question... looking for inputs

so im gonna try this again. i tried to post a thread with some pics and it didnt turn out. so here we go again.

my question is if i cut the lower fan leaves how will it effect my bud production? also does the light setup look ok?

these pics are of my progress, i started with bagseed and started with 11 plants. the first two pics are when i started. after doin alot of research i upgraded my lighting. 15 total cfls which is the third pic. fourth pic is after i transplanted into bigger pots. the fifth is after they had been under their new light for a while. i vegged for about 6 weeks and then started the flowering. the next pics i took three or four days ago, they have been in flower stage for about two weeks now. the last pic is a good pic of my light setup. i had to kill 6 males and now i have 5 females. they are really taking off, however, the lower bud sites seem kinda weak because they arent getting much light because the big fan leaves. if yall have any advice or inputs or question please let me know. this is my first grow and its really exciting!!! i would like to get some good strains goin. thanks for all the info in these threads. its really been helpfull.

also is there anything i can do increase my yield at this point?

looks good man. why did you kill you daddys?

cutting fan leave will make your plant grow bigger .... but it also makes it easyer to kill.


i cut leave because i dont have much space or much air flow. i use mollasses because it makes the plants fuller and makes the bud bigger in flowering.... but it makes a mess of my water im doing hydro so im not sure what it will do with soil.


remember plants are simple. air, water, light, thats all they need and a little love.

thanks for the input. i killed the daddys cause i didnt want to pollinate the females and didnt know what else to do with them. i trimmed some of the lower leaves and some of the big fan leaves a little bit ago. hopefully it doesnt harm them and they benefit from the trim. im running out of space. i only have like 5 inches left to move lights up so im gonna have to come up with a plan. does the molasses really help a great deal. i will have to look into it. thanks again.

Ok, if the canopy up top is preventing the light from getting to the lower leaves then you should consider not just cutting the fan leaves but also the lower branches that are not reaching up to the canopy where they can get light. If you have small branches coming from the bottom not reaching the canopy then snip them @ the main stalk. Because it's not going to get enuf light to make a good bud. It will make a very small weak little popcorn bud, but by eliminating these type branches it allows the plant to not waste it's resources on that growing tip which will produce a small low quality bud. Instead it uses that energy to make the top thick healthy strong buds ever fuller, heavier, bigger & more potent. Also it opens up the area underneath your canopy for better air flow so you can get a small fan blowing thru underneath the canopy & this will help your soil dry quicker & enable the roots to get oxygen more quickly after waterings. It will also increase the frequency you need to water but that's a good thing. The more rapidly you can complete the wet/dry cycle the closer you are getting to the benefits of hydro.

As far as having only 5" more to move the light up. well that can be a problem. I don't know how long you have been flowering but it sounds likely that you will not have enuf height & that could be a major problem. Since you are already flowering, then cutting your tops off doesn't sound like a good idea. So I would consider bending the tops over 90-180 degrees. So somewhere between sideways & completely bending the top tips over upside down. This way, without cutting, it is supposed to release a hormone or chemical or something that basically does the same thing. It will cause the plant to grow outward more so than upward. So it should slow your upward growth & @ the same time buy you a couple inches by just bending them over.

Now I've never used this bending over technique & I don't know if it's a good thing to do during flowering. But I would think it would be better than letting your tops hit the lights . And I'm also not sure how this will work in combination w/ cutting the lower branches. That may have a counteractive effect. So I guess what i'm saying is, that's 2 ideas... but I would suggest getting a 2nd &/or 3rd opinion on it .

good luck

thanks for the time you put into giving me some advice gforce. the stalks are pretty thick so im not sure if i could bend them without harming them i might be able to take the lid off so i can get more height out of it. the info is just what im looking for. i will trim the lower branches that arent reaching the canopy. there are some that just dont look like they will yield that big of bud. i will take some pics tomorrow and post them.


any other opinions out there would be greatly appreciated. thanks again gforce

Too thick to bend? I don't mean bend the plant half-way down. I'm talking about bending it over near the tops.

And what do you mean take the lid off? What lid? If there is a way to buy some more space I would do that. If there's a way to bring the lights up I would say do that & you can close off the room again w/ mylar or whatever works. Sorry I just don't quite understand what your set-up is.

well thanks for clearifyin gforce. sometimes it can get confusing i suppose. i built a wood frame and boxed it in except from the side. its i guess around 4ft high 2ft deep and 3ft across. i will look into bending the tops. maybe i will start with one and see how it goes. once a gain thanks.

anymore input out there would be much appreciative.

well i checked on the ladies today and they seem to have takin to the trimming i gave them. i will get some pics and post them this evening.

Super, as for bending the tops thing, if you're interested in that still then do some reading on LST (Low stress training).

thanks gforce, i have been looking into lst. as a matter of fact i tried to take a clone off one of my ladies today to see if i can get her to grow, if so im gonna try the lst thing with her. the only problem is, she is in the flowering stage so i dont know how well it will turn out. i will post some pics in a sec to show my trim work and the clone im trying. hopefully she works and im goin to try and do the lst with her.

well here they are. are just took some pics today of the progress. the little lady is a clone i took off today. hopefully she takes off like her mother. let me know what you think.

Lookin good. But about the clone... I understand it's not good to take a clone from a plant in flowering. maybe someone else can fill you in on all the reasons why. I'm thinking maybe it has a chance of going hermie, or something. Or maybe it's other reasons, but trying to take a clone from a flowering plant & putting it back into veg cycle is supposed to be not good.

Anyway aside from that I would also suggest maybe trying to find some mylar & putting that up in your cab. Since you don't even have white plastic or white paint then I would say mylar would give you a VERY significant increase in usable light getting to the plants. I mean, just hanging mylar up there could be better than adding another cfl in that room i would think.

But anyhow, way to go!

Yes I was going to say something about reflective walls but gforce did. That will make a large difference regardless of which material you use.

Looking nice now that you fixed the stretching they had originally. I'm suprised you didn't have more seedlings die from stretching and falling over.