Anyone interested in a bit on supercropping? Here is my introduction to the technique. I don't deal so much on the actual way to perform a supercrop, but the reasons and places to do it:
DISCLAIMER: This is high stress plant training and I do not recommend it for an autoflower plant. Not that you won't see people do it to theirs, I just don't recommend it. It definitely slows down the plant while it recovers.
Supercropping is a technique where you bend the stem at something close to a 90º angle, snapping the internal fibers of the plant in the process. It can be done in flower, though it's usually performed in veg. There are loads of videos on how to do it so I won't go into a detailed description. Generally, you squeeze the stem where you want the bend to be until you feel the plant's tissue give way, and then lay the upper part of the branch over at a right angle.
With thinner or woodier stems that are harder to crush, I rock them back and forth over my thumbnail until they soften enough to lay over.
The stem eventually forms a "knuckle" at the bend, and it increases the nutrient pathways to the top part of that branch. That's not usually
why we do it, but it's another positive result. And if done early in flower (like at the end of stretch when you know who are the leaders), it can result in larger buds on that branch.
Now let's talk about
why we supercrop our plants. The traditional reason is that it keeps the plant canopy level, making all your potential bud-sites the same distance from the lights. In this instance, the leaders are bent at the level of the rest of the canopy, usually toward the outside edge of the tent so as not to cover lower growth.
But there are other reasons to use this technique, for both indoor and outdoor growers (who don't need a level canopy).
Besides leveling the canopy, here are two additional reasons to supercrop.
First, to greatly increase the number of bud-sites. Every time you flatten a branch, everything that would have been larf can now become a new top. Here is where I bent an AK-47 branch:
And here is how many new tops were created by that one bend:
All of that lower growth will now head directly toward the light.
[Note that when you are thinning your undergrowth, keep the supercrop option in mind. If you strip everything underneath there will be no shoots to grow new tops. So if you plan on supercropping, thin with the future in mind.]
And second, supercropping to make room for
other supercropping! In this example I bent branch that has no lower branches to grow up, but I've bent it away to clear room to bend a
different branch that
does have lower branches that I want to expose. (Read the boxes in numbered order so it makes sense.):
If I had just bent the top branch it would have covered the bud-sites on the lower branch, so I bent that out of the way first.
And I will often bend a branch into the middle of a plant so the plant doesn't get too wide, as long as there is an empty spot to fill in, or some weak growth below you will be pruning at some point anyway. You can see an example of that here:
Top left was supercropped inward to keep it within the existing outer circle of the plant, and middle left was cropped outward to fill in the space.
One last trick, for those crops that refuse to stay down, attach a small binder clip to a paper clip and hang that from the branch (you can just make out the paper clip at the arrow):
Two final pics. This is an AK-47 where I used all these techniques:
6.3 ounces and Plant of the Month!
Questions welcome.
. Thanks Felipe!
