Issue #214 - Sunday, May 29, 2016
Dear Fellow Grower,
In today's issue... - Learn about a "new" plant training technique known as schwazzing!
- Check out some neat pictures of "twin" cannabis
seedlings!
- Don't beat yourself up if you run into problems during your grow!
- This week's trophy pics show a gorgeous Bubblegum cola!
Nebula Haze & Sirius Fourside (founders of GrowWeedEasy.com) "The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak."
~Hans Hofmann
What Does "Schwazzing" Mean? by Nebula Haze
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I recently was asked about the "schwazzing" technique for growing cannabis found in a $500 (yikes!) hardcover book called Three a Light by Joshua Haupt.
"Schwazzing" is a term found in a book called Three a Light by Joshua Haupt. It refers to a specific time sequence of
defoliating your plants to increase yields. Here's a timelapse video showing the technique in action: |
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First defoliation at 0:30 (right before switch to flowering)
Second defoliation at 0:38 (3 weeks after switch to flowering)
This isn't a review of Three a Light as I've never read the book (again, it's $500!) and from what I understand there are more parts to the book besides just schwazzing, but the author of the book does talk about using the schwazzing plant training technique to increase yields indoors. In fact, the
author claims this technique can be used to help yield up to 3 lbs of bud from one light, hence the term "Three a Light." So what is schwazzing? What does it mean to "schwazze" your cannabis plant?
As it's core, schwazzing is a variation of defoliation, a curiously effective technique for increasing cannabis yields indoors. The idea behind defoliation is to remove fan leaves from your plant at specific times. As a result, the plant ends up producing bigger and fatter buds. Why does defoliation work to increase yields? No one knows for sure why cannabis plants
react this way, but I have a few theories.
Plants that have been defoliated early in the flowering stage make bigger, denser buds than leafy cannabis plants
Nebula's Theories on Why Defoliation (in the Early Flowering Stage) Increases Yields
- Cannabis is a wind-pollinated plant, which means the only buds that would get pollinated are ones exposed to the wind. If you think about that, it kind of makes sense that buds would only develop if exposed to fresh air and a breeze. In the wild, it's only those buds that would get access to pollen!
- Cannabis
spends energy lengthening colas/bud sites instead of maintaining leaves during the "flowering stretch." When you first switch your cannabis plant over to the flowering stage by changing the light schedule to 12/12, it responds with a dramatic increase in growth known as the "flowering stretch." Basically, most cannabis strains grow like crazy for the first 2-4 weeks after the switch to 12/12. In fact, plants can double or even triple in height during this growth spurt. So perhaps if the plant doesn't have any leaves to focus on, it just puts all that extra "energy" towards bud
development.
- Reaction to stress during the flowering stage - Is it possible that intense defoliation causes some sort of defensive reaction during the flowering stage? If a flowering plant gets completely defoliated by bugs in the wild, it could die before it has time to make seeds. Perhaps the plant is responding to this emergency by going into
"overdrive" as far as bud production. Just a guess!
Did you know? Cannabis Isn't the Only Plant!
You may be surprised to learn that cannabis isn't the only species of plant that rewards growers with increased yields as a result of defoliation. Some commercial crops including cotton need to be defoliated at specific times during the growing process in order to produce the best quality and yields. For various plant species including cannabis, defoliation takes advantage of natural plant processes to "hack" the plant into growing more bud than it would
naturally grow in the wild. Even if we don't fully understand exactly why the plant reacts the way it does, we can still use this information to our advantage!
How to Schwazze Your Cannabis! (Nebula's Version)
Step 1.) Defoliate heavily right before initiating flowering
Right before the switch to 12/12, remove most of the fan leaves on your plant, especially the biggest ones.
Before - Notice how leafy these plants are; no light can get down past the top canopy and the floor is in shadow. Way-too-bushy plants like this are prime candidates for defoliation
After - Notice how all the bud sites are now exposed, and the light can get to bud sites deeper down into the
plant.
Quick video: immediately after defoliation
Here's the resulting pile of leaves and stems.
Step 1B: On each cola, remove everything below top 2-3 growth tips (Optional) Only do this if you've trained your plant to grow
flat and wide with many colas via plant training! When I defoliate my plants at this stage I also remove all growth tips below the top 2-3 on all my main colas. This way the plant only focuses on those colas and doesn't try to make any larfy buds to compete with the ones
you've nurtured. I'm not certain that this is taught in Three a Light as part of the schwazzing technique as this is more geared towards smaller indoor grows, but it will reward you with bigger and denser buds if you've trained your plants to grow the right shape.
Removing Unnecessary Growth Tips Forces the Plant to Focus on Only the Best Bud Sites
When a cannabis plant starts making buds, it makes them all over the plant - everywhere there's a growth tip! (A growth tip is any new stem coming out of the side of another stem - these are always located at the base of fan leaves, and it is where
all bud sites are located)!
Remove all the growth tips except the top 2-3 on each main stem, otherwise they may develop into smaller bud sites that compete with your main colas
Bud sites that don't get direct light will never fatten up, but they keep stealing resources from the plant. By removing them before the plant starts making buds, you're letting the plant focus only on
the buds that have a good position under the light instead of developing larfy buds lower down on the plant that ends up in your trim pile at harvest.
Top View - Before & After
Side View - Before & After
Here's another example of schwazzing cannabis right before the switch to 12/12
(the one on the left was only lightly defoliated, while the one
on the right was heavily defoliated)
That is some pretty extreme defoliation, shouldn't it hurt the plant? I wouldn't necessarily recommend removing this much from your plant at once especially during your first grow because it could
stunt your plant... but I can tell you that the plant on the right ended up yielding 12.6 ounces compared to 10.5 ounces for the plant on the left. It could be genetics or a million other reasons causing the difference in yields, but I think it shows how a plant can recover from defoliation if it happens towards the end of veg or at the beginning of the flowering stage. If your plant is a nice size and growing fast and healthy, it can take quite a bit of
defoliation.
Check out how those two plants developed in the pictures below in the next step.
Step 2.) Defoliate again about 3 weeks later
By the time it's 3 weeks after the
switch to 12/12, plenty of new buds should be forming.
3 weeks after switch to 12/12
If the plant is getting bushy, defoliate the plant again around week 3 by removing the bigger fan leaves, and all the lower stuff that's in major shadow. In general, I recommend defoliate lightly
during the flowering stage after buds have already formed since you can always take more away but you can't put leaves back.
If your plant seems bushy around 3 weeks after switch to 12/12, you may want to do another defoliation session by removing most of the biggest fan leaves. This exposes the newly forming buds to plenty
of light / air and reduces the amount of shadowy areas
These next pictures show the progression of the two plants from above; notice how there is light going all the way down into the defoliated plant, while the left plant is mostly in shadow. All those hidden buds on the left won't fatten up properly without being exposed to direct light and fresh air. After exposing all buds around week 3 they will start
growing faster immediately (you will be able to see the difference).
Week 3 of Flowering: Left plant needs defoliation while the right plant was just defoliated.
No more major defoliation after 3 weeks of 12/12! As the flowering stage progresses, you may still prune away any small growth underneath that doesn't get light, as well as big fan leaves that block bud sites and can't be tucked away.
Although
defoliation (removing leaves) helps with better light penetration on bushy plants in the flowering stage, it's important to remember that your plant won't be making any new leaves after the first 3-4 weeks of 12/12. So you need to make sure to leave enough healthy leaves to last until harvest time!
Buds should be exposed, but it's important to keep enough
leaves to power growth until harvest
Why Week 1 & 3? These aren't magic numbers; they are just general timelines that are known to work well for growing cannabis plants. Cannabis can "re-leaf" itself
during the first few weeks of flowering, but not later. If you defoliate later in the flowering stage, or take too many leaves earlier on, the plant will not be able to make new leaves to replace the one's you've taken. By only taking leaves on Week 1 and Week 3, you get the benefits of defoliation while still giving the plant time to grow enough leaves to take it to the end of the flowering stage.
With your well-maintained plant under a nice grow light, you will be rewarded with long, dense thick colas with huge nuggets of buds! Here are those plants not long before harvest:
That's it!
This was just a mini-tutorial based on what
we've learned from our grows to show the results we've gotten. Although I only have a very general understanding of what's inside Mr Haupt's book about schwazzing cannabis plants, it seems so similar to what we do at GWE that I wanted to share our pics and experiences.
To get the original schwazzing tutorial straight from the horse's mouth (and to see what else he talks about in his book), check out Three a Light by Joshua Haupt (available on Amazon).
"Twin" Cannabis Seedlings?
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Did You Know? Twin tap roots can sometimes emerge from one cannabis seed. This is sort of like your seed having twins, because each new root has the potential to form into a separate plant! It's not incredibly rare to get twins, but it is pretty neat to see it happen in person!
When
this seedling sprouted, it had two taproots coming from the same seed
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When the leaves appeared, there were two distinct seedlings - you can see another tiny set of leaves behind the main
sprout!
In this case, I decided to kill the smaller sprout, but you can also gently and carefully separate the two seedlings and transplant one into a new home.
Don't Beat Yourself Up!
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As the buds from my last harvest slowly finish curing, I like to reflect on the grow I just finished as well as our past grows.
There are many lessons for growers to learn and I've learned a lot of them the hard way! But today, I want to share one of the most important lessons I've learned in my time growing
cannabis:
Don’t be ashamed when you run into problems!
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No matter your age or level of intelligence, as humans we continue to learn every day. And the fact of the matter is that every grower - no matter how naturally skilled - will run into problems at some
point, some big and some small.
Remember, cannabis plants are living breathing things with their own needs. It's only natural that their needs vary which can cause problems for growers, especially when combined with other unexpected events.
We're no exception to this rule by any means; we've run into
more than our fair share of problems over the years! If you want some proof, just check out this gallery of problems we personally experienced...as in, these pictures show OUR plant problems!
Look Who's Talking!
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Hi!
I'm looking to do my first ever grow soon and would just like to say a big thank you! The information here on your website is great and covers all the subjects and topics I was uncertain of.
Hats off to you! Harry
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Who Runs This Newsletter?
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Nebula Haze
Medical cannabis is important to me personally, and I'm dedicated to showing others how easy it is to grow their own supply of cannabis at home.
It is my mission to educate and build growing
resources to help both new and advanced growers get bigger, better yields with less time and money. We update GrowWeedEasy.com at least weekly (often even more often!) to make sure that our website provides you with all the information you need to succeed at growing!
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Sirius Fourside Sirius Fourside is a hobbyist grower who has gained the bulk of his experience growing in water as a medium (deep water culture, bubbleponics).
"Growing cannabis is a relaxing hobby in and of itself, but it also saves you money and keeps you from having to deal with shady characters. Cannabis is much easier to grow than people give it credit for, and growing in water doesn't
increase the difficulty much, if any. But whether you want to grow in water, coco, or a different medium, we'll show you how easy it can be!"
Get Your Seeds Delivered Safely!
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GrowWeedEasy.com has put together a hand-picked list of all the available SEED BANKS including what type of payment they accept and where they ship in the world!
Why not start your grow with quality genetics from an award-winning strain? Or choose a strain that suits your growing style and personal needs.
Still not sure? We recommend Nirvana for US residents. They've
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Copyright (c) 2016 GrowWeedEasy.com
Disclaimer: Grow Weed Easy only recommends products that we've either personally checked out ourselves, or that come from people we know and trust. For
doing so, we may receive a commission. Nothing in this e-mail should be considered personalized Financial, Legal, or Medical Advice. The contributors to this magazine grow legally under their local laws but are not lawyers or medical professionals. If you cannot legally grow where you live, we DO NOT recommend that you start growing marijuana, as you can be arrested, put in prison, or worse! Any decision to grow marijuana should only be made after consulting with an experienced lawyer
or other legal adviser. Any medical decisions should only be made after speaking with a doctor or other medical professional. Be safe!
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