To prune or not to prune? Let's hear both sides.

[CandyColas]

So I hear arguments for both. Some people say that you should strloip all the lower buds and branches so that you concentrate the hormones in a single cola and others say to leave the plant alone.

I'm currently in day 23 of flower with Grand Daddy Purple. My plants are really bushy and I have a ton of lower bud sites. First of all, is it too late to prune the lower buds and branches? If not, should I? I have 10 plants under 2 600W HPS lights. These are really short bushy plants that didn't stretch much so they're at about 16" right now. I guess that that's pretty typical for this strain.

What do y'all think?

 

[*mistress*]

not too late to rid the lowest nodes that have not developed. nor too late to get rid of smallest branches that will not produce large flowers.

a little late for thinning or pruning, unless already had stages of plant and when-to-thin charted.

generally, in this imaginary garden, train like this:

from seed
@~ 5th node of growth, top and remove lowest 2 branches. plant is only ~ 4-6" tall here.

then the resulting double-leads are topped, @~6-8".

now have 4 main lead-branches...

depending on growth pattern, thin to 4-12 main leads. eliminate all other shoots.

can eliminated either tops or lowers from there. 4-12 main branches, w/ 4-6 leads per branch, if a x, or 2-3 max for 1000% i tomatoes. i tomatoes tend to require very light fan thinning. they normally dont exceed 2-3 leads off of a branch; so grow in 1 big flower.

from cutting
after rooted, and light green new-growth spotted, thinned to 3-4 main leads.

depending on observed growth/flowering patterns, train to bowl shape.

fan leaves
this is a topic of much debate. however, methods posted will be filtered by original poster...

remove all fans growing into the center of the plant. this is not a #. not all fans. just ones covering tops, or shading innards of plant.

@ last week of veg+1st week of flower, all lower growth removed. also, all fans that have grown large since last thinning, and now cover lower growth. or, shade innards, or distinct shape of pruning method selected for that particular plant.

in general, training and thinning are not practices that simply occur @ a single time and then stop. they should be matched to the needs of the plant. the regime should include time for recovery during a particular stage of growth/flower.

so, if cull selected fans in last wk veg/1st wk flower, should see lush - directed - growth @ wk 2 of flower.

may include foliar feeding @ this time... will make wk 2 so full of blossoms...

to answer q... right on edge of potential to take too much @ this point. let them do their thing. observe pattern(s), and prune @ those stages @ next run.

or...

take least developed 1-2 branches, and make plant squeeze life from roots into those fewer limbs.

hope this helps. enjoy your garden!

 

[CandyColas]

not too late to rid the lowest nodes that have not developed. nor too late to get rid of smallest branches that will not produce large flowers.

a little late for thinning or pruning, unless already had stages of plant and when-to-thin charted.

generally, in this imaginary garden, train like this:

from seed
@~ 5th node of growth, top and remove lowest 2 branches. plant is only ~ 4-6" tall here.

then the resulting double-leads are topped, @~6-8".

now have 4 main lead-branches...

depending on growth pattern, thin to 4-12 main leads. eliminate all other shoots.

can eliminated either tops or lowers from there. 4-12 main branches, w/ 4-6 leads per branch, if a x, or 2-3 max for 1000% i tomatoes. i tomatoes tend to require very light fan thinning. they normally dont exceed 2-3 leads off of a branch; so grow in 1 big flower.

from cutting
after rooted, and light green new-growth spotted, thinned to 3-4 main leads.

depending on observed growth/flowering patterns, train to bowl shape.

fan leaves
this is a topic of much debate. however, methods posted will be filtered by original poster...

remove all fans growing into the center of the plant. this is not a #. not all fans. just ones covering tops, or shading innards of plant.

@ last week of veg+1st week of flower, all lower growth removed. also, all fans that have grown large since last thinning, and now cover lower growth. or, shade innards, or distinct shape of pruning method selected for that particular plant.

in general, training and thinning are not practices that simply occur @ a single time and then stop. they should be matched to the needs of the plant. the regime should include time for recovery during a particular stage of growth/flower.

so, if cull selected fans in last wk veg/1st wk flower, should see lush - directed - growth @ wk 2 of flower.

may include foliar feeding @ this time... will make wk 2 so full of blossoms...

to answer q... right on edge of potential to take too much @ this point. let them do their thing. observe pattern(s), and prune @ those stages @ next run.

or...

take least developed 1-2 branches, and make plant squeeze life from roots into those fewer limbs.

hope this helps. enjoy your garden!

Mistriss, that was great. I really appreciate your knowlege and know how. I think that I can follow that properly but you wouldn't haven to know of a pictoral or video how to on pruning/topping, etc.?

 

[somebody041]

not too late to rid the lowest nodes that have not developed. nor too late to get rid of smallest branches that will not produce large flowers.

a little late for thinning or pruning, unless already had stages of plant and when-to-thin charted.

generally, in this imaginary garden, train like this:

from seed
@~ 5th node of growth, top and remove lowest 2 branches. plant is only ~ 4-6" tall here.

then the resulting double-leads are topped, @~6-8".

now have 4 main lead-branches...

depending on growth pattern, thin to 4-12 main leads. eliminate all other shoots.

can eliminated either tops or lowers from there. 4-12 main branches, w/ 4-6 leads per branch, if a x, or 2-3 max for 1000% i tomatoes. i tomatoes tend to require very light fan thinning. they normally dont exceed 2-3 leads off of a branch; so grow in 1 big flower.

from cutting
after rooted, and light green new-growth spotted, thinned to 3-4 main leads.

depending on observed growth/flowering patterns, train to bowl shape.

fan leaves
this is a topic of much debate. however, methods posted will be filtered by original poster...

remove all fans growing into the center of the plant. this is not a #. not all fans. just ones covering tops, or shading innards of plant.

@ last week of veg+1st week of flower, all lower growth removed. also, all fans that have grown large since last thinning, and now cover lower growth. or, shade innards, or distinct shape of pruning method selected for that particular plant.

in general, training and thinning are not practices that simply occur @ a single time and then stop. they should be matched to the needs of the plant. the regime should include time for recovery during a particular stage of growth/flower.

so, if cull selected fans in last wk veg/1st wk flower, should see lush - directed - growth @ wk 2 of flower.

may include foliar feeding @ this time... will make wk 2 so full of blossoms...

to answer q... right on edge of potential to take too much @ this point. let them do their thing. observe pattern(s), and prune @ those stages @ next run.

or...

take least developed 1-2 branches, and make plant squeeze life from roots into those fewer limbs.

hope this helps. enjoy your garden!

thanks for taking the time to give a detailed response on your strategy. i have been kind of confused about when to top/train/prune. i know it depends on strain but i don't know how to determine it based on strain. your input really cleared things up

 

[*mistress*]

general principles of pruning, training and thinning

general principles of pruning, training and thinning

plants leaves and flowers
plants leaves use h20+nutrients+carbohydrates (via photosynthesis) to manufacture + store simple sugars (what the plant likes to eat). the stored sugars are ultimately distributed to fruit and/or flowers.

diminishing total mass of roots and/or leaves decreases capacity to make+store sugars. however, healthy plants will re-direct such energy to form and establish new leaf+root mass.

after half-life of a fan leaf, photon absorption + sugar manufacturing decreases. can eliminate them @~ their half-life. these are usually older, lower leaves.

what pruning does
re-directs energy/simple sugars/internal-resources towards forming, establishing and increasing new growth. or, re-directs energy to remaining plant mass/growth/fruits/flowers, after decrease in limbs.

pruning objectives
remove dead or injured parts of plant
remove or restrict unwanted growth
encourage or train where desired
rejuvenation
promote flower/fruit production
facilitate light penetration thru canopy
expose flowers/fruit to light
optimum fruit load
complete light coverage of leaves
uniform exposure to light

fruit thinning
to prevent plant from becoming exhausted due to overbearing fruit, can control the # of fruit per plant via thinning. this must be specific to the cultivar; i.e.g., the gardener must know the # of fruits that are optimum for that plant, and when to remove shoots that will only create greater #'s of smaller fruit.
fruit thinning seeks to make plant to create fewer larger fruit, as opposed to many smaller blossoms.

hope this helps. enjoy your garden!

 

[jackiee]

well said all of you,so in a nutshell remove bottom branches which in your opinion wont get eneough light when larger and leave 4 or 5 branches per plant training them towards the light for bigger colas. sun or fan leaf removal just bend them out of the way whenever possible

 

[Wait...What?]

I've done enough side-by-side experiments to say unequivocally that removing leaves reduces yield.

If you're going to prune, prune the shoot but leave the leaf.

Cannabis is self-mulching and will drop her lowest leaves as she ages anyway.

but, as always, don't take my word for it - try it yourself.

 

[bdlt]

Check out my grow diary to see how I do it.

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=133729