Growing
Top Shelf Bud – 8 Tips for Growing
Cultivating top-shelf marijuana is the ultimate goal for many horticulturists. Achieving premium-quality bud is an art that can be mastered by adhering to proven growing techniques and best practices.
To help you grow the best cannabis, we have compiled a list of eight highly successful growing tips. Follow these – and you’ll be harvesting top shelf bud with your next harvest!
1. Quality Genetics for Growing Top Shelf Buds
Starting with feminized seeds and high-quality genetics ensures your plants will deliver the desired effects and appearance in your buds by the end of the growth cycle.
While your growing skills play a significant role, the genetic quality of a cannabis plant ultimately sets the foundation and cannot be outperformed.
To produce potent, dense top-shelf buds, starting with the right genetics is essential. Opt for high-quality clones or feminized seeds to ensure the best harvest.
2. Let There be Light
Your plant has the potential to produce premium-quality flower, but without proper lighting and a well-organized light schedule, you won’t achieve the top-tier results you’re aiming for.
Use powerful and highly effective cannabis grow lights like HPS, LECs or LEDs to produce the best quality buds. Keep in mind the square footage ratio between your plant space and the light wattage.
For instance, in a typical medium-sized grow tent, a 1000-watt LED light is ideal for providing the full spectrum your plants require. During the vegetative stage, maximize light exposure to promote healthy growth.
Once your plants transition to the flowering stage, adjust the light schedule to 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness for optimal results.
3. Proper Nutrient Use for Growing Top Shelf Marijuana
To increase bud quality and be the proud farmer of top-shelf cannabis buds, you need to make sure you’re giving your plants the correct nutrients in all stages of growth.
Below is a list of the three most important nutrients to use:
• Nitrogen (N)
Cannabis plants require high levels of nitrogen during the vegetative stage to support vigorous growth. However, for quality bud production in the flowering stage, they need significantly less. Provide ample nitrogen early on, then reduce the amount as your plants begin to flower.
• Plenty of Phosphorus (P)
Phosphorus is very important for the development of your flowers. Feeding your plants with phosphorous during the flowering stage will deliver more top shelf buds.
• Potassium (K)
Providing your cannabis plants with a good and steady source of Potassium will increase the size and density of each individual flower.
4. Temperature and Humidity Control
To cultivate top-shelf strains, it’s essential to carefully monitor and manage your grow temperatures. Aim for daytime temperatures between 65-80°F (18-26°C) for optimal results.
Night temperatures should ideally be kept around 68-75°F (20°-24°C).
5. Let the Air Flow Free
Another important aspect to growing top shelf cannabis is air quality. This is additional to temperature and humidity control. Good air flow and ventilation are essential.
With 3 to 4 plants, you’re fine with an oscillating fan or two.
When growing more than 4 plants, and have hot lights shining, you’ll need a more improved system to ensure proper airflow.
You can easily build your own ventilation system with a few outgoing pipes and more fans. You can also add oxygen manually with an oxygen pump.
6. Harvesting your Top Shelf Buds
For many cannabis growers, harvesting can be one of the most challenging steps to get right. Flowering plants often start to smell and look ready for harvest before they’ve actually reached their peak maturity.
Keep in mind that harvesting cannabis too early can compromise the quality of your entire crop. Wait until most of the bud hairs have turned brown and the terpenes and trichomes are visibly ripened before harvesting.
7. Drying Top Shelf Bud
What you do during and after harvest, including drying/curing, is pivotal to the production of high quality cannabis. Drying/curing the right way will produce denser and more potent bud altogether.
After harvesting, hang your trimmed cannabis plants upside down in a moderate temperature clean and well-ventilated are and allow them to dry for 5 – 10 days.
Drying your weed too fast will result in them being harsh and smelling like sod that has just been mowed.
A good way to keep your cannabis plants from drying too quickly, is to trim the branches only after they’ve been dried. You can also decide to trim your buds before you dry them. The cannabis can then be hung or put on a rack to dry them.
We recommend leaving on as much stem as you can as it slows the drying process, and is easy to remove later. Try to dry your cannabis as long as possible, somewhere between five or ten days.
8. Proper Curing
After the cannabis has been dried the last part left if to cure it. This part largely contributes to the delicious flavor and scent of top shelf bud. Curing of cannabis can be accomplished by storing them in an airtight container for a minimum of two to three weeks, ideally about a month.
While curing your weed the cannabis can be periodically opened and the weed inside can be shuffled around to help the cannabis to ‘rid themselves of any leftover chemicals, while also preventing mold from forming on your precious top shelf marijuana flowers!
Learn more about growing top shelf buds in our award-winning how to grow weed online cannabis certification courses.
Luis Cordova
Luis Cordova is a distinguished author, and renowned expert in cannabis cultivation, who possesses a Master’s degree in Plant Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Science. As a valued contributor to highly esteemed publications such as Cannabis Training University and Maximum Yield Magazine, Luis has emerged as a trusted source of guidance and knowledge in the cannabis industry. Having written thousands of informative articles, Luis is widely recognized for his comprehensive expertise on cultivating cannabis, both indoors and outdoors.