What three options would you choose to get the most potent buds possible?

[Phillybonker]

I just want to see what you guys and girls think is the top three most important things to get potent buds in an outdoor grow and the top three least important things to get potent buds in an outdoor grow. This is to help me make up my mind which areas I should be concentrating my efforts the most on and what areas I should be concentrating the least on for my next grow.

Please choose three of the most important and three of the least important things to get potent buds for an outdoor grow from the ten below:

1. Good genetics

2. Good soil (dark brown/black, lots of life, aerated, etc)

3. Maximum direct sunlight

4. Bud washing

5. Drying

6. Trimming

7. Curing

8. Amendments

9. Methods (Supercropping, lollipopping, drought stressing, etc)

10. Ensuring plants get enough water

 

[Roy Growin]

1, 7, 10
3, 4, 9

 

[Vegan4life]

1, 8, 10, also 2 & 3 very important

4, 6, 9 least important

 

[Phillybonker]

1, 7, 10
3, 4, 9

Interesting, I won't comment any further for now as not to influence other peoples choices.

 

[Braddah Waiheesohai]

1, 3 (also taking into consideration wind patterns), 1, & managed stress (a moderate amount of wind/water/temperature stress).

2&8 are kind of the same thing (and next most important).
4 has no impact on potency.
5&7 are all 1 process and affect taste more than potency.
6 is mostly cosmetic.
9 affects yields more than potency. (Most outdoor grows get some drought stress on their own)
10 is more about keeping them alive.

 

[Lerugged]

1,2,3 and 10. Sorry they are equally important to me so I had to chose 4.
4,5 and 6 are my least important with regards to potency.

 

[Azimuth]

I just want to see what you guys and girls think is the top three most important things to get potent buds in an outdoor grow and the top three least important things to get potent buds in an outdoor grow. This is to help me make up my mind which areas I should be concentrating my efforts the most on and what areas I should be concentrating the least on for my next grow.

Please choose three of the most important and three of the least important things to get potent buds for an outdoor grow from the ten below:

1. Good genetics

2. Good soil (dark brown/black, lots of life, aerated, etc)

3. Maximum direct sunlight

4. Bud washing

5. Drying

6. Trimming

7. Curing

8. Amendments

9. Methods (Supercropping, lollipopping, drought stressing, etc)

10. Ensuring plants get enough water

I'd have to say genetics are #1 since the rest don't matter if the plant is limited there.

Soil doesn't matter much unless you're growing organically and then it's very important.

Maximum light is only an issue if they don't get enough because plants have a maximum they can use in a 24 hour period and giving them more after they've had their fill is wasted.

Bud washing doesn't affect potency, but rather makes for a cleaner experience. Like washing your lettuce before making a salad. Less bugs doesn't make it healthier but does make it taste better (and burn cleaner in this case).

Improper drying, trimming, and curing I'll lump together since none of them will make for more potent buds than what was harvested, but doing any of them poorly  will degrade the potency.

Amendments are only as good as the inputs, but most of the nutes designed for canna are tailor made and work well as long as you follow the manufacturers instructions. On the other hand, using nutes not designed for Canna specifically almost always leads to issues.

Training methods like LST, Supercropping, lollipopping can improve yield, but generally not potency.

Drought and other stressors do increase potency as discussed in @Krissi Carbone 's Droughting thread.

And finally enough water is critical for maximum plant size as demonstrated repeatedly in the SIP Club thread, but that doesn't equal potency, so I would argue giving them less water than they can use leads to better potency, but I think there are better ways to get at it than purposely growing a smaller plant with smaller yields would do.

But, to answer your question specifically,
1. Genetics
2. Proper nutes
3. Proper droughting at the end

And then pay attention to the drying/cure so you don't screw up all the rest.

 

[Krissi Carbone]

I'd have to say genetics are #1 since the rest don't matter if the plant is limited there.

Soil doesn't matter much unless you're growing organically and then it's very important.

Maximum light is only an issue if they don't get enough because plants have a maximum they can use in a 24 hour period and giving them more after they've had their fill is wasted.

Bud washing doesn't affect potency, but rather makes for a cleaner experience. Like washing your lettuce before making a salad. Less bugs doesn't make it healthier but does make it taste better (and burn cleaner in this case).

Improper drying, trimming, and curing I'll lump together since none of them will make for more potent buds than what was harvested, but doing any of them poorly  will degrade the potency.

Amendments are only as good as the inputs, but most of the nutes designed for canna are tailor made and work well as long as you follow the manufacturers instructions. On the other hand, using nutes not designed for Canna specifically almost always leads to issues.

Training methods like LST, Supercropping, lollipopping can improve yield, but generally not potency.

Drought and other stressors do increase potency as discussed in @Krissi Carbone 's Droughting thread.

And finally enough water is critical for maximum plant size as demonstrated repeatedly in the SIP Club thread, but that doesn't equal potency, so I would argue giving them less water than they can use leads to better potency, but I think there are better ways to get at it than purposely growing a smaller plant with smaller yields would do.

But, to answer your question specifically,
1. Genetics
2. Proper nutes
3. Droughting

And then pay attention to the drying/cure so you don't screw up all the rest.

Genetics methods amendments are my top 3! Droughting is in there with methods...super cropping, too!

 

[Porky82]

1
7
10

 

[bluter]

you forgot climate. local growing climate has the greatest effect. the other things will flow from that.

 

[Phillybonker]

1, 7, 10
3, 4, 9

You consider maximum direct sunlight one of the three least important?

Did you know plants increase trichome production to protect themselves from UV rays?

 

[bluter]

Did you know plants increase trichome production to protect themselves from UV rays?

negligible effect. there's a lot of bro science folk follow surrounding trich production. trichomes are for protection from foraging animals. it makes them sick if they eat the plant, so they learn to stay away. same reason tomatoes produce trichs as well.

 

[Phillybonker]

negligible effect. there's a lot of bro science folk follow surrounding trich production. trichomes are for protection from foraging animals. it makes them sick if they eat the plant, so they learn to stay away. same reason tomatoes produce trichs as well.

What about this that I read.....

Trichomes are reflective. They can reflect visible, UV, near-infrared, and infrared radiation away from a plant2. Inside a trichome, there are additional light-absorbing compounds such as flavonols, that further shield the plant from light3.

Also doesn't trichomes protect plants from drought some how?, some people drought stress their plants to increase trichome production.

 

[Phillybonker]

1, 8, 10, also 2 & 3 very important

4, 6, 9 least important

How would water make buds more potent?, isn't water just to keep the plant alive?

 

[Phillybonker]

1, 3 (also taking into consideration wind patterns), 1, & managed stress (a moderate amount of wind/water/temperature stress).

2&8 are kind of the same thing (and next most important).
4 has no impact on potency.
5&7 are all 1 process and affect taste more than potency.
6 is mostly cosmetic.
9 affects yields more than potency. (Most outdoor grows get some drought stress on their own)
10 is more about keeping them alive.

Good explanations for each point.

 

[Phillybonker]

1,2,3 and 10. Sorry they are equally important to me so I had to chose 4.
4,5 and 6 are my least important with regards to potency.

I'm surprised number 10 (water) got chosen four times, I don't see how water would effect potency.

 

[Vegan4life]

How would water make buds more potent?, isn't water just to keep the plant alive?

Yes to keep the plant alive... If it dies or stresses out from lack of water you will have no buds... I know people drought their plants at the end of flower to up the potency, they need water to get to that point.

 

[Chrondocious]

I'd have to say genetics are #1 since the rest don't matter if the plant is limited there.

Soil doesn't matter much unless you're growing organically and then it's very important.

Maximum light is only an issue if they don't get enough because plants have a maximum they can use in a 24 hour period and giving them more after they've had their fill is wasted.

Bud washing doesn't affect potency, but rather makes for a cleaner experience. Like washing your lettuce before making a salad. Less bugs doesn't make it healthier but does make it taste better (and burn cleaner in this case).

Improper drying, trimming, and curing I'll lump together since none of them will make for more potent buds than what was harvested, but doing any of them poorly  will degrade the potency.

Amendments are only as good as the inputs, but most of the nutes designed for canna are tailor made and work well as long as you follow the manufacturers instructions. On the other hand, using nutes not designed for Canna specifically almost always leads to issues.

Training methods like LST, Supercropping, lollipopping can improve yield, but generally not potency.

Drought and other stressors do increase potency as discussed in @Krissi Carbone 's Droughting thread.

And finally enough water is critical for maximum plant size as demonstrated repeatedly in the SIP Club thread, but that doesn't equal potency, so I would argue giving them less water than they can use leads to better potency, but I think there are better ways to get at it than purposely growing a smaller plant with smaller yields would do.

But, to answer your question specifically,
1. Genetics
2. Proper nutes
3. Proper droughting at the end

And then pay attention to the drying/cure so you don't screw up all the rest.

Cannabis is a plant, just like any other. Nutrients for tomatoes and roses will work just as well. But I agree with wverything your saying. #1 is genetics.

 

[Phillybonker]

I'd have to say genetics are #1 since the rest don't matter if the plant is limited there.

Agreed.

Soil doesn't matter much unless you're growing organically and then it's very important.

Good point. I didn't think of that. You got me thinking, if I can only find plots with crappy soil maybe I should use synthetic fertilizer? hmmm

Maximum light is only an issue if they don't get enough because plants have a maximum they can use in a 24 hour period and giving them more after they've had their fill is wasted.

Do you know the maximum direct sunlight a cannabis plant can use by any chance?

Bud washing doesn't affect potency, but rather makes for a cleaner experience. Like washing your lettuce before making a salad. Less bugs doesn't make it healthier but does make it taste better (and burn cleaner in this case).

True that.

Improper drying, trimming, and curing I'll lump together since none of them will make for more potent buds than what was harvested, but doing any of them poorly  will degrade the potency.

Yep improper drying and trimming (handling the buds too much) will degrade potency, I didn't know improper curing will degrade potency.

Amendments are only as good as the inputs, but most of the nutes designed for canna are tailor made and work well as long as you follow the manufacturers instructions. On the other hand, using nutes not designed for Canna specifically almost always leads to issues.

I'm planning on just using blood & bone and potash on my next grow, should do the trick.

Training methods like LST, Supercropping, lollipopping can improve yield, but generally not potency.

Wouldn't LST and supercropping ensure all buds get good sunlight rather than just the one dominant cola?

And by lollipopping wouldn't that allow the plant to put all it's energy into the buds further up the plan that do get good sunlight thus increasing potency?

Drought and other stressors do increase potency as discussed in @Krissi Carbone 's Droughting thread.

I'll checkout her thread when I get time.

And finally enough water is critical for maximum plant size as demonstrated repeatedly in the SIP Club thread, but that doesn't equal potency, so I would argue giving them less water than they can use leads to better potency, but I think there are better ways to get at it than purposely growing a smaller plant with smaller yields would do.

Yep I can confirm water increases the size of the buds/colas. I had few plants out on my last grow and only one plant was near a stream and got heaps of water and grew bigger buds/colas than the other plants that got significantly less water.

But, to answer your question specifically,
1. Genetics
2. Proper nutes
3. Proper droughting at the end

And then pay attention to the drying/cure so you don't screw up all the rest.

Good choices.

 

[Phillybonker]

1
7
10

Curing increases potency?