pruning lower nodes and fan leaves ?

[charlesweedmore]

my plants are third week of flowering . should i prune lower nodes and fan leaves ? i use 600W hps and i read that light of 600 w HPS can penetrate upto 2 feet from canopy that's why lower branches that deeper than 2 feet cannot get enough light.

is it ok to trim lower nodes ?

And some lower leaves too weak and they fall as soon as i touch them. is it normal ?

 

[smokybear]

I would only trim lower nodes if the buds they are going to produce are smaller than my thumbnail. Just my opinion. I would just leave the fan leaves until they fall off naturally. The plant will feed on the leaf right up until it falls off. I wouldn't worry about it, though. It's normal for fan leaves to die off during flowering. Hope this helps. Take care and be safe.

 

[4u2sm0ke]

I dont do anything after the 2nd week in flower..but good luck 2u

 

[charlesweedmore]

thanks pals.

how often and when should i prune ?

for example,

week 1 of flowering : prune lower fan leaves and some lower nodes

week 2 of flowering : prune lower fan leaves and some lower nodes

week 3 of flowering : look last shape of plants and do final prunning

is this way true ?

or

week 1 of flowering : do nothing
week 2 of flowering : do nothing

week 3 of flowering : prune lower nodes and fan leaves at once

or is this better ?

And week1 ,2 ,3 of flowering is only my example. when should i prune ? vegging or flowering better ? my plants are in flowering peroid .which weeks of flowering should i prune ? ?

 

[dirtyolsouth]

Hi,

At third week of flowering I'd stay away from doing anything too radical as far as pruning goes if you can avoid it. I agree that you should definitely leave all the leaves on your girls until they fall off on their own as they always contribute energy to your flowering girls. If you have more than one of the same girls in your current grow, you could try removing all the lower branches at this point to one of your plants and compare it to another plant that you leave as is. It will definitely slow things down for a few days but will resume flowering soon putting the focus in the top grow tips.

There are a host of pruning and training techniques available to learn on this forum. Do a search function for: Topping, Lollipop pruning, Low Stress Training (LST), FIM, etc... What's great is you can read all the ways of doing it and hopefully arrive at a technique that is best suited for your space. Some of these techniques are very radical and sometimes even counter-intuitive to common sense until you understand the need for the actions and the positive consequences of the technique.

Many of us have to do our grows in clandestine gardens and often in less than optimal spaces. It would be great if we didn't have to control things so much but for many there isn't any other option but radical techniques when attempting to harness the grow space.

Good Luck!