Have you ever cloned cannabis plants? Cloning is a great way to produce more cannabis plants from one mother plant. However, re-vegging is better. Also called regeneration, it’s a fun way to harvest buds twice from one cannabis plant. Like cloning, it also allows you to preserve your favorite cultivar, but it’s much quicker.
If you’ve tried your hand cloning cannabis strains, you will know that re-vegging is one step ahead because you can do it without dedicating separate grow rooms for the plant’s vegetative and flowering phases.
Sounds interesting?
Read on to explore everything you need to know about re-vegging and how you can deal with it even if it happens accidentally.
Cannabis re-vegging is a process where a flowering plant switches back to its vegetative stage due to several factors. Some cultivators re-veg their plants intentionally, but it may also occur accidentally, known as accidental re-vegging (more on this later).
Cannabis plants flower annually, meaning their lifecycle is limited to flowering every season. It all starts with a seed that grows into a seedling, develops leaves and stronger stems in the vegetative stage, and then progresses to the flowering stage by producing flowers once the days get shorter or nights get longer. Finally, it finishes the cycle after reproduction (seeds), and the seeds carrying its mother’s genes will sprout and continue the process all over again.
In the wild, the plants grow according to the seasons or the light they receive. While growing indoors, growers mimic the environment by manipulating artificial lights to force the plant into switching to the flowering phase. Since the plant begins to flower once it receives less light, growers switch from an 18/6 cycle to 12/12 to force it to flower. However, it is possible to reverse the process — meaning increase the number of light hours — to make the plant go back to the vegetative or growing phase and then harvest the buds again.
Re-vegging may be uncommon for cannabis growers, but it's a regular occurrence with other plants. Think about a tomato plant, for example. Like cannabis, it goes through a vegetative phase where it grows big enough to support flowers and fruits. Then, the plant begins to flower and develops fruits, allowing you to harvest multiple times.
A cannabis plant, in contrast, flowers only once, meaning you get to harvest the buds only once. However, by re-vegging or forcing it to grow once again, you can get more buds without having to wait for it to grow from the seedling stage again.
In short, manipulating the plants' photoperiod cycle allows you to get another harvest.
Growers can re-veg cannabis plants in three ways:
1) Re-vegging after harvest
2) Accidental re-vegging
3) Monster cropping or cloning
Forcing a plant to go back to its vegetative stage is a straightforward process. You only need to treat the plant like it's in a growing phase and provide the conditions required. Don’t forget that this technique allows you to harvest twice! So you’re not only saving precious time but also grabbing massive yields in the process.
Here are a few things you could do:
Cannabis plants need a lot of light during their vegetative stage. Therefore, switch back to the 18/6 cycle from the 12/12 cycle to make the plant feel like the days are getting longer. Some growers swear by a 24/0 cycle to thoroughly bathe the plants in light to speed up the process. Any method is okay as long as the plants receive more than 18 hours of light per day.
Once you harvest the buds at the top, leave a few leaves and buds at the bottom so the plant can use them as nutrition to grow back new leaves again. You can cut off the branches but let the base remain intact to avoid too much stress.
Cannabis plants thrive in the growing stage primarily due to the nutrients they receive. Therefore, any fertilizer meant for a plant's vegetative stage will invariably contain more nitrogen (N) than phosphorus (P) and potassium (K).
This is because the plant needs nitrogen to develop leaves and roots instead of the potassium and phosphorus it probably received while flowering. If you're using a commercial nutrient solution, simply refer to the instructions mentioned for the vegetative stage and follow the same.
Re-vegging is pretty stressful for the plants. As a result, some plants may not even transition back to the vegetative phase. On the other hand, some strains take some time to adjust; however, they may also display vigorous growth once they settle down.
At this stage, it's not uncommon to see the plant exhibit mutated growth. Typically, cannabis plants produce serrated leaves, but re-vegged plants may sprout leaves that don't resemble cannabis leaves at all! The leaves will probably be stunted too, but all these issues disappear in a few weeks as the plant adjusts. If the re-vegging process is successful, the plant should grow normally after a couple of weeks.
Some growers use another method — cloning — to create new plants from the mother plant. Cloning cannabis plants in their vegetative stage is very common. However, cloning in the flowering stage is called monster cropping. This technique produces humongous yields as well.
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Photoperiod cannabis plants will revert to their vegetative stage if there's a change in the light schedule. This can happen at any point in their lifecycle, including flowering. For instance, some growers forget to switch off the lights, and plants that receive more than 12 hours of light will start growing mutated leaves, indicating that it's switching back to its growing stage. It can also happen if there’s a light leak. Therefore, it's essential to keep an eye on the light cycle to prevent accidental re-vegging.
Accidental re-vegging can also occur outdoors if the plants are brought outside or planted earlier in the flowering season. In other words, you should plant the seeds according to the season or time it well, so the plants receive less light.
Re-vegging is the best way to preserve the genetics of your favorite strain because you’re growing the same plant again. The best part is that you can clone even flowering plants and still get good yields if you decide to do it at the last minute.
Although cloning ensures that you get new plants consistently, it requires you to keep a dedicated mother plant in the vegetative stage for inordinate amounts of time. This also means you'll need separate grow rooms for the plants undergoing the vegetative and flowering phases simultaneously. However, you won't need to dedicate a mother plant or use two grow rooms with re-vegging, thereby saving money and space.
Cultivators tend to re-veg their cannabis plants to save time. Since the plant has already undergone the vegetative or growing stage and developed healthy roots, it rushes through the second growing stage much quicker than the first one.
Cloning cannabis plants during their flowering period is named "monster cropping" for a reason. Not only does it grow with increased vigor, but it also produces a lot more yield compared to regular plants that haven't been cloned.
The plant’s yields are directly proportional to its development, including roots, stems, and leaves. And since the plant would have spent a considerable amount of time developing a massive root system already, it will produce more than you can imagine.
There are a few factors that may be difficult for beginners when they try re-vegging:
Beginners make a lot of mistakes, and re-vegging is no easy feat. It takes a bit of time to get re-vegging right. Moreover, you can do everything in the book, and the plants may still be stubborn enough not to return to their growing phase after they begin flowering. So, it may not work even after you’ve wasted time and effort.
In addition, re-vegging doesn’t guarantee better yields unless you pair it with monster cropping. Some growers simply re-veg the plants without bothering about monster cropping. While it’s okay to do so, your yields may not be as big as the first harvest
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Re-vegged plants may produce abnormal growth because of the stress they go through. In addition, it’s complicated and confusing for the plants to go back to the growing stage once they start flowering.
Re-vegging is a technique that forces a flowering plant to return to its growing stage and go through the entire process again. You can re-veg accidentally or do it intentionally after harvesting buds once, or you can clone flowering plants to create a replica of the mother plant.
Re-vegging combined with monster cropping produces excellent yields, especially if you’re an experienced grower. However, if you’re a beginner, you may want to try your hand at simple cloning before you proceed with advanced techniques.
