Cutting lower budsites / fanleaves?

[thegrower]

Yeah i know its been asked a billion times but my Q is a lil different. Im in flower and the canopy is starting to really come in thick. Will trimming lower budsites increase the size of the upper buds?

When trimming the lower portion of the plant [under canopy] do you trim just the budsites or the fanleaves too?

Does this actually increase yeild or is it just a myth? thanks for the help

If its just gonna stress the ladies and not increase bud size then screw it but if it will help the upper buds fatten then im gonna try it. I just dont know if i chop ONLY lower budsites or do i cut off the lower fanleaves too

 

[Dignan]

Jury is still out as to whether it actually increases yield, but much anecdotal evidence would suggest it does.

If you trim, only trim branches and leave the fan leaves. The fan leaves contain nutrients that the plant can draw upon, which is why they turn yellow when either the leaves themselves are no longer needed OR the plant needs the nutrients stored in the leaves more than it needs the leaf itself.

My logic behind trimming branches is that any new growth is going to draw on the nutrients of the entire plant, theoretically making nutes take a detour to the lower budsites when they could be used for the larger buds on the canopy.

Fan leaves, however, are not really new growth.

Do 1/2 your plants one way, the other half the other way... and see which perform better. Be your own judge.

Dig

 

[sensirocker]

dude i responded to this in your other post.... your 30 days into flower if i remember correctly, so you cannot trim anything.

when you trim in general BEFORE flower you take everything off, however this is not cut in stone.... some plants have alot of side branching and some only like main colas... it depends on how to train and let them grow... what i do is trim on day 7, so i can see where all of the little bitch popcorn nugs are gonna be and i just trim them right off with the fan leaves. Howevvvverrrrr....
some times the plant will grow it back!!! you never know, every strain is different which is why its hard to say whether or not trimming is good... obviously cutting off growth is counter productive becuase your cutting off growth, however if the plant will not grow it back during flower then YES, it will improve the energy flow to the main colas but its impossible to tell whether or not it wil Improve overall yeild because you dont know how much those lower bud sites would have yielded (even tho theyre pinner, wimpy buds). Also, it depends on what kind of light your using... a 1000w will have much better light penetration so it will harden those popcorn buds, so trimming doesnt make as much sense in this situation.... however ify our using a 400w light then trimming is good because you know that not alot of light will be getting to those places....

so, it will stress your ladies and it will probably DECREASe your yield because they will be scrammbling to repair and save the nugs. rule of thumb, only trim off the stuff your SURE is going to be wimpy buds, this comes from the experience of knownig how the plant grows and what kind of light your using.

good luck

-sR

 

[hogwild]

30 days into flower you will probably have a loss of yield by trimming any major branches, You can trim some small popcorn nugs near the base so they dont get moldy when you water or something, but at this time yield will probably not be affected by your trimming...in fact like stated above it could cause the plant to divert its energy from resin production to repair... you dont want that.

 

[sensirocker]

i agree with dignan that you shoudl try it on 1/2 your plants, however i donty think you should leave the fan leaves when you trim because they will encourage regrowth to the nodes.... fan leaves are kind of like the solar panels of the bud spots, and if theyre present, they will encourage regrowth because they will be supplying energy to the node. So, im pretty sure you trim those fan leaves off if your goal is to inhibit any new growth...

 

[Sinsemillian]

I have always after 2 weeks into flower(or earlier if your girls done stretching) pruned away any budsite or even branches that is not at least 25% the size of the cola. I have done this numerous times and have never noticed a decrease in yield and I have never noticed an increase either. lol Just saves alot of time for me not having to trim numerous immature popcorn buds come harvest time.

Regards,
Sinse.

Yeah i know its been asked a billion times but my Q is a lil different. Im in flower and the canopy is starting to really come in thick. Will trimming lower budsites increase the size of the upper buds?

When trimming the lower portion of the plant [under canopy] do you trim just the budsites or the fanleaves too?

Does this actually increase yeild or is it just a myth? thanks for the help

If its just gonna stress the ladies and not increase bud size then screw it but if it will help the upper buds fatten then im gonna try it. I just dont know if i chop ONLY lower budsites or do i cut off the lower fanleaves too

 

[Truth]

i agree with dignan that you shoudl try it on 1/2 your plants, however i donty think you should leave the fan leaves when you trim because they will encourage regrowth to the nodes.... fan leaves are kind of like the solar panels of the bud spots, and if theyre present, they will encourage regrowth because they will be supplying energy to the node. So, im pretty sure you trim those fan leaves off if your goal is to inhibit any new growth...

leave the fan leafs. they can only help, and removing them will hurt. I have never seen a strain grow back a branch that I cut off, neither have I seen any grow leafs from a completely stripped half cut off branch still attached. once you remove a node, it is gone for good. all the plant does it continue to grow new nodes on the tops. I could see some leafs growing back if you stripped a plant completely, and revegged it...but even then, with no leafs at all, the plant will either die, or reveg very slowly.

I can't say for certain if trimming the lower areas add's to yield on the tops. you would probably need strains that respond well to this. the leafs, even shaded, still provide and make energy for the plants. why do you think each node has it's own leafs? those leafs are specifically for powering those nodes. of course, each leaf doesn't power each node alone, it is spread out throughout the plant, all doing what they can where they can. I would say, ok trim off the lower buds (but they are excellent for reveg, and for a second, later harvest) but leave all the leafs you can. just trim off the secondary branches that sprout. this would be beneficial. if you LST them horizontally with a vengeance, then there would be no need to trim lower bud sites. it really is the best way to utilize the whole plant. I want to grow more bud and leaf, than stem. example: (same strain) if you have a 3 ft plant with only the top 1 ft budding, and a 1 ft plant, with all of it budding from the ground up, same stem size in girth, which do you think would yield more? which do you think would of taken longer to grow?

the best time to cut out nodes that you don't plan on using is either as soon as they begin to show in early veg, or a few days to a week or more before you initiate flower. you can cut in the first week or so of flowering at the latest.

 

[Guest]

offtopic but thegrower would ou mind if I used your sig?

sorry for thread jacking

 

[cyburnt]

Another factor is light penetration

Another factor is light penetration

Depending on the spacing of your plants, distance to light, and wattage (lumens), the light will penetrate to varying degrees. Stronger light will generate some worthwhile lower growth, but if your a 400w or lower kinda grower or use overhead flouros you're probably better off only growing a surface canopy (clipping lower growth).

 

[thegrower]

sensirocker - nah dude that wasnt me u replied to, i made no such other post and im NOT 30 days into flower

Yeah im using a 250w hps with HEAVY lst so yeah.... there arent too many pop-corn lower buds [due to LST] but there are some. I LST"d these real hard, i got lots o' tops: plant1: 10tops , plant2: 12 tops, plant 3: 22 tops

Thanks guys i think ill take ur advice and trim the bottom-most budsites but leave the fans, makes sense

h4l, yup feel free to use it thanks for asking

 

[Dignan]

I know it's not always fun to make yourself the guinea pig for everyone else's benefit (or for your own future benefit) but I sure would like to see you do 1/2 one way and 1/2 the other way and compare the results.

Dignan

 

[cyburnt]

I like to use those little worthless lower buds

I like to use those little worthless lower buds

For seed production

 

[Guest]

try this on 1 or 2 plants remove the big fan leaves from the LOWER AND INNER parts of the canopy to improve light penetration to the lower budsites Try not to remove more than 5-6 leaves at any one pruning to avoid shock and be sure to always water right after with Superthrive at a rate of 1/4 teaspoon per gallon of water. This will also avoid shock. So, when you start, remove the 5-6 fan leaves and water with Superthrive. Then, after a couple of days, you should see a noticable growth spurt. Then, three or four days after that, you can remove another 4-6 and so on. By the end near harvest, only the top two or three nodes of growth should have the fan leaves and they should stay on until harvest. it alwayz works foe me hope this helps

 

[sensirocker]

haha this post:
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=54384

is almost the same, sorry, good luck