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Lollipopping

Lollypopping, cannabis grow, increase yields

If you grow cannabis over several months, you naturally want to harvest fat and potent buds later. One method of increasing yield and potency is so-called lollipopping, where healthy but unnecessary plant parts are cut off, allowing the cannabis plants to devote more energy to the buds. Lollipopping is an important technique for cannabis plants cultivated as ScrOG (Screen of Green), but it can also be super applied to unscroggled plants.

As with all techniques, inexperienced growers should only try them out on one plant the first time. This way you don't lose too much if they are done incorrectly and you also have a direct comparison to the untreated plants. With lollipopping, the plant is pruned in the opposite way than with topping, the two techniques can also be used very well together. With lollipopping, no fresh shoots are pruned, but on the contrary, the energy is concentrated on the fresh shoot tips by removing the lower, older parts of the plant on the branches. This pruning technique gets its name from the fact that after applying the method, the branches have the shape of a lollipop, with a stem and a corolla at the top.

LollipoppingThe ideal time for lollipopping is about 2 weeks after initiation of the flowering phase. This means that the plant has already got used to the new rhythm and the increased growth has clearly decreased. The principle of lollipopping is based on the fact that the plant puts its energy into the production of flowers from about the 3rd week of flowering. The more flower spikes it has, the more places this energy is distributed. By removing the lower buds, the cannabis plant can concentrate all its energy for the development of the flower crowns at the tips of the branches. All the nutrients can be made available to these buds, resulting in much bigger and more potent harvests than if much of it is wasted in the lower, poorly lit and poorly developed popcorn buds.

First, the parts of the cannabis plant that are to be pruned must be selected. The rule of thumb for lollipopping is: only treat the lowest third of the plant with this method! On the one hand, the new shoots on the main stem are cut off, these are the small newly formed branches between the actual side branches. Secondly, all shoots and flowers on the lower side branches are removed except for the top 4 internodes.

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With ScroG (Screen of Green), removing the shoots and leaves below the net is very important

How does lollipop popping work?

When the cannabis plants have been in flower for 2 weeks, i.e. the lighting has been turned down to 12 hours a day, the lollipop technique should be used. Shoots below the first 4 18Internodes are removed using a disinfected Scalpel or a Plant shears carefully cut off. The branches should not be damaged in the process, as fungal spores and pathogens could weaken the plant in these places. In addition, the weak, new branches are cut off. These will not develop sufficiently during the remaining flowering phase and will only unnecessarily deprive the important areas of nutrients and energy. Even if it hurts at first to part with the small flower sprouts, after a few weeks this thinning will pay off in lusher and more potent harvests. However do not exaggerate and always only the lowest thirds edit the cannabis plant!

At ScroG cultivation the new, weak shoots and leaves are removed from the plants below the net as soon as the branches have grown through the grid. This way, the upper, illuminated areas receive the maximum nutrient supply and the yields are correspondingly higher.

With automatic strains, i.e. auto-flowering cannabis varieties, lollipopping should be avoided, these plants only have an extremely shortened cycle and react to any kind of stress with smaller yields. They don't have time to recover from the "injuries" to benefit from them in the same way as normal, photoperiod strains.

 

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