scrog / pruning question

[Mistadobalina]

Do you prune off fan leaves above the screen once the buds begin to form? (only if they are shading other buds.)

Jorge Cervantes says pruning off fan leaves unless theyre 50% dead is one of the dumbest things you can do, however he doesn't talk about SCROG in his book.


Also, at what point in flowering is it a bad idea to prune branches? I had to switch the nutes and the bloom bulbs/12hr cycle without letting the screen fill in on its own... now they're just starting to stretch through the screen, however I wanna give some of the lower branches a shot at making it through the screen before I give up on them and clip em. So to reiterate, at what point is pruning during 12/12 bad? I was thinking within the first 2 weeks or so is safe.


p.s. i understand the difference between pruning branches vs cutting off fan leaves, so no need for assumptions.

 

[gottt it]

i took all the un needed stuff off the bottom before i turned it to 12/12 .. i still some some more things i can take off but not much ..

 

[EZlistener]

give 'em 2 wk to stretch then tek off evthing underneath canopy

thats what i do

greenhouseseeds trim theirs afta 2, (obviously not scroggin') they been doing it for years (dunno how to post links)
it gets mentioned by Arjan in the video on their seed site 'the church'

 

[Phantom594]

What is the difference between pruning branches and cutting off fan leaves....? Lol i dont really know anything about gardening techniques.

 

[swampskunk]

fan leaves are basically the solar panels of your plants, i can't see how chopping off any more than necessary is really a good idea.

that being said, most of the large fans end up under my screen, so whatever. i suspect it's a function of balance as to how many bud sites you're getting light to and how many fan leaves you've managed to retain.

as to when i stop trimming, yes generally by week 2... once the bud sites have set (larger than the end of a pencil eraser) it's time. i usually don't stop fussing with the final arrangement until a month or more after start of 12/12.