Wow...I've never seen so many pruners in one place. Should we have a secret handshake?
My method is more of gradual accelerating technique. My goal is simply to allow light down to my target growth are throughout the life of the plant. I may take 1 or 2 of the BIG upper fan leaves in veg...maybe. If there's one leaf thats shading 2 or 3 shoots, I figure those shoots are more important than one leaf. Once in bloom, before the stretch is complete I will just take 1 or 2 big uppers...just like in veg. After the stretch I take the plant off the tray to a table and remove all lower growth that's not going to be worth a shit. I may also remove some middle smaller shoots togive the primary branches ample room. This is the when I'm deciding which branches are going to be the winners, and which are just going into the trash. At this time I do a pretty good fan leaf removal. All the BIG leaves in the upper third of middle of the plant go. I leave the outside leaves as long as they're not hanging out so far as to shade the plant next door. Now, all through the bloom stage, as the plants become bushy, I keep thinning the upper 2/3's...just a few leaves at a time. About week 5 I go wholesale slaughter. Every fan leaf with an exposed stem goes. I'm left with just branches covered (hopefully) with golf ball sized buds and bud leaves.
Essentially, through the bloom phase, I'm thinning the plant at the same speed it is getting bushy. It's just that I'm thinning the upper portion, while the plant gets bushy through its whole height. If I've done my job right, the entire plant is recieving light, but very little light is hitting the table. To me, this is the best way to take advantage of the height of the plant. Our productive growing area is length x width x height. We run 1000 watt lights because they provide the most height of productive growing area. I like a minimum of 24" of marketable buds on the plant...preferably more. The only way I've found to get that is to prune. If I leave my plants un pruned, they end up so bushy that my productive height is about 12" - 16" max. The bottom 8" - 12" do not recieve enough light in early/mid bloom to generate bud size, and in late bloom to fully ripen and densify. I've found that if I prune too late, the lower buds may ripen and densify, but lack size due to insufficient light in early/mid bloom.
I think that any pruning regime should start with a goal. Again, my goal is to allow light into the lower levels of the plant without letting that light hit the table. I've always felt that the first rule of canopy shape in an indoor grow is for as little light to hit the tray as possible. Any light hitting the tray is wasted. I started following the "no light on the tray rule" years before I started pruning. Yes, I was using all my light, but much of it was being spent growing small and under developed buds. Now, if I've pruned right, every single bud grown is of marketable size, ripeness, and density. To date, this has never happened. LOL. But, there are very few buds that go into the keif making pile.
So there it is. How I prune and why. I'd like to hear other folk's pruning techniques and goals.
The next conversation we all should have along this line is plant density and training. To me, getting that canopy shape and density just right is the key to large yields indoors. It's also the most challenging aspect of growing for me. Everything else is pretty easy. Once you have your nutes, lights, atmosphere, and cloning dialed in, there's not much to it. But, keeping that plant density and canopy shape perfect takes alot of time, concentration, and record keeping on every crop. This is the shit that has the most impact on my yield. One little mistake on this front always costs me weight: Plants too big, too small. Too many per sq ft...to few. Poor pruning. Lights too high...too low. This is where the work is...and also where the money is made.
So, gang. Let's hear it. Tell us about your canopy.
