Mistakes During Plant-Training: What Can You Avoid

Growing cannabis for the best results is the ultimate goal of any grower. If you’re determined enough to achieve the best buds from your cannabis yield, avoid mistakes. 

You cannot afford to make mistakes while getting closer to your cannabis harvest. Moreover, if you start avoiding mistakes from the beginning, you will enjoy healthy cannabis growth. 

You must avoid mistakes while training your cannabis plants. As plant training is one of the most significant ways to boost cannabis growth, you must learn how to avoid mistakes in the process. 

In this article, cannabis companies like Homegrown Cannabis Co. have pointed out all the rookie mistakes that growers make when training cannabis plants. 

So, let’s check out the common mistakes that you must avoid.

Scrog Mistakes

scrog-mistakes

ScrOG, or screen of green, is a popular method of plant training to get the best results from a harvest. This method entails a mesh screen for weaving stems to develop an excellent cover of colas that could effectively push your plant’s life to maximize yield. However, it is a labor-intensive training method that needs practice and understanding to achieve exceptional results. 

If you’re a new grower who likes challenges, then this method will be exciting for you. If you plan to try this method, ensure to keep a few harvests under your cannabis yield for better results and minimal wastage. Moreover, you have to keep a solid understanding of the stages of cannabis growth to find out how your cannabis plants will react to grow under a screen or display. 

If you want to execute the ScrOG, you have to get the correct position for your screen. You can sit your screen position by about 15-20 inches above your growing pots. Then, attach the corner of the screen to the sides of your growing room. If you fail to place the screen properly, it can fall into your cannabis plants and ruin the complete harvest. 

Many growers tend to think that after installing their screen, they can leave their plants to carry their functions independently. You must avoid this mistake as it will destroy the quality of your cannabis harvest. You have to start training your cannabis plants with the help of pruning, LST, and topping. You have to constantly monitor your plants under the screen for about two weeks until it starts flowering. Furthermore, you have to guide them through the mesh. 

Finally, you will achieve optimum results with a green canopy of thick colas through a screen. 

Mainfolding Mistakes

mainfolding-mistakes

Mainfolding or mainlining is an effective method that helps to maximize the energy in your cannabis plants. If you trim down some branches from a single node, this technique will help to develop even and thick colas. For instance, it acts as a form of topping for your cannabis plant training. 

But, you have to avoid any damages to your plants while getting the proper order of mainfolding your plants. Firstly, during the vegetative stage of your plant, you have to set up the manifold efficiently at the correct time. For instance, you can use 5 or 6 nodes of young cannabis plants. Then, proceed with topping back the plants to its third node. In addition, you have to remove any foliage beneath this third node too. Thus, your plant will eventually start to lay down energy into growth at this node. 

If you’re a new grower, you must avoid the mistake of mainlining your plants too early. This can result in a delay in your plant’s growth and may also cause the death of the plants. 

One of the other mistakes made by the growers is going tough on the LST. You must avoid this mistake to protect your plants from getting fragile. If you’re manipulating or bending the young plants, you have to be cautious enough not to break the main stem or branches. This may slow down the recovery of your plants. In such a situation, you can split your LST into several sessions to avoid any further damage. 

If you want to try out this technique, try to avoid the mistakes mentioned above and be extra cautious with your harvest. If possible, try practicing this method with a few cannabis plants at first. 

Defoliation Mistakes

defoliation-mistakes

If you want to enhance and maximize the space and light for improved cannabis cultivation, you can use the method of defoliation. In this process, you have to cut down the unnecessary foliage of your plants. This will allow abundant light to penetrate through the various parts of your plant for the efficient growth of buds. This task can be easy for experienced growers, but proper defoliation can be challenging for new growers. 

But, one rookie mistake made by many growers is the absence of knowledge to remove the suitable foliage. If you’re a new grower and want to succeed through this process, then avoid such a mistake. 

It is advisable to start off pruning with the fan leaves. The fan leaves are the big leaves that grow around the nodes and take up a lot of space and light away from the bud sites. 

But, try to avoid the mistake of pruning away the crucial parts like sugar leaves or growth tips of your cannabis plants. Pruning these parts can inflict stress and affect the quality of your buds. 

Another rookie mistake that you must avoid is the early defoliation of your plants. You must remember the fact that defoliating is removing foliage. But, seedlings or too young cannabis plants do not have any unnecessary foliage at that stage, so there’s no need for pruning. If your plants are growing slowly or showing signs of sickness, you must avoid pruning as it may cause further damage to them. 

Finally, you must avoid the mistake of not using defoliation at all. Your cannabis plants can absorb a limited amount of energy, so defoliating them is necessary. If you don’t defoliate and train your cannabis plants, they will transmit a lesser amount of energy into the main bud sites. 

No Consideration Of Medium

no-consideration-of-medium

If you want to enhance the response rates of your trained plants, you have to ensure a better growing medium for the plants. If you have trained your plants with LST techniques, the response can be equal. But, plants with DWC or hydro respond much quicker when encountered with harsh treatment than organic soil grows. Your soil benefits from the extra growth for a longer time. 

The recovery period of your training techniques will mainly depend upon the variables of your cannabis growth. If your plants have been through some bruises, bent, or mishandling, you have to spend some time watching them and giving them space to recover. 

So, try to avoid this mistake of not considering the medium for your cannabis growth. 

Snapped Branches

snapped-branches

One common mistake that you must avoid as a cannabis grower is making snapped branches and training the plants before they are strong enough for pruning. 

Although you can splint and tape back the snapped branches, it will take time for them to recover back. Similarly, the plants that are too young to train are not strong enough to respond with vigor and may get stunted. 

You must avoid the mistake of attempting any training method in your cannabis plants until they grow to the sixth node. So, ensure to get the best timing for gently training your plants.

Piper

Piper Skyler West: Piper, a sports medicine expert, shares advice on injury prevention, athletic performance, and sports health tips.