Accidental- New Growing Technique - Cola Size Increase

fartoblue

fartoblue

Well-Known Member
Let me start by saying this is in NO WAY a serious new growing technique. But this is what happened. All clones from same mother.

I put some regular plants into flower not knowing if boys or girls. In another room I had a few backup clones from a feminized mother flipped on same day as my regulars. As it worked out 4 of my regulars were boys but they didn't show sex until about 10 days in, then by the time I took them out and got sorted it was more like 14 days in.

Not to worry as I had backup. Murdered all of the boys, but then to my horror found I had left the lights on for 48 hours solid with the backup plants ( you know how it is doing some work on them and the lights go off so put them on constant whilst you finish then forget). this probably happened around day 10 -11 into 12 /12

Long story short it obviously stalled them but now as luck would have it my regulars turned out to be a 10 week strain and my genuine 8 week strain backups are still stacking up at 8 weeks and nowhere near ready but the back up clone colas are massive and solid. I have some more of the backup crew same age in a different room that were not victims of the 48 hour lights on and they are finished but not nearly as big or fat. Time will tell how they turn out but so far this could be a brand new growing technique :D .

Caveat is they take 2 weeks longer which worked out great for me :D.
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
So you monster cropped them?
Plants had couple weeks of flowering followed by a short veg....then back to flowering?
This technique makes big fat colas and also will delay your harvest window but the big fat colas usually make up for that. It’s not a new way to grow; do this almost every run or at least try to.
 
fartoblue

fartoblue

Well-Known Member
Richard Drysift said:
So you monster cropped them?
Plants had couple weeks of flowering followed by a short veg....then back to flowering?
This technique makes big fat colas and also will delay your harvest window but the big fat colas usually make up for that. It’s not a new way to grow; do this almost every run or at least try to.
Click to expand...
Are you telling me this is a recognized growing technique ? If so amazing.

I always thought monster cropping was taking clones from plants in flower and then flowering the said clones which would have multiple flowering sites.
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
Yes...it’s a very old tek..and it is amazing; don’t know why more growers don’t do it. Can easily double the size of the colas if you have the patience. Helps to have a few grows under the belt so there is something in the jars while waiting out the extra grow time.
The problem is just as under any electric lighting indoors only the top 9” or so of a given cola is going to be tight dense nuggets once dried. Anything lower will tend to be loose and probably better suited to concentrate than smokeable bud unless you hack off the tops and step harvest.
 
Bignutes

Bignutes

Well-Known Member
Richard Drysift said:
Yes...it’s a very old tek..and it is amazing; don’t know why more growers don’t do it. Can easily double the size of the colas if you have the patience. Helps to have a few grows under the belt so there is something in the jars while waiting out the extra grow time.
The problem is just as under any electric lighting indoors only the top 9” or so of a given cola is going to be tight dense nuggets once dried. Anything lower will tend to be loose and probably better suited to concentrate than smokeable bud unless you hack off the tops and step harvest.
Click to expand...
How much longer typically?
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
Depends upon the age of the plants when you start the process. If the plants were started from seed I wait a full 8 weeks to flip them so there’s a week for the first transition; then let’s say you go 10-14 days at 12/12. Then another week of transition after going back to 18/6. So that’s almost a full month. It’s a good way to find/eliminate the boys. If you start from mature clones you can do it in just over three weeks.
I found monster cropping is even more effective when you initially transition to flowering by lowering the hours of daylight gradually. Let’s say you veg at 18/6 and then drop an hour of light to 17/7, the next week you reset timer to 16/8 and so on. When most strains reach 9 or 10 hours of darkness they preflower and begin to throw pistils. You can go straight to 12/12 at this point or continue to drop an hour of light per week. Transitioning to flower gradually reduces stretching somewhat and helps form long spires of bud in between tight nodal stacking; like outdoor bud grown under the suns natural cycle. Obviously this adds a real long time to the growth cycle; an unbelievable amount of patience is required. Reward is big fat colas; you can double the yield this way if you have good enough lighting to get down into thick canopy.
 
Bignutes

Bignutes

Well-Known Member
Richard Drysift said:
Depends upon the age of the plants when you start the process. If the plants were started from seed I wait a full 8 weeks to flip them so there’s a week for the first transition; then let’s say you go 10-14 days at 12/12. Then another week of transition after going back to 18/6. So that’s almost a full month. It’s a good way to find/eliminate the boys. If you start from mature clones you can do it in just over three weeks.
I found monster cropping is even more effective when you initially transition to flowering by lowering the hours of daylight gradually. Let’s say you veg at 18/6 and then drop an hour of light to 17/7, the next week you reset timer to 16/8 and so on. When most strains reach 9 or 10 hours of darkness they preflower and begin to throw pistils. You can go straight to 12/12 at this point or continue to drop an hour of light per week. Transitioning to flower gradually reduces stretching somewhat and helps form long spires of bud in between tight nodal stacking; like outdoor bud grown under the suns natural cycle. Obviously this adds a real long time to the growth cycle; an unbelievable amount of patience is required. Reward is big fat colas; you can double the yield this way if you have good enough lighting to get down into thick canopy.
Click to expand...
Really good info!

I did the gradual on last grow, yes it is a patient game.

When you transition down in hours do you change cct or type of light source?
 
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