Thicker stem -> bigger yield

Hi guys,

Just noticed while harvesting my last four plants(3 more to go) that the biggest colas were growing on stems that I pinched to get them leveled in SCROG. These stems grew thicker and that's what made them to grow bigger colas. Probably because the plants know that these stems can carry more weight.

Just for comparison, a regular cola weight on the stem that has not been pinched-bent is about 17-20g(wet). However on the stem that I have broken(pinched and bent) was 35g(wet). And that's on all plants that I have harvested already.

Now it looks like it may be a good way to almost double yield and I am going to pinch and bent every top in my next grow. The question is at what degree I can do it?

Let's say I have 10 tops can I do it to every one of them in one go?
And how long do I have to wait for a plant to recover and thicken the stem before I can do it to them the same again?

Also I did my pinching in the first week of flower after I installed a net. Can it actually be done earlier in veg?

I just want to add that it seems to be called super cropping but some growers who use it just bend stems down and tie them to stay that way without pinching and breaking them. I am sure it also creates thicker stems(probably because a plant tries to overcome a resistance to straighten a stem up) but not as thick as the ones that have been actually broken.

PinPin said:

I just want to add that it seems to be called super cropping but some growers who use it just bend stems down and tie them to stay that way without pinching and breaking them. I am sure it also creates thicker stems(probably because a plant tries to overcome a resistance to straighten a stem up) but not as thick as the ones that have been actually broken.

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I start bending once they have a few branches.

Maybe 10 inches in veg

When you pinch or top it sends hormones out to say the top is in trouble, forcus on making side branches.

I usually do all the tops , but if your nervous just do a few every few days

The younger you do this the easier it is.

And the busier the plant is in veg , the better canopy youll have when they stretch in flower.

Ive had plants go too busy as well doing it too much, i ended up with a bunch of buds right next to eachother . Hard to get light in there and poor air flow. It can cause problems

Play with it buddy setup a scrog and pull everything apart as theyir young.