When, How, and Where to trim ( Help Required)

Hey guys,

I have a nice little girl growing at the moment and she is at about 11 weeks, in 12/12 photoperiod and flowering. The fan leaves are pretty much blocking out the light getting to the lower part of each branch, so the only parts getting good light is the top colas, and all the flowers that i have moved the surrounding leaves out of the way so they can get light. This may sound like a silly question but here goes:

Does the lower section of the branches with the pistles on them need much light to grow or does the fan leaves and the top flower that is under the lights send the energy down to allow the buds to form on the lower branches?

If not, when is the best time to trim the fan leaves off? Do i trim 50%, 60%, etc ? I don't know when is best to trim, if to trim at all. And if i do need to trim, which leaves do i trim off? Only the ones that are totally shading out lower growth? I have searched the net but its hard to pick out the info i need because it seems all geared towards trimming in early growth.

here is a few pics for you guys to have a look at. It is growing nicely, every leaf is perfect and a nice colour so i think there providing plenty of energy because its pretty dense.

Look forward to your replies

It's all up to you as the grower to decide whether or not to defoliate your plant I could see how a few at the top could help but another option would be to get some side lighting.. the fan leaves do store nutrients and provide energy to the cola's so I would not recommend cutting more than 30% off if you do choose to do so! I have the same question but most people on here don't have a straight forward answer to that. But a lot of people have told me not to so I wouldn't recommend it!

The grand master cervantes strongly advises against trimming the leaves, i just watched a few videos there which have helped me out. I think i will just leave her be, i agree with the side lighting but she's almost filled the tent horizontally so that option is a no go for me. I'll "leave" her be for just now and will possibly just tie up some leaves. A member recommended using hairbands to tie round the large leaves, so as not to kill them but still keep them as a food source for the plant. Thanks for your reply

There are many advanced techniques jorge doesnt use . THis is one of them. Cutting back wasted plant energy is key to a good yield. Please just take a peek at some lollipopping techniques, low stress training, monster cropping and pruning back

Thanks Diabolical, i have looked at these techniques and i think i will use them when i get a bigger property and can have a decent sized tent and can set up a scrog net. Maybe you could help with this picture, this is the bottom of my plant. I am wondering if i need to keep these little leaves on there as they don't seem to be doing much, is it ok to pull all these off at the bottom?

Personally id take a couple of the lower branches that dont come up very high and make some clones and then leave it be. Well you can take out some of the scrappy bottom crap too. Those big leaves grow the buds, theyre there for a reason. This plant is almost five oz. You cant tell because all the buds are covered with leaves.

Yeah i think i will take the little scrappy leafs off at the bottom. Nice grow mate it looks lush!

FruitSpirit said:

Thanks Diabolical, i have looked at these techniques and i think i will use them when i get a bigger property and can have a decent sized tent and can set up a scrog net. Maybe you could help with this picture, this is the bottom of my plant. I am wondering if i need to keep these little leaves on there as they don't seem to be doing much, is it ok to pull all these off at the bottom?View attachment 3649736

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yep yep, get rid of those little energy stealers!