If you’re wondering how to keep densely stacked flowers from falling over, how to improve yields, or how to ensure the best crop, it’s time to look up—up to the canopy. Simply put, successful cannabis cultivation can be thwarted by improper consideration of canopy growth. If it’s neglected, it can take a toll come harvest time.
Many genetics will grow up, stacking, with a large flower cluster at the center. These frosty nugs are quick to catch our eye, but we shouldn’t get too caught up in ‘oohing’ and ‘aahing’ because what’s at the end of all branches should get our attention. We don’t want the flower cluster to topple over or prevent resources from reaching the lower portion of the plant. With just a little extra consideration and a few easy-to-maintain practices, we can say “peace out” to popcorn nugs, and instead get larger, better tasting buds throughout the entire plant.
Here are a few top cannabis canopy management techniques we’d love to puff, puff, pass along to you:
Implement proper trellising techniques.
Many of our favorite fruits and vegetables wouldn’t be possible without it—a little extra support in the form of trellising. Cannabis is no different, and trellising is one of the best techniques in our toolbox, especially when it comes to how to keep buds from falling over. In fact, many growers are familiar with the SCROG (“screen of green” method, which uses a grid-like trellis to fill any empty spaces and provide resources to a greater portion of the plant.
Trellising can provide adequate light and air to all growth tips (especially indoors), so that they can become healthy colas. It also provides structural support and can help to create an even canopy with adequate airflow, which is one of the best things you can do for mold prevention.
Consider your cannabis cola spacing.
Ultimately, trellising means optimizing the space between the colas. When we space the flowers, we carefully pull each branch into each square of the trellis—which supports stronger, healthier, larger yields, as well as an increased canopy size.
Using mainlining and manifold techniques can help to dispense nutrients and essential resources throughout the plant, “tricking” the plant into sending growth hormone to all branches, resulting in several strong colas—and more tasty, smokable flowers as a result.
Try the lollipopping technique.
This technique will satisfy your sweet tooth and help your cannabis plants use their finite amount of energy as efficiently as possible. Lollipopping is a pruning technique that works well with SCROG trellising, and can also be combined with mainlining. It’s simple to do and will help to promote healthy buds in all the right places.
Unlike a traditional Christmas tree-looking plant that has lower bud sites that don’t receive adequate light, lollipopping removes growth towards the bottom of the plant to maximize resources available for the top buds. This heavy underneath pruning optimizes the flower clusters at the top, leaving you with dense, potent, delicious buds.
Similarly, the one bud technique, which focuses on just a single cola (and resulting mammoth bud) can be used for indoor cultivation and smaller (2-3 gallon pots).
Take advantage of a healthy canopy for pest prevention.
One of the best benefits of proper cannabis canopy management? It’s easier to pay attention to the plants! When plants aren’t crowded by towering or falling main colas, it’s much easier to detect the presence of pests, and make appropriate amendments. It’s easier to check under the leaves for spotting or damage from thrips, whiteflies, or mites. You might even catch a glimpse of those annoying aphids hiding on the underside of the leaves!
With a well-managed canopy, better airflow and healthier plants are already more resilient to pests, but if they do come about, signs like poo, eggs, damage, and the bugs themselves are easier to spot and tackle quickly issuing integrated pest management (IPM) strategies.
At Giving Tree Farms, IPM is just one of the practices we use to produce sustainably-grown craft cannabis. If you’re a wholesaler interested in a product that’s achieved Simply Clean Certification from The Cannabis Conservancy, please fill out a Wholesale Account Form so that we can get the ball rolling!