Do you need an expensive LED grow light to produce exceptional weed? No. Even a tiny cannabis-friendly LED produces excellent bud quality with good seeds and plant care.

A $70 100W LED grew these Candy Games #38 buds.

Last week we talked about avoiding lots of the most common beginner mistakes when growing weed at home. Today I wanted to talk about how to save money on equipment, which can sometimes be the most expensive mistake.

The truth is you don’t need a crazy setup or exotic nutrients, you just need to ensure what you get is suitable for growing cannabis.

Example harvest under a Spider Farmer 100W LED (full setup with tent and filter is ~$290)

This is all you need to get to a top-shelf home cannabis harvest…

1.) Cannabis Seeds

Your seeds determine 50% or more of your results, so don’t choose lightly.

If price is the biggest barrier, this $5 seed menu by NASC has a limited rotating selection of top-quality genetics. If you’re looking to get good seeds for cheap, this is a great option. Here are my favorite cannabis strains for beginners.

Not sure?

• Easy (Hardy with Big Yields): Blue Dream, Godfather OG (very potent), White Widow
• Top-Shelf Buds (Sparkle & Smell): Mandarin Cookies, Blueberry Muffin, Crescendo RBx1
• Fastest Harvest (Autoflower Strains): Strawberry Cheesecake Auto, Special Queen 1 Auto, Purple Lemonade Auto

The seeds decide what buds look, smell, and smoke like.

2.) Bright, Direct Light

Light is food for cannabis plants, and they need a lot of light to produce big, potent, sparkly buds.

In general, more light equals more bud.

Outdoors, cannabis plants should be getting 6+ hours of strong, direct sunlight per day.

Lots of light + room to grow (this is an 11 lb harvest)

Note: There’s still time to grow outdoors this year.

Indoors, a strong grow light is needed to get significant yields.

For most indoor home growers, a LED grow light specifically made to grow cannabis plants is your best light option.

LEDs are easy to use, electrically efficient and don’t produce much heat. Even a small 100W LED can consistently grow high-quality, dense cannabis buds when kept the right distance away.

What about yields? When it comes to cannabis-specific LEDs, the wattage is a very good indicator of how much light it’s going to make.

That means higher-wattage grow lights increase the maximum yields you can expect.

100W cannabis harvest (this is 3.1 oz) – Full 2’x2′ setup ~$290.

300W cannabis harvest (this is 10.4 oz) – Full 2’x4′ setup ~$575.

600W cannabis harvest (this is 20.1 oz, or 1.3 lbs) – Example 4’x4′ setup ~$770.

Learn about the best LED grow lights for cannabis.

3.) Grow Medium (Soil, Coco, Hydro)

Soil or Coco is easiest for beginners since you can just plant a seed. Soil looks darker and has some nutrients, which lasts plants a few weeks. However, plants in soil grow a little slower and may be more prone to bugs.

Outdoor growers love soil: For cannabis growers powered by the sun, a recent outdoor cannabis grow study found the most successful outdoor growers typically grow in soil.

Grow weed in soil – nutrients last a few weeks

Coco is made out of ground coconut husks. Coco contains no nutrition, which means you need to add nutrients in the water from the beginning or plants won’t grow.

The pros are slightly faster growth, less prone to overwatering, and more resistant to some pests.

Grow weed in coco – slightly faster growth, but must add nutrients from the start.

Serious beginners can succeed at hydro on their first grow, too (that’s how my husband Sirius started growing weed). You just need to follow good instructions when establishing your seedlings so their roots grow healthy and strong. After cannabis plants are established, hydroponic maintenance may actually be easier than soil or coco.

Grow weed in hydro – add nutrients from the start, fastest growth.

Learn more: What’s the Best Grow Medium? Soil vs Coco vs Hydro.

4.) Cannabis Nutrients (Add to the Water)

Cannabis plants use a lot more nutrients than most houseplants and need a good source of nutrients (fertilizer).

During the crucial budding phase, buds won’t get as big as they could if they run out of nutrients during the flowering stage.

For most cannabis growers, adding extra nutrients in the water increases harvest results vs not adding nutrients.

• Regular soil contains some nutrients, but cannabis plants often quickly deplete the soil.
• Coco and hydro don’t contain any nutrients, so you must add nutrients to the water.

That means using a proven cannabis nutrient system is an easy way to maximize your results.

I use the General Hydroponics Flora trio. Fast growth, big buds, smooth smoke. Use at half-strength what it says on the bottle. If you want something simpler, the FloraNova duo uses just one bottle per stage.

Cannabis I grew from seed to weed in under 90 days with the General Hydroponics Flora trio (see the grow journal).

Learn about the best cannabis nutrients.

5.) Make Watering Easy

You should have a source of water close to your plants, because giving water regularly is your main job after getting everything set up. If you’re giving nutrients, you add it to the water before giving it to plants.

Follow a proven watering schedule for cannabis seedlings and make it easy to catch and remove runoff water. Established plants need to be watered every few days unless you provide extra water automatically, for example by using auto-watering pot bases.

When it comes to saving time, making it easier to water your plants is where to aim your focus. That’s because you can mostly automate watering and create an easy way to remove runoff water. That way you’re not spending much time watering your plants.

Auto-watering pot bases can water established cannabis plants for up to a week.

Learn how to water plants so it’s as easy as possible.

The post The Beginner’s Grow Setup: Minimum Supplies for Top-Shelf Weed appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

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.

Do you want bigger yields of better weed? If so, you’ve come to the right place. Get 5 proven tactics to increase cannabis yields and bud quality with any seeds, no matter your experience level.

Fill your cannabis grow tent with buds using today’s quick wins.

1.) Maximize Your LED Grow Tent Strategy

Quick win: In a grow tent, raise LED lights first. Only dim if needed.

Improve your LED grow tent game with this strategy.

The walls of a modern cannabis grow tent are 90+% reflective. Extra light is reflected back and helps fatten buds deeper into the plant.

1. Full power at recommended distance – Keep dimmable LEDs at 100% power if you can. This makes the most light photons (“food” for leaves). Start at the recommended distance.
2. Raise lights before dimming – If top leaves look stressed, raise the lights first. Even to the top of the grow tent (zip ties are your friends).
3. Dim lights if plant health demands it – Dim the grow light if it’s too hot even with fans and venting, or if top leaves look stressed with the grow light at the top of the tent.

Even a relatively small 200W LED is effective 3+ feet (1 m) feet away in a grow tent. On the other hand, dimming to 50% cuts yields in half. Raise before dim.

Even 3 feet (1 meter) away, a 200W Spider Farmer LED produced over 10 ounces.

Insider Tip: If your top leaves are getting stressed even after the LED is raised to the top of the grow tent, don’t hesitate to dim your grow lights. And don’t hurry to raise the intensity again. Wait until discoloration stops spreading before turning back to full power, if ever.

Healthy leaves help power the growth of a lot of big, high-quality buds. Don’t sacrifice leaf health to maximize light intensity.

Keep leaves healthy for highest quality buds.

If the grow tent is always hot or top leaves appear yellow or discolored, you often get a better harvest simply by turning your grow light power down until harvest. Sometimes less really is more.

True mastery of LEDs is all about using them right for your particular setup. Maximizing light helps maximize yields, but lowering light levels can improve bud quality if it’s too hot or plants are stressed. Always listen to your plants first.

Learn more: How to Improve Bud Quality with the Environment

2.) Bend Over Tall Stems = More & Better Quality Buds

Quick win: Every time you check on your garden, bend any tall branches down and away from the center of the plants. This naturally creates a wide, flat “table-top” shape that increases the number of bud sites.

Bend over tall stems to create a flat “table-top” canopy, like I did in this grow journal.

This results in lots of buds sites about the same distance from the grow light. A sea of buds gives you the best yields indoors.

Why this works: The biggest, tightest, and most potent buds tend to grow at the top of a cannabis plant. A flat, tabletop canopy helps cannabis grow as many of these top buds as possible.

Insider Tip: Lots of big buds from plant training = sagging stems in late flowering (great problem to have!). Use specially-designed weed plant yo-yos to safely hook around buds so you can string them up to the top of the tent.

See those little yellow things on strings? Those are plant yo-yos holding up this well-trained bud-heavy plant!

Easy-to-adjust weed plant yo-yos hook right onto stems without disturbing buds.

Attach to the top of the tent and you can hold up your most bud-heavy stems exactly where you want them.

Learn more: Manipulate How Plants Grow (free way to produce more bud)

3.) Feed Plants Smart (Not Just More)

Quick win: Give cannabis plants the right amount of nutrients at the right time, and they reward you with faster growth, fatter/longer buds, and denser buds.

The easiest way to do that is start with good cannabis nutrients and follow a proven nutrient schedule. That ensures your cannabis plants always get what they need.

Why This Works: Nutrients are more like a multivitamin than food. Cannabis plants get their food from light, so you get the best harvest by giving plants the right amount of nutrients (not too much, not too little).

Insider Tip: Take the time to pH balance your water before giving to plants. This helps keep leaves green and healthy.

Harvest Rescue: How to Stop Flowering Stage Deficiencies

Learn more: Choose Great Cannabis Nutrients for bigger buds

4.) Give Plants a Bud-Building Environment

Quick win: Get a thermometer for the grow space to track the environment in your grow space. Proper temperature and humidity are key to good bud quality, and having a way to measure them is the first step.

The ideal bud-building environment is essentially a warm, sunny, breezy day. Aim for 70-80°F (20-26°C) and 40-60% relative humidity.

I hang up my thermometer so it’s easy to see when peeking on the plants.

Why This Works: A plant in a good environment is a happy plant. Without sweltering heat, high humidity, or stale air, cannabis has more energy to put toward bud-building.

Insider Tip: Use a small oscillating fan in the grow space to strengthen stems, prevent hot spots, and improve bud structure formation. I love this quiet little grow tent clip fan which hooks directly to the poles of a grow tent.

Learn more: Control Growing Environment (make the growing environment work for you)

5.) Harvest at the Right TIme = Improve Potency

Quick win: Choose the right time to harvest (around when all the hairs have curled in). A little patience goes a long way.

Why this works: Buds can gain 10-25% of their size in just the last week or two, and harvesting at the right time helps buds reach their full potential as far as THC, smell, and density.

Insider tip: Our harvest book turns harvest timing into the most fun and masterful part of home growing.

Get our complete cannabis harvest system.

About Nebula Haze & GrowWeedEasy.com

GrowWeedEasy.com was created in 2010 by Nebula Haze and Sirius Fourside to help people learn how to grow great weed at home. Our focus is helping growers get better results with simple, step-by-step cannabis growing tutorials based on real grows, real pictures, and real home grow experience.

You might like…

• How to Improve Bud Quality with the Environment
• Low Stress Training: Manipulate How Plants Grow
• How to Stop Flowering Stage Deficiencies

The post 5 Quick Wins for Bigger Buds in an Indoor Setup appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

“Fimming” (also known as FIMing) is a cannabis grow technique to increase yields. Discovered by mistake, this unusual plant training technique increases the number and size of cannabis buds. When the fimming is done right, of course. This marijuana fimming tutorial shows you how to fim plants perfectly every time.

Fimming refers to removing the top growth of a young cannabis plant, like this.

The result of successful fimming? 4 branches from one spot.

Fimming can help make more bushy, productive cannabis plants.

What to remember: The ultimate goal of fimming is to create a bushy plant with lots of main branches. This results in many big buds instead of only one.

What is fimming cannabis? Growers pinch off the top of a cannabis plant when it’s a few weeks old. When timed just right, plants naturally grow more top buds once the plant starts flowering. The fimming process causes a plant to naturally grow more wide and bushy as it develops. When growing cannabis indoors, creating a wide, flat plant is key to getting the biggest yields from your setup. Fimming naturally helps create that ideal plant shape for you.

A freshly “fimmed” cannabis plant.

Does fimming increase cannabis yields?

Yes, usually. The results of fimming range from “no effect” to “very effective”, depending on whether it’s done correctly. The bonus of basic fimming is growers can’t really do it wrong. The worst that can happen is no effect. But if you follow this fimming tutorial, your cannabis yields consistently get a yield boost.

Is fimming better than “topping”?

“Topping” is a similar technique to fimming, also to increase cannabis yields. The difference is topping means removing the whole top of the plant. Fimming means pinching off a small amount of growth.

Both methods are effective to make plants grow bushy and produce lots of big buds. Topping consistently splits the main stem into two, but you can accidentally stunt plants if you do it at the wrong time. Fimming is less consistent, resulting in 1-4 stems coming from the same spot, though you should get all four when fimming is done right. If you fim cannabis plants wrong, the result is no effect, and you’ll have the same single main stem as before. You can’t stunt a plant by simply fimming, but if you do it wrong, it doesn’t work and you don’t get any of the benefits.

Learn More: Topping vs FIMing Cannabis Tutorial

Why is it called “Fimming”? Fimming was discovered by mistake, and the name “Fim” reflects that history. The story goes that a cannabis grower tried to cut off the top of the plant, but didn’t do a complete job. But he liked the results better, and named the technique “FIM” for “F*ck I Missed”. Fimming was born.

How to “Fim” a Cannabis Plant

The main idea behind fimming is to “mow” off the top growth of your plant. The goal is to split the main stem into 4 stems with one strategic cut. A plant with 4 main stems is easy to train to grow wide and flat with simple bending. When done right, fimming cannabis can give results somewhat similar to time-intensive manifolding without adding weeks onto your grow time.

Wait until plant has grown 3-5 sets of leaves. At the right time, you’ll noticed all the lower stems are starting to grow into little branches. Yes, it’s not just about the total number of leaves, but also the overall size of the plant. If a plant is still tiny and thin, you should wait even if it’s got plenty of sets of leaves.

Too small to fim – even though this has 3 sets of leaves, the plant is tiny. The lower growth has not started growing away from the stem yet. Wait until plant gets a bit bigger or it may get stunted from fimming.

Beginning of fim window – This plant is just barely big enough to fim. The lower branches are just starting to grow away from the main stem. You might get better results by waiting just a bit longer.

Ideal size to fim – A cannabis plant about this size is the perfect size to fim. It’s got about 4 sets of leaves, and the lower growth is starting to grow away from the main stem into little branches of their own.

End of fimming window – This seedling has 5 full sets of leaves, starting on the 6th. This is about as big a cannabis plant should be when you fim. If your plant is bigger than this (and still in the vegetative stage), you should use the “topping” technique instead of fimming. To top a plant, cut through the main stem right above the 5th set of leaves (check out the full topping tutorial).

Right after fimming your young cannabis plant, it should have a “mowed” top left behind. Look at the above diagram to try to make sure you’re cutting through at the best spot.

Look at your plant and compare to the diagram above.

Remove this much growth to “fim” a cannabis plant.

Leave this much behind.

When done right, fimming results in 4 stems coming from essentially the same spot on the cannabis plant. However, fimming is not always the most consistent. Instead of 4 tops, if you don’t cut at the right spot you might end up with 1, 2, or 3 tops instead of all 4. If you want total control with perfect symmetry, check out the “topping” technique instead.

It’s normal for the new growth right after fimming to look weird. Remember, you cut off 80% of these leaves before they got a chance to grow out! If you damage a young leaf, it becomes more and more obvious as the leaf grows. However, brand new leaves after these ones should look normal.

A few days later, those mowed leaves from fimming should look a bit funny growing in.

Plants that have been fimmed naturally grow more bushy, which helps maximize yields in the flowering stage.

However, to improve your results, bend over tall branches. Just regularly bend the tallest stems down and away from the center of the plant, and tie them down. This process is known as Low Stress Training, or LST for short.

Keep bending tall stems down, so plant grows wide and flat.

The result? Tons of buds at harvest time!

Advanced Technique: Remove all stems but the top 4 (Serious Fimming)

Some growers take their fimming to the next step. Instead of just splitting the stem into 4 and letting the plant grow naturally, some growers remove all the other stems on the plant. In other words, they remove all steps but the top 4 they want to keep.

A fimmed cannabis stem. All but the top 4 stems were removed off the main “trunk”. Source: Nugbuckets

This makes it so all branches come from essentially the same spot on the cannabis plant.

Another example of a cannabis plant that was fimmed and all other branches removed. Source:Tarzan

However, if you want to go this direction, you may enjoy a more consistent plant training technique known as manifolding.

Learn how to manifold your cannabis plants.

Manifolding – better than fimming for cannabis growers who want symmetry.

Now you know how to fim your cannabis plants, so you get bigger yields at harvest time!

Want to learn about other marijuana plant training techniques to increase yields? Check this out!

Complete Guide to Cannabis Plant Training Techniques

The post “Fimming” Cannabis: The Secret to a Bigger Harvest? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

If you’re a home cannabis grower, and buds just aren’t as big as you want, there is a reason why. Some strains like Blue Dream just produce way more weed than others, but there’s a lot you do as a grower that affects bud size besides genetics.

If your marijuana buds are staying tiny, you can fix it by following today’s tutorial!

With the right grow tactics, and you can consistently produce big, dense, and long cannabis buds (known as “colas”).

Strain is White Rhino

Follow today’s tutorial to grow a literal sea of cannabis colas. That way you can enjoy enormous yields of top-shelf buds every harvest!

Strain: Ultimate Auto

Cannabis plants are straightforward in the way that if you grow the right strains and treat them right, they consistently make big buds for you.

This tutorial breaks down the exact reason why cannabis buds stay small instead of growing big, dense, and long colas.

Look over this list to diagnose why your buds aren’t getting as big as they could, and simply address the issues that are affecting your garden. Soon, you’ll be enjoying your own huge cannabis harvests with big yields. And as a bonus, the things that make marijuana buds grow big are also the things that make buds grow dense, potent, and beautiful. You’ve got this.

How Grow Environment Can Make Small Buds

Your grow environment has a remarkable effect on how buds grow. A lot of cannabis growers may focus on other aspects of growing, and unintentionally treat their growing environment as an afterthought. If you make sure to avoid the following pitfalls, you greatly increase your overall bud size.

Weak light levels (most common reason)

• Indoors: The grow light isn’t strong enough. Make sure to get the right-sized grow light for your grow space. Learn how to pick the perfect grow light for your cannabis garden.
• Outdoors: The plant isn’t getting direct sunlight, or not getting enough light hours per day (should be getting 8+ hours/day of direct sunlight)

This plant was grown under a tiny LED grow light. Weak light levels are the most common reason for small buds.

Grow light is too far away

This is actually just another cause of weak light levels, and it can affect your bud size even if you’re using one of the best cannabis grow lights. Keep your grow light as close as possible without stressing the tops of plants.

Learn how far away to keep your cannabis grow lights.

Cannabis buds tend to stay small if the grow light is kept too far away.

Note: If the grow light is the recommended distance away, but plants are still getting light burn or top leaves look stressed, it’s likely that they’re actually suffering from a nutrient deficiency or other sub-optimal conditions like too high temperature. When a cannabis plant is under stress of some kind, symptoms show up first on the hardest-working leaves. Cannabis plants can take more light than almost any other plant if you give them ideal conditions and great nutrition. So if the manufacturer says to keep the grow light 18″ (45 cm) away, for example, but your plants are looking burnt at that distance, look over the rest of this list to diagnose why.

If your grow light is the proper distance away but the top of plants look stressed, there is likely another issue going on (like too much heat or a nutrient deficiency).

Heat or Cold

Temperature matters! If a plant is too hot of cold, it just can’t make big buds. You may also notice the plant drooping or growing slowly when it’s hot or cold. The ideal temperature for cannabis plants is 70-85°F (20-30°C). The further you get outside that range, the more it will affect your bud size. Note: Plants under HPS or other HID grow lights prefer it on the colder side of that spectrum, while plants under LED grow lights prefer to be on the higher end.

Learn about the ideal temperature for growing cannabis plants.

This cannabis plant is suffering from heat stress.

This plant is suffering from cold (cold is also a common cause of red leaves or stems).

High Humidity (or Extremely Low Humidity)

Though not nearly as important as temperature for bud size, very humid or dry air can also prevent buds from getting as big as they could. Ideally, you’d like to keep your humidity around 40-50% while buds are forming (this also helps prevent bud rot). Giving buds lots of airflow via fans can help if the humidity is too high, but it’s best to lower the overall humidity if possible. Usually, cannabis plants are more tolerant of low humidity, especially if they’ve grown with it their whole life, but once the air gets under 30% humidity, your buds may not fatten properly.

Learn more about humidity effects on cannabis.

When growing marijuana, very high or very low humidity can inhibit bud size.

Re-vegging (reverting to vegetative stage)

This is a common nickname for when a cannabis plant is re-vegetating or returning back to the vegetative stage. You know your plant is re-vegging if buds start growing, but suddenly you see your plant growing round, single-finger, or twisted leaves, and soon after the buds stop developing and start to die. Re-vegging is caused when a flowering plant is getting light during its dark period. Even small amounts of light (like a light leak, or checking on your plants during lights-off) can set re-vegging in motion.

Learn about cannabis plants re-vegging (and see tons more pics, as every plant looks a bit different when it happens).

If a budding marijuana plant gets light at night, it may “re-veg” and cause buds to stop growing.

Learn more about how the environment affects cannabis buds.

How Certain Plant Structures Tend to Grow Smaller Buds

Plant is too small when it starts making buds

Small cannabis plants simply can’t support big buds. For a photoperiod plant, this happens when flowering gets initiated too early (given a 12/12 light schedule too soon).

When a photoperiod cannabis plant is put into the flowering stage too early, it just can’t make big buds.

Autoflowering plants start budding on their own, so if they’re too small it usually means that they didn’t get optimal conditions when they were young, and therefore didn’t get big enough before they started flowering.

Learn more: What causes auto-flowering plants to get stunted?

Example of a stunted auto-flowering plant.

Small roots

You don’t need huge roots to grow big buds, but if you’re growing in a cup or a 1/2 gallon pot, they’re typically not able to get big enough to support really big buds unless you do a lot of extra work to make up for what the roots would normally be doing.

Some growers like to push the limits with small roots, but it takes work to overcome. Learn about the “solo cup challenge”.

As a super general rule of thumb, a cannabis plant can grow about an ounce of weed for every gallon of root space. Of course, this is different for each strain and depends on the nutrients, grow medium, and grow practices. But that gives you a very general idea of what to expect for most growers in most conditions. For a few ounces per plant, 2-3 gallons is good. To get 5+ ounces per plant, you should have at least a 5-gallon container for the roots.

Small roots tend to limit your overall bud size. This cannabis plant grown in a cup was allowed to get tall but the buds stayed tiny.

Too many lower buds

Buds that aren’t located at the top of the plant will never get as fat as the top ones even if everything else is the same. That’s why it’s ideal to use bending and other pruning techniques to make your plants grow flat and wide. This means all the buds are top buds, which helps them bulk up to their maximum size and density.

Notice in the following picture how the top buds get the biggest even though the plant is getting the same amount of light from top to bottom.

Lower buds won’t fatten like top buds.

Get cannabis plants to grow flat and wide (via plant training) to make it so all buds are top buds.

Overly leafy plants (especially if buds are hidden by leaves)

If your cannabis plants are so bushy that the buds are all hidden from the grow light, they won’t fatten. Only buds that receive direct light get big.

Learn how to defoliate your plants so buds are all exposed to the light.

Buds won’t get big if they don’t get direct light. Notice how there are barely any buds on these plants where there are tons of leaves.

Buds hidden by leaves just don’t develop to their full potential. Buds need light!

Not enough leaves

On the flip side, if growers over-defoliate (remove too many leaves), and the plant is bare without many leaves, it can’t conduct enough photosynthesis to power the growth of buds. Another reason you might not have enough leaves is if your plant has lost a lot of leaves due to nutrient deficiencies, heat stress, bugs, or other challenges.

If your cannabis plant has almost no leaves left, buds tend to stay small, especially if combined with other issues.

Don’t harvest buds early!

If buds are small, sometimes they just need more time. If you harvest cannabis buds before they’re fully mature, it reduces their final size. In fact, in some cases, buds can double in size in just the last 2-3 weeks before harvest, which helps explain why early harvesting can have such a devastating effect on bud size.

If there are still white hairs sticking out, it’s too early to harvest your cannabis buds!

How Nutrient Issues Affect Bud Size

Not enough nutrients overall

If plants appear pale or lime green all over, this is a sign the plant needs higher levels of nutrients overall, even if you don’t see nutrient deficiencies.

If your plant is pale or lime green all over, it needs higher levels of nutrients overall.

Nutrient deficiencies

A cannabis plant that’s showing lots of symptoms on the leaves can’t conduct photosynthesis, which is what it needs to do to make energy to grow buds.

Learn how to stop nutrient problems.

When your leaves have lots of nutrient deficiencies, cannabis buds may grow, but would otherwise grow bigger.

Pests and Diseases Can Greatly Reduce Bud Size if Left Unchecked

Bugs and diseases can take away energy from buds, especially if they are left untreated. Luckily, as long as you identify and get rid of pests early, your plant should bounce right back.

Learn more about cannabis pests and diseases.

This cannabis plant is suffering from a severe fungus gnat infestation, and buds aren’t reaching maximum size.

Some Cannabis Strains Naturally Grow Small Buds (even if you do everything else right!) aka “Small Bud” Strains

Some strains just won’t make big buds even if you give a perfect environment, plant structure, nutrients, and keep plants healthy and happy.

For example, I once grew an “Ocean Fruit” strain, and all the buds stayed small even though the plant was healthy and all the other buds with the same conditions fattened up beautifully. When I talked to other growers who’d grown the same strain, they had a similar experience. That being said, the buds were amazing, so it’s not always a terrible thing.

This Ocean Fruit cannabis strain tends to grow small buds even in perfect conditions.

The bud quality was excellent though, so not a total loss! Size isn’t everything.

On the other hand, some cannabis strains like Chamba will get big even if you make lots of mistakes. However, if buds get too big, typically the overall bud quality suffers, and you’re more likely to run into issues with bud rot.

In my opinion, the best cannabis strains are high-yielding, but not absolutely nuts, like Purple Ghost Candy. Check out my full review of this strain.

I believe this is about the optimal size for cannabis buds that gives you a good mix of bud size and quality.

The Purple Ghost Candy above produced good-sized, super-dense, super-potent bud

Here are some of my favorite strains that give you high yields, but still make dense, nugget-like buds.

3 more recommended high-yielding cannabis strains

Kushberry Moonrocks by MSNL – Remarkably Strong

Example of Kushberry Moonrocks plants (by Victor)

Growing tips: Make sure to top these plants when they’re young and spread out all the branches as it grows. Other than that, it’s overall easy to grow. Just keep it healthy and give it lots of light for the best results.

Buds: This enchanting new strain has remarkable effects and looks/smells beautiful.

Zweet Inzanity by Ethos – Big Yields!

Zweet Inzanity impressed us with her high-yielding power and big, round, hard nugs.

Growing tips: This forgiving strain is extremely easy to grow, and responds well to FIMing/topping/LST and other training methods. It gets to a nice size – not too tall, not too short – and about doubles in size after the switch to 12/12. This strain takes about 2.5 months to finish flowering, and rewards you with great yields and chunky, round baseball buds. It tends to do best at relatively high levels of nutrients – we got great results feeding her at full strength.

Buds: Big yields. Dense, hard buds that sparkled, and highly potent yet friendly social vibes when smoking. Our buds smelled sweet and delicious.

The post Why are my cannabis buds growing so small? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

What are the best auto-flowering strains? Some proven autoflowering seeds for beginner growers in 2025 are: Shortcut Auto, Pineapple Diesel Auto, Purple Lemonade Auto, and Gorilla Cookies Auto.

Easy to grow, fast growth, potent buds.

Table of Contents

Introduction: How to Maximize Autoflowering Marijuana

Autoflowering vs Photoperiod Strains: Quick Summary

5 Tactics for Growing Autoflowering Cannabis Strains

1. Start Strong (Most Important Thing)
2. Use Good Cannabis Nutrients for Autoflowers
3. Have Extra Autoflowering Seeds on Hand
4. Grow the Right Number of Plants for Your Space
5. Train Autoflowers for Extreme Yields and Bud Quality

Bonus Tip: Start with Great Autoflowering Genetics

• 10+ of the Best Autoflowering Strains for 2025 (Fastest, Best Yields, Highest THC, Most Bag Appeal)
• List of Recommended Autoflowering Breeders

Introduction: 5 Tips for Growing Autoflowering Marijuana Strains for Yields & THC

Today I’m going to share 5 tips for growing autoflowering cannabis strains to get bigger yields and more THC. Here’s the strategy I use to consistently produce massive top-shelf autoflowering harvests.

I always start with good quality autoflowering cannabis seeds to ensure strong, fast-growing seedlings.

I give autoflowers proper care and nutrients according to their needs (outlined in this tutorial).

About 2-3 months after germination, you get to enjoy a massive autoflowering harvest.

Preparing for a Massive Auto-Flowering Cannabis Harvest

First I gather my supplies. A big bag of Fox Farm Cultivation Nation 70/30 (a rich fluffy potting mix made of coco and perlite), my favorite nutrients, and fabric pots. I set the pots up in a row. It makes me smile to fill them up with potting mix. Making little homes for the cannabis babies.

As I dig into the soft coco with a big silver scoop (made to scoop flour, but surprisingly perfect for moving a lot of soil or coco growing mix), I think about the cannabis plant strains I’m about to grow. The package of autoflowering seeds from Seed Supreme arrived in the mail yesterday from Florida, and all the seed packs were sitting on my kitchen counter.

I’m beyond confident with my seed choices. I’d researched the best autoflowering strains for hours and settled on a fun variety of high-yielding, potent autoflowering genetics from vetted breeders. I know my strain choices produce buds that look and smell fantastic and have the strong effects I’m looking for.

Here are some of the autoflowering strains I’ve grown in the past…

I loved the dense THC Bomb Auto buds I grew under a HLG LED grow light.

The Alaskan Purple Auto buds I grew were not only sparkly but also chunky! (though mine didn’t turn purple, the effects were excellent)

Zkittlez Auto is another beautifully sparkly and potent autoflowering strain. This strain is particularly easy to grow.

Modern autoflowering strains produce captivating bud quality. (More recommended auto strains at the bottom of the tutorial!)

Autoflowering cannabis plants can also produce outstanding yields if you follow the steps in this tutorial. I’ll show you the effective tactics I’ve honed over multiple autoflowering grows to produce over 1 gram/watt of electricity with LEDs or HPS grow lights.

These autoflowering plants produced over 1 lb in a 2×4′ grow tent under a 350W grow light. Follow today’s tactics to copy these results.

Quick Summary of the Difference Between Autoflowering and Photoperiod Cannabis Strains

You may be wondering, Why not grow traditional (photoperiod) strains?

The answer is, For the ease and speed of a cannabis autoflowering harvest.

Autoflowering Cannabis Strains

• Autoflowering cannabis plants automatically make buds and are ready to harvest about 2-3 months from germination.

Photoperiod Cannabis Strains

• Photoperiod plants don’t make buds without help. To get buds to form, they need long nights (daily 12-hour dark periods), which can be annoying because you can’t check on your plants for 12 hours each day.
• They also take longer from seed to harvest. Photoperiod buds mature slower.
• On average, photoperiod cannabis plants take about 3-5 months from germination to harvest, resulting in one less harvest per year compared to growing autoflowering strains.

Are the buds from autoflowers as good as photoperiod strains? Autoflowering strains used to have a reputation for producing low-quality cannabis buds, but there’s been a huge leap forward in autoflowering strain quality since the first commercial auto-flowering strain “Lowryder” was released in the mid-2000s.

The original “Lowryder” autoflowering strain grew tiny amounts of non-potent weed. No wonder autoflowering strains got a bad reputation.

How things have changed. Instead of producing a joint’s worth of subpar weed, modern autoflowering cannabis strains can compete with traditional photoperiod cannabis strains in both yields and bud quality. There’s never been a better time to grow autos!

Modern auto-flowering strains produce amazing bud quality and yields!

5 Tactics for Growing Autoflowering Cannabis Strains

Armed with excellent genetics, I set out to produce my best autoflowering harvest yet. I know the autoflowering tactics that reward growers with a sea of potent buds. I know I just have to keep 5 things in mind to maximize my yields and bud quality…

1.) Start Strong (Most Important Thing)

Starting strong is the most important aspect of achieving big yields with autoflowering strains. These plants start flowering (making buds) in just a month from germination. That means a slow start results in small cannabis plants that stop growing bigger when they only have a few bud sites.

No matter what you do, a tiny stunted plant can not compete on yields with a big cannabis plant that has tons of bud sites positioned directly under the grow light.

Germination: My recommended germination method for autoflowering strains is to plant the seed directly in the coco or soil. This way you never have to move your seedlings after they sprout.

Plant your cannabis seeds and keep them warm during germination.

Light Schedule: My recommended light schedule for auto-flowering plants is 18 hours light/day. You can give autos up to 24 hours of light a day, but 18 hours saves 20% of the electricity and gets similar yields. Plus a 6-hour night increases the overall hardiness of plants vs giving them no dark period.

Watering Seedlings: The easiest way to stunt autoflowering seedlings is from poor watering. Give them the right amount of water (not too much, not too little) so they’re growing fast right out of the gate. Check out my guide to watering seedlings perfectly.

Give just a little water at a time in a small circle around the base of new seedlings. Water every few days.

Aim for 6 full sets of new leaves by day 25 from germination. If you accomplish this, you’re perfectly on track for this tutorial. If plants are smaller than that, it’s a sign you may have been able to improve your start, and plants may not be able to produce as much weed as they could have.

A “strong start” looks like this. These autoflowering plants are all 21 days from germination. Some are bigger than others, but overall they’re all growing fast and healthy.

Autoflowering plants depend on you for a strong start. If plants start making buds before they reach a good size, they’ll stay stunted and puny, incapable of producing a big harvest. That means you have to avoid common pitfalls that slow down young plants. By germinating seeds in their final destination, giving 18 hours of light a day, and watering seedlings perfectly, you’ll get strong fast-growing seedlings that get big quickly and can produce a big harvest.

2.) Use the Right Nutrients

Autoflowering plants respond well to getting the right nutrients at the right time. Even if growing in a “just add water” soil that provides all nutrients, you’ll increase your growth rates, yields, and potentially bud potency/smell too, simply by providing extra nutrients in the water. I recommended adding at least some nutrients from germination to maximize their growth.

Use good cannabis nutrients. Respond really well to synthetic or mineral-based nutrients like General Hydroponics Flora trio at half strength (my preferred choice) or Dyna-Gro Foliage Pro + Bloom at 1 tsp/gallon. Other great choices include Fox Farm Nutrient trio (I like the hydro version for both soil and coco) and Advanced Nutrients. Learn more about good cannabis nutrients.

Don’t go overboard. Autoflowering plants tend to be less tolerant than traditional strains to extremely high amounts of nutrients and/or lots of supplements.

Give the right nutrients at the right time. With autoflowering plants, give “Vegetative” or “All Purpose” nutrients until plants stop getting taller, typically about 6 weeks from germination. Then give “Flowering” or “Bloom” nutrients until harvest.

Pay attention to pH if you see nutrient deficiencies. If the pH near the roots is too high or low, your plants will get nutrient deficiencies even if you’re doing everything else right. Be extra sure to check the pH of runoff water. In soil it should be 6-7 pH, and in coco it should be 5.5-6.5 pH. If you see leaf markings that look like a nutrient deficiency, check the pH first before changing anything else.

Learn how to check and adjust the pH of your water. Note: It’s easier than you might think!

Often, cannabis nutrient deficiencies are actually caused by incorrect pH at the roots (like these yellow leaves with brown spots). Adding more nutrients won’t help. You need to fix the pH to get the deficiency to stop spreading.

These yellow leaves with brown spots are the result of incorrect pH.

Learn about deficiencies caused by incorrect pH.

With autoflowering plants, going overboard with nutrients can be a problem, but do give enough. Giving good nutrients at the right time in the correct amounts will produce higher quality buds and bigger yields versus not giving any nutrients at all.

3.) Have Extra Autoflowering Seeds on Hand

We already talked about how important it is to get a strong start. With traditional photoperiod plants, you have the ability to recover from a slow start by giving plants time to get big and initiating buds later. But what if something happens and you have tiny autoflowering plants that are already making buds? Here’s what to do.

Stunted Plants? Germinate More Seeds.

Don’t wait until harvest if you don’t have any plants that look like they’ll be big enough to yield well. Take control over your grow. Have extra autoflowering seeds on hand and germinate them if your first batch doesn’t go as well as planned.

You can even let the older ones continue growing in the same space, so you get a small yield from them. But with autoflowering strains, you have the flexibility to have plants at different stages in the same tent because they don’t need special light schedules.

Autos let you easily and quickly start a new grow. If something goes wrong with your first batch, you will maximize your first harvest by being prepared to germinate extra seeds and get more plants going immediately.

This grower has auto-flowering plants at multiple stages in the same grow tent. If your tent has extra space, plant an extra autoflowering seed!

4.) Grow the Right Number of Plants for Your Space

For grow tents and other indoor gardens, you’ll maximize your results by growing the right number of plants for your space, with the right size pots. Let me share what’s worked best for me in the 3 most common grow tent sizes. I’ll also share some bonus tips for growing outdoors or in a window.

Optimal number of autoflowering plants for your grow tent, with recommended pot sizes:

Generally, with autoflowering strains, you want to grow a few more plants than necessary in case you get a plant that doesn’t automatically start making buds, or herms, or runs into some other problem that means you have to toss that particular plant. If you have several plants and end up getting rid of one, the others will fill in the space.

Mini Grow Tent (2×2′) – 2-4 plants 

• 2 plants – Keep in 3-gallon fabric pots. I’ve found fabric pots tend to get faster growth on average than hard-sided pots. With just two plants, it’s easy to pay close attention to them and offer great care.
• 4 plants – Keep in 2-gallon fabric pots or 2-gallon hard-sided pots (hard-sided plant pots are typically cheaper to buy at a garden center than online). Although fabric pots typically get faster growth than plastic pots, small fabric pots dry out fast and need to be watered often (sometimes even daily). If you’re going to use 2-gallon or smaller pots and don’t want to have to water them daily, opt for hard sides to keep plants from drying out as fast.

Rectangle Grow Tent (2×4′) – 2-8 plants

• 2 plants – Can get really big yields, but it’s putting all of your eggs in a two-plant basket. Keep in 5-gallon fabric pots.
• (Recommended for Ease) 3 plants – Easy to reach all plants since they’re in a row. Very high yielding because each plant gets individual attention. 3 strains gives a good amount of strain variety and you get a lot of each. Keep in 5-gallon pots each, so only 15 gallons soil/coco needed in total.
• Other options: 4 plants (4 in a row, or 2 back 2 front), 6 plants (3 back, 3 front) – Halfway between, more flexibility if something goes wrong with one of the plants (herms, doesn’t automatically start making buds), but more work than just 2 plants.
• (Recommended for Yields)  8 plants (4 back, 4 front) – “Sea of Green” style grow. Highest yielding overall. With just 2 oz per plant that’s a 1 lb harvest! I’ve grown with 2-gallon pots, but it can be hard to keep them watered since they dry quickly. You can squeeze in 3 gallon pots, just remember with 8 x 3-gallon pots you have to buy 24 gallons worth of grow medium to fill all those pots. I believe that’s best done with coco since you can hydrate coco at home instead of buying a shitload of soil. Whenever I’ve grown 8 autoflowering plants, I’ve always been able to produce a pound.

Easy to care for with great yields – Grow three autoflowering plants in a 2’x4′ grow tent.

Biggest yields with more plants – Grow eight autoflowers to get the best yields in a 2’x4′. This makes it really easy to fill the entire tent with tons of buds at harvest.

Each auto-flowering plant only needs to produce 2 ounces and you’ll get a pound with 8 plants.

Note: This setup is awesome for yields but it becomes a pain to care for plants in the back once they get bigger. This also increases the chance you run into some plants that grow much bigger or smaller than the others, as pictured below. If that happens, just move the biggest plants the furthest from your grow light and wait until harvest. Often the “crazy” overgrown plants are the ones that end up yielding the best at harvest.

Big Square Grow Tent (4×4′) – 4-6 plants, 5-gallon fabric pots.

• 4 plants (2 front, 2 back) – Easy to reach all the plants
• 5 plants (2 back, 3 front) – An extra plant, but no middle back plant. This means you can easily access all plants as long as your grow tent lets you in from the sides
• 6 plants (3 front, 3 back) – It can be hard to access the middle center plant in the back. Any more plants than 6 in a 4×4′ space get continually harder to reach.

With 6 plants in a 4×4′ setup, it’s extremely difficult to reach the plant in the back middle. More than 6 plants are not recommended for a big grow space like this because you won’t have access to all the plants.

5.) Train Autoflowering Plants for Extreme Yields and Bud Quality

If you just let your autoflowering plants grow and do their own thing, you can still get good results. However, if you want to get really great yields and maximize your bud quality, you should “train” your plants so that each one produce many bud sites that are about the same distance from the grow light.

This ensures that you have a ton of hard, dense bud nuggets, which maximizes both yields and bud quality.

Train autoflowering cannabis plants to grow flat and wide as they grow…

The goal, no matter how many plants you’re growing, is to completely fill your grow space with bud sites. When you look down from above, there should be no “holes” in the canopy. Here are those plants about a week later. This is ideal coverage.

By the time buds start forming, the should be bud sites in every part of the tent, all about the same distance from the grow light.

Follow the steps outlined below to create this growth pattern and produce a ton of weed in the flowering stage. Here are those plants at harvest.

Now that you know the goal (fill the whole grow space with lots of buds about the same height as each other), let’s look at the best tactics to accomplish that with autoflowering cannabis plants.

Most Important Autoflowering Training Tactics

“Top” your plants

Cut off the top of young plants, but only if they get big enough in time because topping small plants will stunt them. I recommend cutting off the top of the plant directly above the 5th set of leaves, before the plant starts making buds, usually around day 20-25.

Topping” at this age makes the plant tend to grow more bushy with many branches instead of just one main trunk. If plants start flowering before you get a chance to top them, just skip it. The rest of the tutorial will still work, though topping makes it easier because it has nature do a lot of the work for you. Read my full tutorial on how and when to top an autoflowering cannabis plant.

Low Stress Training – Whether you top plants or not, use low stress training (LST – a fancy way to say “bend the plants gently”) to create a flat tabletop shape in the vegetative stage. Ideally, you want the entire space under the grow light to be filled with a flat canopy of stems. Learn all about low stress training.

• Bend Over the Tallest Stems and Tie Them Down – Keep using LST/bending to bend down any branches that grow taller than the others, until the plant stops getting bigger. Staying on top of this to make a wide flat canopy can dramatically increase yields and bud quality because it creates a ton of buds at the “sweet spot” in the tent that makes the highest quality buds (at the top of the plants directly under the light).

Try to grow plants flat and wide. This plant is growing in more of a ball shape.

So I bent over the tallest stems and tied them down, until the plant was completely flat from the side.

From above, you’re creating a star shape by continually bending tall stems down and away from the center of the plant.

Defoliation (Removing Extra Leaves)

Don’t do a typical “hard” defoliation schedule for autoflowering strains, especially if you don’t already have a lot of experience with extreme defoliation. I recommend using visual inspection and trying to maintain a certain level of “leafiness” to maximize yields. Read my strategic flowering stage defoliation tutorial for step-by-step instructions.

Try to maintain autoflowering cannabis plants at about this level of “leafiness”.

If plants get more leafy than this, remove leaves that are lower down or in the middle of the plant, as well as any big leaves that are blocking bud sites from direct light. If plants are less leafy than this, don’t remove any leaves. Focus on the result. You want lots of green leaves, but for air and light to easily pass through the plants.

You may need to remove a lot of leaves to maintain proper leafiness. Or you may not need to remove any.

“Lollipop” each autoflowering plant – Cut off all the lower growth that isn’t getting any light once the plant stops growing taller (usually around 6 weeks from germination, depending on the strain). Learn how to lollipop your cannabis plant.

When you look at these plants from the side, you can see that all growth at the bottom which won’t get any light has been removed. These autoflowering plants were “lollipopped”.

Maximize Light to Bud Sites – Keep the grow light as close as possible to your wide flat canopy. On average, the buds that get the biggest and test with the highest THC at the lab are the buds located physically at the top of the plant, which get a lot of direct light exposure. If you see a bud that is being covered by leaves, tuck or pluck the leaves to expose the buds to light.

The biggest and most potent buds form at the top of cannabis plants, especially the buds that get exposed to a lot of direct light.

Bonus Tip: Start with Great Autoflowering Genetics

I talked a lot about how to get the most from whatever autoflowering genetics you have, but I want to share what I’ve learned as far as getting the best autoflowering genetics to start with.

Genetics is the difference between growing a tiny low-THC LowRyder autoflowering plant like I showed at the top of the tutorial…

Or a high-yielding 26% THC Sparkle monster.

3 Fastest Auto-flowering Strains in 2025

Ready to harvest in less than 2 months. These are all from the breeder Fastbuds, as they have the fastest auto-flowering strains yet still focus on bud quality and yield.

• Blackberry Auto by Fastbuds – As little as 56 days from sprout, beautiful purple buds, great smell, excellent yields.
• Gelato Auto by Fastbuds – Ready in 56 days from sprout, big yields especially for the timeline.
• Green Crack Auto by Fastbuds – A legendary strain, and this autoflowering version is a solid choice for cannabis growers. Just 56 days to harvest with great yields.

Blackberry Auto from Fastbuds often grows pinkish-purple (“wine-colored”) buds.

However, if you care about the highest potency, typically the very potent strains take a few weeks longer. THC takes a bit of time to develop and in most strains keeps increasing until all the hairs have curled in on the buds.

For those who want quick but really high potency, I have found several super potent (above 25% THC) auto-flowering strains that are ready in less than 85 days from germination.

3 Most Potent Autoflowering Strains in 2025

Ready to harvest in less than 3 months.

• Pineapple Daddy Auto by Happy Valley Genetics – Up to an eye-popping 32% THC! Easy to grow, with gorgeous buds, needs 70 days to reach full potential.
• Dos Si Dos Auto by MSNL – Ready in 75 days, THC above 25%, sparkly and beautiful.
• Pluto Cut Auto R F3 by Ethos Genetics – Over 25% THC and feels very potent. Ready in 80 days.

Pineapple Daddy Auto is one of the most potent autoflowering strains available today. Up to 32% THC!

3 Best “Bag appeal” Auto-flowering Strains in 2025

Ready to harvest in 3 months or less, for those who want buds that look incredible in pictures with appealing smells.

• Banana Purple Punch Auto by Fastbuds – Ready in 60 days, super purple, good yields, high potency/strong effects.
• Pineapple Runtz Auto by Ethos Genetics – Around 22% THC with an assortment of other cannabinoids. Starburst sweet smell. Gorgeous sparkly buds.
• Purple Lemonade Auto by North Atlantic – Super purple buds, citrus smell, excellent yields, ready to harvest 60-70 days from germination (wait until the full 70 days for the best potency of about 22% THC). Feels potent.

It’s hard to beat the smell, looks, and just overall high-quality impression of buds from  Purple Lemonade Auto by North Atlantic.

3 Highest-Yielding Auto-flowering Strains in 2025

• THC Bomb Auto by MSNL – Up to 5 oz per plant in good conditions, sparkly buds, can exceed 25% THC.
• Gorilla Glue #4 Auto (“GG4”) by Seed Supreme – Big yields, up to 24% THC, 75 days to harvest.
• Ultimate Auto by Dutch Passion – Enormous yields. “Classic” potency similar to weed from the 90s (buds measured around 15% THC when sent them to the lab).

THC Bomb Auto by MSNL is a huge yielder with high potency.

A few things to know about auto-flowering bud potency:

• Genetics is Key to Potency – THC percentage is mainly determined by your genetics. Grow practices make a difference, but can only move the dial by a few percentage points.
• Harvest Later for Max THC – THC continues to increase in most strains up until buds are completely mature. That means if you harvest early, you’re losing out on some THC potency. Most autoflowering strains result in better yields and higher THC if you give an additional week or two before harvesting after the recommended time.
• Low CBD Makes Buds Feel Stronger – One thing auto-flowering breeders do to increase potency is to breed strains to produce as little CBD as possible. That’s because lower CBD levels makes it so the THC feels stronger. If you’re looking for a fast auto-flowering strain and care about buds making you feel “really high” then opt for a low-CBD high-THC auto-flowering strain.

Best Auto-Flowering Breeders in 2025

I’m going to include several suggestions on specific strains, but one thing that’s becoming clear in the auto-flowering cannabis breeding sphere is that the particular strain seems less important to your success than picking a good breeder. Whenever there is a truly “special” autoflowering strain, it’s almost certain the same breeder offers a lot of high-quality genetics. Since strains come and go, I think many home growers would be best served by finding a breeder that carries the type of genetics they’re looking for, and then choosing the most suitable option.

Why are these the best autoflowering cannabis breeders? Because they’re constantly putting out new strains with new genetics, updating their current genetics, and have proven over years that they’re willing to stay at the forefront of the breeding field.

No breeder is perfect, but I’ve had great luck with these ones.

5 Recommended Breeders Plus Some of Their Best Auto-flowering Strains

Barney’s Farm

• Dos Si Dos Auto – Ready in 75 days, lovely smell
• LSD Auto – Psychedelic effects, ready in under 70 days.
• Pineapple Express Auto – One of the most famous auto-flowering strains of all time, this is ready to harvest in under 70 days from germination
• Purple Punch Auto by Barney’s Farm – This is one of the higher-yielding strains on this list, and is typically ready to harvest in under 60 days.
• Skywalker OG Auto – 23% THC, 70 days
• Wedding Cake Auto – As little as 62 days with the highest THC around 75 days from germination, very sparkly strain.

Ethos Genetics

On average, auto-flowering strains from Ethos Genetics take longer before they’re ready to harvest than other autoflowering breeders on this list. Although Ethos autos are not the fastest autos, they are typically ready to harvest in under 3 months and tend to be the most potent, look the most sparkly, and smoke like modern photoperiod cannabis strains. Truly photoperiod bud quality in autoflowering form.

• Banana Daddy Auto RBX2 – very potent but still relaxing effects (described as “euphoric) that may be a good choice for those with anxiety who still want to get high, with around 24% THC and 1-2% CBD. About 80 days from germination to harvest. Chunky buds and the plant stays a manageable height.
• Pineapple Runtz Auto by Ethos – Around 22% THC with an assortment of other cannabinoids. Starburst sweet smell. Gorgeous sparkly buds.
• Pluto Cut Auto R F3 by Ethos – Over 25% THC plus some of the more exotic cannabinoids give this strain’s effects some photoperiod-esque complexity you don’t often see in autoflowering strains. Feels very potent. Ready in 80 days.

Pluto Cut Auto R F3 by Ethos Genetics is one of the most potent autoflowering strains available in 2025. Easy to grow. Highly recommended.

Fastbuds

• Blackberry Auto – As little as 56 days from sprout, purple buds, great smell, excellent yields (especially for the timeline)
• Blue Dream Auto – Ready in as little as 62 days though THC improves over another 1-2 weeks, dense buds, low CBD to help the buds feel more potent
• Cheese Original Auto – I haven’t had the opportunity to grow it yet, but I’ve heard some growers say this is the best Cheese in auto form.
• Cream Cookies Auto – Ready to harvest in about 60 days, beautiful sparkly buds, good yields
• Forbidden Runts Auto – Ready to harvest in 80 days, super sparkly buds
• Gorilla Cookies Auto – Ready in 70 days, great yields, low CBD to make it feel more potent
• Green Crack Auto – Just 56 days to harvest
• LSD-25 Auto – Gorgeous purple buds, potent effects, ready to harvest in under 65 days.
• Original AK Auto – For those who want those original AK-47 effects in auto-flowering form.
• Wedding Glue Auto – So many trichomes, ready in 60-70 days, good yields
• Ztrawberriez Auto – Ready to harvest in about 70 days, very high THC above 25%.

Fastbuds autoflowering plants grow fast but tend to stay relative short, and produce a lot of chunky buds in a small space.

Mephisto Genetics

• Double Grape Auto – Purple tinted buds, ready in under 75 days.
• Creme de la Chem Auto – A personal favorite, ready in 65-75 days (mine was ready in 70). I love the bud effects, which feel strong yet mellow and relaxing.
• Check out more Mephisto cannabis strains (all of their strains are autoflowering).

My Creme de la Chem Auto grown under LEDs turned into a bud ball.

MSNL

Offers a ton of fast, potent autoflowering strains. These are all ready to harvest about 70 days from germination, and all boast THC percentages above 20%.

• Apple Fritters Auto by MSNL – Modern genetics in a fast auto-flowering strain. Up to 24% THC and ready to harvest about 70 days from germination.
• Bruce Banner Autoflower by MSNL – Over 25% THC, ready to harvest in about 70 days, big yields.
• Gorilla Cookies Auto by MSNL – Up to 24% THC, ready to harvest by 70 days from germination
• Purple Lemonade Autoflower – Up to 24% THC- ready to harvest in 70 days.

Fill your entire grow space under the grow light with autoflowering buds to get the best yields!

Congratulations, you reached the end of this comprehensive guide to growing autoflowering cannabis strains! You are now equipped with tips and techniques to maximize your yields and bud potency with autoflowering plants. Remember, success with autoflowers hinges on starting strong, giving great nutrients, being prepared with extra seeds, maintaining the right number of plants for your space, and using proven training methods as explained above. Focus on these factors, and you will be captivated at the results of your next autoflowering harvest.

However, the journey doesn’t stop here. Learning how to grow great cannabis is a process. If you want to reach “master grower” status faster, sign up for our free weekly growing newsletter to get tips delivered to your email every Sunday morning!

Happy Growing!

Nebula Haze
Co-founder of GrowWeedEasy.com

The post 5 Tips for Growing Autoflowering Cannabis Strains (Big Yields & High THC) 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.

Table of Contents

Intro to the Best LED Grow Lights for Weed

1. Spider Farmer SF Series (Best Beginner Budget LEDs)
2. Horticulture Lighting Group (HLG) (Best Yields)
3. HLG Diablo Series (Best THC Production)
4. Mars Hydro (Best Overpowered Budget LEDs)
5. AC Infinity (Most Popular Cannabis LEDs)

Did you know that in 2026 LED grow lights can increase your cannabis yield by 30% or more compared to old-tech generic LED grow lights? Cheap LEDs are cheap for a reason. But honestly, there’s never been a better time to grow weed indoors than 2026.

How to grow 1 pound of weed from LEDs: 450w+ worth of modern LED grow light in a 4×4 grow tent can consistently produce a pound of weed per harvest. Example: 1 x AC Infinity EVO6 LEDs (premium cannabis LED grow light), or save yourself some money and get 2 x TSL2000 from Mars Hydro (cheaper, and can grow even more weed).

Best LED grow light for a stealthy but productive cannabis grow: One dimmable TSL2000 LED grow light by Mars Hydro in a 2×4 grow tent (up to 14 oz harvest). Check out the pic. Are you a first-time grower? Mars Hydro has a beginner grow kit with everything to grow weed (just add seeds and soil).

The TSL2000 is a cheap, effective, overpowered LED grow light for cannabis growers.

LEDs grow magnificent cannabis plants indoors without much heat or electricity. Today you’ll learn about some of the best LED grow lights for cannabis plants in 2026!

It’s important to understand that the best LED grow lights available today are more effective at growing weed than even the best LEDs from 2-3 years ago. Modern LED grow lights are getting tested on live cannabis plants, which results in huge speedy improvements in cannabis LED grow light technology.

Cannabis growers should choose LEDs tested on actual plants, like this Spider Farmer SF2000 LED, which produces 5-11 oz per harvest.

Today, get your LED grow light questions answered today from a marijuana grower who’s tried them all!

If you are looking for an LED grow lights review by professional cannabis growers, you’ve come to the perfect tutorial! This regularly-updated 2026 LED grow light review page focuses on how to choose LED grow lights in order to get the best cannabis yields, growth, and bud potency (maximize THC) so you produce top-shelf bud quality every harvest. These reviews are based on my LED experience and results growing high-THC cannabis plants.

Note: Avoid weirdly-cheap LEDs from unknown companies. Especially avoid older-tech “blurple” colored LED grow lights for growing weed (like this one on the right).

At least, avoid them if you want to be impressed by your next harvest. The specific model of LED you choose affects your cannabis yields, appearance, and even the THC levels in your buds. There is no “best” LED grow light for growing cannabis, but there are great ones (and there are LEDs you should avoid).

The Spider Farmer SF1000 LED grow light is a great mini beginner cannabis grow light that can produce 3+ oz in a small 2’x2′ grow tent.

Why LED Grow Lights for Weed Plants?

There are multiple types of grow lights, but LEDs are the best option for most cannabis growers because of their efficiency and custom spectrums.

• More light, less heat – LEDs produce more light and less heat, watt-for-watt, than cannabis grow lights that use bulbs (like HPS, LECs, or fluorescent lights)
• Make plants more heat-resistant – Not only do LEDs physically run cooler, cannabis plants grown under LEDs actually prefer warmer temperatures. That means LEDs are the perfect grow light to deal with heat (a common challenge for growers). If your grow space gets warm, LEDs are your best grow light choice when it comes to cannabis plants.
• Use less electricity – If you choose the best LEDs for your cannabis grow space, you will produce more weed for less electricity, saving money on your electricity bill every month.
• Best yields – In my side-by-side grows using clones, modern LEDs produce higher yields than other types of grow lights for the amount of electricity used.
• Colorful buds – LEDs tend to bring out colors like pink and purple on buds and leaves. Although some strains will stay green no matter what, many strains have the ability to turn color in certain environmental conditions. LEDs will almost always bring out colors in those strains especially as plants approach harvest.
• Higher bud potency – In smoke tests and lab tests, some LED models seem to produce stronger bud potency. When smoked the effects feel stronger, and when buds are sent to the lab they often test for higher THC than plants grown in identical conditions with grow lights like HPS and LECs.

I test new LEDs on cannabis plants regularly, and every year the rate of improvement on new LEDs seems to be speeding up. I continue to be impressed with new models. It may come as a shock to us old-timers who were underwhelmed by older LED technology, but new LEDs have fairly won the title of “best cannabis grow light” for home growers. Today, I’m going to share some of the best LED grow lights for cannabis in 2026 so you can harness that power in your own grow.

Modern LEDs like this HLG LED grow light make dense heavy cannabis buds with excellent yields.

5 Best LED Grow Lights for Cannabis Plants (2026 List)

Some LEDs are far better than others for growing cannabis, and the “best” LEDs change constantly. Since I used my first LED grow light in 2008, the top LEDs companies have changed drastically. Many of the old popular LED companies aren’t even around anymore.

If you’ve got older LEDs, maybe your 2026 gift to yourself should be upgrading to something new. The LED choices are better than ever as more and more people figure out ways to tweak LEDs to produce even more yields and better cannabis bud quality.

Today, the best LED grow lights for cannabis obliterate the results of the worst LED grow lights. The challenge for the grower is figuring out which models to avoid and which LEDs work the best. After tests with real cannabis plants, we’ve narrowed down the 2026 list to the 5 best LED grow lights for growing weed.

1. Spider Farmer SF Series (Best Budget LEDs)
2. Horticulture Lighting Group (Best Yields)
3. HLG Diablo Series (Best THC Production)
4. Mars Hydro (Overpowered Budget Lights)
5. AC Infinity (Most Popular)

1.) Spider Farmer (Best Budget Light)

Spider Farmer (official website) is a sleeper. If you’re not sure which grow light to get and the cost is an issue, get one of these lights. They’re not perfect but are well constructed, don’t need any setup, are easy to use, and cannabis plants grow fast. I’ve tried multiple models in the SF series, and they get surprisingly great yields for a small amount of electricity. I was impressed with these lights even after using more expensive LED models.

A grow featuring the Spider Farmer SF-2000 (buds are amazingly fat at just day 28 of flowering)

Spider Farmer SF-1000

• Price: $150
• Grow Space: Perfect for a 2’x2′ grow tent or closet
• Actual Power Consumption: 100W at full power, and can be dimmed. This light uses the least electricity on this list but still produces hefty buds.
• How Far to Keep from Plants: 18″ for the vegetative stage. 12-18″ away in the flowering stage (keep as close as 12″ away but if top leaves appear pale from light stress, move to 18″ away)
• Average Yields: 2-4+ oz – keep in mind that the strain (genetics) and any plant training you do will make a huge difference in your final yields.

Spider Farmer SF-1000 – up to 4+ oz

I grew this plant under the SF-1000 in a tiny 2’x2’x4′ grow tent. Check out the grow journal here.

Chasb40 said this about the SF-1000: “Loving the light, plants are as well. Solid build and I don’t have to worry about hot temps in my tent, much cooler than the older blurple LEDs…and quieter.”

Spider Farmer SF-2000

• Price: $230 (2’x4′ rectangle version) or (3’x3′ square version)
• Grow Space: Perfect for a 2’x4′ or 3’x3′ grow tent or closet (choose the version that matches the size of your grow space)
• Actual Power Consumption: 200W at full power, and can be dimmed for younger plants. Its low power consumption is another reason this is a great budget grow light.
• How Far to Keep from Plants: 20-24″ for the vegetative stage. 18-24″ away in the flowering stage (keep as close as 18″ away but if top leaves appear pale from light stress, move to 24″ away)
• Average Yields: 5-10+ oz – keep in mind that the strain (genetics) and any plant training you do will make a huge difference in your final yields.

Spider Farmer SF-2000 (2’x4′ version) – up to 10+ oz

Spider Farmer SF-2000 (3’x3′ version) – up to 10+ oz

I grew these plants with an SF-2000 in a 2’x4′ grow tent, which produced over 10 ounces of buds. Here’s the grow journal.

Janelle’s results on her first cannabis grow (three SF-2000s in a 5’x5′ grow tent)

Spider Farmer SF-4000

• Price: $395
• Grow Space: Perfect for a 4’x4′ or 5’x5′ grow tent or space
• Actual Power Consumption: 450W at full power and can be dimmed.
  • Note: No front-facing dimmer. You have to unscrew the driver from the board, and then you’ll see the dimmer.
• How Far to Keep from Plants: 24″ for the vegetative stage. 18-24″ away in the flowering stage (keep as close as 18″ away but if top leaves appear pale from light stress, move to 24″ away)
• Average Yields: 10-20 oz+ – keep in mind that the strain (genetics) and any plant training you do will make a huge difference in your final yields.
  • Note: the SF-4000 light can get quite hot compared to the other Spider Farmer LEDs. Unless growing in a particularly cold grow space, you will probably need an exhaust fan or AC to control the heat from this light. Keep the temperature between 75-85°F (24-30°C) when lights are on to get the best yields.

Spider Farmer SF-4000 – up to 20+ oz

“Very nice little 450w lights indeed! My buddy’s little medical garden did very well and produced very high quality medicine. 1.91grams per watt, organic notill beds. Strains were, blackberry Kush, GG4, 501st OG, and a special cultivar called Pineapple Dreamwreck.” ~Robert

2.) HLG – Horticulture Lighting Group (Best Yields)

Horticulture Lighting Group (HLG – official website) made a mark in the LED world with its line of “quantum boards” released in 2016. These quantum boards were based on hobbyist lights that cannabis growers designed and constructed. HLG has been a leader in LED grow lights for cannabis ever since, and I’ve noticed that all the other LED grow light companies copy their best-performing LEDs. HLG regularly releases new form factors, like the Blackbird, R-spec series, and the Diablo series listed here. On the one hand, I like that they’re constantly innovating, but they do occasionally stop producing awesome light models for seemingly no reason, so the downside is that you should buy the light you want because it may not be around forever. HLG lights are tested on real cannabis plants and in my experience, get some of the best yields per watt of any LED grow lights currently available.

Features of the HLG LED grow lights for growing cannabis:

• Outstanding yields with long, dense buds
• Excellent bud potency and quality
• Fast vegetative and flowering growth (great growth speed from seed to harvest)
• These are some of the best LED grow lights for cannabis for the biggest yields

HLG 350R Quantum Board – this is an even better version of the now-discontinued HLG BlackWing (which was an excellent 225W grow light).

• Price: $550
• Grow Space: The rectangular shape makes this model perfect for a 2’x4′ or 3’x5′ grow tent or closet.
• Actual Power Consumption: 330W at full power, and can be dimmed down to 60W for younger plants
• How Far to Keep from Plants: 20-24″ for the vegetative stage. 16-24″ away in the flowering stage.
• Average Yields: 8-14+ ounces – keep in mind that the strain (genetics) and any plant training you do will make a huge difference in your final yields. This LED model has performed better than most others in this size.

HLG 350R Quantum Board (for a 2’x4′ grow tent) – up to 14+ oz

The 350R has a big empty space in the middle third of the panel, with many ultra-bright lights on the two outer thirds. HLG found this increases the diffusion of light, which results in better plant coverage and deeper penetration into the plants.

HLG Blackbird (for a 4’x4′ grow tent)

• Price: $700
• Grow Space: Perfect for a 4’x4′ grow tent or closet (specifically designed to fit in a 4’x4′ grow space)
• Actual Power Consumption: 600W at full power, and can be dimmed for younger plants
• How Far to Keep from Plants: 22-28″ for the vegetative stage. 20-28″ away in the flowering stage (keep as close as 18″ away but if top leaves appear pale from light stress, move to 24″ away)
• Average Yields: 14-24 oz+ (note: 24 oz is 1.5 lbs) – keep in mind that the strain (genetics) and any plant training you do will make a huge difference in your final yields.

The HLG Blackbird LED grow light is particularly and thoughtfully designed to be optimal when used in a 4’x4′ grow tent. A better choice for a 4’x4′ grow tent than other LEDs by HLG in this wattage range, like the overly powerful HLG Scorpian Diablo, which tends to be better suited to a grow room or commercial grow.

HLG Blackbird (for a 4’x4′ grow tent) – up to 24+ ounces

The Blackbird LED light is thin and lightweight

HLG Scorpion Diablo (for a 5’x5′ grow tent or larger)

• Price: $1300
• Grow Space: Perfect for a 5’x5′ grow tent or bigger (also excellent in a grow room or for a commercial grow).
• Actual Power Consumption: 630W at full power, and can be dimmed for younger plants
• How Far to Keep from Plants: 22-28″ for the vegetative stage. 18-28″ away in the flowering stage (keep as close as 18″ away but if top leaves appear pale from light stress, move to 24″ or even 28″ away)
• Average Yields: 15-25 oz+ (note: 25 oz is over 1.5 lb) – keep in mind that the strain (genetics) and any plant training you do will make a huge difference in your final yields.
• Note: If you’re growing in a 4’x4′ grow tent, get the Blackbird!

HLG Scorpion Diablo (for a 5’x5′ grow tent) – up to 25+ oz

Side view of the Scorpion Diablo

3.) HLG R-Spec series (Best THC Production)

Horticulture Lighting Group (HLG – official website) is the only company on this list twice. That’s because their “R-spec” series is so different from their other LED grow lights. They cost a bit less and still get decent yields, but their specialty is bud potency. Their unique red spectrum (“R-spec”) produces the highest THC levels of any grow light I’ve tried. In side-by-side tests, although the R-specs got lower yields than some other LED lights, their buds consistently test at higher THC levels.

Pros

• Highest bud potency (in tests, the buds grown under HLG lights produced measurably higher levels of THC than other grow lights)
• Good yields (but not quite as good yields per watt as the HLG lights listed above)
• Excellent bud quality/appearance with high “sparkle”
• Tends to bring out quite a bit of purple color in many strains
• Slightly cheaper than other HLG lights

Cons

• The main downside to these R-spec lights is they tend to produce stretchy growth in the vegetative stage (which can be controlled with plant training but is a little annoying).
• They get good yields, but not quite as good yields per watt as the other HLG lights

These Mandarin Cookies buds grown under the HLG 300 R-spec measured 28.3% THC at the lab. Buds from a clone of the same plant grown under a LEC only measured 26.94% THC at the lab. We found increased potency across the board when we lab-tested clones grown under HLG vs other grow lights. HLG LEDs seem to help maximize the potency of buds.

HLG 100 R-Spec Quantum Board

• Price: $150
• Grow Space: The small square shape and low heat output make this model perfect for a 2’x2′ grow tent or in a closet.
• Actual Power Consumption: 95W (cannot be dimmed)
• How Far to Keep from Plants: 15-20″ for the vegetative stage. 12-15″ away in the flowering stage.
• Average Yields: 2-4+ ounces – keep in mind that the strain (genetics) and any plant training you do will make a huge difference in your final yields.

HLG 100 R-Spec Quantum Board – up to 4+ oz yield

Here are some plants I grew under this HLG 100 R-spec light in a mini 2’x2’x4′ grow tent.

HLG 300L R-Spec Quantum Board

• Price: $380
• Grow Space: The rectangular shape makes this model great for a 2’x4′ grow tent or closet.
• Actual Power Consumption: 270W at full power, and can be dimmed down to 90W for younger plants
• How Far to Keep from Plants: 20-24″ for the vegetative stage. 18-24″ away in the flowering stage.
• Average Yields: 7-11+ ounces – keep in mind that the strain (genetics) and any plant training you do will make a huge difference in your final yields. This LED model has performed better than most others I’ve tried so far.

HLG 300L R-Spec Quantum Board – produces high THC levels and up to 11+ oz yield

A recent grow under the HLG 300L R-Spec using defoliation in the flowering stage produced almost 11 oz (check out the full grow journal)

The HLG 300 R-Spec really brings out the purple for many strains!

The one downside I’ve noticed with the R-Spec HLG LEDs is plants tend to grow tall and stretchy in the vegetative stage due to the high amounts of red in the spectrum. However, that can be controlled with plant training like bending the stems over and tying them down. If you’re looking to produce the highest THC in your buds as possible, it’s worth the extra care.

HLG 600 Quantum Board R-spec

• Price: $580
• Grow Space: Ideal for a 5’x5′ grow tent
• Actual Power Consumption: 600W at full power, and can be dimmed down to 60W
• How Far to Keep from Plants: 30-36″ for the vegetative stage. 24″ away in the flowering stage (may need more distance for light-sensitive plants, or in a hot grow space).
• Average Yields: 12-21+ oz – keep in mind that the strain (genetics) and any plant training you do makes a huge difference in your final yields. Keep the temperature between 75-85°F (24-30°C) during the flowering stage to get the best yields and bud quality.

HLG 600 Quantum Board R-spec – produces high THC levels and up to 21+ oz yield

The HLG 600 R-Spec LED light is thin and lightweight

Cannabis plants grown by cannabichiro (check out their Instagram profile for more!)

Cannabis plant in DWC grown by rumplenuggrower (check out their Instagram profile for more!)

4.) Custom LED Mix (Most Customizable)

If you’ve got an unusually shaped grow space, or just want a lot of flexibility with your LED placement, sometimes the best option is to choose multiple LEDs. This is also a good way to start really small and scale up as needed.

It’s common for beginner growers to start with one small LED for their young plants, then add more lights as plants grow. For example, the growers below needed to increase their wattage and coverage so they added additional LEDs to focus a lot of light directly onto the plants.

Many growers mix and match LEDs, like Mental24 who used two Mars Hydro TS1000s and one Spider Farmer SF-2000 to grow this beautiful harvest for less power and heat than a 600W HPS

Another popular option is to mix LEDs with other types of grow lights like HPS or LEC.

If you’re a beginner and afraid to completely take the plunge into growing, it can’t hurt to start small. Get a small cheap LED like the Spider Farmer SF1000D for $90 which only uses 87 watts. It is plenty for a small plant and you could even get a plant to grow buds and produce a few ounces. If you catch the growing bug then you could start adding bigger or more expensive lights to the mix. For example, Damian has been slowly adding more LEDs as his plants grow and he identifies dark spots.

4.) Mars Hydro (Best 300W Budget Light)

The Mars Hydro grow lights (official website) produce excellent PAR levels that are spread out evenly through the grow space. In many ways, their models are comparable to the Spider Farmer lights. I think the companies may actually be producing lights in the same factory because some of their models look so similar. However, I have much more experience with the Spider Farmer LEDs and know that all the different SF models work great for growing cannabis. That being said, when I grew with the Mars Hydro LEDs I had a good growing experience, too. In this section of the LED grow lights review, I’m only listing the one model I have personal experience with so far.

I used their Mars Hydro TSL 2000W model, which at $270 is the cheapest 300W LED on this list. I personally feel the 300W size is a great grow light size for most home growers, so if you’re trying to maximize power for cheap in a small rectangular grow space, this may be the best LED grow light for you.

Mars Hydro does well in the vegetative stage but really shines in the flowering stage. These plants are only 28 days after 12/12!

Mars Hydro TSL 2000W

• Price: $270
• Grow Space: Designed for a 2’x4′ grow tent or space
• Actual Power Consumption: 300W at full power, and can be dimmed
• How Far to Keep from Plants: 24″ for the vegetative stage. 18-24″ away in the flowering stage
• Average Yields: 7-12+ oz – keep in mind that the strain (genetics) and any plant training you do make a huge difference in your final yields.
• Note: The biggest downside of this light is it’s a bit bulky and the aluminum reflector is sharp at the edges. You could easily cut your head on one of those edges. When I used it, I covered the edges with tape. I much prefer how all the other LEDs on this list have smooth rounded edges.

The Mars Hydro TSL 2000W produces excellent PAR levels that are spread out evenly through the grow space.

My last Mars Hydro TSL 2000 harvest with the light kept about 24″ away

Here are those buds drying. I was impressed to get these results with such a low-wattage LED

Now about those PAR levels. Let me show you how well this light covers a 2’x4′ grow tent by measuring the light levels 24″ away at 100% power

Here are the results with an Apogee MQ 500 PAR meter (measured in µmol m-2 s) when measuring light levels 24″ away at each plant. The light levels stay between 564-594 µmol m-2 s at the top of every plant. That means there is barely any variation of light levels throughout the tent. This is a huge advantage over other LED models where the plants on the sides are often underdeveloped.

Here’s what grower Andres had to say about the Mars TSL 2000, “my plants came out absolutely beautiful at harvest time and I could not have been happier”

Amanda used her Mars Hydro TSL 2000 in a 2’x4′ grow tent: “The plants absolutely love it & so do I. Very bright. I like having the dimmer on it as well. Well worth the money.”

5.) AC Infinity LED Grow Lights (Most Popular)

AC Infinity was added to this list in 2026 after we saw many home growers document excellent cannabis results with their AC Infinity LED grow lights.

A little about AC Infinity: This is a company that has taken it upon itself to offer support to cannabis growers at every stage of the cannabis growing process. They offer everything from grow tents to thermometer to fans to entire cannabis grow kits.

Across the board with AC Infinity you can expect excellent quality, combined with premium (higher-than-average) prices.

If you’re looking for an overpowered budget light, go with Mars Hydro. If you want an easy-to-use premium LED grow light dialed in for home grow, go with AC Infinity.

Grow up to 1 pound of weed with an AC Infinity EVO6 LED grow light.

CHECK BACK SOON FOR A BREAKDOWN OF MODELS. I’m still gathering a bit more info. ~Nebula

Conclusion

You have just learned about the 5 best LED grow lights for cannabis in 2026. These LED grow lights are my personal top choices for cannabis growers who want to get the most out of their cannabis plants in terms of yield, grow speed, and bud quality. I hope that between the choices you can find an LED to fulfill your budget and needs. With any of the LEDs on the page, you will be ready to start growing amazing weed at home with LED grow lights.

What do you think about LED grow lights? Have you tried any of the models I reviewed in this article? Do you have any questions or suggestions for me? Please use our contact page or submit a picture and let me know. I would love to hear from you.

Happy growing!
Nebula Haze

P.S. Here’s a quick history of LED grow lights for the other history nerds:

Quick History of LED Grow Lights for Growing Weed

Until 2018-2020, most LED grow light improvements for marijuana plants were led by growers. Many modern LED innovations initially came from experimental DIY LEDs created by home growers wiring their own lights. Home growers would make discoveries, and as those DIY models became popular, LED grow light manufacturers slowly incorporated the new ideas.

When I first started growing cannabis in 2008, my first grow light was an LED. I got the best-of-the-best version for the time, but those LEDs were terrible for growing cannabis. With that old LED technology, vegetative cannabis plants grew strangely, and flowering plants would be riddled with nutrient deficiencies. Plants grew tiny, none-potent buds under the old-tech LEDs.

But that has all changed. As of 2026, LED grow lights have easily overtaken HPS and other older-tech HIDs as the best cannabis grow light for nearly all home growers. Modern LEDs not only produce comparable yields, but also increased THC and overall bud quality in some cases.

There are still some situations where alternatives like LECs or HPS may be a great choice. For example in a cold space where the heat of these burning hot lights is a positive thing. Perhaps you’re making concentrates on a major level and want to use special bulbs to increase trichome production and terpene levels/smells).

That being said, generally most home growers will be happiest with LED grow lights. On top of the improving grow light technology, the cultivation of weed has been legalized in multiple parts of the US and other parts of the world. If you want to grow weed, now is the time!

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 on LEDs and don’t hesitate to contact us and let us know what you think are the best LED grow lights for marijuana. 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 5 Best LED Grow Lights 2026 (Cannabis Yields, Speed, & LED Bud Quality) appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Calling all cannabis growers! Do you also seek to improve your cannabis yields, potency, and overall bud quality based on the latest knowledge as of 2026?

As a passionate and curious home grower, I embarked on a series of side-by-side experiments to confirm or deny long-standing theories and controversies in the cannabis home cultivation community.

The result? Prepare to get your notions questioned.

Not only did some of my findings surprise me, I sought out experienced commercial growers and learned their personal tests confirmed my surprising results, too.

Together, we’ve unlocked a wealth of new knowledge and growing skills for all growers to benefit from. Some of these tips you may already know, but some go against common knowledge.

Get ready to revolutionize your cannabis cultivation game (bigger yields, tighter buds, more terpenes, and higher THC levels) with the top 7 lessons I’ve learned about cannabis cultivation.

1.) More Light = More THC (Up to a Point)

Get More THC with Increased Light Intensity: It’s a well-known fact among growers that more light typically boosts cannabis yields, or the total amount of bud produced. However, our recent experiments and lab testing reveal another fascinating correlation: the intensity of light a cannabis bud receives directly influences its THC content. For example, even on the same plant and the same branch, the buds which receive higher light intensity tested with higher THC at the lab than their fellow buds that were hidden under a leaf during development, or located further from the grow light. For home cannabis growers who aim to elevate their bud potency, prioritizing strong direct light exposure to buds is key.

Focus on providing high light levels directly to cannabis buds during the flowering stage to maximize THC production.

Evolution of a Theory: Since my early days of growing in 2008, a hotly debated theory suggested that increasing light levels during the flowering stage could boost THC percentages in buds. Some growers speculated that THC served as a defense mechanism for the plant against sunlight, while others doubted its impact. Regardless of why the cannabis reacts to strong light with more THC, this once controversial theory is now pretty well proven to be true.

2026 Insight: There’s a clear correlation between light intensity and THC production. Our lab tests confirmed it, and several commercial growers showed us that their tests also echoed this finding. Even within the same plant, buds that receive less light exhibit lower THC levels compared to plants that develop under more intense light. Make sure all buds on a cannabis plant are exposed to strong, direct light in order to maximize THC levels at harvest.

5 Practical Tips for Home Growers to Increase THC:

• Maximize Light Exposure: Keep your grow lights as close as possible to the plants without causing light stress (which may bleach leaves or cause brown spots). Discover examples of excellent grow light setups here.
• Choose Powerful Grow Lighting: Use the most powerful light your grow space can accommodate. For most cannabis growers, LED grow lights are your best choice to maximize light to your buds. The only exception is if you’re growing in a cool grow space that regularly stays under 73°F/23°C (for example a cellar), because cannabis plants grow poorly in a cool space with LEDs. If it’s chilly, you will get better yields and higher THC buds using an HPS grow light because HPS lights keep plants warm.
• Maintain Optimal Nutrients and Environment: A healthy plant is more resilient and can handle higher light levels.
  • Be mindful of giving the right amount of nutrients, maintaining proper pH levels at the roots to prevent nutrient deficiencies, and environmental factors like temperature and humidity. These can influence your plant’s response to light and overall THC production.
  • Healthy, happy plants can thrive under higher light levels. That means that proper care and environmental management are crucial to maximize light and therefore THC yield.
• Train Plant Shape for Even Light Distribution: Bend and tie down branches to shape your cannabis plants flat and wide during the vegetative stage. This ensures uniform distance from the light for all buds during flowering.
• Expose Buds in the Flowering Stage: After cannabis buds start forming, make sure they are exposed to direct light. If buds are being covered by a leaf, tuck the leaf away, or remove if it can’t be tucked. This free and easy technique helps get the most light to buds as possible.

2.) The Surprising Effects of Red on THC and Yields

This lesson is somewhat related to the last one: Spectrum of light affects THC percentage and yields. More red is often associated with higher THC, though too much red reduces overall yields.

In the world of cannabis cultivation, the impact of light spectrum on THC percentage and yields is a fascinating topic. My own side-by-side experiments, backed by insights from a commercial grower at a recent cannabis conference, have highlighted a noteworthy pattern: more red in the light spectrum often correlates with higher THC levels. However, this comes with a caveat; an excess of red can actually decrease overall bud production and yields.

Optimizing red light in the spectrum when growing cannabis can increase the amount of THC in buds.

Evolution of a Theory: It’s well established that red-heavy light increases yields in the flowering stage compared to blue-heavy light, but it is much less well known that the presence of extra red could also increase THC production to a point. However, there is a tradeoff. Too much red begins reducing yields (though THC levels stay high). So for example, if you try to grow cannabis under just red light, the buds will stay undersized and underdeveloped. Balance is key.

2026 Insight: For max THC, always use a red spectrum light, but don’t use lights that go crazy with red spectrum. Modern “red spectrum” LED grow lights (or for growers in colder climates, the red-heavy bulb lights like HPS) typically contain more than enough red for excellent bud production. However, if you grow with “vegetative” or blue-tinted grow lights during the crucial flowering stage, you may be unintentionally sabotaging not just your yields but also your THC production.

Practical Tips for Home Cannabis Growers:

• Use a red-spectrum light in the flowering stage (or at least, avoid blue-heavy spectrum lights in the flowering stage).
  • Note: A spectrum with a lot of blue light is better in the vegetative stage because it tends to keep plants short and squat. Red light in the vegetative stage makes plants tend to grow tall and stretchy, which is not a desirable shape most of the time because it’s harder to get the same amount of light to all buds. But if I had to choose one or the other, I’d rather grow with a red light the whole way through.
  • In other words, most home growers will get the best growth patterns by using a light with more blue in the vegetative stage, and a light with more red in the flowering/budding stage.
  • “All-purpose” grow lights typically are somewhere in between. They give you the advantages of both types of light, but don’t give plants max red in the flowering stage.
• Don’t go overboard adding red or it will reduce yields and plants may start to grow strangely with unusual growth patterns. Plenty of red is good, but there is too much of a good thing.
• Recommended grow light:  HLG 350R “Diablo” LED – This is what I’m growing with right now. Check out the grow journal! This LED offers a lot of red combined with incredible brightness, resulting in maximum yields and THC per watt. This light was developed over several years of testing on cannabis plants to find the optimal configuration.
  • very powerful 350W LED grow light, best for advanced growers as it pushes plants to their full potential (i.e. works plants hard).
  • can be used in a 2’x4′ space, but also produces excellent results in a bigger 4’x4′ grow space.
  • harvest up to 1 lb of potent buds when cannabis plants are properly cared for.
  • Note: This is an extremely powerful light that can be hard on young plants at full power. For seedlings, keep this LED the top of the grow space and dim the power down to half. Don’t worry, they’re still getting plenty of light! Only after plants get bigger should you turn it up to full power or lower it.

3.) Strategic Defoliation Can Increase Yields, Bud Density, and THC Levels

Defoliation works to increase yields, bud density, and THC percentage of cannabis buds when used strategically in the flowering stage. Yes, simply using this free, easy technique can increase both the amount and quality of your weed at harvest.

Strategic defoliation in the flowering stage increases cannabis yields, bud density, and THC levels.

Evolution of a Theory: I learned about cannabis flowering stage defoliation as a way to increase yields in the early 2010s through a random forum post. I gave it a try according to his directions and was pretty blown away how it increased my cannabis yields and overall bud quality/density compared to no defoliation. When my partner Sirius and I reported our results on GrowWeedEasy.com, many growers literally told us we were lying because “that doesn’t make any sense”. More light to the leaves should equal more yields, right? We didn’t understand why it worked, but we knew it worked. By the mid-2015s enough growers had tried it that it became pretty common knowledge, with a lot less controversy.

2026 Insight: A few years ago, I started doing side-by-side grow experiments to test various theories about home growing. I finally got around to doing a few experiments on defoliation and even I was surprised by the results. I expected it to increase yields and bud quality/density, which it did, but when we sent the buds to the lab, we found that the defoliated plants consistently produced buds with higher THC too! Perhaps due to more direct light getting directly onto the buds, but even the top buds on the non-defoliated plants were less potent than the top buds on the defoliated plants. That makes me think the increase in THC could possibly be the results of a stress response. Then I went a cannabis business conference in Las Vegas, and was able to confirm this finding with multiple commercial growers, including a head grower that doubted defoliation but found it worked in tests. These days, just about every commercial cannabis grow operation uses defoliation just like we do. As we enter 2026, defoliation has been well-established as being a positive for your results at harvest as long as you don’t go overboard (which reduces yields). The theory has gone a long way from a controversial theory to accepted knowledge.

Check out the full cannabis grow journal of our most recent defoliation side-by-side experiment.

Practical Tips for Home Cannabis Growers:

• Choose to use strategic defoliation in the flowering stage to increase yields, bud density, bud appearance, and overall THC levels. When done properly, strategic defoliation hacks the plant’s natural response and causes it to grow more and better quality buds.
• Choose a defoliation schedule. There are multiple schedules that cannabis growers commonly use, but they pretty much all involve defoliating plants at the beginning of the flowering stage, and then again several weeks later. So essentially, two spaced out defoliations during the flowering stage.
• Here’s the defoliation schedule that most commercial cannabis growers use:
  • Defoliate 3 weeks after 12/12 begins. Remove all the biggest fan leaves after buds have started forming in the flowering stage (typically 3 weeks after initiating 12/12, or at 5-6 weeks from seed for autoflowering plants). Also remove any leaves covering bud sites from the light. Make sure to keep several leaves on each branch (don’t strip branches bare). Be careful not to hurt developing buds.
  • Defoliate again 3 weeks later. Repeat the exact process 3 weeks later. Again, remove the biggest fan leaves and reveal bud sites, but let some leaves remain on each branch.
  • Continue to remove or tuck leaves covering bud sites until harvest. No more big defoliations after that, but remove (or tuck away) any leaves covering bud sites so all buds are exposed to direct light. You should also remove leaves in the middle and bottom of the plant if you notice the plant is getting so bushy that no light reaches the floor.
  • Harvest bigger yields and denser, more potent buds!

Read the full strategic defoliation tutorial.

4.) The Critical Role of Temperature Management in Bud Quality

Growers need to optimize heat conditions because heat can hurt bud quality during the last few weeks of the flowering stage. Many cannabis growers subject their plants to constant heat, which is fine for most of the plant’s life, and can even help plants grow faster to a point. However, heat control during late bud formation is one of the best ways to increase cannabis bud quality, including yields, color, pristine appearance, and high density. Buds hate the heat once they’re in the ripening phase. We already suspected this but got it confirmed through lab testing and extensive discussions with commercial cannabis growers.

Heat during the last few weeks before harvest reduces cannabis bud quality.

Evolution of a Theory: Many growers, accustomed to the benefits of a warm grow environment for rapid vegetative growth, often overlook the significance of temperature during the flowering stage. A nice warm grow space causes young cannabis plants to grow faster, and even an overly hot grow space doesn’t stop many plants from growing fast and healthy. This lulls many cannabis growers into a false sense of complacency. They might think heat doesn’t matter and they can just ignore it, because for the first part of your plant’s life, that’s mostly true. However, it’s not good for buds to complete their development in a hot grow environment. It’s crucial to shift your focus as the buds enter their final development phase. Keep buds cool, if possible, as they approach harvest. Heat during the last 3-4 weeks of the flowering stage reduces yields, potency, density, burns off smells, and makes it more likely buds will become discolored. Those last few weeks matter a lot! Try to baby your plants during their “home stretch” to the finish line.

Pay close attention to the environment in the late flowering stage to maximize bud quality and get sparkly, tight, potent cannabis nugs like this.

2026 Insight: Pay close attention to the environment in the late flowering stage, and aim for the temperature sweet spot. The last several weeks of flowering are the most crucial stage of bud development. Aim for a grow room temperature of around 75°F (24°C) during the day and a cooler 65°F (18°C) at night. These temperatures, in the late flowering stage, have been correlated with higher quality buds. This is more than just growers’ lore; it has been substantiated through rigorous lab testing and corroborated by experienced commercial growers.

Practical Tips for Home Cannabis Growers:

• Set up your grow space properly from the beginning with a strong exhaust fan to vent heat from the grow space, so the temperature is under your control.
• Monitor and Adjust: Regularly check your temperature levels and adjust them as needed, especially as you enter the final weeks of flowering.
• If you have an AC, the last 3 weeks (and during air drying) may be the most important time to use it. If it’s too expensive to run, you can skip it during the vegetative stage and early parts of the flowering stage as long and plants are growing fast and healthy without signs of heat stress.
• Can’t control heat during the day? Set your “day period” to happen during the night when the grow room tends to be cooler and heat is most easy to deal with. For example, set your lights to turn on late in the evening and turn off in the morning. However, avoid switching your day and night period during the flowering stage if possible as uneven light schedules can trigger herms. But if you have to do it once to control heat, that will likely be okay. Just avoid giving it a “short” night. It’s better to give it a long day to the new schedule to ensure plants never get less than a 12-hour dark period in the flowering stage. Plants in the flowering stage are more likely to herm from short nights than long days.

Even if you don’t have an AC, simply venting out hot air with a fan can dramatically increase bud quality compared to letting buds cook in the heat.

5.) The Unmatched Quality of Home-Grown Cannabis

Home cultivation of cannabis is not just a hobby. It’s an art that, when mastered, can surpass the quality of commercially available weed.

Home grow can produce better weed than many growers can buy.

Commercial growers acknowledge the superiority of a meticulously nurtured home cannabis garden.

However, a lot of home growers get stuck in a grow pattern where they’re not getting the bud quality they want and think that’s just not possible in the home environment. This misconception is often due to growers making common mistakes in the flowering stage.

Simply avoiding these pitfalls allows home growers to achieve, and often exceed, the quality of commercial weed.

Home grow reigns supreme. Growing at home can produce consistent, high-quality and personalized weed.

When you treat buds right, they reward you with incredible quality!

Evolution of a Theory: Too many cannabis growers think it’s not possible to grow amazing weed at home. This is usually because they’re making some sort of flowering stage goof that’s reducing their bud quality or yields. This has led to a persistent myth that home-grown cannabis can’t compete with commercial weed. Lucky for us, the truth is quite the opposite.

2026 Insight: You can and should leverage the home grow advantage. Commercial growers’ main advantage is just that they often have access to a strong AC and dehumidifier to keep their garden cool and not overly humid.

However, a home grower with good genetics that controls the environment can beat the quality of commercially grown buds every time.

I’ve noticed at every grow conference when I talk to commercial growers about home growing, they lament how lucky we are as home growers, because we have so much creative freedom to cater to our personal preferences. Home growers get to pay more attention to bud quality over profitability. It’s especially interesting to see this dynamic because many home growers are jealous of commercial growers.

It’s a case of “the grass is always greener on the other side” except we’re actually on the greener side.

Practical Tips for Home Cannabis Growers:

• Adhere to proven cultivation practices. A good place to start is to follow all the suggestions on this page to avoid the 7 most common flowering goofs. You’ll end up with better buds than the dispensary and all your friends will wonder where you’re getting all this dank weed.
• Pay attention to your plants and react quickly when you notice issues. The amount of personal attention you can give each plant is a huge advantage of home growing.
• Get good genetics as you can never grow great weed with mediocre genetics. Looking for quality American genetics? Can’t go wrong with an Ethos Genetics strain. Or check out our list of recommended cannabis seed sources. What’s most important is to get a strain that will produce the results and effects you want.

How to beat the cannabis grower’s mid-flower curse.

6.) The Enduring Tradition of Smoking Cannabis

The most common way to enjoy cannabis is still simply smoking it. In an era brimming with innovative cannabis consumption methods like edibles, tinctures, dabbing, etc, it can seem like no one wants to smoke weed anymore.

Me smoking weed in 2008. Still my favorite way to enjoy weed.

I know at least I’d gotten the impression from the media that no one was smoking flower anymore. I prefer to smoke weed, but I thought I was in the minority.

2026 Insight: Contrary to these impressions, recent evidence reveals a different reality.

According to statistics, most growers smoke their weed as their main form of enjoying it.

Smoking the straight buds is still the most popular way people use weed (though vaporizers, edibles, hash, and concentrates are certainly becoming more popular). This enduring preference highlights the timeless appeal of the traditional smoking experience.

Practical Tips for Home Cannabis Growers:

• You Know Yourself Better Than Anyone: Enjoy weed however you want and don’t worry what other people think. Whether you enjoy the classic experience of smoking buds, or prefer to explore newer forms like vaporizers, edibles, tinctures, and concentrates, the best way to enjoy cannabis is the way that suits you. Learn how to smoke weed without the smell (a Sploofy alone cuts down 80% of smoke smell).
• Stay Informed and Open-Minded: As cannabis culture evolves, keep abreast of new trends and methods. An open mind can lead to discovering new favorites. I strongly believe in celebrating cannabis and its versatility, as well as the freedom we have as growers to enjoy cannabis how we want.

7.) The Art of Bud Placement

The location of buds on the cannabis plant plays a crucial role in determining their THC content. Buds located higher on the plant measure at higher THC than lower buds, even if they get the same amount of light.

Buds located at the top of the plant produce the most THC, so make as many buds as possible be at the top.

Evolution of a Theory: Most growers already know the buds at the top of the plant tend to be the best buds. Many growers attribute the superior quality of top buds solely to increased light exposure. However, our experiments seem to indicate otherwise. Even if you provide supplemental side lighting to increase light levels from the sides so it matches the light levels at the top, the top buds will still be more potent. The actual position of the buds on the plant matters even if everything else is equal. That’s why it’s so crucially important to prune your plants so they grow in a way where all the main buds are located on top. This also highlights why it’s helpful to get rid of buds that start developing too low down on the plant. These lower buds not only stay small and airy, but lack the same potency of buds higher up on the plant.

Avoid having just one main bud on each cannabis plant (the “Christmas tree” shape), because the lower buds won’t be as high quality as they could be.

Aim for a sea of top buds on your cannabis plants, like this. That helps ensure all buds reach the highest possible potency, density, and size.

2026 Insight: Keep Buds High (on the plant). Buds at the plant’s apex are not just physically higher, but they’re also higher in THC concentration on average. This isn’t solely due to light exposure; there’s something inherently beneficial about their elevated position. Position matters more than just light levels alone. Even with the introduction of supplemental side lighting aiming to equalize light distribution, the top-positioned buds consistently outperform in THC potency. This revelation underscores the importance of strategic plant training to ensure that a majority of the buds can enjoy this ‘top spot’ advantage.

Practical Tips for Home Cannabis Growers:

• Prioritize Top Bud Sites from the Start: Use plant training techniques starting in the vegetative stage to ensure most of your bud sites are located at the top of the plant. These techniques all focus on training plants to grow wide and flat like a table, and especially to avoid the natural “Christmas Tree” shape with only one bud at the top. If you focus on pruning plants throughout the vegetative stage, by the time you reach the flowering stage you will have created a wide flat “sea” of buds directly under the grow light that are all the same height as each other.
• Use “Lollipopping” on Tall Cannabis Plants: Lollipopping means removing all lower bud sites. This is typically done in the cannabis flowering stage after buds have already started forming. The goal is to remove lower buds that are unlikely to achieve full development, so the plant’s energy is all directed only to the top buds. Rough rule of thumb: Remove buds that are growing more than a foot from the top of the plant, especially if they seem airy and wispy, as these buds steal energy from the plant and will likely never develop properly.
• Rethink Side Lighting: In many cases, an investment in side lighting may not yield the expected benefits. Focus instead on upgrading or optimizing top lighting (and on training plants to grow only top buds).

Understanding and applying these insights about bud positioning can significantly impact the THC levels in your cannabis harvest.

Even if you give tons of side lighting, the top buds will still always be the best.

Grow Experiments Coming to GrowWeedEasy.com in 2026 and Beyond

3-day dark period

• What we know: We’ve done some informal experiments on whether giving cannabis plants a “3-day dark period” before harvest will increase THC percentage. Surprisingly (to me) the initial results actually seem pretty promising. In the two plants we tried in an informal (not well-controlled) experiment, both plants’ buds tested at higher THC levels when harvested after the 3-day dark period vs before.
• The test: We’ll be doing a formal side-by-side experiment with clones to test this in a controlled environment.

Soil: Nutrients vs no nutrients

• What we know: My experience using nutrients vs “just add water” style grows is that cannabis plants grow faster and produce bigger yields when given nutrients in their water. Even when using a “hot” soil that prevents any nutrient deficiencies, giving nutrients in the water (officially known as “fertigation”) seems to give plants exactly what they need in the most easily absorbable form. We previously did an experiment in growing with “just add water” super soil vs coco, and the coco plants had faster growth and bigger buds. However, we have not conducted any formal experiments on growing in plain soil (like what you buy from the store) vs plain soil with nutrients. This is the most common choice a new soil grower will make (is it worth it to get nutrients?) and I want to show just how important I believe it is to your results. I anticipate that the soil plants grown with nutrients will have bigger yields, faster growth, and overall higher levels of THC.
• The test: Two sets of clones grown in identical conditions. One set will be grown in regular “hot” soil (Fox Farm Ocean Forest) with no nutrients from seed to harvest. The other will be grown in the same soil but I’ll be adding General Hydroponics Flora nutrient trio in the water (my favorite nutrient system or growing cannabis that can be used in any grow medium). Let’s see how big a difference it makes!

Test new LED grow light models

• What we know: HLG and Mars Hydro have released new LED grow lights that seem to be beating the results of even their previous ones (which were already industry leaders). Spider Farmer also has some interesting new developments. We’d also like to run our first tests on the new 2026 versions of LEDs from ViparSpectra, Vivosun, BLOOM Plus, and Phlizon.
• The test: Grow two sets of clones in identical conditions, where the only difference is what LED grow light is used. Contact us and let us know if there’s a particular LED grow light (or any grow light) you’d like to see us run a test on.

Hydroponics

• What we know: Sirius and I were hydroponic growers for years but moved to growing with soil and coco for our website GrowWeedEasy.com because they’re more popular for most growers. Coco and soil are awesome, and we wanted to make the tutorials that you requested the most. However, we both miss hydro and it’s time to revamp our hydroponics tutorial so this year we’ll be doing at least 1 fully hydroponic grow with everything we’ve learned and also to get more clear pictures of every step of the process for new hydro growers. We’ll likely also test a few different types of pre-made tubs and buckets that can be purchased as most growers don’t want to make their own hydroponic system.
• The test: Test a few different hydro systems against each other.

Big plants vs little plants (and plant pot size)

• What we know: This year showed that when it comes to bud quality, some surprising things are important including position on the plant, temperature, light spectrum, and overall light levels. Based on all this, and my personal experience, I suspect that perhaps the overall size of the plant has an effect on bud quality and THC percentage. I’ve never heard anyone else talk about this, but it’s a pet theory based on all the experiments from the last few years.
• The test: Grow clones in the same grow tent but have them grow in different size plant pots so that some plants naturally get bigger than the others, then get all the buds tested at the lab to see if the bigger plants with bigger pots produce higher levels of THC.

Exciting stuff! Let us know what you think about today’s tutorial, and share what you want to see us test next! I’m always looking for a reason to grow more plants. ~Nebula

Wrapping It Up: The Cannabis Home Grower’s Edge in 2026

Alright, fellow cannabis enthusiasts, we’ve navigated through some game-changing insights together, and I hope you’re feeling as pumped as I am about the future of home growing. What we’ve covered isn’t just another cannabis grow guide; it’s about the essence of pushing boundaries and outgrowing the old myths.

You’ve now got the inside scoop on some of the latest breakthroughs in home growing, from cranking up those lumens for more THC, to the art of defoliation, and mastering temps for quality buds. It’s like we’ve been given a new set of superpowers for our grow rooms. And for those who’ve always thought that homegrown can’t compete with the commercial stuff, well, we’ve busted that myth big time.

We’re on this journey together, and it’s about more than just growing plants. It’s about growing our skills, our knowledge, and sharing the highs (pun intended!) of each successful harvest. I’m stoked to see how these insights will transform your grows, and I bet you’ll soon be the envy of your grower friends.

As we look towards the horizon, with new experiments and adventures in growing waiting for us, remember this: You’re now armed with knowledge that many growers would kill for. You’re not just a grower; you’re a cultivator of bud excellence.

Keep experimenting, keep questioning, and keep those cannabis plants thriving. Here’s to all the sticky, aromatic, potent harvests in your future. Let’s show 2026 what we’ve got – it’s grow time!

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

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

About the Author: Nebula Haze

Nebula Haze founded GrowWeedEasy.com with her husband Sirius Fourside in 2010. Our mission has always been to demystify the world of indoor marijuana cultivation. Over the years, we’ve shared our passion and knowledge through a wealth of articles, both in print and in digital realms, and guided numerous students through comprehensive online courses. For us, it’s not just about growing cannabis; it’s about empowering each of you to discover the simplicity and joy of nurturing your own plants. Here’s to your success in the grow room!

Happy growing!
Nebula Haze

The post Unlock Bigger Yields & More THC: 7 Game-Changing Insights for Cannabis Growers appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

A cannabis grower must grow enough weed to never run out. Otherwise, what’s the point? How do you ensure you harvest as much weed as you need?

The answer is to always be harvesting. (Of course, it also helps to grow a lot of cannabis at once).

This article shows you how to grow a cannabis perpetual harvest, so you can harvest a new batch of weed every 1-2 months and never run out again.

Harvest new weed every few months with the “Perpetual Harvest” cannabis technique.

Cannabis Perpetual Harvest: 3 Main Strategies

• Method 1: Multiple grow spaces (harvest every ~2 months) – Keep vegetative plants and seedlings in one small grow space, and set up a separate bigger grow space for flowering plants while they make buds. After every harvest, move the vegetative plants into the flowering space and start a new set of seedlings in the vegetative space. This setup allows you to harvest about once every 2 months as long as you follow the instructions below.
• Method 2: Auto-flowering strains in intervals (harvest as often as you want) – Since auto-flowering strains make flowers automatically, you can plant a new seed as often as needed and keep the plants right next to each other. Their buds will form on their own and be ready to harvest 2-3 months from germination. This allows you to harvest buds as frequently as you want (every month, every 2 weeks, etc.) without needing more than one grow space.
• Method 3: Germinate new seeds at the end of each grow (harvest every ~4 months) – This is the simplest method. Just get in the habit of germinating new seeds after every harvest. For example, I try to germinate the next set of seeds the day that I put buds into jars. That keeps a constant pipeline of weed on the way without needing any special tools, planning. or space. If you simply grow weed in a back-to-back fashion, it doesn’t take long before you run out of space and jars!

This harvest produced over 1 lb of premium cannabis buds plus a bag of trim to turn into goodies. If you use a 4’x4′ grow tent with 450-700W worth of grow light (Example: Beginner-friendly Spider Farmer G5000 480W, or 2 x 350W HLG Diablo lights for the advanced grower who wants to push the limit) for your flowering grow space in this tutorial, you can harvest this much weed about once every 2 months.

Let’s get into it!

Method 1: Multiple Grow Spaces (Separate vegetative and flowering grow space)

In this method, you will set up a separate vegetative and flowering grow space for your cannabis plants. Essentially you will grow plants in the vegetative grow space until they’ve reached about half their final height, which takes about 2 months on average. Then you will move them to the flowering grow space to make buds, using strains that take about 2 months before buds are ready to harvest.

When the vegetative space is empty, you start the next set of young plants. As long as you keep up with starting new marijuana plants, you’ll be harvesting a full set of plants about once every 2 months. This technique is the traditional “cannabis perpetual harvest”.

Small vegetative tent for young cannabis plants on the left. Larger flowering tent on the right.

Cannabis Strain Choice

For a perpetual harvest, with this method, you need to use photoperiod (standard) cannabis strains because these allow you to control exactly when the cannabis plant starts making buds. These strains grow only leaves and stems until you give them a 12/12 light schedule, at which case it “tells” the plant to start flowering. It’s best to use strains with an 8-9 week flowering stage. If you grow strains that take longer in the flowering stage before they’re ready to harvest your vegetative tent will be popping by the time your flowering tent is ready for the next batch.

• Use photoperiod strains
• 8-9 week flowering stage
• Don’t get overly stretchy or tall

Examples of recommended strains:

• Low Odor – Northern Lights is a hardy, potent strain that tends to have less of a smell than other strains, which can be helpful for stealth reasons. Additionally, the smell tends to be more ‘spicy’ and less ‘skunky’, so it does not smell as much like cannabis. This strain is a classic that has won many awards for its effects. Northern Light plants tend to stay relatively short, bounce back easily from problems, and are quick to harvest.
• Great for Beginners – White Rhino plants respond well to LEDs by producing extra potent, extra sticky buds. Picture below. This strain is also very hardy and resistant to many common plant problems (over-watering, underwatering, stress, etc.). This strain resists mold and diseases, which can be helpful if you’re really packing the plants in your flowering grow space.
• Enormous Yields – White Widow is a legendary strain that makes huge, dense buds with a strong Indica effect and yields that can’t be beaten. This particular version is more potent than your typical White Widow, so be careful not to go overboard the first time you try it!
• Social Effects – Candyland Peyote – Good yields and the buds produce a “friendly” and energizing effect that can be good for social settings or creative endeavors. Delicious smelling and potent. An excellent strain for gathering with friends. Also a great strain to relax at home.
• High Sparkle – Gorilla Zkittlez by Barney’s Farm is remarkable for several reasons. It gives the best of Gorilla Glue #4 and Zkittlez legendary strains. These plants produce buds with particularly powerful effects that are often described as “couchlock,” “stoney” and ultra-relaxing.
• Legendary Potency – Planet of the Grapes by Ethos is extremely high potency and deserves a warning label. Picture below. Definitely not for the faint of heart with cannabinoid levels pushing past 30%. Also a very smelly and sticky plant with dense fruity buds. A strain that’s easy to grow and produces a lot of top-shelf, potent buds. Another option for legendary potency is Kushberry Moonrocks, which was developed by a geneticist and produces beautiful purple buds that measure up to 33% THC.

This White Rhino cannabis plant went through a bunch of problems (heat wave, root rot, and nutrient issues) and still produced a ton of amazing weed. Excellent strain for beginners!

The Planet of the Grapes plant I grew produced gorgeous, potent buds. I highly recommend this strain for any grower!

Vegetative Space – Small

• Holds young plants until they reach half the final desired height
• Set grow lights on a 18/6 timer. Giving plants 18 hours of light a day will keep them in the vegetative stage and get them growing fast. The 6 hours dark period every day helps make plants more resistant to problems though some growers give up to 24 hours/light per day.

Example vegetative space

• 2’x2’x4′ grow tent (100W) – 1-4 plants
• 2’x4’x5′ grow tent (200W) – Up to 8 plants

Start young cannabis plants in the smaller vegetative grow space.

Grow cannabis plants until they’re about half the final desired height.

Flowering Space – Bigger

• Once vegetative plants are the right size (half the final desired height), move them to the flowering grow space
• The flowering grow space is typically much bigger, as the plants will double in size during the flowering stage
• Set with a 12/12 light schedule (12 hours light, 12 hours dark) and make sure the space is light-proof. The 12-hour daily dark periods are necessary to get plants to produce buds

Example flowering space:

• 2’x4’x6′ grow tent (300W) – Up to 4 plants
• 4’x4’x6′ grow tent HPS version (600W) – Up to 8 plants
• 4’x4’x6′ grow tent LED version (600W) – Up to 8 plants

Once plants are half the final desired height, move the cannabis plants into the flowering grow space. They will about double in height from this point.

Now is the time to start the next set of plants in your vegetative grow space. The seeds will have time to germinate and grow to half the final desired size while this set of plants is flowering.

The flowering space is typically much bigger and kept on a 12/12 light schedule to initiate bud formation. Most photoperiod cannabis strains need about 2 months after they start receiving 12/12 until they’re ready to harvest.

Harvest!

Hints for success in your perpetual harvest:

• If vegetative plants get too big but other tent isn’t ready yet, just bend over the tallest stems and tie them down, or even just trim the whole plant (cut the branches) to be shorter. Vegetative plants can handle almost anything and will keep growing like a bush even if you cut it short like a hedge. As long as you leave lots of growing tops, you can keep hacking away the tallest part of the plants to buy more time. This is a great time to do some plant training to make plants flat and wide like a table with many bud sites. This maximizes yields later because you’ll have tons of bud sites all growing the same distance from the grow light.

If cannabis plants are getting too tall in the vegetative space but you still need more time before the other tent is ready…

Bend over the tallest branches or even just trim the whole plant to be shorter. This will buy you time until the flowering space opens up.

I used plant twist tie to hook on to each branch and tie it down. 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.

Method 2: Autoflowering Strains (plant seeds on a schedule)

While standard (photoperiod) cannabis plants need a 12/12 light schedule in order to start making buds, auto-flowering strain automatically starts making buds after a few weeks to a month and doesn’t need any special time schedules. That means you can have young and old plants all together in the same grow space and they’ll still develop normally.

In this tent, the biggest plant is close to harvest and was germinated 80 days ago. The smallest plants germinated just 35 days ago, and the others got germinated at different stages in between. This grower has a pretty full house so he’s waiting until he harvests the bigger plant before germinating the next seed. As long as he keeps germinating new seeds when a plant gets harvested, he’ll have a steady stream of plants.

Different auto-flowering cannabis plants at different stages of life in one grow space.

Pros

• Perpetual harvest
• Easy – just plant a seed when you have room in the grow space

Cons

• Can be difficult to deal with different heights since plants want to be about the same distance from the lights
• If a plant doesn’t auto on schedule, it can grow out of control and crowd out your other plants

Recommended example setups

• 2’x4’x6′ grow tent (300W) – Up to 4 plants
• 4’x4’x6′ grow tent HPS version (600W) – Up to 8 plants
• 4’x4’x6′ grow tent LED version (600W) – Up to 8 plants

Hints

Height Control

• If you can set the shorter cannabis plants on something, like a box, it can help minimize height differences.
• You can help control height with plant training/bending, though you don’t want to go overboard with auto-flowering strains or they can get stunted.
• Check out the auto-flowering plant height control guide.

Strain choice

• Use trustworthy breeders that are known for consistency. If possible, use a seed breeder that specializes in auto-flowering strains.
• Choose auto-flowering strains with relatively short lifespans (under 80 days if possible) because longer-flowering plants tend to get huge and overtake the grow space.

Suggested auto-flowering strains

High THC – high potency with strong physical and mental effects

• Girl Scout Cookies Auto (up to 25% THC)
• Pluto Cut Auto (about 25% THC, but up to 30% total cannabinoids)
• Do Si Dos Auto (over 25% THC)

High CBD, Low THC under 1% – anti-anxiety strain with subtle mental and physical effects (note: it won’t get you “high”)

• Ringo’s Gift Auto (up to 25% CBD)

Above-Average Yields

• Amnesia Haze Auto
• Cinderella Jack Auto
• Orange Bud Auto
• THC Bomb Auto
• Ultimate Auto – best yields I’ve ever gotten from an auto-flowering strain, classic 90s effects

Relaxing and Uplifting Bud Effects

• GG4 Auto (autoflowering version of Gorilla Glue #4)
• White Widow Auto
• Zkittlez Auto

Purple Auto-Flowering Strains

• Blackberry Kush Auto
• Devil Cream Auto
• Purple Lemonade Auto

Modern auto-flowering cannabis strains make buds that grow big, fat, and sparkly.

Conclusion

You now have learned two different ways to create a perpetual harvest for unlimited cannabis buds. The cool thing about either method is they’re flexible! Even if you don’t get the timing just right, you are guaranteed to get a ton of awesome weed!

Ready for more cannabis growing articles?

• How to Grow Cannabis in 10 Easy Steps – Growing cannabis can seem like it’s complicated, but often it only seems that way because you haven’t been given the right information. A lot of people unintentionally make growing harder than it needs to be, but that ends now! This cannabis growing guide will help you discover the best way to grow cannabis, for your unique situation.
• Complete Cannabis Grower’s Shopping List – When Sirius and I run our growers class, this is the part that trips people up more than anything. Growers spend more mental effort on their setup than picking strains or the grow itself. Don’t do that! Get stuff that’s known to work well so you can move on and not think about that aspect anymore and concentrate on your babies.
• When do I harvest? – It’s harvest season for outdoor growers, so don’t miss this helpful article to help you know exactly when to harvest. Check out the picture gallery of “ready” and “not yet ready” buds!

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