By Steven Voser

Popcorn buds are the concern of every grower—keep reading for a detailed guide on these flower formations, and on how to keep them from bringing your harvest down.


What Are Popcorn Buds?

Popcorn buds are underdeveloped, airy buds about the size of, you guessed it, popped corn. You’ll generally find these buds towards the bottom of your plants, underneath the main canopy. There are a few main causes of popcorn buds, and they can weigh down the harvest of even really experienced growers.

What Causes Popcorn Buds?

Stress is the number one cause of popcorn buds. Any kind of stress, be it from poor watering, a lack or excess of nutrients, the environment, pests, plagues, or improper care, can affect a plant’s ability to grow big, dense flowers. Some of the most common stressors causing popcorn buds include:

  • Overcrowding or Overshading

An overcrowded grow room, poor spacing between plants, or bushy vegetative growth—due to the lack of pruning or training—can reduce the amount of light that a plant’s bud sites get, affecting bud growth and size.

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  • High Heat and/or Humidity

Heat and humidity can encourage plants to develop airy, wispy buds in an effort to fend off mould and other pathogens/pests.

  • Poor Watering/Feeding

Cannabis plants need water and nutrients to grow and develop big, healthy flowers. Drought, overwatering, and over/underfeeding can all affect your plant’s ability to develop big, dense, and heavy flowers.

  • Pests and Plagues

Pests and plagues can wreak havoc on a plant’s ability to grow. Any pest/plague problem you run into during the late vegetative and flowering phases can drastically impact the size and weight of the buds you’ll harvest.

  • Improper Training

LST and HST techniques can massively improve the harvest potential of some plants. However, time your training poorly and you can drastically stunt your plant’s growth and its ability to develop big, fully-formed flowers.

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Will Popcorn Buds Get You High?

While they might not look like much, popcorn buds can do a perfect job of getting you high. Just keep in mind that you’ll need more popcorn buds to fill a joint or bowl, simply because they are smaller and airier.

Processing Popcorn Buds at Harvest

If you've found yourself with a considerable amount of popcorn buds at harvest time, fear not! Here are a few tips that will help you trim and dry popcorn buds.

  • How to Trim Popcorn Buds

Trim popcorn buds like you would any regular bud. If you’re lucky enough to have had a large harvest and a lot of trimming to get through, you can opt to be less “detailed” when trimming your popcorn buds, especially if you’re planning on using them in edibles or concentrates. If you plan on smoking/vaping your popcorn buds, remember that a good trim will help ensure a better smoke because it removes excess foliage.

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  • How to Dry Popcorn Buds

After trimming, you’ll want to dry your popcorn buds until their branches bend and snap easily. After that, you can throw them in curing jars. Again, if you’ve been blessed with a big harvest and can’t wait to taste the fruits of your labour, you can opt to start smoking/vaping your buds early, while the rest of your harvest cures.

  • How to Quick-Dry a Popcorn Bud

If you’ve accidentally broken a small bud off one of your plants or are short on weed and want a quick smoke, you can try quick-drying a popcorn bud in an oven, grill, or even a fry pan on low heat. Make sure you monitor and flip the bud regularly to ensure it dries somewhat evenly. Also, don’t expect anything of a smoking experience; quick-drying cannabis this way ruins a lot of its flavour and makes for a harsh smoke. But hey, it’ll get you high if that’s all your after.

What to Do with Popcorn Buds?

Now that your popcorn buds are processed, you may be wondering what you can use them for. Below are our favourite ways to enjoy these flowers.

  • Smoke Them

While they might not look like much, popcorn buds can make a perfectly acceptable smoke, especially if you dry and cure them properly.

  • Make Edibles

If you prefer only smoking the crème de la crème of your last harvest, you can use popcorn buds in your edibles. They’ll provide all the kick you’re looking for and you won’t notice any of the flavour imperfections that you might experience when smoking/vaping. Remember that you might need more popcorn buds than normal flowers to get the same strength you’re used to.

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  • Try Making Your Own Concentrates

Concentrates and dabs offer completely unique ways to enjoy the flavour and effects of cannabis. Popcorn buds are great for using with solvent-based or solventless extraction techniques to make bubble hash, regular hash, or even alcohol-based tinctures. Again, just keep in mind that you might need more popcorn buds to get the kind of potency you’d expect from a concentrate made with top-shelf bud.

How to Avoid Popcorn Buds

While they still make an acceptable smoke and have a ton of uses, harvesting ounces of small, airy popcorn buds is far from a dream for any grower. Here are a few techniques to help you reduce the number of popcorn buds in your next harvest:

  • Lollipopping

Lollipopping is a great way to prevent popcorn buds from weighing down your harvest. This technique involves pruning the bottom of your plants and removing all of the foliage and bud sites from the bottom of your plants during the late vegetative/very early flowering stages. Over time, you’ll be left with plants that, you guessed it, look like lollipops, with clean stems down low and big, bushy colas up top. For the best results, we recommend combining lollipopping with mainlining (more info below).

Click here for an in-depth look at lollipopping and how it can up your yields.

  • Mainlining

Mainlining is a cannabis training technique that uses manifolding to split a plant’s main stem into a Y-shape. Every time you manifold a plant, its main stem divides into 2, giving you 2 new main colas. You can repeat this process as many times as you like and use LST to train each new stem to grow exactly how you want it to.

Combine mainlining with lollipopping and you’ll end up with plants that have big, bushy colas and trimmed bottoms. Using these techniques together is, in our eyes, the best way to prevent popcorn buds. Click here for an in-depth look at mainlining.

  • ScrOG

Screen of Green is an advanced growing technique that involves pruning, defoliation, LST, and mainlining (optional) to teach plants to grow through a screen, creating an even canopy across your entire grow space. Any vegetation growing underneath the screen should be pruned, helping your plants direct their energy to the bud sites above the screen. Many growers love ScrOG, because it makes maximum use of the light in the grow room, prevents overshadowing, and guarantees a harvest free of popcorn buds.

Check out this article for a detailed look at ScrOG and how it works.

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Preventing Popcorn Buds Outdoors

Outdoor growers should use a combination of mainlining, lollipopping, pruning, and defoliation to ensure all parts of their plants get enough sunlight to develop big buds. Alternatively, some adventurous growers might be tempted to use a ScrOG setup outside to further maximize the quality of their harvest.

When growing outdoors, you have the added advantage of the best source of light on the planet—the sun. Remember, though, that excessive heat can cause stress that may lead to your plants developing popcorn buds. Consider providing a shaded area for your plants; a simple shading screen can work wonders and ensure they don’t suffer during the hottest months.

Are Popcorn Buds Bad?

Popcorn buds might not be the ideal payoff for all the hard work you’ve put into growing your plants, but they’re still a long way from disasters like pest infestations or mould. Using the techniques listed in this article, however, you should be able to produce a harvest of top-shelf bud. If you still see some popcorn buds in your harvest, make use of them by smoking them while the rest of your weed cures or throw them into your edibles and/or concentrates.

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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: