Ok, so I've done tons of research. There is all kinds of different methods for increasing your yields, from slight additions such as molasses to things like topping, LST, etc. etc. What I need to do this year is increase my yield to more than I've ever been able to grow. This year is extremely important for me to nail, and this past season (while a huge success) was a complete failure at the same time. I yielded possibly total about a pound of weed, but this was divided in two with my brother and we made the mistake of having too many plants, and many got neglected. Overall we had about 25 females but we could have pulled off the same amount of harvest from only 6 or 8 females. So the goal this year, is exactly that. To grow 6 to 8 huge monster bushes that will provide me hopefully at least 3 to 4 pounds of quality smoke. This is for my own personal use until the next season, but also my lifeline for the wintertime. If I don't nail this I don't know what I am going to do financially. So, I already have all my supplies. I have an extremely high quality organic compost that is locally made from 13 different types of compost and other additions, I water with very clean creek water from my mountains, so no pH problems there, and I have pots that should be big enough to grow a plant that is capable of producing a pound. I just don't want to only plant say 20 seeds and end up with 10 females and those 10 females only end up producing not even a pound. I have the ability (with the help of brother) to carry 12 to 15 gallons of water at a time to the plot, so I feel like 10-12 plants will be plenty sufficient receiving 1.5 or so gallons every 2 days (and the plot gets between 6-8 hours of direct sun every day even into the fall). What techniques should I introduce this year into my grow? Should I try to train some of them? Should I try to top them? what do you expert growers recommend? I will also be adding high quality worm castings to my soil and rock dust, if there is anything else that people have noticed increasing their yields please any suggestions are more than welcome, I need as much help as I can get and I need to start planning for success. I'm tired of running out of smoke before the new year even starts, and I'm tired of not being able to afford a living because I can't get up and off the ground with my product.
Well the only other thing would be strain selection. Like big bud or one of its crosses like critical mass....
not necessarily true. While certain strains of course are designed for yield I am not concerned with big yielding strains as much as turning high quality strains into big yielders. The reason for this is that I am not looking for a generic high that I will get sick of after 6 months of smoking. I want a smoke that will keep me occupied for lots of months with little to no tolerance gain as well as mostly sativa effects. A good grower can take any strain and make it produce a large amount of buds, someone like Dankohzee or OldPork are good examples...this is what I am trying to achieve. To take a typical strain that isn't meant for commercial use, and grow it out to max potential to achieve pounds of cannabis from a small number of plants. but it requires a certain methodology that I do not quite understand yet.
I'm no pro but i think personally the best way to grow monsters is to start them inside maybe 3 or 4 weeks before you put them outside, then put them directly in a large hole you dug out and filled with a good soil mix. Another huge factor of course is how much sunlight they will get each day.
Couple questions. Number one, why are you asking what techniques you should use to increase your yeild, when at the beggining of the post...you listed all of those techniques? For pound plants you're going to want at least 30 gallons of soil, probably more. In which case towards the end of the grow your plants will be drinking much more than 1.5 gallons. Also, do not go every two days, 1-2 a week max. Buy feminized seeds so you don't have to worry about males and then just top them on their 5 node, Lst from there, then top a couple more times through out veg. Check out my 2011 grow I got about 1/4-1/2 lb per plant. Used subcools super soil, lots of good amendments you should check out.
You should start vegging now. put them out in the begging of April when they are about 3-4 feet tall already. 100 gallon minimum. I used 45 gallon smart pots an was pulling of 1-1 1/2 off of each of my ladies. 10-12 hours of good sun light. Like in farm field.
nail on the head. every element is important. strain, water, soil, sunlight...start early. try to find known clone strains, every seed is unique, clones are the same. be careful with mixing too many things into your compost. soil testing can be helpful. Full sun, plenty of water without over-watering, good pruning. pull everything you know into one season.
Well, due to my living situations I can't start plants indoors especially not months before April. I don't like to give my plants artificial light either, I prefer to let them grow only by the sun. How much water would you say is getting sucked up from a plant of said size? Someone said 1.5 gallons won't be enough, well then what is a good average? I am going to look into smart pots.
Y no artificial light. It just veg. Does not effect the bud quality. That is what u got to do if u want monsters. I I live in nor cal an saw some pics of dudes in humblot. they had around 10 600 watt street lamps outside to get there plants to veg bigger. They were pulling 10 lb plants.
you can give them full sunlight during the day, however since the current natural light cycle is too short for veg and will kick them into flower, you can supplement with evening light to make a total of 18hrs then gradually, slowly reduce that to equal early-June sun hours. this keeps you from flowering. I use a 90w "mother keeper" LED. I time my cycle based on when the sun rises and then my light comes on in the late afternoon and "extends" my cycle to equal 18hrs. does that make sense? you don't need high power lights b/c they get all day sun, just a little help to keep them from flowering. Water...no easy answer. watch carefully. depends on how much water you have available in peak season around september. how much water your soil retains. how often you want to water. there is a tricky and elusive middle balance. don't let em dry out too much, and don't overwater. I spend most of the season fretting and worrying about too much or not enough water. also, the weather effects things greatly. hot, dry days= more water. cloudy or cool = less water. it changes every day, all season long. If you have any extra plants, or culls one thing I like to do is take 2 extra plants, right next to my garden, and overwater the shit out of one of them. and not water the other one at all. I watch them die!! and take note of their appearances, how the leaves curl or yellow... this reminds me of the signs of over and underwatering....if you have extras, of course.
well its not that I think it'll affect bud quality its mainly for one the fact that I don't have the ability nor the funds to set up a lighting system like so, and number 2 I just don't care to. I feel like the results I am looking for can be accomplished within the bounds of a regular appalachian grow season I just need to add new ideas to my grow. I am going to try a combination of LST and topping this year. as well as adding mycorrhizae
Some strains just don't produce massive amounts of buds. For yield (or anything pertaining to a plant) the best place to start is genetics. Not that you can't get big plants. They are just not genetically built to yield what some other plants can. Some won't even come close no matter how good of a grower you are. Everything starts at genetics.... Is this a backyard medical grow? Or a guerilla grow? Makes a big difference on how I would approach the situation. Medical grows are limited by plant numbers. So it makes sense to grow the largest plants possible. I had a decent in depth post on growing large plants but it seems that it was deleted for some reason. If this is what you are planning on doing I can go over it better but it doesn't really sound that way so I wont go into it for now. On the other hand guerilla grows are not limited by number of plants but yet the amount of work to bring soil and water there and things of that nature. So it is not beneficial (IMO) to try to grow monsters vs normal plants. I would for sure use the fact I am not limited by numbers to my advantage. Especially once we are talking about yield. Yes you may spend a few more bucks on seeds (or clones) to start but it would make for the path of least resistance. I would do about 20-40 gallons of soil per a hole and top dress with manure and alfalfa. As for yield. Get a good spot with plenty of sunlight facing the proper direction. Plants get most their energy from the sun (I think it was like 95% and 5% from the ground or something like that). The amount of sun is huge with yield. Get some good high yielding genetics. Super-crop once or twice and let the plants do its thing. Make your own high quality soil and give the plants water and let them do all the work.
All growers have real jobs. Time to grow up. Your going to make like 30 g a years selling weed with no job. Looks a little suspicious to the IRS
The Effect of Electrical Lighting Power and Irradiance on Indoor-Grown Cannabis Potency and Yield. (abst – 2011) The Effect of Electrical Lighting Power and I... [J Forensic Sci. 2011] - PubMed - NCBI
well you don't know how I intend to use any money that I may be fortunate enough to receive and as far as I'm concerned the IRS can shove it up their ass. Its not like I'm going to be doing anything tax-trace-able so they won't even know. I have places to live that aren't taxed, nor are they prevalent to the public, therefore I consider myself and my tax-free ass safe so long as I don't reside at an address and I kinda like residing in a place where there is no address.
Damn son. Either your still pretty young or you just been doing nothing with your life the past ten years? How could this be considered your "job" when it is very obvious you have yet to take a beginners course in growing....anything.
What they are trying to say is that if you make 30 grand illegally it's cash but you will never be able to buy a house, buy a car, probably even rent an apertment you would need a co signer. And if you want to grow professional wouldnt you be alot better off indoors?You can't risk losing a harvest to weather if you have rent, car payments due. If you want to live in your mom and pops basement for the rest of your life than it'd be ok to try to grow professionally outdoors but for my time and money id do it indoors with controllable lights to increase yield