Revegitating a cannabis plant...

[FenceWalker]

Thought I would document one of my attempts at revegging a plant.

I bought a pack of Nirvana indoor mix. They sent me 11 seeds (instead of ten, nice of them), but only 5 germinated.
Out of those 5, 1 was male and 3 were destroyed in a lighting S.N.A.F.U. which left me with one female plant. From the short flowering period I believe it was Top 44. I wanted to keep this strain, so I decided to reveg to get a couple clones off of it for mother plants. If it worked, great, I would keep the strain. If not, I had a crapload of Skunks to grow, so I figured I couldn't lose for trying.

When I harvested it, I left 3 pair of fan leaves and one bud about the size of a dime. My reason for only leaving one bud as vegetative growth? Greed.
I wanted to smoke every bit I could.

What happened next I found very interesting.
I put the un-harvested remains in a 5 gallon bucket, shoved it under my 250 watt MH (I have since this attempt traded in my MH for HPS lights) and sat back to wait.
In 3 days I started to get that deformed mutant growth from that one bud.
You know what I'm talking about right? The "spinach leaves"?
Soon, the leaves straightened themselves out. What I wasn't expecting was that one bud when it started to grow out was going to act like I fimmed. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Here is a shot of what that dime sized bud turned into. I have taken off all the mutant growth and also trimmed half a dozen small suckers that were clogging up the middle of the canopy above.

Kind of looks like a Rhyzome, doesn't it?

[FenceWalker]

Now here's a bigger look at the plant. I had 13 shoots at the beginning, but my 250 just wasn't enough light for that dense of growth, so I trimmed all but 7 off.



And a shot with a ruler so you can get an idea on size.

This is right around week 4 of revegging I believe. Somewhere between 3-4 weeks.

I took 7 clones and left enough growth to flower again if I wish.

[FenceWalker]

I ended up taking 11 clones off my revegged Top 44 plant. I had six nice and healthy clones rooted and potted, waiting for the hps to free up.

Once I verified my clones were rooting, I popped the revegged mother into the flowering area.

Here is a pic of the mother about 10 days into flower.

[FenceWalker]

So, to sum it all up...

My revegged top 44 plant once harvested, dried and cured was the same quality of smoke as the first harvest, but here's the rub...

Previous grows I never owned a scale. I had always used rate of consumption as a guide to how much my plants are yielding.
Well, this time I had a scale. So, I weighed this plant right before I put them in for the cure. 76 grams.

My previous grow using the 250 watt MH, I thought I was fighting to get an ounce a plant, now I have over 2 ounces.

Since this reveg, I have used a 400 watt hps and a 1000 watt hps and I find consistently I get a better yield with revegging than I do with the original grow.

If you have the time and space to revegitate a plant, I would recommend it. As a last resort for saving a strain you enjoy as well as growing a known quality again. I'm a fan.

[llama]

interesting....

My only question is scince the root mass already used up all of the soil for the first veg, what do you do about that? do you have to use heavy ferts all the way from the beginning? Replant? wouldnt it become REALLY rootbound by the end of the second grow?

[FenceWalker]

I have rarely run across root bound plants. I generally grow in a 3 gallon container for a 4-6 week veg and then flower. If you transplant to a 5 gallon bucket after the first harvest, there will be no problems concerning root bound.

On the off chance (used smaller containers, grew longer) that you have root bound in the container you use, you can trim up to 1/3 of the root mass before popping them back into veg.

As to fertilizer, I go back to lightly using veg ferts to start with, since there is less vegitation at the beginning. Then I step it up to the usual tablespoon per gallon.

[THesCientist]

Great Post.

Do you plan on doing this again with one of the clones?

[FenceWalker]

Yes, I generally reveg once with every strain I find that is a keeper. I've done it with Top44, White Widow and AK47 X Soma #10, so far.

I've heard there are strains that don't take to revegging, but I've yet to run into one. :shrug: