Super cropping is when you bend the plant from the main stem half way up the plant. Super cropping is one of the best pruning techniques that you have available to you. It's also one of the easiest to perform. It isn't like pure pruning where you actually snip off some of the plant. Instead, it's more like putting the plant through a little bit of stress to get it to increase yields
Grow It Yourself Hydroponics would recommend that you do this process in the vegetative stage of the plant. Wait until your plant has reached a foot and half in height. You can do the process at a foot in height as well.
Usually before supper cropping we would advise you lolly pop the plant too. Lolly popping a plant is when you remove all the lower branches of the plant up to a certain height. For instance if your plant is 2ft tall you could lolly pop the bottom ft by removing the branches so you would have a bald main stem up to half of the plant.
The reason for this is that when the plant matures in the later stages if you left these lower branches on they would struggle to get light to them and would yield very little. If we remove these lower branches the plant will then focus its energy into the tops of the plant i.e increasing yields, cleaner and better plant to work with.
Removing these branches allows air flow at the bottom of the plant stopping mould, rot, pests and uncontrollable humidity levels. Now that you have lolly popped the plant you can either wait a few days to let the plant get over the minor stress or you can then supper crop your plant by bending usually from where you lolly popped to.
When bending use your thumb and forefinger. Start squeezing round the main stem repeatedly until you feel the stem begin to soften then start to bend the plant in the direction you choose. Don't be worried if the stem snaps it will repair itself. We sell a product called bends which can help you with this process.
The plant should now be bent in half and could be even lowered to the base of the pot. Don't be afraid I know the plant looks like you have literally bent it in half well we have but watch what happens in a few days.
The plant will re-bend itself up to the light. Now you will notice a bend in the main stem and even a knuckle can be noticed just under the bend. After a week you will notice the plant will be bushier, stronger and looking like it can handle some serious weight.
Another good reason why to super crop your plants is that if you have height issues the bending can almost knock up to half a foot of the final height or even a foot in some cases. Now this might not seem a lot but if you are in a growing in a tent or cupboard that half a foot could potentially stop your canopy or the tops of your plants getting burnt by your lights.