Question for the experienced grower

High All!

The names John J, been sorta behind the scenes at RIU expanding my knowledge like many others. So I've been on and off (due to some moves) experimenting with different styles. So this time around I started reading Al B's hydro techniques and the every 2 week harvest and decided to implement some of my style with these.

The Question:
I understand that in a SOG you can clone and flower with no veg time. Most of the growth comes within the first 3-4 weeks of flowering then the little lady makes the switch to bud growth. So in the first 2-3 weeks of flower is a good time to prune the bottom 1/3 of the lady to get that nice lollipop bud on top. So when you prune I've researched and done in the past just snip off everything, branches and fan leaves. But, I also know that the fan leaves absorbs light, provides energy, etc etc. The bottom leaves are going to yellow and die off anyway as the flowering continues. So is there no benefit to pruning the bottom branches and leaving the fan leaves?? Or is it a waste of energy to have those extra leaves when that energy could be used for the remaining bud sites.
Any insight would be great!
sorry the lead up to the question is kinda lengthy but that was my thought process.

Peace

haha thanks eL, once i started typing it out it started to make sense just wasting energy. much appreciated. this will be my first SOG I've done scrog in the past but trying to cut down time from start to harvest. You have any tips on gettin that one big bud? Scrog is kinda the opposite to get as many branches as possible. I want the lollip0p

I grew sog for many years. About veg. time i would let the veg for a week just to let the roots adjust and grow down into the medium. I used rockwool cubes on slabs, no clue what you have, but veg time isnt always about what you see up above.

They also use those lower fan leaves with no connected limb as storage centers.

eternal noob said:

They also use those lower fan leaves with no connected limb as storage centers.

Click to expand...

Kinda like a "battery".

In a sog strain selection is everything. Some strains are going to want to side branch and some aren't. Some will give you just a couple of small branches near the base that will grow into buds. Those buds will entangle with the main cola and become super massive.

For a strain that likes to branch out a bit.. cut those branches. At the node remove any growth as it appears. I do this up the main stem to about 4 inches below where light penetration stops. However, leave the fan leaves. Those lower fan leaves are important for your plant and even your main cola.

For strains that don't have much side branching.. IE squatty indicas such as Chronic... you need not remove anything as these plants don't have much side branching and don't stretch. You will have just 1 giant cola. These are the types of strains that are ideal for SOG growing. Off of a 14" Chronic plant you can pull 2 zips easy. Very compact with a small footprint. That's not to say that you can't use a plant which stretches a lot with much side branching for SOG. It's just more difficult and not ideal.

Here is a picture of a some buds off of a Fruity Chronic Juice plant which is Widow and Chronic. The bud in the middle was not trimmed... no branches or growth removed. It's one giant bud. The one on the right is also a Fruity Chronic Juice plant that was vegged for longer..it had longer and hidden side branches that didn't get much light so they were removed.

View attachment 1769092

About veg. time i would let the veg for a week just to let the roots adjust and grow down into the medium

Click to expand...

Gotcha Ak, yea i think the plan is to let the clone root and develop within 2 weeks before throwing it into 12/12. I usually get the strains I have rooted in 7 days so that'll leave about a week for "veg" time. I'm also going to use rockwool for the clones then move to hydro rocks. I was thinking of flood and drain, hows your setup if you dont mind me askin..

Grewdat you got some nice pictures and great info exactly what I'm looking to do, I have a couple strains one being indica dominant so it branches out more and the other sativa. I like the fact your pruning is measured by the amount light penetration. Ill be running a 400 watt hps so I'll need to figure how far that will break the foliage. But the main point you made was:

However, leave the fan leaves. Those lower fan leaves are important for your plant and even your main cola.

Click to expand...

So you agree that the fan leaves will still have a purpose thru the flowering stage? Nice I guess I'll have to play around with it

Thanks for the info everyone

This topic is like a knock down drag out fight on this site it seems.
I have started trimming the bottom of my plant just for ease purposes. This time I cut off everything but next time plan to leave fan leaves till they die off.
The best info I have seen on this is located here
http://mjgrowers.com/book_lets_research.htm
If nothing else the big fan leaves provide a buffer of sorts for your plant and do produce energy to aide in the top development or root development of you plant.
cheers and good luck

Thanks for the link PJF, love that show btw. Yea the more i look into it it seems its just one of those DIY's and see what happens. There's evidence to support both sides I think I'm just gonna try a couple when I get my cycle going, its what cultivating is all about. For now I just pace back and forth waitin for my mum to get bigger, it cant happen any faster! The first one from seed always takes the longest... honestly i don't know how people go seed to finish every time.. I'd die