Pruning plants

[TeddyStonne]

I have a quick question that i cant seem to find anywhere, I hope you can help me out. As I look at some of the pictures that are posted everyone seems to have these big bushy plants. They credit this to pruning. however when I ask then about how to prune the plant they give me faulty information. I have tried everything. Pinching the tops of the plant, cutting the tops on a 45deg angle into the stem, cutting the top off completely, clipping the node bubble on branches on a 30/45/60/90deg downwards angles, using a knife and cutting the joint branches on those angles, clipping and slicing off the branches completely, as well as clipping the branches then pinching the cut stem. every time i get the same results of browning of stem or cut area and no extra growth. I have been boiling the clippers and knife before every time i try a new method to make sure i am not transferring bacteria. plants are about 9weeks old and I have run out of ideas for this pruning thing. maybe I'm not understanding what pruning should be doing. could you help me out?

 

[GrowingfortheGold]

FIM is the way to go if you have enough light and want bushes. Then trim the bottom part of the plant a week or so after you fim. Then LST to maximize light absorption and form into a bush.

https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/200413-fimming-m-blaze-complete-how.html

 

[TeddyStonne]

I'm sorry LST means? First I'm hearing of this unless I think its something different

 

[oregon024]

I don't cut mine and know patient/growers that do the same just bottom if any

 

[morrisgreenberg]

pruning does a few benficial things for the plant, it all depends on what you want to achieve, if you are limited in plant numbers and do not mind vegging the plant out for longer and want bushes, or if you want larger numbers of plants with single colas like a drumstick for a sea of grean. whats considered the norm is doing a general prune by trimming about 1/4 of the bottom of the plant, this is good for air flow and to not give pests a breeding ground, also helpful for mold issues, but the extreme stuff like Low Stress Training is allowing the plant to grow and bend the stalk/sidebranches down and tying them, this allows for light to penetrate the lower limbs...this technique with a good amount a veg time will give you larger colas from those sidebranches that would not have yielded as much, FIM stands for Fuck I Missed, this is basically topping each sidebranch, remember for every top that you cut off, 2 will replace it, although they may be smaller at the end you will have more primo bud sites. let me give you a little background on this, there are chemicals within the plant called auxins, these auxins are signals, if you were to make a top cut these auxins will now tell the plant to relay its energy to the next set of branch below, making them larger. my favorite is Lollypopping, this is most common with SoG growers with many plants in tight places, these grows want one signle fat cola with no sidebranching, no side branches only because the plants are packed in so tight the branches will block out light from the niehboring plant, personally i do not like sog but this can be done with any size plant with sidebranches, once you have grown the plant to your desired size and you flip over to flowering, grab each side branch individually and trim 50% of ALL FOLIAGE off, you should see nothing but sticks underneath, just when you think you went too far thats when you go a little more, this should be done during the first 2 weeks of flowering no later because the plants trying to produce budsites, she dont need the added shock, remember the auxins i told you about? well to keep all the useless undergrowth alive takes much energy from bud making and resin production, side by sides show pruned plants and regular plants look totally different, the pruned ones had heavier bud and way more trichomes

 

[morrisgreenberg]

sorry for another post but its ok to take a large fan leaf off late during flowering "here and there" just to get light down to some lower limbs, some old hippies will tell you never to touch anything and let them fall off naturally

 

[rekl00se]

very informative morris. i've been pruning and using the LST pretty aggressively throughout the flowering cycle for 4 weeks now and although the plants look great I can't help but wonder if I would be seeing even better results if I had implemented these techniques at the right times. i think i will basically leave the flowering ladies alone except for some low branch pruning for the remainder of the cycle and see what happens.

 

[fatman7574]

I am an old hippy. Complete to a Zig Zag tatto fom 1969. Back from before paraquat and sinsemilla when bags were considered a good sixze if they were a four finger bag. $20 back then. Seeds, seeds and more seeds was the norm.

 

[morrisgreenberg]

exactly! i was looking at vintage bud pix the other day, wow the best colombian stuff they had was trashy looking, the thai stick looked great and if were made like that today they would be a sellers dream, one thing i left out about pruning really isnt a prune, its called super-cropping, this is when you take all branching and pinch the stem and fold them down, this will also get more light down to lower limbs resulting in new growth where you normally wouldnt have and larger bud sites due to heavier light exposure similar to LST without tying down

 

[fatman7574]

It is amazing. Thai stick did not exist until after thosands of pot smoking maerican GI's got sent to Vietnam. After that the Thai stick hit the U.S. then all the hash. I really miss the Lebanese blonde. But then Russia invaded afghanistan and the Russians now get all the hash and a large part of the Heroin. All we get from wars anymore is more years of cheap oil. I think for every war we deserve a brand new drug. If were going to die over seas we might as well not feel it when it happens.

 

[TeddyStonne]

so morrisgreenberg your saying that when it comes to pruning the plant I would just want to cut off leaves and not branches?

 

[fatman7574]

morrisgreenberg please explain how a side branch blocks out light to the cola growing above it, or the cola of the plant growing next to it. Up until the lower branchs and leaves recieve too little light due to the shading from the upper canopy they provide nutrients to the rest of the plant. After that point they do not matter, but trimming, pruning and cutting them does cause unnecessary stress, so just leave them alone. A lower limb or leaves shades out nothing on the plants next to it but the lower limbs. Every one in general has already said the lower limb buds don't matter it is the colas that are the real goal so just let the plants grow how they grow the best. They grow best untrimmed, unpinched, not bent and unpruned.

 

[morrisgreenberg]

fatman im sure you have tried many growing techniques, what i mean is soggers want to end up with plants about 18-24 inches with colas 8-12 inches long, if you have some side branching growing it will come into contact with the next plant over,im talking having 4 plants in 1 square foot, see how me and you the old hippy differ? i want you take one small runt of a clone and do an extreme prune job on it before you flower it and see how it has a heavier top bud and more resin on it. now i prefer to veg for a month, during this time i will top after 2weeks veg and allow nice thick side branches to come up and join the canopy party, 2 weeks later lollypop all the branches... i also agree with your assesment on how shaded lower limbs provide food to the rest of the plant, you do not need this food store until flush, by then you will have enough foliage on the plant to sustain itself till harvest

 

[morrisgreenberg]

so morrisgreenberg your saying that when it comes to pruning the plant I would just want to cut off leaves and not branches?

depends on you , if your going for a general 1/4 plant prune job on the bottom for air flow yes just leaves, you can also cut some branching if it is shaded out and doesnt get any day light, heres where me and fatman differ again, and you can thank the beauty of having forums likes this, his philosphy is that the undergrowth is providing food and energy, which is true, it provides a safety blanket at the bottom because if you had an N P K deficiencie the lowest growth gets hit first, but in my philosphy it takes energy away from the top growth to sustain this undergrowth, now i think this is where he got a touch confused with what i meant, the plant in order to produce popcorn fluffy buds will expend too much energy for this popcorn, i would rather it go into the primo top bud sites where all the lighting is. now during a final flush and your feeding plain water for 2 weeks how will the plant sustain itself you wonder? go back to fatman, those fan leaves act as solar panels and food stores, this is when you start to see all those autumn and purple colors , this means the plant is draining its reserves, you get the purples from the molybdenum being disipated and bright oranges and yellows from the P and K getting consumed...its all about preference and i always recomend go with what you know and what works for you, for a person wanting to try to prune for effect give any of those techniques i listed earlier a shot, i wouldnt steer you wrong

 

[fatman7574]

Who cares if the plant contacts the plant next to it. As long as h you keep the humidity in check it does not matter if the lower foliage is thick. Hippy what ever, I grow SOG not large plants. My plants are 4 per square foot. Hot grows with CO2, temp controlled at 88 to 90 degrees F, and humidity control at 30% during budding 40% at veg. I also do not do flushs, my plants are fed nutrients right up to harvest. They continue to grow after harvets while drying and curing. There is no benefit from flushing, but there is an obvious debit. Lower yield, sick colors and lack of health when harvested. My buds are always healthy and green and are harvetsed healthy and green. I also dry in a sealed CO2 charged room with a humidifier set at 30%. I cure in air evacuated containers charged with CO2. Tastes is great, no harshness what so ever. This old hippy has been growing pot under lights indoors for over 35 years. Lollipopping is of benefit to people who run excessive high humidities, other than that it is more of a debit than an asset.

I imagine I have three grows per each of your two grows child. I know I likely throw awy muv cj h more pot than you come any where near to growing. So take your hiipy talk and smoke it chump. For what it is worth I started growning hydroponic in the early 80's. I have used CO2 since the mid 80's. I have stayed on top of what is new and what works. I am not an old Humbolt Hippy growing bag seed weed manure filled holes hidden in the woods while wearing a straw hat and bib overalls.

 

[fatman7574]

depends on you , if your going for a general 1/4 plant prune job on the bottom for air flow yes just leaves, you can also cut some branching if it is shaded out and doesnt get any day light, heres where me and fatman differ again, and you can thank the beauty of having forums likes this, his philosphy is that the undergrowth is providing food and energy, which is true, it provides a safety blanket at the bottom because if you had an N P K deficiencie the lowest growth gets hit first, but in my philosphy it takes energy away from the top growth to sustain this undergrowth, now i think this is where he got a touch confused with what i meant, the plant in order to produce popcorn fluffy buds will expend too much energy for this popcorn, i would rather it go into the primo top bud sites where all the lighting is. now during a final flush and your feeding plain water for 2 weeks how will the plant sustain itself you wonder? go back to fatman, those fan leaves act as solar panels and food stores, this is when you start to see all those autumn and purple colors , this means the plant is draining its reserves, you get the purples from the molybdenum being disipated and bright oranges and yellows from the P and K getting consumed...its all about preference and i always recomend go with what you know and what works for you, for a person wanting to try to prune for effect give any of those techniques i listed earlier a shot, i wouldnt steer you wrong

Blah sa, blah sa blah. Get real dude and quit regurgiataing forum myths and inaccuracies and bad methodologies based upon ignorance. Read some research papers written by degrred reserachers not como ic book marijana book writers.

Plants have one goal. Reproduction. If they have not seeded by the time their strain says the growing season is nearing its ends or their life span is nearing its end (autos) they take one last grasp at gaining the sexual gland growth and putting out the most resin to catch pollen and attract bees carrying pollen on their feet. Hell Humbolt county dirt growers figured that out growing bag seed Sinsemilla decades ago. In nature the plants in this last grasp at reproduction draw nutrients as quickly as they can. When growing in soil (as in nature) the nutrients are very limited in availabilty due to slower uptake than in aero or hydro where chemical nutrients are avilable in a readily uptakeable form and where they are unlimited. Do to natures slow realease nutrients and oo ppor uotake do to poor root oxygenation the plants cannibalize anything not needed to reproduce. However this is unneeded cannibalism as we can suppy all the nutrients they need without self cannibalism. Buy doing this we also maintain the plants health, vigor, color and increase its yield. Fact, not lollipop fiction. Don't you ever read reserach papers or do you just read forum myths and comic book grade marijuana growing books.

 

[morrisgreenberg]

wow fatman did i offend you in some way? i did not bother reading anything you typed after you started laying out your grow credentials, i do not regurgitate forum myths, i never post on a thread unless i have had experience. sorry i just read your last paragraph and your 100% correct, it tries to reproduce as best as it can, but i am posting from trial and error and i wouldnt feed someone bad dope, this thread was intended for the guy asking about pruning's pro's and cons, by saying your an old hippy no pun intended, i kinda thought it was a term of endearment. as for myths and comic book stuff, i go by my own 2 eyes and yes i have done plenty of research. i am stunned to see how the vibe of this thread went from friendly, to downright being called a child. i said it before and i will say it again, do a side by side, this is not for you fatman so i guess dont bother, i was asking the gentleman who started this thread to give it a go. now i will stop posting because this thread got off track and it has became a one sided argument, i enjoy sharing of opionion, in your years you should know theres more than one way to skin a cat

 

[TeddyStonne]

morrisgreenberg:

your on to something here bud! haha! i tried what you said and those plants that i tested your method on so far have a higher yield then the others.


and fatman:

grow up! this thread was to suggest ideas or myths to see if they work and yea i tried every idea i found on here... and yea alot of my plants died ( that report will be posted later when i have time to right it) but morrisgreenbers was one of the few that showed through and there is no need to be bitchin about what works and what doesnt work bc i did it anyways!

 

[morrisgreenberg]

want to laugh? conventional wisdom says when you prune the plant goes thru shock and some stunt in growth, prune on an extreme level and the plant has a major growth spurt since the level of energy the plant puts into growth far outweighs any stress from shock...if that makes any sense.

 

[TeddyStonne]

that makes sense. I did notice some of the plants took heavy shock after some of the methods tried. they also looked like i killed them for a week or so bc of it. but in the long run to my surprise they bounced back and now are doing great!