SSgrower said:

Yes, the argument is there, I cut fan leaves blocking bud sites in every grow. My plants have taken it well, the trimming and seem not to stress but if you cut more than a 1/3 of your plant it will suffer. You should be finished trimming by week 3-4 of flower stage and have the plant trained and ready for the last 4-6 weeks of flower. Someone else can jump in here and elaborate,Cheers! SS

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Greenjourneyman said:

Yes prune. But not yet. Let your plants double in size.

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Edinburgh said:

You prune for 2 reasons to improve airflow to prevent mold or to get your branches into the light, they look pretty thick if mine i would give a light haircut to improve airflow, but there yours not mine if you do go light for now.

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Imzzaudae said:

Hello. First off, really nice job so far! Your plants look very happy. I also mainline. Yes it's time to do a little cleanup.
Begin at soil level. You have main stalks, Then Sub stalks growing off the main stalks. Remove the circled suckers 2/3 of the way up each stalk and the sub stalks. There is not enough light down under the canopy. They are suckers. Let the plants grow a bit then nip each branch off at the node just past your tie down hooks. Keep the branches pulled down. As the next 2 branches form they will be soft enough you can squeeze them and bend them where you want them to grow. Tie them down as well. Let them grow 3 nodes then do it again. Always keeping the bottom 2/3 nice and clean no suckers. When you have 16 main branches let them reach for the sky. From then on. Let the plant grow wild for 30 days. Each of those branches will grow suckers and small branches off the sides. After 30 days. Remove the suckers. Leave the sub branches on the stalks and remove the suckers from them. Just leave the top 1/3 with nice green leaves and a top. Keep in mind 1 of those plants will be filling that tent very soon. In the end, Each of those stalks, sub stalks and sub sub stalks will have grow a nice cola for you. Just take it one step at a time. See picks. Hope this helps.

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Imzzaudae said:

I also mainline.

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Imzzaudae said:

Hello. First off, really nice job so far! Your plants look very happy. I also mainline. Yes it's time to do a little cleanup.
Begin at soil level. You have main stalks, Then Sub stalks growing off the main stalks. Remove the circled suckers 2/3 of the way up each stalk and the sub stalks. There is not enough light down under the canopy. They are suckers. Let the plants grow a bit then nip each branch off at the node just past your tie down hooks. Keep the branches pulled down. As the next 2 branches form they will be soft enough you can squeeze them and bend them where you want them to grow. Tie them down as well. Let them grow 3 nodes then do it again. Always keeping the bottom 2/3 nice and clean no suckers. When you have 16 main branches let them reach for the sky. From then on. Let the plant grow wild for 30 days. Each of those branches will grow suckers and small branches off the sides. After 30 days. Remove the suckers. Leave the sub branches growing on the stalks and remove the suckers from them. Just leave the top 1/3 with nice green leaves and a top. Keep in mind 1 of those plants will be filling that tent very soon. In the end, Each of those stalks, sub stalks and sub sub stalks will have grow a nice cola on the top for you. When you switch to 12 and 12. Clean the stalks off to the bottom of the top most bud on each stalk, sub and sub sub stalk so light can get at the growing buds forming. Take it one step little at a time. See picks. Hope this helps. I see your doing hydro. I start my plants indoors in worm castings. Then transplant them into 1/2 - 55 gal drums of home grown worm castings / home made soil. The pictures are older grows but should help you see what I mean. These days I grow monsters 3 times the size of the plants pictured outdoors.

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Nectarivorous said:

Day 38 since seed. Really happy with growth since topping a week ago, have had to cut a few older fan leaves as they get crowded and the plant starts to let them drop and they hit the Coco.

Someone suggested to me that taking all the old fan leaves off that have some nutrient damage and are drier will help the plant. They are not getting a lot of light due to foliage above and being older and yellow anyway I think get rid of them. They are certainly blocking airflow.

I know there's the solar panel argument, but surely once it's shaded and no longer getting proper light it's time for it to go?

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Imzzaudae said:

Your looking pretty good so far. Be careful with Nitrogen. 1/4 strength for the next 30 days. After that 1/2 strength for it's lifetime. Watch the PH 6.0 is the sweet spot. PH 6.0 is very very important! Keep fan leaves in the top 1/3 / canopy section of stalks only. Fan leaves shaded under the canopy don't get light and do not do the job they are supposed to do anyway.

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Nectarivorous said:

Why the warning on nitrogen do they look high? Or is that always after topping? I've been doing 5.8 in and getting 6.3 out?

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Imzzaudae said:

I water with rain water. It's 7.0 so I'm fussy on 6.0 in my plants. Sounds like your doing a fine job.! A lot of growers overlook the PH factor. Most nutrient suggestions on bottles are for fully grown plants. That's why I suggested 1/4 strength. Then 1/2 strength. I forgot you where doing hydro and likely checking ppm. I use Luster Leaf soil test kit a couple times a grow and test every watering can I water with. I use 1TBS white vinegar to 7 L water to achieve 6.0. Weighting for a new batch of test strips. Should be in the mail any day now. You asked about pruning. It's your grow bud. If you want to stop at 2. That's all good. You will have a pretty nice plant. No matter what your going to have a very full tent. You could veg 3 outside the tent and flower inside one at a time.

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