Pruning question

budzrus

budzrus

Active Member
Hi everyone. I have a question about pruning. The first four pictures below are clones in there 3rd week. I tried to FIM them but missed the mark. So my question is how should I prune these two beauties.

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The two pictures below is the mother I have. I took the clones above from her 3 weeks ago. Is it safe now to prune her now and how is the best way to prune her now? I won't be taking any clones for a while.
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I appreciate any and all advice. Thanks in advance for any advice given.
 
cc08150

cc08150

Well-Known Member
I'd top the ones in the first 4 pictures, because looks like the bottom branches are short so you might as well maximize the top growth. I pinch off all growing tips on my mother plants so that they make lots of branches to take clones from. make sure mom gets enough nitrogen
 
Rob0769

Rob0769

Active Member
Using a screen is a good way to go. It makes the bottoms and tops at the same level so everything gets light and all gets big. You can see examples, pictures and techniques in my journal.
 
hotrodharley

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
Top but don't be trimming anything. If you're inexperienced enough to have to ask then pay heed - leave all leaves and branches until you learn which, if any, are recommended for "pruning". The big light blocking fan leaves? Leave them all!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Rob0769

Rob0769

Active Member
hotrodharley said:
Top but don't be trimming anything. If you're inexperienced enough to have to ask then pay heed - leave all leaves and branches until you learn which, if any, are recommended for "pruning". The big light blocking fan leaves? Leave them all!!!!!!!!!!!
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Never ever ever ever ever... did I say ever?.. cut any leaves ever. If you see a deficiency on one (discoloring, necrotic.. anything) and you remove that leaf then the plant will choose another leaf to take it's stored nutrients from. That is why plants chance color with deficiencies. They are taking what the soil/medium lacks from their leaves. Kinda like when a person with low blood sugar can get a white face or lips. If you cut the lips off does it fix the low blood sugar problem? ;)
 
cc08150

cc08150

Well-Known Member
dimebag87 said:
A removal of one leaf here and there to allow for more light penetration Isn't a big deal.
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It is if it is one of those big fan leaves. That is the power house of your plant, producing way more light energy than the leaflets around your buds. Remove even one of those big ones and you are decreasing your yield in the end.
 
Rob0769

Rob0769

Active Member
plants leaves are the same as a cylindar to a cars engine. Every time you take one away you lose power. power to absorb light and turn that light in to energy which is used to create reproductive organs for cannabis. If you cut a plant down and watch it.. the leaves die first but the flowers get bigger. The trichomes continue to mature for at least a week after harvest. My last harvest I cut at cloudy trichomes. Now I look at the trichomes after cured and at least 15% is amber. Every part of the plant is there for the benefit of their reproductive organs and nothing else. Plants use infra red light to grow.. which means humans can not see it. They do not care for "visible light". Another interesting fact about infra red light is that the wave lengths are different than "visible light" and because of this difference it not only penetrates but passes through leaves. So why remove them when it only makes a difference to human eyes?
 
AZPsyclops

AZPsyclops

Well-Known Member
I had been growing for years on my own and never realized how much of a debated question this is.
Pruning your plant in any way, shade leaves, topping or any trimming will make the plant feel as if it is under attack by pests or bugs. This will stunt the plants growth and decrease productivity. The plant needs those leaves for photosynthesis; changing the nutrients and water you feed it into the chemicals it needs to survive on and it also needs these leaves for the transpiration of nitrogen and oxygen back into the atmosphere. The plant also takes time to heal after pruning or topping; slowing down growth yet again.
I can understand having to top a plant is a very last resort, but only when all else has failed. Training your Plant with a screen or tying down is a much better option.
Good growing guys.
 
cc08150

cc08150

Well-Known Member
Topping some plants increases harvest greatly....it all depends on the strain. You just have to vegg accordingly after topping the plant so that it has time to strengthen the two new growing shoots after topping it...
 
dimebag87

dimebag87

Well-Known Member
People have got a very split view on this topic. It's fair to say that you shouldn't go mad with it but pinching a leaf or two here and there seems to be quite beneficial from what I can tell. I cant see it being beneficial to sativa's since they are not that dense with foliage in the first place. So ok in the wild it's not a normal nor favorable for plants to loose an excessive amount of foliage but remember in the wild the cannabis plants priority is not to grow for yield. Topping, bending etc all stress the shit out of them even if its called "LST". It's just a matter of choice. I also thought it was necessary to top plants before you train them into a screen? Can someone shine some light on that for me as my next grow is going to be a SCROG attempt :D
 
budzrus

budzrus

Active Member
wow nice little debate going and some great info. I really appreciate the responses. Now if I may ask another question what do you think of putting them into a flowering stage at this point? I have read up a lot and as always I get different opinions which is great. I am always looking for new info. So thanks a lot for the responses.
 
Rob0769

Rob0769

Active Member
You can put plants in to flower at almost any stage. Best to flower It's best to flower your plant at about 2/3 you max capacity as far as light goes. Better to have less with more than more with less.

As for topping with scrog you don't have to. I don't. If the screen is a foot up or a foot and a half for indicas by the time the tops reach the screen there will be 6-10 branches at least. It will take a little longer to fill the screen half to 100%. During that time the lower branches will sprout more branches and everything will be at the same height then once the screen is full they will go up at the same height. Bottoms, middles, tops, sides of bottoms.. all will get dense if they have light.
 
dimebag87

dimebag87

Well-Known Member
Rob0769 said:
You can put plants in to flower at almost any stage. Best to flower It's best to flower your plant at about 2/3 you max capacity as far as light goes. Better to have less with more than more with less.

As for topping with scrog you don't have to. I don't. If the screen is a foot up or a foot and a half for indicas by the time the tops reach the screen there will be 6-10 branches at least. It will take a little longer to fill the screen half to 100%. During that time the lower branches will sprout more branches and everything will be at the same height then once the screen is full they will go up at the same height. Bottoms, middles, tops, sides of bottoms.. all will get dense if they have light.
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ok thanks for the advice. You're the expert here but if you're not topping the main tip or at least supercropping it then won't it still end up overtaking the lower branching thus defeating the point?
 
cc08150

cc08150

Well-Known Member
dimebag87 said:
ok thanks for the advice. You're the expert here but if you're not topping the main tip or at least supercropping it then won't it still end up overtaking the lower branching thus defeating the point?
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That's what I was wondering. I know some strains will grow into a screen and keep an even canopy but some will not and it's up to you to top or supercrop to get them that way. The one time I did do SCROG, I topped my plant once at the 3rd node, and after that my branches all filled in to same canopy level. Some strains you gotta work with more than others to achieve an even canopy. You might want to check out https://www.rollitup.org/subcools-old-school-organics/542308-main-lining-thread.html if you really want to keep an even canopy. Mainlining + Screen = uniform donkey dick colas
 
Rob0769

Rob0769

Active Member
I haven't had any problems with og, gdp or bubba. They all just sit next to each other. The middle will be a dense mass of branches leaves and buds. Sometimes the main cola gets bigger but so far my biggest was a side branch. Even if the main cola is thicker it is still one branch in a screen at least 1' by 1'. I wouldn't go smaller than a 2'x2' screen. Last grow some were topped some weren't. You can if you want to split to more branches I don't see any reason it would hurt it. I hear there are some strains you don't want to top but then I also hear there are strains it would be a waste not to top.
 
R

RaYRoZaY

Member
I definately do prune. mostly underneath where my light is not penetrating. You know those smaller leaves and branches, mostly fan leaves near the bottom... It definately takes a day to recover, but I was told that keeping them trim down low, helps the circulation of air underneath. I dont go pruning happy as I wouldnt want to kill my plant. But just enough to be able to for air and light to move freely around the foilage. And never in flowering stage, I usually do it at towards the end of veg when preflowers are present. I am new at this, but so far it has been working out for me as far the veg stage. Those little fan leaves or tiny branches werent going to produce, much so why waste the energy in them if they arent gonna do anything. Its not like the plant doesnt have leaves, its very robust on top because I do not top my plant. Im only giving my personal opinion. Not sure whos ideas are better, as we all know we cannot master this art, we can only hope you try to acheive that status.
 
cc08150

cc08150

Well-Known Member
RaYRoZaY said:
I definately do prune. mostly underneath where my light is not penetrating. You know those smaller leaves and branches, mostly fan leaves near the bottom... It definately takes a day to recover, but I was told that keeping them trim down low, helps the circulation of air underneath. I dont go pruning happy as I wouldnt want to kill my plant. But just enough to be able to for air and light to move freely around the foilage. And never in flowering stage, I usually do it at towards the end of veg when preflowers are present. I am new at this, but so far it has been working out for me as far the veg stage. Those little fan leaves or tiny branches werent going to produce, much so why waste the energy in them if they arent gonna do anything. Its not like the plant doesnt have leaves, its very robust on top because I do not top my plant. Im only giving my personal opinion. Not sure whos ideas are better, as we all know we cannot master this art, we can only hope you try to acheive that status.
Click to expand...
I prune lower branches that don't get light, but keep the fan leaves until they fall off themself. The fan leaves have stored up energy that the plant can use over a few days until it finally dies off, so why pull it off and waste that energy?
 
budzrus

budzrus

Active Member
Well thanks to all the great advice here I did prune my mother and my 3 week olds. I got a couple real nice clones off the 3 week olds so no waste there. I just want to thank you all for the advice given.
 
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