Trimming during flowering. . .

Hi J.W

I personally allow my plants to go through the stretch during the first 2weeks of flowering and then i clean everything off from around half way down the plant to allow more bud sites in the sweet spot of the light.
This i have learned from reading the URBAN GARDEN MAGAZINE it is called cleaning up the plant.
I also top after week2 of veg for 4 main colas and 4 secondary colas.

http://www.rollitup.org/attachments/...t-ladies-4.jpg this is around week 3 or 4 of flowering you can see the 8 branches shooting to find the light

http://www.rollitup.org/attachments/...t-ladies-5.jpg this is around week 7 of flowering and you can see the 4 main colas and the secondaries around the outside.

You can see the clean up i did in the first pic.

However i would mention that this was my first grow so i think i had a little bit of beginners luck lol.

I also realise now that i should have been feeding her some N here and there to help stop the yellowing.

Hope this helps you understand what i do to mine.

J

During early flowering I trim up the bottom "popcorn" to allow for better air circulation, I wouldnt go as drastic as the guy in the photos prior... maybe a qtr of the way up not half way... I believe he could yield more had he left more lower branches even fan leaves. (the lowers you can leave under the lamps to fatten up after you harvest the top colas for even more gains). Ive been taught by some of the best that you dont remove leaves til they fall off or are at least 50% damaged, mostly yellow, etc. Its best to cut larger fan leaves in half if you feel they are inhibiting light to bud sites below if thats possible, the buds draw on them throughout the flowering process. So if you chop too much, your yeilds may suffer. just my opinion !!

Thanks folks, for the participation in the thread. I already do trim off entire shoots from the bottom of the plant just before switching to 12/12, just to get rid of the smallest lowers that would be too larfy to even bother with keeping through the end. And yes, 50% damaged or more is a good rule of thumb for dying leaves, in my opinion, too. Leaving yellowing fan leaves on is key to getting that sweet fade at the end of flowering, and the fact that the buds draw on all the fan and water leaves is the reason I've never trimmed in flowering before, and why I'm still skeptical on it. I think I'm just going to trim a few of the smallest most useless leaves that are especially blocking the buds, and see how that does. Anybody else got experience in cleaning up flowering plants???

theres a lot of info on this site all you have to do is search... this topic is discussed every a couple days. If your having trouble using the search option go to google and type in "trimming plants during flowering rollitup"... for example... however 50 percent is the rule of thumb and thats what i go with. i trim up a quater of the plant so if its 4ft trim up 1 foot fan leaves have a purpose or they wouldnt be there

I use twist ties to tie top fan leaves
to lower leaves, or to the sides of the pot.

Both keeps the leaves from blocking the lower buds, and the leaves can keep producing.

I do also cut the smallest lower buds right before flowering.

so you cut all the leafs and stems from half way down? what if your a month into flowering?

If your a month into flowering I wouldnt trim anything.