When to lollipop

iloveit

Well-Known Member
Im new to lolipoping & Ive read a few threads on lollipoping however they all say to lolipop at different times for example one thread to cut in the last week of veg & another said to cut in 1st & 3rd week of flowering.

my clones are rooted & are only 6inch tall currently veging for a week but when should I cut off the lower 1/3?
And can doing so cause the plant to hermie?
 

simpsonsampson420

Well-Known Member
you should try to do it during veg growth.. about a week before flowering.. so the plant can heal itself before starting to flower.. but you can do it, with success, a couple weeks into flowering.. this will stress the plant more than it would during veg.. but nothing your plants shouldnt be able to handle..

yes, it is possible this stress could lead to a hermie.. BUT that is dependent on the strain and how strong the genetics are.. if its a strain that has hermie tendencies to begin with you could easily end up with one.. but if it resists hermieing then there is a good chance it wont hermie...

when you should actually lollipop is up to you and how long you plan to veg for.. if you dont plan on having a very big plant to begin with it probably isnt going to be worth lollipopping.. but if you plan on a larger plant, then it would be worth it.. but depending on your plants growth rates and how big you want to veg it to, when you will actually lollipop will change...
 

Green Cross

Well-Known Member
Im new to lolipoping & Ive read a few threads on lollipoping however they all say to lolipop at different times for example one thread to cut in the last week of veg & another said to cut in 1st & 3rd week of flowering.

my clones are rooted & are only 6inch tall currently veging for a week but when should I cut off the lower 1/3?
And can doing so cause the plant to hermie?
I do it near the end of veg, and then follow up again 2-3 weeks into flower. Then just rub off any new lower growth or buds that try to form.

But a 6" plant doesn't need to be lollipoped. The whole point is to remove the growth that is too far from the light, to produce anything worthwhile. For instance: If you're using a 400w light that means anything beyond the 18 - 24" light penetration
 

iloveit

Well-Known Member
you should try to do it during veg growth.. about a week before flowering.. so the plant can heal itself before starting to flower.. but you can do it, with success, a couple weeks into flowering.. this will stress the plant more than it would during veg.. but nothing your plants shouldnt be able to handle..

yes, it is possible this stress could lead to a hermie.. BUT that is dependent on the strain and how strong the genetics are.. if its a strain that has hermie tendencies to begin with you could easily end up with one.. but if it resists hermieing then there is a good chance it wont hermie...

when you should actually lollipop is up to you and how long you plan to veg for.. if you dont plan on having a very big plant to begin with it probably isnt going to be worth lollipopping.. but if you plan on a larger plant, then it would be worth it.. but depending on your plants growth rates and how big you want to veg it to, when you will actually lollipop will change...
Im doing a perpetual grow so after rooted I veg for couple of weeks then flower. Im not concerned with big plants as Ill be growing this in 4 litre pot bags plus itll be SOG.

I do it near the end of veg, and then follow up again 2-3 weeks into flower. Then just rub off any new lower growth or buds that try to form.

But a 6" plant doesn't need to be lollipoped. The whole point is to remove the growth that is too far from the light, to produce anything worthwhile. For instance: If you're using a 400w light that means anything beyond the 18 - 24" light penetration
Im doing a perpetual SOG in soil with 4 litre pot bags so the plants will be small but Ill have 25 plants close together (restricted grow area) with a 400W HPS so I reckon its best for me to lollipop. May I ask how long your plants take to recover when you cut off the lower 1/3 during veg?
 

axionjaxson

Well-Known Member
im trying to decide when to lolli pop myself , its la confidential and i want to get the most out of them without all the scrawny buds at the bottom , i am only on day 4 of flower and cant decide on day 10 12 14 or mabye even day 7 since la con is supposed to have such a little stretch to it.
 

Filthy Phil

Well-Known Member
Basically... This is an experienced based technique. There are rough guidelines on how to do it, but only by knowing your strain can you do it flawlessly.

If you are keeping them small, you dont need to lolipop them. You can trim off the suckers...but lolipopping them would be kinda useless as the time it takes them to recover wont be worth it for such small plants.

I start trimmi.g lower branches a week befor they go into bloom, then again in bloom but no later than 10 days In so as to minimize bloom stress.

Also... You cant really do a perpetual sea of green. As your plants will all be diff hights due to different ages and stages of life, its not likely you will get a SEA of green, more like hills of green. Lastly, thats way too many plants to try to do under a 400 watt light.
I know yoj will still do them all, but as bloom progresses, you'll see. Thats way too many.
 

axionjaxson

Well-Known Member
when i first grew my own it was white russian , i had one mother that i took clones from and i would do twelve clones at a time in square 1.5 gal containers with miracle grow soil, i had a 400 watt mh with a hps conversion bulb , i switched my 12 clones to 12\12 when they were twelve inchs high and on day 12 of 12\12 i would lollipop all the branches right up the stem leaving only the top 3 or 4 nodes and the fan leaves. on day 70 i would have 12 big arse top buds that alwas had a dry weight fron 3/4 oz to 1 oz depending on where they were under the light.

however i dont think it works that great unless there is some sative in your strain , so i am weary of doin it to my la con clones.
 

Filthy Phil

Well-Known Member
See, on a different note, ive noticed that like over 2000 people have viewed the page or something, bit there are SEVEN comments. This is I think one of the areas where RIU is going downhill, its clogged with thousands of nubes without enough experience to lolipop a plant. I think a lot of the experienced growers are migrating to other sites....
 

smokinmayne

Well-Known Member
even on a small plant, the lower branches can be overshadowed by bigger buds, bigger fan leaves. so even with light penetration, it is a lot of waste of energy going down to the lower sites. question is, when lollying, we trim off the lower bud branches, but what about lower fan leaves? because as we know, fan leaves are very important. :)
 

axionjaxson

Well-Known Member
even on a small plant, the lower branches can be overshadowed by bigger buds, bigger fan leaves. so even with light penetration, it is a lot of waste of energy going down to the lower sites. question is, when lollying, we trim off the lower bud branches, but what about lower fan leaves? because as we know, fan leaves are very important. :)
LEAVE THEM!!!lol
 

Filthy Phil

Well-Known Member
even on a small plant, the lower branches can be overshadowed by bigger buds, bigger fan leaves. so even with light penetration, it is a lot of waste of energy going down to the lower sites. question is, when lollying, we trim off the lower bud branches, but what about lower fan leaves? because as we know, fan leaves are very important. :)
Absolutely leave them. They dont take near as much energy as they produce(given that they take any at all such as an unhealthy leaf repairing itself)
to remove your fan leafs, which suprisingly many people do, is to metaphorically remove power plants from your industrial or factory zones. Yes, when a bud site is getting more light it grows larger, but a giant fan leaf is a major energy producer. And I know that at the bottom levels where the "suckers"are trimmed off they dont recieve much light therefore cant photosynthesize much, they have an extra importance. They are 1) early warning signs of macronutrient defficencies, you can catch them befor they affect your bud zones, and 2) they act as nutrient reservoirs for mobile elements. If your top zones arent getting enough nutes through the roots, theyll take it from thpse bottom fan leafs. Win win. Keep the lower leafs.
 

MACENGROW

New Member
I do it near the end of veg, and then follow up again 2-3 weeks into flower. Then just rub off any new lower growth or buds that try to form.

But a 6" plant doesn't need to be lollipoped. The whole point is to remove the growth that is too far from the light, to produce anything worthwhile. For instance: If you're using a 400w light that means anything beyond the 18 - 24" light penetration



my girls are inweek 1 of flower i have them in 7 gl pots they are all 22-27 inches tall very health ......i want to lollipop but real-e dnt understand wat to do?
 

cocojo3

Active Member
I will do my main lollipop a week before I put into bloom. Depending on the plant I may do 2 cuts in veg. I then do my last one when the plant quits stretching in bloom. After that iIl just snip off stray lower stem buds that form. The whole point of lollipopping is to get rid of foliage that is outside the optimal light range or will be hidden by upper foliage. This technically doesn't have much affect on actual yield but it does on useable/optimal yield. Instead of your plant producing 2 oz of good buds and 1 oz of Larfy crap you would get more like 3 oz of good bud. This also saves on trimming :)
 

Cyrus420

Well-Known Member
Im at day 9 of flower. Just started to heal from nitrogen toxicity. Should I lollipop her or just leave her alone?
No you shouldn't getting rid of leaves and lower sites don't do much for your over all yield. Also keep in mind you resurrected an dead thread.
 

Cyrus420

Well-Known Member
I will do my main lollipop a week before I put into bloom. Depending on the plant I may do 2 cuts in veg. I then do my last one when the plant quits stretching in bloom. After that iIl just snip off stray lower stem buds that form. The whole point of lollipopping is to get rid of foliage that is outside the optimal light range or will be hidden by upper foliage. This technically doesn't have much affect on actual yield but it does on useable/optimal yield. Instead of your plant producing 2 oz of good buds and 1 oz of Larfy crap you would get more like 3 oz of good bud. This also saves on trimming :)
@RM3 his "popcorn" nuggets are a full three feet away from his T5 lights and they look awesome. There isn't much science behind lollipop-ping all you're doing is ridding your plant of energy producers.
 
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