How bushy should they be?

Dr,Gonzo

Dr,Gonzo

Member
Hi all first time grower here. So far it's gone really well, I have a hydro setup doing Super Sweet Skunk and Maui Wowie. I'm about 4 weeks in, and they are looking great. Both are about 3 feet tall with canopys of about 2 1/2 feet in diameter. My concern is they are too bushy, I mean these suckers look like a 70's porn star. Really thick through the middle of both plants. I'm going to start flowering in a week, so do I need to thin these out now? If so, how much? I've done a lot of searching, and most of the trimming results I've found are about lollipoping. The thing that bothers me is a lot of the pics on RIU are much more thinned out looking than mine.

Thanks.
 
TheDifferenceX

TheDifferenceX

Well-Known Member
Dr said:
Hi all first time grower here. So far it's gone really well, I have a hydro setup doing Super Sweet Skunk and Maui Wowie. I'm about 4 weeks in, and they are looking great. Both are about 3 feet tall with canopys of about 2 1/2 feet in diameter. My concern is they are too bushy, I mean these suckers look like a 70's porn star. Really thick through the middle of both plants. I'm going to start flowering in a week, so do I need to thin these out now? If so, how much? I've done a lot of searching, and most of the trimming results I've found are about lollipoping. The thing that bothers me is a lot of the pics on RIU are much more thinned out looking than mine.

Thanks.
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I don't really believe in a plant that is TOO bushy, but you could run into issues w/ the middle and lower buds getting light if there is a huge ammount of leaves blocking the light...

You're 4 weeks in... hopefully you're still in veg... in that case, I would go ahead and trim away some of the leaves... if it's a feminized seed, maybe just take some clones (cuttings) to clear up some of the excess leaves...

If it's really bushy... LIKE REALLY BUSHY... you may really want to consider Topping of Fimming... if it's big, healthy and bushy allready... Use those techniques and you could end up with one hell of a yield... IMO...
 
Dr,Gonzo

Dr,Gonzo

Member
TheDifferenceX said:
I don't really believe in a plant that is TOO bushy, but you could run into issues w/ the middle and lower buds getting light if there is a huge ammount of leaves blocking the light...

You're 4 weeks in... hopefully you're still in veg... in that case, I would go ahead and trim away some of the leaves... if it's a feminized seed, maybe just take some clones (cuttings) to clear up some of the excess leaves...

If it's really bushy... LIKE REALLY BUSHY... you may really want to consider Topping of Fimming... if it's big, healthy and bushy allready... Use those techniques and you could end up with one hell of a yield... IMO...
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Thanks for the advice. I was worried that fimming would make the situation worse, as wouldn't that create a lot more growth that would cause more bushiness?

Sorry I don't know all the terms, bushiness will have to do. :lol:
 
biggun

biggun

Active Member
Also if you are only growing a couple of plants and you are able to move them around during flower you could just leave them alone and let them thrive... On my first grow I only cut some of the big leaves in half and things went pretty well... Since you are growing for the first time, you will have something to compare to the second time trying different techniques... PEACE
 
kronic1989

kronic1989

Well-Known Member
Got any pictures. it would be easier to help you with pictures. Bushy is good, just prune it up a bit to make for better light penetration. You dont want to top it right now, kinda late. Its gonna be going into flowering soon right? I wouldnt recommend fimming cause Im not to experience with it. and dont totally understand it yet.

I'd say just trim her up a bit, let her veg a few more days and flip her, and let her do her thing natural. If you were gonna use techniques shoulda had them ready to be implimented from the start.
 
TheDifferenceX

TheDifferenceX

Well-Known Member
Dr said:
Thanks for the advice. I was worried that fimming would make the situation worse, as wouldn't that create a lot more growth that would cause more bushiness?

Sorry I don't know all the terms, bushiness will have to do. :lol:
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No worries, there are a lot terms and some actually mean the same thing which makes it even more confusing... lol....

If the plant is short and bushy... you don't HAVE to Top or Fimm... you can just let it keep going... Just make sure you keep your lights as close to the plants as possible w/o heat issues... Shouldn't be much of a problem w/ the CFL lights you're using....

How many blades do the leaves have? How many nodes does the plant have? If it's 4 weeks old and allready bushy... Keep in mind that it will double or triple in size once you switch to flowering... so if it's a foot tall right now.. It could end up being a 3 foot monster... It may be mature enough to flower right now...

Can you post some pics?
 
Dr,Gonzo

Dr,Gonzo

Member
TheDifferenceX said:
No worries, there are a lot terms and some actually mean the same thing which makes it even more confusing... lol....

If the plant is short and bushy... you don't HAVE to Top or Fimm... you can just let it keep going... Just make sure you keep your lights as close to the plants as possible w/o heat issues... Shouldn't be much of a problem w/ the CFL lights you're using....

How many blades do the leaves have? How many nodes does the plant have? If it's 4 weeks old and allready bushy... Keep in mind that it will double or triple in size once you switch to flowering... so if it's a foot tall right now.. It could end up being a 3 foot monster... It may be mature enough to flower right now...

Can you post some pics?
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Holy shit man, now I'm really freaked out. These suckers are easy 3 feet tall right now. What happened is my buddy had them going and his dad found them. So he was going to pluck them and I said I would take them. So, yeah I woulda done things a little different if I had them from the get go, but I have to work with what I've got.

As for as blades, I counted 7 on one leaf yesterday, a lot of them are the size of my hand. There are nodes everywhere. I forgot my camera at my parents house at Thanksgiving, so unfortunatey I won't have it back till xmas. I'm worried these are going to wind up 8 feet tall now.

EDIT: I have a HID light.
 
lostfedexman

lostfedexman

Well-Known Member
Hey man have you considered maybe LSTing her? If you could tie the mains stem and branches to create sort of an even canopy on top, that way the entire top of the plant is getting even light distribution. If you can do that, instaed of 1 main cola, you could have a few large main colas.

I have a super bushy plant growing right now myself. She's about 5 weeks old, literally only 8 inches tall, and probably 15 inches wide. I can set 6 BIC lighters and 7 ping pong balls on the top of the cannopy without anything falling through, just resting on top...
 
Dr,Gonzo

Dr,Gonzo

Member
lostfedexman said:
Hey man have you considered maybe LSTing her? If you could tie the mains stem and branches to create sort of an even canopy on top, that way the entire top of the plant is getting even light distribution. If you can do that, instaed of 1 main cola, you could have a few large main colas.

I have a super bushy plant growing right now myself. She's about 5 weeks old, literally only 8 inches tall, and probably 15 inches wide. I can set 6 BIC lighters and 7 ping pong balls on the top of the cannopy without anything falling through, just resting on top...
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I would like to have LST'd from the start. Aren't I too far in now to do it? I want to start flowering in the next few days. Your plant sounds similar to mine, except much bigger. I guess my concern is light getting to the middle and bottom part of the plant. The top is beautiful, lushious with new growth everywhere. I'm also afraid of getting to big, as crazy as that sounds. I'm working on building my grow room, but it may not be complete in time. I'm worried about people coming to visit, my sis came last weekend but fortunatly they don't smell much right now. This all happened so quickly, I'm a bit overwhelmed.
 
Dr,Gonzo

Dr,Gonzo

Member
lostfedexman said:
Hey man have you considered maybe LSTing her? If you could tie the mains stem and branches to create sort of an even canopy on top, that way the entire top of the plant is getting even light distribution. If you can do that, instaed of 1 main cola, you could have a few large main colas.

I have a super bushy plant growing right now myself. She's about 5 weeks old, literally only 8 inches tall, and probably 15 inches wide. I can set 6 BIC lighters and 7 ping pong balls on the top of the cannopy without anything falling through, just resting on top...
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hahaha just noticed your location, I was born and raised in the 719.
 
lostfedexman

lostfedexman

Well-Known Member
Dr said:
hahaha just noticed your location, I was born and raised in the 719.
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Dude hell yea man! That's dope! I LOVE it here!

Anyways, no it's not to late to LST, IMO. Low Stress Training, is exactly that, "Lost Stress" it really doesn't stunt the plant to much, if at all. Technically, you can LST whenever you want. All it is is bending the stem/branches.

What I would do is wait untill you water the plant, then the next day the stem shouldn't be as stiff/hard (at least that's how it seems to work with my plant) so it should be fairly easy to tie where you want it. I actually untied mine when I started flowering so she would stretch a bit (12/12 for 1 week now) and just re-tied her down yesterday.

LST is the way to go man! I would seriously consider it. Just make sure to do it 1 week before or/and a week or 2 into flowering. Then let her go after that.

Here are a couple pix of my girl, maybe it'll give you a couple ideas. The first is right before re-potting, the second and third are right after re-potting and her first LST (all in the same day) and the last 3 pix are of her 24 days later. (The last pic I was just messing around and wanted to see what her cannopy could hold up... lol)
 

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Dr,Gonzo

Dr,Gonzo

Member
lostfedexman said:
Dude hell yea man! That's dope! I LOVE it here!

Anyways, no it's not to late to LST, IMO. Low Stress Training, is exactly that, "Lost Stress" it really doesn't stunt the plant to much, if at all. Technically, you can LST whenever you want. All it is is bending the stem/branches.

What I would do is wait untill you water the plant, then the next day the stem shouldn't be as stiff/hard (at least that's how it seems to work with my plant) so it should be fairly easy to tie where you want it. I actually untied mine when I started flowering so she would stretch a bit (12/12 for 1 week now) and just re-tied her down yesterday.

LST is the way to go man! I would seriously consider it. Just make sure to do it 1 week before or/and a week or 2 into flowering. Then let her go after that.

Here are a couple pix of my girl, maybe it'll give you a couple ideas. The first is right before re-potting, the second and third are right after re-potting and her first LST (all in the same day) and the last 3 pix are of her 24 days later. (The last pic I was just messing around and wanted to see what her cannopy could hold up... lol)
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Man that looks like it's going to work out really well for you. I definatley am going to try it out on the next grow. I'm doing hydro, so the branches seem plenty flexable. I think I'm going to go ahead and start flowering on Sunday. Tonight, I think I will take clones from from the middle of both plants. That should get me my next batch and help thin it out a bit. I need to get these done soon, so I won't have the time to LST them. If my grow room were complete I would try it. I'm afraid my parents are going to want to come visit after xmas, so I gotta get them done. Thanks for the help man.:blsmoke:
 
lostfedexman

lostfedexman

Well-Known Member
Dr said:
I'm afraid my parents are going to want to come visit after xmas, so I gotta get them done. Thanks for the help man.:blsmoke:
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Completely understandable man! My parents already know that if they come over there is going to be a closet they don't want to look in or ask about... lol, and we're all fine with that.

How soon after christmas are they coming? Because if you just started flowering yesterday, they aren't going to be done untill the middle of februaryish.

Thanks for the good words, and yea, I'd think in Hydro the stems would bend really easy! Good luck with those clones!
 
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