Monster cropping is a powerful method of creating huge buds from flowering cannabis plants. Also known as Flowering Clones, it’s not as popular as other training techniques but it often leads to remarkable harvests.

By taking the budding clones and putting them back to vegetation, we create a bunch of plants with more colas. Thus, its name is an apt description of what to expect when we practice it. In monster cropping, that’s exactly what we’ll get: gigantic plants that produce monster buds.

While it leads to successful results outdoors, monster cropping is even more useful in the grow room. As any indoor cannabis grower knows, it’s tough to maximize every inch of space and light in an indoor setup. Most of the time, the plants don’t get equal amount of light, so some would be flowering while others are still vegetating.

To combat this problem, it makes sense to grow cannabis plants that are already in the same stage of the flowering cycle. As such, instead of just one mother plant hogging the light and air, they will be optimized by several clones.

Additionally, the cloning process boosts their energies to grow long side branches and produce more THC. As a result, we get bushy plants that create huge delicious buds.

To get the best results, the right knowledge is necessary as well as a bit of growing experience. So, in this article, we will discuss everything there is to know about monster cropping. Once we understand the basics, we can apply this method with confidence.

How to Monster Crop Marijuana Plants

It’s not typical to take clones from flowering cannabis and many experts would even say that it’s not a smart move. However, growers who try it enjoy enormous results, and the science behind it checks out.

Before we start taking clones, it’s best to read up on the procedure to avoid mistakes. Basically, the process is the same except that in monster cropping, we take the cuttings while the plant is budding. But first, let’s look at some vital information to help us understand more.

• Learn the Basics

Monster cropping can cause considerable stress to the cannabis plant. Cutting good parts of it to grow the clones places a huge burden on its overall health. If not done right, it could weaken the plant and even cause it to stop growing.

Stress Rejuvenates Cannabis

Interestingly, if done properly, the effects of stress can be beneficial to the plants as it can trigger the development of desired traits. This includes the more vigorous growth of leaves and branches as well as more nodes and bud sites.

Best of all, experts believe that the stress response of cannabis plants is to release high levels of THC. And this is why training techniques often produce high-quality weed.

Monster Cropping is Not for All Strains

Unfortunately, due to the trauma on the plants, monster cropping is suitable only for regular photoperiod strains. Even so, they need enough time to recover from the damage. Luckily, regular strains have long life cycles which help them get more time to heal and finish flowering.

However, auto-flowering varieties require only a few weeks to grow which is not ideal for cutting out clones. Hence, it’s better not to apply high-stress methods like monster cropping on them. On the other hand, they can handle all kinds of low-stress methods like LST, ScrOG, and super cropping.

• Gather Materials

When doing the procedure, always use clean and sharp scissors to reduce any chances of infection. In fact, some growers go to the extent of sterilizing their cutting tools. This is vital to help the plant heal easily from the damage and the clones to root successfully. Of course, we also need a container with clean water to soak the stem of the clones and make it root.

• Start Monster Cropping

Now that we have the essentials, it’s time to learn about the steps. In this section, we will demonstrate how to execute monster cropping correctly.

Step 1: Choose the Clones

The best time to cut some clones is when the marijuana plant is about 3 weeks into the flowering stage. But it’s also okay to take them later as this won’t affect the outcome.

When choosing which parts to take, go for the lower branches as they tend to root faster than from the ones on the top. And cut diagonally across the stem so there’s more surface for nutrients and water to get in. Additionally, it will provide more surface for the roots to grow.

When planning how many clones to take, keep in mind that not all of them will survive. Due to some unforeseen variables, some clones will just not sprout new leaves. So, it’s wise to keep a balance between how much to take and how much to leave for the donor plant to still produce a decent harvest.

Step 2: Root the Cuttings

After taking the clones, place it in a glass of water and let it sit there for some time. This will ensure that no air seeps into its fragile vascular system. Otherwise, the clone will suffer from a fatal condition and all our efforts will go to waste.

Step 3: Revert to Vegetation

To get the clones back to the vegetative state, simply utilize the light schedule for that stage. Depending on what we prefer, we can choose 18/6, 20/4, or 24/0.

And don’t worry about the light’s intensity since the clones don’t need much to survive. Just be sure not to disturb the buds on the clones or they will stop growing.

• Boost with SCROG

To maximize the product of our hard work, we can combine monster cropping with the ScrOG method. To any serious cannabis grower, this makes a lot of sense as ScrOGging is easy to apply and highly effective. For sure, this combo will create heavy branches of monster buds in the shortest time.

Monster Cropping Creates Monster Buds

When it comes to training methods, monster cropping may not be the most popular or common, but it sure offers amazing results. As such, we get several clones that grow great buds at the same time with the donor plant. So, it’s a great way to get an endless supply of superior weed.

To make monster cropping work, it’s important to focus on each step so we can avoid errors. Moreover, this method requires a lot of work, so commitment to the craft is essential. But once we see the stunning results, all the hard work will make all the trouble worth it.

Though experience on cloning is an advantage, newbies can still be successful with a bit of patience and knowledge. So, refer to this article to get guidance on how to go about this method. With enough practice, we will gain the confidence to use it as often as we want to get as many quality buds as possible.