Hello Dude grows fans! Today I made a video to show you a bit about how I shape and top a plant to prepare it for flower. Pulling a lb or more at harvest is not an easy task, especially with only 600w. Here, I’ll show you some tricks to create MANY branches, which turn into bulked up, stacked up colas, so you can reach your 1lb goal.
I want to point out: every strain / pheno is different. The one I’m working with is GDP Purple Dream, which doesn’t stretch much in flower. If you have a rapid stretcher, you can apply the same techniques, but you may want to top more often, and just before flower, in order to control height. You’ll have to experiment with your pheno to see WHEN you need to stop topping, in order to get the right height, and still get nice long colas stacked with buds.
The number one key to big yields from single plants, is SIZE.
As Scotty says, if you want to pull a pound or more, you need your plant to be the size of a “washing machine”. Yes, you need light, nutrients and proper environment, but don’t expect a pound of bud from a small plant. When you think it’s time to flower, wait! Plants grow exponentially, meaning, not only do they grow taller, but wider and thicker, all the way around. Just a few extra weeks in vegetative growth could DOUBLE your final yield.
If you want to chop down a pound like this:
Purple Dream in flower with two weeks to go before harvest.
Then you need to start with this:
Purple Dream in Vegetative growth, in a 54″ x 54″ lighthouse tent, ready to start flowering cycle.
The number 2 key to big yields, isn’t nutrients, it’s LIGHT.
The plants above are grown with 600w Hortilux Super Blue Metal Halide in Vegetative growth, and 600w Hortilux Super High pressure sodium in flower. If you want plants that look like these, stick with what works, inexpensive HPS and MH. Don’t be fooled by expensive LED lights that “promise” to out-perform high intensity light, using less watts and less electricity. Less watts = less bud. Think about it this way, depending on where you live, it costs $30-$35 to run a 600W light 12 hours a day. A 400w LED light would cost $20-25 a month. So over a two month period, you would save $20, and have about 1/3rd as much product. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Do LED lights run cooler? A lesser watt light will run cooler yes. And yes LED lights run hot; that’s why they have multiple computer fans in each fixture. Most LED fixtures are not able to be air ducted, so they eliminate all their heat into your grow room. If you put your hand under an LED light, you won’t feel heat like you with HPS or MH. Lie out in the sun on a sunny day and see if you feel hot. YEP.
The number 3 key to big harvests, is YOU.
Stoners, spend some time in your grow room. Chances are, you already know what is wrong. You know what needs to be done. Here are the top 10 things growers need to do more often:
- Prune the underside of plants. In the video above, you can see I’m guilty. That small plant needs some of the very small suckers trimmed near the bottom of the plant. Doing this in early veg will increase growth all around.
- Spread colas out away from each other. When colas are touching, they are not growing to their maximum potential, because they don’t get enough light. Use yoyos or scrog / trellis nets to spread out your colas evenly. Worse yet, they can get mold due to reduced air flow between them.
- Use beneficial bacteria more often. It doesn’t hurt to use it several times a week. Use Recharge, make tea, whatever; you should apply beneficials at the stalk of your plant at least twice a week, in all phases of growth.
- Clean the glass in your hoods. Dirty glass will severely limit the intensity of the light on your plant, reducing yield and growth speed.
- Use Foliar spray. There are lots of em out there and they all work. I use “liquid light” from dutch master. If you’re not using a foliar spray, your plants are not growing as quickly as they could be.
- Grow in appropriate pot sizes. DWC and Aeroponics grow plants faster because they bathe the roots in nutrient solution constantly. If you’re using a medium, you can’t do that, but you CAN treat your plants to a frequent wet / dry cycle. If you put a small plant in a big pot, you won’t be able to drench it’s roots every often, because you have so much medium that just sits there, wet. Your pot should get “light” frequently. If it’s still heavy after 2 days, your pot is too big.
- Calibrate your PH and PPM meter. Enough said.
- Use Calcium and Magnesium in all growth stages. Some of the mass of buds is made up of calcium. I use Cali magic at 4ml/gal all the way.
- Housekeeping. Dead leaves on the floor? Dirty grow room? Clean it up; this is an invitation for bugs.
- Spend time in your room. Pretend The Captain were coming to visit your room, and get in there and get busy. For most of us, it only takes a dedicated hour a day to keep things tip top shape. A little bit of work goes a very long way in producing top shelf, quality bud.
Hi Capn’
I just wanted to thank you for showing us the way. I have been searching for a great method and have started a Capn Style grow myself. All aboard the Capn’s ship…….as has been said “If you aint growin Capn’ Style what the fuck are you doin?”
Johndoes
Great post! Lots of helpful info! I usually grow smaller plants but one of my moms has gotten huge so Im thinking its time to grow her into a lb + monster. shes about 3/4 of a washingmachine now, looking forward to using your tips to work her into shape.
Also I think the “washing machine” might be my new favorite measurement of plant size… 😛
>>>“washing machine” might be my new favorite measurement of plant size
I prefer refrigerators, and not the “dorm” size. Thanks for the great comments, DGC!
Man, I never stop learning something new from you capn! Please start your own podcasts.
>>>Man, I never stop learning something new from you capn! Please start your own podcasts.
Thank you for that. It takes my about 6 hours to record, edit and post a video / article like this, so your comment means a lot to me. I will be doing more youtube videos like this, but they will all be posted here. So feel free to subscribe there. But I will leave the hard work to Scotty and The Dude. I simply enjoy the knowledge sharing, and when people start pulling down big plants, that is what really makes it all worth it.
I use Low stress training
Yo cap just wondering…when you refer to foliar …are you just doing in veg? Or do you foliar in flower as well and for how long?
>>>I use Low stress training
That’s a broad statement.
>>>Yo cap just wondering…when you refer to foliar …are you just doing in veg? Or do you foliar in flower as well and for how long?
When you say “foliar”, do you mean Foliar spray? If so, yes, I spray in veg and first 2-3 weeks of flower.
Hi Captain! What foliar spray do you use??? Thanks for your time!!!
capn style realy is the way to grow man huge buds off huge plants
Greetings from London Capn. Just a quick thanks to yourself, Scotty and the dude. My grow has been transformed since adopting captain style. Huge fan of podcast, stbled across it back when the dude just started. Thanks guys! You’ve got a whole bunch of us cockney geezers mighty stoned.
Hello Cap! I’m a huge fan and supporter of the DGC and especially of you. Your capn style grow has shown me the easiest way to grow with minimal effort. I see you as a pioneer of the new age of grow. What I wanted to ask today is about perpetual growing. I have a 4×4 and a 4×8 tent. I want to run a 3 or 4 month perpetual grow harvesting twice a month. I’m only using one 1000 watt for the 4×4 veg and one 1000 for the 4×8 flower. Could you Give me a cycle regarding the flow of the time between vegging, flowering, and new cuts, to achieve a 4 or 3month, 2 plants a month harvest? Thank you so much. I plan on starting new grow around September when cooling down in California. Also and lighting tips regarding watts per tent would be great too. Thanks a lot. GO DGC!!!!
hey Capn just wanted to say thank you for all the great info i learned a lot just from reading this and watching the video. I’m going to be starting my first ever grow soon so seeing info like this is always welcomed. I’m going coco/worm castings and using advanced nutrients for feeding. Great job though your buds look fantastic