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Comment faire pousser du cannabis plus rapidement et comment accélérer la floraison ?
9 March, 2022
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15 March, 2022How to grow cannabis faster
Cannabis growing can be a slow process in which all the hard work only pays off several months after sowing the seeds. However, some growers simply don’t have enough time to spare, or are just naturally impatient and aren’t willing to wait.
Some people grow marijuana on a commercial scale, so the more regularly they harvest, the quicker they can rotate their crops. Others grow for personal use and simply want a constant supply of weed. But sometimes life gets in the way and you just can’t keep up with an indoor grow for long periods of time, or the environmental conditions force you to harvest earlier outdoors.
Thankfully, cannabis is a really versatile species that can develop in a wide range of conditions. And, although environmental factors ultimately dictate how the plant grows, humans have mastered cultivation to the point that we can influence the speed of growth; or at least up to a certain point.
Choose fast flowering strains
If you strive to obtain the highest number of flowers in the shortest possible time, the most important piece of advice is that you choose the strain that best adapts to these requirements.
As a rule of thumb, autoflowering marijuana strains will mature at a faster rate than their photo-dependent sisters. As their genetics are partly ruderalis, they don’t depend on the light cycle, and most of them start flowering between 3 and 4 weeks after germination. The feminised varieties, on the other hand, need an ‘artificial’ change in the photoperiod to start developing their buds. Autoflowering strains also have a quicker flowering time, so they can be ready for harvest about 5 to 7 weeks later.
If you prefer the traditional photo-dependent strains (either regular or feminised), make sure you choose seeds with short flowering periods. In general terms, the sativa varieties have a longer flowering time (between 10 and 14 weeks), whereas the indicas flower after 8 to 12 weeks because they’re more used to longer and hotter summers.
There are also some intermediate solutions that you can choose from. These are the ‘Fast’ strains: the result of the cross between a photo-dependent feminised strain and an autoflowering, or sometimes between a photo-dependent and a fast growing weed. These offer all the advantages of the feminised varieties but with a shorter flowering period (one or two weeks shorter), which translates into an earlier harvest.
The fastest way to grow cannabis indoors
Apart from the type of seed, there are also other factors that determine the speed of a crop, since growers can have an influence on this by means of different techniques and types of care. We have compiled a series of top tips to help you with your indoor grow:
- Grow in a hydroponic system: In hydroponic systems, water, air and nutrients are directly supplied to the roots of the plants so they can grow with hardly any effort, developing roots that are stronger, longer, and more vigorous, which in turn allows for greater nutrition. As a result, plants grow faster and turn into bigger specimens in record time.
- Shorten the vegetative phase: Plants remain in the vegetative phase as long as they are exposed to light for at least 14 hours per day. During that time, they focus their energy on growth and leaf development. When the number of hours of light decreases, the plants start flowering. Depending on the strain, this can happen between the 8th and 12th week of life. But you can also grow your plants for a shorter period than usual: Each week that is not dedicated to the vegetative phase is one week less in the time from seed to harvest.
- Reduce the flowering phase: When your cannabis plants receive less than 13 or 14 hours of light per day, they’ll start flowering automatically. A 12/12 photoperiod (i.e. 12 hours of light followed by 12 hours of darkness) normally offers the best performance. To make the flowering phase finish more quickly, you can gradually reduce the number of light hours down to 10. Basically, any strain will respond to this process and will produce buds at a faster pace: The colas won’t get as chunky, but harvest time will arrive earlier.
- Plant cuttings instead of sowing seeds: Seeds require a longer maturation period during the vegetative phase before the flowering is triggered (at least 4 weeks for seedlings). Nonetheless, it is possible to reduce the cultivation time with techniques such as SOG (Sea of Green) method. With this method, seedlings are left to grow for a very short period of time before the flowering is induced. Once you’ve gained enough experience with this growing technique, you can obtain buds every 8-12 weeks.
- Practise the ‘perpetual harvest’: If you use a perpetual (or continuous harvest) growing technique, you’ll be able to generate crops more frequently. This means that you need to have a dedicated space for the plants in the flowering phase and another space for the ones in the growth phase. Once the plants are ready for flowering, they should be moved to the flowering area. From that moment on, you can germinate immediately and start growing a new crop, which will be ready for flowering as soon as the previous plants have been harvested. This growing style ensures a harvest every 2-3 months.
The fastest way to grow cannabis outdoors
This question is harder to answer because manipulating an outdoor grow and its environmental conditions is a bit more complicated. But it’s not impossible.
- Use pruning techniques: How can you make a marijuana plant grow fast? You can help it by focusing all its energy in the most important areas. This is why pruning is essential, especially in the open air, as you’ll be encouraging the plant to send nutrients to the new shoots so that they turn into buds rather than leaves. The yellow dying leaves must also be disposed of to help the plant concentrate its efforts on the flowers.
- Make sure the nutrients are accurate: Nutrients are also a key element. In theory, if you’re using a decent substrate you don’t need to add anything extra, but it never hurts to do so. Any nutrient deficiency will result in symptoms that will slow down growth and reduce the yield. Cannabis plants crave higher nitrogen levels during the vegetative phase, and higher phosphorus and potassium levels during the flowering phase.
- Forced flowering: Although the hours of sunlight cannot be changed with the flip of a switch, the flowering can be forced. If you’re growing in a greenhouse, it’ll be even easier. If you’re growing in pots, you can cover your plants with a piece of canvas or any other opaque material early at night, and remove it the next morning. You can even move your plants indoors after a specific number of hours of light. This works like a grow tent to give your plants 12 hours of darkness each day to induce the flowering. Remember, though: reducing the hours of light manually requires a highly punctual schedule.
- Pollinate the flowers: Pollination is something that most growers try really hard to avoid. When pollen comes in contact with the flowers, these become fertilised and the seed formation process starts. This means that the energy that would otherwise go towards flower growth now focuses on seed formation. However, by manually pollinating your flowers about a week before harvest, you will make them mature more quickly. You’ll gain a few days, but the process is risky; so make sure that you harvest your crops before seeds start forming.
- Practise ‘progressive harvesting’: In nature, cannabis flowers don’t normally mature all at once so that plants have the best chance of surviving another generation. This is why progressive harvesting fits right in, as you can cut the flowers that are ready, but let the unripe buds develop for longer. This will also let you measure your trichome colour preference and start getting buds one or two weeks earlier than expected.
In summary
If you need to force your plants to ripen faster than they would do naturally, you can try one or more of the methods described above. Nonetheless, this means that you’ll probably be sacrificing both yield and potency. You cannot expect the same result without giving your marijuana crop enough time to grow strong, produce buds, and cover the colas with cannabinoids and terpenes. If that were possible, nobody would wait for the completion of a full growth cycle before harvesting their buds!
Seedstockers’ Fast cannabis seeds
Growing marijuana fast is easier if you’ve got a solid base. In order to obtain optimum results, it is key to choose a cannabis seed that has been specifically created for speed. With the right strain, you can minimise any kind of setback.
The perfect balance between the autoflowering speed and the high performance of the feminised strains lies in the Fast seeds. At Seedstockers we’ve included three excellent examples in the Fast category that will surely meet all of your expectations:
BCN Critical XXL Fast: A ‘made in Barcelona’ strain that grows vigorously and is ready for harvest in just 8 weeks of flowering. This is a great advantage for growers who live in cold regions with short summers, as they won’t have to worry about the dreaded autumn rain.
Cookies and Cream Fast: This strain originates from the cross of Girl Scout Cookies Auto and Cookies and Cream. It maintains the traits that have turned Cookies into a classic strain but with a shorter flowering period of around 7 weeks, which can translate into one extra indoor crop per year.
Gelato 41 Fast: A delicious hybrid with a creamy ice cream flavour whose flowering period has been reduced to only 56 days, but without compromising yield quality and quantity. Like all the Gelato strains, it’s easy to grow, so you have no excuse not to give it a go!
