What is Lollipopping Marijuana (How to lollipop for Bigger Yields)
When I first heard the term lollipopping marijuana, I kind of figured it meant trimming the bottom of my weed plants and I was partially correct. What I did find out is there is a specific way to lollipop as well as why you would want to do this in the first place. So, what is lollipopping you ask?
Lollipopping is a trimming method used in the marijuana community. Lollipopping is a method used to maximize the amount of buds on a marjuana plant, as well as increase the size of the buds. To lollipop a weed plant means to trim specific leaves and branches off your plants.
The excellent thing about marijuana plants is how forgiving they are just in case you cut something off you shouldn’t have. Of course, if you cut off a bud site, that bud will not grow but your whole plant will not die on you. In the world of growing marijuana there are a few trimming methods you should be familiar with and lollipopping is one of them. The other two are topping and fimming. In this article, we are going to cover lollipopping marijuana.
Okay, let’s get to it.
What is Lollipopping Marijuana?
Lollipopping is a trimming method used to rid your plants of unnecessary branches and leaves as well as maximizing the yield you end up with. Don’t confuse lollipopping with fimming and topping as they are all different ways to trim weed plants.
When Should You Start Lollipopping Weed Plants?
It should be obvious that trimming the bottom of a plant warrants having enough levels of branches to accomplish this task.
I wouldn’t consider lollipopping weed plants unless there are at least 4 levels of branches. Each level will have a couple of branches and possibly some nodes growing between the branches and the stem.
Let’s talk about how to lollipop your marijuana plants.
How to Lollipop Your Weed Plants
Lollipopping means to trim your plants in a way that they somewhat resemble a big green marijuana lollipop when done. So, think about that when trimming the plant. You need to trim some lower branches leaving the upper levels for growth and bud sites.
As previously mentioned, I wouldn’t do any of this trimming unless you have a minimum of 4 levels of branches. If you have at least 4 levels here’s what to do.
- Grab yourself a very sharp utility type knife for this project as you want to make a surgical type cut versus crushing and cutting branches off with scissors.
- Starting at the lowest level of branches, hold the stem and trim a branch off at the point where it connects to the stem. Keep in mind when cutting that you want to be cutting the branch and not the stem at all. So, if this means keeping a 1/8th of an inch or so away from the stem then do that.
- When grabbing a branch to cut, if you see leaves/growth starting on the top side between the stem and the branch, consider not cutting that piece off. This is where the buds grow from and if there is already growth there, there is no harm in just leaving the buds. You won’t achieve that lollipop look but a couple of extra buds might be worth it.
- That’s about it when it comes to lollipopping. How simple is that?
If you want to wait until your plant has more than 4 levels of branches, then please do. The older your plant gets, the stronger it also gets and will not be as shocked when you cut branches off.
If you do wait until the plant is getting big, instead of just cutting the bottom 2 levels of branches, stand back from the plant to size it up. Estimate where abouts the bottom ¼ to ⅓ of the plant is and trim all of those branches off. It’s whatever works for you.
Why Should You Lollipop Marijuana Plants?
Two main reasons come to mind when thinking about why you might want to do this type of trimming to your weed plants. Here they are.
- To increase the size of your marijuana buds. I hope it makes sense to you that if you take away a part of the plant that doesn’t produce anything you want, the plant can then focus on increasing the yield of the buds. So, less lower branches equal bigger better yields.
- The lower branches don’t get much light anyways. It’s true depending on how powerful your lights are. Chances are, if you are growing a marijuana plant the natural way and letting it just grow on it’s own straight up vertically, then the lower branches aren’t going to get enough light to produce buds worthy of cutting and curing.
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- Hence the reason why LST, fimming, topping and lollipopping are so popular now in the marijuana growing community. You just end up with bigger better buds and that’s why we grow these plants.
When is it Too Late to Lollipop Marijuana Plants?
Different growers might have different opinions on this. Here’s mine.
The end goal here is to have as large of a yield as possible. The way you get a larger yield is growing bigger buds. So, you don’t want to be lollipopping when you have flipped the lights over for the flowering stage. When you cut branches off, the plants need to do some healing and part of the nutrients and energy will go towards healing instead of growing. This would hinder bud’s growth.
In my mind, this means cutting off any branches should happen at least 2 weeks before you switch your lighting from vegetative to flowering. This gives ample time for the plant to heal.
This doesn’t mean you can’t cut off any larger fan leaves after this point however, I would still keep it to a minimum. Get as much trimming done before the flowering stage commences and your yield will be incredible, assuming you have done everything else right, that is.
When is two weeks before the flowering stage? That depends on your plants and how they are growing. Indicas can usually be put into the flowering stage a bit sooner than Sativas. If growing from seeds, let your plants grow in the vegetative stage for at least 6 to 8 weeks before flipping them over. If you have clones, 4 to 6 weeks is good however, going a bit longer is not a problem.
Conclusion
The thing I really enjoy about this hobby is that once you have most of your equipment, such as grow lights and tents, maybe some fertilizers and a heater the cost to grow weed plants really isn’t that much. To me, this means experimenting only makes sense as the cost isn’t much, so you won’t be losing much other than time if you totally mess the plant up.
In other words, it really is hard to mess up a marijuana plant, unless you cut off all the bud sites off and chances are, that won’t happen. So, go ahead and try your hand at lollipopping your marijuana plants and if it doesn’t turn out the way you want it to, then try again on the next plant.
Good luck.
Related Growing Marijuana World Article
How to Grow Marijuana Plants Without Equipment
Pruning Weed to Increase Yield