By Luke Sumpter

Almost every cannabis cultivator grows with big, sticky buds in mind. Not only do large and thick flowers possess more cannabinoids and terpenes, but they simply look better. Canopies appear denser when bearing large buds, and the fruits of your labour look much more impressive when you show them to your weed-loving friends.

Although massive flowers are a delight, they can pose a few problems. For example, cannabis branches can only handle so much weight. If your flowers become excessively large, the canopy can pay the price and branches can even buckle.

But don’t let this stop you from growing the largest cannabis flowers possible! Below, we'll show you some tips for growing huge buds while keeping your precious plants intact. Find out how to keep your buds from falling over.


1. Support Plants With String and Stakes

Cannabis growers can take care of their canopies with tools as simple as bamboo canes and pieces of string. Whether you’re growing indoors or outdoors, this is a time-tested technique.

  • Bamboo Canes

Bamboo canes are inexpensive yet extremely effective. These cheap but sturdy tools will help keep the main stem upright and prevent branches from sagging under the weight of heavy buds.

Best Ways To Support Large Cannabis Buds Indoors and Outdoors

You can use them both indoors and outdoors when your buds become too heavy for their branches. Simply lodge a few canes into the soil around your plants. Use soft garden ties to secure branches to the canes, but leave some room to allow the branches to thicken as the plant continues to grow.

If you're growing in containers, you can attach bamboo canes along the rim of the pot using duct tape. Form a circle around your plant using 6–8 canes and tie any weak links in your branches to the structure for additional support.

  • String

String allows growers to secure large marijuana colas, even without the use of canes or stakes. If you come across any branches that look like they’re about to break, use some string to offload the weight.

Tie one end onto the affected branch and the other to a point higher up on the main stem. We recommend only using this method on large outdoor sativa plants with sturdy stems capable of taking on the extra load.

Best Ways To Support Large Cannabis Buds Indoors and Outdoors
  • Outdoor Cannabis Staking Protocol

Be mindful that whatever you use to support your outdoor weed plants will be exposed to the elements. In terms of the aforementioned bamboo canes, these can rot with prolonged exposure to rain, and can pass on harmful diseases to your plants as a result. If you live somewhere rainy, consider an alternative material, such as fibreglass.

It’s a similar situation with the string. Don’t choose anything that degrades easily or is prone to rotting. 

2. Trellising

Trellising involves using a mesh with a wide lattice to support the growth of your plants. Trellising has many benefits: it spaces out your buds, maximises grow space, and provides structural support.

Best Ways To Support Large Cannabis Buds Indoors and Outdoors

Indoor trellising can be carried out in several ways. You can use vertical trellises, which travel alongside your plants, or horizontal trellises, which are suspended at a certain height above your plant’s level. Horizontal trellising is often carried out with the screen of green growing method, whereby the plant is cultivated such that most of the heavy plant matter is above the trellis. Screen of green requires a moderate amount of skill, as you will need to prune your plants, direct their growth, and lay out your garden with some degree of precision. If trellising is set up incorrectly, it can restrict sunlight and airflow to the lower parts of the plants, and cause stunted growth and other negative side effects. It may not be the best method for a first-time grower. Unless, that is, you really want to challenge yourself!

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Standard trellises are usually two-dimensional screens, and they work perfectly for climbing vegetables such as beans. However, because cannabis is more of a bushy plant, outdoor plant cages achieve the same effect while catering to the weed plant's specific shape.

  • Outdoor Plant Cages

Plant cages work brilliantly at supporting the weight of huge weed flowers. Simply purchase a roll of sturdy garden mesh and form a column around your plants. If you’re growing in containers, attach the cage onto the rim of the pot. If you’re using beds, simply press the cage into the ground around your plant.

Tie together both ends of the roll with garden ties to maintain the columnar shape. As your plant grows, the branches will pass through the gaps in the mesh, which will work to support them against the heavy force exerted by big buds.

3. Wire Tomato Cages

You can place your weed plants in wire tomato cages to give your branches something to hang on to. As tomato plants and weed plants are shaped differently, this method requires some customisation. Wire tomato cages tend to be narrow at the bottom and wide on the top, while weed plants tend to be wide at the bottom and narrow at the top. As such, you’ll need to use string, velcro, or twist ties to attach the lower parts of the plant to the cage, as per the first method in this guide. This method may not be ideal for very young plants, as the cages could make it hard to get the lamps within range of the plants.

Just like large cannabis flowers, big, juicy tomatoes place a lot of strain on branches and stems. These handy devices are specifically designed to protect tender branches against the force of gravity. 

Best Ways To Support Large Cannabis Buds Indoors and Outdoors
  • Perfect for Outdoor Cannabis Plants

Wire tomato cages are similar to plant cages when it comes to protecting cannabis plants. However, they save a lot of work, especially if you’re growing a lot of plants. They arrive ready to do their job, with no cutting, fitting to size, or tying required.

These structures are often much more sturdy than homemade cages, too. Because outdoor plants are exposed to high winds and stormy weather, wire tomato cages offer a bit more protection, without having to stake your cages into the ground.

4. Plant Yoyos

Plant yoyos are an easy way to give your plant support while interfering minimally with its structure. Plant yoyos are small plastic hooks attached to a string, which then attaches to a mechanism which attaches to the top of your grow tent. Plant yoyos allow your grow tent to hold some of the weight of your plant. The plastic hooks are designed to touch a minimal surface area of your plant, and yet to distribute weight evenly so as not to cause damage. If you’re using a grow tent, plant yoyos are the simplest way to get those heavy buds some support!

Best Ways To Support Large Cannabis Buds Indoors and Outdoors

Add Fertiliser To Improve Plant Strength

If you want stronger stems and branches, you need to go to the source: nutrients in the soil. Give your plants fertiliser rich in calcium, potassium, and phosphorus to help them get buff. After all, the best case scenario is to have heavy buds and plants hefty enough to handle them!

One caution is to avoid giving your plant too much of any one nutrient. In particular, supplementing your plant with calcium while neglecting potassium and phosphorus can backfire in a big way!

  • Organic Outdoor Fertiliser Methods

Outdoor growers have access to a wide range of organic nutrients that do cannabis plants a world of good. Instead of pouring bottles of synthetic chemicals into your growing medium and hoping for the best, use organic substances such as worm castings and compost to feed your soil.

By composting all of your kitchen scraps and garden waste, or feeding it to worms in a vermicompost setup, you’ll convert rubbish into a rich source of nutrients.

Not only does this material contain all of the nutrients your plants need, but it possesses high levels of organic matter, feeding the soil microbes that go on to feed your plants.

Mix compost and worm castings into your potting soil before getting your grow off the ground. Going forward, use it as a top dressing every few weeks to keep your soil fed.

Supporting heavy buds is more art than science. To find out what’s right for you, listen to your plant, gauge its innate strength, figure out where it’s strong, and find out where it needs support. Happy growing!

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Privacy Policy - Royal Queen Seeds

To ensure a safe online environment and guarantee adequate data protection, we strictly comply with all legal requirements. In this privacy statement, we provide information about how and for what purpose data is collected, safety measures, storage periods and contact details.


COMPANY NAME: SNORKEL SPAIN, SL (hereinafter ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS)

C/ Vilar d'Abdelà, 5 (nave 1) CP: 08170 de Montornès del Vallès

+34 937 379 846

support@royalqueenseeds.com


The present Privacy Policy sets out the terms on which we will treat personal data at ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS; this includes any personal data collected through our website https://www.royalqueenseeds.com/ as well as any other data we process in the course of our business activities.

ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS collects the following personal data for the purposes listed below:

SECTION 1 – PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

1.1 Account purchases

Account purchases can only be made if you are in possession of a personal account. When you create an account or purchase something from our shop, as part of the buying and selling process we collect the following personal information that you provide to us:

This information is required for delivery. In addition, when you browse our shop, we automatically receive the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your computer. Based on this information, we can optimise your online experience and at the same time protect our online environment.

Purpose of data collection

We collect and store account-related data for the following purposes:

(a) to carry out obligations arising from any contracts between you and us, and to provide you with information, products and services that you may request from us;

(b) to set up, manage and communicate with you about your account and your orders;

(c) to conduct market research and analysis;

(d) to confirm your age and identity, and to detect and prevent fraud.

1.2 Newsletters

With your explicit permission, we may send you newsletters about our shop, new products and other updates. We send newsletters based on your explicit consent. In the event that you purchase a product, and in accordance with current regulations, we may send you commercial communications in accordance with the legitimate interest of our company, always about products or services similar to those you have purchased or contracted. In any case, you may exercise your right of opposition through the channels announced in this Privacy Policy. The following information is collected in relation to the newsletter:

We do not need to know the sex of the person in order to send the newsletter (data minimisation: by law we must ask for data that is strictly necessary to provide the service, and in this case knowing the sex is not necessary to send the newsletter).

Purpose of data collection

The data collected is used to:

(a) personalise our emails, including your name and gender;

(b) provide gender-specific content.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by using the link provided in the newsletter or the contact information provided in section 2.

1.3 Customer service and contact form

In order to provide appropriate support, our customer service employees have access to information related to the account. Consequently, their support will be highly effective and friendly. The data provided in our contact form is used by our CRM provider, SuperOffice. We will only use your details to respond to your message.

SECTION 2 – LEGITIMATE INTEREST

If you have purchased any of our products, please note that we may process your personal data for promotional purposes, based on Royal Queen Seeds' legitimate interest only to offer you products or services from our company and about products or services similar to those you have purchased. You may exercise your right to opt out of future messages by the means set out in this Privacy Policy or through any notification you receive.

2.1 How do you withdraw consent?

If you change your mind, you can withdraw your consent for us to contact you for the purpose of collecting, using, or disclosing your data at any time by reaching out to us at: support@royalqueenseeds.com.

SECTION 3 – DISCLOSURE

We may disclose your personal information if we are required to do so by law or if you breach our Terms of Service.

SECTION 4 – HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR DATA?

At Royal Queen Seeds, we will not retain your data for longer than is necessary for the purposes described in this Policy. Different retention periods apply for different types of data; however, the longest period we will normally hold any personal data is 10 years.

4.1 Account information

Data relating to the account remains relevant for as long as the consumer is in possession of an account. Therefore, the data remains documented for as long as the account exists. When our customers delete an account, the associated data will be deleted within a reasonable period of time. Requests regarding the inspection or correction of stored personal data or the deletion of an account can be sent to support@royalqueenseeds.com.

4.2 Newsletters

In the event that you give us your consent to inform you about our products or services, we will keep your data until you express your wish not to receive any further communications from us. However, we regularly (every month) carry out a relevance check. Registered customers (and their personal information) will be deleted whenever customers do not reply to our request. In addition, our newsletter mailing has an opt-out feature. Consumers can withdraw their consent by using this opt-out feature.

SECTION 5 – COOKIES

Cookies are small information files that notify your computer of previous interactions with our website. These cookies are stored on your hard drive, not on our website. Essentially, when you use our website, your computer displays its cookies to us, informing our site that you have visited before. This allows our website to function more quickly and remember aspects related to your previous visits (such as your username), making your experience more convenient. At Royal Queen Seeds, we use two types of cookies: functional and analytical.

5.1 Functional Cookies

Functional cookies are used to enhance your online experience. Among other things, these cookies track what is added to your shopping cart. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

5.2 Analytical Cookies

Analytical cookies are used for research and market analysis. The data collected with these analytical cookies is anonymous, making it unusable for third parties. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

SECTION 5 – THIRD-PARTY SERVICES

Third-party services are required to conduct transactions and provide our services. In general, the third-party providers we use will only collect, use and disclose your information to the extent necessary to enable them to perform the services they provide to us.

However, certain third-party service providers, such as payment gateways and other payment transaction processors, have their own privacy policies regarding the information we must provide to them for your transactions.

We encourage you to read the privacy policies of these providers so that you can understand how these providers will handle your personal information.

In particular, certain suppliers may be located or have facilities located in a different jurisdiction than yours or ours. Therefore, if you choose to proceed with a transaction involving the services of a third party, your information may be subject to the laws of the jurisdiction in which that service provider or its facilities are located.

Once you leave our website or are redirected to a third-party website or application, you are no longer governed by this Privacy Policy or the Terms of Service of our website.

Web analytics service (anonymous data)

On this website we have integrated an element of a web analytics service (with anonymisation functionality). Web analytics can be defined as the gathering, processing and analysis of data about the behaviour of visitors to websites. An analytics service collects, among other things, data about which website a person came from (the so-called referrer), which sub-pages they visited or how often and for how long they visited a sub-page. Web analytics is mainly used for website optimisation and for a cost–benefit analysis of internet advertising.

Courier service

To complete deliveries we use a courier service. This courier service carries out the delivery between our company and the consumer's home. To complete these logistics, the company requires access to the consumer's name and address information.

Mailing service

Royal Queen Seeds uses a third-party mail service provider to send its newsletter. This provider has access to limited account information related to opt-in consent (e.g. email address).

Marketing services

Royal Queen Seeds has the support of a company that specialises in marketing and communication activities. Their access to personal information is very limited and mostly anonymous.

Payment services

At Royal Queen Seeds we use external payment services to handle our transactions (e.g. credit card payments).

SECTION 6 – SECURITY

To protect your personal information, we take reasonable precautions and follow industry standard best practices to ensure that it is not inappropriately lost, misused, accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed.

If you provide us with your credit card information, the information is encrypted using secure socket layer technology (SSL) and stored using AES-256 encryption. Although no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, we follow all PCI-DSS requirements and implement additional industry standards that are commonly accepted. Information related to the account is protected with a hashing method. This method transforms the information into a generated hash. As a result, confidential information is protected and invisible, even to us. In addition, our databases are exceptionally protected against unauthorised access. For example, access to the database is only possible and permitted via approved IP addresses (e.g. from Royal Queen Seeds headquarters). Other attempts and addresses are rejected at all times.

Furthermore, data is anonymised as much as possible, so it cannot be directly linked to a specific consumer. With this data, however, we may be able to carry out market research and analysis. In addition, the third parties concerned (e.g. mailing service) are examined prior to our collaboration, comply with the GDPR from the EU and receive a processing agreement. Within Royal Queen Seeds, employees are assigned different access permissions. Specific permission provides access only to information that is strictly required to perform a task. Digital security measures are subject to change and must meet high requirements to ensure the safety of online customers. That is why, at Royal Queen Seeds, we appoint a security officer. Regular verification and improvement of security measures (where necessary) are part of the role.

SECTION 7 – CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time, so please check back regularly. Changes and clarifications will be effective immediately upon being published on the Website. If we make substantial changes to this policy, we will notify you here that it has been updated so you will know what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we use and/or disclose it.

SECTION 8 – YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO: