Lollipopping/Pruning Help

[RuchaYolanda]

Soil
3 Gallon Smart pots
Indoor (shower stall)
400 watt MH/HPS conversion

So I just finished what was probably my 8th grow. I've had this problem with every grow - but it seemed to be at it's worst this last time. I've got all this lower growth that doesn't get light - I end up with alot of popcorn buds.

I always remove all vegetation from the bottom 1/3rd of the plant...I even tried growing 3 plants instead of 4...but I'll bet I could grow just one plant and it would bush out the whole space.
I decided on my next grow I'm going to be a nazi with the pruning. I'd like to limit it to 1-3 colas max with no undergrowth. Really focus the plant's energy on a few colas.
Any experienced grow tips?

Thanks
YO

 

[smashedbyHash]

I do the same as you, trim the bottom up in hopes of creating more upper growth. I'm growing 9 medium auto's in 3gal sm/pots under a 400w hps. I harvested just over 7oz's.

 

[dopeedogg]

well if the trimming the bottom 1/3rd doesnt work, just vegg them for a short period of time, and start flowering when they're smaller. Then you will have 2 or 3 good tops and sides right above the dirt. If you grow a 3 foot tall plant, and cut off the bottom 1/3, you basically have a 2 foot budding area,...or you can just flower it when its small,... to 2 feet tall and not cut off as much. the plants will be shorter but roughly the same size....i hope that makes sence.

 

[dababydroman]

or you could try lst, and try to make your plant into and even canopy.

 

[LBH]

The tutorials in my sig may help. It specifically addresses how to turn all that popcorn into real bud w/o having to amputate anything

 

[dsnutts]

So many different things it could be. My first question is what strain are you growing and is the plant streching out too much?

 

[RuchaYolanda]

LBH:

Thanks! I've been considering SCROG but your tutorial didn't come up in my search. Do you find that certain strains work better with this method? Like maybe Sativas due to their tendency to stretch?

Thanks
YO

 

[LBH]

LBH:

Thanks! I've been considering SCROG but your tutorial didn't come up in my search. Do you find that certain strains work better with this method? Like maybe Sativas due to their tendency to stretch?

Thanks
YO

Yea, I'm new here so I just got them up. If you google them, they are stickies on most of the popular boards. (except grasscity,....their just not worthy,lol)

Aaaaaanyway,lol,....it can be done with either, but the stretchers just make for a little more work.

I also like to control just what stretches and how much. By trimming very specific fans about a week before the flip, depending on how they look. When you trim both fans at a node, tyou drastically limit it's ability to stretch so if I'm running something with high sativa tendencies, there will be more lst, supercropping and defoliation in preparation for the screen

Another tip,...If you have some "not so planned for" stretching and it wants to now go towards an area of the screen that is already too full, you can redirect it by zip tying it to the actual screen itself in a few spots and send it in another direction

 

[gdpharmer]

there's nothing wrong with topping, but i'm an advocate of LST. just pull on the branches until tops erupt. i always get good results, you should at least try it out/do it in addition to topping. just give your plants a lot of time to recover from the topping.

 

[RuchaYolanda]

there's nothing wrong with topping, but i'm an advocate of LST. just pull on the branches until tops erupt. i always get good results, you should at least try it out/do it in addition to topping. just give your plants a lot of time to recover from the topping.

OK..some of you guys are just not understanding my issue. All this topping and LST is really just bushing my plants out more. I want either scrog or lollipop.

I have limited horizontal space..lots of vertical space.

I'd like to hear from someone on lollipopping as well - if possible.

thanks
yo

 

[dababydroman]

scrog is low stress traing basically, they go hand in hand.

and what exactly do you want to hear about lollipop? if thats what you want to do then do it. iv done it before outside. it works i guess. what more is there to say lol you just have to try it out yourself. im guesing that in result your main buds will probably be a little bigger.