For commercial cultivation facilities, labor-saving techniques are important. As the number of plants in a garden increases, the amount of effort it takes to care for all of them increases as well. One of the most labor-intensive practices that can easily be eliminated is raising lights as plants grow.

Keeping reflectors and lights within a certain distance of the plant is important to ensure plants receive enough light to promote growth. For this reason, reflectors have typically been raised as plants grow in order to maintain the proper distance from the plant to the light. While this is manageable with a few lights, it quickly becomes overbearing as the plant and light count within the garden increase – moving 100 lights takes hours, if not days.

There is a better way.

Instead of moving the light as plants grow towards it, consider moving the plant.

This can be accomplished through trellising. In addition to labor savings from not moving lights every few days, trellising offers a number of benefits.

Catch More Photons

When plants are properly trellised, the entire plant canopy is at the same height. The benefit of this is that there is a more even distribution of light within the plant canopy, allowing all of the buds to receive the same amount of light. An even plane prevents taller buds from casting shade onto shorter buds, thus further preventing growth of shorter buds. Even light distribution among the plant canopy results in buds of consistent size, creating a higher quality yield.

Better Airflow

When plants are trellised, the plant density is spread out. The foliage flattens out and becomes thinner and wider, allowing for better air movement. Additionally due to the even canopy layer, pruning all leaves below the trellis level can easily be accomplished. These leaves do not receive light and divert plant growth away from the buds, so removing them helps create larger buds as well as allows for easy air movement below the plant canopy. Airflow is important for aiding in climate control and pest prevention. Proper airflow can actually decrease chances of powdery mildew and mold due to the more consistent humidity levels created when air moves freely.

Less Vertical Growth

Trellising plants restricts their vertical growth, allowing horizontal growth to become the primary form of growth. Too much vertical growth results in plants that look stretched out and have to spend a lot of their energy moving nutrients up the stem to the buds. Whereas, horizontal growth keeps the plant tight and encourages bud development. As plants are able to spend less energy sending nutrients from the roots up to the plant canopy, they become able to spend more energy growing buds.

Save on labor costs and grow better buds by trellising plants instead of moving your lights as plants grow.