Advanced Cannabis Growing Techniques
Unlock the secrets of cannabis cultivation with advanced growing techniques designed to skyrocket your harvest. These methods allow you to shape and adjust the height of your cannabis plants to fit their environment, optimizing light and space for maximum yield. Whether you’re new to growing or a seasoned pro, mastering these cannabis growing techniques can turn your setup into an efficient, high-yield powerhouse. Here, we dive into how these techniques work and how to train your cannabis plants for success:
- Low Stress Training, LST
- High Stress Training, HST
- Topping
- Fimming
- Cropping
- SOG (Sea of Green)
- SCROG (Screen of Green)
Jack Herer Auto - LST
Discover how Low Stress Training (LST) transforms strains like Jack Herer Auto, perfect for tailoring plant growth to your space.
Low Stress Training, LST
Low Stress Training (LST) is a beginner-friendly cannabis growing technique that gently guides plant growth with minimal stress. By bending the trunk and side branches and securing them with wire or rope, you control the plant’s shape.
Start when the plant reaches 20-30 cm—bend the top downward carefully, as far as it bends, and let it rest for a few days before adjusting further. This slows the main cola’s height, boosting side branch development. Perfect for indoor grows, LST ensures lower buds get ample light, while outdoors it supports a discreet stealth grow. For a stellar main bud, trim lower branches during growth (thieving or lollipopping), channeling energy to the top. LST suits regular, feminized, and autoflowering seeds across any growing medium, making it a versatile low stress training method.
High Stress Training, HST
High Stress Training (HST) involves cutting or breaking branches to reshape the plant, introducing controlled stress for higher yields. When executed properly, the benefits outweigh the risks, though it’s tricky with autoflowers due to their short life cycle. HST shines with photosensitive feminized seeds. Explore these high stress training techniques:
Topping
Topping is a simple cannabis growing technique where you remove the top shoot(s). This redirects the plant’s energy to the two shoots below, which grow into robust main buds. Repeat during the growth phase at different spots to create multiple main buds, ideal for filling a grow tent and maximizing your grow surface with topping and low stress training.
Fimming
Fimming closely resembles topping but takes a unique approach by cutting only a portion of the top shoot, rather than removing it entirely. When executed with precision, this technique encourages the main bud to split into three distinct colas, significantly boosting your overall yield. The process involves carefully snipping about 70-80% of the newest growth at the apex, stimulating the plant to redirect energy into multiple growth points. This creates a bushier structure, ideal for maximizing light exposure and bud development. For an alternative twist, fimming can be applied early in the flowering phase—around week two—where it prompts the plant to produce wider, denser buds by enhancing lateral growth during this critical stage. This quirky method originated from a grower’s mishap, with FIM standing for “F*** I Missed,” adding a humorous flair to high stress training during flowering. The accidental discovery has since become a favorite among those looking to experiment with creative cannabis growing techniques.
Cropping
Cropping, or supercropping, taps into the cannabis plant’s remarkable toughness, turning its sturdy fibers into a tool for optimizing growth and yield. This high stress training technique involves gently bending or carefully breaking the trunk and branches, allowing you to sculpt the plant’s shape to suit your grow space without causing permanent damage. When executed with care, the inner fibers remain intact, maintaining the essential juice flow to the top while triggering the plant to heal and develop thicker, stronger stems at the manipulated sites—a natural boost to structural resilience.
To master cropping, focus on soft, non-woody areas, typically found in younger growth or flexible sections of the plant. Start by grasping the stem with your thumb and forefinger, applying a gentle massaging motion to soften it—think of it like prepping dough—until it yields under pressure. Once pliable, bend it slowly to a 90-degree angle, listening for a slight crack that signals the outer layer giving way while the inner core holds. Secure the bent branch with soft ties or stakes to prevent it from springing back upright, ensuring the new shape takes hold. This method not only controls height but also enhances light distribution to lower buds, making it a game-changer for tight indoor setups or when plants stretch too close to grow lights.
Suzy's tip: Apply cropping if plants stretch too tall or near grow lights to maintain control.
By combining different cultivation techniques of LST and HST, you can have one or more plants bloom with a proportional canopy where most of the buds are at the same height. This is called "mainlining". The best known forms of this are, SOG and SCROG.
SOG (Sea of Green)
The Sea of Green (SOG) method is a fast-track cannabis growing technique that revolutionizes yield by packing 16-25 plants per square meter, turning your grow space into a productivity powerhouse. This approach prioritizes speed and efficiency, allowing you to harvest a high yield in a shorter cycle by maximizing the number of plants rather than their individual size. After germination, give the plants a brief 1-2 week vegetative period to establish roots and initial growth, then switch to the flowering phase.
During the first few weeks of flowering, carefully remove lower branches and leaves to redirect the plant’s energy to the top cola, creating a dense, uniform canopy. This dense setup transforms into a stunning “green sea” of buds by late flowering, with colas maturing simultaneously for a streamlined harvest. However, note that legal limits vary by region—our practical suggestion is to start with 4 plants in a small indoor space to stay compliant while testing this method. SOG shines as a top sea of green method for growers seeking quick turnarounds, especially with fast-finishing strains, though it requires careful planning to manage plant density and airflow.
SCROG (SCReen of Green)
SCROG (Screen of Green) is a masterful blend of multiple cannabis growing techniques, designed to unlock massive yields by optimizing every inch of your grow space. This method begins by topping seedlings during the vegetative phase to encourage a flurry of side shoots, setting the stage for a bushier plant structure. Above the plant, install a SCROG net—a sturdy mesh or screen, sometimes curved upward to focus grow light more effectively—under which you guide the branches horizontally. As new shoots emerge, they naturally grow vertically through the net’s openings, developing into plump, resin-rich buds bathed in optimal light.
The art of SCROG lies in the careful, even distribution of branches beneath the net, ensuring a uniform canopy where most buds sit at the ideal distance from the lamp for maximum potency.
To refine the setup, apply thieving and lollipopping below the net, trimming away shaded or less productive growth to concentrate energy on the top buds. SCROG pairs perfectly with Suzy's Aficionado strains like Suzy's Confidential or Leila Kush, delivering huge yields even with a single plant, though the longer grow time demands patience and precision—making it a rewarding challenge for dedicated growers.
