Lollipopping: When and How Much?

[pork]

So, I like to lollipop my plants when putting them in flower to try and eliminate as much larf as possible...However, I haven't quite perfected my technique and am still trying to master the timing of it all....

Generally, I'll prune each branch up to it's top 4-5 nodes when moving into the flower room.
Trim off the bottom third of the plant after 2 weeks
Trim off anything not hitting light after 3 (for a 10 wk strain)

I'm curious how other farmers out there are doing it...or if there's any advice/pointers for me...I'm curious if I should do a prune after the 1st week or not...Also, how much is too much to take off once the gals are in 12/12?

I think that about covers it for now...

 

[outwest]

Great question!

 

[pork]

No one on here uses this technique?

I've been reading up a lot of other posts on other forums, but finding inconsistent information.

I'm on day 7 now and really curious if i should go trim off the lanky shit now or in another week...

 

[Builtaforest]

for your avg 55-65day, I like to wait till stretch is about finished at 3 weeks in or so to lollipop the bottom 3rd...

More of a overall qualitative judgment as well, weaker limbs on the inside sometimes come out, as well as when I'm up potting from clone/2gal/5g im taking mini leaves/arms from the bottom 1/I, aiming for well structured productive frames.

take off a ton of leaf when they get about face -size first 1-3 weeks and when they block lower tops of plant, once more about 5-6 weeks... Cruise control, continue to support buds as they get heavier.

 

[KennyPowers]

once you get used to taking off some of the bottoms in flower, you can just do it in veg. there will still be some to clean up after the stretch, but if you keep if clean down there from the start it makes trimming in flower much easier.

i dont really like to trim past w2 or so, depending on how much you take off i have seen it slow down the plants a bit, which imo is another reason to "pre-prune"

 

[Builtaforest]

the varieties im running are all stretching til at least the 3rd week... i dont touch them until then, they are expending a lot of energy creating fiber and i just hate to stress them in anyway during that.

do it all at once just as stretch peaks, plant is naturally stressed for a day or 2 but timing right before the buds really pack on flowers in 4-7 is a good time i think. healthy/stress-free first 3 weeks are the most important part in final yield.

i could be wrong.

 

[philly kush]

i trim the bottoms around the 2nd week after flip n let them go until harvest day,if i have some fan leaves blocking bud sites from light i also remove them,good luck with your grow

 

[pork]

the varieties im running are all stretching til at least the 3rd week... i dont touch them until then, they are expending a lot of energy creating fiber and i just hate to stress them in anyway during that.

do it all at once just as stretch peaks, plant is naturally stressed for a day or 2 but timing right before the buds really pack on flowers in 4-7 is a good time i think. healthy/stress-free first 3 weeks are the most important part in final yield.

i could be wrong.

hmmm..so what i'm reading is i should hold off pruning til sometime between 14 and 21 days of flower...I'm on day 7 and the plants are starting to get all up in each other's business...I dunno what 2 more weeks of unrestrained growth would end up doing, and therefor requiring me to trim off...if i'm going to have to take more than 1/3 off the plant in 2 more weeks (growing blackberry og, stretches at least to twice it's size) to keep it from being too crowded, i'm tempted to trim off a bit now and then a bit later...

4k, co2, using floranova (about to switch to the six pack, not interested in buying water anymore)....just turned on the co2 last night, and growth has already noticeably increased...

 

[Capulator]

I do a little at a time every day until end of stretch. Sometimes I will kill budsites after stretch too if I can see they are in the shade and not going to develop. I take a lot of big fan leaves (and little ones too) to promote maximum light to each site. I would rather have AAA+ everything and a little less weight then AAA+ majority and a bunch of scraggles. I also scrog, or pound the plant with 4k of light on all sides (2 different gardens). Canopy management is what separated a good caretaker from a superior one.

Saving it all for one day can be a shock to the plants. It's better to watch them everyday, and take a little here and a little there. Then the plants don't ever skip a beat.

 

[ArtofHydro]

I agree with capulator when said "Saving it all for one day can be a shock to the plants. It's better to watch them everyday, and take a little here and a little there."

I do most of my training in the veg stage, even if i have to veg for 2 months. i believe in canopy management, the more patient i am before i move into flowering, the better harvest i have had. Being that i begin scrog 2-3 weeks before i put into flowering, my plants have established a great structure and i dont have to do any excessive trimming in flowering, i try for the least amount of stress during flowering.

 

[Organicyumyum]

I do the same as cap. I usually cut off all flower sites except for the top 3-4 all the way through week 2. Around the end of week 2 I stop removing leaves and flowers.

 

[ArtofHydro]

I do the same as cap. I usually cut off all flower sites except for the top 3-4 all the way through week 2. Around the end of week 2 I stop removing leaves and flowers.

@ Organicyumyum, your profile pic is insane, looks like one plant with the biggest yield ive ever seen!

 

[bobbybrown]

It depends on what type of strain you are running. Some plants have a lot of foliage and need lollipopping. Some plants do not.

There are also a lot of other factors you want to consider like how tall the plants are and how close your plants are to each other.

There is no question that lollipopping increases the overall quality of your pound, but does it increase yield? You really have to do some side by side comparisons to see if it's worth the time and effort.

 

[Cort]

That depends on if you count larf and leaf as "yield"

 

[GR33NL3AF]

It depends on how many times you harvest... You can scrap a veg room and turn it into another flower room. Less veg = more harvest = more weight = more money. I just switched to donkey dicks and will never veg again. My yield, quality, time in, and pocketbook have all improved.

Cap's right, thin 'lightly' until week 2. One main cola is the way to go but experimenting with spacing and numbers is the obsticle. I've found plants 7" apart is the best, turns into roughly 3 plants per sq ft. Also, healthy clones is the key to success.

 

[grandaddyP]

I usually try and do most of the trimming in the veg phase. I've attached a few shots of my plants at 9 weeks veg after several topping and defoliation sessions.

 

[Dunge]

Of all the skills required to grow good bud, for me pruning is the most demanding.
My objective starts with the rooted cutting.
I top a cutting once.
If a branch is not a candidate for future clone cutting, it comes off ASAP.
Prune early and often is my mantra.
I don't see any point in allowing a plant to create structures from valuable air light and water (primary productivity) that I can see will eventually be cut away.
I never live up to my goals, because I don't care to handle vegging plants as often as I should. But the intent is there.
So I still end up trimming well into flower.

 

[grandaddyP]

a question for you Dunge - I'm getting ready to flower. Should i thin out the plants before hand? and if so how long before hand?

 

[Dunge]

grandaddyP thanks for the interest.
Your plants look great.
Congratulations on creating an ideal environment.

Pruning is traumatic and dramatic for both me and the plant.

This is what I keep in mind.
Will this stem or leaf grow into a structure that added to bud production when harvested?
If the answer is 'no' then cutting it as early as possible will allow its productive burden to go into structures that will make bigger bud.
The exceptions to this rule are future clone candidate branches, which are groomed for their future use.

I am actively working on a fan leaves guideline.
Anything in the center gets thinned.
I think of big fans as the primary production engines of the plant, and for the most part should be preserved.
I may be entirely wrong about this, but if fans are not optimized organs then I would think they too should be removed early.

Whatever you do, do it with conviction, and be prepared to be wrong, then allow future behavior to adjust to the outcome.

My present rule for fan leaves requires me to think about how much of it is being directly hit by light?
If the leaf is removed how much of that new light will land on the floor?

Just things to think about.
I'm anxious to hear how others make these choices, and ready to adjust my criteria.

Imagine the future, act accordingly. (Guess that works for more than pruning)

 

[grandaddyP]

Thanks for the quick response Dunge. I've attached a few pics to show you what I mean. The top shots show the new fan leaves covering the inside of the plant and these are what I'm thinking I want to remove. But I'm starting the flower cycle tomorrow. Think I will be ok doing it?