A Complete Guide To Monster Cropping
- 1. What is monster cropping?
- 2. Does monster cropping work and how long it takes?
- 3. Pros of monster cropping
- 4. Cons of monster cropping
- 5. How much will monster cropping increase my yields?
- 6. How to monster crop: step-by-step guide
- 6. a. Step 1: choose the cuttings
- 6. b. Step 2: wait for the clones to root
- 6. c. Step 3: revegetate the clones
- 6. d. Monster cropping outdoors
- 7. Combining monster cropping with other techniques
- 8. In conclusion
Monster cropping cannabis seeds is a relatively new method to increase yields. This technique involves taking cuttings from a flowering plant and revegging them, when you reveg a cannabis plant it will develop an unusual growth, becoming extremely bushy, with lots of side branches and flowering sites.
1. What is monster cropping?
So, what is monster cropping? Monster cropping is quite new for cannabis growers. This method consists of taking clones from a female plant that’s 2-4 weeks into the flowering stage and placing it in a vegetative light cycle. By doing so we are disrupting a plant’s growth and she will start to develop unusually bushy.
When a cannabis plant is revegged it will develop an unusual growing pattern, this unusual growth can consist of more flowering sites, side branches, and leaves, this is used by growers to increase yields or better prepare plants for training techniques such as Scrog or lollipopping.
Have in mind that monster cropping it’s not for autoflowering cannabis plants. This method is to be used strictly with photoperiodic cannabis and if done correctly, you can not only increase yields but also reduce the time needed in the vegetative stage of your next cycle and it’s a great way to keep a specific genetic in your grow room for as long as you want.
2. Does monster cropping work and how long it takes?
Monster cropping cannabis indeed works, and works like a charm, although there’s no way to say exactly, have in mind that plants have different growing rates, just to give you an example, if you vegetate your plant for 4 weeks, you’ll have to wait those 4 weeks plus 2-3 weeks of flowering and add 2-3 weeks for your cuttings to root properly.
Even though it can take quite a lot of time you will be satisfied with the results, you’ll see it’s worth it to wait a couple of weeks more to immensely increase your yields.
3. Pros of monster cropping
- Monster Cropping improves yields
Revegetated plants will grow more, bushier and with more side branches, this will result in more flowering sites and consequently more buds. Why? Because bushier plants have more branches, and more branches mean more nodes. In case you didn’t know, nodes are the points at which branches meet the main stem. These are the points at which flowers start to emerge when you flip a photoperiod plant from a vegetative light cycle to a flowering light cycle. Shortly after making the switch, you’ll notice the signs of preflowers starting to emerge from these points on your plants. Within a matter of weeks, these small structures will start to swell into much larger inflorescence packed with trichomes, cannabinoids, terpenes, and sticky resin.
- Continuous harvests without having to keep mother plants
Because you are taking the cuttings from flowering plants, there’s no need to keep a mother plant in the vegetative stage to take cuttings from, you can flower all your plants and decide if you want to take cuttings in the first weeks of flowering. This makes monster cropping perfect for growers with limited space. Instead of dedicating a completely separate light, tent, and growing space to a vegetating mother plant, you can simply clone from plants that are well on their way to harvest. Once you’ve harvested them and cleaned up your growing area, you can simply reveg your cutting. This means you’ll be starting much further along in the growing cycle than if you had started another grow from seed. Not only that, but you’ll create a much bushier and more productive plant compared to taking a cutting from a vegetating mother plant.
- Great way to prepare plants for other training techniques
It is recommended to combine monster cropping with plant training techniques such as Scrog, tying down branches, or even topping or fimming, this will allow the buds to develop properly and grow super dense.
4. Cons of monster cropping
- Monster cropping takes time and work
Flowering a plant, taking clones, and waiting for them to revegetate can take quite a lot of time, so it’s not recommended if you want a fast harvest. You also need a bit of knowledge on how to care for cuttings. This includes rooting them and protecting them from diseases. Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as snipping off a branch and just forgetting about it until you want to start another plant. If you want to keep your herbal hobby as simple as possible, you’ll probably have an easier time just starting your next set of plants from seed.
- Can’t be used with autoflowers
Because autoflowers don’t depend on a light cycle, they cannot be revegged, so this technique doesn’t work with autoflowering strains.
- Not all clones will live
Flowering clones have a low success rate when compared to clones from a vegetative plant so it is expected some won’t root and die. It is recommended to use the blest cloning techniques and take extra clones in the case some don’t survive.
Note: We don’t recommend monster cropping smaller strains, it is better to use this technique with strains that grow tall, fast and with a lot of side branches. Smaller plants or strains that take too long to grow can take more time to reveg than simply germinating a seed.
5. How Much Will Monster Cropping Increase My Yields?
It’s kinda hard to say exactly how much monster cropping cannabis can increase yields because it depends on several factors such as temperature, humidity, nutrients, strain, and your experience as a grower. Also, you need to have in mind that the yields will depend on how long you let your plant vegetate because the bigger the plant, the higher the yields.
But, in general, you can expect the same production as the mother plant because the new plant is actually a clone so, if you grow the clone in the same environment and let it vegetate for the same amount of time as the mother, you can expect the same yields. Just don't forget that the monster cropping technique allows you to harvest multiple times so even if the yields are not up to your expectations, you can continue growing the same strain multiple times.
6. How to monster crop: step-by-step guide
Step 1: Choose the cuttings
You can take flowering clones in between the 2-4 week of flowering, even though this won’t affect the result that much, we recommend taking the clones in the 3 week of flowering.
When choosing the branches to cut, you can get the cuttings from any part of the plant but it is better to go for the lower branches because they root faster than the ones from the top, when taking a clone you should make a diagonal cut (this will provide a bigger surface to absorb nutrients and water) around 0.5cm below the node. Remember that flowering clones have a low success rate so you should take some extra cuttings, if you want 3 clones, you should take around 5-6 just to make sure.
Step 2: Wait for the clones to root
After taking the clones quickly place them in water, you can also apply a rooting hormone to increase the chances your clone will survive, remember that if air goes in the vascular system it can cause an embolism and die, so you should apply the rooting hormone and quickly place them in water.
You should leave the clones in water for some time and only transplant them after you see root development.
Step 3: Revegetate the clones
When the plants are ready to be transplanted you have to provide an 18/6 vegetative light cycle but when possible, it's recommended you provide a 20/4 light cycle which will allow your clones to absorb more light, resulting in more energy which can help your cuttings root faster; There’s no need to provide too much light intensity (at least for now) because clones don’t need a lot to survive, just make sure you don’t overstress your plant because this process is already a bit stressing, so if you stress them more you will slow down growth or cause them to stop growing.
Note: If you want to save up a little bit of money, instead of using the same light fixtures you use to grow and flower cannabis, you can use CFLs because clones don't need too much light to grow, just make sure you change it after they've grown a bit.
Monster Cropping Outdoors
Monster cropping cannabis can be perfect for those growing outdoors but only if you live in a warm and sunny place where the outdoors season is longer, this will allow you to harvest twice a year if you plan it properly. This is because you’re actually taking advantage of the photoperiodic traits that make cannabis plants flower with long nights and vegetate with short nights.
So, in order to take advantage of this technique you will have to plant photoperiodic seeds in winter, which will make the plant start flowering immediately due to the 12/12 light cycle; Remember that monster cropping autoflowers cannot be done because they don’t depend on a light cycle to flower or vegetate, this means that this technique won’t work for autoflowers due to not being able to control their growth stages.
When monster cropping outdoors, if you don’t want your plants to flower immediately, you can allow them to grow taller by providing a light source at night, this way they’re not growing under a 12/12 cycle and will vegetate. Just remember that you don’t want them to grow too much because they have to be ready for harvest by the end of spring in order for this to work. If you leave them in the vegetative stage for too long, summer will come and your plants will continue to vegetate for a lot longer. When spring comes and the days get longer and longer, you can take some clones from the plant that’s already flowering and induce revegging, then harvest the mother plant. The revegging can be done under natural or artificial light, depending on when and where you do it, just make sure the clones are under an 18/6 light cycle.
By the time your clones have rooted and are already vegetating as they should, the light cycle will have changed to 18/6 again so they will grow as they should, then the flowering stage will start at the end of summer when the light cycle changes to 12/12 and will end when fall is over, which will be your second harvest. As you can see, monster cropping cannabis outdoors can be quite tricky because it depends on planning everything ahead and the correct timing but after some trial and error, you will definitely get it right!
How To Choose The Best Strain For Monster Cropping?
There are definitely some strains that may be better suited for outdoors monster cropping, obviously you can grow whatever you want but there are a couple of things that you should have in mind in order for this technique to work perfectly.
First of all, remember that this cannot be done with autoflowers outdoors or indoors, you can have 2 harvests per year or more with autoflowers but not with the monster cropping method. Autoflowers don’t depend on a light cycle to vegetate and flower so you can grow them outdoors all year long without a problem.
So, for outdoors cannabis monster cropping it’s recommended that you grow a strain that needs a relatively short time to flower, approximately 8-10 weeks should work; This will ensure that your plants are ready for harvest at the right time.
Also, strains that take less time to flower tend to be less sensitive to the fact that the day length is increasing so it’s recommended to go for Indica-dominant strains because, in some cases, Sativa genetics can revegetate if they sense that they’re getting a few more hours of light. But don’t worry, if you want to guarantee it works you can always use the light deprivation technique to avoid this.
7. Combining monster cropping with other techniques
As said above, when revegetating plants, they will develop an unusual growth pattern with lots of leaves, branches, and flowering sites, this is extremely helpful when you want to make the most out of each plant or facilitate the process of training your plant to fill a Scrog trellis or in other training techniques.
After monster cropping, when your plant has reached a good size, you can start tying the branches. Training it under a trellis net or even top it to achieve the desired result, because there’s more plant to work with, it will be easier and you will be able to harvest lots of buds from just one plant.
8. In conclusion
Even though it takes time and can be frustrating when your clones die, this is a great way to increase yields while not having to spend a lot of money with seeds. We recommend this technique to more experienced growers but this doesn’t mean you shouldn't adventure into monster cropping cannabis. If you're a new grower, just make sure you have other plants growing along so you don’t risk your harvest completely. Take the appropriate care and you’ll be harvesting lots of buds in no time.
This post was most recently updated on June 8, 2021.
