You may have heard stories about many different and creative ways to make cannabis buds more potent. Some of these stories involve spraying a cannabis plant with various chemicals, or feeding the plant THC while it’s growing, or even taking the finished product, putting it into a bag and burying it for a period of time so that it grows mold that will somehow make the buds more potent. And as long as you’ve only heard of these methods and haven’t tried them, all’s well. Because chemicals are dangerous, plants can’t soak in THC while growing, and smoking mold is, well, just an extremely stupid idea that can actually put you as a forerunner for a Darwin award.
No, there’s no miracle way that will make a cannabis strain with low THC levels more potent, just as there is no way to make a low quality bud hit like a truck when it simply doesn’t have what it takes to do so. Still, that doesn’t mean there’s absolutely nothing you can do to ensure you get the most out of your weed, and that’s what should be your goal. So let’s consider two scenarios, one in which you get a bad quality bud from a dispensary or a coffee shop, and one in which you want to grow your own super strong weed.
The Low Quality Bud Scenario
You get some buds, they look great, smell great, but when the time comes for them to rock your world, they somehow fail to deliver. This is a completely normal thing and it happens to everyone. You might have come across a strain that doesn’t have as much of the fun chemicals marijuana contains, or the buds wasn’t produced in the best possible setting. Or maybe you yourself have grown a plant that didn’t turn out the way it was supposed to. What is there to do?
First, if you have a large quantity of substandard bud, you might want to try to make hash from a part of it. Well-made hash contains very little plant matter and a whole lot of trichomes, which is where THC resides. You can use the hash to sprinkle the rest of the weed you have before smoking it. It won’t actually increase the THC count, but it will insure there’s more of it.
The second thing you might want to try is change up your delivery method. Going from rolling joints to using a bong to vaporizing won’t actually increase the THC count in every smoke, but it will enable you to take deeper breaths and increase THC absorption in your bloodstream. And that’s pretty much it, because there’s really not that much you can do.
Growing a Potent Plant
Things get more interesting if you plan to grow your own cannabis plant and you want to do right by it. This is a whole process, and it starts with – research.
First thing you need to do is to determine which cannabis strain suits your needs best. If you’re looking for sheer strength, there are strains out there with a THC count of 25%, strains that will knock you down and throw you around and blow your mind. But, and there will always be a “but” coming your way when you try to maximize a plant potency, getting all excited with numbers and buying seeds from the strongest strains on a spree is not the best idea for one simple reason – you need to be able to produce the best conditions for the plant if you want to get it to maximum potency. So you shouldn’t be asking yourself just “what’s the strongest strain out there”, you should instead ask yourself “what’s the strongest strain I would be capable to grow”, and that’s a whole different thing. Know the strain, and know your capabilities.
Proper growing techniques vary from plant to plant. Some do best
outdoors, some are best grown hydroponically, some do well with stressing and some can respond very badly to overfeeding. You need to know the plant and do whatever it needs to grow into a strong, healthy, beautiful plant. One thing every plant has in common is that germination reduces THC count, so make sure to spot any male plants – and these can grow even from feminized seeds – and remove them as early as possible.
After you’ve let your plants flower for a good amount of time – again, this varies depending on the strain – proper drying and curing will make a hell of a difference. So, when the time comes, get some pruning scissors and cut the plant stems. Hang them in an area with dry and warm air, this is very important, and remove any leaves. You’ll want to hit that sweet spot when the buds become sticky and not moist or crunchy, and it will take days to get there. Then you can start curing them – cut the buds from the stem and place them into a Mason jar. You’ll want to open the Mason jar once a day for a couple of weeks to let them breed and check for mold and too much or too little moisture. If things go well, after a month you’ll start opening the jars once a week, and after a couple of month you’ll need to open them once a month. This process benefits your cannabis buds for up to six months. Yes, it can take that much time to get the most out of a cannabis plant, but it’s effort well spent.
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