How to control plant growth

 

In order for your plants to thrive and grow potent buds, you'll have to care for them. As their fate is held entirely in your hands, you may want to know exactly what you can do to influence their growth.

It is important to remember that each plant will respond slightly differently to the others, even if treated exactly the same. This is because they all genetically different. Although all the seeds belong to the plant species Cannabis, some seeds are Cannabis Indica, some Cannabis Sativa, and some a cross between the two varieties. The differences in growth between your seedlings may not be apparent at first, but you could soon notice that one plant develops faster and stronger than the others.

The following section describes some of the things you can do to influence the growth and development of your plants:


Health

Although your plants' health is mostly influenced by their growth stage, everything you do to them will have some effect on them. Plant health should always be increasing, and a steady decline generally indicates some sort of incorrect treatment. The health should only start to decline, naturally, towards the end of the flowering period.

The most common reasons for a decline of health are over or under-watering and allowing the tips to touch the lights. This causes the young leaves to overheat and start drying out. As a plant's health declines, it starts to lose some of it's lower leaves, which slowly dry out, shrivel and drop off the plant.


Potency

Although there are over sixteen chemical elements found in the Cannabis plant, the most important element influencing the "Cannabis High" (and thus determining it's potency) is tetrahydrocannabinol or THC. The amount of THC produced by each plant is mostly determined genetically. Basically speaking - if you plant the seeds of some really potent, fresh marijuana, the chances are very good that the plants grown from these seeds will be as potent (if not better)!!

The THC content of different parts of the plant varies considerably, the most potent parts being the flowering tips. The potency generally increases, but often fluctuates a little during the life-span of the plant, decreasing significantly a few weeks before the flowering stage begins. Although the female flowers are also generally more potent than male flowers, plant potency is not directly related to the amount of resin produced.


Lighting

Besides regular watering, lighting is the most influential factor determining the health and growth of your plants. With enough light, a marijuana plant can easily grow to four or five meters tall, but with insufficient lighting it will grow slowly, developing thin, spindly stems and buds.

To ensure that your plants get the most from the lights, you should always ensure that the lamps are a few centimeters from the tallest tips of the branches. Don't ever allow the tips to touch the lights, as they will burn and seriously harm your plants.

Marijuana enjoys a regular light cycle, so once the timers have been set, they should not be changed on an irregular basis.

Seedlings and vegetating plants thrive on light and do not require any daily dark period.

The flowering stage of the life-cycle of indoor marijuana is determined entirely by you, the grower. Grown outdoors, the plants usually respond to the start of autumn, when the days start getting shorter and the nights longer. To induce your plants to start flowering, you should try to replicate this natural life-cycle. When your plants are large enough for the branches to support the heavy buds - after about three months of growth - you can gradually start reducing the photoperiod to about 12 hours (or less). After two weeks of less than twelve hours of daily light period, your plants will start flowering.

If you increase the light period once the plants have started flowering, they will stop producing flowers and continue vegetating again.


Watering

Your plants will require regular watering, but they should not be watered every day. Germinating plants and seedlings growing in large pots may only require weekly watering, but if you forget to water them and allow the soil to dry out, the plant's health will be seriously affected.

The daily light photoperiod and the height of the light above the branch tips also influences the amount of moisture transpired daily. Generally speaking, the more light you supply to your plants, the more water they will use.

It is always better to water regularly, slowly increasing the amount of water supplied (as the plant gets larger), than to always water the same amount but with shorter time periods between waterings. You should always try to water your plants about two or three times per week (every second or third day).

Fertilizing

The primary reason for fertilizing is to supply the soil with nutrients which, in turn, feeds the plant.

As the plant grows in size, it removes nutrients from the soil, which must be replaced in order for the plant to continue growing at the same rate.

Nutrient requirements are low with seedlings, increasing during the vegetative stage. Although it may seem like a good idea to provide lots of nutrients during the preflowering or flowering stages, this is not recommended

As the plant gets larger, it's nutrient requirement increases proportionately. Seedlings don't require more than about one or two grams (mixed N,P & K) per week, whereas vegetating plants enjoy approximately three to five grams per week.

To enable the nutrients to reach the roots, you should always mix the fertilizer and the water together before watering your plants with this solution. Never fertilize without watering at the same time!!

Fertilizing always influences the soil pH. With regular use of Nitrogen, Potassium and Phosphorus, the pH will slowly start to drop. This is not too serious, providing it doesn't get too low. The ideal soil pH for growing marijuana seems to be about 6.8, but nothing less than about 5 will seriously affect the plant's health. To increase the soil pH again, you could add a little Calcium or bonemeal when watering. A pH above 9, on the other hand, will also negatively affect the health of the plant.

While the regular addition of Nitrogen will improve leaf and general plant growth, Potassium seems to enhance stem strengthening development. Phosphorus also builds strength, especially in seedlings and young vegetating plants. Calcium on the other hand, should only used to balance the soil pH, and should not be added on a regular basis.


Pruning

The main reason for pruning is that it helps to develop the growing branches, allowing you to directly control the shape of the plant. Each time you clip off a growing tip, two new tips start developing from the nearest leaf axil. By pruning the tips of the upper branches, you also give the lower branches a little time to catch up. When the lower branches catch up, the plant forms a flatter top and the light is able to reach more growing tips.

The occasional clipping of a growing tip will not seriously affect the growth or health of the plant, providing you don't repeat this too often, or clip of more than just the top two leaves. The clipped branches always require a few days to repair the damage before resuming vegetative growth, so you shouldn't clip them again within a week or so of the previous clipping. Seedlings should also not be pruned, allowing them a little time to build up the energy required for repairing plant tissue.