What does Super Cropping mean?
Super cropping, or high-stress training (HST), is a bush-style method of growing cannabis plants. It is a technique where a certain amount of stress is placed on the marijuana plant by exerting very gentle pressure that will slightly damage the tissues in a pre-planned manner.
By super cropping plants, the plant has escalated yields. It grows more buds, gets bushier, and has the possibility of producing higher THC levels than normal. These changes occur after super cropping, as the plants are naturally protecting themselves.
Super cropping is a major advantage for marijuana growers as they will be able to produce bigger yields with more branches and more potency in the buds, leaves, and flowers.
More Info on Super Cropping
In super cropping, special consideration should be placed on the topping of the plant, where the main growth shoot is cut off. Super cropping is best achieved during the vegetative stage, only after the plant has grown a lot of healthy branches and is growing vigorously.
To super crop your cannabis plants, you’re essentially aiming for a flat canopy at the top. Choose branches that are older, and pliable, and then simply squeeze and bend them, aiming to damage only the inner tissue of the plant.
Super cropping is said to prompt the plant to product more THC, which is its defense mechanism against threats. Marijuana plants are the only known plants to create Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, naturally. While it is very popular among humans, it isn’t the same case with wild animals. THC is actually a defense mechanism for cannabis plants in the wild. The animals won’t eat the plants as they would feel discomfort with the psychoactive effects or just not like the taste of the cannabinoids.
Since the cannabis plants use THC as a defense mechanism in the wild against possible predators such as a wild deer, when the plants are stressed, they tend to put their bud and cannabinoid production into overdrive as a last ditch effort to protect themselves. Hence, the intentional slight damage done during super cropping is enough to stress the plant as if a natural predator was coming for it.
