Lollipopping ( Any Scientific Evidence? )

Pass it Around

Well-Known Member
I just went to my boys house and he has the bottom 2 feet of all his plants empty... not a leaf not a bud... only sticks. I just don't get why someone would do it... he said air flow but really put another fuckin fan in there you know what I mean?

Anyways I just wanna know if there is any scientific evidence that this does anything good for the plant? He also said something about only getting big buds but he also strips the 2 feet in ONE day...

to me thats like taking a fuckin chainsaw to your ladies and asking them to perform great after.
 

bigbuddin84

Well-Known Member
The reason most peole do it is to get rid of all the BS at the bottom. They don't get light and come out airy. It is a great method, I've seen awesome results doing it. Although, citing improved air flow as the reasoning is a new one to me. Like you said, get a bigger fan, lol.
 

Pass it Around

Well-Known Member
The reason most peole do it is to get rid of all the BS at the bottom. They don't get light and come out airy. It is a great method, I've seen awesome results doing it. Although, citing improved air flow as the reasoning is a new one to me. Like you said, get a bigger fan, lol.
I can understand not wanting the smaller stuff but it makes good hash
 

GroErr

Well-Known Member
Good question, I've always questioned the premise that removing the bottom branches/popcorn gets more growth up top. If I have a problem with getting airflow then I don't have enough fans running. I'll selectively prune the bottom branches, usually during the stretch but only if I see nothing is going to grow there, otherwise I leave it, all of that little bud/popcorn goes into an oil/hash bin so no loss in weight imo, as long as you use it it's all good. Not that I'm trashing anyone for doing it and I don't scrog, I probably would trim a bit more in that style of grow as the canopy pretty well covers any light getting to the bottom. But for regular grows in soil imo it's better to open them up with LST/trellises to get light down there. I've never seen anything on this other than opinions, if someone can point out a study that has proven benefits I'm in, always open to improvements, just haven't seen anything solid. Cheers.
 
i love the OP's avatar lmao!! peanut butter and crack sandwich.
Good question, I've always questioned the premise that removing the bottom branches/popcorn gets more growth up top. If I have a problem with getting airflow then I don't have enough fans running. I'll selectively prune the bottom branches, usually during the stretch but only if I see nothing is going to grow there, otherwise I leave it, all of that little bud/popcorn goes into an oil/hash bin so no loss in weight imo, as long as you use it it's all good. Not that I'm trashing anyone for doing it and I don't scrog, I probably would trim a bit more in that style of grow as the canopy pretty well covers any light getting to the bottom. But for regular grows in soil imo it's better to open them up with LST/trellises to get light down there. I've never seen anything on this other than opinions, if someone can point out a study that has proven benefits I'm in, always open to improvements, just haven't seen anything solid. Cheers.
yea exactly, if your not scroging its pretty much pointless. those little popcorn nugs are perfect size for my bho tube :eyesmoke:
 

bf80255

Well-Known Member
I just went to my boys house and he has the bottom 2 feet of all his plants empty... not a leaf not a bud... only sticks. I just don't get why someone would do it... he said air flow but really put another fuckin fan in there you know what I mean?

Anyways I just wanna know if there is any scientific evidence that this does anything good for the plant? He also said something about only getting big buds but he also strips the 2 feet in ONE day...

to me thats like taking a fuckin chainsaw to your ladies and asking them to perform great after.
have you ever ran a really tight SOG? impossible to avoid issues without labaratory settings or lollipopping that s why I do it
 

bf80255

Well-Known Member
Good question, I've always questioned the premise that removing the bottom branches/popcorn gets more growth up top. If I have a problem with getting airflow then I don't have enough fans running. I'll selectively prune the bottom branches, usually during the stretch but only if I see nothing is going to grow there, otherwise I leave it, all of that little bud/popcorn goes into an oil/hash bin so no loss in weight imo, as long as you use it it's all good. Not that I'm trashing anyone for doing it and I don't scrog, I probably would trim a bit more in that style of grow as the canopy pretty well covers any light getting to the bottom. But for regular grows in soil imo it's better to open them up with LST/trellises to get light down there. I've never seen anything on this other than opinions, if someone can point out a study that has proven benefits I'm in, always open to improvements, just haven't seen anything solid. Cheers.
I think its more for commercial growers they remove those "suckers" little popcorn nugs so the big top colas recieve all the potential nutrients and energy theyd be sapping leading to bigger more impressive colas (that hide fat heavy stem weight imo)
 

Pass it Around

Well-Known Member
I think its more for commercial growers they remove those "suckers" little popcorn nugs so the big top colas recieve all the potential nutrients and energy theyd be sapping leading to bigger more impressive colas (that hide fat heavy stem weight imo)
Do you chop all of it off at one time or do you spread it out over a couple of days? I get what you mean about commercial growers needing to do it I have seen sea of greens with like 48 plants in one tray so that makes perfect sense to me. You can tell if air is getting through by the way the leaves move or not.

the guys that I talked to said they do it all in one day and it seems a little more than stressful to the plant.
 

Pass it Around

Well-Known Member
You kind of just answered your own question. What if the grower doesn't want hash, but just bud. Makes sense to let the plant focus its energies on good bud, not airy stuff that's more leaf than bud.
makes sense, if they are indeed getting bigger buds on top I would have to say it makes up for the bottom missing. Less leaf to trim lololol I got done trimming this buddha tahoe last night and its got leafy leafy on the bottom half but in the middle of it is some little gems... today I don't think it is worth it because I only chopped it due to microseeding. BUT on other plants I might want them little nuggets.
 

bf80255

Well-Known Member
2014-03-17_11-13-32_121.jpg 2014-03-29_09-26-21_973.jpg
Do you chop all of it off at one time or do you spread it out over a couple of days? I get what you mean about commercial growers needing to do it I have seen sea of greens with like 48 plants in one tray so that makes perfect sense to me. You can tell if air is getting through by the way the leaves move or not.

the guys that I talked to said they do it all in one day and it seems a little more than stressful to the plant.
very lightly, ill chop here and there as i go instead of just lopping off 50% at once just take a leaf here and there if its too crowded until it starts lookin real clean then ease up but it just depends on how your growing ive done 50% lops in the past with little ill effect its kinda strain dependent too. if your growing a purple urkle clone or a cross of urk then i would never suggest taking too much off at once (shits supe slow) but this strain shoots up fast so lopping is fine.
 

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tyson53

Well-Known Member
most bottom branches do not produce much to speak of...just takes energy away from the plant...its the weakest buds and more prone to rot..last yer when I had a small rot problem it was the lower popcorn buds that rotted first so I cut them all off....i am outside also..may differ indoors...they get hardly any light when the plant fills out...they also rob energy to the more productive bud sites...
 

Uncle Ben

Well-Known Member
Gawd, another defoliation thread?

It's just like pruning the suckers off tomato plants.. they drain energy from the main vine and your fruits will suffer.
Here we go again. When in the hell are you guys gonna learn something about photosynthesis, and what's this "energy" stuff? What energy are you talking about? Any leaf aka "sucker" on a tomato plant or cannabis contributes to the overall welfare of the plant doesn't matter where it's located. If it's not productive the plant will drop it on its own.

I grow tomatoes year long and have never pulled any leaves off. I mean, how stupid can you get?

UB
 
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Uncle Ben

Well-Known Member
Anyways I just wanna know if there is any scientific evidence that this does anything good for the plant?

to me thats like taking a fuckin chainsaw to your ladies and asking them to perform great after.
Stupid is as stupid does.

Scientific investigation requires strict control of variables and reproducibility of results to be valid. You will never see that in cannabis forums. You will be subjected to plenty of anecdotal evidence, hearsay, parroting of popular thought, hype and conjecture aka "seeing what you want to see".

UB
 
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