Sometimes as a cannabis cultivator the business is a penny game, where every little bit counts. Higher yields, more plants, versatile crop rotation, especially as the industry grows, cultivators find themselves having to become more creative with their crop. It is safe to say that the bigger the buds you yield, the bigger the profit! That said, this article is here to shine the light on the most effective ways to increase your cannabis yield. 

Growing good weed is one thing, but growing great weed takes practice, time, and knowledge. Cannabis cultivation is not for the lazy and close-minded; it takes grit, love, and passion to follow through with a harvest. Let’s learn how to grow more weed, with bigger yields and happier plants! 

How To Get Bigger Buds: Environmental Ideals 

Like people, plants need a healthy environment to grow! Keeping your crops at the optimal cannabis humidity, temperature, and light intensity is a must to increase yield. Not only is this fact important when wanting to increase the yield of your crop, but it will make or break your harvest’s production. Whether you are growing indoors or in a greenhouse with minimal equipment the environment needs to remain consistent to avoid stress to your cannabis. Check out the ideal temperature, humidity, and light levels to create the perfect environment for your product! 

Ideal Temperature Range: 70-80 Degrees Fahrenheit 

Ideal Humidity Range: 40%-60% Relative Humidity 

Ideal Lighting Range For Indoor Plants: We recommend 600 – 900 ppfd in the vegetative stage and 1100 – 1500 ppfd in the flower stage with a 2 foot distance between the plants and light fixture. 

Note: Place the indoor lights on the “dim” setting (if available) to avoid light stress. When it comes to greenhouse growers, install a shade cloth, especially if you are moving your plants from an indoor setting to an outdoor setting in direct sunlight. 

How to Grow More Weed: Low-Stress Training 

Of course, getting great genetics and having healthy seedlings and clones will set your grow up for success, but that only gets you so far. Structure and a little bit of low-stress training is debatably the best growing method for yielding bigger buds. 

Topping is best done when the plant is very young (less than 2-3 weeks old) and has only 2-5 nodes in total. It is the process of removing the plant’s ‘top’ growth just above a node. This technique is a prime example of how to grow weed faster and more of it! Once topped, the two axillary buds immediately below the cut will then grow out into two new branches. By topping, a plant will develop more of a bushy shape, which will allow more light to hit more parts of the plant. Without topping, you’ll only get a few large nugs at the very top of the plant and the rest will get shaded out. Generally, a plant will get topped 1-3 times during its life.

Low-stress training (LST) is a technique used to manipulate plants into a low, wide, and flat canopy with multiple flowering sites at the same vertical height using trellis. It is a great way to build stronger plants and bigger buds. Topping and low-stress training are one of the most common plant techniques in which the goal is to stop the plant from growing taller, create new branches that can support more buds, and divert energy into lower branches and buds. 

Pruning, trimming, and plant training in general can be stressful for plants. It’s important that you allow your cannabis to develop enough before topping. Topping too early or while the plant is showing signs of damage or disease will surely delay the time to flip your plants which will set back your harvesting marijuana date. 

Increasing your Yield: Nutrients and Timing 

A key component when learning how to increase yield during flowering outdoor, indoor or greenhouse crops lies in the nutrients you are supplying your plants and the timing at which you feed them. Cannabis goes through many phases in its lifecycle and they all require a certain amount of nutrient levels that will greatly affect your overall yield. Timing is important for maximizing yields, so make sure you’re giving your plants the right amount of light and nutrients at each stage of growth. Check out this nutrient and ppm guide to lock in your feed for each lifecycle of your plants and avoid cannabis nutrient deficiencies along the way.

Plant Stage	PPM Level	N:P:K Ratio
Seedling	500-600	B-Vitamin + Aloe Vera
Vegetative	750-850	3:1:1
Aggressive Vegetative	850-950	3:1:1
Transition Veg to Bloom	850-950	1:1:1
Early Bloom	950-1050	1:3:2
Late Bloom	1050-1150	0:3:3

*NPK stands for Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium, which are the macronutrients to supply to your cannabis plants. Notice that cannabis plants require high levels of nitrogen (N) during the vegetative stage and require less nitrogen and more phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) during the flowering stage.

*pH: pH is so important when both watering and feeding your cannabis plants. Seedlings prefer a lower pH at about 5.5 and plants in the vegetative-bloom state should run at a 6.2-6.3 pH. Note: Never increase your ppm’s by more than 100-150 ppm for each consecutive feed to avoid nutrient burn. This will harm and delay the cannabis plant’s growing process. 

Extra Tips to Increasing your Cannabis Yield

• Increase container size: Using larger containers can give the roots more room to grow and can lead to bigger plants and higher yields.
• Increase light intensity: Providing more light to your plants can increase yields, so consider adding more lights or increasing the wattage of your grow.
• Defoliation: Removing some of the leaves from your plants can help increase airflow and light penetration, which can lead to bigger buds, higher yields, and happier plants!
• Compost your own super soil: Composted super soil can be made completely from scratch and can provide all the nutrients your plants need to thrive.
• Have a growing strategy that matches your business goals: This can help you stay focused and make the most of your resources.
• Prune your plants: Pruning can improve the size and quality of yields by cutting off parts of the plant that get in the way of overall growth.
• Prune the apical bud or main stem: This can promote side branching and encourage multiple main colas rather than just one.
• Harvest at the right time: Harvesting too early or too late can lead to lower yields, so make sure you’re harvesting at the right time for your strain.

The bottom line is if you follow these grow tips on increasing your cannabis yield there is no doubt you will be smoking, harvesting and grinding a large amount of weed using the best cannabis grinding machines in no time!