Different Marijuana Growing Techniques
With a myriad of growing techniques available, whether indoors or out, there is a different method for every cannabis cultivation situation. You'll find everything from home grow-tent kits and high tech automated indoor operations, to massive outdoor agricultural crops and Light Assist Greenhouse growing. All-inclusive grow-tent kits are a great option for novice home growers, supplying everything one needs to get started with easy to follow instructions. Building customized operations such as ScrOG, or Screen of Green, indoor grow rooms are another popular technique. There are even super high tech, AI operations that control everything from one central computer hub. Maybe even enabling one to run an operation in New York from a laptop in California. The latest rage in large scale commercial production is Light Assist Greenhouse growing. Harnessing the natural sunlight combined with high tech grow lighting optimizes yields and extends the season. There is also the popular ScrOG or Screen of Green method, a great technique for creating high yields by packing many plants into one compact area. Some indoor growing techniques will utilize separate flip rooms for the plants vegetative and flowering cycles. A little research will help you find the optimal technique for your particular situation. With the legalization of medical cannabis in many states, it has taken marijuana from an unregulated black market, illicit street drug, to a widely accepted and legitimate medical treatment. This has caused the industry to explode with new and innovative ways to grow that glorious ganja.
How To Train Your Cannabis Plants And Grow Bigger Buds
If your goal is to grow giant, show stopping, instagram worthy colas, then Lollipopping or ScrOG training techniques might be your next step. ScrOG, or Screen of Green style growing, is done by stretching a large wide meshed screen over your gardens canopy. This method entails training and pruning branches as they grow through the mesh, allowing the secondary stems to access more light and produce larger buds. The Lollipop method can also be utilized to create some enormous braggadocious buds. Lollipopping directs all the plants energy towards the main central stems, producing a fewer amount of massive, dense colas instead of many smaller ones. This is simply done by trimming away all the low, weak underlying branches during vegetation. Stretch your pruning out over this phase, leaving a few days in between trims so as to not stunt or over-stress your plants. Cut off underlying branches at the closest node points to the main stem using only sharp clean pruning tools. Starting from the bottom, work your way up and inward until you've reached the interior main branches. This will direct all your plants energy to those main top buds where they are flooded with all that life-giving light. Another method of producing those big buds is the tree style technique. This is accomplished by growing a smaller amount of very large, tree sized plants by letting them grow bigger and longer during the vegetation phase. Stringing, pruning and staking the branches as they grow will result in some giant nugs.
Technology To Help Grow The Best Cannabis Plants
If you are looking to grow the best marijuana on the market today, there are some amazing new tools and technologies at your disposal. Everything from completely automated AI systems, to high tech sensors and devices that measure every aspect of the plants life cycle from start to finish. Plants are simple creatures, but if you want to reach optimum levels of quality and yield, there is a point where technology tops nature. Advanced hydroponics systems are a very common way to use advanced technology. Automated computerized systems can measure the nutrient uptake of the plants, the pH levels and which cycle they are in. High tech sensors can also be connected to your feeding and irrigation systems, doling out the precise amount of salts and minerals for optimal growth. Another way technology is utilized is by measuring and controlling the levels of oxygen and Co2 in the air, along with temperature and relative humidity. AI sensors can detect the slightest change in atmospheric conditions, turning on or off A/Cs, heaters, dehumidifiers, Co2 burners, and even reading the exact temperature of the leaves. Some of the newest technologies can detect when microscopic levels of molds and pathogens are present in a room before they become a problem. With the new LED lighting, lights can be finely tuned to the exact spectrum and brightness required for optimum vegetative and flower production. Available to you also are AI timers programmed to flip plants between day and night cycles without having to lift a finger.
Advanced Techniques For Growing Marijuana
There are many advanced growing techniques that can be used for cannabis cultivation. From Sea of Green and Lollipopping, to very advanced methods such as Super Cropping and Monster Cropping. These more advanced techniques may be utilized to get the most from a cannabis crop in quality and yield. Though, they are generally best left to the experts until first mastering the basic art of growing. Once the basic environmental conditions are dialed in such as optimal temperatures, feeding schedules, lighting and grow medium, one can attempt more advanced growing techniques. In order to take your crops to the next level, techniques such as the aforementioned Super cropping which entails breaking branches without separating them from the plant. Screen Of Green or ScrOG, which limits plant stature while maximizing yields. Fimming, or trimming, off new young shoots to double the node sprouts, and Defoliation, removing excess fan leaves combined with a targeted bending of stems. There is also Lollipopping for those massive Instagram worthy colas. The commercial market is now focused on what’s called Light Assist Greenhouse Growing. Pulling top dollar, it's become almost as popular as indoor bud. Using a combination of greenhouse style growing and natural sunlight, LAG uses high tech LED or HPS grow lights and finishes the plants off early using light deprivation. This is the product most recreational buyers are looking for these days. Specialty strains that are bred for natural sunlight and outdoor growing can be amped up and enhanced with LAG and controlled high tech growing techniques.
Cannabis Techniques During The Flowering Stage
There are some tips and tricks of the trade as far as growing techniques to follow during the flowering stage. In order to boost bud size and yields, some growers swear by these few simple methods. Firstly, monitor plants closely during the flowering cycle, as this is when pathogens such as bud rot and other molds can take hold. If not early on, mold can destroy an entire crop. Be on the alert for a musty smell, breaking open a few buds once in a while to look for an unnatural brownish-grey color. Nearer to harvest, drop the humidity to around 40% RH, this will help prevent the damp conditions molds thrive in. Switch your light cycle to a 12 on/12 off, red dominant color spectrum, mimicking late summer and fall sunlight to trigger flowering. Lower temperatures between 65 to 85 degrees F to force the plants to direct all their energy into fall bud production. This is also the time to raise potassium levels and add bud boosting supplements along with staking for support and trimming any remaining fan leaves. Flood the daytime cycle with high levels of Co2 if you have it, boosting photosynthesis to the next level. Make sure your room has good air circulation and extraction fans to remove excess Co2 during the night. Use fresh water flushing and light deprivation over the last few days to remove any chemical fertilizer taste, along with a 48-hour period of darkness to harden and densify those nugs.
The Best Strains To Grow In the USA
Starting with a premium quality seed strain is number one. Without that, there is little chance of success when attempting to grow the best cannabis products in the USA today. The best bud starts with the best seed strains, and in a market that is incredibly particular and well educated on their weed, this is imperative. In the competitive cannabis market today, if the ganja’s not seriously dank and gassy, it's not going to compete. To get that gorgeous, THC laden, resin soaked, sticky-stank bud, you will need to start with a top quality strain such as Star Killer Photo Fem from WSUS. Another one of the most popular strains bred specifically for growing in the USA, is our Quarter Pounder Auto Fem. As you can tell by the name, this is one massive producer, and she doesn't disappoint when it comes to those deadly over the top yields. With so many different climate zones and geographical areas, there is a seed strain for every cultivation situation across the country. Great for tropical climates such as Florida and Hawaii, an indica dominant hybrid such as Blackberry Moonrocks Photo Fem kills it at 33% THC levels, it’s the berry bomb! If you live in the great white north, well you’ll love the ever popular Bruce Banner Auto Fem. This hardy, fast growing, ruderalis hybrid which flowers automatically in just two weeks might be the one for you. No matter the geographical location or growing conditions, there’s a strain available to suit your needs.
