How much weed does one plant yield
The question most asked by beginner growers is how many grams of cannabis per plant can be harvested? A great question, yet hard to answer in a simple way, but certainly not impossible.
All plants depend on light, nutrients and water to achieve their optimal growth and potential in terms of harvest. Cannabis plants can be grown indoors or outdoors using many different horticultural methods, which all have an impact on growth, not even taking into consideration the natural variations in yield between strains.
To answer the question “how much weed does one plant yield“, we will look at weed plants grown indoors under different light conditions to give you an understanding of how much weed an average weed plant can produce.
Factors that determine the harvest of a strain
Many factors influence the weed production of a cannabis plant. The most important ones are listed below:
- The type of culture: indoors or outdoors
- Lighting power
- Available space to the plant
- Growth time
- Temperature and humidity
- Type of seeds
- Fertilisers used to feed the plant
- The culture technique used: one-bud, scrog, trellising, etc.
The number of plants doesn’t really count. It doesn’t matter how many plants per square metre you grow. The goal is for the entire available surface to be covered by plants, which will allow the flowers to occupy all of the available space and thus maximise the production of weed.
The number of plants per square metre will, however, have a significant influence on the growth time required.
You could decide to make 1 m2 of one-bud. In which case, you would need between 15 and 50 plants to cover one square metre, and in this scenario, the growth phase will last less than a week. Indeed, you can put your plants in the flowering period as soon as the first leaves appear. Or you could decide only to grow one plant in one square metre. For this, and if you want your plant to occupy all the available space, it will take a growth period of two to three months. However, it is advisable to choose a compromise between these two extremes.
For beginners, six plants per square metre allow a relatively short growth phase of 4 or 5 weeks. This also avoids having to manage 10 or 15 plants in a first session.
Here are some different scenarios to give you an idea of what you can hope to harvest.
Scenario 1 – Beginner using 600-watts
A beginner cultivator using a 600-watt HPS lamp in a 1 m2 box. Average quality equipment and basic fertilisers.
Let’s also imagine that this cultivator takes care of his plants carefully throughout the growing period.
Finally, let’s also suppose that this grower encountered some problems of too high temperatures or too low humidity.
This cultivator can expect a harvest of 200 to 350 grams per square metre.
Scenario 2 – Experienced cultivator using 600-watts
Imagine an experienced cultivator who knows some cultivation techniques such as trellising or scrog.
Under the same conditions as the first scenario. 600-watts in 1 m2, medium equipment, basic fertilisers. Everything goes well during cultivation, and the plants receive the care they need.
This cultivator can harvest between 300 and 500 grams per square metre.
Scenario 3 – Beginner cultivator in 40-watts
A beginner cultivator using a 400-watt lamp. High-end equipment with a lot of cutting-edge optimisations and advanced but poorly mastered cultivation techniques.
In such a scenario, it is quite likely that the grower will make beginner mistakes. And these errors will cost much more than the potential gains that these optimisations could have delivered.
The harvest could also be limited to 50 or 100 grams of dry grass per square metre if something goes wrong during the cultivation.
On the contrary, if all goes well, the grower can expect between 200 and 300 grams per square metre. But it will be necessary to avoid embarking on optimisations or advanced techniques.
Scenario 4 – An experienced cultivator using 1000-watts
Finally, imagine a very experienced cultivator with a 1000-watt lamp and a growing area of 1.5 to 2 square metres. Top-quality material, ideal climatic conditions and culture which goes as well as possible without any problem. The grower will use advanced cultivation techniques such as CO2 enrichment, hydroponics and automated climate management.
This last cultivator could reach a record harvest of more than 650 grams per square metre.
How many grams of cannabis per plant can you harvest?
As promised at the beginning of the article, here are some crop estimates per plant, based on different growing conditions.
These estimates are presented in the form of scenarios, as in the previous section
Scenario 1: 400-watts and 15 days of growth
Imagine a plant grown indoors with a 400-watt lamp and a growth phase of only 15 days. The cultivation space is 1 square metre, and the plants occupy all the available space during the flowering stage.
A short growing period shortens the total growing time. For a variety that flowers in 50 days, a growth of 15 days will allow harvesting in just 65 days or just over two months. The downside is that you will need many plants to fill a space of one square metre!
In this configuration, if the grower takes care of the plants properly and there are no major incidents during cultivation, a cannabis plant can produce between 15 and 30 grams of cannabis per plant.
Scenario 2: 400-watts and 40 days of growth
Let’s take an indoor plant again with a 400-watt lamp but now with a 40-day growth phase.
During these 40 days of growth, the plant will have had time to develop a very dense root and leaf network, especially if the weather conditions are good. Some varieties will quickly reach a metre in height in 40 days of growth.
The production of buds from a single plant will, therefore, be much higher than the previous scenario. You can expect between 40 and 80 grams of cannabis per plant if flowering takes place under optimal conditions.
Scenario 3: 600-watts and 30 days of growth indoors
Growing a plant with a 600-watt HPS lamp with a 30 day growing period
The 600 watts will simply give you explosive growth. Indeed, you can virtually see your plant growth with the naked eye between morning and evening.
You will have the opportunity to train your plant to give it the shape you want and to maximise the occupancy of the space. With this method, yields can reach up to 100 – 120 grams per plant.
Choose the right seeds and your growing method
There are enormous variations in terms of potential harvest per plant ranging from 500 grams and 3 pounds.
This is a complex topic and there are many other factors that can affect yields, such as hydroponics, which minimises the likelihood of errors and the type of seed used, which also has an impact on the amount of harvest. Some strains are much more high-yielding than others. Big Bud and Girl Scout Cookies, for example, are famous for their huge buds and generous yields.
Reading tip: check all our high yielding strain seeds
The average yield over a cannabis strain depends on various factors. But how much weed does one plant yield? Check it out!