Annually Harvesting Same Plant

[Canis Lupus]

To those experienced this question is probably silly, however, I've never grown before. I'm a complete novice.

My query is this: what are the reasons for not harvesting the same plant for several years, effectively pruning the plant of the buds and leaf, leaving a proportion for regrowth for the next year,a bit like you might a rose bush/tree?

Talking to a friend the other day, he seemed to think that in Asia this was how some growers achieved extremely potent plants, but he didn't sound 100% sure. He also mentioned that in India where the plant had been allowed to reach maturation over several years, it turns poisonous.

 

[TheFertilizer]

From what I understand you'll get less yield and possibly less potency through successive harvests, plus it takes a long time for the plant rejuvenate so you'll save time just planting new.

 

[Weaselcracker]

I highly doubt that the 'poisonous' comment is true.
The cannabis plant is an annual. It grows to maturity, flowers, then dies.
However, it does have the ability to 'revegitate' when put into artificial lighting conditions.
Since most cannabis, with the exception of the autoflowering varieties, grows and flowers based on the ratio of daylight/dark hours (ie - the season) it will normally start to flower in the fall when daylight hours get less than 14 hours. Indoors growers use this to force flowering. Plants are grown under 18 hours of light per day, then put under 12 hours light/day (or thereabouts) to trigger flowering.
You can sometimes reveg a plant after flowering by putting it back under the 18/6 lighting schedule. Obviously that switch in lighting hours isn't going to happen in nature. Therefore, for most purposes, cannabis remains an annual plant that dies in the fall.

I've revegged a few plants. I haven't noticed any drop in potency. People do make that comment but I haven't heard any actual known facts about whether it could affect the quality of genetics or not.

 

[AKgramma]

From what I understand you'll get less yield and possibly less potency through successive harvests, plus it takes a long time for the plant rejuvenate so you'll save time just planting new.

I tried something similar with a determinate (stops growing at a certain height) tomato plant by wintering it over in front of a patio window. Come Spring, it grew another 30" but never produced enough strong flowers to make it worthwhile.

You're better off taking clones or starting fresh with seeds. I've gotten some good harvests off clones, but not as much as with the mother grown from seed. I'm experimenting with 3 5th (6th?) generation clones from an OGK I grew from seed in March 2015.

But I'm impressed with the Bubblelicious yield. I do not think I will have any luck revegging her, tho. I never do. There weren't enough leaves left to encourage new growth. But I had one very healthy mama who gave me all the BBL clones that survived up to this season.