Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower's Bible

similar to pruning, in that it alters the flow of hormones. Bending efficiently neutralizes the effect of the growth-inhibiting hormone. Bending is much easier on plants than pruning. To bend, lean a branch in the desired direction and tie it in place. Branches can take a lot of bending before they fold over or break. Even if a branch folds, tie it in place; if necessary, use a wooden splint. The stem will heal itself. Young, supple branches take bending much better than old, stiff ones. Bending branches horizontally will encourage the buds to grow vertically towards the light. Each bud will turn into an impressive top, because they all receive more light. A wooden planter box with a lattice trellis alongside makes a great anchor to tie bent plants to.
    Wire ties, the kind used to close bread sacks, can be purchased at a nursery. Wire ties are either pre-cut or cut to length by the grower. Plastic-coated electronic and telephone cable wire also work well. They are fastened with a simple twist and stay rigid, leaving the stem breathing room. But if applied too tightly around a stem, the liquids cannot flow, and death could result.
    Be gentle when bending, even though cannabis can take much abuse. Sometimes a crotch will separate or a branch will fold over, cutting off fluid flow. These mishaps are easily fixed with a small wooden splint snugly secured with wire ties or duct tape to support the split and broken stem.
    Growers also combine bending and pruning. It is easy to prune too much, but it is hard to over bend.

Bending plants will give them a low, inconspicuous profile.
Air Pruning Roots
    When roots grow to the end of the container and are exposed to air, they stop growing. The air naturally prunes roots. They cannot grow out the end of the pot, because the climate with little moisture and lots of air is too inhospitable.
Root Pruning
    Root pruning could be necessary to give new life to potbound plants outdoors or in greenhouses. Removing roots will not make plants grow faster; in fact, it will slow growth for about two weeks. Once new roots start to grow, growth rebounds. About mid-summer, root-prune plants that must stay in the same size container. Root pruning will keep plants manageable and much easier to maintain.

Two plants growing in this ten-gallon (38 L) pot have been trained to grow along a wall just out of the neighbor’s field of vision.

Roots on these clones grow through the drainage holes. Once they hit the air, growth stops. Roots are “air pruned.”

Bending branches lowers the garden profile and allows sunshine to reach smaller buds.
Chemical Root Pruning
    Chemical root pruning is an excellent way to control root growth inside containers. Commercial nursery people have been using chemical root pruning for many years with outstanding results. This passage is condensed from an excellent FAQ article on chemical root pruning with great photos by Uncle Ben, a charter member of the shut down site www.overgrow.com .
    Uncle Ben used a product called Griffin’s Spin-Out that consists of copper hydroxide suspended in a carrier. To use, simply spray-paint the inside of the containers with two coats of Griffin’s Spin-Out. Roots grow to within a fraction of an inch of the copper hydroxide, then stop. Roots will not touch the unpleasant compound. The result is similar to what happens aboveground when new, lower growth is stimulated as branch tips are pruned. When pruned with copper hydroxide paint, more roots develop overall, and they grow in the entire root ball, especially in the center. Plants with a dense root system dispersed evenly throughout the root ball are easier to maintain, and they grow bigger in smaller containers.

The roots in this potbound plant form a mass around the interior and bottom of the container. Roots that grow out drainage holes are “pruned” when they come into contact with air. This plant needs repotting.

To remove large plants from containers, use a knife or blade to separate roots from the inside of the container. Move the blade up and down all the way around the inside of the container to break roots away.

Remove the root ball from the container.

Grafting
    Little is known about grafting cannabis. Yes, it is possible to graft cannabis to hops. Most often the hop stem is grafted to a cannabis rootstock. The plant will live; however, it will not produce THC.
    I asked a number of growers if they had experimented with grafting, and none had. Grafting an indica stem to