If you are growing your own cannabis from seed, you naturally dream of cultivating beautiful bushy plants covered with rich buds at harvest time. Too often, the reality doesn’t
quite match up to that vision – so what can you do to maximize the yield from your next crop?
When you take a step back and look at it logically, there are six areas that will affect your yield. Let’s look at each of them in turn.
Play around with light and nutrients all you like, but without the right choice of feminized cannabis seeds, you will never grow a high-yield plant. Sativa-dominant strains tend
to produce greater yields than indicas. Amnesia Haze is one of the most popular choices among home growers for exactly this reason.
Newbie growers tend to underestimate just how influential light is the growth of a cannabis plant. It is vital during the flowering phase, but it also makes a big difference in
the final phase prior to harvest, and increasing the intensity of your grow lamps at this point can have a big impact on the final yield.
The idea of chopping bits off your plants can be a scary one. But topping them means they get more even light distribution and grow thick and bushy instead of tall and lanky. This method simply
involves trimming of the tops of the plants and thereby encouraging them to grow sideways instead of up. This in turn means more energy is put into creating buds instead of long
branches.
You need to maintain optimum climatic conditions for your plants in order for them to perform to their full potential, especially if you followed that earlier tip and chose a
sativa-dominant strain. It’s vital to keep the temperature and humidity consistent and as close to target as possible. Consult the growing guide for your specific strain, but in general,
seedlings like a temperature of 25-28C and high humidity of 65-70%. These should each be gradually dialed down at the plants grow, and by the time you harvest, aim for 20-22C and around 35%
humidity.
Over-feeding cannabis plants with too many nutrients is a common rookie error, and is so easy to do. Keep an eye open for strange discoloration on the leaves, as this is a sure sign of nute burn.
Adding more nutrients will not make your
plants grow strong and healthy, you have to understand which nutrients to feed and at what quantities during every stage of growth. If in doubt, it is better to take a “less is more”
approach.
Follow the above tips and your plants will be bursting with gorgeous buds. Now all you have to do is harvest them. Don’t mess things up now, you have to wait for just the right
moment, as the buds can grow another 25 percent in the final two weeks, so harvesting early can be disastrous. Leave it too late, however, and you will compromise the aroma and
potency.
