Cannabis Pruning and Training Techniques Part 1 Artificial Auxin Auto Flowers • Generally don’t prune or train autoflowering strains • Can top them early • Generally don’t have time to recover and yield will be small if you remove a lot of the vegetative growth Topping (photoperiod) • Vegetative stage • 6-8 internodes • Yields 2-4 branches • Benefits of Topping and Fiming • Promotes lateral growth • Reduces plant height • Increases yield in select varieties • Control the cannabis canopy • Promotes light penetration to lower branches Fiming • Remove new growth but not the meristem • 4-6 branched Monster Cropping • taking clones from a female plant that’s 2-4 weeks into the flowering stage and placing it in a vegetative light cycle. Low Stress Training Advantages of a uniform canopy Results of Low Stress Training Many Devices and Techniques to Bend the Plant Screen of Green High stress vs Low stress Topping (photoperiod) • Vegetative stage • 6-8 internodes • Yields 2-4 branches • Benefits of Topping and Fiming • Promotes lateral growth • Reduces plant height • Increases yield in select varieties • Control the cannabis canopy • Promotes light penetration to lower branches Fiming • Remove new growth but not the meristem • 4-6 branched Bonsai Mothers for Unlimited Clones Sea of Green (SOG) • Generally uses clones for canapy uniformity • More plants per square foot • Efficient use of light • Early harvest High Stress Training High Stress Training • The benefits of high stress training are similar to those of low stress training, in that when done correctly, HST can result in shorter plants with many more buds than an untrained plant. It is also understood that high stress training can increase the levels of THC and CBD in cannabis plants, because cannabinoids act as the cannabis plant’s defense system in the wild. Topping and cutting the plant puts it under stress, and it follows that the crop would increase its protection when under attack. • https://herbiesheadshop.com/blog/lowstress-training-lst-vs-high-stress-traininghst High Stress training injures the plant Harvest 3 direction for harvest • Sinsemilla/bud/flower • Regular seed • Feminized seed • Fiber and seed harvest to be covered another time Immature Female Flowers Sinsemilla Trichomes, or hairs on female flower Photo: Kate Arildsen Cannabis glandular trichomes alter morphology and metabolite content during flower maturation The Plant Journal, Volume: 101, Issue: 1, Pages: 37-56, First published: 30 August 2019, DOI: (10.1111/tpj.14516) Pharmacology & Therapeutic Potential of Cannabinoids Panagoda 2019 More on Sinsemilla/bud/flower Harvest Later • Trimming • Drying • Curing • Storage etc. Regular seed Regular seed • Easiest way to get seed • Abundant seed/cheap • But seeds will be 50/50 male female • Excellent way to make new hybrids Normal/Regular Punnett Square Feminized seed- 2.5 methods • Rodelization • Getting a female to make male flowers by stress or age • I did this last semester unintentionally by fertilizing late in bud • Silver compounds • Blocks the effects of ethylene • Purchase feminized pollen (usually made by adding silver compounds) STS silver thiosulfate Colloidal silver STS silver thiosulfate • STS is a compound that blocks the action of ethylene, the "female hormone" in many species of plants. When you apply the Silver Thiosulfate (STS) spray, the plants absorb the compound through their leaves or flowers where it blocks the action of ethylene. This causes the plant to grow and develop as if it were male. DIY STS • Can mix Sodium thiosulfate and Silver nitrate to get STS Ethylene • Gaseous plant hormone • Usually a hormone of senescence or ripening • One bad apple spoils the bunch, placing banana in a paper bag with unripe fruit “Banana” anthers on an otherwise female plant “Banana” anthers on an otherwise female plant “Banana” anthers on an otherwise female plant Purchase Pollen, good option with plant limits Hermaphrodite pollen makes all female or feminized seed X X X XX XX X XX XX For both Feminized and Regular seed, wait until seed has the dark seed coat. Often they will emerge from the calyx.
