Thinning the Foliage for Greater Yield.

I know you all tune into these kinds of posts with smoke filled dreamy eyes. Don't worry, I will show you more buds toward the bottom. I am actually going to talk about how to grow even more buds. Read on...

Today I want to talk about the benefits of getting rid of the dead weight. A month or so ago, I noticed an occasional leaf falling from these Mary Jane plants.

Though you cannot really smoke the leaves, buds are more potent, I have heard that they make a good tea.

I would not go around clipping leaves off just to get tea-leaves for an afternoon drink, but I did learn to watch for the ones that are about to fall and give them a tug. If they come off in my hand, they are destined to become tea.

So I look for leaves that are browning on the edges, yellow, or even just off-color green and I see if they are still hanging on to the plant well. Some fall when I touch them, others let go easily. Think of putting your thumb and pinky together on a leave and pull.

When they are fully dry, they crumble and can bee steeped for a nice cup of evening tea. Funny, because "tea" has always been one of the slang words used to describe pot. I might be dating myself a bit with that last sentence.

Tea is not the main goal when raising these plants though. Over the years I have learned to prune in order to get more fruit from any plant. In a sense, I am pruning the non-productive, energy suckers, from the plant (ones that will fall off weeks from now).

Since I have been doing that, I have noticed that there are many more buds on these plants than any of last years plants (these are the same plants as last year BTW). The above branch as 22 buds on it if I counted right. This is one of the smaller branches toward the bottom. I will count the whole plant when I harvest the buds in a month or two.

You might also notice that there are four larger leaves that could be pruned - you can tell by their color. But I just went through this plant and took, quite a few off already. These four will come off mid-week next week. I like to get them off before they fall. Also, I like to prune after a good rain. It is hard to wash leaves that are dried out. I let nature do my washing for me.

Branches and Buds

Here are the plants. They lean left because they live under the upstairs neighbor's balcony. They tend to lean out to get more sunlight.

The one on the right is the baby that was only 3 inches high at the beginning of summer. It is shoulder high now.

The left plant was three feet high at the beginning of the summer and it looked dead, with just one green leaf coming out near the base. It is now nose high.

I will leave you with a barrage of buds. They are not fully developed but some of them are getting sticky, so we could be close.

Last post I said, "I owe you an update as Mary brings her buds to bare."

I guess this is that post. It has been on my to-do list for some time.

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