Achieving higher cannabis yields is something that every grower wishes for. Understanding the different ways to increase cannabis plant yields before even deciding what strain you want can give you a major advantage once harvest time rolls around. In this article, we explain how light intensity, plant nutrients, genetics and plant training all play a huge factor, as well as our top tips for high-yielding marijuana crops!
The different ways to increase cannabis plant yields
There are several ways to increase cannabis yields and grow bigger buds, and they range from light intensity, plant nutrients, high-yielding genetics, carbon dioxide supplementation and plant training. Below is a better explanation of each.
Light intensity
As an indoor grower, you will have the opportunity to grow plants using HID lighting. These lights cover LED, high pressure sodium and metal halide. The light intensity will equal the amount of photoactive radiation (PAR) the plants receive, ultimately resulting in larger buds and overall yields. The better the PAR ratings of your grow light, the higher the potential yields can become. One way to ensure you have optimal lighting is to research your grow light before buying it and make sure the spectrum is suitable for cannabis plants from start to finish.
Plant nutrients
How much nutrition is available to the plants, will also play a major role in their yielding capabilities. The time you feed your plants, EC and pH levels will make a difference in just how fast the plants grow, use the available nutrients, and produce a high volume of buds. It is important to know that feeding the correct EC levels will prevent your plants from becoming nutrient deficient and produce the best results during the flowering period.
Big yielding cannabis seeds
As an indoor grower, sometimes even when using the best grow lights around, combined with carbon dioxide and plenty of nutrients and boosters, you will always be destined for small-yielding crops with specific strains. Working with high-yielding cannabis plants that have a reputation as cash cropping strains will be one of the simplest ways to obtain higher harvests every grow. The best thing to do is look online at high-yielding marijuana seeds, get multiple types at once, and see which one produces the biggest and best buds during flowering.
What about carbon dioxide?
Outside, the levels of carbon dioxide present will be around 400 parts per million. When cannabis plants photosynthesize, they will use carbon dioxide and turn it into sugars. Cannabis plants are capable of growing with up to 1500 ppm of carbon dioxide present; however, as a beginner grower, you should only use CO2 when you have the correct levels of light intensity for the plants.
More light means your plant will need more CO2. As a rule of thumb you can give your plants around 200 ppm more than your PPFD light measurement. For example, if you are giving your plants 1000-1200 µmol/m2/s, you can give 1400 ppm CO2.
The importance of training cannabis plants
Cannabis plants will grow on their own if left to their own devices, but did you know that training your plants can allow the final yields to be much higher. The reason is that the shape and canopy of the plants can be changed and manipulated during the vegetative and transition phase. There are many different plant training methods ranging from tying down, topping, fimming, super cropping, SCROG and pruning.
5 Reasons why your grow room may produce small plant yields.
As a beginner or novice-level grower, there will be times things do not go according to plan, and you end up with low yielding plants. You may not even know why half of the time the plants are not looking like your friend’s down the street. Below are 5 reasons why your indoor garden may be falling short in the yield department.
1. E.C and pH levels
EC refers to the electric conductivity of your nutrient solution. Basically, it is a way of measuring the potency of the solution and how many nutrients are available. When your EC levels are too low, the plants will begin to show deficiencies, and when the EC levels are too high, then the foliage will begin to display signs of stress. The pH levels of your water go hand in hand with the EC levels, as cannabis plants will only be able to access the available nutrients within a specific range of pH. If you are growing with soil, this will be around 6-7 pH, hydro and coco is lower at 5.5-6.5..
2. Not enough light intensity
You could have the biggest yielding clones around and still produce small-yielding marijuana plants, if there is not enough PAR and light present. How far you hang the grow lights from the plant canopy will also play a major role in how well the plants perform. 600-1000 watt HPS lights will deliver the best results when flowering cannabis plants, and LED’s with a high PPFD footprint and PAR rating will also.
3. The growing medium
The growing medium that is used will determine the size and mass of your roots. In order to produce big buds, you need to have big, healthy roots! Cannabis plants grown in soil may produce the best taste, however coco coir and stone wool have many benefits for indoor growers who are in search of higher-yielding crops.
4. Range of plant nutrients
How much food you feed your plants from start to finish will be one of the major factors in big yields. You cannot expect to produce fist-sized buds that are hard to squeeze when only feeding small amounts of nutrients. It is best to provide a consistent amount of nutrients on a frequent basis, combining boosters. We recommend always following our nutrient feeding charts, and you cannot go wrong!
5. Cold grow room temperatures
The roots of a cannabis plant do not respond well to cold temperatures, which can cause grow room floors and pots to become cold. As a result, your marijuana plants will begin to grow slowly and in a worse case scenario stop using nutrients and become stunted. The best way to solve this problem is to buy a temperature and humidity sensor and to make sure the grow room remains as close to 24 degrees Celsius as possible. You can always use a heater if you need to increase the temperature, especially once the grow lights have been turned off.
Which Atami flowering boosters produce the biggest cannabis buds?
When it comes to big buds, higher yields and the heaviest yields possible, then we recommend using the Bastics nutrient line consisting of products Bloombastic, Bi-Bloombastic and Rokzbastic.
Our conclusion
The main takeaway points that you should be aware of are that light intensity, combined with the right balance of EC levels, carbon dioxide supplementation, plant training and large yielding strains will be all you really need to hit those record-breaking marijuana harvests. Remember that increasing plant yields does not just mean to blast your crop with plant nutrients, and to pay attention to the quality and resin production of the buds. When it comes down to the best grow lights, LED lights may be the most practical in terms of energy efficacy and PAR output, making LED the most preferred grow lights for maximum growth and yields from cannabis plants.
