RobertInAz
Active Member
Hey everybody,
I’ve got this idea and I’ve researched all the appropriate threads and I don’t think it’s been discussed before, so I’m going to throw it out here and see if I can get some expert opinion on it. The deal is this: I just switched to T5HO lights (8 x 48”
, and the results are far from anything I’ve seen before personally or in any of the grow room photos or videos I’ve seen. The plants under these lights have all grown so short and compact that they look like a completely different species …more like something my mother would plant for ground cover. It actually kinda looks like the light has beaten them down a little bit. The leaves are all laying on top of each other, and the foliage is so dense that you cannot see through the plant from one side to the other; they are only 34 days old. The nodes are about 3/8 inch apart, on average. Despite their shape, they are very vigorous and healthy looking. This is the case with all five varieties I have going: Cali Mist, Dr. Atomic, Caramelicious, and two other unknown groups that I got free with the ordering of the other stuff. Note that I am growing mostly sativa-dominant strains, which are supposed to be tall and skinny.
The thing that I noticed was that everywhere I looked on these plants, there was good foliage under the big fan leaves, and I started to wonder why the fan leaves were even there in the first place …if there are leaves directly under fan leaves, it seems to me, you would lose nothing by cutting the fan off. The fan leaf is redundant, and the plant gets hit with the same amount of light whether it’s there or not. The only difference is that the redirected growth you get by removing the fan would go to growing a stem tip, which will become a bud. Which is better.
So when I consider the omni-directional light that comes from the T5 and the resulting effect it has on plants, then it seems to me that a new kind of pruning procedure might be called for. I figured that if I removed the fans on opposite sides of the plant, the interior of the plant would be opened up to the light from pretty much all directions. When I did this, the plants took on a wide look from one side and a skinny look from a view 90 degrees away, and since the T5 fixture forms basically a solid ceiling of light, the interior gets hit excellently – even under the remaining fans. In my notes I have taken to calling the procedure “sideshow”, since the plant is showing 2 sides rather than the usual round look. That has morphed into “Sideshow Bob”, as in, “Come here, sweetheart, and suck it up, cause I’m gonna hafta pull a Sideshow Bob on yer ass.” (Does anyone else talk to their plants?)
Anyway, I pruned them this way one week ago and I like the way they look (see photos), but I don’t know if my theory of pruning this way under this kind of light actually results in a heavier harvest. So that is the first question I put before those here in this forum: Does this method sound like a reasonable adjustment to the T5HO lamp, or am I making a big mistake?
Secondly, it seems to me that if this procedure has merit, then I think there is a case to be made for removing the fans leaves early -- like any time they appear after seedling stage. Why let the plant spend energy growing a fan leaf that you intend to cut off, especially if there is growth beneath it that you want to encourage to grow? I understand that they are needed when the plants are in the seedling stage, but they reach a point at about when they have grown their 5th or 6th node that fans are counterproductive, in my opinion, but I’d like to hear what others with more grows under their belt think.
Note: The pics show front and side views of 2 plants -- one single top and one double top. The pots are 1 gallon.
Thanks again,
Robert in Arizona
I’ve got this idea and I’ve researched all the appropriate threads and I don’t think it’s been discussed before, so I’m going to throw it out here and see if I can get some expert opinion on it. The deal is this: I just switched to T5HO lights (8 x 48”
, and the results are far from anything I’ve seen before personally or in any of the grow room photos or videos I’ve seen. The plants under these lights have all grown so short and compact that they look like a completely different species …more like something my mother would plant for ground cover. It actually kinda looks like the light has beaten them down a little bit. The leaves are all laying on top of each other, and the foliage is so dense that you cannot see through the plant from one side to the other; they are only 34 days old. The nodes are about 3/8 inch apart, on average. Despite their shape, they are very vigorous and healthy looking. This is the case with all five varieties I have going: Cali Mist, Dr. Atomic, Caramelicious, and two other unknown groups that I got free with the ordering of the other stuff. Note that I am growing mostly sativa-dominant strains, which are supposed to be tall and skinny.The thing that I noticed was that everywhere I looked on these plants, there was good foliage under the big fan leaves, and I started to wonder why the fan leaves were even there in the first place …if there are leaves directly under fan leaves, it seems to me, you would lose nothing by cutting the fan off. The fan leaf is redundant, and the plant gets hit with the same amount of light whether it’s there or not. The only difference is that the redirected growth you get by removing the fan would go to growing a stem tip, which will become a bud. Which is better.
So when I consider the omni-directional light that comes from the T5 and the resulting effect it has on plants, then it seems to me that a new kind of pruning procedure might be called for. I figured that if I removed the fans on opposite sides of the plant, the interior of the plant would be opened up to the light from pretty much all directions. When I did this, the plants took on a wide look from one side and a skinny look from a view 90 degrees away, and since the T5 fixture forms basically a solid ceiling of light, the interior gets hit excellently – even under the remaining fans. In my notes I have taken to calling the procedure “sideshow”, since the plant is showing 2 sides rather than the usual round look. That has morphed into “Sideshow Bob”, as in, “Come here, sweetheart, and suck it up, cause I’m gonna hafta pull a Sideshow Bob on yer ass.” (Does anyone else talk to their plants?)
Anyway, I pruned them this way one week ago and I like the way they look (see photos), but I don’t know if my theory of pruning this way under this kind of light actually results in a heavier harvest. So that is the first question I put before those here in this forum: Does this method sound like a reasonable adjustment to the T5HO lamp, or am I making a big mistake?
Secondly, it seems to me that if this procedure has merit, then I think there is a case to be made for removing the fans leaves early -- like any time they appear after seedling stage. Why let the plant spend energy growing a fan leaf that you intend to cut off, especially if there is growth beneath it that you want to encourage to grow? I understand that they are needed when the plants are in the seedling stage, but they reach a point at about when they have grown their 5th or 6th node that fans are counterproductive, in my opinion, but I’d like to hear what others with more grows under their belt think.
Note: The pics show front and side views of 2 plants -- one single top and one double top. The pots are 1 gallon.
Thanks again,
Robert in Arizona