How Often Can You Harvest A Cannabis Plant In A Year?
Cannabis Plants are annually flowering plants i.e. you can only harvest them once.
However, through cannabis regeneration also know as re-vegging, a grower can harvest a single Cannabis plant 2-3 times a year. Some very skilful growers can harvest smaller amounts all year round through perpetual harvest methods.
How Often Can You Harvest A Cannabis Plant In A Year?
What Is Cannabis Regeneration?
Cannabis regeneration is the process of repairing and renewing plant tissues. Weed is an annual plant. Therefore, it only lasts a season before it dies. Cannabis regeneration can be a solution to reuse the plant after harvest to reap another batch of weed without repeating the whole process from scratch. As estimated, a re-vegged plant is ready to flower in 3-6 weeks.
Advantages of Cannabis Regeneration
The main reason to practice cannabis regeneration is to save time on growing from scratch. Another good point to consider is preserving a phenotype you prefer. Much like cloning, regeneration will produce the same plant with the same set of characteristics from the original plant. The process also increases plant viability which is vital for growers who aim to expand their garden from a single plant.
Another reason to practice regeneration is to save space. There is no need to keep a mother plant around since all you need is a single plant. The results will still be the same, but with much more room to grow other plants. Regeneration might also be a solution to increase cannabis yields. Through a regeneration method called monster cropping, plants grow bushier, thicker and develop more nodes for potential buds.
Disadvantages of Cannabis Regeneration
However, regeneration also has its fallbacks. It’s not a walk in the park. Novice growers and even those growing weed for decades can still fail to regenerate a plant. It is best to read more on the process, watch video guides, and read forums. But of course, mistakes are still welcome as they are the best way to learn.
Yes, regeneration takes less time than growing weed from scratch. But do not expect the process to happen overnight, either. Since regeneration happens depending on the environment and light cycles, the time it takes until harvest is up to the grower. Mess up one factor that affects the transition from vegetative to the flowering stage and expect to spend more time than planned.
Growers should be on the lookout for reduced yields during regeneration. Although potency doesn’t change in the process, successive harvests in a plant may lead to lesser yields. Regenerating the plant may be great for a second or third time. However, continue observing for signs where the plant becomes less viable and stop before wasting time to regenerate a non-regenerable plant.
Stress is a phenomenon that affects the growth of any plant. In cannabis plants, stress may cause alterations in its physical appearance, potency, and yield. It may even be the reason your plant dies. Regeneration poses a risk of stressing out your plant. Try not to prune too much of its leaves. If you need to move it someplace else, avoid bouncing or dropping them or the container holding them.
Types of Re-Vegging
Monster-cropping is a training method that signals a plant to increase its volume, growth density, and viability by taking a few cuttings from the lower branches. Through this method, the plant grows denser as it matures. Growers perform monster-cropping during the flowering stage to bring back the plant into its vegetative stage.
2. After-Harvest Re-Vegging
Post-harvest re-vegging is a straightforward technique not recommended for novice growers. However, once mastered, you get to trick the plant into thinking a season has passed. By then, the plant should revert to its vegetative stage and start flowering after some time. Using this technique saves time and resources while producing another batch of yield out of the same plant.
3. Accidental Re-Vegging
Accidental re-vegging might have happened to you in the past without noticing. There are instances when a cannabis plant reverts to its vegetative stage because of the simplest things as a broken light cycle or a change in weather. Other reasons that could cause accidental re-vegging includes faulty timers, timing, and moving plants to other places.
What Is Perpetual Harvest?
According to Leafly, “perpetual harvesting is a horticultural design system that maintains a steady rotation of crops through the different phases of the cultivation process.” Each stage in cannabis growth has a different photoperiod. It means that you’ll need individual spaces for plants in each phase since they require different durations of light.
Pros and Cons of Perpetual Harvest
Although perpetual harvest will supply you with fresh harvest all-year-round, the process is not similar to regeneration. It only times a batch of plants based on their growth stages to happen one after the other. But it does not reuse the same plant for another harvest. However, it is still an alternative method to generate a supply for a year.
The good thing about perpetual harvest is that the volume of produce depends on how many plants a grower decides to grow. Those who grow weed for a living may need to take care of more plants than those who grow weed for casual use. Aside from that, the workload spreads out evenly over time. Each stage requires a specific level of attention. It is tedious to provide if all plants are in the same phase. But through this method, each plant group will either require less or more than the other plant group. It will be easy to manage issues that may arise in the future. In instances where it may require a reset, there will only be a minimal loss in output compared to having a standard growth plan.
However, this method requires constant attention and careful management at all times. The plants all need different things in their respective stages. Keeping an eye on them is key to resolving issues faster before things get worse. Also, remember that not all strains suit a perpetual harvest setup. Some varieties require more physical space or do not allow any disturbance during growth.