Trimming Advice Needed (pics)

So, Ive seen plants trimmed to where its basically the buds growing on the branch/stems. Im wanting to trim some of this shrubbery now that im getting flowers in but Im scared, I dont want to mess things up. Ive tried to take some pics to show what Im talking about.



Black pen is pointing to the leaves I want to cut, theres a few more, but thats the idea.

Please help

Never, I repeat never trim healthy leaves from plants. I can't stress this enough. They contain essential sugars that your plant needs to survive. It's like cutting off your arm and expecting it to grow back. Always let them die and fall off natually. You can however tuck them back and trim the very bottom leaves/branches if they don't receive enough light, it will help the plant focus energy on the main branches.

leave your leaves alone.

i would leave the leafs alone. cutting leafs off it will stress it and COULD cause it to hermie. also the large fan leafs create sugars that help bud production. less leafs=less bud from what i hear.

Tuck them. Same effect without hurting the plant.

Ok, thank you. I may have just been saved from making a big mistake. I will try this tucking you speak of. hehe

Cheifin420 said:

Ok, thank you. I may have just been saved from making a big mistake. I will try this tucking you speak of. hehe

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This is a very common mistake people make all the time. But it will only do more harm then good. LST training/topping works best but tucking the leaves under can help the light penetrate the lower branches.

It's like everyone else is saying - leaf the plant alone! Haha

The leaves are the energy stations for the budsites bro. The buds don't really absorb light very well and aren't very good at converting the light into the sugars that fuel the plant/bud growth. As long as a leaf looks healthy it still is providing energy to the plant and should not be bothered. People trim undergrowth to refocus energy up top, or they cut off growth tips early in veg to promote branching, but no grower with any sense trims leaves except in the case of preventing mold.

Tuck it like a tranny !!!!!!!!!!!!

Ive been LSTing for a few weeks now, mainly because height is an issue.

As the others alluded to, the leaves are the major part of the plant that is photosynthesizing and thus producing the energy and other vital compounds. The leaves are playing a major role in the production of the buds themselves, especially the big fan leaves. Also, while it may look to you like a big leaf is shading out a bud or lower branch, a lot [most] of the light is actually passing right thru that leaf to be absorbed by the other leaves and plant parts.

Of course, due to physics and the inverse square law which pertains to light; the amount of light energy received is, in the simplest terms, exponentially less intense the further away from the source you go. So, at 4 feet away from the lamp there is no more than 1\4th the intensity of light as there would be at 2 feet from the lamp and so on. This means that no matter how many leaves are or are not 'in the way', if you have a 4 foot plant it's lower branches will never receive anywhere near the same intensity of light energy as the top or middle of the plant is getting.

A better solution to fussing with the leaves would perhaps be to add in some side lighting, such as some higher wattage CFLs or tube fluorescent bulbs (T5s, etc).

Someone posted in here saying let ur leaves die off naturally, I recommend def not doing that. Yellow leaves need to be removed, for many of reasons. 1. Bugs tend to attack items that are yellow, in a tiny bug brain they see the yellow as a weak area in a plant and that will be the first place they attack. 2. A dying leaf is no longer looking for sunlight, remove leaves that are not getting better after a few days.

^ However, there are still other nutrients, sugars and primary metabolites that the leaf contains and some of those can be moved elsewhere and support newer growth. Also, regardless of the color of the growth stressed plants are known to put out signals which pests can pick up on. Of course we have to be vigilant of pests in the grow room which is why I advocate preemptive action.

Nullis said:

A better solution to fussing with the leaves would perhaps be to add in some side lighting, such as some higher wattage CFLs or tube fluorescent bulbs (T5s, etc).

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I do have side lighting as well. The AG3 comes with 1 cfl putting out 1450 lumens, I have 2 units so I removed hood from 2nd unit and put it on the side. I also added a 42w= 150w soft white cfl on the other side and lined the wall behind it with relective paper. Ideally I would've put the 42w cfl on top but I didnt get it untill about a week ago.

It looks like you are flowering? If so I would not trip any leaf during this time,as they are trying to put all tere energy into making buds, you dont want to turn that energy towards a leaf recovery or something like that