Growing marijuana is a satisfying experience for any cannabis fan. You can find seeds for all kinds of strains, grow them indoors or outdoors, and end up with fantastic yields of weed that you can harvest, cure, and store for when you want to use them. While first-time growers should stick to the basics, experienced growers may want to learn how to top their cannabis plants.
Topping involves carefully cutting the stalks of your cannabis plants, forcing them to grow bigger and bushier. It’s often combined with pruning, which involves removing dead leaves and branches from your marijuana plants to help your plants grow healthier. When done right, topping and pruning can result in much bigger yields from your cannabis plants. Here’s a guide on how to top your plants.
Topping And Pruning Cannabis: What Does It Mean?
Topping marijuana is a helpful part of growing healthy, fruitful marijuana plants. While beginners might want to skip this step, many growers top their plants as it results in better yields. Topping is performed during the vegetative state of growing cannabis plants and involves cutting the top of the stalks, allowing them to grow out and produce more stalks.
Pruning is another helpful process that can promote the growth of your cannabis plants. Topping and pruning are often done at the same time as both can support the growth of your plants. Pruning involves checking for dead leaves and branches which may be wasting the plant’s resources and cutting them off.
Topping and pruning your plants is fairly straightforward when you know what to look for and how to handle it. It doesn’t take much effort and it’s a good way to ensure your plants grow as successfully as possible. As such, it helps to learn how to top and prune your plants if you plan to grow marijuana.
Why Topping Your Cannabis Plants Is Important
If you want to produce larger yields from your cannabis plants, topping them is particularly important. Marijuana plants have a main stalk that takes up a lot of the plant’s growth hormones and takes a lot of nutrients to grow. When you snip this main stalk, more energy is distributed to side branches.
In doing so, you force your plant to grow wider and bushier. Side branches will branch out further and your plants will look healthy and satisfying. More importantly, this spurred growth will result in your plant growing more cannabis buds than you would if the main stalk was soaking up the plant’s resources.
You’ll need to pay attention to your plants and top them at the right time to ensure they grow as bushy and fruitful as possible. Once your plants start to redistribute growth hormones and focus on lateral growth, you’ll end up with larger yields of cannabis that you can then harvest and use as you please.
Why Pruning Your Cannabis Plants Is Important
Pruning your cannabis plants is also important. Many cannabis plants end up with dead leaves or stems during the growing process. Not only do they look bad, but they can negatively impact the growth of your cannabis plants. Nutrients and growth hormones are still being distributed to all parts of the plant, so pruning your cannabis plants stops these resources from being wasted.
Additionally, pruning helps you identify other problems with your plants. While you’re carefully checking your plants for dead leaves and stems, you might discover pests, mold, or other issues that might stop your plants from growing as fruitful as possible. You can then solve these problems swiftly to ensure you end up with the best cannabis plants possible.
It also has the benefit of helping distribute light to as much of your plant as possible. Removing dead leaves can help ensure the healthy parts of your plant get more light, which will help with their growth. You may even want to remove healthy leaves that don’t receive much light. This can help distribute light across your plants better and result in better plants overall.
How To Top Your Cannabis Plants
If you want to top your cannabis plants, you must wait until they’re strong enough to handle being cut. The best time to top your plants is usually after at least 30 days and once your plants have grown around 5 to 7 leaf nodes (growth tips that grow from the sides of the main stem). You can then cut near the top of the main stem.
Before topping your cannabis plants, grab a pair of pruning scissors and disinfect your hands. You should also sterilize your scissors before using them. You might also want to wear gloves for extra protection. You can then carefully cut near the top of the main stem – the initial stem that grows upwards.
After cutting the main stem, more nutrients and growth hormones will be directed to the sidewards-growing nodes. Eventually, these nodes will begin to grow colas of dense, thick cannabis buds. This enhanced sideward growth will result in a larger yield than you’d get if you left the main stem to grow naturally.
How To Prune Your Cannabis Plants
You should also prune your cannabis plants while they’re growing. Many people prune their plants at the same time they top them as it can help your plants grow more healthily. Once again, disinfect your hands and sterilize a pair of pruning scissors before you start to cut your plants.
Examine your plants and look for any dead leaves or stems. Dead or dying leaves will usually have brown or yellow spots or may become brown altogether. Simply remove these leaves using the pruning scissors. You can also remove stems that are full of dead or lifeless leaves.
While you’re pruning your plants, you should also watch out for mold, pests, or other issues that may impact your plant’s growth. Remove any leaves that have been affected to ensure your plants grow successfully. You might also want to remove leaves that take up too much light or leaves that don’t get enough light to improve light distribution for your plants.
Conclusion
Topping your cannabis plants is a simple yet effective way to improve your cannabis yields. Pruning your plants also helps with healthy, successful growth. Once you get used to topping and pruning your plants, you’ll end up with large, fruitful cannabis plants that give you plenty of high-quality weed.
If you don’t feel like waiting months to enjoy the fruits of your labor, you can also buy expertly-grown cannabis online. In addition to a range of strains, you can also find high-quality edibles, tinctures, concentrates, and much more, all available for discreet delivery from Low Price Bud.