Canopy feedback/pruning advice wanted.

Rurumo said:

I'd run with that, don't defoliate anymore.

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No plans to defoliate anymore. Didn't do this all at once either. I've been plucking a few leaves and removing lower buds a little at a time every day all the way along from the start up until day 14 of flower to shape them into my space. This is one week of growth no pruning except maybe 2 or 3 leaves.

Seeing it growing in,I
was more concerned with removing entire branches to make more space for everything else at this point so that as the buds develop, their bud leaves aren't right on top of one another.

ÒÒlegilizeitÒÒ said:

They look healthy!

But Woah, where did all your bottom growth go???
You took way too many growth sites off the bottom imo. Going to suffer in yeild.
You have more than enough room for what you got.

It looks like you lollipopped 2/3 of the plant when you should only ever do 1/3

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This. I would have left them alone from the first picture. Removed a bit too much.

twentyeight.threefive said:

This. I would have left them alone from the first picture. Removed a bit too much.

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I only remove this much MAYBE right before the first week of flower since they will grow it all back in the stretch... but the OP did this to a plant after the stretch...? Makes me a little sad inside...

Relic79 said:

No plans to defoliate anymore. Didn't do this all at once either. I've been plucking a few leaves and removing lower buds a little at a time every day all the way along from the start up until day 14 of flower to shape them into my space. This is one week of growth no pruning except maybe 2 or 3 leaves.

Seeing it growing in,I
was more concerned with removing entire branches to make more space for everything else at this point so that as the buds develop, their bud leaves aren't right on top of one another.

Click to expand...

You were way too overly concerned. You buds can overlap leafs and be alittle crowded here and there.
Its never a good idea to remove bud sites above the bottom 1/3 of a plant.
You probably cut your yield in half, there is litterally no where to grow bud on the plant anymore besides 4" on the top of each cola.
There is no more stretch, no more leaf growth, you did this way too late in flower.

And this means somthing coming from me, I like to shwazz my plants, and thats pretty extream.
But the key to good defoilation training is preforming the first stripping day 1 of flower plus a lollipop of the bottom 1/3 of the plant, then do not touch anything untill day 21. Then day 21 strip all the large fan leafs **no bud sites above the bottom 1/3 of the plant after the stretch!**

ÒÒlegilizeitÒÒ said:

**no bud sites above the bottom 1/3 of the plant after the stretch!**

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You meant below the bottom 1/3 right?

ÒÒlegilizeitÒÒ said:

I only remove this much MAYBE right before the first week of flower since they will grow it all back in the stretch... but the OP did this to a plant after the stretch...? Makes me a little sad inside...

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No, not after stretch.

To clarify. I cleaned up and thinned out at flip. Not after, not at day 21.

During stretch I took off a handful of lower buds sites from way down low, literally like 5 per plant there abouts, and some side branching that was causing me problems, and some fan leaves.

At day 14 I stopped doing anything except a couple fan leaves.

Otherwise I've been pruning all along, not in one shot. I actually expected a bigger stretch.

So I'll put a positive spin on this for myself. "Dear OP, your plants look healthy, and can definitely be more crowded so don't worry. Next time, take a little less off the bottom and see if it increases your yield." Right?

Also, this is a 10 week strain, and last time I grew it, it stacked forever, and the bottom was garbage. That was under a 600 watt HPS with bad temps. I also ended up with PM issues. Actually the whole grow was somewhat smoke able garbage.


I redid my space and am trying this strain again. I'll post back in a few more weeks and see if I still only have the top 4" to play with.

Either way...first time LED, and first time defoliating, last time sucked, anything has to be better and is headed in the right direction!


Onward and upward.

ÒÒlegilizeitÒÒ said:

You were way too overly concerned. You buds can overlap leafs and be alittle crowded here and there.
Its never a good idea to remove bud sites above the bottom 1/3 of a plant.
You probably cut your yield in half, there is litterally no where to grow bud on the plant anymore besides 4" on the top of each cola.
There is no more stretch, no more leaf growth, you did this way too late in flower.

And this means somthing coming from me, I like to shwazz my plants, and thats pretty extream.
But the key to good defoilation training is preforming the first stripping day 1 of flower plus a lollipop of the bottom 1/3 of the plant, then do not touch anything untill day 21. Then day 21 strip all the large fan leafs **no bud sites above the bottom 1/3 of the plant after the stretch!**

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Also I'm at day 21 today and took like 6 fan leaves.

Generally:

During Veg: routine pruning and shaping to fill space (LST, topping as needed)

At flip: clean up, took some lower buds sites. Side branches.

0-14 days: watched, took one or two fan leaves. Bent and shaped as needed. Further LST

Day 14: too a few more leaves, low bud sites. Branches that weren't stretching.

Days 14 to 21 watch, few fan leaves here and there.

Day 21 this post.

So the concern is everyone thinks I took too many lower buds sites off the bottom. I had really.planned on a bigger stretch.

If my plants stack like crazy for 10 weeks, I think I'll still be happy.

twentyeight.threefive said:

You meant below the bottom 1/3 right?

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I was inferring no stripping bud sites above the bottom 1/3

ÒÒlegilizeitÒÒ said:

I was inferring no stripping bud sites above the bottom 1/3

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Gotcha, makes sense, I read it wrong. I've never really defoliated by a schedule. Just done it as needed.

Relic79 said:

I'm considering another round by end of week. I cleaned up the under-canopy, and removed all the larger fan leaves a few days back.

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I just did that with my four yesterday, and filled a 5 gallon bucket stuffed with fans! Your canopy looks great! But you'll probably have to make a net for the tops. They get really heavy, and can flop over towards the end. When a plant has to hold up a branch that isn't well supported, it'll use precious bud building energy to hold it up.

Its not totally necessary to remove all the bottom stuff. Its not really taking energy away from bud development. Here are mine, which I'm overdo for supercropping and getting my net up. All of the tops will fall over once they start getting heavy.

JSB99 said:

I just did that with my four yesterday, and filled a 5 gallon bucket stuffed with fans! Your canopy looks great! But you'll probably have to make a net for the tops. They get really heavy, and can flop over towards the end. When a plant has to hold up a branch that isn't well supported, it'll use precious bud building energy to hold it up.

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I have a net ready, and eye hooks to screw into the wood frame. I am glad to hear I don't have too many tops squeezed in by most opinion so far!

I like to hear everyone's opinions, I haven't really done anything near as drastic as most seem to think. Since the first pics in the first post it's really only been the full removal of about 6 scrawny branches, removal of almost all side branching (going for one cola per branch on purpose), and cleaning up some fan leaves.

I've never stripped it bare, and have always ensured that, for the most part, there is always a full canopy when looking top down.

Last time I grew this strain, i didn't veg it as long and it didn't stretch much. This time I had vegged a few more weeks and hoped for a bigger stretch but didn't get much more.

Last time it did stack on about 6 to 8" of bud from where it seemed to stop stretching, so while I may have taken too much off the bottom, I'm hoping they collectively say "hold my beer" while the stack on the bud and that I actually removed the right amount for how far my light will penetrate.

As I said, I kind of bombed out my first run, so at the very least I am sure what I will get will be better no matter what! If as things progress, it looks like I could have left a few inches of bottom, I'll do it next time. No big deal I think.

My main concern was always too many tops. Last time, where leaves sat on one another, I would get water droplets pooling, even with oscillating fans. I re did the space, and have better environmental control, but am very afraid of a repeat of PM.

I'll post back to show happy or sad progress regardless.