Welcome the Pot Prof’s complete guide to growing weed! 

Stage 2, Phase 3: Guide to growing cannabis during the flowering growth phase.

Introduction to flowering growth

The magic of the flowering stage cannot be overstated. Finally after all of this time, the buds will form and the colas will grow. Your plants have gone through quite a journey to get to this point, but they are finally ready to product the wonderful gift of nature we are all here to enjoy.

The flowering stage begins when you induce your plants to start producing their reproductive sites. We will go over how to do this by altering lighting and watering schedules. You will learn how to determine what sex your plant is, how to do a second scrog, and how to identify bud rot.

There’s a lot to go through in this section, but by the end of it you will be ready to harvest large buds and colas of the freshest herb possible. Have fun with the flowering stage – this is definitely the stage that many growers dream about when they first begin to take an interest in growing cannabis themselves. 

Links to check out other stages of this guide:

1. The Beginning: The 3 Stages Of Growing Cannabis
2. Stage 1: Grow Room, Nutrients, Seeds And Germination
3. Stage 2: Vegetative And Flowering Growth (<– You are in this section!)
4. Stage 3: When And How To Harvest Marijuana

Timing The Harvest: How To Know When Weed Plants Are Ready To Flower

Two quick notes before we start:

1. For this guide I am going to give you the most basic techniques that beginners will need in order to get started quickly. For more in-depth information, check out Leafly.com’s guide to scrogging.
2. Scrogging is not always something that autoflowers need although it can certainly be applied to autoflowers. Sscrogging is regularly applied to photoperiods because photoperiods tend to grow taller  and require more time to reach the flowering stage. The scrogging technique allows you to manage the canopy height and distribution as your photoperiods approach the flowering stage.

With that out of the way, let’s begin.

How to determine the sex of a marijuana plant and look for signs of flowering

Learning how to determine the sex of your cannabis plant is very important for figuring out when your plant will go into flower.

The main reason is that, by learning how to determine the sex of your cannabis plant. plan you will also learn how to find the flowering points at each node on your plant. By watching these flowering plants called pre flowers you will notice when they start to grow larger which is the main signal that a cannabis plant is beginning to enter the flowering stage.

Scrogging photoperiods: how to scrog photoperiod cannabis plants

The first steps of scrogging for autoflowers can be done as early as week 5 and as late as week 8. 

You will need a scrogging net for this process.

You can even scrog photoperiods after they go into the flowering stage, although at that point, their stems will be harder to bend. It’s often much easier to scrog in late vegetative growth than during the flowering stage  for that reason.

Step 1: Attach the clips for the scrog net to the frame of the grow tent

Position the clips of the scrog net above the canopy of the cannabis grow

The trellis not that you bought should come with hangers or clips. Avoid using zip ties unless you can attach them in a way that still allows you to adjust the height of the netting. Begin by attaching these hangers to the frame of your grow tent at a height that is a few inches above the tops of your cannabis plants.

By setting up the net above the canopy this gives you the ability to then drop it down into place slowly and gently position the plants around the canopy rather than trying to do so while sitting up the trellis net.

Step 2

With the hooks or Clips in place you can begin attaching the net. It’s a good idea to attach the net to the back of the grow tent first and then stretch The netting forward over the tops of the can of be and attach them to the front netting.

This is just going to make it a lot easier for you to accomplish the setup of the trellis net.  Some trellis Nets requires knots to be tied or certain ways of hooking them into the hooks. Just make sure that the trellis net is securely attached to the hooks and that bit won’t come apart as you position the plants around it.

Step 3

The net should now be comfortably position above the canopy. It’s an act is sagging too much or is not tight enough now is the time to tighten it. Simply grab a few extra length of the netting and hook them into the hooks to tighten the grid.

You want the netting to be tight enough that it isn’t sagging in the middle but not so tight that it’s going to pull your grow tent down. This can take a little bit of getting used to so take your time and find the right amount of tension for your setup.

Step 4

Gently lower each corner of the trellis net until the tops of the cannabis plants are poking through the net. The cannabis plants should be poking through the net about 4 or 5 in. Only the tops of the cannabis plants should be visible.

If more than 6in of cannabis tops are visible you may have lowered the netting too far. How do you lower than that gently bend the cannabis  stems into position making sure to spread them out so that each cannabis tops is positioned as far away from the other tops as possible.

it is okay if some of the tops are facing horizontally at the end of this process. They will recover and slowly face upward again over the next few days.

End result of scrogging cannabis plants

Scrogging is not an exact science. There is no specific way to do it so that everything it’s the same each time you try it. However at by the end of the process all of the cannabis plants should be at about the same height as The netting. The canopy height should be reduced by 4 to 5 in and the tops should be positioned out towards the edges of the trellis net so that they are encouraged to grow away from each other.

As you widen the plants and push the cops away from each other they will look very unhappy. At the end of the process the entire grow may look a bit squashed and it will look messy. That is okay it is okay. It is okay if the plants look like they are under a little bit of stress.

You may have to go over the entire canopy twice to make sure that everything is well placed.  a shift other parts of the canopy under the netting the previously arranged cops will move around a bit and may come undone. Are going over tops twice you can be sure that they are each as spread out as possible and in  The best possible position.

After all the goal is for the canopy of the grow to be even across the entire grow tent and to maximize the use of the grow space. By positioning the Cannabis tops as far away from each other as possible using the scrogging net you should be able to force them to grow evenly and use the entire space.

If you have enough room in our feeling ambitious then you can perform this procedure again in a few days once the cops have fully recovered. By bending them back down under the trellis net and extending them further away from each other you will continue to maximize the use of the space. Your tops will recover again and be able to grow without competing with each other for light or space within the grow tent.

Conclusion

By the end of the late stage of growth your plans should be using the maximum space available to them within the grow tent. After scrogging and defoliating they will be putting all their energy into growing the tops of their plants and adding a few more inches of height before they are ready to be induced into the flowering stage.

The flowering stage is where you will get a sense of just how much cannabis Bud your grow is going to produce. By training and scrogging your plans properly in the early and vegetative growth stages you will give your plants the ability to maximize their growth potential  and produce sometimes double or quadruple the number of colas as they would have otherwise.