How to Train Marijuana Plants

Knowing how to train marijuana plants will cause cannabis to grow better and also easily increase your yields when it comes to growing marijuana indoors.

Therefore if top shelf quality is more important than quantity of bud then consider using one of these marijuana plant training techniques. These techniques are simple and very effective and have been proven to help your plants overall growth.

Also the best way for those who want to increase yields by up to 40 percent which is awesome especially for those who are unable to upgrade their indoor grow room lights.

Cannabis Plant Training – Train Marijuana Plants

Marijuana plant training is super simple and can be done in several different ways. Using one or all of these techniques will help your plants tremendously!

Bending Plants – This is where you bend the plant while not doing any damage to it.
Removing / Damaging Plants – Removing or damaging parts of the plant to promote growth
Timeline Manipulation – Modifying grow times to get increased yields.

Obviously by combining one or more of these methods can drastically improve plant growth and yield production. However keep in mind if you have auto flowering seeds it would not be good to manipulate growth timelines or damage the plant therefore in this case bending and securing would be your only option in this scenario.

Basic Low Stress Training – How to Top Marijuana Plants

Simply put Low Stress Training or LST for short is one of the widest used methods for training pot plants. Essentially the process entails bending stems away and down from the center of the cannabis plant causing the the top to take a flat wide shape resembling a flat table top. Often times growers will use string or twist ties to secure older plants in place as younger plants tend to bend easily. Below are a few of the most common ways to train marijuana plants

No Technique Marijuana Training – Ideal for new growers this method is super simple and requires nothing special. The idea is to bend the main stem 90 degrees when the plant is still young triggering the cannabis plants lower branches produce more colas.
Supercropping Marijuana Plants – Supercrooping or high stress training, perfect for getting an out of control cannabis plant back into shape. Unlike LST, supercropping intentionally damages the marijuana plant but in a way that promotes growth. It is kinda like strength training at the gym as muscles have to be tore down before the can be built stronger. The same rule applies here as growers will soften the stems prior to bending them causing enhanced cola growth. Keep in mind since you are working with older plants that mistakes can happen but luckily grafting tape is your friend here.
Screen of Green – Simple as it sounds this is simply a screen placed over the top of your cannabis plants where the colas are weaved through as the plant grows. This is great for supporting huge colas which some strains are well known for.

Damaging Marijuana Plants to Promote Growth

While to some this may feel counter intuitive, damaging or removing parts of your cannabis can produce several desired results when it comes to indoor cannabis cultivation. Obviously great for outdoors but this article is geared towards indoor growers.

Topping – Simply put cannabis growers remove the top of the plant to use as a clone and by cutting off the top of the plant you make it possible for naturally grow more marijuana colas. In fact simply by doing this alone you will get more yields than those who don’t generally speaking. Keep in mind this should be only done while plants are in veg and is one of the best ways to train marijuana plants that has a proven track record to make not only more but bigger buds.

FIMing – Similar to topping marijuana plants except a razor is used to shave the top of plant instead of removing it all. Although not as reliable as topping in my opinion.

Manifolding In manifolding or main-lining the cannabis plant is topped twice at the base of the cannabis plant splitting the stem in two. While this will add time onto veg the yields can be well worth it! This method produces bigger longer more uniform colas which we can agree is a very good thing!

Defoliation – Done while in veg and just prior to flowering defoliation, is where growers remove some of the lower inner leaves that may not be getting enough light and then once more during the intense growth period during flowering sometimes called the flowering stretch. A word of caution this should only be done on healthy indoor marijuana plants.

Timeline Manipulation – Train Marijuana Plants

Although not technically marijuana plant training, timeline manipulation of cannabis plants can increase yields tremendously.

12 / 12 from Seed – 12 / 12 light schedule done from a marijuana plant seedling. An option for those who want to harvest sooner than later but the results tend to be stunted plants. Admittedly not my favorite method as the bud quality is not there.
Sea of Green – Similar to the 12 / 12 from seed the idea here is to have a large amount of small cannabis plants vs having a few big plants. Plants are on veg for only 4 to 5 weeks during the process and the goal for growers is to turn over plants fast to get better yields without doing a great deal of plant training. However great for production this method is for those who want quantity of weed vs the top shelf quality more picky growers try to aim for.

Ultimately the choice to use marijuana plant training methods are up to growers discretion. For this reason there are many schools of thought regarding the best methods to growing marijuana but it is generally accepted that by training marijuana plants making them have a tendency to produce significantly more yields and better plant health which in turn creates more potent bud.

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