Monster Cropping Your Cannabis Plants

Monster cropping is removing clones from flowering cannabis plants and reverting them back to vegetation stage. When the clones enter flowering, you can again take a new batch of clones. Doing this secures multiple yields yearly, and you don't need to keep a mother plant. 

There are a few more advantages to monster cropping your cannabis plants, however. The main benefit is that this method helps you to capitalise on maximum yields once the clones develop into prominent bushy plants with heavy buds.

Monster cropping makes the plants grow short; the branches protrude on the sides, thus the buds automatically receive more light. You can also additionally stimulate the grow by lollipopping the re-vegged plants or trying out the ScrOG method. 

Importantly, monster cropping cannot be performed on autoflowering cannabis plants. Cultivars that naturally grow slowly and short (like many indicas) will also not tolerate that much amount of stress. Therefore, this method is appropriate for photoperiod strains that grow tall and vigilant. 

Another warning is that not all clones you try to re-veg will succeed. Some of the cuttings will fail. Approximately 1 in every 5 clones fails. Growing the ones that succeed also takes time in the beginning, so this is not a method to use if you are after a fast, immediate yield.

How to Monster Crop Your Cannabis Plants?

There are a few steps to follow to ensure you make the best of this growing technique. See them below: 

Step 1: Select the best flower

Once your plants are into their second week of flowering, that would be a great time to inspect your grow room and look for the most robust cannabis plant in the batch. Choose a plant that has grown tall, sturdy and vigilant without showing any signs of illness. If you cultivate several different weed strains, you can remove cuttings from each and see which one delivers the best outcome. 

Step 2: Remove cuttings 

Using clean scissors or a knife, take out cuttings from the lower branches of the plant you chose for re-vegging. Make the cuts diagonally across so that the stem then has more surface to feed and spread roots. Take as many cuttings as possible. There are good chances that some of them will die. Clean your tool with alcohol after each cutting.

Step 3: Root the clones

Soak the cuttings in a water-filled container. Exposed to air they will die quickly. The water will seal the stems and will stimulate root growth after a week has passed. Alternatively, you can use rooting gel for the roots. You can also place the cuttings into a rooting medium like rockwool cubes or perlite. 

Step 4: Re-veg the clones

Expose the cuttings to an 18/6 light schedule. When the clones begin to re-veg, they will suddenly start to show round leaves and numerous branches. This untypical grow stage will last for about a month. 

How to Continue Training? 

Once the cuttings veg into large bushes, you can further stimulate their lateral growth by doing repeated topping. Just note that with each topping session, you postpone the time for harvest for about a week. 

In the end, you can complement the monster cropping with ScrOG (screen of green). While monster cropping maximises the growth of shorter cannabis plants, ScrOG stimulates horizontal spread. So, install a net over the canopy, weave the branches through the mesh and have each buds site exposed to light. 

It may sound like too much training and postponing the time for harvest. But once you are through the first cycle of monster cropping, it just gets better. Before you know it, your re-vegged flowers will be ripe for another yield.