Revegging Cannabis: Does It Make Marijuana a Perennial?

There’s been some debate around whether photoperiod cannabis, which can revert to a vegetative state when exposed to longer light cycles, behaves like an annual or a perennial plant. Let’s dive into this intriguing aspect of cannabis cultivation and explore how it connects to the biology of this plant.

1. What Is Revegging?

Revegging, or re-vegetation, is a process where a cannabis plant that has entered its flowering stage reverts back to vegetative growth. This typically happens when the plant is exposed to an extended light cycle, usually 18 hours of light per day or more, after it has already begun flowering. In nature, cannabis plants flower in response to shorter days and longer nights, mimicking the transition from summer to fall. However, when the light period is artificially extended, the plant interprets this as a signal that it’s time to return to vegetative growth, halting flower production and focusing on growing leaves and branches again.

This technique is often used by growers who want to preserve a plant’s genetics after it has flowered, especially if they want to take cuttings for clones or regrow the same plant. The process can take a few weeks as the plant adjusts to its new light cycle, during which it may initially produce some unusual or mutated growth before returning to normal vegetative growth patterns.

2. Why Do Photoperiod Plants Reveg?

Photoperiod cannabis plants rely on light cycles to determine when to flower. When they experience shorter days and longer nights (typically around 12 hours of darkness), they enter the flowering phase. However, if the light cycle is increased to simulate longer days (e.g., 18 hours of light and 6 hours of darkness), the plant can return to vegetative growth. This means that the plant halts flowering and resumes growing leaves and branches as it would during its vegetative stage.

This phenomenon is often used by growers who wish to keep a particular plant alive after flowering or harvest, giving them a chance to clone or regrow the same plant for future cycles. This ability to shift between life stages makes cannabis seem very adaptable, but does this flexibility mean it behaves like a perennial?

3. Is Cannabis a Perennial?

At first glance, the ability of photoperiod plants to reveg might suggest perennial behavior, where plants regrow each year. However, cannabis remains biologically classified as an annual plant. Annuals complete their life cycle in one growing season—from seed to flower to death—whereas perennials die back after each season but regrow from the same root system year after year.

Cannabis plants don’t naturally survive past one season. In their natural environment, after flowering and producing seeds, they die, completing their life cycle. The key here is that revegging is artificially induced by manipulating light conditions. In the wild, cannabis wouldn’t experience the extended daylight necessary to revert to vegetative growth after flowering.

4. Why Does Reveg Not Make Cannabis a True Perennial?

Although revegging may mimic perennial-like behavior, it doesn’t fundamentally change the plant’s nature. The ability to return to vegetative growth is more about the plant’s responsiveness to environmental changes than an indication of its classification.

True perennials regrow from the same rootstock season after season without human intervention. In contrast, cannabis plants, left to their natural cycle, will die after flowering. The manipulation of the light cycle to trigger reveg is a cultivation technique, not a biological trait. Without intervention, cannabis will still complete its life cycle in one season, which is characteristic of an annual plant.

Conclusion

While it’s possible to manipulate photoperiod cannabis plants to reveg and extend their growth cycle, this does not change their fundamental classification as annuals. In nature, cannabis plants are annuals, completing their life cycle within a single growing season. The ability to revert to a vegetative state through light manipulation is a fascinating feature, but it is still a result of environmental control, not a shift to perennial biology.

Understanding this distinction helps growers make better decisions about cultivation techniques, whether they aim to reveg plants for cloning purposes or to optimize yields through controlled environments.