When growing cannabis plants indoors, you often have to deal with managing small spaces. The average ceiling is about 8 feet high, which is a problem when you’re working with plants that can be up to 10 feet tall. If your cannabis plants are outgrowing your space, don’t worry. There are plenty of things you can do to keep your cannabis plants at a manageable size without sacrificing your harvest.
Choose Short Strains
If you’re worried about your plants getting too tall in the future, the easiest thing to do is choose a short strain. Some strains, like Sweet Tooth and Super Skunk, stay under six feet tall easily. You can also look for strains that stay bushy, because those are usually shorter but wider. If you want to avoid growing tall cannabis plants, the easiest method is not buying tall strains in the first place.
Top Your Plants
If your plants have already gotten too tall, you still have options. While your plants are still in the vegetative stage, you can “top” them, or cut off the top of the plant. You can cut up to the top third off of a vegetative cannabis plant safely. Just use a sharp tool and make sure you leave at least 5 leaf nodes underneath where you cut, so you don’t kill the plant.
When your topped plant starts growing again, it will usually generate two new stalks, instead of just one. This keeps the plant shorter by dividing its energy into two slightly smaller branches. Topping also lets more light reach the lower branches, and helps the plant flower more consistently.
Try Low-Stress Training
Low-stress training, or LST, is the process of guiding your plant to grow more horizontally. You tie the main stem to the side, which allows the side branches to get more light and grow more. By training a plant this way, you get a bushier plant with a “canopy,” instead of one main cola. This technique causes no trauma to the plant, and can be done at any time.
Switch to the Flowering Stage
The vegetative stage is when plants gain a lot of their height. The best time to switch into the flowering stage is when your cannabis plants are about half the height you want them to be. This gives then room to continue growing even after you’ve switched to the flowering stage. Even if you were planning on letting your plants stay in the vegetative stage for another week or two, if they’re growing too fast, it’s better to switch to the flowering stage now than waste time and energy and let them get too tall.
Adjust Your Lights
Your lighting can cause a lot of your problems when you’re learning how to grow weed. If your lights are too bright, your plants can grow so quickly that it becomes a problem. Happy plants make for a good harvest, of course. However, if your plants are growing too well, you can always dim their light slightly or raise it away from the plants.
On the other hand, if your plants look leggy and have a lot of distance between leaf nodes, they aren’t getting enough light. In this case, your cannabis plants are stretching to reach light. They need more to grow efficiently and healthily. Lower your light rig, or increase the brightness. This will help keep your plants’ height under control.
If you have a short growing space, you can still have a great harvest. By preparing your plants in advance or carefully topping them, you can grow healthy, strong, short cannabis plants and get some high-quality buds at harvest time.