Should I trim or not?

Hello all,

This is only my second grow so please bare with me.

The two girls had the lighting switched to 12/12 5 weeks ago. I have been using LST method to keep them low and try and keep an even canopy.

They are starting to get really bushy so should I trim off some leaves or leave them be?

Thanks

good lst .

LetsGetCritical said:

good lst .

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Thank you very much my friend. It was a bit of trial and error to be honest.

you can trim stuff thats up under the canopy thats not getting any light if you want.

Less is better than more when it comes to trimming. I never trim, but then I like my plants to just do what they do naturally, and don't mind if they get 5ft tall.

If a leaf isn't getting enough light it will die back. Plants know their shit.

Looks real nice bushy plants already dude! I like to lst mine into similar shape and would say, personally i would not trim at moment as i find a fair portion of lower leaves can still get some light, plus the ones that don't will generally die off & the plant will suck nute reserves out anyway.

The thing i more tend to trim when they early flowering like urs are now, is any lower bud sites that are coming thru, as these likely won't develop large & getting rid of them early will help increase top bud mass more. I dunno if it sounds wierd, but basically i do a sorta of semi-lollipopping whereby i'll trim off lower bud clusters but usually leave leaf branches on - it does require being abit delicate with sharp nail scissors but i find overall it means abit less stress, the plant still gets the nutes back from leaves & bud growth energy is directed up top. Then when lower leaves are wrinkled, crispy & pull off with gentle tug, then i remove them to aid lower air circulation.

Thanks for that. I do not have any buds under the canopy so I guess there is not much point in trimming and leaves. But was just worried that it was getting too bushy under the canopy and not sure if this would cause any problems or maybe even use up alot of energy that could be use for the buds?? As I say, this is only my second grow so learning all the time.

as long as you got a little airflow going on up under there you should be ok.

I know what u mean about they can get quite bushy underneath, but like Major says, the plant will know to let them go if they aren't harvesting enough light. And also, the little energy they're using on growing by now is much lower than the potential, useful energy they have stored within them already. If the plant ever needs an energy or nute boost then it will go to these energy stores, strip them bare & then let them die off naturally.

Although, if u are starting to notice too much bushyness is impeding growth or air circulation, etc, etc then i would obviously recommend a light trim being a good idea. But if u aren't seeing too much trouble from it, then i always believe trimming is only unnecessary stress & recovery time. But i am only still smalltime mind, so don't read me as gospel tho dude!


The only other thing i was gonna recommend, if grow space makes it poss. is that u could always just stake out the outer upward branches & pull them out and away from centre abit. I don't mean bend & fully lst them, just spread the outer ones out abit more crown/hedgehog style! That way all branches should get abit more light down their middles. But as i say, i dunno if in ur grow-space, moving outer stems outwards means they move out of main light spread too, inwhich case it wouldn't be so profitable.

Thanks for the great advice "redwhite..."

nice looking plants jsynicky.......and I like his advise as well.... this is a subject of much debate that has brought out the worst in people so it's refreshing to read respectful feedback

cheers

In a few hours when the lights come on I will try and get some side shots of the plants. This way it will be easier for any of you guys to let me know if you think the bushiness at the bottom of the plant maybe causing issues or not.

As I am new to all this I am finding it a bit difficult to tell if the growth of the buds has been affected or not due to the bushiness as I don't really have anything to compare it to.

Cheers

Just don't trim them too many leaves. Just like one member said, Weed plants know their stuff. Burt this is talking outdoors. Indoors, you have to dictate what you want em to do and where to concentrate growth if possible.

If I had a budder that was bushed out like that in my op I'd top her; with 3000 watts and go for giant sized cola nugs

STOP !!!!! Don't trim anything. If you have some popcorn buds underneath the canopy that you want to remove, then do it. But please don't be taking the energy source away from those very, very pretty girls. Nice looking girls, now stop trying to hurt their progress growing into mature bitches.

greenlikemoney said:

STOP !!!!! Don't trim anything. If you have some popcorn buds underneath the canopy that you want to remove, then do it. But please don't be taking the energy source away from those very, very pretty girls. Nice looking girls, now stop trying to hurt their progress growing into mature bitches.

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OK.. so since the first pics I have not trimmed. Prior to the first pics (some days ago) my friend trimmed some leave off. This is why I started the thread as I was not sure that this should be done. But my friend seems to think he has a fair bit of experience... .don't they all!!

The pics attached are from 5 mins ago. Taken from top and side. I tend to go with the "don't trim" advice.

Also. Another question re watering. In you opinion/s how ofter and how much should I water the girls? They are in soil and 10 inch pots.

Thanks

Depends on the soil. In my pretty rich soil I'd water once well, then be able to leave them for a week, easily. That changes as they get bigger though obvs. Your look pretty small for pretty big containers though, so a week may well be right.

The pots should be light to pick up before you water.

Nice update cheers Jsy, and gotta say Wow! I didn't expect them to be that short & squat when i saw the top down pic! That is amazingly short, stocky, bushy LSTing going on there - u must've been busting those seedlings hard! lol! But seriously, they can't be more than 15inches from soil to tip - brilliant compactness. And also, can't remember u saying how long u vegged for??

And to answer ur worries, technically air circulation is effected, but i wouldn't think it too bigger a concern. If u had, say a 5 x 5 square of 25 similarly short plants then it might be an issue, but i think for u just making sure an oscillating fan is on them always is more than enough of a solution to anything like that.

I'll try & put up some pics of 2 NL plants i just done (pics at near 6wks flowering) which look similar to urs from top view (tho i think u may have more budsites & more even canopy!), but mine are alot higher off soil. I didn't have any air circ issues, tho due to not thoroughly following my own advice (doh!) i have got a few more lower popcorn buds than i'd like, but all the tops ones look nice still.

The only thing i'd say is i do now wish i'd done a scrog net/screen over them tho, as in last 3 weeks of flower alot were abit too top heavy & swayed over & stopped being considered top buds. I was able to tie a few into main stem or other branches, but some kept slipping off, or pulling other branches outta light too, etc so i deffo lost abit of final weight to them not being a fully even, stable canopy.

I think u should be ok tho as urs have got much nicer, thicker stems & branches but do be aware to catch them if they look like falling! Next time mine will be getting screened as soon as they pop their shell!

And forgot to say, ignore my plant in 3rd pot on far left - thats 1 of the SOS freebies 7/8 Sour reg (which i'm really looking forward to tasting! - will let people know as not read any reviews on it yet!) Tho due to it slightly warping as seedling its only grown 2 main stems, which i've hung up side, so will only get bout 1/8th off that & it contributes nothing to pic sadly! BUt it smells well dark, dank & spicy so should be nice i reckon!

But i think scrogging next time would definitely get all them NL stems up as major top buds!

doesn't your friend have his own plants to play with ? lol kick him in the balls or something