pruning?

hi i got 4 plants in 10inch pots in a 2ftx2ft area. they are 4 weeks old about a 1ft high and quite short of space. im scared to death to cut/prune anything incase i kill em! pls help guide 2 where and how 2 prune my plants

have you tried lst'ing the plants yet? thats bending them over and tying them down so that the main stalk is at a 90 degree angle... this will promote stout bushy plants and save ya some room... plus you won't have to go cutting into your plants and shocking them a bit (infact, lst stands for "low stress training" i do believe)... try that first

https://www.rollitup.org/view.php?pg=faq&cmd=article&id=484

that'll teach you how to lst

that sounds crazy how much more bud will I end up with if I do that?

well, the amount of bud you get depends on lots of differents factors, but think of this, instead of just one big cola, you'll have a few... the lst'ing makes a bushy plant and will help keep it small and maximize production in the space you have available... in fact, once you start bending down your plant for training, go buy some chicken wire, cut a piece 2ft x 2ft and make a frame for it, and figure out a way to suspend it at the new level of your canopy (again, after you start bending it over)... then just keep weaving the new branch growths throughout the chicken wire until its close to full and then start your flowering... this method is called ScrOG (Screen Of Green) and is the most efficent way of producing bud in small areas IMO

that screen of green deal sounds crazy, but I have similar conditions in my room, and maybe I will try that. how long do you tie it at that angle for. If you leave it at 90 degrees, will the plant die? also, my plants are also about 4 weeks and a foot tall, when is a good time to find out which are males and which are females, and how do you do that, or do you just have to wait.

twanton, yeah, your at a perfect time to check the plants... you keep it tied down always, it won't die... look in my gallery and my two females are being tied down, one in like four directions at once... i promise as long as you don't snap any stems (which even then can be repairable) it'll survive quite nicely...

but if your going to do this and the ScrOG method, top your plants now, that'll start pushing for side growth, and in a week, after the plant has recovered from the small shock, switch the lighting to 12 hours light, 12 hours dark, and in a week or two you'll see the signs of males and females...

https://www.rollitup.org/view.php?pg=faq&cmd=category&id=66

PRUNING FOR YIELD
Pruning is the action of manipulating the number of node regions (potential bud sites) that your plant creates and has nothing to do with the thinning process. Cutting a plant at the stem will automatically result in Hopping'. For this reason, plants that are thinned via cutting will end up growing more than one top cola. Topping is discussed in the next section. This section covers pruning to increase yield.
By using stakes you can also control and separate branch growth after pruning.

This plant has generated more than eight new node regions after pruning.
Prune cuts are made using clippers held at a 45-degree angle to tbe shoot being cut. For every stem or branch that you prune, the cut area will develop two more branches.This process is natural: just look at any tree to see how the stem divides into branches which sub-bivide into more branches which divide into new shoots and leaves. Marijuana plants grow branches out from the stem. Any filling out occurs when new leaves and branches develop at the node regions. Some of these branches may develop new shoots, but these are somewhat smaller and thinner and don't support as much bud growth. If you prune your plant you can make it more like the example of the tree.

Recall that Indica plants tend to be smaller than Sativas. If you learn to prune your plant properly you can produce small bushy Sativa plants that grow in tiny spaces. Without pruning, a Sativa plant can stretch to five feet or more.

Keep in mind that there is a limit to how much you can prune a marijuana plant. If you prune the stem, it will split in two. You can prune both of these new stems and end up with four stems. You can try to prune each of these four stems to create eight stems, but results will depend on the strain and its genetically predetermined branching limit. You might be able to prune some of the lateral branches, but again, if the plant has reached its threshold it will not produce more branches. All strains are different in this respect.


let me know if you want more.

kp

thanks kp i was beginning to feal like mogie posting all these links to the grow faq... though quite the helpful place if you know where to look...

very true; the faq's should be a n00b growers best friend.

kudos!

kp

its been mine since i first found this site... that and going throughout past threads looking for anything that sounded like something i didn't know about... i'm still learning lots all the time but you start to get the fundamentals burned in your brain after reading, watching, experiencing everything there is about growing...

MESSAGE TO YOU NEW GROWERS... READ E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G YOU CAN ABOUT GROWING POT

the day you stop learning is the day you stop living.

You will most definately have to either get a bigger box or lst your plants. To be honest with you even if you lst them at that height you will probably run into problems come time to flower. They will increase in size by at least double what you have now. More than likely since I'm assuming your using cfl's they will probably stretch even more. Depending on where you live if you can't achieve anymore space I would consider transplanting outdoors. That's just my opinion. GOOD LUCK.