Issue #5 - Sunday, May 20, 2012 |
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Dear Fellow Grower,
In today's main essay Nebula Haze shows you how to get bigger yields with a technique known as super cropping.
Also in today's issue...
You'll learn where you can learn even more advanced techniques from some elite growers in Check it Out, a Quick Tip about where you can get a personal diagnosis for your sick plant, and the answer to a question about purple stems in Your Questions.
We hope you enjoy your issue of Grow Weed Easy!
To your success!
Nebula and Sirius
"The only bouquet I ever want to receive, for any occasion, is dried marijuana flowers."
~Nebula Haze |
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Super Cropping, High-Stress Training, and Marijuana Yields
by Nebula Haze |
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Cannabis is the only known plant
that naturally creates THC (which, along with CBD
and other cannabinoids, make these plants of particular interest to humans).
THC
is the principal 'thing' in the cannabis plant that causes the plant's
well-loved psychoactive effects. THC is produced mostly in the flowers
of the female cannabis plants.
But
cannabinoid-like substances are abundant in almost all plants and
animals, including humans. In fact, humans and mammals naturally have a
ton of receptors for cannabinoids throughout our brain and bodies.
If
you've ever slept, eaten, forgotten, or relaxed, then you've used your
Endocannabinoid system (yay for being a mammal!) and natural
cannabinoids.
Ok, yet why does the cannabis plant produce THC, which causes major psychotropic effects?
Did you know that THC is produced by the marijuana plant for protection?
Obviously it's not doing a great job protecting the plants from humans! :) (Or maybe it is good for them since we keep cultivating these plants...)
In
the wild, deer and many other creatures might eat marijuana flowers,
which would prevent the plants from making seeds and reproducing.
Yet,
as far as we can tell, most animals won't strip a whole marijuana plant
of ALL her buds. Either they think cannabinoids taste terrible, or
maybe they hate the effects. Therefore we believe the plants use THC as a
way to deter predators.
Maybe the animals just forget what they're doing and wander off...
Because
these plants use THC to protect against predators, when marijuana
plants are stressed, they'll put their bud and cannabinoid production
into overdrive as a last ditch effort to protect themselves.
Why is that all important?
For a marijuana plant, creating the prized cannabinoid-laden buds (which are used to make seeds) is their life's work.
As a marijuana farmer, it's your job to understand what causes marijuana plants to produce the biggest, most potent buds possible.
So I'm going to let you in on a big secret to getting the biggest, best buds when growing marijuana...
While
marijuana growers want to make sure that these plants survive until
harvest, keeping them as absolutely healthy as possible in a 100%
perfect environment won't get you the best results.
Instead, the best buds are produced when you learn how to stress the plants in just the right way to increase bud and cannabinoid production.
Which brings me to super cropping, one of the easiest, most effective ways to stress your marijuana plant for better harvests.
This remarkably simple technique will dramatically increase your yields, and all it takes is your fingers,
duct tape, and the knowledge
of what to do. It's based on the idea we just discussed of stressing the plant so she goes crazy with bud production.
Article continues below....
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FOR SERIOUS GROWERS ONLY
You've told me you're looking for a complete guide to growing marijuana that covers everything, from beginner to ultra-advanced.
And super cropping is just one technique to getting seriously killer harvests. If you want to learn ALL the secrets...
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I thought I already knew it all, but after I went through this grow bible, I discovered that there were still lots of easy ways I could increase my yields and grow even more potent buds! I find myself going back to it again and again for new ideas.
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What is Super Cropping?
Super
cropping is the name for a High-Stress Training (HST) technique when
you stress the plant by slightly hurting it in a planned way.
As
a result, the plant will grow bushier, with more buds, and higher THC
levels. This is the plant's natural response to protect herself in the
wild, in case things go wrong.
How to Super Crop
STEP ONE: Choose the branches you would like to super-crop.
Super-cropping
is best done during the vegetative stage, once the plant has grown a
few healthy branches and is growing vigorously, but before she is full
into the flowering stage.
For
super-cropping, you want to choose parts of the plant that are old, but
still bendy. The parts you use this technique on should still be green,
and not wood-like the bottom of the main stalk.
When
there are multiple colas, you should super-crop the same location on
multiple colas. When there's only one main cola, you supercrop the
bendy, greener growth towards the top.
STEP TWO: Grab the branch and squeeze with firm pressure between your thumb and forefinger.
Maintain
this pressure as you slowly bend the branch back and forth until you
hear a or feel a slight snap. When possible, try to bend the marijuana
plant in the direction that you would like for her to grow. The idea is
to damage the inner tissue of the plant as much as you can without
causing much damage to the outside 'skin.'
Some
growers just grab each branch and snap them quickly, but doing this
makes it more likely you'll snap the outside tissue and need tape
With
that being said, these plants are surprisingly resilient. If you don't
bend the super-crop site hard enough, she will just bounce back to where
she was in a few hours.
You
know you've succeeded when the plant now appears somewhat 'broken' and
now rests at a 90 degree angle where you bent her, and the branch stays
down.
This illustration shows a perfect example of a super crop, one that
doesn't even need tape. Use tape if you go a little overboard.
If
you bend her the perfect amount, her outside tissue will be mostly
intact, but the branch will not be able to stand itself up, which is the
best case scenario.
But
even if you super crop too much or too gently, this process will cause
her to grow a whole bunch of new colas, and leaves, because she doesn't
want to put all her effort into one branch that has probably just been
attacked by animals.
STEP THREE: In the best case scenario, you don't even need tape, because the outside of the plant is still whole.
If
you've gone a bit overboard, you may need to use duct tape (or another
strong tape) to reinforce the plant so she can heal properly, especially if you can see a open slit or crack on the outside of the stem.
Regardless,
the place that you originally bent will grow a big 'knot' almost like a
permanent band-aid, which can transport more water, nutrients, and
other good stuff compared to before.
STEP FOUR: Wait about one week before removing any tape. It's normal for the tissues to have discoloration at the healing sites.
If the site is still grey and appears totally wounded, just put the tape back on until she has grown her protective 'knuckle'.
Until then, she'll be able to transport nutrients and maintain all normal processes as long as she has the tape to reinforce her.
If plant tries to straighten any branches, just tie them down. They'll easily give in to your will after being super cropped.
FINAL RESULT: More buds, more branches, and a shorter, more controlled and bushy plant. Perfect for closet, stealth grows.
click for closeups
Unlike
topping or extensively plucking leaves, super cropping does not
dramatically slow down the growth of the plant (though you should expect to giver her a little time to recover), while giving you many of
the same benefits of these other High Stress Training techniques.
Try super cropping today!
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Plant looking sick?
It happens to every grower.
So don't beat yourself up about it.
Luckily, many problems are easy to fix once you know what you need to do.
GrowWeedEasy.com has a Nutrient Problems & Symptoms page as well as a Bugs & Pests page so you can learn how to diagnose and treat the problems yourself.
Or... starting today, we now have a Waiting Room where you can get your sick plant diagnosed by the Grow Weed Easy Plant Doctors!
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Q: Hey Nebula! My plants are young (growing in soil indoors with sunlight and my leaves are medium sized) yet my main stems are turning purple from the top downwards. Have you seen this before?
A: When a marijuana plant or seedling has a purple stem, it almost always is the
result of genetics. Some strains just grow that way when they're young.
Wait a week or two before making any alterations. The plant should turn
green soon.
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