Whats the best way to prune/manicure during veg/flowering?

Ok... Im a new to the forums here although Ive had a setup at a friends house for the past 2 years so we have gotten a good idea from start to finish as far as what to do... but I still have questions that i cant seem to find the answer to.

Im trying to figure out what would be best for optimal growth/yield.

veg room has a 400MH, flower room has 2 600 HPS. Everything is done in hydroten.... and we have some in deep water culter, some in aeroponics, and some in an evans setup (I forgot what its called exactly but the container fills up with water for 15 mins or so then drains.

Long story short im trying to figure out what pieces to cut, when, and at what point. Im thinking to top it off to get those 4 large colas but I dont know if I should keep all the other bullshit on the bottom continuing to grow or what. And once I reach the point of flowering what stuff should stay and what should be trimmed?

TIA.

Topping, Pruning, Fimming
Essentially they are the same, "Pruning" and "Topping", just two different commonly words used. Fimming means a lot of indesriminate Topping. It is also known to some as "Pinching" as well. In this page it will be refered to it as "Topping".

Topping is done to increase yield and make them bushy, bushy, bushy, make more buds, promote "branching", and increase the overall yeilds of the plants. With higher overall yeilds, a grower will successfully harvest many more buds, or floral clusters, and from smaller, bushier and more compact plants.

To the indoor grower that does not use this technique, but allows their plants to grow tall, it can be a waste of their artificial lighting, and growing spaces potential. With its own natural growth pattern, and without the benefit of topping, your lady will have one main central cola" bud, at peak flowering. Several other small branches will grow outwards, down its main stalk, with much smaller bud tops.

The natural growth pattern of a plant is to grow upwards at its main stalk. From this main central stalk, it will begin to grow side branches. The side branches come out as tiny shoots with leaves, and usually there are a pair of them on opposite sides of the main central stalk.

When the seed leaves have long died off on the main stalk, the first true seed leaves commonly can or will, wilt, dry up, or die off of the plant as well. (the little round ones) Once healthy new vegative growth begins the rate of growth can be very fast, with excellent lighting supplied.

As the new growth increases the light reaching the lower portions of the plants becomes less. Thus it is common to see first leafs wilting and dying. Growers that see leaves wilting or dying, etc, will opt to pulling them off of the plants. It is cool to remove dying, yellowing unhealthy leaves IF the leaf is 75% dead. IF it is 50% dead, then 50% is still eating and making new growth. I NEVER remove a healthy leaf.

The main central stalk is topped off just above the branches Or new growths that are coming out below it. A pair of very small sharp scissors can be used but a razor blade or razor knife is best.
There are no rules to where you top your plant or how old it needs to be. As long as your plant has shoots protruding further down the main stalk it is able to be topped. When topped the growth of the plant will be concentrated towards the new, younger vegative shoots.

Once you have topped your plant(s) the younger shoots will rapidly begin growing. With the removal of the main central stalk the lower braches grow more. With topping completed we keep the plants on their regular lighting and feeding schedules.

Now each new shoot tip will essentially grow as the main stalk did, however the growth is not concentrated to only one central stalk. So as each new shoot grows outward new shoots will grow from each one of them stalks as well.

Therefore topping can be done again, and again, and as each shoot becomes a growing tip with other shoots forming down its stalk, it is removed. By completing these topping or pruning tactics, a grower can acheive any desired height, or desired bushiness they desire in their plants.

I TOP and FIM, at the end 2nd, 3rd, and 4th week, and I PRUNE and FIM after the thrid full week of growth.

This is the best example of good topping.

With proper pre-planned Topping and Prunning, I was able to persuade a plant to make 13, (depending on how you count them) to produce 12 or 13 major stalks and it got about 46 inches tall, and produced 7 ounces of dried manicured buds.

Today is the day for the first Topping.

I determined that the 3 plants in the bucket and 5 of the six in the first tank were ready to TOP. They all had over three full nodes. Some had 5 nodes. Regardless, I took the top node out. I think it hurt me worst than it did them. I was not able to hold the camera and snap the pics and do the cutting at the same time.

Here is what I took off or out:





I will wait about 5 days and TOP the other remaining plants.

Ok cool thats what Ive been doing for the most part. During the flowering process, what type of pruning should be done? Before it goes into flower should I remove any extra growth up to the ends of each shoot? Or just let nature take its course? I am just trying to avoid having sparse shit in there... I would like to have all the buds fill out properly (im sure it has to do with lack of lighting to the lower areas)

DO NOT CUT THEM.
Get some paperclips and hold them back, if you insist on doing anything, but DO NOT CUT THE FAN LEAVES OFF.

IN MY HUMBLE OPINION, When a large FAN leaf starts yellowing, say it is half yellow, that means in the photosynthesis process, that leaf has ate nutes, sucked in some LIGHT and made food for the plant and buds and NOW, half of that is gone, or used or consumed. Well, what about the other half? Can it not it's energy still be used or consumed?
AND when it is ALL consumed or used, that leaf will naturally just fall off.

AND you say it is blocking LIGHT?
GREAT and GOOD, that means it is getting the LIGHT it needs and deserves more than the other leaves do, to do it's job.


Years ago I tried removing lower fan leaves to allow more Light to penetrate in. When i did, the plant went into shock for a day or two, and quit eating or only ate half as much, and just went on "stand by" mode. Then, after a day or two, suddenly, I saw that big fan leaf replaced by a new leaf, and I saw my plant use the energy to replace that leaf, more than it used it to grow bigger and make more buds or bigger buds.

I now believe that removing fan leaves is pointless, and that a leaf has a purpose and will serve that purpose until it is dead. Then it will fall off.


Don't ever remove fan leaves before harvest for several reasons.

1. The fan leaves MAKE AND STORE energy for the plant. The fan leaves are doing a process called photosynthsis, and it is the most important part or task or job the plant does, to make it grow. They make the FOOD, the sugars and carbs needed to grow.

If you remove a FAN leaf, the plant will stop growing taller until it can replace that removed fan leaf.

Removing a healthy fan leaf is a big waste of time..they are rapided replaced,, unless you are in the last few weeks of flowering.


2. Even if the fan leaves are yellowing in late bloom I do not remove them until they are almost ready to fall off. The yellowing in the fan leaves at late harvest is the plants metabolism at work. She is transferring all stored energy in the fan leaf to bud production. It is the easiest source of energy she has late in life.



From the Growers Bible by Jorge Cervantes:
Leave leaves alone! Removal of healthy leave hacks up a healthy plant. Removing large or shade leaves DOES NOT make plants more productive. This practice DOES NOT supply more light to smaller leaves and growing tips. Plants need all their leaves to produce the maximum amount of chlorophyll and food. Removing leaves slows chlorophyll production, stresses the plant, and stunts its growth. Stress is a growth inhibitor. Remove only dead leaves or leaves that are more than 50 percent damaged.
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i just wanted to thank you it was very very helpful