to trim or not?

[doublejointed]

i get a lot of different opinions on this topic...my plant is 4 weeks into flowering...very healthy and still growing lots of leaves. ever since the 5 week of the plants life i have weekly cut off 8-10 leaves to keep the middle of the plant open to more light, with no ill effects. in the last 2 weeks i have not cut any leaves and i'm kinda frightened to do so...the plant looks so good i hate to mess with her, but the foliage is getting dense.

so any input on trimming a few leaves to open up the middle ? or is it better to have the leaves to gather as much light as she can ? some say"they are like solar panels that make electricity...the more panels the more you get"

 

[Stoned4daze61]

Re: to trim or not ?

Take a heavy defoliation on days 21 & 45 in flowering. You already missed the 21st day, so I would say trim her up nicely asap. You want the light to get to the lower foliage and good air circulation through the canopy to prevent mold.

She's looking very healthy! Trim the larger fans blocking budsites and the smaller popcorn buds at the bottom to focus more energy up top

 

[Casa Verde]

No comment just an awsome plant image ,looking mighty fine nice and green !

 

[doublejointed]

No comment just an awsome plant image ,looking mighty fine nice and green !

thank you

 

[Universeaware]

I agree, very pretty plant mate.

 

[seagem]

Beautiful plant.
What are you using for nutes and soil and what strain is she?
Her tops look to be soaking up that sun.
I would use my own judgement and you know how she has reacted
when you trimmed. Did It put stress on her when you trimmed before?
Sometimes our best answer has been on past experience, you already
know how she will respond to trimmings since she has been manicured before.

Good luck

 

[doublejointed]

Beautiful plant.
What are you using for nutes and soil and what strain is she?
Her tops look to be soaking up that sun.
I would use my own judgement and you know how she has reacted
when you trimmed. Did It put stress on her when you trimmed before?
Sometimes our best answer has been on past experience, you already
know how she will respond to trimmings since she has been manicured before.

Good luck

well my better judgement tells me to leave her alone(if it ain't broke...don't fix it)... but being new at this i figured i'd try and get the advice of others who have been thru it before and have first hand knowledge of the benefits of trimming or not trimming.

 

[Stoned4daze61]

If you are familiar with grow journals on this site, many experienced growers defoliate at day 21 & 45 in flower. It was determined beneficial by a great grower on here named 420fied, you can find examples in his journal & many others.

I use to think cutting a few fans off every few days would be less stressful, but it seems two large defoliation's are better because the plant focuses on repairing itself twice versus weekly

Fans are like solar panels, but they can cause more problems then good if you let the canopy get too dense such as the reasons I mentioned above. Your strain also seems to be very leafy, it looks very good nonetheless

 

[doublejointed]

thanks Stoned4daze61, i wasn't doubting you i was just nervous to stress her because she is from hermie seed...but i trimmed a good amount off...she needed watering today so i figured it was a good day to prune...for whatever reason i prefer to prune the day i water.

 

[Bassman59]

Doublejointed,

I wouldn't worry about plucking leaves at all. The practice of defoliation as an actual growing method, while controversial as hell to some, is in use with much success for many people.

I am of the opinion that most people are like sheep in a way. You herd them a little bit one way and they'll all go. Hence, I also believe the argument of "solar panels" in the context it's used on this topic is more people being sheep and following rather than from actual study, learning, or experience.

I am new to the method of hi defoliation. In my second grow using it now. In so doing, I still spend a lot of time studying the topic. But I have found people that use this method and gain very high yields with no hurt to quality.

I actually strip my girls damn near bare in veg a couple times. In just a weeks time new leaves come out and even more bushier than before. It slows the girls down a bit, but from what I am seeing, it slows vertical growth more than anything, and new nodes are consequently closer together (again, speaking in veg).

This pretty well lines up with the practice of not defoliating until day 21 or so in flower, as this allows the stretch. However, one can also decide to defoliate in stretch a bit early if they need, to in fact STOP the stretch because of say light height restrictions. In my current Master Kush grow, I was near the end of stretch, and my girls were growing 2" or more per day. But one was way taller than the others by a good 3-4-5"s. So I defoliated her 3 days early. She didn't get an inch taller and the overall canopy got closer balanced between all the girls. I have since bent the shit out of those tops to even up the canopy, but I also almost daily remove fan leaves all over these girls. This opens up the canopy and I get a lot more light penetration. More light to lower buds means less popcorn and bigger buds top to bottom.

Here's some examples from my grow. Pics aint the best, and don't do the girls justice. All pics are the same four girls. Progressing backwards from a cpl days ago to early veg. I have thinned it more. But mostly only pulling fan leaves with a stem. Not the sugar leaf attached to a bud.