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Issue #390 - Sunday, October 6, 2019
Dear Fellow Grower,
In today's issue...
- Is there such a thing as an Optimum final height? YES! The optimum final height of your plants depends on your situation, but don't worry, we're going to help you find it!
- One type of pest has ruled this year with an iron fist. Of the hundreds of pest pictures we've received this year, more than 50% of them were of the same bug! Who was this highlander of bugs? This juggernaut of cannabis pests? I bet some of you already know from experience...
- Today's trophy pics come from a grower whose plant is substantially taller than him. Between that and the amazing backgrounds in the photos, I can see why he's so happy!
- Someone wrote in for help when they spotted a huge, gross-looking sac on their cannabis plant. We didn't know what it was at first, even after seeing the inside of the sac. We were suprised to find out what it was...
Nebula Haze & Sirius Fourside (founders of GrowWeedEasy.com)
"The height of my goals will not hold me in awe, though I may stumble often
before they are reached."
~Og Mandino
What is the Optimum Final Height
for Cannabis Plants?
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by Nebula Haze
"Is there an Optimal Final Height for the plant?
Most everything I read says to continue the Vegetative Stage until the plant is about 1/2 its desired height, then flip to Flowering Stage, because plants about double in height on average.
Assuming you are keeping the canopy as flat as possible. Should you try for as tall as your tent/light will allow without burn? Or is there an optimal height found to give best yield/quality? Does the plant waste energy moving the nutrients up a taller plant?
I see amazing pictures of bountiful plants that appear to be under 36″, with lots of fat dense colas."
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When it comes to training cannabis plants indoors, in the best-case scenario, you want your plants to be big enough to support as much bud as your grow light can produce. There’s no point in having a whole bunch of bud sites located below where light can reach because buds that don’t get any light tend not to fatten up. So, when growing indoors the optimal length of buds is heavily dependent on your grow light.
Optimal Plant Height Depends on Your Grow Light. Bigger Lights Can Support Bigger Plants and Longer Buds!
If you examine the structure of an indoor cannabis plant at harvest, you’ll often see that there are long fat “colas” at the top, and underneath there are smaller buds. The further down you get on the plant, the smaller the buds are. After a certain point, the buds are so small that they don’t really add any significant weight.
Big buds form on top, but as you get further from the light, the buds get smaller until there are almost none. If these plants had been allowed to get any taller (with everything else the same), they likely wouldn’t have produced much more bud than they did here. Any extra time spent in the vegetative stage likely would have been a waste of time.
This was the longest solid cola I’ve gotten from a 250W HPS grow light; it was about 12″ long. Below that point, the plant still made buds, but
they were individual buds as opposed to a long cola. The final height of a plant should generally be about twice the height of your longest main cola. That tends to be the “sweet spot” for a lot of strains.
If nothing else were changed, the yields would not be that different whether the plant is 2 feet tall or 4 feet tall under a 250W HPS, because the light doesn’t go down that far into the plant. However, a bigger grow light could have
supported a taller plant.
A too-tall plant isn’t a big deal if it fits in your grow space, but the extra lower growth that doesn’t produce bud is essentially a waste of electricity, time and money, since you potentially could have shaved weeks off your vegetative stage without sacrificing yields!
Under a 600W HPS, I haven’t ever seen a main cola that’s much longer than 2 feet even if light is getting down almost to the floor. So, I’m not sure how much benefit you would get by switching to 12/12 after the plant is 2 feet tall. These plants were switched at around 20″ tall under a 600W.
You can support even taller plants and longer colas under bigger grow lights!
Examples with Common Grow Lights
Although it’s true you want to flip to the flowering stage when your plant is about half the final desired height (since it will about double in size after the flip to the flowering stage), here are some general guidelines that have worked well for me:
Note: Always try to do an “autopsy” after you grow and take a hard look at your pictures to see if there’s anything you could have done to get even better results! I learn something new every grow!
- CFLs, T5s and Other Fluorescents – Switch when plant is 6-12″ tall (unless you also have light from the sides, then it can be a bit taller as long as all the bud sites are getting light)
- 250W HPS – Switch when plant is ~12″ tall
- 400W HPS – Switch when plant is ~17″ tall
- 600W HPS – Switch when plant is ~21″ tall.
- LEC or CMH Grow Lights – Follow general guidelines for HPS lights based on your wattage (a 315W is good for ~15″ tall, and a 630W is good for ~22″ tall)
- LED Grow Lights – Unfortunately, this depends a lot on the model. It’s partially a matter of trial and error because there’s no “standard” with LEDs like there are with other grow lights. A good rule of thumb is to take note of the length of your main colas after the switch to 12/12 (from a previous grow), then try to initiate flowering with
your new plants when they’re about that height. So, if your main colas end up around 12″ long, initiate flowering when the plant is 12″ tall, etc. But if you aren’t sure yet, I recommend just sticking to the “half the final desired height” rule with LEDs, because that ensures that at least the plant will fit in your grow space and you’ll be able to learn what to expect from your LED model.
Note: Defoliation (removing leaves to expose bud sites) lets you produce bigger buds further down into the plant! That means your light could potentially support slightly taller plants with longer buds if you use defoliation. This is why it’s important to always test your plants with your light and your setup, as everyone’s results will be a
little different based on their strain, environment and personal growing techniques.
“Tall” vs “Short” Strains
Although plants typically double in height after the switch, some particularly tall and short strains can stretch more or less than average! Always pay attention to what the breeder tells you about your strain and plan accordingly!
- If you have a “tall” strain, switch to the flowering stage earlier than recommended (1/3 the final desired height)
- With a “short” strain you should wait until the plant is taller before the switch (3/4 the final desired height), to ensure the plant is tall enough after it’s done stretching.
In the picture below, the grower could probably have switched to 12/12 earlier without hurting yields because the buds at the bottom are not adding much weight. Sativa plants like this can triple in height after the switch to the flowering stage, so it’s common to end up with a Sativa plant that’s far taller than expected!
Optimum Cannabis Height Outdoors?
Height restrictions are much different for outdoor plants that mature under the powerful light of the sun. Outdoors, plants can keep getting taller and taller as long as they get enough direct sunlight a day and have enough root space.
Root space is more critical outside and with soil than indoors or with coco or hydro. Root space for outdoor plants is usually provided with big fabric pots (600+ gallon containers in some cases!) or with raised beds full of good soil.
This plant got 12 feet tall in just one summer, with a 3+ foot cola at the top! It received 9+ hours of direct sunlight a day. Unlike an indoor grow light, the size of outdoor plants is limited by the root space and the number of hours of direct sunlight a day!
We're about to get into the real stuff, and you don't want to miss the rest!
Click the link below to continue and learn:
What's the Best Plant Height?
The Pest of the Year Award Goes To: Leafhoppers!
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2019 has been the year of the leafhopper. I've seen so many growers with leafhoppers that I was starting to think it was a cool trend I didn't know about.
Part of the problem with the type of leafhoppers below is that they're rather cute! That fact ends up saving their lives more than you would think.
In fact, we've had growers who were killing beneficial insects because they're ugly, but let these live because of their neat coloring.
Don't be fooled by their cuteness, check out our page on this cute pest to learn how to get rid of them quickly before they leave damage on your leaves!
Learn about Leafhoppers on GrowWeedEasy.com
Believe it or not, none of these pics are from the same plant!
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"I just want to say you have the greatest website of all the ones that I read, it's simple right to the point not a lot of b.s. or you need a PhD to understand what some of them people are talking about. Very informative keep up the good work."
Ron S.
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"A very good grow year!" ~KaL
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Help! What's Wrong with My Plant?!
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A grower sent in this picture, and initially, we were clueless as to what it was.
However, we reached out to our community and figured out what this gross looking thing is...do you know what it is?
"Can you tell me what's this pod like thing is, is was attached to one of the branches of my plant ? Thank you!" ~Papa Dook
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Give up?
It's the egg sac of a praying mantis!
Praying mantis' eat any bad bugs they find in your garden, so they're seen as a beneficial insect. Unfortunately, this pod was already broken open, so the mantis' won't survive, but now you know not to harm these sacs if you see them!
We encourage you to forward this email to a friend in need!
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Who Runs This
Newsletter? |
Nebula Haze:
I'll be honest with you, when I first started growing, I struggled. Now, it is my
mission to make it easier for new growers to get started as well as help advanced growers get bigger, better yields with less time and money. We are updating and adding articles every single week and our goal is to eventually build a comprehensive growing resource so anyone and everyone can grow if they want to! If we all share the knowledge there's more buds in the world for everyone :) |
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Learn which seed sources are personally recommended by Nebula Haze |
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 can be 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!"
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2019 GrowWeedEasy.com
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local laws but are not lawyers or medical professionals. 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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