##TRIMMING## What to take, what to leaf? Please help!

[mikeybtoken]

I have spent countless hour researching this and I get that there are many correct ways to go about trimming a plant. At this time I am only interrested in what I should do in my given situation.
I am growing White Widow from seed, this is my first grow EVER. I am days away from the end of a 6 week 24/7 veg cycle under 1000W MH in 7GAL pots using Subcool Super Soil Mix.
I'm getting ready to flip over to 12/12 under 1000W HPS in about four days. I had planned on taking clones and having trimmed them up by now....but I keep hearing very different opinions on this.
I am apart of a medical grow group where some very experienced growers have strong opinions on this matter.
Some say if you have the room LEAVE THEM ALONE!!! Take only dead or dying leaves off of the plant and clones off of the bottom of the plants before flipping them to 12/12
Yet other say that the above is total bull #### Strip the bottom 15-30% off of the bottom stem, taking clones from that material. Then to take 20-50% of all of the fan leaf off, leaving only the tops and very few fan leaf.
Both seem to agree that this should be done before flipping.
My plants are very tight little bushes no more than 20-24" in height and most are about the same in width.
My plants have huge fan leafs, some the size of both of my hands, which covers alot of my top growth from the light. Several times now I have almost cut a few of these larger leafs but remembered what one grower told me about these larger leafs being the ones that supply sugars to the tops. I am a few grows away from trying advanced LST or SOG growing. For now I would just like to take about 10-15% of my leaf off and trim some bottom growth for clones w/o feeling like I am ruining my plants.
Up to this point I have been tucking the large leafs back to let the tops get light. I figure that If I am going to butcher them I would rather do it while still on 24/7.
I will try to wait to see what you expericenced growers have to say before I go hacking on them.

Thanks in advanced!!!

MBT

 

[Locked]

Everything I hve read says to leave the fans leaves be unless they are more then 50% dead... I don't touch my fan leaves at all unless they are totally dead and blocking light from reaching healthy spots...

 

[bluealein56]

agreed.
I have always used the mett=hod of letting it die before I cut it(except for clones) If its green its still supppling some nutes or good stuff to the rest of the plant. It might look ugly but who cares right? The way your leafs look arent gonna dictate how your bud smokes.

im experimenting with everything now and im thinking about cutting alot of my bottom stuff off just to see what happens. Try it. might work better for you than it has for someone else.

 

[Growdude]

Yet other say that the above is total bull #### Strip the bottom 15-30% off of the bottom stem, taking clones from that material. Then to take 20-50% of all of the fan leaf off, leaving only the tops and very few fan leaf.

Ive never heard this before.

 

[DonJones]

The only thing I do KNOW for sure about this subject is, your plants will NOT grow without light. If your fans are that big on that size plants and are blocking light, then by all means cut a few of them back. However moderation is always a good plan until you get good at it, then you can gradually increase the amount you are trimming.

Personally I watch the fans all the way through from rooting to harvest and trim out the ones that seem to be hurting rather than helping, but then again I have been known to take whole small branches out.

From my personal experience, the lower part of your plants will die out anyway unless you have a heck of a lot of light and a way to get it to the bottom parts too. I know without a doubt that my yield would go way up if I got better lighting to the centers and bottoms of the plants, but then again I'm growing short and bushy by "super cropping' to force them to bush out instead of stretching, even the sativa strains.

Once I get the rest of the stuff caught up and better reflectors in place I will be working on side lighting. One method that I have heard good things about and am working on doing is to hang T5s down inside the plant's canopy, but be careful about messing around with electricity and moisture, especially foliar spray or insect sprays.

Having said that, try one way on a couple and the other way on some others and keep records of which method works best for you. That comes from a relatively new grower, but also from a lot of years of experience from my mentors.

I wish you the best in what ever route you go. Just remember, there is always the next grow and hopefully each crop teaches you something to improve the next one.

 

[tokasmoke]

Hey Mickey....i Agree With Don, Those Buds Will Need Light, I Just Pinched A Half Pound Of Pan Leafs Off Of 6 Plants About Vour Size And A Week Later I Stripped Off All Shutes 12 '' Up From Soil Level.all Seems Fine, And The Buds Love The Light..................

 

[IRISH]

MBT. do you know what photosynthesis is?... i would love to see pics please...

 

[Growdude]

Hey Mickey....i Agree With Don, Those Buds Will Need Light,

A common misconception, Buds dont need light leaves need light.

Any time you trim lower branches off where popcorn buds form it will make your main cola's bigger by focusing the plants energy into the remaining buds.
This should not be confussed with pruning fan leaves to get more light to the buds.
More light on more leaves = more plant energy thats used to form the big buds.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I would advise to not listen to anyone who advises removing 20-50% of the fan leaves--these people do not know what they are talking about. To be able to produce bud, you plant needs those big fan leaves. As Growdude said, buds do not need light, photosynthesis takes place in the leaves. You may want to trim the small bud sites at the bottom of the plant, but it is never advisable to cut the fan leaves unless they are over 50% dead.

 

[chris1974]

Once again I totally agree with Growdude on this one ! And you too Irish I had huge leaves on my last crop, that shaded some of the intire buds ...... the big fans are where the photosynthisis ocurs and precious
energy and sugars are stored there ! just my thoughts

 

[lordhighlama]

Yep getting more light on your buds will do nothing more than bleach them out. You want all that light focused onto the solar panels of the plant, your leaves.

 

[BBFan]

Hey Mickey....i Agree With Don, Those Buds Will Need Light, I Just Pinched A Half Pound Of Pan Leafs Off Of 6 Plants About Vour Size And A Week Later I Stripped Off All Shutes 12 '' Up From Soil Level.all Seems Fine, And The Buds Love The Light..................

No offense- but that's not very good for your plants at all.

Botany 101- Chorophyll is not found in flowers- it is found in leaf matter. The job of the leaf (through photosynthesis) is to provide energy to the flower. The job of the flower is to produce seeds.

As Growdude and lordhighlama said, buds do not need light. Leaves need light- and buds need leaves.

Removing smaller bud sites and growth, as Growdude said, will redirect the energy that would have been spent on them, to the larger colas, resulting in a better yield. If you want a big pumpkin for Halloween, get rid of the smaller pumpkins and leave the big ones- but don't get rid of the leaves!

I'm sorry Tokasmoke- but you severly impacted your final yield by removing all those fan leaves.

Good luck with your grow MBT! Happy Growing!

 

[dman1234]

its ALL about the leaves and your gonna cut them off,
not good at all
leave the leaves alone.

they feed the bud and allow it to grow.

 

[mikeybtoken]

HAPPY HALLOWEEN
Thanks everybody, I am convinced that for the most part leaving them alone is best, especially since I don't know squat. That has been exactly what I have been trying really hard to do.
We recently had a very experienced grower show us what he does on a male plant that I was going to kill anyway. I was completely shocked, at not only what he did to the plant but also what he had to say. I was horrified! He took about 25% of the growth off of that male in about 30 seconds.
I would have dicounted everthing that this guy said if I didn't know for sure that this guy has been a commercial grower, and a partner in a large co-op known in our neck of the woods to consistantly produce some top grade medications. His main reasons behind his philosophies are space and letting light in. It sure seems that most of you agree with the LITFA (Leave It The F### Alone) Policy, pardon the french. For us new to all of this, LITFA seems to work best, especially since most of us green horns have a tendency to "Love Em To Death" as best put by another grow member.
All this being said, I do know that some of this guys phylosophies do come from some very big growers like Seriousseeds. I will try to post some pics that I have from a book that I have called The Cannabis Grow Bible by Greg Green. I will try to post some pics here within the next week or so, from a Seriousseeds Grow room.
I would like to say THANKYOU to each and everyone of you for your thoughts and knowledge, I tried to use the little scale THANKYOU, and I hope that I got everyone.

Thankyou....Thankyou..... Thanyou!!!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
Peace Mike

 

[IRISH]

your very welcome brother MBT. ...

"There is such a thing as too much love"...Irish...