To Prune Or To Prune Lower Branches

IHeartPot · Apr 3, 2011

hey i guys i gotta a pretty huge question . at what point in your plants life cycle do you begin to prune the lower branches? becausse i've tried to do some research but i keep running into dead ends..please i beg of your help .. ...

ogenko · Apr 3, 2011

prune when it starts to get over bushy and do some maintenace pruning when you flip your lights and a couple weeks into flower
that worked for me anyhow

touringfunkband · Apr 3, 2011

As soon as they're clone worthy.

slackx · Apr 3, 2011

I'm assuming your talking about when to prune during flower? I try not to prune after the second week, seems to be the spot then plants really start to explode;

If your talking about vegging...really doesn't matter if you got branches you can cut them at any time.

creep · Apr 3, 2011

I usually prune about 4" from the bottom, sometimes I'll go up to 8" if it's a tall strain.

Helps with airflow when you've got a lot of plants.

DeoXy · Apr 3, 2011

Use lower branches you prune for clones... and defoliating the lower portion of plants that receive little to no light(will show by the yellowing/pale leaves and popcorn/airy buds) will deff. help the tops.. the less energy the plant has to waste supporting life on the bottom it can use to dev. the tops... just don't go too crazy, done overtime is always best!

Scotsman · Apr 3, 2011

I take up to a third off the bottom no more than 2 weeks into flower.

This helps the plants put their energy into whats on top and getting light.

The bottom crap is either used for clones or just put in the compost heap.

If its not recieving any light it comes off,only gives me airy buds if left.

Other benifits of taking a third off are it helps circulate more air around the pots and it makes watering that bit easier.

All the best.

Scotsman.

daheadies · Apr 3, 2011

Hey!
I dunno if you have seen any of my threads:
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=204634
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=204626
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=204628
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=204636
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=204643
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=204644
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=204638
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=204641
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=204650
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=204679

but you can clearly see how I trim up drastically, as well as defoliate fans during veg. I provided the thread links so you can see how much I trim up and results..

-Anyways, during veg, after the plant is more than 1 foot tall, I trim up 5-8 inches, and top (There are VERY FEW strains I have grown that dont react well to trimming up, but there are a few that dont have many branches and need the bottom ones b/c they will grow up into a flat canopy. EXAMPLE=BOG SWEET CINDY!)
-I then let the plant continue vegging out w/o further trimming up pretty much until flower to see how each plant reacts to the trimming up. During this time though, I defoliate 2/3rds of the fan leaves.. Also remove any and all yellow or dead leaves
-Note- 2 weeks before flip, I stop defoliating
-Right when I flip, I evaluate the light situation. I trim up a good amount, basically everything thats in the dark.
-I then wait about 2 weeks into flower, evaluate the light situation again after stretch, and trim up again.
-Then between 2 and 3 weeks into flower, check for pre-flower/flower production, and the stuff on the bottom that is obviously much smaller than the top, take off...

The first time you truely do this method correctly, especially when you trim up when flipping, you look at the plant very very skeptical and think wonder "what have I just done"
Well b/c your plant is about to stretch out and now those top buds will be huge, you will wind up yielding way more dense quality product than you would w/o trimming up.

I pretty much just explained my entire growing style, which I attribute a large amount to my results

EliTheBarrowBoy · Apr 3, 2011

I couldn't have said it better.

Defoliation discretion is typically learned through error, but daheadies just made life so much easier!

daheadies · Apr 3, 2011

SmokeyTheBear · Apr 4, 2011

i prune all lower branches off, up to 6 inches on indoor plants and a foot on outdoor plants. they yield next to nothing and suck up extra goodness that could be going to the better parts of the plant.

TRONIC187 · Apr 4, 2011

when is too late? mine are 3 weeks on on there 4th. I thought maybe my lower stuff would develop a little more, should i just leave it?

stoney917 · Apr 4, 2011

r u rockin a 1k if ya got the light power it would be fine if ur rockin a 3ft plant with a 400 prunin is mor critical.depends on the strain/tree.. just remember at chop that ya fucked with it a month in and u may wanna leave it an extra wk to fatten up delay ur flush 1 wk.
if its a long flowerin sativa ur fine if its fully budded u may wanna think bout it... got pics?

daheadies · Apr 4, 2011

TRONIC187 said:
when is too late? mine are 3 weeks on on there 4th. I thought maybe my lower stuff would develop a little more, should i just leave it?

I would still take it off! unless its a 6 week strain, but even then I would consider it. Sometimes it takes up to 3 weeks to really see whats going to grow and whats not.. some plants grow buds at the bottom of the plant even if theres no light, and most dont. You simply dont know until you see the flower production after you have flipped, which sometimes takes a little bit..

In the future, try doing it from the beginning of flip, and then continue doing it as needed/ as you see that hairs are not growing long where flowers are forming.. Pretty much even if a branch was 4 weeks into flower and I saw it wasnt really growing full buds (but the tops were), I would still take it off.. Again, the sooner the better, but each day w/o that branch/bud sights is going to be every extra day the plant can put extra energy into producing your top buds and forget about that bottom BS

This technique, exactly as I presented it in post #8, has raised my sellable yield/ quality nugget production about 2x, and has almost completely eradicated and presence of larf. When I started growing, I just let the plants grow out naturally, w/o trimming up, and topping/ fiming here and there.. The trim up is SOOO essential IMO, but than again, 1 outta every 20 strain (in my experience) will grow dense nugs to the very bottom of the plant regardless of if light is hitting it or not.. (SOL BS2.2 x OG is the only plant from Gypsy that I have gotten that does this)

vaped · Apr 4, 2011

most of my strains stretch for atleast the first 21 of flower. If I lolipop 2 weeks into flower I find end up having to do another trim at week 3. So at day 21 I switch to bloom nutes and do my trim up.

Max Headroom · May 9, 2011

i've been curious about this - i'm in week 7 (of ~9) -- would trimming the lowest suckers have any advantage at this point? or would it shock the plants more than anything else?

DMTspice · May 9, 2011

I'd say heavy pruning is okay as long as after pruning, enough green foliage remains for plant photosynthesis to take place.

Or a good rule of thumb that has worked for me is to never prune back more than 50% of the plant.

daheadies · May 10, 2011

Max Headroom- I'd say leave it if that far in if it were me.. Personally, I have never pruned that far in cause I do it as i described on page 1. I dont really think it would have the much benefit, but then again for some strains its the last 2 weeks that the buds really bulk up.. So maybe you should try it? lol.. thats a tough call there..

spice-good rules of thumb...

But I would say prune whatever percent whether its 20% or 75%, if its not getting light and bud sites are not developing like ones getting light on the top.. You going to get the same yield as if you left the shit larf on the bottom, but its going to be dank dense nugget instead of bs larf

señorsloth · May 10, 2011

i would say trim the fans and they will fatten up a lot more, at week seven photosynthesis is petering off, as the plant is ripening and preparing to die. wether you cut the bulk of the fans or the bulk of the lower bud, your plants will be stunted for a few days , if you were to trim the fluffy bottom buds your top ones might get a small bit bigger, but no where near the weight of what you just cut off, but if you cut the fan leaves at this point those fluffy buds will harden up a bit and in the end i think you will find that you harvest more buds. you could always try both methods on different plants and see what you think personally. i don't have any "larf" on my crop at all because of my careful defoliation, and am looking at a personal best of about 10 ounces on this next harvest off a 400w hps, with 6 different strains from seed(one being the notoriously low yielding og kush!), so my aggressive defoliation definitely didn't hurt my yield!

LAcon · May 10, 2011

DMTspice said:
I'd say heavy pruning is okay as long as after pruning, enough green foliage remains for plant photosynthesis to take place.

Or a good rule of thumb that has worked for me is to never prune back more than 50% of the plant.

Not to discredit you I just feel 50% pruned at once can be a lot on some strains and can stress them and cause problems then and once they flower. I've read in a book to do no more than a third or you run the risk of shock. People that are first doing this may want to start less and prune more next time if what you did didn't cause any shock. Some strains like it more than others, like whatever strains spice is running can have a lot taken off. So just learn what they like individually first because over pruning will set you back.

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