of water. You don’t need your cuttings to make roots before identifying the sex. As long as you give light and make sure the cup always has water, the cutting should stay alive long enough to identify the sex.

If you have extra stems, you can take multiple cuttings and put them in the same cup. Some cuttings will show their sex sooner than others, so taking multiple cuttings may speed up the process by a few days in some cases.

2.) Label both the clone and the mother plant with the name of the strain so you know which clone came from which corresponding mother plant.

I use disposable cups and write the name on the cup. You could also put a piece of tape on a cup and write the name on that. You should do this step if you’re identifying the sex of more than one marijuana plant at a time. If you don’t label your clones, then all your effort will be for naught because you won’t know which clone is which!

3.) Give clones a light schedule with 12+ hours of darkness every day to initiate flowering and get the cuttings to reveal their sex.

Again, you don’t need to wait for the clones to establish roots before changing the light schedule. You can start this immediately after you take the cutting. The cuttings will start flowering even if their roots haven’t formed yet. However, you should make sure they get at least some direct light during their “day” to keep them healthy long enough to reveal their sex.

4.) Clones will reveal their sex in 1-3 weeks.

Look to the joints where leaves meet the stem. Males develop balls and females develop white hairs. Click here for more information and pictures about how to sex a cannabis plant.

Female cannabis plant – The first flowers of a female cannabis plant looks like this. You will see white hairs coming where leaves meet the stem.

Notice the white wispy hairs at the “joints” where the leaves meet the stem. You can see from my fingers at the top, for scale.

This is what female cannabis flowers look like at the top of the plant. You will notice white hairs emerging from the leaves.

Male cannabis plant – The first flowers of a male cannabis plant look like this. You will see little balls, like grapes, that appear in the same place as female plants. Male pollen sacs often also appear at the top of the cutting.

Male pollen sacs are tiny and hard to see at first, but pollen sacs quickly start growing in bunches that are easy to identify. Look how tiny this pollen sac is compared to my finger.

Here are male pollen sacs after they start growing in bunches. You know for sure this is a male plant when you see bunches of balls without any white hairs.

5.) Remove male cannabis plants. 

Once you have determined the sex of your clones, you should make sure you throw away any corresponding male plants. Or at least move them to somewhere safe so their pollen can’t get to the buds of your female cannabis plants by accident.

Now you can grow your known-female cannabis plants with confidence. Once they start flowering, they will make the same type of flowers as the cuttings you took. Continue to care for your female cannabis plants with a ton of light, no nutrient deficiencies, and consistent 12-hour dark periods, and don’t let them get hot during the last 2-3 weeks before harvest.

Mission Complete: You know the sex of your cannabis plants and have only bud-making plants left.

It’s bud time!

Click here for a list of recommended beginner cannabis strains (all-female seeds unless otherwise indicated)

The post How to Use a Cup of Water to Identify Cannabis Sex in the Vegetative Stage 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.

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!

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

Male cannabis plants don’t make buds, only female cannabis plants make buds. Yet naturally, with regular cannabis seeds, about 50% of cannabis plants end up being male.

Cannabis Sex Matters: Female Buds vs Male Pollen Sacs (click for closeup). Male plants don’t make buds!

Only female cannabis plants make buds. Male plants produce pollen sacs that are low in THC, not good to smoke, and cause nearby female buds to grow seeds.

Unfortunately, male pollen sacs are not useful to most home cannabis growers unless you’re a breeder. Identify and remove male cannabis plants ASAP.

When pollen sacs open up, they look like white, yellow, green, or purple flowers (pretty!), but they spread pollen everywhere, which pollinates your female plants. They can also accidentally pollinate any nearby female plants in the area. This is not good for bud quality for you and any of your neighbors who grows. Additionally, male pollen sacs are harsh to smoke and don’t contain high levels of THC or other cannabinoids.

Male pollen also causes female plants to produce small yields of lower-potency, seedy buds. Most home growers should try to get male plants out of the grow room as soon as possible.

How to tell if a cannabis plant is male or female before flowering?

Visually, you usually can’t tell the difference between male and female plants until they start flowering (making either male flowers/pollen sacs or female flowers/buds), especially when it comes to younger plants.

There are 3 main ways to tell a marijuana plant’s sex while it is still in the vegetative stage.

As a result, most cannabis growers identify and toss male plants as soon as possible. That means for a home cannabis grower starting with regular seeds (for example, seeds you find in your weed), about half of your plants won’t make buds and will need to be tossed. Those are terrible odds, and as a grower, you deserve better.

Luckily, there are 3 different ways to determine cannabis plant sex before the flowering stage, but only one way to ensure that all your plants are female. It’s important to get rid of any male plants as soon as possible, because not only do they take up room that could be filled with bud-making plants, the pollen released by male cannabis plants will pollinate all your female plants and cause seedy buds.

3 ways to tell if a plant is male or female before initiating the marijuana flowering stage

1. Start with feminized seeds (or female clones) – Best for most home cannabis growers. Starting with feminized seeds or female clones from a trustworthy source guarantees that 99.9% of cannabis plants end up being bud-making female plants.
2. Genetic testing – Send a piece of a leaf from your young plant to a lab to test for the sex. This can be expensive and is often not 100% accurate.
3. Examine the “pre-flowers” – Look at the cannabis pre-flowers (little versions of male or female flowers that sometimes appear in the vegetative stage at the joints where the fan leaf meets the stem). This technique works better for some cannabis strains than others, as some plants start growing pre-flowers within 3 weeks of germination, while others may not grow any pre-flowers until 6+ weeks after germination. Pictures below.

1.) Start with feminized cannabis seeds (or female clones)

This is the best option for most home cannabis growers. Starting with feminized seeds or female clones guarantees  that nearly 100% of cannabis plants are bud-making female plants. The good news is that feminized cannabis seeds are widely available almost anywhere in the world. Learn more about feminized cannabis seeds.

Learn where to safely buy cannabis seeds online.

2.) Genetic testing

You can send a piece of a leaf from a 3-week old cannabis seedling and get them to do a genetic test to determine if it’s male or female. The downside of this technique is cannabis genetics are a bit odd. Plants don’t always have neatly separated male and female chromosomes, which means lab testing can occasionally produce false positives and negatives. In other words, some plants marked as “female” may be male, and some plants marked as “male” may actually be female. Some plants may end up being hermaphrodites. However, lab testing is used by some commercial growers as it does greatly increase the chance that all plants end up being female.

You usually can’t look at a cannabis plant this young and tell if it’s male or female, but a genetic test from the lab can sometimes give you a clue…

3.) Examine the “pre-flowers”

The usefulness of this last method depends heavily on your genetics, as some strains show pre-flowers at a very young age, while others may take weeks or months before they reveal their sex via pre-flowers in the vegetative stage. Male plants tend to show their pre-flowers before female plants.

Essentially, the goal with this method is to examine the vegetative cannabis plant at future bud sites, where pre-flowers can grow, and look for early signs of male or female plants. Pre-flowers are small buds/pollen sacs that develop at the nodes (the junction where the stems and leaves meet) while the plant is still in the vegetative stage.

The base of a leaf is the best place to look for pre-flowers. Pre-flowers appear as soon as 3 weeks from germination for some strains. However, some strains may take 6+ weeks before they produce pre-flowers.

Look for pre-flowers at the base of the leaf. Typically males show before females.

This is what male vs female cannabis preflowers look like.

Female pre-flowers will also produce wispy white “hairs” that emerge. These are technically called stigmas, and commonly mistakenly called “pistils” by cannabis growers.

If you see these white hairs, that means you’re looking at female pre-flowers.

If you see bunches of balls, you know for sure you’re looking at male pre-flowers. However, it’s extremely rare to see more than 1-2 pollen sacs per joint when the plant is still in the vegetative stage.

Hint: Male cannabis pre-flowers tend to be shaped somewhat like a spade from a deck of cards.

Here is a diagram to help you know exactly what you’re looking for. White hairs (aka “stigmas” or sometimes called “pistils”) means female flowers.

Note: If you see green hairs, those are “stipules” and not pre-flowers. Ignore the stipules.

Read the complete tutorial on how to check male vs female preflowers.

Hermies, bananas, and random pollen sacs

Note: Some cannabis plants produce both male and female flowers. These hermaphrodite plants (affectionately called hermies) should be tossed just like male plants because their pollen sacs also can cause all the buds in your grow room to get seedy if the pollen gets released. Starting with good genetics and taking good care of cannabis plants is the best way to prevent them from “herming”.

If you see a mix of pollen sacs and buds (or little pale or yellow “bananas” growing among the buds), you have a “hermie” which should be treated like a male plant and tossed to prevent pollination.

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

How can I make a male plant female?

• You can’t – There is no safe or reliable way to consistently turn a male cannabis plant into a female cannabis plant. It is a better idea to try to start with all-female plants, or identify and remove male cannabis plants as soon as possible. Oddly enough, it is possible to make a female plant grow sacs like a male for the purposes of making feminized seeds.

What are the early signs of a male plant?

• Spade-shaped “balls” at the joints – Look where leaves meet the stem. If you see “balls” (pictured above) then it is not a female plant.

When can you tell if your plant is male or female?

• 3 weeks at the soonest – 3 weeks from germination is typically the earliest a lab will take a leaf sample from a plant to test for sex. Visually, some cannabis plants reveal their sex as early as 3 weeks from germination via pre-flowers. These appear even in the vegetative stage for many strains. However, some strains may take 6+ weeks before they grow pre-flowers, so this isn’t the most reliable method. Your best bet is to start with all-female plants!

When you know every single plant is female, you can fill your grow space like this and know every plant will make buds.

Summary: How to tell if a cannabis plant is male or female before flowering?

There are three main ways to identify the sex of marijuana plants before they start flowering:

1. Start with feminized seeds or clones. This is the best option since it guarantees 100% female plants (as long as you start with a good breeder). Feminized seeds can be purchased from reputable seed banks (currently, I’m using Seed Supreme, though there are many excellent cannabis seed banks).
2. Genetic testing can identify sex early on, but results aren’t always accurate. It also tends to be expensive.
3. Examine preflowers once they emerge. This works better for fast-showing strains. Check for female wispy white hairs or male spade-shaped flowers at the joints where leaves meet the stem.

While genetic testing and preflowers can help, the ideal solution is to start with feminized seeds or all-female clones. This avoids wasting time and space on male plants that don’t produce buds. Be sure to get feminized seeds from a trusted source and confirm the seller has a solid reputation.

Remove male plants to prevent pollination so you end up with sinsemilla (seedless buds), which are more potent and considered higher quality than seedy buds. Growing only female plants is the best way to guarantee heavy, potent, seed-free yields from your cannabis garden.

About the Author: Nebula Haze

Nebula Haze is an experienced cannabis cultivator and co-founder of GrowWeedEasy.com, the web’s most comprehensive online resource for growing marijuana indoors at home. Since creating the website in 2010, Nebula has dedicated her life to understanding the cannabis plant and teaching fellow growers how to produce huge yields and captivating bud quality at home. Stop paying other people a ton of money for sub-par weed and start growing better weed for a fraction of the cost today!

Check out my easy 10-step guide to growing cannabis.

The post The Ultimate Guide to Sexing Cannabis Plants Before the Flowering Stage appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

1. Topping
2. Low Stress Training (LST)
3. Supercropping
4. Defoliation (Strategically Removing Leaves)
5. Lollipopping
6. Sea of Green (SoG)
7. Manifolding (aka Main-Lining)
8. Screen of Green (ScrOG)
9. FIMming
10. Monster Cropping

Bonus: Fluxing

Every Cannabis Grower Should Use Plant Training Techniques

As a cannabis grower, your goal is to get your plants to produce a lot of high-quality buds as efficiently as possible. A key tactic to increasing cannabis yields and bud quality is to “train” your cannabis plant when it’s young to grow wide and flat so that it produces a lot of fat top buds in the flowering stage.

The goal of all cannabis plant training techniques is to grow wide flat plants with many big top buds. Fill your grow space with top-shelf weed!

Cannabis Plant Training Benefits

• Bigger yields
• Denser buds
• Increased bud potency (higher THC)*

*In our side-by-side experiments, trained cannabis plants produce buds that have higher THC levels when tested at the lab.

Today’s cannabis plant training tutorial is all about showing you how to use free techniques to get more and better quality buds from your current setup.

Achieve better marijuana bud quality and increase THC levels with these free plant training techniques!

1.) Topping

Topping is the #1 most important, easiest, and most effective cannabis plant training technique. If you must choose only one technique, do this.

“Topping” means cutting off the growing tip (“top”) of the main stem to encourage the growth of two or more secondary stems. A grower typically “tops” the plant when it’s a few weeks old. The purpose of topping is to break the apical dominance of the cannabis plant (reduce the tendency to grow one main trunk) so it naturally grows with many branches. Topping a young cannabis plant helps encourage it to grow wide and bushy with many tops for buds to grow.

Topping means cutting off the top of a cannabis plant when it’s a few weeks old.

The result: plants naturally grow more bushy, even if you don’t do anything else.

Topped cannabis plants naturally grow wider and bushier.

The result is many tops on each marijuana plant, and each of those top stems becomes a main bud.

2.) Low Stress Training (LST)

Low Stress Training (often called “LST”) is a fancy way of saying “bending and tying down branches”. The goal of LST is to get the plant to grow in the shape you want, typically to create a more even and horizontal canopy so the plant produces many buds instead of just one. Training cannabis plants to grow flat and wide also helps deliver more light to more top buds, increasing overall yields and bud quality.

This is another technique, like topping, that can definitely be used by itself to increase yields without doing anything else.

Learn More: Low Stress Training Tutorial

Cannabis plant before low stress training.

A cannabis plant after low stress training. Branches were bent down and away from the middle of the plant, then secured with plant twisty tie.

At harvest, the cannabis plant has many big buds instead of only one. (Here’s the full grow journal)

3.) Supercropping

The main purpose of “supercropping” is to gain total control over the height of unruly cannabis plants by being able to bend even the stiffest of branches without breaking them. I’m not sure how it got its name (perhaps just because it helps make super harvests?) but the supercropping technique involves pinching and bending the stems until they break internally, but not externally. After the stem can be bent, the branches get secured where you want them to stay.

In addition to height control, supercropping causes the plant to form a knuckle at the bend point, which, as a bonus, may increase the flow of nutrients and hormones in some cases. This technique may also potentially increase the potency of buds by slightly stressing the cannabis plant in a “good” way. However, be careful to follow the tutorial to make sure you don’t accidentally break the skin and potentially kill the branch.

Learn More: How to Supercrop Plants to Control Height

Supercropping is a technique to safely bend branches at an extreme angle without “breaking the skin”. This gives you a lot more control over plant height.

4.) Defoliation (Strategically Removing Leaves)

“Defoliation” means removing fan leaves, and should be done in a strategic way to get the best results. The main goal is to remove big fan leaves that block light from reaching the bud sites early in the flowering stage. This helps the plants grow into a better structure, improves airflow, increases light penetration, and overall enhances bud development. However, this technique should be done with caution as over-defoliation can stress or stunt the plant, and works best if you follow our defoliation tutorial.

Learn more: Cannabis Flowering Stage Defoliation Tutorial

Defoliation means removing fan leaves in a strategic way during the early flowering stage. Strategic defoliation for cannabis plants is typically done on a specific schedule after flowering is initiated.

When done properly, strategic defoliation results in bigger, longer buds. In our cannabis defoliation experiment, defoliated plants also produced more THC!

5.) Lollipopping

The “lollipopping” technique involves removing the lower branches and leaves that receive little light and produce small buds. Essentially, you turn the plant into a lollipop with no leaves on the bottom. Removing the bottom leaves and bud sites that will never get light helps the plant focus its energy on the upper buds. As a result of lollipopping, the topmost buds typically grow bigger and denser.

Before and after lollipopping cannabis plants. The left plant was lollipopped, and the right plant has not been lolliopped yet.

This was done right as the grower initiated the flowering stage. Notice how all the leaves have been removed from the bottom of the plant and light now reaches the floor.

Lollipopped cannabis plants produce big buds that go deeper down into the plant. Notice how the bottom branches are bare.

Lollopopped plants tend to produce bigger and better top buds, with fewer small airy lower buds that typically are not that potent anyway.

Learn More: How to Lollipop Your Cannabis Plants

Useful Specialty Techniques

These techniques are useful in many situations, but unlike the tactics listed above (which are useful for every cannabis grower), these techniques may not be the best choice in every situation for every grower’s goals.

6.) Sea of Green (SoG)

“Sea of Green” (also known as “SoG”) is about creating a sea of buds with a bunch of little plants. Many small plants are grown together in close proximity, then forced to start flowering early. Since plants stay small, growing with the Sea of Green technique reduces the vegetative time, allowing for both quicker harvests and more harvests in a year. This technique works best for cannabis strains that have a dominant main cola, and for grow spaces where it is easy to reach all the plants including plants in the middle or back. Although Sea of Green is surprisingly efficient as far as the yields for the time and electricity used, it’s not suitable for growers with legal plant limits, and tends to take more work compared to growing fewer plants.

Learn More: How to Make a “Sea of Green” in Your Cannabis Garden

Grow many small cannabis plants for a “sea of green” and initiate the flowering stage when plants are still tiny (this size).

Each cannabis plant will grow one main bud and fill your space with weed.

7.) Manifolding (aka Main-Lining)

Originally called main-lining, this technique has come to be called “manifolding” because that is more descriptive, and also because “main-lining” has another meaning in the drug world. Manifolding involves topping the main stem multiple times when the plant is still small to create an even number of main colas that grow from a single manifold. This process creates a symmetrical and balanced plant where each main bud receives equal amounts of nutrients and light.

Note: Autoflowering strains cannot be manifolded because their vegetative stage is too short. Learn more about how to train auto-flowering cannabis strains.

The manifolding process is a neat way to learn about training cannabis plants and also ensures an excellent harvest of many big buds. In my opinion, every dedicated cannabis grower should try manifolding a photoperiod plant at least once, even if just for the experience. It’s not necessarily the most scalable or efficient plant training technique, but is definitely one of the most fun!

Manifolding is a training regimen that causes the entire plant to grow from one main “manifold”. Manifolds are fun and interesting to make!

Example of a manifolded cannabis plant at harvest.

8.) Screen of Green (ScrOG)

“Screen of Green” (often abbreviated “ScrOG” – no relation to Sea of Green technique despite the similar names) refers to using a screen or net to support and train the branches to grow flat and wide. The branches are woven through the screen as they grow, creating a flat and uniform canopy that maximizes light exposure and bud production. Creating a screen of green can be useful in some situations, but personally, I believe it’s often less work to use other techniques on this page to create wide flat plant canopies. Once a cannabis plant is woven through the screen, it’s stuck in place unless the screen also moves, which can be inconvenient. Also, if you use wire as part of the screen, it can be difficult to cut all the buds out at harvest.

Learn more: Screen of Green Tutorial

Create a screen (best to use string instead of wire to make it easy to cut away from plants at harvest).

Example of a cannabis plant growing in a screen.

(Less Useful) “Hit or Miss” Techniques

These cannabis training techniques are not consistent and should generally be avoided, or at least considered experimental.

9.) FIMming

“FIM” stands for “F*ck I Missed” 😂 Essentially, this technique is similar to topping, but instead of cutting through the main stem, a small portion of the top of the plant is left behind. FIMing was “discovered” when someone messed up while topping their plant. When done in just the right way, this can result in four or more secondary stems growing from the same node. The downside is it often doesn’t work as intended. While topping consistently splits one stem into two, FIMing can result in 1, 2, 3, or 4 final stems. If you want 4 main stems, it’s better to top the plant twice than FIM it.

FIMing means removing 80% of the top node and hoping it results in 4 main branches (inconsistent and not recommended).

10.) Monster Cropping

The “monster cropping” technique involves taking clones from a flowering plant and reverting them back to the vegetative stage (“re-vegging” the cannabis plant). A re-vegged clone often grows strangely, with multiple branches and bud sites, creating bushy and monster-like plants. Some growers think this can be an easy way to make the plant grow many buds, but in my experience, re-vegged plants grow slowly for a long time compared to seeds or regular clones. Almost any other technique on this page to make plants bushy gets faster and more consistent results.

Learn More: What is “Monster Cropping” a Cannabis Plant?

A “monster cropped” plant. Note: a cannabis grower will likely get better results with almost any other technique on this page.

Bonus: Fluxing

Similar to manifolding except more complicated and with more steps. This gets similar results as manifolding but takes more time so it’s best for growers who enjoy the process of training and experimenting with vegetative cannabis plants. Typically, you’ll get the same results for less effort by manifolding a cannabis plant instead.

Fluxing is essentially a more complex version of manifolding.

Fluxing gives similar results to other techniques on this page that take less time.

Learn More: What is “Fluxing” and How Do You Do It?

Start training your cannabis plants today using the techniques in today’s tutorial!

Grow many buds at the same time…

…and enjoy your bountiful harvest!

The post 10 Most Common Cannabis Training Terms: In Order of Usefulness appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

See Other Examples of Cannabis Growing Setups

Table of Contents

• About the Spider Farmer 100W LED Kit Setup
  • Cost Estimate Breakdown
• Complete Supply List
• How to Grow Weed so it Stays Short

About the Spider Farmer SF-1000 LED Mini Tent Setup

If you want to start growing weed without spending a fortune, this small cannabis grow kit with a 100W LED is great. This cannabis setup is more forgiving than the tiny mini tent setup because it has extra height and yields a bit more. It also gives you more room to expand if you decide to go bigger in the future. This setup has been designed to produce several ounces of high-quality bud in a small 2’x2’x4′  grow tent without any sounds or smells to give it away. It will produce up to 4 oz every 3-4 months.

Total Setup Cost: $290 ($360+ with professional smell filtering)

Check out a grow journal in this setup with the SF-1000 LED grow light.

The Spider Farmer SF-1000 (dimmable 100W LED) produces several ounces of weed when you follow this tutorial.

• Yield: 2-4 oz per harvest
• Total time: 3-4 months from seed to weed
• Cost: $90

100W Tent Cannabis Grow Examples

Here are some plants I’ve grown in this grow tent (or check out a full grow journal).

This mini cannabis grow setup uses a 2’x2′ around and 4′ tall grow tent with a 100W Spider Farmer SF-1000 LED grow light.

The 2’x2’x4′ size tent is just tall enough that you can even squeeze a little hydroponic system in there.

I once had autoflowering plants that grew too tall because they took longer than expected to start flowering. However, the SF-1000 light is gentle enough that it won’t burn buds even if they’re close, as long as you make sure to give your plants proper nutrients. The SF-1000 makes this a perfect beginner grow light because it will still produce a lot of great weed even you if you make some mistakes.

Estimated Cost for entire setup: $290-360+

• Ultra budget (no exhaust fan or smell filtering) – $290
• Only the necessary stuff + cheapest exhaust fan + smell filtering: $360
• Get everything including the premium equipment and optional extras: $460
• Estimated Monthly Electricity Cost: $10/month (based on US average of $0.15/kWH)

Total Setup Cost: $290 ($360+ with exhaust fan & smell filtering)

Summary of what you need to get started with this SF-1000 LED Mini Tent grow setup:

Complete Grow Supply List

This marijuana mini grow tent setup list includes all the supplies you need to get to a bountiful harvest.

Spider Farmer SF-1000 LED Grow Light (100W LED)

• Plants tend to be less sensitive under this grow light than most other LEDs I’ve tried. Some other LEDs are harsher on leaves and more likely to trigger nutrient deficiencies.
• Keep about 10″ away to start. If plants start getting tall/stretchy, move the light closer.
• Performs best if plants are about 8-10″ away, but if plants get too close it still produces great weed (you’re just more likely to see yellow or discolored leaves)
• Simple to use. Works exactly as you’d expect. Dimmable.

Cost: $90

The Spider Farmer SF-1000 (100W LED) can produce several ounces of weed in this setup. Other LEDs would likely work, but I know the SF-1000 works great with cannabis plants in this tent.

Grow Space

• Grow Tent Recommended Sizes
  • I like this 2’x2’x4′ grow tent by MelonFarm, though any grow tent of this size will work.

Cost: $45

I like this cheap-yet-effective 2’x2’x4′ grow tent for growing mini weed plants.

Exhaust Fan & Carbon Filter (Optional Smell Filtering)

This LED grow light does not get very hot. But if you plan on filling your tent with plants like the pictures, you really should get a good exhaust fan to ensure that the humidity from all the plants doesn’t build up too much. An exhaust fan can also be hooked up to a carbon filter in order to filter smells from leaking out of the tent.

• Recommended:  4″ AC Infinity CLOUDLINE series of inline exhaust fans. These run quiet and have the ability to turn the speed way down if necessary.
  • S4 is the cheaper, simpler version – (21W electricity usage, 26 dB sound level) works well and gives you basic fan speed controls – $90
  • (My favorite) Programmable T4 version – (21W electricity usage, 26 dB sound level) has handy extras like a Temperature/Humidity Probe, auto-on and auto-off, ability to program a schedule, a display screen, and ability to check on the temperature and control the fan with your mobile phone – $120 (I got both versions and I wish I’d gotten two of this version – the features are worth the extra $30!)
• Budget choice: Vivosun 4″ Fan – 195 CFM (28W electricity and 42 dB sound level) – effective cheap fan, but runs louder than the AC Infinity fans – $27

Cost: $27-120

The programmable T4 AC Infinity CLOUDLINE fan ($120) runs at a quiet 26 dB sound level and can be controlled from your smartphone. Quietest exhaust fan this effective.

What’s all this about a carbon filter?

• Although a carbon filter is optional, if you don’t hook up a carbon filter to an exhaust fan, your tent may rapidly fill the surrounding area with a pungent weed smell as you get close to harvest. Normally it wouldn’t be such a big deal with such a small tent like this, but you are going to be growing a surprising amount of weed in here. Learn about growing low-odor cannabis strains.
• Recommended: 4-inch iPower Carbon Filter, 4″ x 12″ version – Note: these are 12″ long, which is likely bigger than you might expect. You can get a smaller one that is still as effective, but they’re hard to find and cost more than the standard size.
  • Duct tape – to connect the filter and fan together securely so no air leaks out. Another option is a 4″ duct connector but duct tape works great and many people already have a rolle somewhere.
  • (Optional – likely unnecessary) 4″ Ducting and Ducting Clamps – you might need this if you plan on venting the air somewhere, like out a window, but with such a cool-running grow light, that is probably not necessary.

Cost: $32

Plant Pots

• Growing medium: Coco coir or soil
• Containers: Stick to under 3 gallons in size to help keep plants a bit smaller. I grew with 1-gallon fabric pots, which worked well at keeping plants small, but plants needed to be watered daily towards the end of the grow because the plants drank the water so fast. The plants needed to be watered less often when I used 2-gallon pots, but the plants got a little bigger. 3-gallon pots were the easiest to water, but the plant really wanted to grow big and I had to do a lot of bending to keep the branches from growing into the light.

Recommended:

• One big bag of Coco Loco, a coco-based soil with perlite. This 2 cu ft bag should be enough to fill 14 gallons worth of pots (for example seven 2-gallon pots). You’ll have enough to last a few grows if you’re growing small, but luckily coco-based soils store well so you could use the rest later.
• 2-Gallon fabric pots (here’s an example of a 5-pack) – Any brand of fabric pot works great, in my experience.

Cost: $50

Coco Loco is a coco-based soil that makes thriving cannabis plants

 Example a 5-pack of 2-gallon fabric pots for growing cannabis (any brand of fabric pot works great)

Nutrients

Most nutrient systems will come with at least 2 bottles (one bottle for the vegetative stage and one for flowering/bloom stage). Many nutrient lines carry 3 bottles or even more that must be mixed into the water in different ratios over the course of your cannabis plant’s life. Whether it’s on the bottle or online, most nutrient lines come with a schedule on how much nutrients to give your plants. Start the schedule at half-strength in the beginning and only raise to full strength after your plants are healthy and growing fast.

Recommended Base Nutrients: Dyna-Gro Grow + Bloom nutrient combo is excellent, cheap, and easy to use for growing cannabis.

• Grow bottle: Give about 1 tsp per gallon of “Grow” during the vegetative stage.
• Bloom bottle: Give 1 tsp/gallon of “Bloom” during the flowering stage after buds start forming.

Learn about other recommended cannabis nutrients.

Cost: $20

Dyna-Gro Grow + Bloom is my recommended nutrient system for newbies. One bottle for the vegetative stage, one bottle for bloom (after buds start forming). 1 tsp/gallon. Super simple!

Other Supplementary Items

• Get your seeds – $10-15/seed on average, but can be more or less depending on the breeder.
• 24-Hour Timer (to put your grow lights on a timer so the plants get a day and night period on a schedule) – $10
• Water containers (I personally use a 3-gallon water jug to mix up nutrients as that’s as much as I can carry without difficulty, but any water container can work). Note: These are much cheaper at Wal-Mart or a water container store ($5-15) than online!
• Thermometer/Humidity Monitor with a probe so you can keep track of the temperature inside the tent (unless you got the really fancy Cloudline exhaust fan with a temperature and humidity probe built-in) – $15
• PH Test Kit – Prevent potential nutrient deficiencies by testing the water pH – $20
• Measuring spoons for measuring out your nutrients (many people already have these) – $10
• (Optional) Zip ties – the hanging apparatus that comes with many grow lights add several inches of height for no real reason. They just aren’t designed for height-limited growing. In a mini tent like this, height is at a premium and a few inches can make a big difference. When you need to get your light all the way to the top of your tent, nothing seems to work better than industrial zip ties. Once you start using zip ties you end up using them for everything. They’re weirdly permanent and strong for something so disposable – $10

Total: $55+

Estimated Cost for entire setup: $290-$460

• Ultra budget (no exhaust fan or smell filtering) – $290
• Only the necessary stuff + cheapest exhaust fan + smell filtering: $360
• Get everything including the premium equipment and optional extras: $460

Carbon filter and fan (how to cool tent, remove humidity, and stop smells)

Notice the configuration of the carbon filter and fan. Even though this is a very small carbon filter, just 10″ long, there’s not a lot of extra room at the top of the tent. The configuration below seems to be the only way I can find to fit the carbon filter inside while still allowing the grow light to get to the top of the tent. This is not as effective as exhausting from the top of the tent, but it will work in this small tent.

Your other option is to put both the fan and carbon filter sitting on top of the tent, exiting from the top port. In that case, you’d want the carbon filter to be the last thing before air escapes (carbon filters should always be at the ends of an exhaust system, either inside the tent at the beginning, or at the end on the outside).

You have to get creative to fit a carbon filter in a small cannabis tent like this.

When set up right, you can produce a surprising amount of bud in a tiny space!

But not much room at the top.

This is when I grew a single Pineapple Chunk plant in this setup. Here’s a step-by-step tutorial on how I trained this cannabis plant to stay so short (scroll to the bottom of the article to see each step with this plant as the main example).

This was a Pineapple Runtz Auto (highly recommended strain for this mini cannabis setup!). Learn how to train auto-flowering cannabis strains to stay short and still get big yields.

We’ve even grown in the 4′ tall tent with a mini DWC/hydro system! A tight fit but doable.

Another tiny cannabis plant grown in the hydro setup. Contact us if you want to see a tutorial to grow cannabis in mini DWC setups. If there is interest, we will make a full mini-DWC cannabis tutorial.

How to Make Cannabis Plants Stay Small and Still Produce a Lot of Weed

There are lots of great beginner grow tutorials on the site such as the 10-Step Cannabis Grow Guide. However, here’s a super quick overview of everything. Then I’ll explain how to grow cannabis in this mini grow tent setup so it stays the right size and produces as much weed as possible.

Basic process of growing of an indoor cannabis plant

Germination – there are lots of ways to germinate seeds but the easiest is just to put the seeds directly in the dirt just below the surface (about a knuckle down) and give some water and warmth from the grow light. Seedlings should appear in a few days.

Plants only need a tiny amount of water at first.

Here’s a day-by-day watering schedule for cannabis seedlings.

Vegetative stage – When cannabis plants are young, they grow branches and leaves but not any buds. Simply give plants water, light, and possibly nutrients. Nutrients are only necessary if you’re not growing in soil (for example in coco or hydroponics) but even in soil, providing nutrients makes plants grow faster. In the flowering stage, the right nutrients make buds get bigger.

Initiate the flowering stage (with a “12/12 light schedule”) when the plant is half the final size – Cannabis buds are actually flowers (isn’t that nice?), and you need to “tell” the plant to start making flowers by tricking it into thinking winter is coming. So once plants have reached about half the final desired size, a grower initiates the flowering stage by putting grow lights on a vacation timer so the light turns off for 12 hours a day. This 12/12 light schedule tricks the plant into “thinking” it’s the end of summer and it starts making flowers/buds. If you’re growing an auto-flowering strain, plants will automatically start flowering when they’re 3-5 weeks old, so you don’t need to think about this step or light schedules. This is a general overview. Read the tutorial below to learn exactly how to make cannabis plants the right size for this specific tent.

Flowering stage – Plants start growing white hairs (“pistils”) at the base of each fan leaf and at the tops of branches. These are are the first signs of buds. Plants will about double in height (more or less depending on strain) after the flowering stage is initiated. Auto flowering strains will double in height from when you see white hairs/pistils. But after about 5-6 weeks, the plant will stop getting any taller and the bunches of white hairs will start fattening into solid buds.

New buds look like white hairs

White hairs darken and curl in as buds mature. Buds often start to “sparkle” (depending on strain).

Harvest – The white hairs on all the buds will all darken and curl in when plants are ready to harvest. Check out pictures of ready-to-harvest buds or some people look at the buds under a magnifier to help decide when to harvest. When buds are ready, cut down the branches one by one and hang them upside down in a cool dark place with light ventilation. Often the place you grew the weed is also a great spot for drying it, for example the inside of a grow tent. There are also other ways to dry buds. Once buds are dry, they will easily pop off the branches. At this point the buds can be smoked but if you put them in glass jars the bud quality will continue to improve for several weeks. This process is known as “curing” and helps buds tighten up, smell better, be less harsh, and overall have higher “bag appeal” and be more pleasant to smoke.

Ready to harvest bud. Mature buds are solid with no white hairs. Leaves may turn yellow or purple like autumn leaves (especially directly under the LED grow light).

You can do it!

This infographic I made may be helpful as well (here’s a PDF version)

Now that you know the basics of growing weed, let’s get into the details of how to grow in this mini tent setup.

Bonus Tips for this setup: 

• Choose the right strains – Avoid choosing cannabis strains that naturally grow big plants!
  • Choose autoflower strains that are ready to harvest 10 weeks from germination or sooner (these strains tend to stay smaller than longer-flowering strains), especially if it’s specifically listed as tending to stay short. Recommendations: Blue Dream Auto, Creme de la Chem Auto (a personal favorite), Strawberry Cheesecake Auto.
  • Choose photoperiod strains with a 8 weeks or less flowering period (faster than average). You will initiate flowering when plants are about 3 weeks old for a total of 10 weeks just like with the autos. Make sure to choose a strain that says it’s short or medium size in the description. Even short strains can get tall, but they tend to grow more out than up, especially compared to other strains specifically listed as “tall”. Recommendations: Strawberry Cola Sherbet F1, Bruce Banner Fast, Tropicana Cookies Fast.
• Small pots help keep cannabis plants smaller. Use a 2 or 3-gallon pot (or smaller if you don’t mind watering more often) to help plants stay small enough for this setup. Plants can still get big in small pots, but they will be smaller than the same plant if it’s allowed to grow without any restrictions on its roots.
• Hard-sided pots tend to keep plants smaller, because it further restricts their root size compare to the same size container in hydro or a fabric pot.
• Follow the instructions below to get the most weed from this setup.

Main Idea: Train your cannabis plants to grow flat and wide like a table in the vegetative stage.

Tips

• Cut off the top of young plants – Cut off the top of young plants in the vegetative stage. Cutting off the top of a plant is often called “topping” in the cannabis growing world. Topping splits any stem into two, and a plant with two tops is easier to spread out to create flat plants than a plant with one main top
  • Beginner tip: Wait until the seedling has grown 6 sets of leaves. Cut off the top through the main stem above the 5th set of leaves (pictures below). Easy and simple, yet won’t stress plants. After being topped, your plant is easier to spread out and naturally grows more bushy and wide.
• Spread out stems so plant grows flat and wide – As the plant grows, spread out the stems by bending them down and away from the center of the plant. Don’t forget to tie branches down with something like plant twist tie or they’ll spring right back up the next day!
• Tall stems can be “topped” if they can’t be bent over flat – Cut off the ends of (“top”) any stem that’s growing much faster than the rest. Each new pair of stems grows slower than the original one. Topping is a great tool to curb fast-growing stems in the vegetative stage because each new stem grows half as fast.. If you don’t want to cut off the end, you can also bend the whole stem down so it’s not taller anymore. That accomplishes the same thing if you don’t mind tying down the stems.
• Supercrop (if necessary) – Cannabis stems get hard and woody as time goes on. If you find you need to bend a stem that’s already stiff, use the supercropping technique to bend even the toughest stems at any angle. This is a bit advanced because you can accidentally split stems. But don’t worry if you do. Simply tape broken stems back together like a cast and the plant can heal. One of the things I love about cannabis plants is it can recover if you make big mistakes in the vegetative stage.

Here’s an example of training plants to grow wide and flat for more bud sites and bigger yields.

Cut off the top of a young plant right above the 5th set of leaves (“top” the seedling above the 5th node)

When cutting through a stem, be careful not to damage the growing tips at the base of each leaf. These will become your two new stems.

Topping splits the main stem into two. You can see the two new “main stems” on each side of the cut.

Since you waited until the plant had several sets of leaves before cutting a small piece off the top, it will continue growing as if nothing happened.

As the plant grows, spread out the branches and cut off the top of any stem that’s getting bigger than the others. You don’t want your plant putting too much energy into any one branch.

The plant was transplanted to a mini grow tent under an HLG 65 4000k LED grow light and given a week to adjust to the new environment.

Training time!

Bend over all the stems down and away from the center until it looks flat from the side

I used plant twist tie to hook on to each branch and tie it down where I wanted. I attached the other end to the fabric pot.

How to attach to the pot? You can use safety pins or binder clips but I think this is easier. Poke holes in the fabric using sharp pointy Fiskars pruning scissors and thread the twist tie through.

Back to training. Here’s a top view. We’re trying to fill the entire tent with this plant.

A few days later the plant has filled in nicely. Repeat the steps until you’ve filled your entire grow space.

Initiate 12/12 when plants have complete coverage at the height you want. Look at all the bud sites on this 1 plant right as it starts flowering

Here’s a side view. At this point, the only thing to do is water the plant and give it nutrients until harvest.

At harvest, this plant was just over 18″ (46 cm) tall, yet yielded several ounces because it was trained to grow wide and flat. Talk about making the most out of one small plant!

Learn more about growing plants to be wide and flat.

Check out the results from a grow that followed this 4oz mini tent tutorial with many small plants instead of just one. This is actually only a 3′ tall tent, so if you got the taller version (as recommended in this tutorial), you would be able to grow even bigger plants with longer buds.

Example of a mini tent harvest

Purple Ghost Candy buds

Mandarin Cookies bud

Those Mandarin Cookies buds in hand.

The post Harvest up to 4 oz Cannabis in this 100W LED Mini Grow Kit – Complete Setup & Weed Growing Tutorial appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

This side-by-side grow journal experiment was originally documented on my Instagram profile. I think you’ll find this side-by-side marijuana grow experiment just as intriguing now as I did then. I copied over all the posts so you can enjoy this grow journal as if you were watching in real-time (that’s why each post is worded as if it’s happening now).

What effect does it have on cannabis clones to grow them in coco coir vs super soil? This grow journal’s results were not at all what I expected. From yields to THC levels to terpenes, there were stark differences between the coco and soil grow tents.

Here’s a sneak peek of the two tents just before harvest. Jump straight to harvest day if you want to skip to the end, but I think it was one of my most riveting grows and you’ll enjoy reading each update as it happens.

Read on to see the Coco Coir vs “Just Add Water” Super Soil side-by-side marijuana grow journal…

Coco vs Soil Setup & Supplies (one set for each tent)

Grow Light

• ES300 LED grow light (discontinued) – I would strongly recommend the Mars Hydro TSL2000 300W LED grow light as a replacement. In our tests, it gets similar or better results and actually costs much less.

Grow Space (tent with exhaust fan)

• Grow tent – 2’x4’x6′ grow tent (also listed as 48”x24”x72”)
• 6″ exhaust fan – AC Infinity Cloudline T6 – Exhaust fans are used to remove heat from the grow space and bring in fresh air for the plants. Any 300W LED makes some heat and it’s good to have an exhaust fan so plants get plenty of CO2 in the air. You also need an exhaust fan if you want to stop smells because a carbon filter doesn’t work without a strong exhaust fan. The AC Infinity is quiet but expensive; the Vivosun 6″ 390 CFM exhaust fan is a cheaper alternative that’s both stronger and louder). Learn how to vent heat with an exhaust fan.
• (optional) 6″ carbon filter connected to the exhaust fan with 6″ ducting – Carbon filters are used to stop smells from leaving the grow space. Learn about carbon filters.

Here’s a picture of a grow in this setup. I’m using the same tent, LED panel, grow medium, pots, nutrients, etc. (the carbon filter is above the light.)

Plant Containers

• 5-gallon fabric pots
• 14″ plant saucers (the circumference of the bottom of the fabric pots is 12″ so this is a little bigger to catch any runoff water ).

Grow medium

• Coco coir tent
  • Mother Earth Coco + Perlite Mix
  • Nutrients: General Hydroponics Flora trio + Calimagic
  • I followed the mixing instructions on the sides of the bottles except cut in half
• “Just Add Water” Super Soil Tent
  • Nature’s Living Soil concentrate mixed with soil for the bottom 1/3 of each pot (this holds the majority of nutrients that will be slowly released through the grow)
  • Coco Loco soil – Topped the remaining 2/3 of each pot with Coco Loco soil (a high-quality soil that has a bit of coco, ideal for “Just Add Water” mixes).
  • Read my full review of Nature’s Living Soil with step-by-step instructions on how to use it

Strains

• Power Africa
• Peyote Critical
• Critical Purple Kush

Peyote Critical is the strain that turned purple in this grow journal!

July 5

This is a clone tent with two little autoflowering solo cup plants finishing up in the back. I’m amazed what this HLG 65 LED grow light can support with only 65 watts of light!

These clones are rooted and recently put in solo cups. I’m going to grow them out a little then they get put into their final homes.

August 20

The top plants are in coco coir (Mother Earth Coco Plus Perlite Mix) and bottom plants are clones in Super Soil (Nature’s Living compost as base and filled the rest of the way with Coco Loco soil).

Here are the clones about 3 weeks from being put into the tents (they were already rooted so they’re bigger than seedlings of similar age).

Top is coco coir (purple stakes). Bottom is Super soil (green stakes). I’ll keep them in this order for the whole grow journal to make it easier to follow along.

Second picture was after some training. Plants were spread out and tied down.

So far the plants in the super soil tent are ahead. It took a little longer for plants to adjust to the coco. However, they’re both starting to grow fast and the differences in growth patterns will soon be more obvious.

September 5

The coco tent is on top, super soil tent on bottom. The clones are in 5-gallon fabric pots with the LED grow lights. They went into the tents on August 1 so they’re a little over a month old. So far the super soil plants are bigger!

Coco on top, super soil on bottom

The super soil plants are also darker green, with signs of Nitrogen toxicity (“the claw”) from getting high levels of Nitrogen from the super “hot” soil. N is stored in dark green leaves and can be accessed by the plant later. That is why lower leaves and then the whole plant turns yellow when Nitrogen gets low.

Top view

Lots of Nitrogen is fine in the vegetative stage (maybe even good), but high amounts of Nitrogen can suppress bud growth in the second half of the flowering stage. All of these plants will get defoliated at the start of flowering, which removes a lot of Nitrogen from the “system”. Since I’m only giving water to the plants in super soil, those plants are also continually using up nutrients in their soil.

It’s a delicate balance because I also want the nutrients in the soil to last until harvest. That’s why I am not washing any nutrients away with runoff water.

Luckily, in a super soil setup, the plant has a greater ability to “pick and choose” nutrients (just like nature) compared to giving mineral nutrients in the water.

The coco plants are about 11 inches tall and the super soil plants are 12 inches tall. I will probably initiate the flowering stage soon because they’ll about double in size and I’d like them to be 2 feet tall at harvest.

I love how easy it is to care for the super soil plants. Plain water every 3 days and they’re good to go! Whenever I mix up coco nutrient water it makes me appreciate the simplicity of a “just add water” grow!

So far the Nature’s Living Soil tent has been great to use and I feel like the plants growing in it are doing better so far.

September 12

Today I defoliate the cannabis plants as they enter the flowering stage.

These 3 plants were changed to a 12/12 schedule a few days ago to initiate flowering. I can already see the first white hairs/pistils appearing on the future bud sites.

I typically defoliate right at the beginning of the flowering stage and again about 3 weeks later.

Before and After Example

Given what I’m going for, this is a pretty light defoliation. I lollipopped the plants, which means I removed lower growth and small branches that will never make it to the top canopy. I also removed all big fan leaves on long stems, and focused on removing leaves blocking light from reaching future bud sites.

I’ll remove more tomorrow (focusing on removing small lower stems and big leaves) but I’m done for today. I don’t want to stress the plants and defoliating over 2-3 days helps prevent that.

This 2-step defoliation process “hacks” the natural plant processes and forces it to spend more energy on developing buds, and less on vegetative growth. Buds never seem to truly get fat if they’re hidden among a bunch of leaves or located at the bottom of the plant. Buds need to be near the top with direct exposure to light and air to fatten up properly.

Some plants (especially certain sativa strains) don’t really get leafy and defoliation is unnecessary, while other plants get so bushy the leaves are covered in wet spots and you have to defoliate them to prevent the chance of mold! Most plants are somewhere in the middle of this spectrum.

Another bonus to defoliation is it helps keep down the humidity during the crucial flowering stage. High humidity in flowering causes loose buds and can trigger bud rot.

September 15

Defoliation in action!

Several growers asked for more tips on how I defoliate my plants after my last post. These plants started a 12/12 light schedule a week ago and are beginning to make flowers/white hairs (sometimes called pistils).

I typically defoliate right after plants start flowering and again about 3 weeks later. I did these lightly a few days ago and finished up today. I’ll go again in 3 weeks.

Today, I focused on removing small stems that will never reach the top canopy. I removed big fan leaves on long stems and “lollipopped” the plants.

Removed big fan leaves on long stems

“Lollipopped” plant by removing growth on the bottom of the plant that would otherwise be in permanent shadow.

This branch is several inches shorter than all the others, plus is on the front outside edge where it’s touching the tent when I close the door. I don’t think it’ll ever make it to the top of the plant. I decided to remove it.

Here’s that branch after I cut it off

For example, this growing tip on the outside edge will never reach the top canopy so I removed it.

Sorry little buddy

Here’s an example of one plant that’s been defoliated and lollipopped (left) and one that hasn’t been touched yet (right). I hope that helps you see how it looks before and after.

And here’s all three plants in the coco tent before (top) and after defoliation and lollipop (bottom)

Top view

Why do I defoliate? A few reasons.

1.) I’ve found that buds only fatten up when they get access to plenty of light and air. Buds lower on the plant or hidden in shadow never get big or dense. By removing bud sites that will never get light or air, I’m helping the plant focus on the best quality buds. As a result, buds at harvest tend to be bigger, tighter, and more dense. When plants are defoliated properly, they produce fewer but higher quality buds.

2.) Some plants get so leafy that their leaves lay all over each other and cause wet spots. That was happening here. Left unchecked, too-leafy plants are more likely to get powdery mildew.

3.) Leaves constantly release water vapor into the air which raises the humidity. High humidity in the second half of the flowering stage causes buds to grow more loose and can trigger bud rot. It gets humid where I live (over 70% RH outside on some days). I already use a powerful dehumidifier when necessary, but defoliating plants also helps keep the humidity down.

4.) Defoliated plants are way easier to trim after harvest.

Does defoliation increase yields? It’s possible to defoliate too much and stunt your plant, so, to maximize yields, only defoliate plants that are bushy. Some strains don’t need to be defoliated. But with bushy plants, this type of defoliation consistently produces bigger buds of higher bud quality compared to cannabis grown like wild bushes. An upcoming side-by-side grow will test defoliation vs wild. Also check out my grow journal featuring autoflowering plants with some being topped, trained, and defoliated while the others were left alone.

September 17

They have been on 12/12 for 10 days so far. I didn’t notice a major difference between the tents in the vegetative stage. The super soil plants look darker and are a little bigger, but the tents have been mostly comparable.

Top is coco, bottom is super soil.

Today I noticed the first notable difference… The super soil buds are more developed so far. I included pictures of each plant’s buds matched with their clones in the other tent. I can’t tell yet whether the super soil plants are flowering faster or the buds are just getting bigger.

Power Africa (coco on top, super soil on bottom)

Peyote Critical (coco on top, super soil on bottom)

Purple Critical Kush (coco on top, super soil on bottom)

I have to admit I’m really surprised!

This last picture shows the leaves under regular light (coco top, super soil bottom)

For some reason, the coco leaves look much lighter under the LEDs, but as you can see they’re similar in natural lighting. In fact, all the leaves look a bit dark. I can’t do anything about the super soil plants since they’re getting their nutrients from the soil but I will slightly pull back the nutrients on the coco.

September 23 – Day 16 of flowering

Here are the plants when I opened the tent this morning (coco on top, super soil on bottom)

Coco plants (purple labels) – With the coco I’m still using the General Hydroponics Flora trio plus CaliMagic as nutrients, given at 6.2 pH.

Super soil plants (green labels) – Super soil is receiving plain tap water at 6.8 pH. I have high-pH tap water so I’ve been adjusting the pH down using Earth Juice PH Down citric crystals (make sure to shop around because usually it’s way too expensive on Amazon).

I have been surprised every step of this grow.

Initially, the super soil plants were growing faster. Nature’s Living Soil seems to produce faster growth than Kind super soil.

I started 12/12 when the coco plants were 11″ tall and super soil plants were 13″ tall.

The super soil buds developed faster. I couldn’t tell whether they were ahead or the buds were simply bigger. Now the super soil plants have mostly stopped getting taller and are fully in flowering mode. They only grew about an inch over the last week. Buds are developing beautifully.

The coco plants are acting completely different. They are obviously in the midst of a major flowering stretch and are growing almost an inch taller every day. They’ve caught up to the super soil plants in size and don’t seem to be slowing down. Their buds are developing, too, but it’s hard to even see how far the buds go down into the plants because they’re getting wild and bushy.

Here’s the view directly from the side so you can better see the difference in height (coco on top, super soil on bottom)

Since these plants are clones in otherwise identical conditions, it seems like the only factor causing these differences is the grow medium and how they’re getting nutrients (from the soil vs nutrients in the water itself).

The super soil plants are growing in a more orderly way and the buds are ahead developmentally, but will the soon-to-be-larger coco plants overtake them for yields once they’ve stopped stretching?

Here they are (with flash on) to help you see the buds and how they’re forming. This also helps you see how bushy/leafy the coco plants have gotten.

What other differences besides yields and plant growth will we discover after harvest? I’m getting the buds lab-tested for terpenes and cannabinoids so we’ll have as many data points as possible at the end to compare.

Just as a side note, this is my first grow with the V2 version of this LED (V1 was great) and so far the grow is going as smooth as silk.

All the cannabis plants are super happy under the LED grow light.

You can never truly rate a grow light until after harvest but at least in the vegetative stage, I noticed that these plants seem a bit less sensitive to problems compared to other LED grow lights I’ve tried.

LED grow lights like the HLG models (@horticulturelightinggroup) get excellent yields per watt with great bud quality. I highly recommend them. But like nearly all LEDs, I’ve noticed that plants tend to be more sensitive to environmental issues, watering, and pH/nutrient problems in the vegetative stage compared to fluorescent lights or HIDs like MH/LEC/HPS.

Not so with the plants under these LEDs. The plants in both tents are spotlessly green from top to bottom. No sign of stress anywhere.

Now that plants are flowering, I’m excited to see how buds continue to develop. So far the buds look great. I can’t wait to see the results after harvest!

September 28

Just hit 3 weeks of 12/12 today and starting to notice some major differences between each grow medium.

Coco plants appear on top in pictures. Super soil on bottom in pics.

This is what they look like in natural light

Differences in plants: Super soil plants didn’t stretch as much as coco after 12/12 so Super Soil plants are smaller overall. Coco plants still stretching. I noticed the Super Soil plant with the biggest buds (Peyote Critical, left plant in tent pics) appears lighter in color around the biggest buds and is starting to lose a few lower yellow leaves like a Nitrogen deficiency. It’s obviously using more nutrients than the others. I want all the Super Soil plants to have plenty of nutrients so they all got top dressed with a sprinkling of Super Soil concentrate to hopefully bring more nutrients down to the roots when watering.

Differences in bud size: Super Soil plants have bigger/more developed buds. I don’t know whether the buds are ahead in development or just bigger. I’ll be able to tell better once the pistils/hairs start darkening and curling in. If Super Soil buds start turning dark sooner I’ll know it’s just ahead. If they start turning at the same time I’ll know that the buds are just bigger.

Here are pictures of all the buds for comparison (from left to right in each tent).

Power Africa (coco top, super soil bottom)

Peyote Critical (coco top, super soil bottom)

Purple Critical Kush (coco top, super soil bottom)

Differences in bud appearance: Two of the clones (Power Africa and Peyote Critical, picture 1 & 2) have significantly more trichomes on the Super Soil plants. One clone (Critical Purple Kush, picture 3) has a a bit more sparkle in the coco tent.

I wasn’t expecting to see noticeable differences so early. I can’t wait to see what happens next!

October 2

Have you ever seen such long stacked buds under a mid-size LED grow light? This bud structure is more typical of big-bulb HID grow lights like LEC and HPS.

The strain is Critical Purple Kush. No sign of purple yet but the buds are dusted in frost already.

I’m beyond pleased with these LEDs so far. The plants weren’t at all sensitive in the vegetative stage, unlike some other LEDs. They grew green and healthy from head to toe.

I supercropped one branch on this plant, but more for visual symmetry than necessity. It was getting tall in a back corner where it would have been fine except that it marred my beautiful flat canopy.

I’ve noticed plants often seem to produce excellent plant structure under LEDs, with nice thick buds, but usually, buds don’t go as deep into the plant as this one.

My coco plant buds seemed to have stretched significantly more than their clones being grown in “just add water” soil under the same LEDs. I continue to be surprised by how differently the clones are growing when the only difference is grow medium.

October 4

These plants are 4 weeks into the flowering stage (day 28 of 12/12).

Coco tent on top, soil tent on bottom.

In natural light

The differences between the tents is easy to see at this point. The coco plants stretched more and have longer buds, while the soil plants didn’t stretch as much but buds are significantly fatter. Given the different plants structures its hard to guess anything about yields.

The soil plants were looking a bit pale (it’s a lot of hard work making all those fat buds!) with a few lower leaves turning yellow from lack of Nitrogen. They were hungry for more nutrients and must have used up what was in the soil. I top-dressed them with 1 tablespoon each of super soil compost (I had extra Nature’s Living Soil concentrate from when I originally made the soil). The idea was for nutrients would trickle down to the roots with each watering.

After a few days the color is better and no more yellow leaves so it seemed to have done the trick. I’ll probably top dress again before the next watering for another nutrient boost.

It’s adding nutrients to top dress, but still technically “just add water”. What do you think? I think most growers wouldn’t mind sprinkling some compost on the soil in the flowering stage. They’re in 5-gallon pots, and it obviously wasn’t enough soil to last them until harvest. Perhaps next time I’ll put them in 10-gallon pots and see if that has enough nutrients to last until harvest without needing a top dressing.

October 11

Top of each picture is the coco plants, bottom are the soil plants. Week 5 after initiating 12/12.

Here they are in natural light

Next I show each plant with a closeup bud picture from each tent (plants listed in order from left to right in each tent). Since the beginning of flowering, the coco buds have been longer while the soil buds are fatter. That makes it hard to compare them to estimate yields.

Power Africa (coco top, super soil bottom)

Peyote Critical (coco top, super soil bottom)

Critical Purple Kush (coco top, super soil bottom)

A big difference I’ve noticed is the trichome production stays closer to the buds in the soil grow, while the trichomes on the coco plants are spilling everywhere on the plant. The soil buds are trichome-covered but their fan leaves barely have any trichomes at all. With the coco plants, the fan leaves are so sticky it’s kind of annoying.

Based on what I’ve seen so far, I think the coco may be a better choice for a grower looking to do extractions because there are just so many trichomes on the leaves. However, I’m here for the buds! Can’t wait to get results for cannabinoids, terpenes, and yields after harvest.

They’ve been on 12/12 for 5 weeks today, so there’s 5-7 weeks left before harvest. Who knows what will happen next!

October 14

So far, I love these LEDs. They’re easy to use and my plants look great. They’ve been on 12/12 for just over 5 weeks and starting to look chunky!

Here are the coco plants

I’ve also had excellent results with multiple different HLG LED fixtures. Consistently produce potent, high quality buds with great yields per watt. What LEDs should I test next?

I’ve tried just about every other type of grow light over the years. They all have pluses and minuses.

Fluorescents like T5s are perfect for young plants and produce good quality buds, but the plants need to be well trained to get the best density and yields. Even in the best case, I’ve found them to yield about half as much per watt compared to other lights like LEDs, HPS, and LEC/CMH.

MH/HPS are awesome budget lights. MH makes short bushy growth in the vegetative stage, and HPS produces huge yields and dense buds in flowering. MH/HPS fixtures are cheap and produce comparable yields to LEDs per watt. The downside is burning hot bulbs. But with the temperature under control they produce vigorous happy plants. Great in a grow tent with a strong exhaust fan venting hot air out a window. I sometimes still use HPS during winter because I don’t want to add a heater for LEDs. I’ve gotten better yields, density, and bud quality with 150W or 250W HPS than small cheap Chinese blurple LEDs in side-by-side tests. But new LEDs like HLGs, Mars’ and SpiderFarmer perform better in flowering.

LECs/CMH are another HID, and the technology is basically halfway between MH and HPS. They have similar issues with heat and results are heavily dependent on the bulb used. Their blue/4k bulbs get some of the fastest vegetative growth ever, though plants can be a bit stretchy. Used in the flowering stage the 4k bulbs produce more trichomes and terpenes than other lights I’ve tested due to high UV production, with decent yields. The red/3k bulbs in flowering don’t produce quite as much sparkle and terpenes, but get yields as good as HPS or better.

October 17

If you had to pick, would you be Team Coco or Team Soil?

Top picture is coco, bottom is soil

Power Africa. These buds show the greatest difference, especially when it comes to trichome production. The coco buds are absolutely dusted in trichomes (left side is coco, right side is soil)

Peyote Critical. These buds look somewhat different. The sugar leaves next to the coco buds are still totally green while the sugar leaves on the soil buds are starting to look a little purple at the tips. (left side is coco, right side is soil)

Purple Critical Kush. The buds from these clones look almost exactly the same. (left side is coco, right side is soil)

What do you think? In general, the soil buds are fatter but the coco buds are longer (the coco plants stretched more after 12/12 and the stems are all longer overall).

I have to admit I’ve been surprised that the grow medium affects bud development so much on some strains but not others. Even when I’ve grown clones under different grow lights there wasn’t as much of a visual difference between buds as with the Power Africa, especially at only about 6 weeks since 12/12. The plants have only just begun to show their bud “personalities”.

Do you feel like each plant has their own personality when it comes to growth patterns and buds? I know I think of plants that way. When I first started growing I used to actually name each plant.

October 23

Nearly all the leaves on the Peyote Critical plant in the super soil are green on top but purple underneath. Pretty! The sugar leaves around the buds and even the buds themselves are turning purple, too.

What’s interesting is its clone in coco coir isn’t showing any signs of purple yet. The buds on the coco coir clone are a typical green/orange.

Perhaps the properties of the grow medium have an effect on color. It could also be the nutrients (from the soil vs bottled nutrients) and/or pH (pH is close to 7 in soil, but closer to 6 in coco). In any case, the buds are looking good to me!

October 30

Top is coco, bottom is super soil

Here are the bud pictures in order of the plants from left to right.

Power Africa (coco left, super soil right)

Peyote Critical (coco left, super soil right)

Purple Critical Kush (coco left, super soil right) – not much sign of of purple yet

At first the clones looked relatively similar but as we get closer to harvest they look completely different. The grow medium and nutrients are having a huge effect on gene expression in the flowering stage.

Soil buds are more colorful. The coco buds are mostly green with orange hairs while 2 of the 3 soil plants are producing beautiful colors. Bud quality in both tents looks excellent.

The soil plants do look like they’re running out of nutrients in the soil, so some of the color may be the result of nutrient deficiencies. Since this is a “just add water” test I will not add anything. However, if you’re seeing deficiencies like this, I do recommend supplementing soil plants with extra organic nutrients in the flowering stage (low in Nitrogen, high in Phosphorus and Potassium) to ensure nutrients last until harvest. A good example is Roots Organics Uprising Bloom (use this VERY sparingly to avoid burning plants). Or take some of the raw Nature’s Living Soil and make a gentle “tea” and use that to water your plants. If you’re afraid of burning your plants, an excellent ultra-gentle but effective organic bloom booster is Fox Farm Big Bloom. The only downside to Fox Farm Big Bloom is it’s pretty expensive considering you have to use a lot of it at a time.

The coco tent is still winning for trichome coverage while the soil tent is winning for color and smell intensity. It’s hard to estimate yield differences because some clones seem to be doing better in one tent or the other.

I will be reporting yields, smoke reports, and lab results (terpenes and cannabinoids) after harvest. I want you to get as much information as possible on the objective differences between the tents. I’m impatient for harvest time!

November 5

Harvest day!

Here are the coco coir plants at harvest

Coco plant drying

The coco plants were at the beginning of their harvest window (all white trichomes, no clears). I normally would have let them keep growing another week or even two weeks to pack on more weight but the soil plants were done and I harvested them at the same time for the sake of the experiment. It was a tough choice, but in the beginning, I said I would harvest all the plants at the same time and that’s what I’m doing even if it’s not ideal. It’s not a good experiment if you change it as you go along 🙂 If I ever run the experiment again I will harvest the plants when they’re ready instead of at the same time.

Here are the super soil plants at harvest. The Power Africa on the left was really losing color and I was worried the yellowing would start spreading to the buds if I didn’t harvest now.

Super soil plants drying

I do think the soil plants would have faired better if I’d boosted them with nutrients, teas, or another source of PK in early flowering.  However, this experiment specifically tested “just add water” soil so I stuck to the plan and am sharing the results as-is.

Note from Sirius: Defoliation may have played a part in the soil plants’ nutrient problems, too.

The buds will be drying for about 10 days and then buds get lab-tested for cannabinoids and terpenes. The coco plants received only mineral/chemical nutrients, while the soil plants got all their nutrients directly from the grow medium. Since the plants were clones in identical setups, any differences in the buds are likely the result of the grow medium/nutrients. It’ll be interesting to see how the buds were affected!

I’ll also publish the dry weights and smoke reports after buds have been dried and cured for 2 weeks. The soil buds are fatter but the coco plants stretched more and their buds are longer. Just from looking at the drying tents it seems like the coco plants will win for weight overall, but only the scale will tell.

November 18

Finally! Here’s the Coco vs Soil grow journal harvest weigh-in. Over 20 oz for the grow!

Left is the coco harvest and right is the soil harvest.

Coco tent yielded 11.1 oz while the soil tent yielded 9.4 oz, so the coco won for yields but not by a whole lot.

The buds are extremely dense and sticky, with fatter buds in soil but longer buds in coco.

Power Africa in coco weigh-in

Power Africa in super soil weigh-in

Peyote Critical in coco weigh-in

Peyote Critical in super soil weigh-in

Purple Critical Kush in coco weigh-in (I couldn’t fit it all in one bowl so you’ll see it’s 60 g + 59 g for a total of 119 g)

Purple Critical Kush in super soil weigh-in

I thought you might also enjoy this coco vs soil root comparison.

Example of coco roots on left, super soil roots on right

The coco plants were given the Flora trio plus CaliMagic as nutrients. Here’s the coco root ball by itself. The coco root ball weighs less and has a lighter appearance.

The soil plants got all their nutrients directly from the soil. Here’s the soil root ball.  The soil root ball is heavier and has a darker richer color.

Here’s a closeup of the roots near the bottom. I expected to see more differences to be honest.

Next step is to get all the buds tested for cannabinoids and terpenes at a local lab in San Diego.

January 7, 2021

You may have been following my grow journal which pitted clones against each other in coco vs soil. The results are in and I have to admit I’m amazed.

Experiment Details Quick Recap

• Coco: Mother Earth Coco Plus Perlite Mix with Flora trio + CaliMagic as nutrients.
• Soil: Bottom 1/3 of each pot: Nature’s Living Soil Super Soil Concentrate, Top 2/3: Fox Farm Coco Loco soil. All nutrients for these plants came from the soil (no nutrients in the water)

Both sets of plants were in a 2’x4’x6′ grow tent under their own 300W LED grow light.

Results

• Coco won for yields and trichome production
• Soil won for THC percentage and terpenes

Lab report summary

Coco lab reports (PDF)

• Power Africa
• Peyote Critical
• Purple Critical Kush

Super soil lab reports (PDF)

• Power Africa
• Peyote Critical
• Purple Critical Kush

Wow! How cool is that!

Discussion

The soil plants were ready to harvest before the coco plants. As a result, the coco plants were harvested on the early side. The coco tent could have gone on for a few more weeks so chances are their yields and potency would have increased in that time.

However, the super soil plants were at the end of their harvest window, and for the sake of the experiment, I took all the plants down at the same time.

As far as smoke reports, there is no clear winner. Some people prefer the coco buds while others prefer the soil buds. In fact, it seems different for each strain. Honestly, all three of these strains have proven to be really popular regardless of how buds were grown.

I recommend them all (Power Africa, Peyote Critical, and Critical Purple Kush). That being said, Purple Critical Kush has been the fan-favorite so far.

Final Conclusion:

Both grow mediums work great and the real winner is me with all this awesome weed!

Bonus: Check out my full review of Nature’s Living Soil including step-by-step instructions on how to use this soil, a complete watering schedule, and tips I’ve learned over the course of this grow.

The post Super Soil vs Coco Coir – Side-by-Side Cannabis Grow Journal appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

This tutorial is a condensed version of the classic “How to Keep a Bonsai Mum” article written by the legendary Oldtimer1. Although the original article was published in 2000, this bonsai training method recently resurfaced and has become popular for hobbyist cannabis growers without a lot of space. With so many people growing at home these days, this technique is more useful now than ever.

Free Clones Forever! (How do I make clones?) These 8-month-old marijuana bonsai mother plants are based on this tutorial. In addition to the sunny window, a bright lightbulb shines nearby for 14+ hours a day to keep them in the vegetative stage. An easy and fun way to hold onto genetics! ~Nebula Haze

This tutorial will teach you how to turn a cannabis plant into a bonsai mother (giving you access to unlimited free clones!)

But what is a mother plant? A “mother” is a plant you keep alive so you can take clones whenever you want (the clones are the “children” which is where the term “mother” comes from). Learn how to clone cannabis plants in a cup of water (easiest but slow), with seedling plugs (almost as easy but faster), or in an aerocloner (fastest). One common reason growers keep mothers is to save money by producing new cannabis plants for free (or at least basically free). The other is to hold onto good genetics. If you have a plant that grows beautifully and produces good yields of high-quality bud, you may want to save the genetics so you can grow the plant again in a future grow. A clone will grow the same as the mother plant.

Instead of having to pay for each seed from a seed bank, a mother plant can be used to create almost unlimited new clones of itself. In addition to not costing anything, new clones are more predictable than seeds from random crosses. Seeds carry a mix of traits from both parent plants, some of which may be recessive attributes, while each clone consistently grows just like the mother.

Taking clones can save a ton of money versus buying seeds because each new plant is simply cut off the mother and grown into a full plant

Cloning can be a big money saver over buying individual seeds, but frugality isn’t the only reason to keep mother plants. Sometimes it’s about saving great genetics. Certain cannabis plants are so special they beg to be cloned so more people can enjoy them. If you ever identify a particularly great plant, you can actually take clones of it and turn them into mother plants. You can even take clones in the flowering stage if you just can’t let a certain plant go. 

Clones are made by cutting off the ends of branches and planting those pieces so they grow roots. These “cuttings” grow into full plants that are a genetic clone of the mother. When you grow and harvest them, the characteristics will be basically identical to the mother plant.

Why would you want a bonsai mother?

Unlike a commercial grower, most home growers don’t have a lot of grow space to dedicate purely to housing mother plants. Keeping each mother small, like a bonsai tree, lets you maintain a huge selection of genetics in a small grow space without very much electricity. 

The bonsai mother technique has become a staple for indoor growers who want to keep a huge variety of genetics in a small cannabis garden. This version of the tutorial cuts out extra discussion and leaves just the instructions with pictures. This way you can get straight to bonsai-ing. But if you ever have a little extra time for some fun and interesting discussion, I highly recommend reading the original article in its entirety by Oldtimer1.

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create and maintain many small mother plants in a tiny grow space. Each mother plant can produce hundreds of new clones over time, so you basically gain the power to produce unlimited new plants for free! 

Example of a bonsai plant by Don de Marco

Part 1: How to Create a Bonsai Mother Plant

This tutorial will show you how to create a fully established bonsai mother plant.

This bonsai mother, if well-fed, will be able to produce 10 to 30 good cuttings every 14 days under an HID grow light, or every 20 days under a fluorescent grow light. This means a 4 ft x 2 ft shop light with 18 mother plants could produce an output of over 9500 cuttings a year.

Typical Bonsai Mum

That’s not intensive production, but it allows the connoisseur to keep a good selection of strain varieties in a relatively small space.

1.) Put Chosen Mother in a Square Pot

Let’s start by turning a rooted cutting into a mother plant. This is simple. With every batch of clones, there are always a few that stand out because they generally appear sturdier and better looking overall. Pick one or two of these to make your mother plant. Remember this mother plant will provide you with cuttings 4 to 18 times a year for the next 3 to 15 years, so only the best will do.

Note: I find square pots are much easier to deal with when it comes to root pruning, as you will see later.

Pick a fully rooted through cutting and put it in a 2.5-inch square pot.

2.) Cut the plant short so it only has 3-4 growing tips left

Once you’ve chosen your cutting, trim its top back to leave 3 or 4 side shoots.
Top view

3.) Manipulate the plant into an “open cup” shape (open up the middle as the plant grows)

The little branches you left from before will become the main framework of your mother plant. The goal is to try to get them to form an open cup shape as they grow. The top 2 branches usually grow the fastest unless you take steps to even everything out. The following sequence helps you create a more symmetrical plant.

• “Top” the two tallest branches when they get to about 5 inches long (pinch or snip off the growing tip just above a leaf node).
• Once the remaining branches catch up to the same height as the ones you just topped, top/pinch the growing tips off them as well.
• This process of topping multiple branches will encourage side shoots to form.
• Remove any branches that grow into the central cup shape.

4.) Take first set of clones

After completing the last step, you should have 6 to 8 leading branches coming up. When they reach 4 to 6 inches long, they can be taken as your first set of clones.

• Cut them back to just above the first leaf node of the new growth

Note: Check out Part 3 of this tutorial (below) for more details and pictures of taking clones

After the cuttings have been taken, the mum is only a tiny bit larger than the last time she was cut back but the main branches will be starting to get thicker.

5.) Move mother plant to bigger pot

After you’ve taken the first set of cuttings, it’s time to move up to the next pot size. A 3-inch sq pot is ideal.

6.) You’ve got a bonsai mother!

You should now have 12 to 16 leading shoots, as well as others coming up from lower nodes. In total, there may be 30 potential clones or more. Any really thin ones or any growing into the center, either cut back to one node or remove altogether instead of taking cuttings.

Here are bonsai mothers at different stages

In the picture:

1. The trimmed cutting from above.
2. Has had 2 sets of cuttings taken off and is more than ready to move to a 3-inch pot. As you can see it is a little short of Nitrogen, which is why it’s better to transplant to fresh soil after the first set of cuttings.
3. This mother plant is in a 3-inch pot. 12 cuttings have been taken with 2 left on to show where to cut back to.
4. This is a five-year-old Mum that has just had 32 cuttings taken off and could do with some more small twiggy bits removed. She is in a 1-liter pot and has been since she was 3 months old.

Note how all have an open center; this allows light to both the center and the outside. It will fill in between taking cuttings but if pruned back to this form, makes better and more even growth giving more good cuttings each time.

General Care and Maintenance

The mother plants need just enough nutrients to keep them healthy. Feed nutrients at half-strength twice a month. This keeps them in good general health but doesn’t overfeed them. If you want faster production at any point change to a full-strength feed once or twice. Every 2 to 4 weeks a new batch of cuttings are taken even if they are not needed and just put in the worm bin. You can think of it as being like having to mow the lawn and keeps the mum the same size and form for years. Because so much is taken away they can get short of macronutrients so every month or so give them a foliar spray or light dose of nutrients. Judge this by how the plants are looking not by a timetable.

One of the main things that all growers need to learn is regular close observation to know when they are healthy and notice the first signs of deficiencies appearing.

Part 2: Root Pruning (Renovation and Maintenance)

Bonsai mother plants will need root pruning once or twice a year to stay healthy. The frequency depends on how intensively they are fed and how good your water quality is.

Note: The root pruning method stays the same whether it’s being used for routine maintenance or renovation of a sick plant.

Here we are dealing with a 7-year-old mother plant that hasn’t been root trimmed for nearly a year and was deliberately neglected for the last 10 weeks so you could see the recovery.
First, trim back nearly all the top growth back to the main framework of branches. Leave one or two tiny shoots at the tip of each branch to draw sap and keep the branch alive.

Don’t remove all the shoots and buds because this often causes “die back”. Once that starts the whole plant usually dies within a month or two. But you’re good as long as you leave a few small shoots, even if they’re yellow from lacking Nitrogen. They will soon start to grow and green up as the new roots start forming!

Next, the rootball should have 3/4 of an inch cut off each side and an inch off the bottom.

This reduces the 4.5 x 4.5 x 4.5 inch rootball to 3 x 3 x 3.5 inches high after the loose soil is scraped from the top.

This means that two-thirds of the soil is being replaced. A good full strength organic compost is used when repotting and it only takes a day or two for the roots to really start growing into the new compost.  It is very important to make sure there are no voids or air gaps left when packing the sides, use a pencil or small dibber, fill slowly and firm lightly.

Set the bottom of the rootball on about 3/4 of an inch of compost then pack out the sides and finally cover the top with a 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch. This means the mother is planted 1/4 inch deeper every time root pruning is done about 1/2 an inch a year. In a couple of years from now I will cut down vertically and split the plant in two as the side branch will have a root system of its own. Using this method the roots are constantly being replaced and as well the main trunk replaced slowly. This seems to keep the bonsai mother plants healthy for many years.

The last picture is 12 days under an HPS light after the root and top pruning. It tells its own story! Already there are enough nice leaders to make 10 good cuttings.

The second mother of our selected “ES” line lasted for just over 15 years using this method. I have also kept prized males for breeding (bonsai father plants) in this pot size and some are over 5 years old.

That’s it. You should have all the info you need to make and root cuttings in compost and make and maintain bonsai mother plants. It’s easy, give it a go!

Part 3: How to Take Clones from Bonsai Mother Plants

This section covers my cloning system in detail, along with a brief outline about our mother plants. Every grower can get the same results by imitating this easy organic system.

Mother plants are kept so their roots are restricted using standard bonsai methodology and techniques. It is an excellent method for keeping mother plants long-term and has proved a very reliable system since we developed this method 24 years ago (editor: from the year 2000, so around 1976). The longest I’ve kept a mother like this without having to be replaced is just over 15 years.

On average….

• Replace pure indicas every 3 years
• Replace hybrids every 4 to 5 years
• Replace pure sativas every 6 to 7 years.

Of course, it depends on the care they are given, and every strain is different. These days most plants are hybrids and you don’t find much “pure” anything, but this can be a helpful guide. Male plants can be kept in the same way and in fact will stand more abuse than mother plants.

My Clone, Mother and Father box

It’s a double deck with two 4ft x 2 ft lights each with 4 x 40w cool white fluorescent lights.

Clone, Mother and Father box

270 rooted cuttings, in plugs ready to go into pots. Close-up of top tray right

One of the big advantages of using bonsai mother plants is that each only needs a maximum of 8 x 8 inches. So a 2 ft x 2 ft x 2 ft high box with a 4-tube fluorescent shop light can hold 9 mothers. We call the plants we keep Mums and Dads; not to be confused with chrysanthemums 🙂

I once read a quote in High Times that said you get genetic degeneration by keeping mother plants long term – this is total rubbish!

Degeneration can certainly occur if a mother plant gets infected with a reversion virus, but the buds produced today from our mother plants is just as potent and good-smelling as when it was first grown out from seed many years ago. In fact, it is better now. We have better lighting and superior growing techniques, allowing the clones to express their potential more fully.

This is our largest mother plant in a 1-liter pot (the largest size used). With all the top growth pictured she is about 13 inches tall and ready to take cuttings. Inset is a cutting being clipped out see below.

I use fine-point scissors for trimming the plants, they are fast and easy to use. Quick enough to do 2 to 3 cuttings a minute. Forget the stories that they bruise the stem and cause rot, it’s rubbish! They do need to be sharp, so buy a new pair and keep them just for this task. As far as hygiene is concerned, providing all your mother plants are free of virus, simply put them through the dishwasher after every session to get rid of the sap build up. This keeps them free and easy to use.

How to prepare the cuttings (refer to picture below)

1. This tip is ready to get prepared for rooting
2. Snip off the side shoot and leaf the node you want to root.
3. Cut just below the node you want to root.
4. Dip the trimmed node in rooting hormone.

How to Insert the Cuttings

1. Use a 3.5-inch square pot to root in
2. Fill with half perlite and half universal compost or rich potting soil
3. The mix is pre-soaked with water dosed with 1 ml of 35% or 2ml per litre of 17.5% H2O2 and 5 ml of Maxicrop Liquid Seaweed
4. Then the cuttings are dibbed into the compost, 9 to 12 per pot
5. The dibbed cuttings are then watered in using a fine rose same mix as above to settle them in.
6. Cover with a plastic bag and put under constant 24-hour lighting
7. Preferably cool-white fluorescent lighting at 20 w per sq foot and a temperature of 75 degrees Fahrenheit.

Inserting cuttings and covering with bag

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“There are a number of reasons for not rooting directly into plug trays.”

Let’s look at what we need from a rooted cutting… We want one that is suited to growing in a confined space i.e. a pot. They are as closely matched as possible. To get good yields from a grow, uniformity is the rule. It is no good having one plant that produces 50 grams when its 2 neighbors only produce 15 grams each. They are identical stock but this is what is often seen in grow after grow. It is much better to try and get all the plants averaging 35 grams well within the capacity of the stock line of a plant that can make 50 grams.

Remember we are talking about growing in soil-based or soilless compost mixes. The root type that the cutting produces is very important, lots of fine feeder roots are the ideal, anchor and tap roots are totally unwanted when growing in a pot. Remember the amount feeder root mass directly effects the potential crop weight

The 3.5-inch pots are 4 inches high; the rooting mix is very open with low nutrient content. This encourages early taproot development. Not all the cuttings will have rooted at the same time, so when they are transferred to the plug trays the root balls are trimmed to the same size and the tap root is removed, this goes a long way towards equalizing the clones. Once they are transferred as below they tend to stay pretty even and grow on rapidly. To show what we are looking for some equalized clones grown on and just put into flower. There are several varieties in this grow and there is not more than an inch or so between plants in each variety. They are placed by variety to make a stadium effect and make maximum use of light.

Around ten days later the cuttings will have rooted through. The rootball is gently broken up, each cutting has its roots trimmed back to equalize the cuttings and make them fit the plug tray! Full-strength peat or coir compost using organic base fertilizers are used for this.

Then they are put back in the Clone/Mother box for about 5/6 more days until thoroughly rooted through, this is very important at all stages of repotting! Fully rooted plants just jump ahead when moved on– we have found that plants moved into bigger pots too early typically produce 25% to 30% less final crop weight!

Moving the rooted cuttings to plug trays.

Cuttings in plug trays a few days later ready to move on to their first pots.

Showing a cutting out of the plug tray, fully rooted out and ready to go.

Cuttings like this can be taken from any plants in the vegetative stage.

That’s it… you are ready to grow!

(by Oldtimer1. Foreward and adaptation by Nebula Haze of GrowWeedEasy.com)

The post How to Create a Bonsai Mother for Unlimited Clones appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.