Leggy Marijuana

What Does Leggy Marijuana Mean?

Leggy marijuana, leggy plants, and leggy cannabis all refer to the same thing: plants that appear to be stretching towards the light. The plants are tall and bare.

In leggy plants, the stems appear to grow much faster than the plant puts on foliage and buds. If leggy plants are occurring in strains that aren't known to grow tall and lean, this is not a desirable outcome in the growroom. Stretching stems leads to weaker stems and reduced yields.

Maximum Yield Explains Leggy Marijuana

Leggy marijuana can occur in both indoor and outdoor grown plants. Genetics play a key role in determining if a plant will be leggy, or experience stem stretching. For example, tropical and landrace sativa strains are known to be a bit leggier than hybrids and indicas.

If you are seeing leggy plants when you shouldn't be, there are several things you can do. Mainly, stretching stems is often an indication that your plants aren't getting enough light. The plant is physically stretching itself to be closer to the light source.

To remedy this, it's not enough to just drop the light source closer to the plant, although this is a good start. A grower must also ensure they are supplying plenty of blue light while plants are in the vegetative stage, as orange and red lights lead to taller, thinner stems.

Other things growers can do to prevent their plants from becoming leggy is increasing the growroom's air circulation, while reducing its temperature. If it's too hot, plants tend to grow taller, and if the air is too still and stale, nothing is preventing the plant from growing taller.

Often times, leggy marijuana is most often caught early on in the seedling stage, so it's common to hear the phrase 'leggy seedlings'. Some methods of pruning can also help encourage lateral growth, thereby combating the leggy marijuana.