Cannabis Re-Vegging

As we all know, cannabis is an annual plant that goes through different stages during its life cycle; from germination, growth and flowering, to harvest. After harvesting your marijuana buds, you can no longer benefit from the plant or its genetics, unless you remembered to take some cuttings during the vegetative phase.

What happens when you realize too late, during the flowering period, that you should have taken some cuttings from that specimen of unique nature?

Fortunately, and thanks to this article and the regeneration or re-vegging process, you still have time to recover the genetics that you loved so much, and benefit from them through future crops. Let’s have a look at all the possible reasons a grower would have to re-activate the growth stage of a plant, as well as the course of action you need to follow in order to achieve this regeneration in the best possible conditions.

When to re-veg your cannabis plants

The growers who don’t preserve their genetics through mother plants could wonder why others want their flowering cannabis to start growing again. In fact, this is an unusual process for growers who seek optimal flower production and don’t want to stress their plants with unexpected phase variations.

Growers of regular cannabis seeds are used to take a few cuttings from their cannabis plants during the vegetative growth, in order to make a selection and keep the most interesting phenotypes, with the aim of preserving their genetics and cultivate them again. There could be several reasons for this: cannabinoid and terpene concentration, some exceptional organoleptic qualities, plants that are very easy to grow..., in short, there are many reasons to wish to preserve your plant’s genetics and cultivate it again.

More advanced growers take their cuttings during the growing phase or right before the flowering period. Due to different motives they can encounter various problems when doing so, such as lack of time and space, a shortage of material resources, or simply not having taken into account the vegetative period. If later on, they think they should have preserved certain genetics, the only solution is re-vegging the plant in order to keep it growing and take some cuttings.

Cannabis regeneration can also be the best solution when you have a photoperiod problem in your mother plants’ grow room. Some genetics, more sensitive than others, can start flowering very fast when daylight hours get shortened. Growers are usually so busy feeding and caring for their mother plants that could unwittingly encounter some photoperiod problems when the ladies start transitioning towards the flowering period.

A good example of this can be found in Fruit Tartare by Aficionado French Connection, which you can see below in this article. In this case, there was a problem with the photoperiod; the grower wasn’t paying attention and the plant quickly began to produce flowers. To solve this, this person would need to readjust the appropriate photoperiod in order to perform the regeneration and preserve the chosen genetics.

Regeneration techniques for best results

• Regeneration during harvest

The easiest and most popular method is to wait for the harvest and remove only the branches with the best buds, letting the plant keep its leaves and some healthy flowers.

Later on, you have to place the plant in a grow room with an 18/6 lighting schedule. You’ll need to change the nutrients you provide to the plant and use some fertilizers to promote plant growth, like Biobizz Bio Grow, an algae extract, and/or any other root stimulant. It’s also highly recommended to transplant the plant into a larger pot and add fresh soil, in order to promote root development.

Plants will be more or less receptive to this tampering. After a few days, your plant will start producing new leaves with unusual shapes, including a single leaflet; but this shouldn’t be a source of concern... a few weeks down the line, the plant will develop properly formed leaves. Usually, plants that undergo this regeneration are more vigorous once the first stage of growth is over.

It should also be noted that re-vegging is an excellent way to check a strain’s stability. This tampering implies a significant amount of stress for the plants, and those genetics with hermaphroditic traits will tend to present this characteristic during the process. Therefore, regeneration can be an optimal tool for breeders who want to check the sexual stability of their new crosses.

• Taking cuttings from flowering plants

You also have the option of taking cuttings from a flowering plant, which is known as Monster Cropping, in order to preserve its genetics. To do this successfully, you shouldn’t wait too long. You need to take your cuttings from the lower part of the plant during the 2nd or 3rd week of flowering, and prune all pre-flowers you find on the cuttings to promote rooting.

Just like in the conventional method presented above, the new clone will produce deformed leaves (often single leaflets) to start with and then will adopt a more conventional development. Similarly, the clones taken from a flowering plant will turn into specimens more vigorous than the cuttings taken from growing plants.

We hope this article helps you to understand better this rarely used technique, and to save those genetics you thought were lost. If you want to preserve your favourite strains, do not hesitate; regeneration, or re-vegging, will allow you to enjoy your preferred selection and to keep its genetics.

Happy growing!