Bottom Branching?

[Mystic]

It sounds like the "norm" in my circles to bottom branch your plants. Wondering is this done right before you flip them? Also, are there any rules to bottom branching your plants, and what are the affects?
Thank you for your time

[StonerGrower]

Please give an explanation of this so called "bottom branching".
Ive never heard of Bottom branching...Im sure Ill know what it is if you give us an explanation. So many names floating around these days, its hard to keep up.

[Mystic]

Originally Posted by StonerGrower

Please give an explanation of this so called "bottom branching".
Ive never heard of Bottom branching...Im sure Ill know what it is if you give us an explanation. So many names floating around these days, its hard to keep up.

Sorry to not have clarified. "Bottom Branching" is the act of cutting away the bottom branches of your vegging plants. Once your plants are in the flower cycle the light does not penetrate far enough to hit the bottom branches.
The belief(I've heard) is that because it is not receiving light, that is not useful.
And that by cutting it away the plant directs it's energy into the remaining branches.
There are some people that swear by this. I however, didn't bottom branch my plants, but am curious if it really makes your buds that much bigger.
Thank you for your time

[puffsamust]

I think it depends on the style of grow you wanna use, it would be good to do it this way if you are going after a single cola. I hear cutting off the bottom branches up to about 6 inches helps the plant concentrate on making the main cola fatter instead of making popcorn buds that won't receive so much light. I saw something about once your plant is taller than 40 inches, the light won't go down far enough for the bottom branches to receive much light anyways. I think the 40 inch depth was for a 400w hid but I could be wrong. If you are going for lst or scroging style, I'd leave everything to maximize yield. Generally, pruning seems to slightly deter growth so you should cut the branches while the plants are in veg. People seem to do this about a week or so before it goes into flowering so the plant has time to recover. Hope that helps,

[StonerGrower]

Removing the lower branches that contain fan leaves should never be done.

[Mystic]

Thanks for explaining a bit more about this puffsamust. I wanted hear more, as I have heard very contrasting things regarding "bottom branching".

[puffsamust]

Lemme correct my mistake, I'm probably a greener noob than you are (just been reading a bunch here, haven't gotten my feet wet yet). People who scrog do cut off branches that are under the screen so the plant puts energy to the upper ones. Keep in mind what Stonergrower said about the fan leaves as they are like solar panels to the plant. What style of grow method will you be using mystic? I'm planning on doing 12/12 from seed with strains that don't have much lateral branching, sort of like SOG so I can pack in a bunch and get a quality single colas. This will hopefully eliminate the need for pruning and growth will be on a fast track. I got my inspiration from atmosphere1's journal. Check it out if you are interested in this style, the yield speaks for itself IMO.

[Mystic]

Originally Posted by puffsamust

Lemme correct my mistake, I'm probably a greener noob than you are (just been reading a bunch here, haven't gotten my feet wet yet). People who scrog do cut off branches that are under the screen so the plant puts energy to the upper ones. Keep in mind what Stonergrower said about the fan leaves as they are like solar panels to the plant. What style of grow method will you be using mystic? I'm planning on doing 12/12 from seed with strains that don't have much lateral branching, sort of like SOG so I can pack in a bunch and get a quality single colas. This will hopefully eliminate the need for pruning and growth will be on a fast track. I got my inspiration from atmosphere1's journal. Check it out if you are interested in this style, the yield speaks for itself IMO.

I'm considering doing SOG. This first time my plants grew really big and bushy. Which is a blessing, but I wasn't prepared for them to take up so much space. I had been pulling off smaller buds on the bottom branches to redirect the plants energy into the larger end cola buds. Which worked amazingly. But I want to be more methodical about this so I don't have to do as much back breaking work. I've heard people say that you have to choose whether you want bushy plants with many buds or huge colas on your plants. And that you have to sacrifice one for the other. It would be great to have both.
I'll check out the journal you suggested, Thanks again.

[Racefan]

Puff has it right. If you feel the need to remove lower growth do so at least 1 week beforre flipping to give them time to recover.

Puff ...you will still have to prune lower growth even if you do a grow from 12/12. Same time as you recommend to mystic.

[bige1511]

how about taking flowering clones from the lower branches of a flowering plant does this effect the yield

[Weed420]

Thats where I get my clones from. A week or 2 before flower I trim the lower branches for clones.

[bige1511]

thats where i take my clones too but i take them 21 days into flowering and was wondering if it has any effect on the yield

[Racefan]

no effect except to redirect more auxins to the upper growth.

[bige1511]

thank you rf always such helpful knowledge

[Racefan]

well let me correct myself. When pruning there is always some stress. But if done properly it should be minimal and recover withing a day or two. That's why we say to take them at least a week before flippping if going to do it in veg.